Damian Gives Superman His First Order
"Kal-El, Move! You Can't Take That Hit!"
The industrial zone burned behind them—collapsed smokestacks, ruptured gas lines, flames licking the sky. Every time Doomsday moved, it sent another shockwave through the metal graveyard.
Superman hovered above the battlefield, bruised and bleeding down one side of his face. The last hit had rattled him. Badly.
Doomsday crouched, bones shifting along its arms.
Damian recognized the posture instantly.
Not from training.
Not from this world.
From memory.
That's the leap—the one that broke Superman's ribs in the animated version.
And this Doomsday looked even angrier.
Even faster.
Even deadlier.
Superman didn't see it.
Damian did.
His eyes widened.
"TOOTHLESS—TAKE US UP!"
The dragon shot into the air in a vertical blast. Damian stood on the saddle, wind ripping his cape back as he scanned the ground.
There.
Doomsday's legs flexed.
Bones sharpened.
And Superman was directly in front of it, preparing to counter with brute force.
He didn't know.
He didn't understand what was about to happen.
The League didn't know this creature.
But Damian did.
1. THE FIRST ORDER
Damian inhaled sharply—Sun Breathing filling his lungs, sharpening his senses—and then he screamed with all the authority in his body:
"SUPERMAN — MOVE! YOU CAN'T TAKE THAT HIT!"
The voice cut through everything.
Through fire.
Through explosions.
Through the roaring monster below.
Superman's head snapped toward him.
Confusion.
Shock.
But also—trust.
Doomsday launched itself upward.
A sonic boom exploded outward from the ground.
It was aimed straight for Superman.
Just like the movie.
Just like the comic.
The hit that almost killed him.
But this time…
Clark moved.
He darted sideways, avoiding the brunt of the impact—only taking the shockwave instead of the direct strike.
It still sent him tumbling through the air, but he wasn't impaled.
He wasn't dying.
He survived.
Because Damian told him to.
2. SUPERMAN LOOKS AT DAMIAN DIFFERENTLY
Superman steadied himself midair, wiping dust and blood from his mouth.
He stared at Damian—not angry, not insulted.
But shaken.
Damian Wayne.
Thirteen years old.
On a dragon.
Commanding the battlefield like he'd been doing it for years.
Superman flew closer, dodging a piece of debris Doomsday threw behind him.
"Damian… how did you know that attack?"
Damian didn't look at him.
His eyes were on Doomsday, analyzing, calculating, planning.
"Because Doomsday always leads with a vertical strike after being grounded. He adapts. He learns. That's your warning pattern."
Superman blinked.
That was not information any human should know.
Batman, listening from above on the comms, froze.
Diana tightened her grip on her sword and shield.
J'onn narrowed his eyes.
Superman hovered beside Damian, voice low:
"…How do you know so much about something none of us have ever faced?"
Damian exhaled.
A slow, controlled breath.
Sun Breathing steadying him.
He spoke without hesitation:
"Because I've studied every monster in the universe."
Superman didn't fully understand.
But he believed him.
And right now, that belief saved his life.
3. THE SECOND ORDER — A STRATEGIC MOVE SUPERMAN NEVER EXPECTED
Doomsday roared so loudly that broken windows shattered blocks away.
It turned toward Superman—fixating on the strongest heat signature.
Damian raised his blade.
"Superman. Listen carefully."
Clark glanced sideways, ready.
Damian continued:
"If you keep going head-on with him, he'll kill you. You need to redirect him. I'll be the main target."
Superman's eyes widened.
"Damian, no—he's too dangerous."
"Exactly. And that's why you need to trust me."
Superman hesitated.
This was crazy.
Reckless.
Impossible.
And yet—
Damian had already saved Wonder Woman's life.
He'd already saved J'onn.
He'd saved him.
Superman clenched his fists.
"…What do you need me to do?"
Damian's lips curled into a fierce, determined grin.
"Push him toward the steel refinery. There's enough liquid metal there to slow him down—and I have a plan."
Superman stared at this child—this son of Batman—who spoke like a battlefield general.
Then Superman nodded.
A real, genuine nod of acknowledgment.
"Understood. I'll follow your lead."
Batman heard every word.
His heart almost stopped.
4. DOOMSDAY CHARGES — THE PLAN BEGINS
Doomsday ripped up a chunk of concrete the size of a truck and hurled it toward Damian.
Toothless spiraled upward, dodging the projectile by inches.
