Meanwhile, far south of the Fortress; Brainiac and Reign were finalizing their plot to destroy the Earth.  They even had a location to begin.  From his vessel, they observed the area beneath them.

“Why this place, Brainiac?  All I see is a relic of these humans and their complacency.”

“Pompeii was once a vibrant city in ancient times, Reign.  Many wealthy inhabitants lived here.  That is, of course until A.D. 79.”

“A history lesson, Brainiac?  Of this primitive planet?”

“It is not the history lesson I plan on giving.  This is the location where you and your sisters will begin the destruction of Earth.”

“My sisters and I do not care for this planet.  Our mission is to end Kryptonian life.”

“You misunderstand Reign.  Behind this entombed city lies one of the most active volcanoes on this planet.  If your sister Flower of Heaven were to use her abilities to ignite this mountain, the force could create an explosion powerful enough to blot out the sun for years to come.  Thus…”

“Rendering the Kryptonians weakened.  Their deaths as easy to cause as a human’s death.”

“Precisely.  Mount Vesuvius can be the weapon for your final revenge against Krypton.”

Reign could see where Brainiac was going with his idea, and while she had her own plans on how to eliminate the last Kryptonians, his had merit. Deimax would use her strength to punch through the rock and terrain giving Flower of Heaven full access to the magmatic lava in the center of the Earth.  With enough radiation, an eruption would occur like this world had never seen or experienced before.  As such, she had but one question.

“When do we begin?”

“My ship is nearly repaired and the wounds of you and your sisters are all but healed, correct?”

“We’ve had enough time to heal.”

“Good.  Then the plan shall commence as soon as I am able to broadcast the impending cataclysm to the world at large.  Kal-El and his allies will not be able to resist an attempt to stop you.”

Three days passed as Clark had personally contacted J’onn while Barry and Kara alerted Harry and Cisco to the remaining threat.  From the D.E.O. and Star Labs, the rest of the world was made aware of Brainiac and the Worldkillers.  While all the nations had seen the message: bring us the Children of El plastered across their screens, humanity had remained largely unconcerned.  Now, governments were putting aside their own hostilities and uniting to protect humanity’s right to survive.  Little did they realize that their efforts would prove futile as the attack began.

From the D.E.O. to the Fortress and on to Star Labs the first seismic tremors were registering on all systems.  They were small at first, appearing in the twos and threes on the Richter scale.  Kelex was monitoring as were Cisco and Winn when all communications arrays across the globe lit up like the Fourth of July.  In seconds a cold, metallic, alien voice spoke and chills went down the spines of everyone who heard the message.

“People of Earth.  I am Brainiac.  For too long your kind have lived in relative safety and security as you relied on aliens to protect you.  No matter the threat, no matter the problem, however insignificant it might seem, you put your faith in the false Gods.  Now, at the end, the Kryptonians will fail you.  Your heroes will fail you.  You could have saved your planet, but your constant need for division fueled this outcome.  Now just like the planet Krypton, Earth will die.”

As the message cut out, the seismic activity increased.  Earthquakes were happening all across the globe.  No one knew what was causing once stable regions to shift like the landmasses were coming apart at their very cores.  Central City, National, Gotham, Metropolis, Star City, not one place was safe.  Many people were panicking in the streets while others took shelter wherever they could, clinging to their families and praying that Brainiac was wrong.

In Gotham, Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl and Robin were stationed outside Arkham where a new fault line had split the foundations of the prison in two.  Several of Batman’s Rogues gallery had escaped, intent on causing chaos only to be stopped by two unlikely allies.  Clayface and Mr. Freeze joined forces with Batman and the others to prevent more destruction.

In Star City; Green Arrow, Black Canary, Spartan, Mr. Terrific and Wild Dog were fighting against Damien Darhk and his goons who felt that this was their chance to attain world domination.  Oliver had hoped that just this once Darhk might see reason and stop fighting to destroy, and help to protect.  Sadly that ended up being a pipe dream.

