"Lois."

She nearly jumped when Luthor appeared suddenly behind her.

Leaning over her, he followed her line of sight until it stopped at Wonder Woman.

She frowned and clutched her drink a little harder than necessary, causing some of it to spill onto her shoes.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing," he said silkily. "Just checking up on our resident ace reporter." He straightened and took a puff from his cigar.

"But then it's Kent who's been getting all the real stories lately."

Lois set her jaw and turned to face him, finding her ire raised even further by the smirk that was so blatantly plastered over his expression.

And to think, she'd dated this loser once.

"What do you want?" she asked harshly.

"Wonder Woman is worthy of your envy. She's beautiful, intelligent, noble�she's glorious. I can only think of one star that burns brighter in the heavens."

"Don't screw around, Lex. You hate Superman, don't change your tune now. No one would buy it."

"Why," he continued, "with a legion of their offspring, they could make quite a constellation."

"Good for them."

With condescension, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"There's always Aquaman�"

She shrugged his hand off.

"Stow it," she said, tossing back the rest of her drink defiantly.

"My, my," Luthor said. "I believe I've lit a fire in you. My apologies. I can understand being second best�"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I was Metropolis before Superman came to my city. But he eclipsed me in all his red-and-blue glory. But I think she can forgive me. In the end, it is I who will be remembered for making her great."

"Delusions of grandeur," she replied, smirking back at him.

"I built this city, Superman only protects it. A glorified policeman."

He waved his hand towards the crowd.

"And now he has his own police force. Hurrah."

He raised his hand in a mock toast.

"Funny coming from a man who wears a Kryptonite ring. Only criminals need to protect themselves from 'glorified policemen'."

"Touché, touché," he chuckled. He looked over at Wonder Woman again.

"A striking woman, but somehow I think my chances are�"

"Near impossible?" Lois laughed aloud.

"I was thinking ill suited. Still, it's a shame, all that time you've invested in the Man of Steel. Putting yourself in mortal danger so he could leap to your rescue�"

"I don't need rescuing," she replied indignantly.

"That's not what the tabloids say�surely you've heard�"

"They also say you're an humanitarian and a philanthropist, so I take it with a grain of salt."

He leaned over again conspiratorially, and spoke lowly.

"I could even the playing field."

"What?" Lois replied, stepping away from him. "You're insane."

"Just think about it," he said, and walked off into the crowd.

***

The ceiling was shattered.

They landed in the middle of the room, anger playing over all their faces.

"Imposters!"

Superman pointed at Wonder Woman.

That alone would've come as a shock, if not for that fact that behind him stood an exact duplicate of her.

***

Bruce Wayne remained calm, glancing over the confrontation taking place in front of him.

In moments, he knew it would escalate into full-scale battle.

The citizens trapped in the middle of this conflict had no protection against the chaos that was about to ensue.

Quietly, he stole away into the bathroom, hoping that the real party wouldn't be started without him.

***

Luthor stepped forward, his arms out, looking over at Superman.

"Just a moment!" he yelled.

"No fighting. Surely there is a peaceful way to resolve this problem."

Superman looked over at him angrily, but crossed his arms. Batman stood behind him, and unsatisfied with his lack of action, stepped forward.

"They're not human," he started. "They're Synthizoids."

"What?!" Luthor said enraged. "That's impossible!"

"You should know," Superman said. "You created them."

***

Lois pulled out her writing pad and got to work.

Luthor was up to something. Only he could come up with something so devious and such short notice.

She was positive that was the real Wonder Woman she'd been talking to earlier, and she knew that Bruce was Batman. Luthor had really done himself in this time.

And it was all hers for the front page.

"What's going on?"

Lois spun around to see Clark Kent standing behind her, looking uncomfortable in a tux.

"This looks serious," he began.

"It is," she said, and started when she saw Batman breach the men's bathroom door and disappear into the rafters.

"Gotta run, Kent," she said, taking off after Batman.

"See you on the second page."

***

It was total pandemonium.

Mostly to keep the crowd under control, and to make sure they didn't hurt themselves.

Green Lantern created a protective barrier to steer them towards the exits. He was on his own, not sure which Superman to take orders from.

So he did what he knew was best, to protect. Hawkgirl helped by herding them towards the exits, as she dodged the blows of her opponent.

It didn't help that the other Green Lantern produced a giant hammer to smash his head in with.

***

Meanwhile, Batman was sticking to the rafters, trying to tell which hero was which, and how soon to act on that.

The imposter Batman and Superman were teamed up on another Superman.

A slow smile spread over his face. At least he knew who the real Superman was.

Then Luthor appeared, holding his ring hand forward as the double-teamed Superman sank to the ground.

"The real Superman is weakened by Kryptonite," he said.

Batman shook his head. That man would get his due someday. It was time to bail his friend out, and to rid themselves of their doppelgangers.

***

Wonder Woman was flying over her imposter, lassoing her in with her magic rope. It would be obvious to everyone that the robot couldn't fly and wasn't the real woman.

But she was still strong. The droid swung Wonder Woman around by her lasso, and flung her towards the crowd into the wall.

It started to collapse on top of her, but her concern was with the crowd standing nearby.

Thankfully, Green Lantern gathered the debris as the wall came crashing down on her.

She hoped it would last before the imposter Flash who was coming up behind him put a crack in his skull.

***

Flash was having a time with the Green Lantern double. He knew that the real deal was the man protecting the crowd, and decided to get the other off his back.

The problem was, this *thing*, whatever it was, was super-strong and fast.

It could counter his moves fairly well, so all he could do to deal with it was to maintain a constant hyperspeed state to avoid his punches.

