The Masters Initiative: Secret Origin Chapter 1: Escape, a justice league fanfic

(This is an origin tale for an RP that I'm part of called The Masters Initiative where we are all doing origin tales for some of our characters. This story deals with one of Supermans main villains, general Zod. This story deals with Zods original encounter with Superman and how he gets involved into the RP some time later. I don't go into heavy detail about his time on Krypton but thats only because it's not really relevant to the tale at hand. Hope you enjoy; and Charmy, watch out behind you!)

NOW...

For the longest time he could remember nothing but the feeling left on him by this wretched prison. The Phantom Zone. The worst kind of torture for any man; suspended and unmoving; every scream lost to your own ears. It is having the sensation of death all around, trying to cling its way within you, yet knowing that you live... even when you wished death would hurry up and consume you... but it never will.

THEN...

His name is Zod, Cro-Zod of Krypton; imprisoned for trying to take control of Krypton's foolish government, only to be betrayed by one of his closest friends... Jor-El. He and his wife Ursa were made outcasts of; turned into pariahs and prosecuted for their 'crimes'. Along with their companion Non, who had at one point been a brilliant scientist, and mentor to Jor-El; yet was lobotomized for learning the truth of a conspiracy about the government Zod eventually tried to overthrow; yet the conspiracy he uncovered remains lost, as Non has never spoken since. The procedure had left him void of most emotion, save his rage; which was only empowered by his sheer brute size, yet Zod knew that somewhere deep inside, his old friend was still there; itching for revenge. The three were sentenced to a life-time in the Phantom Zone, and so were saved from Kryptons destruction.

Yet fate had decided to give Zod and his companions a second chance, and upon stumbling upon the Phantom Zone projector for the first time, Kal-El released the trio from their prison and onto Earth. Providence had struck, and after a well placed distortion of truth; telling Kal-El that they were falsely imprisoned, they began to secretly survey the planet; determining that Mankind was too primitive to adequately govern themselves. Upon confronting Kal-El of their plan to re-establish Earth as New Krypton, there was a tremendous conflict that occurred between all of them. Although all three of them fought against Superman, his time spent harnessing and training his powers proved to give him the upper hand. After attacking several oil tankers and giving a distraction to the Man of Steel, the trio escaped to the red sands of Mars, and there they were able to elude the son of Jor-El

Zod knew that he had been foolish for thinking that he could befriend Kal-El, and turn him against a father that he never known, and knew now that he must seek to defeat Kal-El by other means. The three of them spent years on Mars, establishing a secret base of operations underneath the sands. During their time on Mars, Zod and Ursa had a son; they named him Kon-Zod, the first Son of New Krypton. Zod knew at this point in his life that he had to be unrelenting in his crusade against the Son of Jor-El; he went about the Earth under the false name of Jordon Elwin; a name meant to curse his enemy. He secretly gathered resources that he could use to manipulate the people of Earth; something called 'money'. Zod was familiar with the concept of commercial gain, but such things had long been done away with on Krypton... before it's destruction.

Yet Zods trips to Earth ended up being his undoing; upon trying to acquire Blackgate Prison in Gotham City he was found out by Batman, who wasted no time in contacting Kal-El. In order to keep the Justice League from following him back, Zod began a brawl with seven founding members; taking them down one by one until only Superman remained. The two faught a long battle which ended in the Fortress of Solitude, yet Zods time on Mars training with Ursa and Non had helped him harness his abilities, and his military training gave him an edge that Superman could not compensate against. Upon defeating Superman, Zod fled to his secret fortress under the sands of Mars; yet Zod was his own undoing. Using a device built by Lex Luthor to track Supermans flight patterns, The Justice League was able to track down Zod's escape route and determined where he had been hiding all these years. Luckily for Zod however, Batman and the League had not learned of the secret alias that Zod had been using during his visits to Earth.

The League knew that a direct attack on Zod would prove just as fruitless when they attacked him in Gotham; so a plan was devised where a lead suit was made for Superman, he would take a piece of Kryptonite with him to Mars and expose Zod and the others to it. Though the plan did go go as hoped; for after subduing Non and Ursa with the Kryptonite, Superman found Zod with his child, the First Son of New Krypton; and using the child as a shield Zod was able to convince Superman to cast aside the Kryptonite.

An epic battle occurred between Superman and Zod which took place on Mars and the Moon before the two crashed to the Earth; their battle continuing until Superman was able to best Zod by means of a backwards-Magical phrase he had been trained in from Zatara the Magician, for this occasion. Though Superman was by no means magically adept, the spell was more than enough to tip the scales in his favor. Unknown to both the combatants; when they had started their fight on Mars and Superman had discarded the Kryptonite, the chunk had found its way to the side of Ursa, and sat there until she died from Kryptonite Poisoning.

