FIVE WEEKS AGO
Two friends were playing basketball on the outskirts of Metropolis, they were completely alone in the rundown area. One of the men was dark skinned and had a shaven head, while the other had longer hair. "And that's why your known as loser Larry," the shaven headed one joked.
"Ha ha very funny." Their game stopped when suddenly a meteor crashed down next to them. They starred at the crater it had made, shocked at how close it had come to hitting them. The shaved headed man decided to investigate, despite his friends protests. He jumped down into the crater while his Larry went to grab his scroll. What he saw terrified him. It was a monster like nothing he'd ever seen before. The creature spotted him and before he even had the chance to react the monster charged at him.
His friend arrived back at the crater, scroll in hand. He noticed his pal standing still starring blankly ahead.
"Mali, you alright man?" He asked. Mali spun around to face his friend. A beam of purple energy shot out from his hand and immediately incinerated Larry, leaving nothing but a pile of ash.
PRESENT
Clark looked over a picture Ozpin had handed to him. It was a large crater in the middle of the ground.
"Local authorities determined it was made by a shooting star," Ozpin explained. "It impacted six weeks ago, right around the time you fell out of the Phantom Zone." Clark looked determined at the picture. "It gets worse." Clark finally looked back up at him. "He's already killed once. Two boys went missing on the site of the crater. All they found were human ashes and a basketball."
"Sounds like heat vision."
"That was my first guess to. The next day, a dust mine 20 miles away was hit."
"What did he do?" Clark wandered.
"Besides killing seven miners, the dust they'd been mining was sucked dry."
"It's almost like he was feeding off it. We need to check all other dust sources in the area."
"Not to worry I have already taken care of it. There have been a half a dozen incidents across the continent. The most recent one was just outside of Vale.
Clark took a look at another photo Ozpin gave to him. It showed the direction of all the Zoners attacks.
"These attacks form a straight line," Clark noted.
"Headed directly towards you," Ozpin added.
"I'm currently compiling a list of all the dust locations that the zoner may possibly hit within a 100-mile radius. I'll send you the address for all of them so you and Bart can keep a look out."
"Thanks Professor." Clark stood up to leave.
"Oh and Clark." Clark spun around to the headmaster. "Don't forget, these prisoners can hurt you. Be careful," he warned.
"I will." As he left Ozpin's office a young man with short blond hair, not much older than Clark passed him and entered the office.
Clark went back to his dorm room so he could get Bart, he'd also decided to bring Ruby along. Ever since she found out they were heroes she wanted to help out. He'd was even considering calling Arthur, he didn't want to take any chances with a zoner. The rest of his team sat in their dorm, Ruby and Bart were joking around with each other, Blake had gone to the library to read, Weiss was preparing for a date with Davis and Yang laid on her bed bored. Clark gave Bart a nod, signalling it was time to go.
"Well Ruby and I are gonna go out for a bit," he declared as he stood up. "Catch ya later!"
"See y'all!" Ruby farewelled.
"I better be heading off to," Weiss decided. "Have a wonderful evening you two," she beamed.
"I swear ever since since she started dating Davis she's been so much happier," Clark noted, "it's actually kinda creepy." Yang sat up from her bed. She couldn't help but feel a tad lonely. Bart and Ruby clearly had something, although neither of them seemed to realise it. Although distant Blake seemed to be connecting with Arthur, even Weiss had a boyfriend. And here she was, alone. Don't get her wrong she likes being single. She is a partier after all. But sometimes she thinks it'd be nice to have someone she could talk to, someone you she could go on adventures with, someone who really cares for her. Her eyes raised to the other person in the room. She smiled at him as he packed his books away. She liked Clark, he was one of the best friends she'd ever had. He was caring, thoughtful, brave. Suddenly an idea popped into her head.
"Hey Clark, I was wandering, do you wanna..." She was interrupted by a knock on the door.
Clark's eyes widened as he opened the door, revealing the knocker. There in front of him stood Raya, the Kryptonian who was trapped in the Phantom Zone.
"Raya," he mumbled in disbelief.
"Hi Kal-El. It's good to see you again," she smiled. Clark smiled back and continued to stare in disbelief. He pulled her into a hug which shocked her a first but she soon returned it.
"Ummm." He heard a voice come from behind. He spun around to see a confused looking Yang.
