Chapter 77: Invasion of the Supers (Lost in Space – Part 4)

Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.


Deep space, approaching Vega system

Guy Gardner was not a happy camper. Six months spent in deep space, learning about being a Green Lantern from the sourpuss known as Sinestro. Then, after a mere two days of shore leave on Earth, right back into space, only this time spending weeks cleaning up a huge debris field as a favor to goldilocks aka Superwoman. And then, if that was not enough, being sent right back out into space yet again because goldilocks got herself into some spot of trouble.

"I so deserve a long vacation," Guy muttered, even as they approached the outer rim of the Vega star system. They being him and Sinestro (the guy never let him go anywhere alone, the sourpuss), and two Justice League Javelins, manned by members of goldilocks' fan club.

"Ring, what can you tell us about the Vega system?" Sinestro inquired.

"Warning," the ring replied. "This system is outside the jurisdiction of the Guardians. Lanterns are advised that proceeding further is a serious disciplinary offence."

Okay, now Guy was kind of astonished. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked Sinestro. "I thought the big blue guys were supposed to be the Guardians of the entire friggin' universe! How come this place is outside their jurisdiction?"

Sinestro seemed as puzzled as he was. "Ring, why is this system outside Guardian jurisdiction?"

"Information classified," the ring replied.

"Great!"

Sinestro, still perplexed, contacted the lead Javelin. "J'Onn J'Onnz, do you copy?"

"I read you, Sinestro," Marvin's voice came back, transmitted by their rings.

"There is a complication. Apparently, the Vega system is off limits to Green Lanterns for some reason. Gardner and I are not allowed to enter."

"That is unfortunate," Marvin replied. "Can you maintain your current position? Hopefully this should be a fairly straight-forward retrieval mission, but just in case we need someone to cover our exit from this system?"

"That we can do," Sinestro agreed. "Keep in contact, so we know what's going on."

The two Javelins accelerated, entering the system proper, while the two Lanterns remained behind.

"So we're just going to hang out here in the middle of nowhere?" Guy complained. "Just great!"

"A good opportunity to practice your ring constructs, Gardner," Sinestro told him. "You still have trouble keeping your focus with the larger shapes."

"Really great," Guy grumbled. This was going to be so boring.


Speeding towards the Citadel home world's Fortress Ring, Clark considered what little they had learned about the Citadel so far. They ruled most of the Vega worlds, supposedly with an iron fist and plenty of brutality. The Citadeliens themselves were huge, brutish-looking humanoids with dark blue skin and huge tusks. They were strong fighters, they had been told, but not particularly smart. Their technology, however, was top notch and their battle strategies always superb. Primus and Tigorr both suspected that the Citadelians were merely henchmen for someone else, someone much smarter, but that was mere speculation on their part.

As they approached the Fortress Ring, Clark used his enhanced vision to take a closer look at it. Huge chunks that had once been part of a moon surrounded the planet, all of them used to anchor huge weapons and sensor arrays. It reminded Clark of his mom's account of their battle against the War World. He feared this defense net here would be every bit as tough to crack. Which meant they would need to take a page out of their mom's book and be really, really fast.

"We're almost there," he told Kona. "Ready?"

His sister was right beside him, her arms around him as Clark used his flying power to propel both of them along. The red sun of Vega was bright before them, as if to emphasize the need to preserve their energy as much as possible. Which was why Clark was doing the flying, so that Kona could use her power for something else.

"As I'll ever be," she replied. "So straight through and on to the spiders' nest, right?"

Clark nodded, taking a look behind him. The huge fleet of ships that had gathered at Ogyptu was now behind them, following in their wake to launch their assault at the Citadel home world the moment the path was clear. He was still somewhat reluctant about taking a side in this war, but during their short time here on Vega they had been shown quite a few examples of Citadel brutality, not the least of which being the radioactive remains of a city on the planet Changralyn, nuked by the Citadel only a few days before their arrival here.

"Okay, let's do this," Clark said, accelerating once again.

The moment Clark and Kona entered the range of the Ring's weapons, the universe around them lit up with explosions and laser blasts. None came close to touching them, though, they were moving much too fast. Within seconds, the two Kryptonians were approaching the first of the giant moon chunks. Clark moved them close to the base of the towering weapon array and Kona reached out with her hand, her fingers brushing the metal where it hit the rock.

