3 I Trust Myself

Superman walked into the holding bay with a constricted look on his face. He looked forward and saw his other clone, now deformed and looking quite pale. The clone looked back at him and the two held their gaze for a minute before Superman finally gave in.

"I want to apologize for what you thought you should do in order to save yourself. I'm sorry it took hurting yourself in order to wake me up p from my delusions," Superman said, apologetically.

"It doesn't hurt that much, only when I breath," Match answered before he got up. "Does that mean you are going to save me?"

"Yes, Batman and Green Arrow ar already setting up everything. They already have my blood and soon you will be complete," Superman answered. Match sighed in relief as he looked at his deformed hand.

"I guess gratitude are in order," he said softly befor turning to look at him. "Though, why did you decide to save me now rather than before."

"I was stubborn before, believing you were lying in order to meet me. It's become harder for me to meet more clones of myself. Most want to kill me only to end up killing themselves, like what is happening to you. It's become...traumatic seeing my face lying there, dead with nothing I could do. I didn't want to meet you for I would get attached," Superman answered, guiltily. Match could understand the man.

He and Superboy were made to kill him. They both had defective genes though while Superboy's were not fatal, his were so. If they fought Superman then he would break down biologically before the battle ends. Let's not forget that his body is not as old so he was not as powerful.

"What's your name?" Superman asked.

"Match, it's the name I am as given by my creators. This was because they thought I could match you," Match answered before chuckling dereriously. "Guess they were quite disappointed in the product, they put me in ice after I finished growing."

"How about I give you a proper name, welcome you to the rest of your life?" Superman asked, hopefully. Match nodded and Superman smiled brilliantly. "My name is Clark Kent, given by my Earth parents while Kal El is my Kryptonian name. I think the name Dexter El would work." Match just shrugged.

"Well, nice to finally meet you, Dexter," Superman said as he deactivated the cell's power and extended his right hand for a handshake. Match looked at it like he was lost before looking up at Superman.

"You trust me just like that?" he asked, showing surprise.

"Yes," Superman answered decisively. Match shook his hand amicably. He appeared quite harmless, bashful even before lasers suddenly shot out of his eyes and hit Superman right in his eyes. Superman grunted in pain, staggered backwards before he felt his hair being yanked and he was sent flying forward, right into the cell. Match put his palm on the handprint lock and the cell was back to full energy. By then, Superman had healed somewhat and opened his eyes, staring at Match in disbelief.

"Why?" he asked.

"I admit, you caught me off guard with how nice you are. It made me feel bad of what I have done but, it was necessary," Match said as he showed Superman a few strands of his hair. "I only need one strand to become the new you so thank you."

"We could have saved you!" Superman said, angrily.

"And you would have lorded that over me. Besides, I don't trust anyone but myself, learnt that being stuck with no help in that pod," Match said before he sped off.

He could feel the strain in his cells as he used his superspeed but he urged on, right into the Control center. He went to the huge computer and started hacking in.

"Heh!" he scoffed in disdain seeing how much contingencies Batman had put in making sure the tower was never hacked, breezing through them in second. The Watchtower was in his control now and he put in his own securities that would even put Lex Luther in a coma trying to bypass them.

With the Watchtower in his control five minutes after escaping, he immediately went through the Zeta tube files and smiled once through. He knew how to programme then in doing what he wanted. He went to the he chamber that the tubes were programmed and started his work. It was a little difficult without tools and his deform hand, powering through headaches, near heart attacks, black outs and dizziness but in an hour, he had gotten what he wanted, a gun that would open zeta portals to whenever he wanted. But first, he left a few things to surprise the Justice League and give him more time.

After finishing that, he set the coordinates to Start Labs, fired the gun and a 'boom' was heard followed by a portal that looked like it was made by a boom tube. He nodded in satisfaction and walked in. A second later the zeta portals closed and he found himself in a futuristic looking lab.

"Watchtower, begin diversion," he spoke to the gun which shone once.

.....

The Watchtower, having received the command, immediately activatee it's thrusters then, it changed its course from or orbiting Earth to breaching its atmosphere. It was then a boom was heard, Superman had blasted his way out of the cells by ramming through the walls right to the control centre.

"What?" he exclaimed in disbelief seeing that the Watchtower was heading to Earth. Immediately, he activated his comms. "Attention all Leguers, we have an emergency at the Watchtower. It is currently on course towards Earth. Need immidiate help in stopping it," he said quickly.

"On our way!" Black Canary answered.

"The Zeta a tubes aren't working," Green Arrow spoke next.

"Neither is the one on my side," Captain Atom said next

"Don't bother, the Watch tower and all Zete tubes have been hack d and are now offline. Those who can fly immediately go up and help Superman to physically stop the Watchtower from breaching Earth," Batman spok up.

"Copy," Wonderwoman, Martian Manhunter, the same wo Lanterns, Captain Atom and Shazam replied before their comms went quiet

"Superman, what happened?" Batman questioned while working hard in trying to hack back into the Watchtower's system but just couldn't even fathom where to start. The program was in a whole new language, so sophisticated it attacked his attempts before he even started!

"It's Match. S

I let my guard down in front of him and this happened. I'm sorry!" Superman answered. Batman narrowed his eyes in concentration before shaking his head. He knew this was a diversion to whatever he was planning but he couldn't start thinking of where he went for if the Watchtower crashes into Earth, it would be a catastrophe never seen before.

"Uhmm, guys, what the hell is that?" Green Lantern Hal Jardon asked. Batman immidiately changed to another camera that was focused to the approaching Watchtower and his eyes widened in shock seeing a Zetatube had suddenly opened up before the Watchtower, sucking it and all the heroes trying to stop it. A second letter, the Earth trembled and Batman knew the Watchtower had crashed into Earth!

"Shit!" he caused as he knew a headache was coming his way very very soon.