"Oh sorry, Yang, this is Raya, Raya this is Yang," he introduced the two. The two shook hands with each other.
"So, you're friends with Kal-El?"
"Kal-El?" Yang queried.
"It's a nick name," Clark blurted out. "Just a stupid little thing. Any way we got to go. I'll catch you later okay." With that he raced out the door followed closely by Raya. Yang sighed aloud, back to being alone. She decided to go for a ride on Bumblebee, her motorbike, that'd cheer her up. She grabbed her helmet and keys and headed to the school car park.
Yang walked through the school hallways not focussed on what was going on around her.
She felt a sudden impact and fell to the ground. She looked in front of here and saw she'd run into a man. The man had short blond hair, brown eyes and was giving her a warm smile. He stuck his hand out to help her up.
"You okay?" He asked as Yang took the hand.
"Fine," she replied. "Sorry, I should have been watching where I was going."
"Well I wasn't paying attention to where I was going either," the man admitted. "It's been a while since I've been here."
"You were a student?" Yang queried only for the man to laugh.
"Yeah I was a student, for about six days. Then I quit, it just wasn't for me." Yang looked at him in shock.
"Six days!" She couldn't believe it.
"Yep." He continued to smile at her and she smiled back.
"I'm Yang Xiaolong," she introduced herself.
"Oliver Queen," he replied with a smile.
"Oliver Queen! As in the Billionare, philanthropist, play boy?!"
"The one and only."
Clark and Raya stood on top of of the dorm building.
"I was afraid I'd never see you again. I'm sorry. I didn't want to leave you in the Phantom Zone." Clark looked full of regret.
"You had no choice," Raya assured him. "It's okay, Kal-El. And if it wasn't for you, I would have never escaped. I would have never seen all this." She looked at the land around them. "It's more beautiful than the world your father described."
"It is lovely," he agreed. "How'd you find me?"
"Your father told me about the family he had chosen for you, about Smallville. From there I found your Earth parents and they told me where you were."
"You met my parents?" He asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, they were very hesitant to trust me at first. I still think they were worried when I left."
"When was this?" He wandered, surely his dad would have called him immediately when they found out about Raya.
"Three minutes ago."
Clark smiled, it was good to be with someone like him.
"It must have been hard growing up here by yourself."
"I had my parents. I had my friends. Besides a lot of people have powers here."
"But no one who really understands you, no one is as powerful as you."
"I wouldn't say that. I got a friend who can run faster than you or me." Raya looked at him in disbelief.
"Really?"
"Yeah, actually we're one a mission at the moment. I'll fill you in." He continued to explain the Zoners and what they were currently facing.
Yang stood over her bike Oliver standing beside her.
"And this is my baby!" She announced.
"Very nice, I own five just like this one."
"Well la di da." She waved her hands in the air, causing Oliver to laugh.
"What I mean is we should race sometime," he suggested. Of course Yangs competitive side immediately latched on to this idea.
"Well in the meantime how about we go for a drive?" She suggested.
"Sound fun."
Ruby and Bart sipped on smoothies they'd bought and watched the dust shop across the road. They were on the roof of a building across the street, checking out another dust store, waiting for this Zoner to show. They usually waited fifteen minutes before heading to the next shop.
"You cheated!" Came a voice from behind. The two spun around to see Clark and another lady Bart didn't recognise.
"Raya!" Ruby beamed as she raced over to the Kryptonian.
"Ruby," she greeted the young girl.
"You escaped to?"
"All thanks to you and Clark."
"Well it's nice to know something good finally came out of the Phantom Zone." They shared a laugh.
"This is Bart," Clark introduced. "He's the one who I said could run faster than us." Raya looked him over sceptically.
"Really?"
Suddenly a dozen roses filled her hands.
"For the lovely lady," Bart smiled, standing in front of her. Ruby didn't know why but she couldn't help but feel slightly jealous.
"So who cheated?" Bart wandered, recalling what he heard when they first arrived.
"We decided to have an honest race," Raya explained, "and Kal-El cheated. Jor-El would have never let you get away with that."
"What was he like? My father." Clark asked, he always wanted to know.
"Brave... strong... with the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known."
"To be honest, that's not the Jor-El I imagined."
"He was determined to save us. I remember helping him build your ship. He was so careful, planning every detail, down to your baby blanket. I wish that he could see you now."
