Chapter 9: The War Begins

Part 1 of 3

Kal stands up, and takes hold of Cara's hand. They walk over to the group. Everette stands alone, at the door. The group looks at Kal and Cara. Kal's face is stern, and Cara looks afraid.

"It is time." Kal states.

"Time for what?" Everette asks.

"Time to evacuate Smallville." Cara answers.

"You should inform the mayor." Kal answers.

"Of what? That an evil alien is going to land in Smallville, and destroy the world?"

"Exactly." Kal answers.

"They won't believe me."

"Then let them not believe. They will soon."

Everette leaves the room, and the group walks over to Kal.

"Let's go."

Kal and Cara walk out the door, followed by Kara and the rest of the group.

"Where are we going?" Justin asks.

"To the Kent farmhouse. I have some stuff to get." Kal explains.

Eric suddenly walks off to the Chemistry room. As he enters, the class watches him as he walks over, grabs the box of meteor rocks. He walks out, when McLaughlin runs after him.

"You can't take those. They're not yours!"

"Oh yeah? Try and take them from me."

Mr. McLaughlin reaches out for the box, but, Eric superpeeds away, and back up to the group. The group walks outside, where several students are staring at the clouds, which are still dropping blood rain on the innocents of Smallville. The group immedietly starts getting drenched in the blood, and Alicia grabs Shane's hand. Kal turns around, and stares at the group.

"Anyone know how to superspeed, raise your hand."

Shane raises his. Then Eric, Cara, Kara, and Adam.

"Ok, Alicia, you'll have to teleport everyone else who can't superspeed back to the Kent house."

"Allright... Justin, Adam, Kailey, hold my hands."

As instructed, they grab both of Alicia's hands, and the eerie green flash appeared, showing that she teleported successfully. Kal looks out toward the direction of the Kent farmhouse.

"Let's go." Cara instructs.

Immedietly, Kal, Cara and the rest of the group superspeed into the following cornfields. Corn whizzes by, and as they exit the cornfields, acres of soybeans pass by like nothing. The farmhouse is in view, and the group stops in front. The blood rain still falls, and the house is tainted red. Johnathon and Martha are standing on the porch, and Lora exits the house. Lightning cuts through the air, and back into the blood-red clouds, as blue as the oceans. The group that was teleported by Alicia stands on the porch, looking out into the sky.

"Jor-El told me I would be safer if I stayed with the Kents. I saw what happened to Krypton. May Allah be with you, my son. You and your troops will save this planet. May the citizens of Krypton be with you, Kal-El."

Lora walks down the steps, and hands Kal his bag of red a black kryptonium ores, and the metallic octagonal disc.

"Thank you, Mother. The Kents will keep you safe."

"Talk about peer pressure." Kailey whispers to Alicia. Alicia laughs slightly, but a large sonic boom explodes high above the blood-red clouds and blue lightning. A large fireball falls from space, and it gains more and more speed. It impacts into a cornfield several miles away.

"He's here." Cara states.

Alicia's group walks over to where Kal's group is. Shane grabs Alicia's hand, and she takes it with warm compassion. Kal takes Cara's hand, and Adam takes Kara's. Justin and Kailey hold hands with Alicia and Shane, and they teleport away. Krypto runs out of the house, barking his head off. He sits where Kal is, and suddenly superspeeds away, towards the crash site. The rest of the group superspeed toward Darkseid's ship.

Trees flash by, and soon, the smoking crater is in view. A green flash shows that Alicia's group appears, and Kal's group appears at the crater. Justin's metal skin folds over his normal skin, and as practiced, the swords slide out ahead of his hands.

Kal is the first to walk up the sides of the enormous crater wall. The entire group follows him, and they gasp at what is in the bottom. A black light source emminates from the base of the crater. A low humming sound begins from what seems like a vessel. Smoke inhales the crater, and the smell of brimestone is fragrant in the air.

Suddenly, the humming sound grows louder, and Kal notices that the smoke is moving up. He out stretches his arms, protecting the group, as a ship appears from the crater. The ship is as black as midnight, and huge, red veins pump throughout the ship.

"Lets blow it up." Kal states, still staring at the ship.

"Blow it up! With what!" Adam asks, now having to scream as the humming gets louder and louder.

"Our powers!" Kal screams.

Suddenly, Krypto aims his heat vision at the ship.

"Good, Krypto!" Kal yells.

