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"Wake up, 'Superior Man'," Kal heard a voice say, slowly pulling him out of whatever weakness-induced pseudo-sleep he was in.

Kal was standing in some sort of cave with his hands chained above him to a low ceiling. He forced his eyes open, blinked several times, then tried to speak. "Wh… where…"

"Where are you?" the voice finished his sentence. It was deep and distorted. The same voice Kal and his team had heard right before the android attacked. As his vision started to clear, Kal could see the source of the voice: a large shadowy figure seated in front of him. "You're in my possession, Kal-El. That's all that matters."

"Who… who are you?" Kal managed to ask.

"I could ask you the same question, 'Superior Man', but my guess is you wouldn't really know the answer."

"You obviously know who I am" Kal noted. Now that his vision had finally cleared, he could see who he was talking to. The figure was roughly the same size as him, but this easily could have been due to all the heavy, black, jagged-edged armor that covered every inch of the figure's body, including the face. "Do I know you?" Kal asked.

"No. No you don't, Kal-El. But you will very soon."

"Sounds like a threat."

"Good. I was worried you wouldn't pick up on that. Maybe this world hasn't dumbed you down as much as I thought it would."

"I'll show you dumb," Kal said through gritted teeth. He jerked his arms, trying to break free of his binds, but to no avail. Kal was shocked. "What… what is this?"

His captor laughed. "Show me dumb indeed! You're not going anywhere, I'm afraid. You're familiar with Kryptonite, aren't you?"

The message in the crystal from Kal's birth father had indeed mentioned Kryptonite. The event that had caused the destruction of Krypton, the home planet Kal never knew, was a solar event. The planet's sun had not only exploded and destroyed Krypton, but the event had also physically corrupted the rocky remains of the planet. Kal's father had predicted this, and warned him about the dangers of the radioactive remnants.

"The chains," Kal noted, "are Kryptonite?"

"About fifty percent, yes. I was afraid that in its pure form, it would be too much for you."

"Why not let it be too much for me? Why do you need me alive?"

"Oh, you'll die, Kal-El. Just not yet. I want to watch you suffer first."

"You know what I think?" Kal asked indignantly. "I think that even if you could kill me, you would be afraid to. My team would come after you."

"And I would slaughter them where they stood," the villain snarled. "No foe has yet bested Conquest."

"So you do have a name," Kal said coyly.

"Yes I do," Conquest said in such a way that Kal could swear he heard a smirk. "A name that will soon be known by every creature on this wretched world."

"The Kryptonite is what affected me at the farmhouse isn't it?" Kal changed the subject again. "Where did you get your hands on some?"

"So many questions," Conquest replied, but played along. "I must say, it wasn't easy to get the stuff. There was a lot of blood shed."

"And my friends," Kal remembered his team, "where are they?"

"Friends? Please, you've only just met them."

"Where are they?" Kal asked angrily.

"Probably still where we left them, dealing with Doctor Magnus and his toy. Don't worry, though. You'll see them very soon," Conquest said, leaning in menacingly. "I would hate for you not to get a chance to tell them goodbye."

"What does that mean? What are you planning!?" Kal demanded.

Conquest turned to leave, giving Kal no answer.

"Wait!" Kal cried, straining himself and beginning to lose consciousness again. "Please…" It was to no avail, though. Kal was alone.