A powerful telekinetic pulse ripped through the foundation of the defense station, shearing through it like a huge invisible knife. With no gravity of its own to speak of, the weapon array did not so much crumble as come apart, the now unattached portions floating off and into the Citadel home world's gravity well.

Clark and Kona were already gone again, of course, speeding towards the next moon chunk almost too fast to be seen. Kona reached out with her hand once again and another weapon station came apart. Now Clark added his own touch to the destruction, searing beams of heat vision destroying the giant cables that connected the moon chunks to each other.

Of course, the Fortress Ring was humongous, surrounding an entire roughly Earth-sized world, and it would have taken the two siblings days to destroy it entirely, even if their energy levels would hold long enough. There was no need for that, of course. All the Omega Men needed to launch their assault was a tiny corridor through which they could approach the planet without being torn apart by weapons fire. Clark and Kona were making one for them.

"Six down," Clark said as they cleared another destroyed weapon array. "Tigorr, do you read?"

"I see it, kid, but I don't believe it," the co-leader of the Omega Men said over the com. "You're doing great. Take out the three stations directly ahead of you, that should open up a big enough corridor for us."

"Our scanners are picking up a signal going out from the Citadel home world," Primus added to the conversation. "All Citadel forces are now alerted and ordered to return to the home world. We probably have less than 30 minutes."

"Any activity from the spiders?" Kona asked, even as they destroyed another station. Just two to go.

"None so far, but you can be sure they picked up the signal, too."

"Good," Clark replied. "Should get them fully focused on what's going on here."

Another station went boom, the final one looming directly ahead of them.

"Landing ships ready to go," Tigorr growled. "Scanners have pinpointed the location where the signal came from. That must be their command center."

The plan was pretty basic, Clark knew. With the Citadel scattered all over the system, the Omega Men would attack their command center. With Clark and Kona opening up a gap in the insurmountable defense system, it should enable them to land, take over the command base, and thus gain control of the Fortress Ring in time for the arrival of the Citadel fleet. The Ring's firepower, added to the chaos of the Citadel losing its supreme command, should even the odds for the outnumbered rebel fleet. Or so everyone hoped.

One final telekinetic burst from Kona destroyed the final weapon station in their path. The way down to the planet was now clear.

"You did your part," Tigorr told them over the com. "We're taking it from here."

"Roger," Clark replied. "And good luck!"

There was a momentary pause. "Good luck to you, too, cubs," Tigorr finally said. "I hope you can find your mother."

Without another word, Clark and Kona left the commencing invasion behind them and accelerated towards the nest of the Spider Guild.


Pain!

Soul-searing, sanity-destroying pain!

Kara screamed, her voice already hoarse, as agony the likes of which she had never before experienced surged through her body like a tidal wave.

Every single cell in her body was crying out as something that had no business being there tore through her body and began to rearrange things. Nerves screamed in terror as the numbness of the spider toxin was transmuted, changed, and everything that had been asleep a moment ago was now wide-awake and in pain.

The tiny part of rationality that remained in Kara's mind was aware of what was happening. Sandy had entered her body, abandoning her usual form transmuted from sand, and was using those same amazing ability to rearrange matter to remove the paralysis from her body. It was the only way they could escape to find the kids. There was no other choice.

Rao, she had not imagined it could possibly hurt so much.

She was dimly aware that her body was no longer a sack of immobile flesh. She was moving, though her movements were jerky, involuntary muscle spasms rather than conscious movement. She did consider it an improvement, though, or would have, had she been able to articulate the thought properly.

Some part of her, she did not know which one, realized that she was no longer alone in the corridor where she had collapsed. There was a skittering noise, the sound of far too many legs. Spiders! They were here! They would try to capture her again.

Pain became white-hot rage and Kara's eyes began to glow an angry red.


"We might have a problem," Adam Strange said to the other occupants of the Javelin.

"What's the matter?" Batman asked, sitting in the copilot seat. He had learned to fly the Javelins, too, even across interstellar distances, but he freely admitted that Adam was by far the superior pilot.

