Superman pushed himself to his limits, his powers still weakened from the Kryptonite arrow Ollie struck him with. He had gotten careless during the battle, too preoccupied with his own thoughts. The sudden return of his dead wife, Lois Lane, weighed heavily on his thoughts. He tried to push it out of his mind completely as he moved to find Chronos.

His attempts to find Walker Gabriel had proven futile. The Clock King had done a good job of hiding him. But instead, Superman was able to locate Gabriel's predecessor. David Clinton, who was now living in the Kane Fox Retirement Home in Ivy Town. He had to reach Clinton, before things continued to spiral out of control.

The timequakes had already resulted in the resurrection of Lois, but they also brought about other catastrophes. Lex Luthor was now in command of the White House once more. The dead were beginning to rise from the grave in far greater frequency. Japanese aircraft from World War II appeared on radar heading for Pearl Harbor. If the time compression was allowed to continue, it would not be long before time itself would start to unravel.

He could feel his strength slowly returning to him as his Kryptonian physiology converted the ultraviolet rays from the Earth's yellow sun into energy to fuel his great powers. However, he did think it was odd that no one from the Justice League had caught up to him yet. Wonder Woman or the Martian Manhunter could probably have caught up to him at his current speed, and the Flash could have done so easily.

Superman had hoped they had come to their senses. Realized he was telling the truth. Or he then thought of something worse. What if something had happened to them? Perhaps the Clock King's interference with Hypertime caused them to blink out of existence?

He couldn't think about that now. The Spectre was clear on the risks associated with the Clock King's machinations, and if Superman wasn't able to stop him, there was no one else. He and he alone held a true memory of what had happened. He had told Steel what happened, but another timequake could easily erase that knowledge from his friend's mind. Only Superman was protected from the timequakes, thanks to the efforts of the Spectre.

Ivy Town was coming closer. He was flying just above the speed of sound now. Still nowhere close to his top speed, but it would have to do in this situation. There was something off in the distance, though. Coming towards him, faster and faster. He tried to focus his telescopic vision, but it was a blur.

A blur of blue and red.

He couldn't register what the blur was until it rammed into him. Superman flew back, but quickly righted himself. Whatever it was, it was extremely powerful. He hadn't felt a blow that strong in a long time. He shook it off and took sight of his attacker.

"You're playing a dangerous game, Kal."

He was slightly surprised to hear himself addressed by his Kryptonian name. The attacker was a woman, couldn't have been more than nineteen. Her great strength was in contradiction to her appearance—very slender, with thin arms and wrists. She had long, blonde hair and bright blue eyes—the same unearthly blue that Superman himself possessed. She wore a red cape, blue miniskirt, red boots, and a blue top—a top that had the same Kryptonian symbol emblazoned on it that Superman's had. On Earth, it bore a similarity to the letter "S" but on Krypton, it was a family crest. It signified her association with the House of El.

"Supergirl...?"

But this was not the Supergirl he came to know. She looked slightly different from the alien lifeform called Matrix and her strength was far greater.

"That's right, cousin," she said.

Cousin? Superman felt there was some nugget of truth in her statement. But there was something very off about it as well. Like a long-forgotten memory from a past life.

"You're losing your mind, Kal," said Supergirl. "As much as I don't trust Luthor, I know that you've been acting irrationally lately. I have to take you in before you cause any damage."

"That's not going to happen," said Superman.

"Kal, you're weakened. You know you can't fight me."

Superman half-smiled. "We'll see about that."

Metropolis

Lois Lane sat on a couch in Clark Kent's apartment. Her head rested in her hands as she tried to process the information that had just been given to her. She exhaled deeply and ran her hands through her long, black hair. Her mouth opened as if to speak, but she quickly closed it. She settled back into the couch, then sat forward again.

"So wait..." she began. "You mean to tell me that Clark... and Superman..."

"They're the same person," said Lana Lang. She sat beside Lois on the couch.

"...we are talking about the same Clark, right?" asked Lois.

"Yeah," said Lana.

Lois sat back. She stayed there for a moment before leaning forward again. She looked at Lana carefully. "...Clark Kent?"

Lana nodded.

"...and I'm married to him?"

"You were."

"Before I died."

"...right," said Lana.

