The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[TearsoftheWorld]

Headstrong to take you on... headstrong to take on anyone.

"Kara! We need to talk. Don't force me to do this."

The teenage Kryptonian turned around and saw Kyle Greystone standing behind her, his hand held up and pointed right at her. He had certainly taken the initiative to come and face her here, but he withheld his attack.

Kara clenched her fist.

"What's there to talk about? Honestly. Everyone is so worried about me. I'm fine. I feel great. Do you have any idea how awesome it feels to just let everything go?"

Ceri's car came rushing down the dirt path that served as the Kents driveway. Most other homes in the Smallville area had nice blacktop driveways and other elaborate decorations adorning their property. The Kents, like only a few other families, kept things simple and old-fashioned.

But their little family was anything but ordinary.

Once more the veins in her skin became blood red, the power in the Kryptonite enhanced ring flowing through her body before disappearing.

It was like an adrenaline rush, and Kara wanted more of it.

She wanted more power.

"I'm done with talking. I don't need to explain myself to anyone, AND NOT YOU OR ANYONE ELSE CAN STOP ME!"

With that, Kara disappeared from sight. She had tapped into her speed to move around faster than the human eye could see, and she raced all the way around her property until she came up behind Kyle, his hand still held up.

He might have been the Lord of Shadows or whatever, but this was Earth. Earth under the light of a yellow sun.

Kara raced forward while still moving at super speed, and she leaped up into the air while placing a kick right at Kyle's back.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

Kara was fast. I knew that but when she disappeared from my more than normal vision I reacted on instinct.

I rolled, so the blow that most likely would have broken my back just threw me back through the barn. She didn't expect me top fire off a darkbolt which impacted into her chest, flinging her out of the barn to crash into the oak tree in the yard.

Those weeks of training in Shadow were paying off.

I dropped a darkness field and said again, my voice not much louder than a whisper, "Kara, I don't want to do this but I'll take you down if I have to."

I knew she would be on me in a second, so I shifted into shadowform, causing the darkness to dissipate.

 

[Lunaramblings]

"Hey, we just heard, where're the kids? Everyone accounted for?" Dale called out to the officials as they had started out of their vehicles.

Edmund looked around the yard. Taking in the surroundings. Hoping to gleam anything. After a moment he looked at the officials. "Give me the word and I will have anything you boys need here. My company will foot the bill for whatever is needed."[/I]

Sheriff Miller grimaced at Edmund Tennylson. "Much as I appreciate your apparent willin'ness, Mister Tennylson, to pay for all of our local construction projects, the new clock tower an' all, your rolling in to glad-hand and seek PR strikes me at the moment a little more Luthor-esque than I'd like."

Edmund grimaced. Not an expression one might expect out of the supposed southern gentlemen. One most likely wouldn't expect his reaction either. "Allow me to enlighten your back country, po-dunk ass... Sheriff, my grandson was spose ta be in that there building. If you think for one minute I would lower myself to consorting with the likes of you for any reason but the well being of my family, you better find a looser hat, cause I reckon that one there is cuttin off what little blood flow the bacon lets through to your so called brain."

Edmund already had his fist balled when Dale stepped between him and the Sheriff, pushing Edmund back a step. Quickly Edmund regained his composure. Nodding to the Sheriff he began again.

"Sorry. Thats my blood is all. I just wanna do what's right by him."

He glanced away, and then swung his gaze back again, eyes half-lidded. "As for your son's question, we're still doing head-count. No sign of Merick as yet, m'sorry, but a couple of the teachers've confirmed there's no bodies at the blast site."

Adjusting his hat, Ethan harrumphed. "With that in mind, I'm hopin' y'all'll quit rubberneckin' an' either pitch in 9/11-style or at least take a step back an' let us count those heads."

At this, Harmony McClure came staggering up, looking wide-eyed and haggard, latching onto the first trustworthy creature she saw. Perhaps surprisingly, and perhaps because Harmony was slightly shell-shocked and off-kilter, this wasn't Sheriff Miller.

This was the man who used pepper spray to spice up his steaks. (Fact.)

"Doctor Tennylson," she panted, clutching her knees, holding her side, "thank God you're here. It's Pete. He found Mister Gordon... he's passed out or something, we don't know what."

"You should," she mumbled, pleading, "you should hurry. You can save him."

Dale and Edmund didn't wait for any sort of response from the Sheriff. Both took off at a full run. Dale lithe and agile like a gazelle as he sprinted into the chaos, Edmund low and fast like a great cat running down his prey. Both men knew Mr. Gordon. He was Merick's second favorite teacher, behind Rosy's dad that is. They had come to the open house, had met with him. He was a nice man. A GOOD man. The two men moved with all efficiency, dodging through hallways as they sprinted, never slowing.