"From the com chatter I'm picking up," Adam said, "it looks like this entire system is currently a war zone. Some kind of uprising against the ruling regime. Only some of it is in Interlac, I don't know any of the other languages, and quite a bit of it is in code, too."

"Of course," Diana scoffed, having listened in over the com from the second Javelin. "Where else would Kara end up but in a war zone?"

"Anything about Kara, Clark, or Kona?" Batman asked.

Adam was quiet for a moment, still listening to the com chatter. "There is something about a Fortress Ring having been breached by two flying humanoids."

"Best lead we've got," Batman nodded. "Can you pinpoint the source?"

Adam worked the controls for a moment, and then chuckled. "What do you know; it comes from the same direction where most of the fighting seems to be going on right now."

"We'll do our best to not get involved," Batman said. "But rescuing Kara and her family is our priority."

The two Javelins changed course and accelerated.


Deep in the heart of an armored fortress on the Citadel home world there was a massive computer known only as Complex-Complex. It had been built eons ago by the first Citadelian, a hybrid creature created when the sadistic Psions had forced a union between a Branx warrior and an Okaaran woman. They had sought to create a creature of pure aggression, but had not lived long enough to see their experiment succeed. Spurned by both his parent races, the Citadelian had retreated to the world that would become the center of the Citadel. Lacking a race of his own, he had cloned himself over and over again, creating an entire species.

Sadly, the cloning process had been imperfect, so while the newly created Citadelians inherited his brute strength and boundless aggression, they were severely lacking in intelligence and creativity. So the first Citadelian built Complex-Complex, the true ruler of the Citadel, and uploaded his own consciousness into the computer when his body began to fail due to old age.

As the Omega Men breached the heart of the Citadel, Complex-Complex calculated that its final destruction was at hand. This was an anticipated outcome, actually. The first Citadelian had never been interested in ruling an empire. He had created the Citadel to prove a point.

Aggression was at the heart of all beings. Peace never lasted. The Citadel had brought peace to Vega. A forced peace, yes, but peace still. Now the races of Vega rose up, unleashed their own aggression, and killed those they felt had wronged them. As was the nature of all beings. The Okaarans, his mother's people, had blamed him for bringing aggression and violence into their world. They were wrong; those traits had always been there. He had merely unleashed them, nothing more.

The first Citadelian chuckled inside his body of steel and circuitry and sent one final command out to the Citadel forces.


"How are your power levels holding up?" Clark asked Kona as they approached the base of the Spider Guild. It was a small planetoid, about half the size of Earth's moon, and its surface was covered in webbing and what looked like weapon installations. Not nearly as intimidating as the giant Fortress Ring they had just broken through, but far from welcoming, either.

"Hard to say," Kona replied. "I'm not feeling any fatigue yet, but I can tell my speed isn't quite what it was when we started this. You?"

"About the same," he said. "I probably have larger reserves than you, having been exposed to Earth's yellow sun longer, but either way we need to wrap this up as quickly as possible."

They were almost at their target.

"Can you see her?" Kona asked.

Clark had been scanning the base since the moment they got into range. "Not so far. The planetoid holds a lot of dense metals, I can't see through it all. We may need to do this the hard way."

The two super teens were about to do just that when a portion of the Spider Guild nest suddenly exploded outward. Debris flew away, as well as silvery shapes that Clark quickly identified as spider-shaped robots. Among the debris and robots, though, there was something else. Someone else.

"It's mom," he shouted, accelerating towards her at the same moment. Kona was immediately behind him.

It quickly became evident that their mom was fighting against the spider robots, who were swarming her in large numbers. Something was weird, though. Clark had seen his mom fight numerous times. Given how powerful she was, many would expect her to rely on brute strength and overwhelming force, but nothing could be further from the truth. His mom always fought economically, using the least amount of force necessary. Part of it was the Amazon training she had undergone, but it was also part of her character.

Right now, none of that was in evidence, as their mom struck out like a wild beast, smashing robots left and right, red beams of energy from her eyes slicing around her in wild arcs. When he finally got a good look at her face, he saw a grimace of rage and pain.

"Something is wrong with her," he told Kona. "I'll drive off the robots, you get mom away from the battle and try to calm her down!"