In Metropolis, Wonder Woman and her Amazon sisters were attempting to stem the chaos as buildings collapsed.  Citizens were fleeing into the streets even as Diana urged them to seek shelter.  Even Lois Lane, who was in her second trimester got to work and used the Daily Planet’s internet blogging booth to speak to the citizens of Metropolis, urging calm.  That Superman would stop the attacks.

Between Central and National City, Barry and Kara were once again separated, but doing everything they can to save their homes.  The people of National were not far removed from the article by Snapper calling Supergirl a threat, but as they watched her, flying down and moving people out of the way with super-speed or flying them to safety, they believed they had been wrong.  Even only partially recovered, J’onn and M’Gann were right there with her.

Back in Central, Barry and Wally were racing through the streets, tapping into every last bit of speed they could muster to save innocents.  On their own, they were making headway, but not fast enough.  Cisco and Harry could see the two of them struggling and the former took drastic action.  Quickly opening a breach to Earth-3, he departed and came back with three other speedsters in tow.  Jay Garrick and Jesse Chambers knew that if Cisco was breaching to their Earth, something was wrong and Barry needed help.  And Max Mercury, not being one to sit on the sidelines came along.

It took moments for Max, Jay and Jesse to find Barry and Wally running the streets of Central.  With a brief respite, Jay could tell how exhausted that Flash and Kid Flash were.

“Barry, Wally, go.  Max, Jesse and I will handle this.  You’ve done your best.”

“Our best isn’t good enough Jay.  We’ve got to be better, faster.”

“But not at the expense of burning yourselves out, Barry.  Trust me, we’ve got this.  Cisco and Harry need you back at Star.”

“I…”

“They found the source of the problem.  Go.  Wally, you should go with him.”

“Not a chance.  I just need a few seconds to catch my breath.  I’m good for another round.”

“If you’re sure, kid, let’s get going.”

Jay led the way as Max, Jesse and Wally followed behind him.  Four speedsters running through the city were able to stem the chaos faster than just two.  For a split second, Barry considered running after them, but remembered that Jay had said Cisco and Harry found the source.  He quickly sped off to Star only to be met by Kara who arrived at the same time he did.

“Kara?”

“Winn found the source Barry, J’onn told me to come.  I think…”

“Harry and I found the source as well, Kara.”

“So where is it, Cisco?  Where and what is causing all the seismic activity?”

“It’s coming from Pompeii.  Show them, Harry.”

Harry activated Star Labs’ monitor arrays to show the skull shaped vessel hovering above Mount Vesuvius.  At the base of the mountain were Brainiac and two of the four Worldkillers.  They were just standing there, seeming to be waiting for something.  Inconspicuously absent were the other two Worldkillers.  Observing the scene, Barry put it together.

“That was their plan.  Brainiac and Reign.  Go to one of the world’s most active volcanoes and set it off.  The one I fought, with the heat blasts, she’s probably feeding her energy into the Earth’s core and if Vesuvius goes off…”

“Who knows how many other volcanoes will follow, Allen.  We’re looking at a global catastrophe in a matter of hours if…”

“Not if we stop them Harry.  Kara?”

“We have to Barry.  I bet Clark and the Lanterns are already on their way.”

“Then let’s go Supergirl.”

Kara quickly grabbed Barry’s hand and they ran for the exit.  Once outside, she wrapped her arms around him and shot into the sky.   This time, Barry didn’t shut his eyes like he had when flying with Power Girl.  But he could feel it, Kara’s powers had only increased after being inside the regeneration matrix.  She was very possibly flying faster than her Earth-2 counterpart had.  Within minutes they were over Italy, Clark and the Lanterns just barely catching up.  All five of them landed at the same time.

“This is it, our only chance.  If we don’t stop them here and now, Earth is done for.”

“I’ve never heard you sound so pessimistic, Clark.  I won’t let this be the end.”

“I won’t either Kara, not for our adopted home-world, but some us may not survive this.”

“Then that is a price we will have to pay Kal-El.  I was unable to save Krypton, if I must die to save this planet. I will gladly give my all.”