Edmund literally leapt over Pete and the downed teacher as they entered the room, Dale slid to his knees beside Pete.

"What have we got Pete?" Dale checked vitals. They were solid. No apparent injury. What the hell... "Pete, start high, work low, look for any sign of injury"

Paul Gordon was beginning to stir as Dale and Pete looked for signs of trauma. He was mumbling as well. "Mer... here... gone... hurh..." Gordon opened his eyes and looked at Pete as Dale had begun examining his lower body for injuries.

Dale heard the mumbling. He understood. Merick HAD been here. Apparently he left just before the explosion... Maybe they are connected. Apparently Mr. Gordon saw his departure. This might take explaining later.

"Pete? Not that I am ungrateful... but why are my pants off... and why are you leaning over me... and... what the hell was that?" Paul Gordon laughed weakly. "Dale? What... You know, usually if a teacher is caught with his pants down with a student he gets fired... think I'm gonna request hazard pay?"

"Not a bad idea in this district. So, what happened?"

"Not sure. I was walking in... and boom. Next thing I know I am on the floor with you and Pete. Dale, why is your Dad standing on my desk?"

"We were in a hurry, he jumped over you guys. Desk was convenient landing zone. Guess he didn't want to trip on the french horn?"

Paul Gordon nodded as if that were the most logical explanation in the world.

 

[Lunaramblings]

As The Man emerged from the bedroom he was truly perplex. This was not where he was supposed to be. He was... oh shit.

The Man didn't see the fist until it connected with his jaw.

He was thrown across the floor as the impact drove him down.

"Fool. Do you think you are the only one with a stake here? Do you know the implications of what you have done? If you altered the course of the events that are in motion I will see to it that you are dealt with most severely." The figure stood menacingly, his cape fluttering.

"Matthew... I... I needed to do what I did. You can do what you feel is right, I have already." The Man stood and glared at the being before him.

"Your field trip is over. You will go home. Now, surrender the device. You are not trained in it's operation and it is a dangerous tool." The Being called Matthew extended his hand. "The stone. Now. You have no idea what catastrophe you could have caused."

The Man reached into his pocket and drew out a small stone and handed it over. "Send me home. Fine. I just hope that what I have done is enough."

In a flash the men are gone.

 

[AmenRa]

A Thunder God Walks the Earth

And even though he had cursed it, and called it names, and spat at it during the past nights and days, when he saw it now, for real, before him, Donald Blake smiled.

And he reached out for it.

His fingers, weak, battered, frozen, brushed against it's leather wrapped handle, and then those fingers closed around it.

The pale darkness of the night sky lit alive with blue-white light as a bolt from the heavens struck him in the center of the crater.

KRAAKKKAAA - BAADOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

And thunder rolled across the tundra.

In the center of the crater, at the bottom, the frozen soil had been turned to glass, and it smoldered and smoked. And in this center, coils of smoke rolled around him as he knelt with his winged helm bent low, his cape draped across his massive shoulders, and his right hand held strong and fast to the hammer that had brought him back.

Back to Midgard.

He stood, raising his head high to the heavens, raising the hammer called Mjolnir above him.

The caribou, frightened by the lightning, but too stunned to move, would be the only witnesses in their stupid gaze to see a Thunder God reborn.

As he held the hammer aloft, he spoke in a voice summoned from the highest hall of Asgard, a voice that so much sounded like thunder itself.

"Behold Mjolnir!" he shouted into the night, holding the hammer so the gods could once again look down upon it, "and I who wield it, for I am the Son of Odin.

"I am the God of Thunder!

"I am Thor!

"And I LIVE!!"

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara's kick had missed its intended mark, and Kyle saved himself from some immense pain by rolling away from her foot. He did not escape entirely from her attack, though, and was sent straight through the side of her barn. The Wraith had managed to fire off an attack of his own during the tumble, and Kara was hit squarely in the chest by one of his bolts.

Kara was fine.

The large oak tree she had crashed into was not. It was still standing, but the poor thing looked just about ready to topple over.

Kyle disappeared from sight when he dropped a complete field of darkness around him, and even Kara could not see within it. But just because she couldn't see him didn't mean she couldn't find him.

His voice, barely louder than a whisper, reached her ears quite clearly.