Damian stood tall on the saddle, sword pointed at the monster.
"Let's go, Kal-El!"
Superman blurred forward, slamming his shoulder into Doomsday's chest—redirecting its movement, forcing it toward the refinery.
Wonder Woman and J'onn joined in, pushing from opposite sides.
And above them all…
Toothless circled, building plasma energy.
Damian's voice echoed over comms and the battlefield:
"Move it into position! We only get one chance at this!"
Superman roared back:
"Then let's make it count!"
The world shook.
The battle shifted.
And for the first time in DC history—
Superman was following Damian Wayne's orders.
How Do You Know This Much…?"
Superman Confronts Damian Mid-Battle**
The refinery loomed ahead—towers of steel, vats of molten metal glowing like miniature suns. Wonder Woman and J'onn forced Doomsday toward the containment zone. Superman flew alongside Damian and Toothless, keeping pace even as debris rained down around them.
Doomsday roared, a sound that cracked metal sheets and rattled Damian's bones.
Clark turned his head, eyes narrowed.
Confused.
Disturbed.
And needing answers now.
"Damian."
"How do you know this much about Doomsday?"
Damian didn't answer immediately.
He was watching the monster.
Studying every twitch.
Every limb movement.
Every pattern.
Sun Breathing kept his heartbeat steady—kept his mind sharp even with fear clawing at his chest.
Toothless growled beneath him, sensing his rider's tension.
Superman pressed again, louder this time:
"No one on Earth knows what that creature is. It's not in any Kryptonian database. The League has never encountered anything like it."
He paused.
"So how do you know?"
Even in the middle of a battlefield, Superman's inhuman hearing caught the tiny hitch in Damian's breath.
He knew the boy was hiding something.
Batman heard it too over the comms and clenched his jaw.
Damian Finally Answers — A Half-Truth
Damian exhaled slowly.
He couldn't tell Clark the real truth.
Not about reincarnation.
Not about the system.
Not about knowing future events.
So he chose something that sounded impossible…
…but not unbelievable.
"I didn't learn this from Earth, Kal-El."
Superman's eyes widened just a fraction.
Damian kept going.
"When I left the League of Assassins, I traveled the world for years. I went farther than anyone knew."
He swallowed.
This part was true.
He had found an alien ship.
Just not the one he was describing.
"Off the coast of Markovia, I found a crashed Gordanians scout ship. It was centuries old—rotting underwater."
Superman's expression shifted.
He knew the Gordanians.
Enemies of the Tamaraneans.
Pirates.
Hunters.
Damian continued, voice steady:
"Inside the ship, I found fragments of stolen alien databases. Most were corrupted. But one file survived."
He looked directly at Superman now.
"A file about a Kryptonian bioweapon called Doomsday."
Superman froze.
Wonder Woman—still forcing Doomsday toward the molten steel—heard every word.
Even Batman went utterly silent on the line.
Damian added carefully:
"The file said Doomsday was… created on prehistoric Krypton."
Superman's stomach tightened.
"Created?"
Damian nodded once.
"Genetically engineered by an alien scientist named Bertron. Through thousands of iterations. Growing an infant, killing it, cloning it, evolving it… again and again."
Superman felt sick.
Damian finished quietly:
"The file said he was meant to be the ultimate living weapon. Unstoppable. Ever-evolving. Death embodied."
For a moment—even mid-battle—Superman's heart dropped.
That… sounded right.
Monstrously right.
And Damian's knowledge suddenly made horrifying sense.
Superman's Reaction — Shock, Unease… and Trust
Superman flew closer to Damian, eyes softening but still full of confusion.
"…Why didn't you tell us sooner?"
Damian looked away.
"Because I didn't think it would ever matter."
Another half-truth.
"The Gordanians database was incomplete. I didn't even know if the file was real. And I didn't want to scare anyone with something that might've been misinformation."
Superman absorbed that.
And despite everything…
He believed the boy.
Maybe not fully.
But enough.
"Damian… Thank you. You saved lives with that knowledge."
Damian stared back, unblinking.
"I'm not done yet."
But Someone Else Was Listening… and Knows Something Is Off
On the comms, Martian Manhunter narrowed his eyes.
Damian's mental "signature"—even unreadable now—didn't match someone who was lying about what he found.
But it did match someone lying about how much he found.
Batman said nothing.
He'd noticed the same thing.
But this wasn't the time.
Doomsday smashed into a steel tower, molten metal spilling.
The fight was about to get far, far worse.