"Roger!"

Clark pushed forward, accelerating until he was little more than a blur, and quickly encircled the horde of spider robots, boxing them in. There were hundreds of them, but he did not have the patience to deal with them. Using his heat vision on a broad range, he melted their metal hulls even as he smashed them together, quickly creating a massive ball of half-melted robots that were stuck together. He finally shoulder-tackled the huge metal ball and sent it hurtling back towards the nest of the Spider Guild.

Turning around, he saw his sister doing her very best to subdue their mother, who was still struggling and lashing out like a woman possessed.

"What's going on?" Clark asked, flying over to them. "Mom, can you hear me?"

Incoherent screams were his only reply, the com all three of them wore transmitting the sound through the vacuum of space. Looking closer, he saw arcs of some kind of energy dancing across his mom's body. Looking still closer, he saw the texture of her face shift in miniscule ways, almost as if...

"Sandy?" he asked. "Is that you?"


The entity simply known as Sandy had miscalculated. Oh, she had known that it would be dangerous. Which was why she had asked Kara-El before doing it. Over the course of the last few weeks, she had gained an understanding of how the people in this new universe functioned. She had begun to understand the concept of emotions, of compassion, of family.

She understood that her initial actions upon arriving in this universe, her attempt to replace the being whom she had imprinted upon, had been misguided. She had seen the bonds between Kara-El and her two offspring, how close they were despite being entirely separate entities. A longing had taken hold of her being, one she could neither truly understand nor articulate.

One thing she did know, though. She did not want Kara-El to die. She had no words for the connection she had formed with Kara-El, but the connection existed and was important to her. Which was why she had taken this risk in the first place. Sandy was energy, an energy that was not native to this dimension. She needed a physical presence to anchor herself, otherwise she would... actually, she was not quite sure what would happen to her, but she was not keen on finding out.

Her ability to rearrange the building blocks of matter allowed her to use any material to create a presence for herself. She was using sand simply because it was most familiar to her, but any matter would do. Even living matter.

In order to escape the Spider Guild, Kara-El needed to be back at full strength. The toxins in her body prevented that from happening, so the toxins needed to go. Sandy could rearrange the atoms of Kara-El's body in order to purge the toxins from her body. That had been the theory. She had explained it to Kara-El, who had reluctantly agreed to the attempt.

Neither of them had expected it to hurt so much.

Sandy was incapable of analyzing what exactly was causing the pain. The ability of rational thought she had gained upon entering this universe had abandoned her in the face of such agony. Pain was something new for her; she had never experienced it before. It was a small miracle that she retained enough of her sanity to do what she had set out to do, namely find and transmute the traces of spider toxins in Kara-El's body, hopefully without doing any permanent damage to her in the process.

She had no idea whether she had succeeded; she only knew that she could no longer endure it. Therefore, without any clear idea where she could go, Sandy violently departed the body of Kara-El.


There was a surge of energy, sufficiently powerful to knock both Clark and Kona away from their mother. When the spots cleared from their vision, they saw that Kara was no longer lashing out or writhing in pain, she just floated in space. Clark was beside her in a heartbeat.

"Mom? Is that you? Sandy? What...?"

Kara's eyes opened and she gazed at her son.

"Clark? I... Sandy, she was... she was inside me... spiders poisoned me and she... where…?"

Seeing that she was still pretty much out of it, Clark gazed around. Kona was right beside them, looking worried, but there was no trace of Sandy. His blood froze, wondering whether the weird energy being was...

"Kara? Superboy? Supergirl? Can anyone read us?"

Clark could hardly believe the voice he was hearing over their coms.

"Adam? Is that you?"

"Superboy? Finally! Hold on, kid, we're homing in on your signal!"

It was less than two minutes later that two Justice League Javelins appeared. Clark was not sure he had ever seen a more welcome sight. Clark and Kona quickly brought Kara into one of the Javelins, where Wonder Woman was quick to embrace her only halfway conscious sister.

"You three gave us quite the scare," Diana said.

"Hate to cut the celebrations short," Adam chimed in from the other ship, "but I fear we're getting visitors."

Clark quickly ran to the controls, where J'Onn was in the pilot seat. A holographic display came to life, showing a number of space ships approaching.