Kara Zor-El was on the move again, rushing headfirst into the darkness. Her fist reached out to connect with his body, and while the field of darkness had dropped away, Kara could not touch him.

It was rather frustrating.

"Is that all you can do? Kara spat out angrily, speeding around the yard while keeping her eyes locked on the wispy figure. "You'll have to come out from that sooner or later."

 

[AmenRa]

Var-Sen

With Raya and Rose beside him, Var-Sen of Krypton vectored his flight through rural Lowell County, Kansas, until he came to the farm called Kent.

And upon looking below him he saw a battle was joined fully.

"It appears Wraith has attempted to take her on alone," Var-Sen observed. "And, from the looks of things, he is not losing this fight."

He saw his old car, his old black BMW X5, speeding up the long, winding dirt drive. His powerful vision saw Ceri at the wheel. He had the absolute utmost respect for this human woman. Not just because she was the mother of Rose, but because she reminded him of someone so dearly close to him.

Like Raya, Ceri was a warrior.

She had even been called so by the God of Thunder. (Couldn't argue with that, right?).

Slowing his speed, Var-Sen turned to Rose.

"The Kents," he said to her, "must not be part of this. Can you get to them? Assist Ceri, Rose. Help them!"

Var-Sen then closed his eyes.

He thought.

Sending out a mental communique' to an all-powerful mind.

Here we are.

 

[AmenRa]

Knower of Things

High above the Earth he floated.

He was still, unmoving. He appeared to be sleeping with his arms folded across his chest and his eyes closed.

No breeze assaulted his cape. The blue and red material was still, frozen in the vacuum of space and splayed out around him.

But even though on the outside the Martian Manhunter appeared still, his mind was in motion.

Listening.

Waiting.

Watching.

Here we are.

Red eyes snapped open.

In an instant, he fell towards Earth, beginning a firey descent towards a small farmstead in Kansas.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

No, this wasn't all I could do. I didn't want to do more, but I had too.

I am do sorry Kara.

I shifted back to solid form and she pounced on me. I knew I was going to get hit. I was fast, but she was faster.

She struck, stronger than a bullet train, faster than a gunshot, but I also struck.

Claws sharp as diamond, the magic in my body, coursing through my blood slicing deep into her side, drawing blood and scouring ribs as her fist connected with my shoulder, snapping bone and sending me crashing through the side of the barn, and crumpling the tractor outside. My back didn't break, but my ribs did.

I slowly stood from the remains of the truck, left arm useless, ribs screaming and looked upon Kara as blood poured down her side.

"That the best you can do?" I said, my voice low and dangerous.

 

[Tymeless]

Misty sitting there in the limo removed her ring that Lex had given her. She needed to know what was going on and she didn't feel like waiting for Cliff to find out. She could hear the pain and trauma the blast throughout town had caused on most of the smallville citizens. She felt an emmense sense of dread as she took in the thoughts of many around her. Some were people she had even considered friends.

The one's thoughts that bothered her most though were different then what they were before and she wasn't even sure if it was the same person she remembered. As she was trying to figure it out her face become concerned not just for her friends but everyone around her. She placed the ring back on her finger and that's when Cliff noticed her and began to speak to her.

"Cliff that will be fine please go grab me a Mocha Latte please. I have some business that I need to take care of on the phone privately please."

She watched as Cliff did as she asked without even questioning her and she smiled sweetly at him. Once she was sure no one was around she pulled out her pink blackberry curve and pressed a button. "Say a Command" the robotic voice came over the phone.

"Call Lex Luthor." She demanded of the phone.

"Calling Lex Luthor one moment please." Misty heard the familiar sound of ringing. When she heard Lex finally pick up. "Lex this is terrible. We have to help them." She yelled in the phone frantically.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara had circled around quite a few times, waiting for that chance to strike at the Wraith. She thought herself invincible, able to take on anyone and suffer very little. When Kyle had shifted back into a physical form, Kara had gone in for the kill. She pulled her arm back and then shot if forward, connecting her fist with his armored shoulder.

Kyle had been sent careening through the side of the barn until he crashed into one of their tractors. It was a hard blow, and Kyle seemed to be hurt pretty badly. But he wasn't the only one.

Kara actually cried out in pain, faltering for a moment as the wound in her side screamed out at her.

Kyle was not holding back.

"Damn," she spat, blood mixing with her saliva. The yellow sun had already started healing her wounds, but it would take quite a while before she was whole again. The smaller cuts healed completely, but the wide gash in her side was much slower to mend.

She raised a hand to her mouth and wiped away the blood.

"That the best you can do?"

