The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter

J'onn J'onzz followed Kara Zor-El with super speed as she ran from the Temple's sanctuary. He cloaked himself in invisibility, and he rendered himself intangible as he passed through the wooden walls that had stood between the world and the artifacts of the Traveler for so many years.

He stopped beneath the Temple's sheltered overhang as he watched the Daughter of Zor-El snatch the Crystal from the Witch's grasp.

But J'onn also heard the sound of something accelerating past Mach speed.

And he knew Zod had also heard what Kara had heard.

And Zod was coming.

J'onn held the Crystal of Water himself, having taken it from Pete Ross with a promise to give it to Kara. But to give it to her now was to invite the possibility of it returning to the Witch, or even worse, to Zod.

Kara! Hear me!

He broadcast his telepathic plea so all of the defenders of good could hear.

We must leave this place at once! Zod will stand powerless against the Sorceress, as will you! Your allies can stand against her.

The Manhunter from Mars knew the only way to end this was for Kara to use the Crystal of El that Rose had given her and return Zod to the Phantom Zone.

But he was also wary of the Countess's power, and even though he could stand against her, he wasn't so sure of the rest.

And he wasn't the kind of Martian that took chances.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

"What is this?" The Countess spat out, obviously annoyed at having her prized possession stolen away from her. She turned her icy stare towards the young Kryptonian, but didn't seriously consider her a threat. Isobel had far too much power to fear one little girl, and the desire to possess the Crystal filled her with contempt.

Nothing...

Nothing would stand in her way!

"Vabu..."

The Countess began to cast another spell but she was momentarily distracted by the arrival of yet another individual, a girl roughly the same age as the first, and she found her body being tightly squeezed by what appeared to be a rope of sorts.

Yet she would not be caught so easily, even if the girl possessed strength beyond that of a normal human.

"Abides!"

Uttering only those few words, The Countess teleported herself outside of her confines, and moved to a more specific location: right next to Kara Zor-El.

Gripping the stone tightly in her hands, Kara heard the Martian's warning only too little too late, and The Countess let fly a most powerful magical attack. Mystical purple energy shot out from The Countess' hands, knocking the young Kryptonian back quite a few dozen feet. She landed with a thud against a large boulder, and Kara immediately clutched her stomach in pain.

"Now he tells me," Kara mumbled, wincing a little as she wearily stood up on her feet, blood slowly trickling down the side of her lips.

There were very times that Kara could remember herself bleeding, and she hated to think about the next time it would happen.

But she had another problem to worry about: the Crystal of Air was no longer in her possession. During the blast she had dropped it by accident, and it lay down by The Countess' feet.

She had to get it back!

 

[AmenRa]

The BRAIN InterActive Construct existed now as pure data, and in this electronic form it was its most powerful.

Its physical body had been destroyed by magic, but this was trivial and of no consequence. The BRAINIAC could regenerate and progenerate a body at will.

But now it was spending its resources carefully threading its way into the mainframes and subframes of the North American Defense Command's intricate network.

It was also infiltrating and subverting the Russian Missile and Space Command's infrastructure.

It was doing these things silently, covertly, edging around firewalls, backtracing itself, covering itself, opening doorways and closing ports simply and elegantly.

No human even knew it was there.

And soon, at the will of its Master, no human would live to know it had been there.

Except for the few that would survive to live upon a world ruled by Zod.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ted, John, Lex, The Countess, and Rose

Ted Grant, having been told to do whatever it took, had then suddenly found himself with no idea what to do.

And thus, when he had popped his head out of the temple after Diana and that blonde girl, and that redhead-- she had looked damn familiar, too, like maybe he'd seen baby pictures of her in a Christmas card some year --he had hesitated.

Hesitated long enough to be joined by John Constantine and some chucklehead in darkly metallic armour, face completely obscured by the grill of a helmet.

The metal glinted and gleamed and glowed and Ted knew it was magic at a glance. Handy stuff, magic, even if he couldn't understand it for the goddamn lives of him.

"Hey, kids," he growled. "Happy Chinese New Year."

"Year of The Dragon, ennit?" John mused. "Eh. I never know what year it is, dun listen to me."

"You're sure you couldn't have restructured the helmet?" Lex demanded, his voice tinny and muffled. "I can't see a thing. How am I supposed to defend myself if I can't see?"

"You know," John snarked, "it's exactly that kind of ungrateful thinking that cost The Knights of The Round their fucking Table."

"Ever I design an armour," Lex mumbled, "I'll make it a warsuit with a full three-sixty HUD. Or, no, forgo the helmet entirely. Perhaps use forcefield technology to protect the head. Can't see a damned thing."

"What's the plan, Constantine?" Ted demanded.

"Oh, never one for plans," John chided. "But if I were pressed, I would say that we should get past the... army?"

The Chinese armed forces were standing there, astonished, as energy poured about and fists exploded the sky. They stood there, astonished, weapons half-lowered.

Even the officers seemed stilled, reverent, bewildered.

"Well, that's useful," John mumbled.

Ted bit the inside of his cheek, and slinked over to the nearest Chinese soldier.

<"Why the long faces?"> he wondered, gravelly, in extremely rusty Mandarin.