"Do you know what's happening in this system?" Batman asked over the com.

"A revolution," Clark explained. "An empire called the Citadel has subjugated the 25 inhabited worlds of this system for generations. We arrived just when a revolutionary group called the Omega Men began a full-scale attack. They are currently assaulting the Citadel home world. Those ships are probably the Citadel fleet, coming back to defend their home."

"They're not heading towards one place," Adam replied. "They're spreading out. I see small fleets heading towards each of the larger planetary masses in this system."

Clark frowned. "That doesn't make sense. Why would they spread out when their base is under assault?"

There was a tremendous flash of light outside, causing Clark to blink.

"What just happened?"

"A small fleet of ships attacked that planetoid closest to us. I see half a dozen black ships attacking. Hundreds of smaller silver ships are launching to retaliate."

"The Citadel is attacking the Spider Guild? Now?"

"What is the...?" Batman began.

"Wait a moment," Clark cut him off, activating his com. "Tigorr? Primus? Do you read?"

It took a moment, but then the growling voice of the Omega Men's co-leader was heard.

"Real busy right now, cub!"

"Tigorr, we're seeing Citadel ships scattering all over the system, approaching each of the planets. And some of their ships just attacked the Spider Guild, too."

The tiger man growled in what sounded like frustration.

"We took out the computer that was the real power behind the Citadel, but apparently it sent out some sort of signal telling every Citadel ship to annihilate all living things in Vega. Including the Spider Guild nest, apparently. We're looking at system-wide slaughter. We're scrambling every ship we can."

Clark wasted no time debating. "We're coming to help, Tigorr! We're bringing some friends, too!"

Turning around, Clark saw that everyone in the Javelin was currently staring at him. Moreover, he was sure that he could feel Batman staring at him all the way from the other ship. Had he really just committed the entire Justice League – of which he was not even a member – to aid in an alien conflict?

"You heard him," his mom suddenly said, leaning heavily against the wall of the Javelin. "It looks like we have some worlds to save!"


"Sinestro, Gardner! Do you read?"

Batman's voice sounded frantic over the com, causing the two Green Lanterns to immediately take notice.

"We read you, Batman," Sinestro replied. "What is the situation?"

"A fleet of warships has just been ordered to annihilate every single inhabited planet in this system. Billions of lives are at stake. We need your assistance!"

"Let's go then!" Gardner said.

"We are not allowed inside the Vega system," Sinestro reminded him.

Gardner looked at him. "I haven't forgotten that, Sin! I also haven't forgotten a certain part of that stupid oath we have to swear every time we recharge our rings. No evil shall escape our sight, remember? Now what would you call some bastards wanting to nuke entire worlds from orbit?"

Sinestro broke into a smile.

"Looks like you learned some things after all. Let us teach them to beware our power, Green Lantern Gardner!"

Ignoring the warnings transmitted by their rings, the two Green Lanterns entered the Vega system.


Full-scale war had come to the Vega system. Anger and resentment that had simmered under the surface for generations sparked into full-blown revolution. The spark was provided by the inspiring charge of the Omega Men and the destruction of the supposedly invincible Citadel Fortress Ring.

Throughout the solar system, at great cost to life and limb, Citadel installations were overrun as the pent-up fury of those trampled by the Citadel was released. Bodies of friends and foes alike littered the surfaces of dozens of worlds. Such was the price paid when people were pushed to the limits of their endurance and came to believe that violence was the only answer left against a government draining them dry and offering nothing in return but sorrow and misery.

In isolated spots on many of the planets, sentients of all shapes and sized gathered in mourning and prayer, beseeching whatever deity they believed in for a swift end to the mad conflict and the terrible loss of life.

They saw their prayers answered, though not in the way they had expected. For wherever the battle was fiercest, there appeared heroes that sought to end the fighting and minimize casualties. Some of them came in ships and flew the flag of the Omega Men. Others were garbed in green light and fought with weapons made of pure radiance. Still others were entirely alien, flying in strange ships or under their own power.

Most impactful of them all, however, were three sentients that shared a common symbol. And though none among the people of Vega had ever heard of the planet Krypton, they quickly came to associate this specific Kryptonian symbol with the same concept it had originally stood for on that doomed world.