"I'll show you... what I'm capable of."

Although she was hurting, Kara moved over and picked the red truck that her parents drove around in. Metal creaked and lurched as the teenage Kryptonian hoisted it up into the air. The damned thing felt even heavier considering her wound, but she managed to get a good enough hold over it before she dropped it right on top of Kyle Greystone.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

Oh crap! not again.

Kara was hurt, but she was also enraged, so when she picked up her dads truck (for some insane reason I wondered if their insurance covered this!) and proceeded to drop it on me.

That would be bad. As the truck blocked out the light I used the split second to port back to the barn.

I guess the truck covered the sound of my porting, so I let her know she missed by blasting her with another darkbolt, further smashing the truck.

"Did you forget something Kara. Your going to have to be faster than that blondie. Your going to have to want it." I snarled.

For this to work I needed her mad. So mad she didn't want to let go.

Then my vision blurred as a wave of pain washed over me. I staggered, and didn't even see what happened next.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Raya, Rose, and Ceri. Don't mess.

With Raya and Rose beside him, Var-Sen of Krypton vectored his flight through rural Lowell County, Kansas, until he came to the farm called Kent.

And upon looking below him he saw a battle was joined fully.

"It appears Wraith has attempted to take her on alone," Var-Sen observed. "And, from the looks of things, he is not losing this fight."

Raya's eyes narrowed. "He has great skill. And the aura of mysticism on his side. But Zor-El's Daughter will prove... indefatigable."

"He has done enough. Let us take it from here."

...Rose tried desperately to squint against the wind, to cup her ears to hear, but it was just too wild, just too fast...

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" she demanded. "I CAN'T MAKE ANYTHING OUT!"

Slowing his speed, Var-Sen turned to Rose.

"The Kents," he said to her, "must not be part of this. Can you get to them? Assist Ceri, Rose. Help them!"

Var-Sen then closed his eyes.

He thought.

Sending out a mental communique' to an all-powerful mind.

Here we are.

Rose hesitated, stopping mid-nod, as she shoved her red hair out of her eyes as she registered what he'd said as she registered--

Her eyes widened. She stopped nodding. "...Kyle?"

He looked gorgeous. He looked... ancient and Gothic and beautiful, but he looked like he had been through ten thousand years of war...

And he staggered, he was falling...

"KYLE!"

She dove away from Raya, fire leaping up around her hands, nonononononotagain...

But Raya's hand locked around her ankle. "This is no longer your playing field. We will help him. J'onzz will help him. Help your matriarch. Help her guardians."

Rose struggled, her heart in her throat: "You insane harridan! She's infected with that crimson K, she'll kill him!"

...but Raya was implacable, and immovable. "I understand what love may do for a fighter's spirit, oh so very well. But this is a Kryptonian matter now."

And with a flick of her wrist, she flung Rose towards Ceri towards that side of the house...

Rose landed, skidding, right in front of Ceri, who had to throw on the brakes hard to not tread on her daughter. "Rosy?"

Covered in dirt and whipped by wind, Rose got her hands under herself and got standing. "I don't wanna talk about it. We rounding up the squishies?"

"That we are," Ceri nodded.

"Sweet," Rose declared bitterly, and threw her flight-powered body straight through a window of the house, scattering and shattering shards of glass, landing on her feet in the middle of the living room.

"Mister and Missus K!" Rose bellowed from the spot between the coffee table and the television: "AVON CALLING!"

She heard the thud of her mother's boots hitting the floor behind her, and Ceri touched Rose on the shoulder. "MARTHA! JONATHAN! WE NEED TO GO. RIGHT. NOW!"

********​

Outside, Raya landed on the barnyard turf, kicking up dirt with her impact. She drew the quarterstaff and ignited it, twirling it emphatically, and tilting her head, scrutinising The Shadowlord and The Last Daughter.

"Stand down," Raya informed the man wreathed in pain and in dusk. "That'll do nicely."

 

[AmenRa]

Var-Sen

He landed beside his wife, and as she readied her staff weapon, he simply allowed the black coat he wore to come to a feathered whisk against his legs.

He said nothing.

He did not need to speak.

Raya had spoken.

Her lilting voice was tinged with edge, and that edge was as sharp as daggers of Kryptonian steel.

He nodded to Wraith.

Then he turned his gaze to Kara Zor-El.

"This has gone on long enough, Kara," he told her. "The path you have chosen can only end in pain."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Cliff and Lex. Driving forces.

"Cliff that will be fine please go grab me a Mocha Latte please. I have some business that I need to take care of on the phone privately please."