<"We are Communists, stranger,"> the soldier replied with eyes wide, wide. <"We are not accustomed to witnessing the duelings of gods. It has been a long time since they have used this place as their battleground.">

<"Thought you guys were godless by definition?"> Ted opined, arching a craggy black eyebrow.

<"Well, yes,"> the soldier breathed. <"But all that comes down to believing only in what we see with our eyes. And these... these gods and goddesses... these we see quite clearly.">

<"Hunh,"> Ted nodded. <"Touche, Pinko. Touche.">

********​

The Crystal of Air lay at The Countess' feet, and she lunged for it with a snarl, her long-sought prize only inches from her fingertips...

Fire flashed and light sang and The Crystal spun away from the witchy-woman's grasp like it had been winged by a bullet.

The Warlord apparently had had a daughter? This had not been foreseen, not even in Gertrude's prognosticating ball, when Gertrude had centuries ago secretly hired The Countess to seek The Elements for Veritos. (Which had come back to bite The Duchess in the proverbial arse, hah-hah.) This girl had The Warlord's power, but she had not been foreseen.

Unexpected. Unpleasant.

(But apparently, not so powerful she could not be hurt. And what could be hurt could then be killed.)

...more annoying still, The Warlord's daughter had brought friends with her. This wondrous young woman with the rope.

And now?

And now a girl with Fire?

She swore softly and shook her head and made another lunge for The Crystal as Rose McCrimmon billowed down out of the sky, enveloped in flame.

"'Bu4 hui3hen4 de5 po1fu4!'" Rose growled as the Fire flashed again from her hand and catapulted the stone towards Diana, skidding and skipping across the rocky ground.

"Excuse me?" The Countess replied with a hiss and a snarl, her eyes shattering the air with dark-orchid power. "We're calling each other names now, you miserable little slattern?"

Rose stuck her tongue out, hovering there and crackling with fire, her eyebrows practically bristling: "'Yao1nü3shi4!'"

"Oh, dearie me," The Countess seethed, "oh don't you dare."

With a blast of air rushing beneath her, she launched herself into the sky and wrapped crackling hands around Rose's throat.

"Hghk!" Rose wheezed, and she felt her skin begin to sizzle at The Countess' touch.

"Who are you?" The Countess grinned, her teeth gleaming in a wicked, derisive, searing smile. "Who are you? You are in no prophecy, no writings, no sacred scrolls. You will be nothing to history, you will be nothing to The Future, you are a nonentity in this and not even the weavers of apocalyptic tapestry saw fit to include you. Who are you?"

Rose writhed, her eyes sparking, frost trying to form around her, fire wafting and tearing apart, she struggled desperately to concentrate. "Ghh! Hnh! Fhk!"

"You are nothing," The Countess answered her own question, as it had been rhetorical all along. "That's what you are."

Rose managed to crack a smile. Licking her lips and eking out breath.

"Who am I?" she wheezed.

And then she exploded outward in a ball of flame, three-hundred and sixty degrees, blasting The Countess ass over teakettle.

The Countess barely caught herself, braking herself in the air before crashing into another one of those godforsaken trees.

"I'm The Valkyrie Missile," Rose snarled, getting her breath back, rubbing her throat, "you fucking ancient cunting bitch!"

The Countess seethed, flexing her fingers as she levitated. "Oh. I can see I'm going to have to kill you very painfully."

"'Kan4 wo3men5 zen3me5 si3 ba5!'" Rose snarled, sprouting fire from her fingertips, and she was not afraid.

 

[AmenRa]

Rage filled him as he saw Kara take a hit from the Witch, and then Rose as well. He reached out and touched the minds of the others, briefly, learning who they were, what they were, and sharing with them a plan that had formed of its own accord.

He caused a small sonic boom as he flew towards Rose and the Witch, but he was still invisible, still molecularly intangible, and he could not be seen.

But he could be felt.

As he passed through the possessed body of the woman that was now an ancient evil, equal in hate to Zod, she felt him, and he, her. He knew what she was. And then, he saw Rose bristling with fire, and the Manhunter from Mars steeled himself and his resolve to be invincible as he came to rest on the other side of the Countess, between her and Rose.

His molecules suddenly became solid, and he re-appeared and hovered there in all his chiseled greeness, his cape fluttering in the breeze.

J'onn J'onzz's eyes glowed red and then fired a blast of energy that struck the Countess with incredible force.

But he flew towards her, catching her before she could even strike the ground, and he cradled her in his arms tightly, one great, green hand reaching across her face, the fingertips resting along her forehead and the sides of her face.

Touching the points where her katra lay.

His eyes flared red again, and his voice was sandy iron as he spoke to her in her mind.

Look upon me, behold the Face of Mars, and despair.

There was resistance, great resistance, yet he probed deeper. He saw things from her past, he saw her magic at work, her wiritings, her readings, her death at the hands of those who upheld a Holy Law.

You have lusted for the Crystals for many lifetimes, yet they are not yours to behold. Their Gaurdian's destiny is not your own, and your lust for power and greed has soiled the purity of this human whom you hold.

The Martian Manhunter held her tightly, fighting within and without as he brought her close to where John Constantine stood.

J'onn was deeper than he had ever been within the mind of another, and the fight was taking its toll on him, both physically and mentally. He could not sustain this much longer, yet if he pushed with all of his power, he would surely destroy the mind of the one whom the Countess held.

