REIGN OF KRYPTON #1
"Declaration of War!"
By Ivan Krolo
"How long must I wait, Faora?" asked General Zod while at the landscape of Earth below them via a large window at the tip of the Fortress' command bridge; his eyes examining everything from the beautiful blue sky to the green pastures below thanks to his enhanced vision. His subordinates all walk in and out of the room while others sit at key terminals, keeping track of the Fortress' systems.
"Only a short while longer sir, I assure you." One of his most trusted Lieutenants, Faora, is one of these officers stationed at the terminals, busy cracking into the global network of satellites orbiting the planet so that her leader may introduce himself, and her kin to the people of Earth.
He gives her an affirmative grunt before noticing the approach of another one of his soldiers, Nam-Ek, a true giant standing at over seven feet tall and clad from head to toe in the black Kryptonian armor which only serves to make him fear even more imposing.
"General Zod, sir!" He salutes his commanding officer with the stomp of his boot, even shaking the ground under him.
"What news do you bring from the Phantom Zone?" He asked, not even bothering to turn his head at the soldier who lowers his hand.
"Half of our fleet is already armed, and in the sky. The rest should be joining them in less than half an hour."
"And what of Kal-El?"
"His majesty wishes to deal with him personally, sir. He refuses to leave the Phantom Zone until Kal-El's processing is completed."
"An understandable move, he will no doubt have his work cut out for him given the decades of influence these mongrel humans have had on him. Indoctrinating him to our cause will likely not be an easy task. Then again, his majesty has become quite proficient in the art of… changing people's minds."
"General Zod!" yells Faora from her terminal, causing the aging commander to turn his head in her direction. "We've successfully hacked into their satellites and networking channels; your message will be broadcast to every communication device on the planet."
Smirking at this news, he turns his head in Faora's direction before telling her. "Do it."
As per his order, Faora nods at her commanding officer before initiating the hacking process. Within seconds every phone, radio, television, computer or electronically powered communication device goes on the fritz, static overtaking them before Zod's image and/or voice replaces them.
He places both his hands behind his back and smirks at the camera. "Greetings people of Earth! My name is Dru-Zod of the planet known as Krypton. But you may call me… General Zod."
Meanwhile, Batcave….
"Though you may not know of me or the world which I serve, I believe you are more than familiar with a certain member of my species: the lost son of Krypton known as Kal-El, but on your world he goes by the name of Superman."
Scowling at this, Bruce glances over to Dick who nods at his mentor before the two of them move to one of the armor cases nearby the Bat computer and begin to suit up while Alfred and Zatanna continue watching the broadcast.
"Unfortunately for you, Kal-El is gone, and he can't, and won't save you from what comes next. Some of you won't believe me, many of you probably don't, but I assure you *the screen switches over to show a bloodied, beaten and unconscious Superman being held prisoner inside a prison cell with a pair of armored guardians watching over him* I'm not bluffing.
The two return to the Bat computer, fully adorned in their respective Batman & Robin suits. "Alfred, fix the Thrasher, I've got a feeling we'll need it."
"Right away," he walks away to tend to it while Batman looks over to Zatanna. "Still think I was being too paranoid about Superman?"
Meanwhile, on the road…
Green Lantern, accompanied by both Flash and his associate Kid Flash race to the spot where Hal's ring pinpointed the origin of the signal, they're eyes and ears never leaving the broadcast emanating from the ring itself.
"But, the true matter for me interrupting your horribly pointless little mongrels lives is quite simple; from this day until the end of days, this tiny world of yours known as Earth not only belongs to me, but to the Kryptonian Empire as well! I will say this as plainly as possible. Resistance is futile, civilizations superior to yours have all tried and failed to fight us, you don't stand a chance.
"Man, this guy really has the whole melodramatic Shakespearean act down," quips Wally to whom Hal chuckles to though Barry remains stone-faced. "Hey GL, you think this guy can really do what he's saying or what?"
"Nah Kid, I've met Zod's type before" stated GL. "Sure they might give some big boastful speech at their pep rallies but guys like him are all bark and no bite. Trust me; once we get to him, he and his cheerleading squad of an Empire are going down!"
"Hell yeah! We're totally gonna kick these guys asses am I right Uncle Barry?"
"You two need to calm down," he states matter of fact at them. "This guy just showed us he beat down Superman. If we're not careful, he's going to do a lot worse to us."
Meanwhile, Atlantis…
"But don't be fooled, I'm not an unreasonable man, though your race disgusts me, with time it may become a useful cog in the machine of the Kryptonian Empire regardless. Therefore, I offer you this, people of Earth; kneel before me and I will ensure the survival of your species."