Cliff nodded easily, slipping out of the car, leaving the engine running and the vehicle parked, stuck in a line of traffic that obviously wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. "Mocha latte it is. Back in two shakes, Miss Graves."

He tapped the brim of his driver's cap, and he was on his way.

She watched as Cliff did as she asked without even questioning her and she smiled sweetly at him. Once she was sure no one was around she pulled out her pink blackberry curve and pressed a button. "Say a Command" the robotic voice came over the phone.

"Call Lex Luthor." She demanded of the phone.

"Calling Lex Luthor one moment please." Misty heard the familiar sound of ringing.

********​

Lex stood over a pile of rubble, a facility long since turned to dust by a Scorched Earth explosion, making sweeping motions with a device in his hand that pinged every so often, extremely quietly. He remained resolute. Looking for something. Anything. A trace of something.

Meteor freaks were one thing.

But Phantoms were his Holy Grail.

But this... this place... rumour had it it had once been something great and terrible. Apocalyptic. So far he had found nothing recoverable.

But he would keep looking, with this spectral analyser Emil had cobbled together.

He would keep looking until he found something.

His phone started to ring, and he smiled faintly, lowering the analyser and taking out the phone...

He arched an eyebrow. It wasn't the lab, as he expected, it wasn't Erin recanting and deciding to help. It was his latest leverage in the war of disinformation the aliens had begun.

"Misty," he answered. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your dulcet tones?"

When she heard Lex finally pick up. "Lex this is terrible. We have to help them." She yelled in the phone frantically.

Lex frowned, his ear ringing from her shouting.

He took a deep breath, and spoke as calmly as he could, turning and striding for his car, which he'd left sitting at the edge of the crater: "Misty. Help who?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ethan, Harmony, and Pete. Books and covers.

Dale and Edmund didn't wait for any sort of response from the Sheriff. Both took off at a full run. Dale lithe and agile like a gazelle as he sprinted into the chaos, Edmund low and fast like a great cat running down his prey.

Ethan arched an eyebrow, and took his hat off as he watched them run. "Sprier'n they look."

Harmony laughed softly, deliriously, and sat down hard against the side of Sheriff Miller's cruiser, holding her head. "Fact."

"Huh," Ethan grunted, and snapped his fingers at an EMT as he pointed to Harmony, making sure she got looked after.

********​

Edmund literally leapt over Pete and the downed teacher as they entered the room, Dale slid to his knees beside Pete.

Pete ducked sharply, jaw dropping, eyes wide. "Hijo de puta!"

"What have we got Pete?" Dale checked vitals. They were solid. No apparent injury. What the hell...

Pete shook his head, glancing at Mister and Doctor Tennylson. "Just found him like this. This wasn't covered in my two weeks of merit badges, sirs."

"Pete, start high, work low, look for any sign of injury"

Pete grimaced. "Yeah. I was afraid you'd say that. 'Work low.'"

But he did as he was told.

Paul Gordon was beginning to stir as Dale and Pete looked for signs of trauma. He was mumbling as well. "Mer... here... gone... hurh..." Gordon opened his eyes and looked at Pete as Dale had begun examining his lower body for injuries.

Pete wondered if "Mer" was some sort of abbreviation for "meteor." Was that what had caused this?

"Pete? Not that I am ungrateful... but why are my pants off... and why are you leaning over me... and... what the hell was that?"

"You music nerds party serious hard, sir," Pete smirked faintly. "We found your pants in the Home Ec room, maybe you left 'em there to get patched?"

Paul Gordon laughed weakly. "Dale? What... You know, usually if a teacher is caught with his pants down with a student he gets fired... think I'm gonna request hazard pay?"

"(Not that you're entirely uncute, Mr. G.,)" Pete grunted. "(But I got a girlfriend, and she's a looker.)"

"Not a bad idea in this district. So, what happened?"

"Not sure. I was walking in... and boom. Next thing I know I am on the floor with you and Pete. Dale, why is your Dad standing on my desk?"

"We were in a hurry, he jumped over you guys. Desk was convenient landing zone. Guess he didn't want to trip on the french horn?"

Paul Gordon nodded as if that were the most logical explanation in the world.

"I heard Mr. Ed there was a big track star back in olden times," Pete added. "Heard he could give Doc Hamilton a run for his pounds sterling."

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

The car had landed grill first on the ground and the poor vehicle was completely totaled. Glass shattered and metal bent in such ways that it was impossible to fix. Kara touched back down next to the car, and with one hand she shoved it to the side.

Kyle wasn't there.