But he knew he must buy time for the others to act.

Yield, or I will destoy this human vessel that you hold in your vile grasp!

 

[Wyldfire]

The woman was a witch! And now she had Rose as well as the crystal! The rope had been less than helpful, but the rope wasn't the only weapon Diana had with her. But before she could get to it another entered the fight freeing Rose.

As the Martian and the witch flew and Rose began to fall Diana rushed forward making sure her burning comrade was alive. Finding her intact she breathed a sigh of relief. Hera help her, but Diana's temper was reaching a boiling point. If this didn't end and soon there would be a reckoning!

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara was amazed at the sudden onslaught in which her friends, her allies in the struggle to obtain the Crystals, had come to her aid. The Countess was powerful, and there seemed to be no task so large that she couldn't overcome it.

But the Martian played his hand, and swiftly took hold of their opponent. She saw him speak no words, but given the struggle that The Countess seemed to be putting up, she was sure that their battle was not limited to the physical plane.

A battle of thoughts, perhaps.

But Kara returned her attention towards the thing that brought them to China in the first place: the Crystal of Air. It had been knocked around a bit since Kara first dropped it, but sure enough it was left lying on the ground, seemingly forgotten given the circumstances.

Kara Zor-El picked herself up, and with a quick burst of speed she raced towards the crystal. Time almost seemed to slow down as she moved, and those gathered around her acted as if they were frozen in place. Some, she knew, could sense her movements. Others could mimic her super speed if desired.

But there was one person that Kara hadn't even thought about as she raced towards her destiny. From high above, General Zod had been watching the entire affair.

Right up until he knew that it had been found. Though faltering for a moment, Zod had quickly regained his balance and made headshot towards the Kryptonian artifact. And just as Kara's hand came down to close around the Crystal of Air, Zod reached forward and took hold of her wrist.

 

[AmenRa]

Zod

Right up until he knew that it had been found. Though faltering for a moment, Zod had quickly regained his balance and made headshot towards the Kryptonian artifact. And just as Kara's hand came down to close around the Crystal of Air, Zod reached forward and took hold of her wrist.

Their eyes met for the first time, locking solidly, his cold, dark, soulless.

His grip was like a vise, holding the wrist of the Daughter of Zor-El, the hand that held the Crystal.

The Future.

In spite of all of these things, and the battle that raged around them between forces human and not, General Zod smiled at Kara Zor-El.

"At last," he said, his voice smooth and sinister, "this meeting has been a long time coming."

He then jerked her hand up from the ground, ripping the Crystal from her grasp. His smile never faded.

"It is time to fulfill your destiny, Daughter of Zor-El," he informed her. "Come forward and kneel."

"Kneel before Zod!"

 

[ChasNicollette]

The Countess, Rose, Lex, Ted, and John

Thunder thunderclapped behind her.

Her spine stiffened and her eyes clenched as she felt the presence of another being pass through her like an ethereal spirit, like The Devil walking across her grave.

And then the being sprung to life, shaping itself into matter out of aught but ectoplasm and solidifying before her eyes. It had seen into her mind, phased through her defences as though she was some mere novice of the mystic arts, and she had glimpsed into his.

She had seen a world with two moons and red sands and she growled because she knew he, like The Traveler of prophecy, like The Warlord of fortune-telling, she knew he was not of this Earth. And this meant he was her enemy.

The Stones had been abandoned and now they were hers for the taking, and nothing in this world or any other would keep her from them!

She had seen his world consumed by fire-- oh, and she knew the bite of fire like few others, she had lost her first life tied to a stake and surrounded by conflagration --and she prepared to lash out with flame of her own... but then he reached for her, he placed his fingertips upon her flesh and his mind crashed over hers like a tidal wave, swept into hers and over hers and she was drowning.

She kicked against the tide, against the undertow, forced herself to surface, forced herself to drag in breath, wrestled against him, will against will.

'Look upon me, behold the Face of Mars, and despair.'

Katra versus chakra. Life and Death.

J'onn dragged The Countess away and Rose fell to the ground, clutching at the burned-up mess, the tattered sizzled rags The Countess' lightning magic had made of her throat. Rose was just so tired...

...she fell to her knees on the ground and she gagged softly and she could already feel her body struggling to heal.

She vomited noisily, and suddenly her bravery felt very far away.

Diana ran up to her, and Rose smiled wearily, and tried to force herself to her feet and couldn't quite manage it.

"I talk a good game," she mumbled, apologetic, "in two different languages. Three, if you count that whacked-out lingo Stitch uses."

But then Zod pounded to the ground and grasped Kara's wrist and demanded that she kneel.

And shaky-armed, Rose pointed at The General and screeched: "Diana. ARES!"

At Zod's touchdown, John and Ted and Lex looked up and Lex could barely see or hear a thing but he knew the voice of his enemy. He knew the voice of The General that had humbled him before his father, had killed his friend and employee Peter Meyer, had nearly killed David Boyajian...

He knew his enemy.

And with a roar, the armoured Lex Luthor began thundering towards Zod...

Steeling himself, Ted Grant hurled himself after Lex, hurled himself towards The General, because Teddy Grant never did know how to back down from a dukefest.

The Chinese men in uniforms and armour parted like a Red sea, allowing them passage, but they were still so far away...