"I haven't been the best son," he admitted.
"Your father was hard on himself, too. He felt guilty that he couldn't save Krypton. His only redemption was sending you to save Earth."
"Save it from what?" He asked urgently, wandering if there was some threat he had to prepare for.
"Extinction. Your civilization is going to destroy itself, just like Krypton. You should know this. It was part of your training." Clark rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"I haven't started my training," he admitted. "Now the Fortress is damaged. Jor-El tried to warn me, but I didn't listen. I mean, how could I trust someone who brought so much pain into my life?"
"Pain is a part of anyone's journey, Kal-El. You can't escape it. You must accept your destiny." Anger was beginning to fill her voice.
"Too bad that destiny's just gotten a little shorter." The group spun around to see a man standing behind them.
"Seriously!" Bart cried. "What is it with people appearing behind other people today!"
"The last son of Krypton. I've been waiting for this moment for a long time."
"You're the one who's been coming for me."
"And I think it will be worth the trip. What's the matter, Raya? Don't recognize an old friend? It's me, Baern." Raya looked at him in worry.
"He's one of the Phantoms," she explained. Ruby looked particularly nervous, she hated that awful place and everything to do with it.
"How do you like the new suit?" He looked down at his body.
"What do you want?" Clark demanded.
"To pay back your old man for giving me a one-way ticket to hell. But then he had to go and get himself eviscerated along with everyone else from that ice cube you call a planet. So I guess you'll have to do."
"Listen pal," Bart stepped in front of Clark and in between him and Baern. "You really think you can stop four of us?" With that Bart raced towards the Zoner, however as he placed a hand on him lightning erupted from his body and sent him flying through the air.
"Bart!" Ruby cried as she raced over to him.
"I've gotta say, this dust stuff you have, boy does it fell good." A beam of purple energy shot of his hand hit Clark square in the chest. He was sent flying through the he air crashing into the building across the road. Ruby attacked with Crescent Rose swinging the scythe at him. Unfortunately for her, Baern simply grabbed the scythe and threw it away so fast Ruby didn't even have time to let go. Whilst distracted by this Raya used this to her advantage and round housed him in the head. He went flying across the city crashing down several blocks away.
"Bart! Ruby!" Clark shouted as he ran over to their bodies. He had a burn mark on his chest from where Baern had hit him.
They came to and thankfully no one was badly injured, however when searching for Baern they discovered that he had escaped.
The returned to Beacon and immediately went to see Professor Ozpin.
"How did Baern know to find me?" Clark asked Raya. "I understand how you knew but how did Baern."
"After Krypton fell and Jor-El was dead, the prisoners in the Phantom Zone discovered that he'd only managed to save his own son. The story of your survival was a myth, a rumor - one of hope for some of us and revenge for others," she revealed.
"For someone who's been dreaming of killing Clark for the last 20 years, his visit was a little short-lived," Bart noted.
"I don't think he was expecting to fight four of us. He was weakening. Despite that, I've never seen anyone of his species so powerful before. The way he was just able to grab Ruby's scythe mid attack shouldn't have been possible. His race feeds off energy, usually radioactive but it would appear that dust serves as an excellent substitute. Not inly does it super charge his normal powers he also appears to be able to gain power from any dust he absorbs."
"And I learned the hard way that if you touch him you'll get zapped with energy." Bart added.
"Baern killed hundreds on his own planet before he came to Krypton. But Jor-El managed to exile him to the Phantom Zone."
"You said he was weakened," Ruby chimed in. "That means he'd be searching for a new energy source."
"It won't take him long, Dust isn't exactly hard to get." Ozpin thought.
"Not only that but he can sense power sources," Raya further explained. "There's only one thing that can stop him," she turned to Clark, "your father's crystal."
Ozpin's computer beeped. He took a look and reported that five dust shops had just been robbed. No doubt it was Baern.
"What's the plan?" Ruby asked.
Clark, Raya, Bart and Ruby ran into the Fortress of Solitude. Ruby had to be carried by Bart, who had picked her up bridal style which caused Ruby's cheeks to burn red. Although he advised against her coming along Ruby argued that she was a huntress in training and that it was her decision to help them or not.
"Raya, I told you the Fortress is dead." Clark reminded her. "Why are we here?"
"It's our only hope to defeat Baern. This was all we had left of our home, Kal-El."