Arthur and Mera stand in their throne room, along with several members of the Atlantean War Council and nobility who rushed to Arthur's side upon seeing the beginning of the broadcast, all of them in a stir and yelling atop each other while Arthur tries to listen to what Zod has to say.
"And here I thought only a surface Worlder could be so arrogant!"
"We must find this Zod and kill him my king!"
"He must pay for threatening our homeland my liege!"
"SILENCE!" his yellow reverberates throughout the entire room, its impact only heightened by the sound of his golden trident striking against the ground of the room, shattering a chunk of it in the process. "I want to hear this in peace; you may continue your squabbling once this is over, and not one second before."
"However." Zod continues. "Not all of you have earned my disdain; the people of Atlantis, for example, will receive a far better deal than the rest of you mongrels."
Gasps of shock and surprise from the crowd upon hearing this, with the nobility's hostility immediately being replaced by rumblings of this alliance's potential. Mera looks over to her husband and notices him clenching his fist in rage with a furious look on his face.
"That bastard… he's trying to turn the surface world even more against us with this!" Arthur thinks to himself.
Meanwhile, Fortress of Solitude…
"I imagine most of you are probably sick of listening to me at this point, so I'll do what any good storyteller does and show you what I mean instead of telling it to truly prove my point. Faora, *he turns his head to his left to address her directly* de-cloak our vessel and give the public a better view of the festivities to come."
Moments after the button press, the cloak making the Fortress invisible fades away entirely, revealing its location to the entire world who observes the massive floating structure via cameras from the outside as it hovers in the sky over Washington D.C.
Within minutes, the entire city below is infested with military personnel and tanks to cover the ground with some helping to evacuate the citizens from the combat zone while dozens of jets approaching the Fortress via the sky, all with the entire world watching it live. Zod smirks once more at the sight before turning to Nam-Ek to his right.
"Who is the least experienced soldier among our ranks right now?"
"Private Car-Vex, sir, fresh out of the training grounds. Nothing particularly special but she's a capable enough soldier. Why do you ask?"
"Send her to deal with them."
"A-are you sure, General? Even with the powers this sun gives us it may be too much for her to handle."
Zod turns around and places his hand on his soldiers shoulder to reassure him. "Put those fears to rest old friend, nothing bad will happen. Besides, having a rookie obliterate the finest this land has to offer will only make our more experienced soldiers that much more terrifying."
He nods at the general. "As you wish sir, she will be deployed momentarily."
Moving his hand away from Nam-Ek, he turns his attention back to the window and watches with a satisfied look on his face at the humans below, all barking their orders and preparing their strategies as if the are going to ultimately matter.
Meanwhile, White House…
"Mister President I strongly advise that you move yourself to a more secure location, it's not safe here." States Amanda Waller as she watches the footage outside the Fortress along with the President, and the secretary of defense.
"I agree Mister President. If these aliens have the capabilities of Superman, the amount of collateral damage will most assuredly be too great for us to contain, retreating to the bunker beneath the Whi—"
"No!" Exclaims the President defiantly. "I will not run and hide while this man threatens the entire world, the only way he'll take it is over my cold, dead bod—"
Sounds of explosions cut him off with the three of them turning their attention fully to the television, their eyes widening as they see the carnage unfolding. Their jets fall from the sky, most of the time being ripped in multiple parts, all of which fall at the city below, crashing through buildings, crushing helpless soldiers to death and blowing up their vehicles upon impact.
In the middle of their formation lands Car-Vex, fully adorned in the black Kryptonian armor from head to toe, the soldiers on the ground all form up around her with their vehicles taking aim.
She slowly looks around at them before clenching both of her fists and tearing the soldiers to shreds via a combination of super strength and speed, only appearing as a brief flash on the camera, making it seem as though she's teleporting from spot to spot instead of running.
Most are killed immediately from the sheer power of her blows and the few lucky enough to land a hit only see the sheer uselessness of their weapons before they too are slain by the Kryptonian Private.
The tanks fire at her, now that the surrounding foot soldiers are all killed leaving no risk of friendly fire only to also fail miserably. She effortlessly dodges their slow shells, and just as she did with the troops, zigzags from one to the next either tearing them in half or outright tossing them miles upon miles out of the city.
Attack helicopters, the only remaining shred of resistance open fire on her though she merely stands there, letting their guns unload all their ammo so that they and the whole world can see just how ineffective their weaponry truly is.
Using the solar energy stored in her body, she unleashes a beam of energy out of her eyes and in one fell swoop blows up all the surrounding attack choppers, effectively killing every shred of resistance.