Before she had a chance to react, Kara was pelted by another bolt of shadow. She crashed into what remained of the truck and then emerged from the other side. She staggered from the blow but found her feet soon enough.

"Did you forget something Kara? You're going to have to be faster than that blondie. Your going to have to want it."

Fire once again shown through in the teenager's eyes, but it wasn't because of the Red Kryptonite in her ring. Kara was experiencing a new ability, and she found the perfect test subject to experiment it on. Her first few shots of heat vision went wildly, but Kara finally managed to aim the blunt of it on Kyle. Once the fire in her eyes had died out, she flew forward and smacked him around a few times, completely oblivious to the fact that he wasn't really fighting back anymore.

He was too weak.

She had won.

"This has gone on long enough, Kara," Var-Sen told her. "The path you have chosen can only end in pain."

Var-Sen and Raya stood side-by-side next to the fallen Wraith. Kara was still bleeding from her side, and even in her enraged state she realized that there was no way she could take on both Raya and Var-Sen at the same time. Not in the condition she was in, at least. So the Last Daughter did the only thing possible.

She took to the skies.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

"Sweet," Rose declared bitterly, and threw her flight-powered body straight through a window of the house, scattering and shattering shards of glass, landing on her feet in the middle of the living room.

"Mister and Missus K! AVON CALLING!"

"MARTHA! JONATHAN! WE NEED TO GO. RIGHT. NOW!"

A door opened up in one the adjacent rooms, and Martha and Jonathan Kent came rushing out to meet with Ceri and her daughter.

"We don't know what's gotten into Kara, but..." Martha was clearly distraught, and she completely ignored the broken glass in their house. Given the circumstances, a few broken panes of glass were the least of their problems. Their daughter was out of control, and they had no idea what to do.

"We don't have anything to stop her," Jonathan said.

The house shook from the force of Kara's ascent into the skies, and then everything settled down again.

"What's happening?" Martha asked, and ignoring all the others she raced for the front door and came outside, looking up into the sky to see Kara flying away.

"Martha!" Jonathan called out, running after her. He saw the damage done to the truck and to the barn, but he was first and foremost concerned about his adopted daughter.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I was burning.

My armor was protection from most things. Bullets bounced off of it, fire washed over me, cold didn't touch me. But Kryptonian heat vision, that was a fire beyond my ability to resist.

I tried to stand up and meet Kara, but she was too fast, and I too hurt. My friend closed in and began pummeling me. I felt more blows crack. My arm where I blocked a blow, two more ribs, then she threw me threw the wall to lay a furrow through the cornfield until I came to rest under the light of a yellow sun.

I had failed.

Darkness took me.

 

[AmenRa]

A Manhunter Unleashed

THUMP!

The Martian Manhunter struck the ground hard enough to shake it. Fortunately, he had landed well away from the farm house so as not to cause anymore damage than had already been done.

He had landed, however, next to the still form of Wraith, whom he had watched on his descent as the Shadow Warrior plowed a rather neat furrow into one of the Kent's many fields.

J'onn's eyes glowed red as he saw Kara once again flee.

The Martian Manhunter stooped down and scooped Wraith's still form up into his arms. Cradling the injured warrior gently, J'onn flew over to where Raya, Var-Sen, and now Rose, Ceri, and Johnathan and Martha Kent had gathered at the house's steps.

J'onn was still holding Wraith in his arms as he touched gently down.

"You have disobeyed me," the Martian Manhunter said to Var-Sen without preamble, "and now one lies injured."

Var-Sen started to speak, but he knew it was pointless. J'onn was angry, he could tell, and an angry J'onn was not one who would listen.

The Martian Manhunter looked quickly to Raya, his face an unreadable mask. He then turned to Rose, Ceri, the Kents.

"As long as Kara Zor-El wears the ring she can not be stopped," he told them all bluntly, "save for destroying her completely."

He turned back to Var-Sen. "You of all gathered here know this, Var-Sen."

"Our plan was to contain her until your arrival, J'onn," Var-Sen countered.

"Your plan has failed," J'onn pointed out.

"Wraith was fighting with her when we arrived," Var-Sen informed him.

"And now," J'onn said as he gently laid Wraith into Rose's outstretched arms, "he has paid the price for his unplanned and uncoordinated assault."

J'onn stepped back and once again looked Var-Sen in the eyes. "I do not speak without experience," he said, looking to Raya, and then to Rose as well. "You must trust my judgment."

Var-Sen nodded his head. "Your word is law, J'onn J'onzz of Ma'lecan'dra."