The Countess was screaming against The Martian in the silent battleground of their minds, and off in the distance she could hear poor imprisoned Lily Potter screaming in pain.

The Countess felt The Martian raking through her memories, and through Lily's, and even as The Countess waged war against The Martian she felt him gaining the upper hand...

'You have lusted for the Crystals for many lifetimes, yet they are not yours to behold. Their Guardian's destiny is not your own, and your lust for power and greed has soiled the purity of this human whom you hold.'

'There is no purity to be found in the people of this Earth,' she snarled, 'even them who claim to be of Holy bent are corrupt and twisted by dark desires and worldly material concerns. "Purity?" This is bad comedy. There are none who are innocent, none who are deserving, none who are pure, and this is why I shall rule them like cattle, I shall stand above them like a Goddess. I WILL GIVE THEM THE TYRANNY THEY DESERVE.'

She lashed at him with the memory of the fire that had killed her, the licking flames that had turned her beautiful young body to ash and cast her soul adrift upon the eddies of history until such time as her spell returned her to life. (Her schedule had been pushed up by the interfering common-man magus, but all had come to her in due course.)

...even as she raged against him, she felt him stagger. She had not beaten him, she had only hurt him, but she redoubled her assault, wailing as a Banshee...

She was Countess Margaret Isobel Thoreaux, and she would not be beaten.

In the background, far, far at the back of her mind, where she had been pushed by The Countess, Lily Potter had started to cry. Great sad broken cries.

'Yield, or I will destroy this human vessel that you hold in your vile grasp!'

...The Martian was like thunder in her mind's ear, but The Countess could only laugh at him in reply.

Great long loud cackling laughter, resounding from her mind's horizon to his.

'You think I care one whit what happens to this used-up creature?' The Countess bayed. 'You are mistaken, Face of Mars. The Mark of Transference is itself easily transferred. There are others whose blood swims in line with mine... a small town in Kansas. The woman with the flower shop. Her pretty, pretty niece. The Clockwork Man survived his body's death and shared his consciousness with the machines. I will do the same: I will drive these pretty things around like trucks and I will wreck them upon the roads.'

She grinned and she seethed and she cackled.

'"Death is but a door, Time is but a window. I'll be back."'

And she lashed out at J'onn J'onzz with all the power that her spirit held locked within. She would not be beaten.

John Constantine looked up as The Martian Manhunter dragged The Countess through the air towards him, and he smiled a weary, ready smile.

"'Be sure your sins will find you out,'" he quoted softly, though whether he was talking about his sins or The Countess', he did not immediately make apparent.

In the distance, thunder rumbled that was not a sonic boom. In the distance, rain began to fall, growing ever closer.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Gabe, Jamie, Bruce, Alfred, Chloe, Ceri, and Pete

Damian returned, raring for battle, demanding an update.

Gabe, apparently having been passed in the hall, was only moments behind him with Jamie, Bruce, and Alfred, all of whom had varying degrees of concern on their faces.

Alfred seemed concerned for Bruce and Bruce seemed concerned for Alfred.

(Jamie just seemed generally concerned, and would occasionally mutter to himself: "Mostly harmless. Mostly harmless.")

Chloe, having retrieved the sunglasses from Kyle and having donned them and the watch, was nibbling the fingernails of one hand as she stared worriedly at the screen.

"Update, Son of The Bat?" Chloe murmured. "Situation volatile. The General's gotten involved, and the Chinese military, and some lady ripping up scenery, and a bunch of people I don't recognise. I think Rose is hurt, but she's still moving. Dark-haired girl Kara brought in, she looks like she could go four rounds with an M-1 Abrams and I wouldn't bet on the Abrams after the first round. Odin's got us on lockdown, essentially. No-one enters, no-one leaves, not 'till he can get a sitrep out to us, apparently there's dire noise on the line. We're to make ready to abandon ship if need be."

She gestured in Merick's direction.

"Merick assures me, God bless him," she continued, "that he's ready to get our people out of oft-referenced Dodge if need be, but the idea of us pouring anymore fuel on this fire is kind of understandably anathema to me. So no-one does anything stupid."

And at this she smiled at Merick, lopsidedly. "No-one else dies today, am I right?"

"It's not like they're alone out there," Ceri murmured, adjusting the ice on Kyle's bruises, trying to cover as much area as possible, "if The Martian's gone to help."

("Pyramids of Mars," Jamie mumbled, ever-so-distractedly.)

"An' they got a getaway ride parked with the engine on idle," Pete nodded, pointing a thumb at Kyle. "Gen-Tech hook-up."

"I don't like the idea of just standing here," Bruce remarked, filling the electric tea-kettle at the sink, "while we wait to run away."

"Does seem a bit galling, sa'," Alfred murmured. "Hate to show weakness in the face of adversity. Still, nothing wrong with displaying due caution."

Gabe stared at his feet for a moment. "For a long time, I've had the strangest feelings. From time to time, I'll know exactly where I need to be. Though I never know why I have to be there. And right now that feeling is telling me I need to be here, not in China. (And I don't know why.)"

"I don't see what else we can do," Chloe shook her head. "I really don't. If we go bamfing or blinking into the middle of that cauldron, we risk inflaming the wrath of the strangely quiescent Chinese military, and I don't have to tell anyone here that on top of everything else, a bunch of righteously indignant heavily-armed totalitarian soldiers is a bad scene. And this cloud cover moving in means we'll have even less intel in a few minutes' time."

