You'll Alway Be My Hero
Chapter 1: Guardian Angel

The abandoned tenement building imploded in a cloud of dust as Clark's body plummeted from the sky and tore through each of its floors. Crashing into slab after slab of concrete didn't hurt him, but it didn't feel pleasant either. What did hurt was the searing sensation of heat vision on his chest being delivered by his opponent. He fired back with a blast of his own at his adversary, who was hovering in the moonlit sky over the pile of rubble where Clark crash-landed. To Clark's dismay, his target deftly avoided his heat blasts and flew towards him at incredible speed, slamming into his chest with her fists. He skidded across the pavement and crashed into another abandoned building. The tremendous impact of her blow forced the air from his lungs and he could feel himself beginning to cough up blood. He was in big trouble

Clark knew coming into this fight that his chances of survival were slim to none. And now those chances were looking less like 'slim' and more like 'none'. Taking on Ursa, one of the most renowned warriors in Krypton's history, was definitely one of the worst ideas he'd ever had in his life. But he didn't have a choice.

As Zod's first lieutenant, Ursa had been the enforcer behind his military operations. Now that Zod and most of the zoners were out of the picture, she was making her own bid for domination over the planet. Ursa had found Clark in his farm and threatened to destroy Metropolis if Kal-El refused to face her in battle in two days' time. With Oliver's Justice League currently out of the country on a mission, Clark shouldered the responsibility of stopping Ursa and accepted her challenge.

But he didn't enter the fight without a plan. Since he knew that he probably couldn't beat her in a straight fight, his best chance of stopping Ursa was to send her back to the Phantom Zone. To do that, he needed to use a Phantom Zone Projector he'd retrieved from the Fortress of Solitude. The only catch was that once he activated the projector, he needed to vacate the premises immediately or risk being sucked in through the portal himself. This meant that he needed to incapacitate or restrain Ursa in some way, which he was currently failing miserably at. As the fight dragged on he became increasingly convinced that his only chance to save earth was to activate the portal while he was locked in combat with Ursa, taking her back to the Phantom Zone along with him. The thought of spending eternity in a hellish prison with one of his father's mortal enemies didn't appeal to him, but it was better than leaving earth in her hands.

Clark picked himself up off the ground and fixed his eyes on his enemy. She stood a few yards away from him with her arms crossed. Her jet black hair blew in the wind and her piercing blue eyes looked at him with detached contempt. She wore a lightweight suit of black armor. Her slender frame and stunningly delicate facial features belied the fact that she was a vicious killer.

A condescending grin spread across her face.

"Is that all you can manage Kal-El? I had no idea that the son of Jor-El would be such a weakling. What a disappointment. Perhaps I should amuse myself with the torture of some of the primitive natives instead?"

Her words triggered a protective rage inside of Clark, and he dashed towards her with the strongest punch he could muster.

Clark's eyes widened in shock as Ursa easily intercepted his punch with an open-palmed parry. He couldn't believe how incredibly strong and fast she was. Not only was she stronger than any of the zoners he'd encountered so far, but she would have also left Bart Allen in the dust. This was one time where he wished he'd begun his training when Jor-El had told him to.

Ursa smiled wickedly.

"Foolish boy. So predictably quick to anger. Your emotions weaken you."

Before he knew it, Clark was met with a series of lightning-fast elbows, knees, and hand strikes. The final blow to his stomach sent Clark to his knees and his insides groaned in pain. He clenched his eyes shut as he tried to suck it up.

Mercifully, Ursa halted her onslaught. But only for the moment.

The sound of metal scraping against something forced Clark to open his eyes and look up. He wished he hadn't. Ursa was now brandishing a sword with Kryptonian symbols on it. The symbols read: "The Judgment of Rao." If this sword was anything like the Kryptonian blades he'd encountered in the past, it would slice through him like butter.

He could feel the pace of his heart quicken.

"I grow tired of this diversion," Ursa sighed. "It is time to end this, Kal-El."

Without warning, she lunged towards him and swung her blade at his midsection. Clark called on all of his speed to avoid the blade, but he wasn't fast enough. The blade's edge cut across his abdomen, and Clark could feel the sting of the metal. Fortunately, he had moved just enough so that the wound wasn't fatally deep. But it hurt like hell.

Ursa moved in for another strike. In his desperation, Clark miraculously avoided her sword and managed to land a powerful punch to her face.

She staggered back, momentarily stunned at being hit. Unfortunately, Clark was unable to follow up his attack due to the bleeding gash in his torso. He dropped down to one knee and painfully clutched at his stomach.