The Martian Manhunter looked to the sky. "Tend to Wraith," he said to them. "I will deal with Kara Zor-El myself."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose, Ceri, and Raya. Cry havoc.

A door opened up in one the adjacent rooms, and Martha and Jonathan Kent came rushing out to meet with Ceri and her daughter.

"We don't know what's gotten into Kara, but..." Martha was clearly distraught, and she completely ignored the broken glass in their house. Given the circumstances, a few broken panes of glass were the least of their problems. Their daughter was out of control, and they had no idea what to do.

Rose had done similar math. Their barn was getting trashed, their pick-up had been sandwiched, she was surprised that the gorgeous old Massey-Ferguson that Jonathan drove on the farm hadn't met a similar fate, that the windmill near the mouth of the drive hadn't toppled...

"She's been poisoned by Red Kryptonite, a substance from her birthworld," Rose explained. "Psychotropic, it's evidently unfettered her from the moral code which normally keeps her powers under control. Rather than that green stuff, which--"

Rose hesitated. "You don't have any of that handy, do you?"

"We don't have anything to stop her," Jonathan said.

"Understandable," Ceri nodded briskly. "Who could have foreseen this?"

The house shook from the force of Kara's ascent into the skies, and then everything settled down again.

"What's happening?" Martha asked, and ignoring all the others she raced for the front door and came outside, looking up into the sky to see Kara flying away.

"Martha!" Jonathan called out, running after her. He saw the damage done to the truck and to the barn, but he was first and foremost concerned about his adopted daughter.

Ceri and Rose powered after Jonathan and Martha...

Oh, this was a wasteland and a half. A battlefield.

"We should still get yeh out of here," Ceri opined, gazing up after Kara, following Martha's imploring skyward eyeline. "She seems particularly incensed at anyone who suggests that she keep her powers under control. The ultimate teenage rebellion.

"I have a vehicle. Yes, she's faster than anything on the road, but if we can get yeh someplace she won't expect?"

Rose was searching the rubble and the pockmarks and the scorchmarks, looking frantic.

And she found him. At the end of a trough of dirt burned to glass, she found him.

She made to run to him but then J'onn arrived in thunder, and brought Wraith right to her.

She took him, she took him into her arms, and she held him aloft with her own small strength...

...she fell to stunned silence while J'onn dispensed recriminations and Var-Sen rejoindered with explanations.

"Ren2ci2 de5 Fo2zu3," she wept. "God. Somebody do something."

She whipped her head around, and her gaze locked onto Raya's eyes across the shrapnel-littered barnyard, and she looked at J'onn standing beside her. "Somebody. DO SOMETHING."

Raya nodded briskly, she was... very Kryptonian right now, very tightly-controlled, but there was pain in her azure eyes. Pain at her keenly-felt failure. Pain felt in empathy for Rose's heartbreak. "Yes."

She turned to J'onn. Peremptory.

"She is capable of heat vision," Raya prompted him. "Fire from a distance... I will help you."

 

[AmenRa]

She turned to J'onn. Peremptory.

"She is capable of heat vision," Raya prompted him. "Fire from a distance... I will help you."

J'onn J'onzz looked at Raya and nodded his head. He then looked to Var-Sen. He then, at long last, looked to Rose.

He saw the front of the old Massey-Ferguson tractor. The front which held counter-weights. Counter-weights made of lead. He walked over to the tractor, reached down and effortlessly lifted one of the hundred pound weights off the front rack. His eyes then glowed brightly, and a thin beam of energy shot from them and cut the weight in half. J'onn took the half that he still held and placed it flat in his left palm. He reached back with his right fist and struck the lead weight in his other hand.

CLANG!

Again he hit it.

CLANG!

And again.

CLANG!

And then it was flat and thin. The Martian Manhunter then took this thin sheet of lead and folded it into a box. He walked back towards the others.

While he was walking, he removed the Kryptonite from a secluded pocket in the rear of his uniform.

Var-Sen reflexively stepped back as the green rock began to glow. Even from a distance he could feel his strength begin to leech away.

J'onn put the green Kryptonite into the box he had made. He then pinched the corners of the box tight, drawing a lid over the Kryptonite, rendering it safe.

He handed it to Rose.

"You must accompany us," he told the Valkyrie. "For if she attacks with fire, then I will not be able to use this. And, of course, neither will Raya or Var-Sen, for obvious reasons.

"Once you have disabled her with this," he continued, "I will remove the ring and destroy it."

 

[ChasNicollette]

"Outatime."

