Superman: Mythos #13 "Escape from Without"
"It's no use, Kal-El," Zod spoke, while Clark beat at the pillar of light that encased him. "You should count yourself lucky. It appears whoever trapped you in this realm did not go through the proper procedure. A part of you still exists on the mortal plane. But, in time, the Phantom Zone will claim you all the same."
Clark ceased his struggle and looked down at his boots. His legs were slowly beginning to fade away, becoming like a shade, the same as Zod's entire body. Alarmed by this, Clark leaped into the air, but his body did not catch the wind, for there was no wind. There was no air for that matter. He fell back down to the shadowy surface.
"I'm afraid no amount of yellow sunlight can save you here," Zod said, leaning up against the pillar of light, unable to enter it himself, just as Clark wasn't allowed to leave it. The General looked out upon the barren dimension. On the horizon, other shadowy figures lingered. Most of them were humanoid, while others appeared to be more monstrous.
Clark leaned his head and back against the wall of light and slid down the sleek surface onto his rear. Crossing his arms, he rested his elbows on his knees and pressed his forehead to his forearms. "It was there. I was right there…" He murmured.
"But you were sloppy," Zod said.
"Excuse me?" Clark asked, tilting his head up.
"You grew desperate, forgot you were at war. You let relief and hope cloud your judgment," Zod deduced. "Your enemy saw this, or, they knew it would happen. And they sprung for you a trap that you foolishly leapt right into. Am I wrong?"
Clark diverted his gaze away from the general, refusing to respond.
"Deny it all you like, son of Jor-El," he continued. "You see, that is the difference between you and I. The difference between a proper Kryptonian and whatever passes for an Earthling these days. They're all weak-willed and despite your impenetrable skin, you're more or less the same. Arguably worse. A god, diluted to nothing but a weak-willed servant to lesser beings. Now you're paying for it. Now they see you for who you really are, or at least, one of them does."
"So hope makes you weak, huh?" Clark asked with a snicker. "From where I'm standing, you look like the weak one, Zod. For a decorated general, you sure seem to have a lot of defeats under your belt."
"Still a sense of humor, hm?" Zod retorted. "Don't worry, that will be the first to go here. Long before sanity and memory."
"I'll still have hope."
Zod laughed. "Your father had hope. Tell me, did he ever tell you the tale of Councilman Ty-Zor?"
Clark remained silent.
"I thought not," Zod continued. "I'm sure there are a great many things Jor-El neglected to tell you about Krypton. Ty-Zor was a member of the Science Council, same as your father. He grew disillusioned with the council, rightfully so, and became increasingly radicalized."
"Hm, sounds familiar," Clark said, standing back up and folding his arms.
"Again with the humor, Kal-El. Enjoy it while it lasts," Zod said, unamused. "Ty-Zor founded a rogue state on the Moon of Mithen where he sought to create a city in his own image. He was a genius, you see, and the people of his new city loved him dearly. At the time, Jor-El and the rest of the Council saw no issue in Zor City's existence. In fact, their leading scientific research benefited Krypton as a whole. I, for one, wasn't convinced. I warned them. But did they listen? Of course not. Even then, Krypton was deceased, rotten to the core. But I digress. Problems arose in Zor when those within his walls threatened his power. He began silencing his political rivals. The man was a deranged narcissist, obsessed with his own ego and intellect. Before long, we had a tyrant on our hands, with a taste for bloodshed, and he wasn't going to stop at Zor.
"Your father and I were sent by the council to lay siege to Zor before he could mount an offensive on Krypton. Scientific genius, Ty-Zor was, but military technician he was not. We occupied the city in less than a fortnight. But only then did we discover the horror within its walls: Kryptonian experimentation, weapons of mass destruction, genetic monstrosities… We burned it all to the ground. And as for Ty-Zor himself, he refused to surrender, willing to fight us until the last breath. He was a pitiful warrior, we could have easily restrained him and brought him before the council, but I took the opportunity to slay the maniac myself, much to your father's dismay."
"Rightfully so," Clark said, echoing his father's sentiment.
"He was too dangerous to be kept alive, Kal-El. And with the council's recent behavior, I didn't trust them to make the right decision," Zod replied.
"The right decision being murder?" Clark questioned.
"Yes," Zod said bluntly. "It was this very event that sparked your father's research into a merciful alternative to capital punishment. You now stand upon the fruits of that endeavor. The Phantom Zone. But I ask you, Kal-El, what is more merciful, to end one's suffering by ridding them of this world? Or letting them languish for eternity in this hellscape?"
"But-" Clark began.