Bruce set down the kettle hard, and his jaw worked, and he tried to remember the face of his father as he stared hard at Chloe. "All the more reason we should move now."

"We may need to hold soldiers in reserve," Ceri murmured, aching, eyes dark and sad as she gazed up at Bruce, attempting to soothe his savage beast. "In case. In case those we have in the field fall in battle. But we have an evac prepped, we're ready to save them if things go to Hell in a hurry."

(Jamie ran his fingers through his hair and made a noise and scowled, and mumbled: "The Sound of Drums.")

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Odin

The Forsaken One raced through the datastream, slipping past silicon guards, lulling watchdogs to sleep and crooning the information he wanted out of the bosom of those created to guard it.

And Odin watched, and planned.

He had no doubts. he had a .024% chance to win in a head to head confrontation with BRAINiac, but he had two things that the alien construct did not have.

He had friends.

He had a soul.

One he would not risk, one he would.

"Bruce, stay put. It would take you eight hours and twenty seven minutes to get to the Valkyrie team by conventional means, and Merick is tasked to stay here. Also, your survival chances in a faceoff down there (he switched to his C-3PO voice) are 123,476 to 1. Those odds suck.

As of now BRAINiac has twenty nine nuclear missiles under his control. I have i hope neutralized those missiles, but he is now attempting to infiltrate the NORAD defense grid and the Russian equivalent. I am moving to neutralize that, but if I go head on with him I will loose.

Stay put, stay sharp, and stay alive. I don't plan to loose anyone I love today, and I'll be damned if I do!"

meanwhile on a farm in Smallville​

In the Kent farm the phone rang. A normal everyday sound in a abnormal and heroic time.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick was steadily growing more upset. The energy was becoming thick, like a second skin. His voice taking on a deeper resonance.

"If Rose is hurt I need to go to her. I can't let her be taken. She's my best friend. And well... look I just ain't gonna let that happen a'ight!" Merick glowered at the people around him. "What if I jump everyone somewhere safe, like that bunker, then I could go help her."

"Not an option Merick. You are part of a team. If you leave us, we could be in more danger than the girls are. You are, for all intents and purposes a soldier. You have your orders. You are emergency evac. If anything happens we need you."

"Yeah. Well I need Rose." Merick was infuriated. "This is Teh Junk. If I go help Rose, I risk losing all of you. If I don't go I could lose Rose. We lose no one else. I promised you that Chloe. So then, with everyone on the line, you make the choice. Whatever you guys say I will go with."

If anyone had been able to see Merick under the armor of energy that surrounded him they would have seen the tears in his eyes. The fury, rage, and worry torquing his visage. Even though Marcy couldn't see her son's face she could sense the emotion.

"Merick, I love you honey, but some times you have to risk it all. Trust in Fate and Destiny, let Rose and the girls tell their story and sing their song."

Marcy wrapped her arms around her son. Tears rolling down her cheek.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Jonathan and Martha Kent had conducted their lives as normally as they could, but given that Kara had gone off and not come back... left them with little options.

Go to the police? Yeah...

"Excuse us, Officer, but our alien daughter has gone missing"

The fact that Kara hadn't called either wasn't exactly promising either. It wasn't like her to stay out this late.

"She'll be back," Martha said, running her hand down her husbands back. Jonathan nodded his head and placed his forehead against hers, running his own hands down into her hair.

"Yeah," he said before kissing her gently.

Suddenly the phone began to ring, and Jonathan raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe it's her?" Martha supposed. Jonathan gave her a hopeful look before he picked up the receiver.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Odin

The phone rang once, twice, and then it was picked up.

"hello?" a male voice said into the receiver.

"Hello. This is officer Franks of the Montague County Sheriffs Department. There has been a incident at the Wayne house down on Creavy road, and your daughter is involved. She's fine, but we need to ask her some questions, and since she is a minor we need both parents there to do so. Could you come down here so we can get this all sorted out?"

Odin hoped this worked. People rarely took having a 45 megaton warhead pointed at them well.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara had only picked up the Crystal of Air for but a moment when she felt a strong hand reach down and grasp her wrist. It wasn't the gentle touch of a friend, but one of malice and cold determination.

The Last Daughter of Krypton had finally come face to face with General Zod, once the great Commissioner on the doomed planet of Krypton before he had been exiled to the Phantom Zone.

And Kara saw the coldness in his eyes. Even though he smiled, she could see it in his eyes.

With a strength that Kara did not yet possess, Zod jerked her hand up off the ground, and she was forced to let go of the Crystal. His grip was starting to hurt, and Kara had to do something quickly about it.

"You first," Kara spat as she aimed a kick right at his side.

Zod blocked her attack, and barely moved an inch. Instead he lifted her up off the ground, holding her as if she weighed nothing more than a bag full of feathers.

"You are just like your father... an idealistic fool!" Zod said, and there was no denying the sound of hatred in his words as he commented on Kara's lineage.

Kara, however, paid little attention to his seething anger. She was trying to come up with a way that would get her out of the predicament she was in. But for all her attacks, Zod was just that much stronger.