Maybe if he circled it fast enough, he could disrupt it.

***

Martian Manhunter was struggling against his attacker. His mental abilities told him that his adversary was not a living being at all, so he could unleash his full fury.

Unfortunately, his full-fury had caused him to rip off his opponent's arm, which was filled with sparking circuitry. The circuitry caught fire on the stage curtains, which left him�.

Pinned against the stage, fighting his own inner fears and a robot with one arm.

***

Batman launched a grapple and yanked Luthor away from the confrontation.

He gripped Luthor tightly by his lapels, drawing him close.

"You're in on this, and I'll prove it, no matter how long it takes."

He tossed the man away and yelled to Green Lantern to coral him with the others. Hopefully that would give Superman enough time to recover.

***

Superman lay on the ground, getting smashed into the floor by his two robot adversaries.

Batman had taken the Kryptonite away, but he needed time.

He felt another blow slam his head into the concrete foundation. Every time this happened, he took for granted his weakness in these moments.

"Stop!!!"

Lois Lane threw herself in front of the robots, and lay over him.

"Lois�" he said weakly. "Get away�"

"No!"

***

Flash was thrown to the ground as he finally destroyed his opponent.

He looked over at the crowd, safe behind Lantern's barrier.

The explosion caused the droid Hawkgirl to explode in mid-air at the blast as well.

But GL and Hawkgirl weren't so safe and were knocked unconscious as they were slammed into GL's field by the combined blast.

Flash stood up, stunned. That thing had a detonation charge!

He hoped they were all right. He must've contained the fake Flash in a bubble when he'd taken him out. He saw Manhunter being tossed around by his playmate and the curtains were on fire! Manhunter had a phobia of fire. He had to help him.

But the Superman and Batman were right next to each other, looming over the real Superman and Lois Lane. If they exploded.

He was torn, unsure of what to do.

***

The real Batman stood behind his fake and Superman's.

He'd been thrown to the floor when the fake Green Lantern had exploded. The real Green Lantern was unconscious on the floor.

Now, Lois was caught in the middle of the two imposters who likely had the same capabilities.

And Manhunter was still busy with his duplicate. God, the curtains were on fire! And if that thing went up�

He looked over to see Flash standing immobile.

"Flash!" He felt the man's eyes meet his. "Deal with the Manhunter. I'll take care of this."

The man swept away in a stream of red as Batman leapt into action.

***

Superman was strong again, but Lois hung limp in his arms.

He shifted so Lois was beneath him. The android delivered a kidney-punch.

"Lois, you have to get away," he started, as she stirred in his arms.

Her eyes flickered open, as she met his gaze.

"I'm not leaving you," she said weakly. "I may not be Wonder Woman, but�"

Superman was wide-eyed as the Superman robot yanked him away, tossing him towards the ceiling.

She shook as she raised on one elbow. Her nerves were shot. This would make one hell of a story�

Batman was nearby, fighting off the stronger of the two. His martial arts abilities were nearly ineffective against Luthor's construct.

Then the robot blew up.

Lois ducked and covered, as the world went white again.

She opened her eyes, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Bruce!"

***

Superman was sent into the atmosphere.

Pushing past the clouds, his head finally cleared, and he went soaring back towards the earth.

With his x-ray vision, he could see the battle taking place below.

It looked like Flash and Manhunter had their situation under control. At least they were safely away from the others.

Batman was much too close to his opponent. If it went up near him, even his skills couldn't save him.

And Lois was still there, near him. Lois could be hurt by the blast, but Batman could be killed.

Damned having to make such a choice. Luthor would pay for this�

***

Outside, Wonder Woman had gathered herself from the rubble, and mustered all her strength to punch a hole clear through the robot of herself.

The circuits sizzled around her arm, and she flung the construct away and over onto the balcony below.

Then the thing exploded.

She leaned out over the railing, watching the thing blaze in the moonlight. Thankfully there were no civilians below.

Then the explosion from inside the building threatened to push her over the edge, but she held her footing against the searing wind.

Everyone was out by now. There were only her teammates to worry about now.

She pushed her way through the collapsed wall, only to find Green Lantern collapsed on the floor.

Pulling him out, she lit to the air and flew him to the throngs waiting on the street below.

The camera lights flashed in her face as she headed back up to the battle.

Reaching the top, she steeled herself against another blast and pushed forward.

She turned swiftly in the air as Superman whizzed by her with Batman in his grip.

Her eyes went quickly back inside, to see the Superman imposter towering over Lois Lane.

***

"I don't think it's me you're competing with," she said, dropping Lois gently on the ground. "I think you're competing with yourself."

Lois smiled weakly and looked to the blazing tower above them.

"Maybe you're right."

Wonder Woman stepped away to take her leave.

"Perhaps it's time to get your head out of the clouds, and back on the ground."

Wonder Woman stared over Lois' shoulder, so she turned to followed her gaze.

It fell on Clark Kent who was standing in the distance recording a police officer's words for posterity.

Clark! In all of the chaos, she'd never wandered if he'd made it out safe or not.

Lois stared at him for a moment. Clark, in his suit that was just one size too big for him, his glasses sliding down his nose for just a moment as he pushed them back up. His casual, comfortable stance as he carried on a conversation with the cop, listening carefully to every word the man said.

An ordinary man in an ordinary world.

She felt a silly smile spread over her face.

"Time to clean up the mess," Wonder Woman sighed, and shot off into the sky.

***

Clark had settled into bed for a well-deserved rest.

Lois had done the wrong thing interfering. She could've been killed.

Clark smiled as he pulled the sheets over him.

He'd forgive her.

After all, she'd asked him out on a date.

***

The End