"And now it's gone, too." Clark said sadly looking around at the dead fortress.
"It was more than that. The Fortress was a storehouse for all the knowledge in the universe - at least all that we had. How could this happen?"
"I'm sorry. I don't know how to bring it back."
"Your father wouldn't have given up so easily!" she snapped.
"I haven't given up!" Clark shouted back. "I don't know what else to do. I've tried everything!"
"Everything except the training your father wanted for you."
"So, why are we here?" Clark asked, changing the subject.
"Baern is too dangerous to attack anywhere else. With the amount of dust he's absorbed he has enough power to wipe out a city.
"If he's that strong, will the crystal still work?" Ruby wandered.
"It should," Raya assured, "provided we stay alive long enough to use it."
"I'm not sure it'll be that easy just to lure him here."
"I'm gonna see if I can reroute whatever residual power is left," she began to work on the crystal control centre. "There's just enough to send out a signal and let Baern know you're here."
Oliver and Yang zipped around town on Bumblebee. As she drove around she was so glad she was able to find someone to hang out with.
"You hungry?" Oliver asked.
"Sure," she replied.
"I know an excellent restaurant not far from here. I was thinking we should grab a bite."
"Sound good," Yang replied as she sped down the street. As they drove a huge fireball erupted from a store in front of them. Yang skidded to a stop just in front of the store, it was a small dust shop. Through the smoke Baern stepped out, unscathed by the fire.
"Woah buddy what's going on?" Yang called out to him. Without a word Baern raised a hand and shot a fireball at them.
"Look out!" Oliver shouted as he tackled Yang off the bike. The fireball, flew over them smashing into the building behind them.
"Stay down," Yang ordered as she jumped up and prepared her gauntlets. She fired and sent a round of explosive dust at the attacker. However, as the smoke cleared from her attack she was shocked to see him completely unfazed. Another burst of fire shot out of Baern's hands and impacted with Yang. The girl was sent flying.
"Hey!" Oliver shouted, getting Baern's attention. Oliver pulled out a small taser dart from his jacket pocket and threw it at the alien. Baern caught it mid flight and crushed it to pieces. Baern approached when suddenly Yang crashed down in-between them. She swung her fist at him only for him to block it. She continued to attack and to her credit she did manage to get a few good hits in, but one radioactively charged super punch form Baern sent her crashing into Oliver. They looked up just as Baern was about to attack again when suddenly, he heard a high pitched winning sound.
"Kal-El," he mumbled before disappearing in a blur.
The control centre in the fortress shut down, using up what little power it had left.
"That's all the power I was able to draw," Raya reported. "Hopefull it'll be enough."
"That sound, I've heard it before," Clark recalled.
"Every Kryptonian family has a unique tone a beacon to identify itself. Baern's sure to recognize yours."
"And follow it straight to me." Clark nodded understanding her plan.
"So this is Jor-El's famed Fortress of knowledge. I thought it'd be bigger." They spun around to see Baern. Bart let out a long sigh.
"Seriously, it's cool to appear behind someone every now and again but come one!" He wailed. "Is that the only way you know how to enter a room?!"
"It's time to go back where you belong!"
"Big talk, big man. I'm surprised you're still standing. I guess Jor-El was right about how the yellow sun affects you Kryptonian cockroaches. But I'm back. And now... I'm supersized." His body glowed with purple energy. "This is the perfect place for the fall of the House of El." Baern shot out a beam of energy at Clark who uses his fathers crystal, the one Raya had in the Phantom Zone to deflect it, but the force is to much and he is sent flying backwards.
"Paying for the sins of your father can be a bitch." He took a step closer when a round of dust smacked him in the chest. He looked up to where Ruby was perched, on top of a large ice column, holding crescent rose in its sniper form. Baern starred angrily at her and was about to attack when a blast of heat vision hit him in the back. He spun around to face Raya. Again he prepared to attack when a snowball hit him in the face. He turned angrily to Bart who had made a pile of snowballs and began to lob them at super speed. Ruby continued to fire rounds of dust and Raya used her heat vision. Their plan seemed to be working when three lightning bolts shot out of Baern's body and headed straight towards the three attackers. Yellow ightning surrounded Bart as he raced over to Ruby, by the time he got to her the Lightning was only a foot away from her face. He jumped in between her and the lightning taking the hit.