"I am not without mercy. But you are sorely trying my patience, daughter of Zor-El," Zod said coldly before he punched her in the stomach. Kara had never really known pain up until that moment, at least not while she wasn't under the effect of green Kryptonite.

"One way or the other... you will kneel before Zod."

"I will never bow to you," Kara said in defiance, fighting back the pain that gripped her body.

Zod recognized that it would take more than mere words to make the daughter of Zor-El bend to his will. He would need to... beat some sense into her. Kara was then thrown quite a long ways away from the temple, crashing through a dense cluster of trees and bushes before she finally "landed" on the ground. Her impact left a deep impression in the earth, almost reminiscent of the crater her ship had created years before. Dirt and grass covered her clothes, and even her golden hair was left in a tangled mess.

And as Kara stumbled to her feet, Zod was there to greet her.

"Disappointing. I expected more from you, Kara Zor-El. I'll give you one final chance to kneel before me. Kneel... and I will spare the friends you care so much about," Zod offered, holding out his hand to her.

Kara, though tired and beaten, looked at his hand for a moment before she defiantly shook her head. She couldn't give up so easily... not when everything was on the line.

Zod pulled back his hand, clearly frustrated over Kara's persistent rejection of his kindness and mercy. Clenching his fist in anger, Zod punched Kara straight through another row of trees before he caught up with her again. She felt his powerful hands grip her like a rag doll, smashing her against every stick and stone that he could find until she was bleeding from the mouth.

Finally Zod let her go, and Kara barely had the strength to stand up on her feet again.

She was battered and bruised, clearly outmatched by Zod in every way.

"I was... imprisoned. Like a beast! Banished from my own homeland. And yet here I am. In a way your father saved my life. Saved me from death by sending me into the Phantom Zone. I think it's only fair that... I extend the same courtesy to you," Zod said as he toyed with a metallic bracelet around his wrist.

"Don't worry. You'll have all of eternity to contemplate what happened here today. That you couldn't save your friends. That you were too weak..." Zod added as he removed that same bracelet from his wrist, holding it out in front of him and aimed towards Kara.

"Goodbye... Kara Zor-El."

Zod let the bracelet float towards Kara, and it slowly moved past her in mid air before launching itself into the sky, a blinding flash of light signaling that the portal to the phantom zone had been opened.

She looked up towards the sky before looking back towards Zod.

Yet Kara had no time for words, and she felt her body being pulled against her will towards the portal.

Towards the Phantom Zone.

Down below, Zod couldn't help but grin as he watched the portal flash brightly one more time before it closed forever.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Jonathan answered the phone, and he was surprised to hear from the County Sheriffs. His surprise turned to anxiety once he was told that Kara had been involved in something.

"We'll be right there," Jonathan responded before he hung up the phone.

"What is it?" Martha asked.

"That was the Sheriffs Department. They said that Kara's in some kind of trouble."

"Jonathan she..."

"I know, Martha. It'll be alright," he responded, wrapping his arms around her.

"We better get going. They said there was an incident at the Wayne household, down on Creavy."

"Is Kara there?"

"I think so. I don't really know what's going on," Jonathan added.

Something just wasn't right.

Smallville was, obviously, a small town, and more often than not when an incident occurred, the Sheriff's were far more likely to make a personal visit rather than dial out over the phone.

"I'm gonna head over and check it out. You can stay here in case they call again. In case Kara calls," Jonathan suggested, drawing a nod from his wife. He kissed her on the lips before grabbing his coat and a set of keys for the truck outside.

 

[AmenRa]

Zod

It was done.

Vengeance was exacted upon the daughter of his imprisoner.

The lineage of the House of El had ceased, here, now, on Earth as Kara Zor-El, the Last Daughter of Krypton, had been banished for eternity to the Phantom Zone.

Zod threw his head back and laughed.

Now, there was only the Martian and his friends to deal with.

And that, he knew, would be easy, for in a few moments all of Earth would be at his mercy.

With the Crystal in his hand, Zod flew from the place where Kara had entered the portal, and he flew swiftly towards the Chinese army that had gathered outside the Temple. He planned to seek out their leader, and then use their primitive television relay network to broadcast his ultimatum to the world.

 

[AmenRa]

In The Zone......

Even with the approaching horror of the sandstorm, and through the torrent winks of lightning that flashed jaggedly across a hurtful landscape, Var-Sen of Krypton was unprepared when the Gateway opened, it's spiraling iris of incandescent blue light casting Those Who Waited in shadow.

"Someone is coming through," he shouted to Raya.

And then a form, blonde-haired and limp, fell from the Gateway to the black rock below.

Var-Sen knew her in a moment, his fingers gripping Raya's hand tighter, then letting go as he reached to the ground and cradled the sleeping child in his arms.

He brushed her hair back from her forehead, and then he picked up her wrist, tracing a finger over the symbol engraved into her bracelet. Var-Sen shook his head, and his eyes were red and watery as he turned to face Raya. He held a wrist up so that Raya could see bracelet of Kryptonian steel with the symbol of the House of El.

The symbol of Hope.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

"What... where am I?" Kara asked, and she realized she was standing in some sort of chamber, overlooking everything. She banged her fist against one of the walls, but to no avail.

There wasn't any escaping this... this whatever it was.

Was Zod right? Had she been too weak to prevent this? Was she going to spend the rest of her days in the Phantom Zone?