Merick and Chloe sat in a moment that seemed to last forever, that seemed to last outside of forever.

A certain person would refer to this effect as a "co-ordinate override," placing them a second out of synch with the main timestream, their own little ephemeral parallel universe. And it was figurative. Mostly.

Except it wasn't.

A figure dressed in dark green and white, jagged circuitry sketching across the surface of his skintight outfit, this lurched into place beside them.

He looked... bewildered.

"This isn't when I'm supposed to be. I have been removed from my course. Skewed on the w-axis..."

His eyes were wild, his long brown hair was unkempt, his brown beard almost Biblical in length.

One of the circuits at the centre of his chest, over his heart, this resembled the letter "C."

He vaguely registered the presence of Chloe and Merick, who, understandably, stared at him in startlement. "This is not where you are supposed to be, either."

Chloe managed to utter the first letter in one of the five "W" questions, an all-important journalistic trait: "W--?"

But then he raised his arm and the circuitry in his suit flared alight, glowing and burning, and then, gone gone gone gone gone, he was alone in the room.

He shook his head. "I should have paid closer attention to the schedule."

"'Is this a hold-up?'" he seemed to ask himself incredulously.

"'No,'" he seemed to reassure himself, using the voice of a much older man: "'It's a science experiment!'"

Again, his circuits flared to life, his whole suit lighting up...

...and he was gone.

"I have a train to catch."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose, Ceri, and Raya. "And I take over, 'coz I'm no loser."

J'onn J'onzz looked at Raya and nodded his head. He then looked to Var-Sen. He then, at long last, looked to Rose.

There was a moment, here, a moment of unspoken understanding. A certain silent solemnity, synchronised thinking. Rose gently laid her shadowlord boyfriend to the ground.

She stood and straightened and dusted off the last of the window-glass.

Ceri hesitated.

Her daughter was in a scary dark place and her mother barely recognised her.

Mars was The God of War. But Vulcan, called also Hephaestus, this was The God of The Forge, and J'onn did fashion with skill and force worthy of this smithy god.

He made... a box of lead.

While he was walking, he removed the Kryptonite from a secluded pocket in the rear of his uniform.

Var-Sen reflexively stepped back as the green rock began to glow. Even from a distance he could feel his strength begin to leech away.

Raya felt her muscles tremble, felt her staff wobble in her grasp...

J'onn put the green Kryptonite into the box he had made. He then pinched the corners of the box tight, drawing a lid over the Kryptonite, rendering it safe.

Rose stood up a little taller, here.

He handed it to Rose.

"You must accompany us," he told the Valkyrie. "For if she attacks with fire, then I will not be able to use this. And, of course, neither will Raya or Var-Sen, for obvious reasons.

"'She understands,'" Rose replied, cryptically, "'she doesn't comprehend.'"

"Once you have disabled her with this," he continued, "I will remove the ring and destroy it."

"Can do, will do, done," Rose nodded.

And she hurtled skyward, trusting that the faster fliers would catch up to her and propel her faster, but she was getting a move on.

"'And I want but have none,'" she growled,
"'I should beat the alien
But here I'm no one, a Cosmic Castaway.'"

Spinning the staff to a standby position held behind her, Raya soared up after Rose... slipping an arm underneath Rose's shoulders and propelling her speedily indeed.

"The hunt is on," Raya declared, before the slipstream swallowed the sound from Rose's ears.

"Yeah," Rose agreed, though she could barely hear herself, "it's on."

 

[AmenRa]

Var-Sen nodded to the Martian Manhunter and took to the sky after his wife and Rose. He caught up with them, pulling alongside.

A red streak soon joined the trio. J'onn, too, came up alongside and settled into a formation with them.

J'onn spoke, part in voice and part in mind, so that even Rose could hear him. "I spoke harshly earlier," he told them, "and for that I am sorry."

Var-Sen said nothing. He knew the Martian Manhunter wanted no replies; only to be heard. He felt that J'onn had no reason to offer apologies.

"This is a troubling time," he declared. "When Zor-El informed me of his plan to send Kara to this world, he asked me to watch over her. I came here to Earth once again, after having been gone for a very long time, and I assumed a non-intrusive identity. I got a job as a farm hand for the Kents, and I was watching the day Kara's space craft landed, and Johnathan and Martha Kent brought her home.

"I have been watching her ever since. I have watched her grow from a small child to a young woman on the edge of her destiny. This....this crisis...pains me very much," he admitted.

J'onn's voice was solemn. "And, in no small part, Kara reminds me of a daughter that I once had."