All of the cameras linger on ordeal to give the entire world a perfect view of the destruction caused, men torn in half or pummeled to resemble something not even remotely human looking, tanks shred like paper and helicopters incinerated all while Car-Vex stands there completely unscathed.
The footage then turns to a smiling and clapping Zod who witnessed the whole thing from the safety of his ship while he addresses her and every person on the planet simultaneously. "Bravo Private Car-Vex, I couldn't have done it better myself. Truly you will rise fast through the ranks of our Empire."
The President and almost everyone watching feels their heart sink at the words "Private Car-Vex", the realization that such a low ranking soldier could obliterate some of the finest soldiers, jets, helicopters and tanks humanity has to offer in mere minutes.
His heart pounds so hard he can hear it in his ears, coupled with a sense of nausea in his stomach is enough to make him want to run for his life and not waste a second longer sitting there.
"Now then, Mister President," states Zod. "Now that I've more than made my point abundantly clear to your and all your fellow world leaders, I'm going to leave my flagship and in-front of your White House, if you value your life and the life of your species, you will be there."
Zod's face finally disappears, leaving computers & televisions pitch black and radios & phones with a cold silence of uncertainty. Gulping at the thought of this reaching planetary levels of destructions, the President gets out of his chair and like a machine walks to the door of his office before turning to the Secretary and Waller.
"Thank you both for your years of hard work in service of this country, oh and Amanda, get rid of that project you were working on, if they find out about it, they'll make us pay for it dearly."
She gulps before answering, "Understood, sir."
He smiles and nods at them both before exiting the office.
Outside, Zod flies down with Nam-Ek and Faora both accompanying him, several secret service agents surround them with their guns trained for their heads though they too heard, and saw what transpired a short while ago, all of them shaking uncontrollably at the gods standing before them.
"Let them through," commands the President via his earpiece to the others who reluctantly reply, letting the three Kryptonians enter the small garden before the White House where the President awaits them with a stone cold look on his face, much to Zod's pleasure.
"At least you're showing more composure than your men are," states Zod to which the President smirks at.
"If anyone's got to keep a cool head under pressure its the guy in-charge."
"On that I agree with you, but let's not waste anymore time Mister President. The whole world is watching and what you do next will decide the fate of this world, so I suggest you think this through carefully."
"If my species is on the line, then I don't think there is a choice in the matter. What do you want from me?"
"…Kneel."
The President raises an eyebrow at this. "What?"
"Unless my translator is faulty which I'm certain it's not, you should've heard me just fine, but I'll say it once more anyway; kneel." The clear pleasure he'd been expressing during most of his time on the air vanishes and is replaced by a seething hatred in an instant making the President's heart skip a beat.
Knowing that submitting was better than extinction, he slowly starts to kneel before the three Kryptonians much to their amusement when Zod hears a noise closing in on their location at an incredible speed, comparable to what his own species are capable of.
"Let's see where this is going," He thinks to himself. "You two, dodge now!"
The three Kryptonians jump out of the way just as Barry tries to land a punch at Zod's face though he misses completely, Kid Flash follows suit, stopping just next to the President before waving at the camera.
"Hello world!" Wally exclaims with a smile on his face. "No need to fear, 'cause the good guys are here!"
"That's enough of that Kid!" States Barry, his eyes never moving away from Zod. "Take the President and get him out of here, I'll take care of this guy."
"Got it boss!" He smiles and salutes him before zipping over to the president and carrying him bridal style, though not without some difficult. "No offense Mister Pres, but you really need to lose some weight."
Before the man can respond, Wally does as he's told and zips away from the White House to get the President to a more secure location, Faora tries to step forward to take on Flash though Zod places his hand in-front of her.
"That won't be necessary Faora; I'll take care of him and the Lantern personally."
"How do you kno—"
Without warning Zod appears before Flash with his fist raised much to Barry's shock and barely manages to jump out of its way, landing safely from his fist and watches it destroy an entire section of the ground.
Getting his bearings, Barry runs at Zod and unleashes a barrage of punches at the Kryptonian commanding officer who, using his arms, manages to not only match their speed but block every single one of them, their movements being so fast none of the ordinary people observing the battle can even see them.
Growing tired of this stalemate, Zod seemingly lowers his defense by moving his left arm way from his head prompting Barry to try to land a punch directly at his face only for the General to grab his hand with his own, then proceeding to shatter the speedsters nose with a well-placed head butt.
With the hero temporarily dazed from the attack, Zod channels the solar energy coursing through his body into his fist, releasing Barry's hand just a second before his punch drives into his stomach, sending him flying through the upper part of the White House and into the air.