Cara then shoots her heat vision at the ship, aiming for one of the bigger veins. Kara joins in, then Kal. The ship seems to have no effect with the heat vision. Adam suddenly fires his purple heat vision at the ship, and it slowly starts to cover the ship. Now, a purple light source shoots off from the ship. Adam snaps his fingers, and a bright light engulfs the sky. A loud explosion snaps through the groups' ears, and forces them to the ground. The smoke dissapates, but the ship is still intact. Kal looks in horror as an invisible force field shoots out from the front of the ship, and pushes back the group off of the crater wall.

In slow motion, Shane falls under Alicia, grabs her, and runs fifty feet away from the crater, and sets her down gently. At the same time, Kal grabs Kara and Cara and puts them where Alicia is. Kal runs back, grabbing Krypto and Adam, and sets them down with the rest of the group. Time speeds up again, and Justin falls down the wall and on the ground, but is unaffected from the fall by his metallic skin. The ship's front door opens out, revealing a very bright, red light. A large figure appears at the door, and jumps out, into the crater. The door in the ship closes, and the ship explodes, shooting out shrapnel and radiation from its radioactive core.

The remenants of the ship fall into the crater and in a circle a mile and a half wide. Kal superspeeds to the crater. The base is full with burning and smoldering piles of spaceship debris. Kal activates his heat vision, and fires it at the metal. Immedietly, the metal starts to melt, until all that's left is an olympic sized pool of molten metal. Kal scans the molten metal for any sign of life. A body lays on the bottom of the crater, unmoving. Kal looks harder, and sees Darkseid's heart, not beating. Cara walks over to Kal, and grabs his hand. Kal blinks twice, and his vision returns to normal.

"Is he dead?" Cara asks.

"I don't know. I couldn't have been that easy."

"Well, if he isn't, this'll hold him."

Cara steps forward, breathes in deeply, and blows a torrent of super icy wind from her lungs. The wind immedietly freezes the metal, it spreads until the whole crater is frozen, and large ice crystals have grown out of the crater.

Kal and Cara walk down the side of the frozen crater, hand in hand, and reach the bottom, when a loud CRACK slices through the air. Kal looks behind him, as the frozen earth breaks apart, revealing the frozen solid metal block containing Darkseid. The cracks continue, and the metal starts to break apart.

Pieces of frozen metal hit the ground with a shatter that would make a hundred kittens scream in pain.The cracking suddenly stops, but then, a wave of heat hits the group, knocking back Cara and Kal. Kal gets up, and helps Cara up, when she screams. Kal looks behind him, and sees that the metal had melted once again, and Darkseid walks out of the molten metal, with no scratches, and only some of his cape had been scorched. Standing at over twelve feet tall, his skin as hard as diamond, his face is hidden beneath his large hood. His eyes glow a deep red. Kal stands in front of Cara, and the group walks over to him. Darkseid smiles, awaiting his new challenge.

Hello, Kal-El. It's been a long time.

"Darkseid. We will make you pay for what you did to our planet."

What are you going to do, Kal-El? You and your little army is going to try and kill me? You won't succeed, Kal-El.

"Yes we will, Darkseid. You can't stop us." Cara says.

Oh really, Cara-Lo? I killed your parents along with the rest of Krypton, and I'll make sure I kill you.

"Well Darkseid, it seems that you are outnumbered 9 to 1. I think we have the advantage." Eric states.

Puny human. The odds may have been against me, but not now.

With that statement, Darkseid pulls out a three foot metallic pipe. Darkseid pushes a button, and the pipe extends and a double sided axe appears out of the pipe. Upon the activation of the weapon, Darkseid slams it into the ground. The earth shakes, and cracks open from under them and all over Smallville. The cracks widen, and red light radiates from what seems like the center of the earth. Hundreds of boney, rocky hands reach out from the earth. Giant stone monsters rise from the cracks, along with black smoke with the smell of sulfur. The monsters have no actual faces, just heads made of green, red and blue fire. Their skin, bony and rocky, cracks and bulks under the enormous weight of their bodies.

"What have you done!" Kailey screams.

I have done exactly as you have...I've created an army. One Earth, and Krypton, have never experienced! Soldiers! Line up!

At once, the soldiers superspeed behind Darkseid, and meet up in a line. The axe that Darkseid used to conjure up these monsters rips from the ground, and floats to his hands. He raises the tip of the axe to Kal's face.

Let's see what your army can do, Kal-El. Troops! Attack Kal-El's Army! Reduce them to primordial ooze!

TO BE CONTINUED...