"Silence!" Zod shouted, pounding his fists against the pillar of light, appearing to weaken it. "Look at yourself, not even a day into your exile here and you've dreaded every second of it. Tell me, has the sweet release of death crossed your mind yet? The Phantom Zone is not for great men like us, Kal-El. It is not even for the scum of the earth criminals. It is for beasts… Beasts, like that!" Zod pointed into the shadowy void where a large shade lumbered. The dark clouds around the bulky figure cleared and Clark could see the beast in full. It was the monstrous Doomsday, the one and only thing Clark himself had sent to the Phantom Zone, who wasn't a resident already, for he had no other option. "Beasts that cannot be killed, this is the place for them… Men should be granted the courtesy of death. But, alas, you are too weak-willed to give them that aren't you? Hm, maybe you do belong in here, after all, Kal-El…"
With that, Zod's body dissolved back into the void. Once more he became an indistinct shade amongst the rest, to resume his eternal punishment. Clark fell back down to his knees and smashed the floor with his fists before collapsing. His entire body grew light and weak. He watched his fingertips begin to fade away into translucent shadow. His senses wavered and his mind grew numb, the circle of light that protected him was beginning to dissipate.
"No…" He groaned, trying to lift himself back up but to no avail. He closed his eyes, ready to let the darkness of the eternal void consume him.
"Kal!" A voice called out from above. Clark opened one eye, he did not know if a second had passed or an eternity. "Superman!" Multiple voices echoed throughout the Zone. Clark used all his strength to tilt his head up to see the blinding white light being cast down upon him. Suddenly, his body began to materialize and started to float up towards the light. "Ruff! Ruff!"
Clark was soon blinded by the light that consumed him, his vision filled by streaks of colors rapidly passing him. The colors soon halted and formed into the structure of a large room. Clark felt the ground beneath his feet and a hand reached out to stabilize him. His blurred vision came back to him and the first thing he saw was his loyal friend, Krypto the Superdog, jumping up to lick his weary face. Clark laughed, cradling his dog in a hug, a tear streaming down his cheek. He looked up through watery eyes to see Lois, Jimmy, Superboy, and Wonder Girl standing by the still-hot Phantom Zone Projector. They were all inside the lobby of LexCorp Tower. And, by his side, clutching his hand tightly, was his loving cousin.
"Kara…" Clark whispered, pulling her into a hug and placing a kiss upon her forehead.
"Please," Kara said through sniffling tears, "please don't ever go away like that again, okay?"
Clark chuckled softly, tightening his hug. "I won't, I won't…" He looked up to see Lois giving him a nod. He was a little surprised to see her in full Amazonian garb with a massive broadsword resting over her shoulder. Nonetheless, he nodded back and saw the crowd of super-men and a few minor Justice Leaguers standing behind her and the rest. Some seemed relieved to have Superman back, others did not know what to feel, and some hid their anger.
"H-Hi everyone," Clark said with an awkward wave.
"You're tired and weak, Amazon," Lex said, lifting Diana up by her hair. "At least that witch was good for something. But I suppose you can't send a woman to do a man's job, no matter how much divine blood is in her veins." He delivered a heavy punch to her face before slamming her back down onto the pavement. "I'll just have to be the one who finishes you off…" Lex planted his metal boot down across Diana's back, pinning her to the ground as he charged up his arm cannon. Draining nearly all his energy reserves, he prepared to fire the fatal shot.
Just as soon as Lex was about to fire, duel red beams sliced directly through his arm cannon. His gauntlet exploded in his face and the immense build-up of energy sent him flying backward. He was thrown against the wall of the crater he and Diana had been fighting within. When the smoke cleared and his vision straightened, Lex saw Superman and his army of allies standing before him triumphantly.
"It's over, Lex," Clark said, while Captain Marvel helped Diana back to her feet, joining the line of Leaguers and super-men.
Lex laughed, his voice straining, hinging on madness. "A red moon, deep space, even the Phantom Zone. You truly are resilient, aren't you? You're like a cockroach, I can't get rid of you. No matter how hard I try."
"It wasn't just the resilience, super-strength, or flight, that saved me from your traps, Lex," Clark said, glancing at his allies. "I had a little help from my friends."
Lex gagged. "Are you listening to yourself right now?"
"I'd say you'd be much better off with friends of your own," Clark continued. "But it seems like you made some new ones as of late. Circe, Maxima… I applaud the effort, but I don't think those ladies are the best influence on you."
"You should have seen your friends a month ago when they were tearing up the streets of this city!" Lex snapped. "I was the one to step in, I was the one who stopped them! I saved this city, and kept it safe! Until now…" Lex opened his arms and looked upon the wreckage that his battle with Diana had spawned.
"Don't worry," Clark said. "I'm going to have a nice long chat with many of the folks behind me later, but first, we have to deal with the more immediate threat: you."