Lois sighed. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head. Then, she started to laugh. Lightly at first, but it quickly evolved into full-blown laughter. Lana looked at her curiously and then she looked at their other companion. The armored hero called Steel also stood in the apartment, his sledgehammer resting on his shoulder.

"This is insane," said Lois. "That's all there is to it. I've lost my mind, haven't I? I'm dreaming this, right? This is a dream. Of course it's a dream, it's too messed up not to be a dream."

"I'm sorry Lois, but it's all true and it's happening," said Steel.

"So how is it all happening then?" asked Lois. "How do I go from being Mrs. Superman, knowing his secret identity, and being buried to suddenly waking up one day and having no memory of any of it?"

"The details are kind of fuzzy right now," said Steel. "I'm not sure if it's because Superman didn't know the whole story or if I'm just not remembering clearly. But time is being screwed with somehow. That's all I can really make out. I'm trying not to think too much about it, though. Because the more I think about it, the quicker I start to forget."

"It doesn't make any sense, though."

"Think about it, Lois," said Lana. "When you came to the Planet this morning, do you remember waking up in your apartment? Do you remember getting dressed, taking a shower, any of it?"

"Of... course I do," said Lois. But even she could hear the uncertainty in her voice. And the more she concentrated on what she did this morning, the more she realized she couldn't remember much before walking into the Daily Planet newsroom. "I mean... I think I do... don't I?"

Lois sighed again. "Okay... you're right, I don't remember. So this really is happening." She looked up at Steel. "Now what do we do about it?"

"I've been monitoring as many communication signals as possible with my armor," said Steel. "Right now, there's something happening near Ivy Town. Superman's locked in a battle with someone, and it's not going well."

"How can we help him with that?" asked Lana.

"You can't, but maybe I can," said Steel. "In the meantime, I need you two to try to find anything you can on a Walker Gabriel. According to Superman, he may be the one person who can reverse all this."

"Who's Walker Gabriel?" asked Lois.

"A time traveller, goes by the name Chronos," said Steel. "Try to find him, however you can. He might be our last hope."

Washington, D.C.

Secret Service agents were on alert. They had their guns drawn, searching for some trace of the Batman. He had somehow gotten into the White House and was presumably still inside. They had been searching for half an hour, though, and not one agent had reported any sign of him on the radio.

The ones in this hall stood with Manchester Black. He held a cigarette between his lips and puffed on it, while the agents tried to search the area. He scanned with his telepathy, but couldn't find any sign. Then, the lights in the room abruptly shut off.

Black could hear nothing but the sound of grunts and groans. He felt something brush by him, but when he scanned with his telepathy, he found nothing. The lights suddenly came back on, and the agents who were with him all lay incapacitated and unconscious on the ground. And standing at the end of the hall was a man who wore a black leather mask with long ears and a leather cloak that covered his body. There were thin white slits where his eyes should be, and he focused them on Black.

"Not bad," said Black. "How'd you manage that little trick?"

"Short-wave EMP," said the Batman. "Only lasts a few minutes, but that's all I need."

"Evidently," said Black. He removed his cigarette from his mouth and blew a smoke ring. "And my telepathy?"

The Batman just grinned.

"Fine, don't tell me," said Black.

"Who's behind this?" asked Batman. "I know it's not Luthor. This is too big, even for him."

"Gent by the name of the Clock King."

"Don't toy with me."

"I'm not," said Black.

"There's no way William Tockman could orchestrate this," said the Batman. "What about your 'insurance policy' against Superman?"

"That's a little something we call 'Supergirl'—the original model."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Figure it out, mate." Black dropped his cigarette on the ground. "You do realize, of course, that now I'm going to tear your arms off and beat you to death with them without lifting a finger, right?"

"Not quite."

"And why's that?"

"Because I have my own insurance policy," said the Batman.

"Oh rea—"

Black's sentence was cut off as light bent in front of him. The form of the Martian Manhunter suddenly became visible. One punch from him knocked Black out cold.

"Thanks for getting here so fast," said Batman.

"Once I received your summons, I didn't have much of a choice," said J'onn.

"What did you tell the League?"

"I told them to wait on standby for now—Ollie in particular wasn't very happy about that," said J'onn. "What's going on here?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," said Batman. "He said the Clock King was behind this, but I don't see how that's possible."

