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The good guys always win.
That's usually the rule of the universe. They arrive just in time to save the day, save their loved ones, their family.
But bad things do happen to good people...
Even if you're Superman, let alone Clark Kent.
It all starts like this:
Bruce Wayne had a merger with LexCorp. Lex Luthor had died from cancer due to constant exposure to Kryptonite.
Hoisted by his own petard.
LexCorp needed direction and stability and who else better than Batman?
Now usually, this would have been a great cause for celebration but alas.
The Joker was bored.
Perhaps not seeing Batman for a few days caused this; but sane people would never understand the mind of a madman.
And therein began the tragedy.
"Where's your daddy bats?" Joker crackled as he once again unleashed chaos on Gotham for the umpteenth time.
"None of your business." Dick, as Nightwing responded curtly. The Red Hood was with the outlaws, Red Robin with the Teen Titans and Robin, Signal and Spoiler had gotten infected with a new strain of Scarecrow's fear toxin just hours earlier.
"I'm so bored! Nobody want to play with me! I'm tired of seeing you little Robins everywhere!"
Nightwing who was already exhausted coming all the way from Bludhaven directly ignored this comment, gave the Joker a harsh beat down and threw him into the asylum.
Business as usual.
The Joker would sulk for a while and would later break out, cause chaos and rinse and repeat.
The keyword being usually.
Not this time.
Because the Joker was bored.
Really bored.
He'd gotten tired of routine. He could predict the bats, they could predict him.
The game wasn't interesting anymore.
It's his job as the villain to find a new hero to hunt.
He wants to go back to being feared.
And fear him they will.
The Joker decided on his target.
Superman would rue the day he met the Joker.
"Oh my, my, Superman! My buddy! My pal! What brings to ol' Gotham? Are you here for a little ol' me? I'm touched!" The Joker said as he held a school bus full of crying kindergarten kids hostage.
Again, business as usual. Nothing to see here. Just everyday cruelty that Gotham citizens had learnt to turn a blind eye.
Superman, or rather Clark Kent couldn't turn away.
His daughter was on that bus.
Lois Lane, the child named after her mother had died in childbirth, was the only thing that kept Clark going after losing both his mother, father and wife.
How and who chose Gotham for a field trip was currently irrelevant, Clark was already planning on writing a scathing article on that.
So it was clear to anyone, let alone the Joker who thrives on pushing people's buttons, that Superman was severely agitated.
A distracted Superman and fear toxin don't go well together.
You've seen this story before, you know how it goes.
Superman infected with toxin kills Lois Lane, and the bus of kids.
The Joker records it live.
Once the toxins clear, he kills the Joker.
Live.
And here is where the difference lies.
The Joker underestimated Superman. He had assumed that he was like Batman, kill a few kids and nothing changes.
Superman is not Batman.
Superman can never be Batman because he's not a self-righteous vigilante furry who should have gotten therapy.
He's an alien who was taught to be human.
By humans.
No more anchors to this universe anymore.
Nothing was holding him back anymore.
Arkham Asylum and Blackgate was a massacre.
The Son Of Krypton left no survivors in the blink of an eye. He tore through the criminal gangs and mafia, the traffickers and drug dealers.
All the crimes he had to overlook because of *morals*.
Look at where morals got him now.
By the time Batman with prep time got all his contingencies ready, Superman was through with Gotham's rogues. And other cities.
He had also go worldwide, killing dictators, rapists, killers and what have you.
In the blink of an eye.
Everyone, the JL included now found out that Superman had been holding back on his speed.
He was faster than the Flash and Captain Marvel.
Combined.
Anger and grief, despair, loss are undeniably great motivators.
But this wasn't enough for Superman. He was well aware that his actions will cause a power vacuum.
But alas, behold, look upon this barren land and see it groweth no fucks.
The world might as well join him in his misery.
So Kal-El flew to Pluto to rest. And grieve. Truly grieve.
Everything that made his world was gone.
It was bad enough that he lived with the knowledge that he would outlive his wife.
It was terrible enough that the Kryptonian genes in his daughter killed her mother.
It was even worse that it was also slowly killing his child, at most she would only live till she was ten.
She was barely three when she died. Somehow, his dog, Krypto knew she was gone and he also followed soon after.
Superman had met evil versions of himself. He didn't know what was their turning point but now...
He understood.
Was this a fixed point? Would nothing ever change?