"Bart!" She screamed.
Unfortunately Raya wasn't able to avoid the bolt and although not hurting her, it did send her through the air. Clark raced towards Baern, his fathers crystal in hand, he swung his hand at the murderer hoping to send the Phantom away. Baern however, blocked his arm and grabbed it. He sent a blast of radioactive energy through Clark, causing the young man intense pain. Raya raced up behind him and ripped the two apart. Clark fell to the ground unconscious.
"You don't have a chance of stopping me," he laughed as he punched Raya, upon impact radioactive energy burst from his hand. Raya's body was sent flying across the fortress.
Raya looked up, blood pouring down her face. Baern's whole body glowed with purple energy.
"Goodbye." He smiled wickedly at her. Suddenly a great pain came over him. Her turned around to see Ruby holding Jor-El's crystal in her hand, holding it against his body.
"See ya," she smiled triumphantly. The Phantom was ripped from its hosts body and sent back to where it belonged.
An hour later the man whose body had possessed awoke in a Vale city hospital. Fortunately, he had no recollection of his time whilst being possessed. Aside from being incredibly shocked and a bit worn out he was in good condition.
As the sun set, Clark, Bart, Ruby and Raya stood back on top of the dorm building roof.
"Ruby thank you again for saving my life," Raya thanked the young girl.
"No problem. If Bart hadn't taken that hit for me I never would have been able to save you." She patted Bart on the back, who luckily wasn't seriously injured. As they began to leave Clark asked Raya to stay behind for a minute.
"What is it Clark?" She asked, using his Earth name for the first time, something he insisted she do.
"Raya, I don't think I ever really thought about what I've lost... a family, a whole race of people who were just like me. For the first time, I'm ready to stop running... from who I really am... from my destiny."
"Does this mean your ready to begin Jor-El's training?" She asked hopefully.
"Not yet. Not until I've returned every prisoner back to the Phantom Zone."
"Not until we've returned them," Raya corrected. "Your not alone anymore."
The door to the roof swung open as Phyrra and Jaune stepped out. They looked up at the two Kryptonians in shock.
"Sorry, are we interrupting?" Jaune apologised.
"No, we were just heading out," Clark replied, awkwardly.
At the Fortress the dead, black crystals came to life returning to their usual bright white colour.
Clark returned to his dorm room. Raya had insisted on staying in the Fortress, it was the closest thing she had to her home planet.
"How was everyone's day?" he asked the rest of his team.
"Mediocre," Blake replied flatly.
"Crazy!" Yang exclaimed. She told the team her story of how she met Oliver Queen and how she fought some crazy guy. Bart, Clark and Ruby all laughed knowingly at who she'd been fighting.
"I think it's time for dinner?" Bart suggested jumping off his bed. They all a greed except for Yang.
"Sorry gang, I'm going to dinner with Oliver tonight, since our plans for lunch were ruined."
"Does anyone know where Weiss is?" Ruby asked, wandering where their missing teammate was.
Meanwhile in a shady part of town Weiss entered an deserted warehouse. Inside was a lone man.
"There you are princess, I was beginning to think you weren't going to show."
"Well I'm here now. Do you have it?" She asked, her voice was eager, slightly desperate.
"Do you have the lien?" She asked her.
"Of course I do," she replied as though he was an idiot for asking. She pulled out a handful of lien and handed it over to him. He took his time counting the lien, watching as she became frustrated with him.
"It's all there," she insisted.
"Just making sure."
Finally he put his payment in his pocket. From his other pocket he pulled out two small veils filled with a clear liquid. He held them out and Weiss snatched them from his hands. He chuckled to himself.
"What's so funny?" She demanded.
"I'm just thinking what dear old daddy would think if he saw what his little girl was up to."
Weiss scoffed.
"It's his fault I'm doing this in the first place."
"It's never your fault is it?" He asked rhetorically. Weiss starred at him angrily before marching out of the warehouse. Once outside she pulled out a syringe and injected someday portion of the liquid she just bought into her arm. Immediately her face lit up with excitement.
Author' Note:
And I'm back! So unlike the show I decided to keep Raya alive. I thought it'd be fun to have another Kryptonian around for a while. Now what is poor Weiss up to?
As always feel free to review or pm me with any ideas, thoughts or suggestions.