"Superman said the same thing," said J'onn. "The name Walker Gabriel was also on his thoughts."

"Can you read Black's mind?" asked Batman.

"His defenses may still be employed while unconscious, but his telepathic abilities aren't stronger than mine," said J'onn. He knelt beside the fallen villain and laid his fingers on Black's temples. After a moment, he stood and looked at the Batman. "Both he and Superman were telling the truth, or at least that's what they believe. Black also knows where this Walker Gabriel is."

"Good, let's go," said Batman.

Outside Ivy Town

A blue and red streak flew through the sky like a meteor, crashing with a thunderous BOOM. A large, smoking crater sat in the middle of the plainfield the man had struck. Supergirl flew closer to the crater, hovering above it. In the center of the large crater, Superman pulled himself to his feet.

His body ached. His muscles felt strained and he wanted nothing more than to just sleep for a week. But the Man of Steel knew that was not one of his options, not in this instance. He looked up at the young woman who called herself her cousin. She certainly had the power to back up a claim of Kryptonian heritage, and Superman was beginning to believe her.

"I don't want to fight you," she said.

"Then don't," said Superman.

"It's not that easy."

"I know, you're just doing what you think is right." He looked up at her and his eyes glowed a bright red as he hit her with a dose of his heat vision. "But so am I."

The strike from the heat vision provided a momentary distraction and Superman flew from the crater straight towards Supergirl, his fist connecting with her jaw in an uppercut. She reeled from the blow, marveling at how quickly he was regaining his strength. She came back at him, swinging forward with one of her fists. Superman avoided it and grabbed her wrist. He used her momentum against her, throwing her down to the ground.

Once she slammed into the ground below, she only had a moment before Superman barreled right down at her. The impact caused by the two Kryptonians created a second crater next to the first. The two traded blows between each other, with Superman attempting to avoid as much as possible. Supergirl was at her full power and at his present state, he wasn't able to contend with her as well as he would have hoped. He tried to avoid many of her blows, use her own strength against her. Kara, however, had no such qualms and simply hammered away like a blunt instrument.

Superman flew back from her and took a deep breath. He exhaled, his super breath causing gale force winds. The air around Supergirl began to grow colder. She could feel icicles beginning to form on her body. She countered with her own super breath, and the two found themselves in a stand-off. Supergirl further complicated the matter by releasing her heat vision in a pair of concentrated blasts that struck Superman's own eyes.

He turned away and closed his eyes. The pain was incredible. He blinked a few times and saw spots. His vision was blurred, he could barely make anything out. That's when Supergirl took advantage of his momentary weakness and barreled into him at full-force. She held him down and pummeled his face with her fists.

"Stand down!" she said, relenting in her attack for a moment.

"Never," said Superman.

Supergirl groaned and lifted him by his shirt, hovering into the air with her cousin in her grip. She heard something in the distance, coming in fast. She looked in the direction it was coming from and her vision could spot the form of a man with a red cape and wearing heavy metal armor flying towards her, a sledgehammer in his hands. Once he approached, he slowed and hovered before her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Steel," he said. "The President sent me to take over from here."

"He told me I was supposed to bring Superman to him."

"Change of plans," said Steel. Supergirl was not given a moment to reply, she just felt a blow as Steel's sledgehammer connected against the side of her face. She recovered quickly and glared at the armored hero, her eyes glowing red.

"So you're looking for a fight, huh?" she asked.

"If that's what it takes to stop you," said Steel.

Kara released Superman from her grasp and he fell to the ground. She then turned her attention to Steel. "You're gonna be sore in the morning."

"Boy, don't I know it..." Steel muttered under his breath.

He swung his sledgehammer again, but Supergirl grabbed it with one hand and pulled it from his grasp. She dropped it to the ground and swung with one of her fists. Steel was shocked by how strong she really was, and she came at him again with another blow. And another... and another. She rained them down upon John Henry Irons, without giving him a momentary rest. She moved around him at superhuman speed, preventing him from even landing a single blow of his own.

On the ground, Superman brought himself to his feet. He watched as Supergirl and Steel battled it out in the sky above him. He wanted to help Steel, but he knew why his friend had come—to provide a distraction. Rather than let Steel's efforts be in vain, Superman had to press on. He took to the air and flew towards Ivy Town, in search of David Clinton.