Almost immediately, though Barry finds himself saved by the timely intervention of Hal who creates a large baseball bat construct to catch Barry in. "What's with you and all this baseball stuff today?" Asks Barry while wiping away the blood from his nose before spotting Zod jumping towards them.
"He's coming!" Barry exclaims while pointing at the General, in response to this Hal forms a large brick wall construct, which Zod tries to punch through only for his arm to get stuck in it prompting Hal to turn the construct so Zod is dangling down before launching it towards the ground.
He smirks thinking he'll crush Zod between the wall and ground only for the General to ram his other hand into the crack and with his new found strength, tears the construct in half, landing safely on the ground.
"Okay, was not expecting that." States Hal when Zod fires a massive blast of heat vision out of his eyes directly at Hal who manages to dodge it though not without the glove construct being destroyed.
Landing on his feet, Barry wastes no time in taking the offensive and runs at Zod seemingly with the same strategy as before, noticing his punch the General puts his arm up to bloke it only for Barry to vibrate through it and land a hit on Zod's face.
Taking advantage of this, Barry immediately follows the attack up with another, then another and soon releases dozens of them, all landing on the Kryptonian's face, even managing to draw blood from his mouth.
Noticing this, Nam-Ek and Faora both move in to aid their leader with the former being closer only for him to be crushed by a giant green anvil construct. It transforms into a large gloved hand, which takes Nam-Ek then proceeds to throw him to the other side of the city with Hal waving at him mockingly while watching him fly away.
"Okay, now that the Incredible Hulk's been taken care of *he looks over to Faora* how's about we tango?" He winks and smiles at her with Faora only replying by shooting daggers at him before charging at him.
Hal quickly forms a large mech-suit construct around his entire body with a Gatling gun in one hand and an oversized sledgehammer in the other. He fires the gun at her though she merely puts her hands before her head and rushes through them though not without her armor receiving some minor damage.
Once she gets close enough, Hal stops firing his gun and swings his hammer at her only for Faora to duck under it, grab the construct mid swing then proceeds to throw him into the air only to be smashed back down by an angry Nam-Ek who, descending from above, hammer fists him a few feet away from Flash.
Hal tries to get back up, but Faora and Nam-Ek immediately land on top of him with their strikes being powerful enough to sink an entire section of the ground and engulfing the landing spot in smoke.
"LantAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH" He yells in pain after Zod fires a heat vision beam through his shoulder after the speedster shortly let his guard down, the Kryptonian smirks and follows it up with a knife-hand strike to Barry's throat, knocking the wind out of him before placing several quick pressure jabs around his kidney's, heart and lungs.
His whole body goes into shock from these two blasts as if a torrent of electricity is being run through it before helplessly falling on his back, his arms and legs twitching as he desperately tries to make them move but to no avail.
"Don't bother trying to move, your whole body is utterly paralyzed from my pressure point blows, you *another crashing noise is heard from the crater where Hal and the two Kryptonian's landed in* and that imbecile are finished."
Nam-Ek and Faora walk out of the crater with an unconscious Hal in the hands of the former before being tossed next to Barry like a sack of trash, the three Kryptonians all stand before them with their eyes glowing red and smirks on their faces.
"Let this moment serve as an example to all who dare defy us!" Exclaims Zod to the cameras & radios still relaying everything to the world before the three fire their blasts at the helpless heroes lying before them, however before the blasts can reach them, Wally manages to zip back in time and snatches the two adults out of harms way.
"Sorry for taking so long boss, you wouldn't believe how much of a maze this freakin' town is."
"These humans truly are annoying." States Faora in disgust while Zod merely scowls at the teen before activating his communication device, "Is the fleet ready to begin?"
"Excellent, then you may begin the incursion."
"Yes sir!"
Ending communication with the commanding officer back in the Phantom Zone, Zod places both his hands behind his back while Wally and Barry both raise their eyebrows in confusion at the three do nothing but merely stand there.
"Uhh, what are they doing?" Whispers Wally to his mentor who merely grunts back when thunder is heard in the sky above them though there's not a cloud in sight. People from all around the world can hear the same happening repeatedly when portals suddenly form in the sky above every major city on the planet followed by large, Fortress like ships emerging from them with smaller, fighter jet ones accompanying them.
Back at Washington the same happens with another large flagship appearing directly above the White House with soldiers immediately landing near Zod, surrounding Wally and the two injured adults he holds over his shoulders.
He looks around them all, desperately trying to find a way to escape while Zod merely smiles at the teen before stating. "Ah, there it is, the look of a man who's finally realized just how foolish it is to fight the Kryptonian Empire, truly a thing of beauty."
To be continued…