While Clark, Hal, and Tomar were departing the Fortress, even more violent earthquakes began to rock the Fortress.  The shockwaves damaged the controls of the Argo protocol shields and the make shift prison Zod was sitting in.  With the shields down, and Alura occupied trying to restore stability with Kelex, Ultragirl took the opportunity to escape her prison.  She had a feeling she knew where Clark was headed and quickly followed.  Zod remained where he was, fighting the urge to flee.  He also saw no reason to assist Kal-El, until in the back of his mind he heard Faora’s voice.

(“Don’t be so stupid, my love.  You know the Worldkillers will turn on us one day.  You have to convince the Council of this.”)

(“The Council will not believe me, Faora.  They cannot see past their own arrogance and hubris.”)

Zod had known Faora was correct and when Brainiac attacked a second time, she was proven right.  He could only watch as his wife led a valiant attack against Dox, only to be caught by her neck.  The Coluan lifted her up, and with no emotion on his face, snapped her neck with one hand before throwing her hard to the ground.  Had she not landed the way she did with a crystal puncturing straight through her back and shattering her spine, there had still been a chance she could have lived.  Only hours before his banishment to the Phantom Zone did Zod learn that Reign had informed Dox of the coming attack.

Back in the present, Zod slowly stood up, his memories forcing him to act.  Krypton had died because of Brainiac and the Worldkillers.  While he was still harboring resentment for Kal-El, Earth and its people did not deserve the same fate.  Knowing that Alura and the robots were still distracted, he strolled out of the Fortress and took flight.  He had been listening as Kelex alerted Kal-El to the source of the earthquakes and knew where he had to go.

Back in Pompeii, Clark, Kara, and Barry had engaged Reign and Perrilus.  Barry and Kara teamed up to take on Reign while Clark flew circles around Perrilus, using his heat vision to keep her distracted.  Kara was meeting Reign punch for punch as Barry threw lightning at her.  Working together the couple had an edge, but this fight was keeping them from the real problem down inside the volcano.

Up in the sky Brainiac was also doing his part to distract the Green Lanterns who were engaged in battle with him.  Hal kept doing his best to give Tomar an opportunity to break free, but Brainiac would launch another attack with more duplicates of himself.

“You cannot win, Green Lanterns.  My intellect and reflexes are far superior to yours.  The longer you fight me, the more likely it is the Worldkillers will accomplish their goal.”

“We’re not trying to win Brainiac.  We’re distracting you.”

“Unlikely.  You are only human, Green Lantern.  Limited by your infinitesimal lifespan.  I have decades of existence longer than your primitive mind can accept.”

“And you like to hear the sound of your own voice.  See, any minute now, the rest of the Corps is going to arrive.  How do you intend to defeat all of us?”

Brainiac paused in his attack, weighing Hal’s words.  With a few small calculations he knew the odds of the Guardians sending the entire Corps to Earth were minimal.

“An intriguing trick, Green Lantern, however I shall not fall for it.  The rest of your Corps have their own sectors to deal with.  One planet out of many is not their concern.”

Hal knew that Brainiac was going to call his bluff, he had been counting on it.  The momentary distraction was all he and Tomar needed for the latter to fly down into the volcano where he confronted Deimax before he could get to Flower of Heaven.

“Your comrade has abandoned you Green Lantern.”

“No, he’s just taking the fight to the real threat.  And you…well…you’re going to have to deal with him.”

“With whom?”

Hal moved out of the way as a dark blur came barreling down out of the sky and impacted on Brainiac.  That was all the Lantern needed to fly down to the interior of the volcano to assist Tomar.  Zod was hitting the Coluan with every ounce of his strength and soon managed to rip the metal apart piece by piece.

Down at ground level, Barry and Kara had Reign on the ropes and losing to their teamwork.  The Worldkiller was down on her knees, but still trying to fight back when another dark blur flew down and caught Kara in a vise grip and roared right back into the sky.  The movement had almost been too fast for Barry to see, but he couldn’t focus on it.  He still had Reign to deal with.

Kara was only temporarily caught off guard as she recognized Ultragirl floating across from her.  After their first battle she had a feeling they would be fighting again and this would be the last time.

“We don’t have to do this again Ultragirl.  I already beat you once.”

“Because I let myself be beaten.  I wasn’t prepared that time.  I am now.”

“And what makes you think this time will be any different?”

