I wasn't surprised when Superman left me in the dust on the way to the now burning lab. I still was a long way off from catching the Flash, not to mention the Kryptonian. Especially when his girlfriend was in danger. But I was happy to note that I wasn't that far behind.

I made it through the broken window just in time to see Superman catch a bit of the ceiling that was about to crush Lois while Bizzaro was busy breaking tubes filled with…were those yellow mannequins built to look like Superman? Why would anyone want fifty of tho– oh, those were more clones.

But why were they yellow?

"Superman! You have to help us get out!" I heard Lois shout and looked her way to see her standing next to Lex Luthor, who was here for some reason, and an old scientist dude. I was actually surprised Lex hadn't ducked out by now considering how everything was currently on fire, but a quick glance around showed he wasn't here by choice. At some point a giant machine had been wedged into the doorway, locking everyone who couldn't fly inside.

"You!"

And of course we still needed to deal with Bizzaro himself.

"Hey, I had dibs on a fight!" I shouted as the clone slammed into Superman.

"Me kill you!"

And I was totally ignored.

While I mentally debated whether I should break up the fight so I could have a go or let them continue, Lex stepped forward and shouted at me. "She meant now, girl! We're sitting on top of a half-kiloton of explosives." The businessman said briskly, "Enough, I presume, to destroy even Superman, let alone all of us!"

I almost laughed at him for that, because while I had no idea how big an explosion half a kiloton was, I was pretty sure Superman could handle it no problem. Unless it was laced with kryptonite or something.

And considering it was Luthor, he probably did have kryptonite laced explosives in a lab meant to clone Superman. Just in case one of them went nuts and started tearing up the place.

…kinda like what Bizzaro was doing now.

Well, crap. And even if Superman could survive, Lois certainly wouldn't.

"Why would you set off a bomb that big when you're still inside the building? What are you, stupid?!" I complained as I flew towards the blocked door.

Lex bristled at that but didn't say anything. Probably because he was waiting for me to actually open the way out first. He was at least that smart.

"Califa, look out!"

"No one leaves!"

I only had a heartbeat to react to a flash of white and purple in the corner of my vision before my arm snapped up in a reflexive block. I managed to stop Bizzaro's fist from hitting me in the face, but defective clone or not, he was still a Superman clone and I was sent crashing into a burning machine on the other side of the lab from the strength of the punch.

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"Ow." I muttered as I shoved my way out of the jagged bits of metal and rolled my wrist.

Definitely gonna feel that bruise later. But more important thing first, dealing with Bizzaro.

"Alright, you asked for it!"

I flared my ki and shot towards Bizzaro, who was already turning to focus back on Superman. But I had already had my dibs call ignored and then been attacked, so I had no issues crashing into him and driving him through a row of cloning tubes. I heard Luthor shouting in the background, but he wasn't important right now.

Superman could deal with him.

Bizzaro burst out of the wreckage with a roar and took a swing at me. It was fast, but unlike the original, it was sloppy. So I was easily able to duck under it and give him a quick kick to the ribs.

He reflexively caught my leg before I could spin away and when I went to kick him with the other to free myself he caught that one too.

Bizzaro gave me a crooked grin and I gave him a sharp one in return. Next thing he knew my hands were cupped a few inches from his face as I blasted him with a Ki beam.

As expected, he let go of my legs to shield his face and I poured more energy into the attack hoping to do some actual damage. I wasn't sure if it worked, but it definitely sent the clone flying backwards.

I wasn't letting up though!

I surged forward only for part of a column to crumble right on top of me, it slowed me down a bit but a bit of rock wasn't enough to stop me from getting close to my opponent! But…why wasn't he looking at me?

"Superman…save, Lois?" he mumbled, more to himself than anything and I took the risk to check over my shoulder to see what he was looking at.

At some point Luthor and the scientist cleared out but it looked like Lois got caught under some of the rubble. I don't know what Superman had been doing before that, but right now he was carefully lifting a big chunk of the building off his girlfriend's leg.

Superman had it handled, there was no reason it should distract from our fight!

Even the sound of part of the roof collapsing wasn't going to distract me from this fight as I turned back to Bizzaro, but he obviously didn't feel the same. He was still looking behind me –

Whoosh!

– at least he was until he blitzed past me towards the others!

"Hey! You're fighting…me…" I trailed off as I saw that Bizzaro wasn't taking the opportunity to attack his original.

He was stopping the giant section of the ceiling I heard falling just a second ago from landing on both Superman and Lois.

"Me hold. You go!" The clone told the others, even as he struggled under the weight. To pretty much everyone's shock considering he said no one was leaving just a minute ago and said he was going to kill Superman. "Me no am Superman. YOU am Superman. Superman…save Lois."

Oh.

This wasn't a change of heart. Up until a moment ago Bizzaro had at least partly truly believed that he was the original Superman. I don't know what the last straw was, but that apparently wasn't the case anymore.

And I guess that meant our fight was over.

Superman gave his clone a nod and quickly scooped Lois up before getting her out of the lab. The lab I just remembered was sitting on a huge bomb because I got too wrapped up in trying to fight Bizzaro!

"Hey, you gotta leave too!" I shouted, blasting the ceiling slab to pieces and moving to shove Bizzaro towards the door but he wasn't budging for some reason!

"No leave, me no am Superman. Me belong here." He denied.

I was getting flashbacks to Donna, "That's stupid! So what if you aren't Superman!? That doesn't mean you should just throw your life away, you're still a person!"

"Bizzaro…am person?"

I pushed harder and this time got him to take a few stumbling steps. "Of course you're a person! And you still need to finish our fight so get, moving, already!" Another push got me a few more feet when Bizzaro suddenly shifted and made me stumble past him. Before I could do anything, he grabbed me by both arms so they were pinned to my sides and picked me up.

"Hey! What are you–?"

"Monkey girl good person." The clone stated as he shifted me to a side. "But no place for Bizzaro out there."

"Wha-?"

"But me am hero, so me save you!"

The last thing I saw before Bizzaro threw me up through a hole in the roof was his crooked smile, but this one was different, almost proud of what he had done, before the building blew up with him still inside.

…

…

I don't know how long I hovered there watching the remains of the burning lab, but I just couldn't bring myself to look away even when Superman flew over carrying Lois. No matter how hard I focused…there were just no Ki signatures down there.

"Califa? Are you okay?"

I didn't know how to answer that right now.

"Why didn't he escape? There was more than enough time!" I asked instead.

Something dripped down my cheek and I angrily brushed it away with the back of my hand.

Superman and Lois exchanged a look but I still couldn't look away from the lab.

"I don't know." Superman said eventually. "I can't say what he was thinking in the end. Maybe he thought there wasn't a place for him in the world. But what I do know is that in the end, he chose to be a hero and make sure that you got out."

"That's stupid." I growled as more liquid dripped down my face, I brushed that away too. "It doesn't matter where you come from, as long as you're alive there's a place for you somewhere."

"That's a good attitude to have." Lois said, "but you don't have to keep it in. You're allowed to feel sad."

What was she – ?

I felt something roll down my cheek and this time I caught it in my hand.

It was water.

…oh, I was crying…