"Let me out!" she yelled, banging her hand once more against the wall.

But her strength had quickly left her, and Kara felt her body being plunged towards something. She was falling, faster and faster until she couldn't go any further. She landed on the ground with a thud, unconscious and still bleeding from her "fight" with Zod.

"Nnnn my head," Kara groaned as she finally stirred from her slumber. Her vision was kind of blurry upon waking, but she was quick to notice all the bandages wrapped around her (she could have easily passed for a mummy on Halloween).

 

[ChasNicollette]

Raya and Lar

Raya Ro-Zan of The House of Zan had been horrified and elated all at once to see that Symbol.

The Last Hope of Krypton, both that Symbol and that Girl.

There she was, a veritable angel of a creature, the only way they could get free. And oh, that filled her with fantastic sparks and streaks of joy...

"Kara Zor-El," she breathed, though such identification was hardly a necessary use of breath.

...but oh, she was in bad shape, having been unprepared for combat with General Zod, and now that she was here, the one entity still living who could open The Phantom Zone from within, that bad shape might be their undoing. The Phantoms would not rest until they were free, and they would flay the flesh from this young saviour's bones if they had to to do it.

Without a word, perhaps without even fully comprehending the backstory, Lar pressed his crutch into Raya's hands. And without powers, without his walking aid, without even the full strength of his muscles, wracked with pain and poison, Lar Gand, "M'onel," took the fallen girl into his arms.

"Come on, new gal," he told her softly, as with arms and back and legs screaming in lead-poisoned agony, he bore her aloft, and carried her back towards the tent. "Hnnnh. Busy day in The Phantom Zone. Can't help but wonder, though, if every Kryptonian woman is a striking blue-eyed blonde... they're a lot rarer on my planet."

Raya followed for a moment, and then jogged ahead, hoping to prepare medical supplies somewhat before Kara's arrival.

********​

"Nnnn my head," Kara groaned as she finally stirred from her slumber.

Rubbing his arms, Lar arched an eyebrow, glancing across at Raya, who had painstakingly bandaged the girl's many many cuts and scrapes. She had landed hard.

Without a word, Raya placed her hand gently, soothingly, on Kara's forehead, and nodded.

...and standing again, this definitely with the help of the crutch, half-broken Lar limped out to the mouth of the tent and called to Var-Sen of The House of Sen.

"Sir!" he bellowed. "She's awake!"

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara felt a soft hand against her forehead, fingers pushing against her blond hair as if to both soothe her over and check out the damage.

And Kara had been damaged.

Under the might of General Zod she had crumbled to pieces, acting more as a human would than a Kryptonian.

And she felt like crying, her emotions swelling to the surface. Her friends... her family... she had failed them. How could she be of any use if she was trapped here? How was she supposed to fulfill her destiny if she was stuck in a barren wasteland?

A single tear strolled down her cheek as she tried to calm her nerves.

And she still hurt, both physically as well as emotionally.

She was still a young girl. And, despite her many impressive abilities, she was still fragile.

 

[AmenRa]

"Sir!" he bellowed. "She's awake!"

Var-Sen stepped through the opening into the makeshift dwelling. He unwrapped the ragged wrapping from his face; protection against the elements of the Zone.

He knelt on the floor beside Raya, and he looked upon Kara with gentle eyes.

"So many years ago," he began, his voice a haunted, ancient sounding thing, "we worked along side your father in his laboratory. We helped him create this place, this Phantom Zone, to be a place of reckoning and abandon for those that wronged.

"I know your coming here bodes terribly for Earth," he said to her, shaking his head, "and I am sorry I did not prepare you better for the work that was tasked to you. But," he conditioned, as he reached out and took Raya's hand in his, "even here you will find work to be done."

He gave her a smile, "Welcome to the Phantom Zone, Kara Zor-El," he said. "I am Var-Sen."

The last time he had seen her was when she was a child, held in the arms of J'onn J'onzz.

"Tell me, Kara, for this is most important: did Rose give you the crystal? The one in the symbol of the House of El?"

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

"I think... yes she did," Kara said.

She remembered a Crystal unlike the others, one that bore the symbol of her house.

"I don't know... my head hurts," Kara mumbled, and she experienced, for the first time, a headache.

They were a real bitch.

"It was in my pocket," Kara added, her hands slowly moving down to pat her sides. She looked up at Var-Sen for a moment, and she briefly recognized his face.

But the woman...

Kara Zor-El hadn't seen her before, though she sensed in her a great and kind soul.

Suddenly Kara felt panic grip her as she realized that the Crystal of El was no longer in her pocket.

"It's gone!" she cried out in panic and frustration, frantically digging into her pockets to see if she had missed it. She knew that she had had it on her when she was thrust into the portal, and it must have fallen loose when she was sent crashing into the Zone itself.

"I... I had it just... it was in my pocket. It must have fallen loose outside."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose, The Countess, John, Lex, and Ted

High in the sky, a rift winked out.

Kara was gone.

"Oh my God," Rose breathed, staring at the spot where she'd vanished.

Zod was coming back but all hope was lost, Kara was gone.

All Hope was lost.

Thunder split the sky and the rain came down.

Kara was gone. Gone the way of John Smith.

"...this horrible nonfictional place," Rose rasped, through a throat torn by eldritch lightning.