“This time, you’re alone!  No Kal; no Barry! Just you and me!”

Kara sighed, Ultragirl was still misinterpreting events to fit her own twisted view.  This was going to be the last battle between them and Kara knew that Clark had been correct, not everyone was going to walk away.  It took seconds for the fight to begin, Supergirl and Ultragirl punching each other with uninhibited force.  But all the battles above ground and in the skies were nothing compared to the ones occurring in the volcano.

Hal had taken Deimax off of Tomar’s hands and was using all of his considerable willpower to fight.  Giant green fists, swords, small versions of f-15 fighter jets launching missiles at her.  Whatever construct Hal could imagine, he was using.

Tomar flew down through the Earth where he found Flower of Heaven unleashing blast after blast of thermal energy into Earth’s core.  The earthquakes became even more intense until a rumbling sounded in the mountain around them.  Lava begin churning and bubbling as it made its way up, pyroclastic gas escaping into the sky.  The Worldkiller screamed as Tomar drew near.

“You’re too late Green Lantern!  I’ve poured enough energy into the core of this insipid planet to activate every magmatic flow into one massive explosion!  Krypton’s death will be nothing compared to what Earth faces now!”

Through his ring, Tomar could feel the heat assaulting his shields.  The temperatures were intense and threatening to overwhelm him.  He had only one shot left to stop the explosion here at the epicenter of everything.  Mustering every last bit of willpower into his ring, he created a construct of Stellarium from his memory of the element’s chemical composition.  The green energy exploded like a raging fire through all the tunnels where the magmatic flow was dispersing around the globe.  The power that he expended hit Hal and Deimax like a hurricane and rocketed them out of the mountain and into the skies.  Back in the cavern, Flower of Heaven was hit by the same energy which created a feedback loop of her powers on her own body.

She screamed in pure agony as her own thermal core exploded, reducing her to ash.  While his construct continued to disperse the heat and magma, Tomar fell to his knees.  With no shielding left, the lava began to pour back towards him, and he resigned himself to death.  Only a split second later, Hal was there, a fire extinguisher construct in front of him to extinguish the magma.  He was having little effect as Tomar painfully reached up and grabbed his friend’s shoulder.

“H-Hal.  Let it go.”

“No Tomar, I can stop this!  You did your part!  I’ve got to…!”

“Hal…it’s over…g-get me…out of…”

Tomar’s voice was weak, and upon turning Hal could see that his friend didn’t have long left.  Quickly forming a shield around them, Hal flew as fast as he could towards the open skies.  When Hal landed, the shield fell apart and he gently set his friend down.  Fights were ending, Zod had defeated Brainiac, while Barry and Clark had switched opponents.  Reign had been no match for Clark’s superior strength while Barry’s speed forced Perrilus to inhale her own toxic secretions.  Only Kara was still in the air fighting Ultragirl.

“Give it up Supergirl!  The longer we fight, the less likely it is you can win!”

Kara chose not to speak in reply.  She had finally had enough of her evil twin and struck back with a thunderous punch that impacted on Ultragirl’s ribs.  She felt the bones break under her fist as her clone doubled over with barely a whisper.  Ultragirl felt two ribs snap and puncture her lung.  The impact from Supergirl was so powerful that Ultragirl fell from the sky, crashing down and creating a three foot deep crater where she landed.  When Kara set down on the ground, she could see that Ultragirl was still slightly breathing, her heart beating slowly. Kara however turned her attention to her friends and family, gathered around the Green Lanterns.

“Tomar…”

“This is the end Hal…I did what I set o-out to do.  I failed K-Krypton.  I couldn’t fail again.”

“You never failed Tomar.  You taught me what it really means to be a Green Lantern.”

“T-take heed Hal.  The…the Blackest Night is coming…All Green Lanterns will…”

Tomar Re breathed his last with that unfinished final warning to his brother in arms.  As his hand fell from Hal’s shoulder, his uniform faded to reveal Xudarian civilian garb underneath.  With Tomar’s passing, the ring left his finger and flew into the air.

“Green Lantern of Sector 2813 deceased.  Scanning sector for a replacement.”