Hope bloomed on the many worlds of Vega. A hope that was finally vindicated when a transmission broke across all frequencies and language barriers.

"This is Primus of the Omega Men to all free citizens of Vega. The Citadel has surrendered! I repeat, the Citadel has surrendered! The war is over! Vega is free!"


The victory celebration was on the planet Euphorix, the home planet of Kalista of the Omega Men. She was actually the queen of said planet, so the celebration ended up being quite lavish and extensive.

Kara noticed little of it. She was very, very tired. Being poisoned by the spiders, and then doing their best to minimize the damage as the Citadel fell apart, had all but drained her energy levels and the system's red sun did little to replenish them. At this point she was not even sure she could still fly. So she had retreated to a balcony of the castle-like structure that served as Euphorix' center of government in order to enjoy some peace and quiet and get her thoughts back in order.

"You will recover once we get back home," a voice said beside her.

Kara looked at Sandy, who was standing next to her and looking like a child again. Maybe a few years older than she had looked at the beginning of their journey, but still younger than Kona. For the briefest of moments, they had thought that Sandy had perished while freeing Kara from the spider toxins, but the strange energy being had successfully recreated her body from the debris of the Spider Guild's nest.

"You think of Earth as your home?" Kara asked.

Sandy merely shrugged. "The concept is still new to me, but... yes, I think so." She gazed at Kara, a slightly insecure look on her face. "Can I... I mean..."

Kara smiled. It seemed Sandy had acquired a bit of emotional range after all.

"J'Onn once called me a builder," Kara told her. "Someone who lost her home, yet created a new one. A home that takes in strays, refugees, and survivors, just like Clark and I."

"What am I?" Sandy asked.

Kara closed the distance between them and rested her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Let's call you a stray for now and give it a try, shall we?"

Sandy smiled and nodded.

"You two all right?"

Clark and Kona came walking out onto the balcony that Kara had selected as her refuge.

"Just looking for some peace and quiet," Kara told them.

"I talked to Adam," Kona told them. "The Javelins are refueled and Kalista has some palace staff putting supplies on them, too. I told her that the journey back home would only take a few hours, so we wouldn't need any, but she wouldn't hear of it."

Kara smiled, and then looked at her children. When had they gotten so tall?

"I am immensely proud of you both, you know that?" she told them. "I was sick with worry when I was separated from you, but from everything I have learned, the two of you handled everything that was thrown your way despite the very difficult circumstances. Great work."

Kona seemed a bit chagrined. "Thank you, mom, but... it was mostly Clark. I... I am not sure what I could have done without him."

Clark bumped shoulders with her. "Hey, that's what big brothers are for, right?"

Kara stepped toward him and put her hands on Clark's shoulders.

"Clark, I always knew you were a hero, but today you also showed you are a leader. You kept our family safe when I could not. You took charge when it was necessary and you helped save millions of lives today."

Clark blushed at the praise and looked down, but Kara was having none of it. Her hand was under his chin, pushing up until he met her eyes again.

"You know that, back on Krypton, a child would carry the full name of their parent as their last name. All your life, you have been Kal Jor-El. I think it is high time for that to change. You will always be my son, Clark. But you are no longer a boy."

She smiled at him. "Today, you are Kal-El! You are Superman!"


End Chapter 77

Author's Note: The Vega system being off-limits to Green Lanterns is canon. Originally, it was due to a pact the Guardians made with the Psions, but it was later retconned that it was actually a concession to the wielder of the Orange Lantern, Lafleeze. Why is it off limits in my story? Well, you'll get a hint next chapter. I'm glossing over most of the Citadel war here in this chapter, as the Super Family and the Justice League are really just tangentially involved. If you want a full accounting of it, read Omega Men (1983) #1 through #10, though be warned that the ending is far less conclusive there than I've depicted it here.

This chapter turned into quite the monster, despite me moving two scenes I had planned to include here into the next one. Also, I was not sure what was going to happen to Sandy until I actually wrote it down. Keeping her alive or killing her (as much as anyone is ever truly killed in a comic universe) were both on the table until the very last moment. Hope you like how it all played out.

Up next: The Journey Home.