Zod was imprisoned within the Fortress of Solitude, within a Kryptonian energy prison which was emitting small bursts of red solar radiation which were contained to within the prison. Shortly after Zod was joined by Non, and when informed of his wives death did not speak a word; joining Non in his silence. After several days of solitude, Superman appeared to declare that he was returning Zod and Non to the Phantom Zone. It was not this news that made Zod speak however; it was after Kal-El informed him that he would not allow Zods child to accompany him into the Zone; that he would keep Kon-Zod with him and raise him on Earth.

Zod spat into the energy field that imprisoned him. The saliva began to sizzle and evaporate as it collided with the field, causing a light steam to billow within the field. "Your father, Jor-El once imprisoned me within the Zone; when he did I swore that I would make sure that he and his heirs paid dearly for their betrayal of the house of Zod. You Kal-El... I swear to you now, for taking from me my bride and my heir; I will watch your blood flow. I will tear your throat from your neck. I will inflict upon you the greatest torture I can imagine. I will take my son back; and bring ruin to all you cherish."

There was a blinding light from the Phantom Zone projector that stood on a crystalline stand before Zod and Non, and the two disappeared into the light; once again embraced by the nothing that was offered to the senses as the effects of the Zone consumed them.

NOW...

How long he had been here was a mystery to him; yet his thoughts never strayed far from his hatred of Kal-El; his desire to wrap his hands around Supermans throat. The thought consumes him until suddenly one day, when a strange face replaces the nothing that he sees. The face has a mouth which begins to move, but Zod cannot hear his words; his ears are still deafened by the Zone. Soon the face disappears and is replaced by a blinding light; Zods senses suddenly return to him.

He feels his feet touch down on a solid surface; the sounds of cars honking echoes miles above him; there is a stale taste in the air as he breathes in for the first time in a long time. "I've done it!" A familiar voice called out to him as he opened his eyes to see a middle aged man with a long red beard and shaggy long hair; he wore a lab coat and didn't seem to have showered in a long time. Zod noticed that he was in a large laboratory with many cords that were running from several different holes in the walls into the machine behind him; which was steaming heavily from its use.

"Where am I?" Zod said in a demanding tone as he glared towards the strange man. There was a strange familiarity to the mans face, yet Zod could not place the man in his memory.

"Underground; sir. I've been working here for years, since Mr. Elwin funded my research, he... oh my god. You're him! Mr. Elwin?" The scientists face took a look of shock as he began to examine Zods facial features. "Sir; it's been nearly twenty years... where have you been?"

Zods memory began to race as he remembered buying up a small research lab located under Coast City. This scientist was Jay Romoni; a brilliant physicist and a specialist in inter-dimensional theory. Zod could remember the project that he had put Romoni on; essentially Romoni had been put in charge of finding a way to breach a barrier into another world; little did Romoni know that Zod (in the guise of Jordon Elwin) had steered his research so that if he did succeed and create a rift; it would lead to the Phantom Zone. Zods back door contingency plan had worked; yet as Zod examined the machine behind him he could not help but become enraged by the layers upon layers of burned circuits and wires; there was now no way for Zod to release Non. His eyes wandered back to Dr. Romoni as his eyes flickered with a tinge of red, "You're machine Doctor; is there any way to fix it?" Zod spoke in the most restrained voice he could muster, if he were to defeat Superman and reclaim his son then he would need Nons help.

"It took me twenty years to get this right, sir. Many of the materials that I used are no longer available. Also that crystal you provided me with has been rendered inert by the experiment which brought you through..." Dr. Romoni began to step back from Zod as he spoke; the flicker of red in Zods eyes had scared the Doctor enough that he felt an intense need to put more distance between himself and his employer.

"That is unfortunate Doctor." Zod spoke in a low voice as his eyes began to glow with an intensity as the red flicker began to consume his eyes. Dr. Romoni stopped in his tracks, his face became contorted in a look of utter pain as Zod used a combination of his heat-vision and X-ray vision to set Dr. Romoni's frontal lobe and cerebellum of his brain on fire. "It is also unfortunate for you that I cannot have any loose ends. You have served your purpose, and your research will prove most valuable to me." Zods eyes stopped glowing and returned to their normal dark brown, the look of pain across the Doctors face was replaced with a vacant stare as he collapsed to the ground; a steady stream of drool flowing from his mouth as Zod approached.

"My son... Kon-Zod; I will take you back." Zod began as he moved from his place and began to walk towards a near by computer monitor; during his time on Earth before Kal-El imprisoned him, he had familiarized himself with the device. He began to search up all information he could find on Superman and the Justice League; in the twenty years Zod had been imprisoned things had changed drastically for this planet. "I will make you pay for what you have robbed from me, son of Jor-El. You and your group think you are the masters of this planet... now; you will learn the truth, and then;" Zod turned on his spot, clenching his fist as he held it into the air before shouting, "YOU SHALL KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!"

(Believe it or not I have been Rping with Zod for over a year and this is the first time he has had a chance to use his catch-line, hence the capitals :p)