"Why wait, hm?" Lex laughed. "MOLON LABE!"
Suddenly, from the sound of Lex's words, Captain Marvel fell to his knee, clutching his head in pain. Superboy too did the same, along with all the other super-men. Even Krypto began barking erratically. All of whom had been trapped in the tanks at LexCorp not long ago.
"Captain, are you alright?" Diana said, trying to help the hero back to his feet. He swung his arm back, shoving her hands off of him. He stood up tall, with a fiery anger in his eyes. Then, without warning, he threw a meaty punch, nailing Diana in the chin and sending her careening into the side of a building. The Captain sped after her and landed another blow, shaking the building he'd smashed her into.
"Diana!" Cassie cried, flying after them. She wrapped her arms around the broad neck of Captain Marvel and tried to pry him off of her mentor. He struggled to reach around to grab her, so he instead threw himself backward onto the ground, sandwiching her between his heavy body and the pavement. Cassie's screams were muffled beneath his weight. Diana, quickly regaining her composure, lifted the Captain off of Cassie and threw him into the building. She then helped Cassie up and together they punched him in the gut. Captain Marvel lunged forward, wheezing from the blow, but managed to grab hold of Cassie's wrist. He flew into the sky, taking Wonder Girl with him. He held her above his head as he flew and began to shout.
"Shazam! Shazam!" he cried, and at his command lightning fell forth from the sky and struck Cassie head-on. Multiple magical bolts fired down from the heavens and managed to hurt Cassie, unlike the lightning she called from her father. Diana flew closely behind them, managing to catch up to the Captain and rip Cassie from his grasp. "Shazam!" The last bolt missed Cassie and instead struck Captain Marvel himself. In a bright blast of light, the muscle-bound hero disappeared. When the light faded, all that was left was a young boy, screaming at the top of his lungs as he fell toward the ground.
"Gotcha," Diana said, scooping the boy up out of the air and delivering him safely back down to the ground.
"L-Luthor, mind control, bad super-men!" the boy rambled, hugging Diana tightly. "Bad me?... Golly, I'm sorry…"
"It's alright, Billy," Diana said, setting him on the ground beside Cassie who was still writhing in pain. Diana knelt down beside her protege, making sure she stayed upright. She then looked back up to Billy. "How can we stop this?"
"T-the words, he's gotta say the words!" Billy said.
"Molon Labe…" Diana whispered. "Come and take them… The final words of the Spartan king, Leonidas. What a way to sully his honor…" She tilted her head back. "Kal-El! You hear that?"
"A little busy right now, Diana!" Clark shouted back, fending off the entire army of mind-controlled super-men by himself. "Aughh!" He cried, being hit by Protex's heat vision, only to be thrown back by an uppercut from Vartox. Clark spun around in time to grab Protex by the throat and slam him into the wall of a building. "I'm sorry," Clark said before delivering a punch of incalculable force to the Martian super-man's face. The impact knocked him out cold, sending his body hurtling to the ground. Clark then heard the sound of another flying fist, turning to catch Vartox's hand before he could strike true. Clark pulled him forward and headbutted the Valerian with enough strength to knock him out as well.
More and more super-men poured upon Clark in a similar fashion, each one he managed to take out. But it was taking time, time which they didn't have. "I…" he began, throwing a few more supersonic punches. "Can't…" he continued, clashing his beams of heat vision with another's. "Get…" he said, throwing a super-man to the ground before incasing him in a block of ice with his freeze breath. "...to Lex!"
"I've got him," Kara said, taking out a super-man of her own before spotting Lex as he tried to drag himself away in his damaged power armor. Kara took one step forward, but before she could take flight, Superboy hovered down to block her path. He didn't make eye contact, his strained face was turned away from her. He appeared to be fighting with himself, or whatever programming Lex had put into him this time.
"Conner," Kara began. "Just step aside, okay?"
Superboy bit back a response, grunting in pain before clutching his skull. "R-run K-kara…" he managed to say before his burning eyes shot open, sending forth a destructive red beam. His stray heat vision missed Kara and sliced the corner of a building clean off. Kara lunged forward and tackled Superboy to the ground. His wild heat vision didn't cease, forcing Kara to keep the back of his head pinned down so that his beam fired straight into the sky. Kara struggled to keep his spasming body down, though soon, the hardship was lifted when a red-yellow blur whizzed by. Soon, Superboy's limbs were bound with rebar, welded with green flames, and frozen over for good measure. Kara looked up to see Kid Flash alongside minor Leaguers, Fire and Ice.
"Got ya covered, Danvers," Wally said with a cocky smirk. "Now go get 'em."