An amused grin formed on Ursa's face as she wiped the small trickle of blood from her mouth.

"So it seems you are not completely feeble, Kal-El. But it is too little, too late."

She grasped her sword tightly with both hands and prepared to deal the death blow.

This was it. Whether or not he survived this next attack, Clark had to make sure that Ursa got sent back to the Phantom Zone. He grasped the Phantom Zone projector's switch in his back pocket and prepared for her to get within range.

Before the final moment, his thoughts turned to all the people he was leaving behind. He'd said his cryptic goodbyes to Martha and Lana before leaving to face Ursa. But his heart ached at not having said goodbye to Chloe in person. Since deciding to keep their relationship "strictly professional," they had barely spoken over the past nine months, and even then only in the capacity of him needing her help with zoners or working with the Justice League. He'd desperately wanted to see Chloe before confronting this latest foe, but was afraid that she would put herself in harm's way. Even though they no longer spent time together, Clark had no doubt that Chloe would still risk her life to help him. So instead of risking her involvement, he decided to tell her farewell by leaving a handwritten letter on her Daily Planet desk less than an hour ago.

Suddenly, his hearing picked up the sound of a bow being drawn. Ursa heard it as well and they both turned their head towards the sound. In the shadows, a dark blue hooded figure took aim at Clark's opponent.

"How pathetic," Ursa yelled at the figure shrouded in darkness, "your weapons are useless against me."

"We'll see about that," said a distorted voice.

Clark instantly recognized the sound of the voice concealer Oliver Queen used in his guise as the Green Arrow. Oliver must have just made it back from shutting down the latest of Lex Luthor's 33.1 facilities in Asia. But that still didn't explain why Oliver was wearing blue instead of his patented green leather outfit. He just hoped that Oliver didn't get himself killed.

Before Ursa could resume her attack on Clark, the hooded figure unleashed a customized arrow with a bulky cylindrical head in her direction. Clark could tell from the arrow's design that it was manufactured by Queen industries and wondered what good it would do against a Kryptonian. Amused by the primitive projectile, Ursa merely stood her ground, wanting to demonstrate to the intruder exactly how futile his attempts were.

Just before the arrow made contact with its target, its head broke open to unleash a weighted net that wrapped itself around Ursa. To Clark's surprise, Ursa collapsed under the weight of the net. Then he felt it. The familiar pain of Kryptonite. That was what the net was made of.

Before succumbing to the pain, Clark realized this was the chance he had been waiting for. With Ursa incapacitated by the Kryptonite net, he activated the Phantom Zone Projector. Since the Kryptonite negated his powers, he ran as fast as he humanly could away from the opening portal. As far as he could tell, Oliver had already high tailed it out of there.

As he started to feel the violent winds of the portal, Clark anchored himself against the largest piece of rubble he could find and hoped it was enough to keep him from getting sucked in. He looked back and observed Ursa's flailing form being pulled into the portal entrance before she finally disappeared within its depths. Then just as quickly as it opened, the gate to the Phantom Zone disappeared, not leaving a single trace of the evil Kryptonian.

Satisfied that his job was done, Clark collapsed to the ground with his wound still bleeding. He rested on his back and looked up at the full moon, thankful that it wasn't the last night of his life on earth.

"Are you alright?" a familiar distorted voice called out from a few feet away.

Clark was too drained to move at all.

"I'm a little banged up, Ollie," he said into the night air, "but I think I'll survive. Thanks for the save…"

The blue-hooded figure stood over him and blocked his view of the moon. Clark instantly realized that it wasn't Oliver. He should have been alarmed, but he wasn't. The person had saved his life, after all.

"Who are you?" he asked.

His savior pulled back the hood to reveal golden blond hair, brilliant emerald green eyes, and a smile that could bring anyone to their knees. The moonlight illuminated her hair and gave her face an ethereal glow. Clark never thought he had seen anything so beautiful in his life. It was impossible for him to stop the smile that spread across his face.

He had cheated death and now found himself face to face with his guardian angel… albeit a guardian angel that talked as if she'd done a few stints in purgatory.

Chloe smiled right back at him, filled with both relief and joy.

She turned off the voice concealer before taking a dig at him; she just couldn't resist.

"What would you ever do without me?" she asked with her hands on her hips.

Just a few moments ago he thought he would never see her again. Now she was standing over him, giving him crap with a devious grin on her face. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

"I'd probably die a long and horrible death," he replied.

And boy, did he know it.

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