Clark Kent was absolutely fucking pissed. He was going change this damn story no matter what.
No matter what.
Earth-0
"Which hurts more…. forehand or backhand?" The clown whistled, all the while grinning.
Jason Todd screamed and screamed and realised that no one was coming to save the street rat.
Until a deep blue portal opened and out came out a Superman.
Who instantly killed the Joker and Sheila Haywood, dismantled the bomb and went back into the portal.
Till this day, Jason isn't sure it wasn't a fever dream.
All that remained of the Joker and Haywood was ashes. Every electronical and mechanical object was fried and even magicians didn't find a trace of temporal distortions.
It left everyone bewildered.
Earth-3
Superman, Clark Kent under Joker's toxin, was about killing his mother in all but blood, Martha Kent who had a bomb placed in her heart that would destroy Metroplis in a nuclear explosion.
The Joker crackled in the background.
That would be his last breath.
Kal-El would hold this version of his Ma close, remove the bomb to her heart as he had done in other universes prior.
Obliterate the Joker on the spot to ashes.
He had learnt his lesson from one universe that had its Batman revive the Joker.
Kal-El had gone back to finish the job permanently this time.
Clark Kent would wake up from his fever toxin induced rage and find that the world had seen him kill the clown.
It's ruled as self-defence.
Clark Kent in this dimension would simply retire and go home to his Ma and Pa.
Let the world save itself for once.
In his darkest hour, it was another him from a different universe or timeline who saved the day.
Not the JL nor the humans he had tried so hard to save all this time.
Morals don't mean shit if it means he has to sacrifice his family.
Clark Kent of this universe would forever claim amnesia to the event even when being put under Wonder Woman's lasso.
His retirement is met with backlash.
"I would not retire, if my conditions are met: I want hazard pay from every country I have directly or indirectly saved." He spokely curtly at a press conference.
He's met with crickets.
"What does an alien need money for?" A reporter asked.
"I'm a hero when I save the world and an alien when I ask for compensation? Firefighters, police workers, EMTs, healthcare workers are paid for saving lives. I do the same so why shouldn't I get paid?"
Silence.
Bruce Wayne and surprisingly Lex Luthor offer to step up but Clark Kent refuses and says that the JL should not be under the control of American billionaires.
They reach an impasse.
The amount Superman wants isn't something governments of the world are ready to give.
So he retires and tells Wayne and Luthor to leave him alone or they'll have an evil Superman on their hands.
Earth-4
Barbara Gordon opened the door, she saw ashes at the doorstep.
Puzzled, she wondered if some psycho wanted to threaten her father again.
She doesn't have time for this because the Joker has been making some weird threats to her dad.
She'll check the surveillance footage later.
Later, all the footage would show is the Joker at her doorstep and he just turning to ash as he knocked on the door.
Once again, magicians, the Flashes, JL Dark and Batman would be utterly baffled.
Needless to say Babs is forcefully tossed into a cuddle pile with the bat family.
Earth-5
"You either choose between the Joker or me!" Jason Todd revived from the dead and now known as The Red Hood screams at Bruce Wayne, Batman.
Batman doesn't even have the chance to fling the batarang at his son's throat before watching the Joker turn to ashes in his eyes. He spots a blue portal just before losing consciousness.
He would wake up and find that Jason has disappeared and that the Joker was dead and so were the inmates of Arkham Asylum.
Dimensional interference was suspected but there was no solid proof.
It's not like there was an avenging angel going through universes just to kill the Joker?
Everyone laughed it off.
Meanwhile, Jason Todd was forcibly kidnapped by Kal-El on his dimension hopping hobby.
Since anti-heroes would rather dimension hop than go to therapy to discuss feelings.
Having someone else along him helped. Jason Todd thought he was crazy until he met this Kal-El.
The duo went across different universes killing the Joker, stopping him from making Joker Junior and injuring Duke's parents.
There was even a universe where Brucie Wayne put a bounty on the Joker.
Jason Todd enjoyed torturing the Joker, Kal-El took pictures and collected the bounty.
And blackmailed the Clark Kent in that universe into using the money.
Clark Kent would turn himself in, if he committed a crime, but it's quite a different story if it was his Ma and Pa framed for injuring the Joker.
After killing countless Jokers, the duo finally found a sense of peace and purpose.
And they lived happily ever after.
THE END