Kara didn't hesitate, she sped forward toward Lex and grabbed him by the collar of his armor. He dragged him up off the rubble and hovered into the air with him. Her eyes burned red with flame. "Call them off!" She demanded. "Or, by Rao, I will kill you."
Lex simply laughed in response. "Kill me? Ha! You can't possibly expect me to believe you."
"Try me!" Kara roared, her red eyes beginning to pulsate.
Lex's smile slowly faded when he felt two small points of heat beginning to swell across his forehead. He started to sweat, letting out a nervous laugh. Smoke began to coil up from his forehead as Kara's dulled heat vision bored into his skin. Lex clenched his teeth as his body trembled, before letting out a roar of pain.
"Alright! Alright!" he cried. "Molon Labe! MOLON LABE!"
Suddenly, every super-man that was still standing ceased their assault and fell to the ground in a daze. With the wall of bodies gone, Clark could see Kara and Luthor still in her clutches. He'd said the words, he'd freed them from their mind control, but Kara did not stop. Two circular scars formed on Lex's forehead, the flesh beginning to burn away. Kara's heat was not far from penetrating his skull.
"Kara! No!" Clark cried, floating down to the edge of the crater, across from where Kara hovered with Lex.
"Gah!" Kara grunted, turning her burning gaze away from Lex and closing her eyes. Her grip tightened around his collar, bending the metal of his armor. "Why not?!" She shouted back to Clark. "He's just going to do it again! And again, and again! When does it end, Kal?! Tell me! When?!"
"Never," Clark said, slowly hovering up behind Kara. "It's a never-ending battle we wage. And to stay on the right side of it, you can't become like him. It's a thin, thin line, but once you cross it, there's no going back. So Kara, please, I beg you."
Kara tried to choke back the tears that streamed down her cheeks. Her grip grew shaky and soon she let go. Lex landed back into the crater with a thud, the remaining bits of his armor falling apart at the seams. With multiple bones broken, Lex couldn't stand back up, but he seemed content to lay there as the authorities began to arrive. He had a crooked smile on his face, chuckling as streams of hot blood poured down from his forehead.
"I-I'm sorry, Kal," Kara whimpered, falling into Clark's arms as she sobbed.
"It's okay, Kara, it's okay," Clark consoled, patting her golden hair.
"She's right, you know," Diana spoke up, limping to the edge of the crater with Cassie and Billy beside her. "He won't stop. Ever. And we cannot lose you again. Nor can the Amazons let him go on unpunished. We should send him to the Phantom Zone, Kal. Rid this world, for good, of the festering cancer that is Lex Luthor."
"No," Clark said firmly as the police began to swarm the area. They reached Lex and cuffed the super-criminal. "We aren't judge, jury, and executioner. And as long as this nation stands, every man, woman, and child shall have a right to fair trial. Not by us, but by a jury of their peers…"
"Ha! You have nothing to prove! Have you all forgotten? I saved this city! I'm the hero!" Lex shouted as the police pushed him along to their paddy wagon. Lex was shoved inside the back of the van and strapped down to a seat. Lex was then blinded by the sudden flash of Jimmy Olsen's camera.
"Tell that to tomorrow's paper," Lois Lane said before slamming the car door on Lex herself.
Lex growled looking away from Lois and Jimmy as they waved at him through the window. "I know you can hear me," he spoke aloud. "You should have listened to your friends, Superman. Your reliance on the broken systems that govern us and the sheeple that live within them will be your undoing. Because when I get out, and I will, you will have wished you died on the red moon with that alien whore…"
Clark muted Lex's far-off ramblings as the authorities drove him away. He looked down at Kara with a smile that she did not share. She somberly kissed his cheek before floating up out of his grasp. She flew off into the light of the setting sun as its orange glow filled the streets of Metropolis. Behind him, the super-men dispersed, leaving only Conner, Cassie, Diana, Billy, and Wally standing at the edge of the crater. Krypto ran through the line of heroes and up to Clark's side, barking joyfully. He knelt down to pet the superdog, when he noticed something colorful lost within the debris. Clark shoved the rubble in front of him aside to free the star-spangled colors of his nation's flag. Clark took hold of the fallen flag pole and propped it upright in the middle of the crater. The red, white, and blue furled in the warm breeze as dusk settled over Metropolis. He was home.
THE END...
...For now.
The main plot of this story is complete, however a epilogue may be in order to tie up loose ends. Some of which may include the a resolution with Maxima, a proper reuniting with Lois, and Clark Kent's return to the Planet. When this epilogue will come, I'm not sure, but in the mean time, let me know if there is anything you would add or change about my Superman tale. Or just leave a review if you'd like. Either way, I'd like to thank you for reading this as it has been a significant project of mine for the last few months, I really do appreciate it. Thank you.