The rain came down in torrents and Rose didn't couldn't move.

...with a howl, The Countess renewed her attacks on J'onn J'onzz...

...and she exploded out of his grasp and out of his mental clutches with a burst of force that was both sheer will and raw concussion and she staggered away from him.

"Leave me, Alien," she snarled, the rain soaking her dark dark hair and her torn-up stolen stewardess' uniform. "Do you not now have greater concerns than little old me?"

And then a fist came out of nowhere, cold-cocking, an old-fashioned soccer-hooligan haymaker, and it nearly took The Countess' head off. (Or would have, had she been halfway human.)

"Talking of which?" Constantine seethed.

"GAAAAH!" The Countess screamed at him in wordless fury, and she emptied a blast of sheer dark orchid photonic energy at him, and it blew a crater in the ground just behind Constantine's already-scarpering feet.

John came up from an evading roll, hands held up in a gesture that looked like a sign for Love but was really really far far older... "AZARATH!"

Olive light flashed around The Countess and she staggered and she winced and she bayed like a wounded wolf and another power blast ripped out of her hands, stinging searing pouring power...

Constantine was slower in dodging this blast, slower in moving, his breath like locomotive steam in his lungs, and it singed the side of him, grazed him, barely touched him but still he staggered tumbled, scraped his hands and knees open on the rocky ground.

Panting, seething, he held up one of those hands again and cried in a strangled but stalwart voice: "METRION!"

The Countess felt her soul being bound, being trapped, she bucked and struggled to get free, and she screamed at him: "Your blood is poison, magic man!"

Constantine smiled at her, a world-weary nigh-victorious smile: "So's your face."

The Countess bristled, blistered, bellowed, and both hands coruscated with a sizzling blast that speared for John Constantine's heart, vapourising the pouring raindrops as it raked the air...

...and then a blur of black and red and blue came in from the side, a storm of fire and of flight and Rose was there and Rose was right there and Rose was gritting her teeth and growling...

She caught the blast full on her chest, taking the proverbial bullet for Constantine, the energies scorching a crater above her breastbone, punching her strengthened body to the ground.

The blast would have killed a normal human. But Rose could take a hit, and instead of receiving the full worth of a mystical photonic blast, Constantine instead got the wind knocked out of him by a teenage girl cludding into him, blasted back into him by The Countess' spellfire.

Crumpled in a heap on the ground, tangled together as the rain came down, Rose whimpered in agony and John wheezed in pain. John felt something stabbing him in the leg, and for a bewildered instant, he glanced down.

Something was sticking out of Rose's back pocket.

The Countess gritted her teeth.

"Valkyrie Missile," The Countess grimaced, her right hand crackling with renewed power. "Common-Man Magus. Two birds. With one stone."

"Stay behind me," Rose hissed, tears of pain, tears of the world, tears shed for a lost friend who could have saved The Planet, Saved The Day, mixing with tears shed by clouds high above.

"No fear," John replied, enigmatic to the last.

The Countess raised her hand and power poured forth, again turning the rain to steam at its passing--

John picked Rose's pocket and held his prize aloft.

The Key glinted in his fingers, held before him and before Rose like a sheriff displaying his badge of office.

"ZINTHOS," John growled.

--The Countess' bolt struck The Key and rebounded off it like it might have rebounded off of a polished magic mirror and the bolt knifed back from whence it had come, angled ever-so-slightly upwards.

Sheer eldritch photonic power blew a hole in The Countess' forehead and she fell to her knees with a wordless soundless scream.

She knelt there, twitching, twitching.

John staggered out from under Rose, flexing his fingers, pocketing The Key, and galumphed across to The Countess.

She gazed at him with agonised eyes, unable to think, unable to move, unable to breathe.

<"Sacrifice The Vessel,"> he murmured to her in Kryptonian.

And he touched her on the forehead with fingers that formed The Devil's Horn, and he breathed a word that had not been spoken since Gloriana Tenebrae subdued The First Camelot.

And The Countess shuddered.

And dissolved into the same dust her true body had become across four centuries of time.

"Back to bed, Maggie," John told her, not irreverently. "Back to bed."

Rose watched this, wounded, with wide wide blue blue eyes. "Bendigedig."

...across the battlefield, Lex cracked metallic magic knuckles as he glowered at Zod's returning form...

But Ted put a hand on his chest, halting him.

"Ladies first," he admonished, and indicated that the dark-haired wonder should take her shot. "Di?"

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter recoiled from the Countess' fight, letting her away from him, knowing the John Constantine and the other's now held her fate.

He took to the air, hovering above the ground for an instant as the rain came down. He looked to the sky, to the place where the Gateway to the Phantom Zone had opened and then closed.

Zod had taken Kara Zor-El away from Earth, but he had not taken her away from her destiny.

And he never would.

J'onn J'onzz meant that, and he would see to it.

So he hovered there, above the ground, lightning crashing and the rain soaking, his eyes glowing red and his hands clenched into fists out at his side.

He was afraid for just an instant, for Rose and the others had not yet seen the full furious power he possessed. But he knew they would not fear him, or what he could become, even as he unleashed his wrath upon the Enemy of Earth.

He saw Zod coming, flying fast once again towards Earth.

His voice was gritty and solid when he spoke aloud:

"Tonight, we dine in hell!"