Clark set down in the Fortress, carrying the limp form of Bruce. The batsuit was damaged in places, the cowl half cracked off. He set Bruce down on the floor of the Fortress.
"I brought their leader!" Clark called "General Zod, I have won you this war!"
"Have you?" Zod said coolly as he slowly lowered down from his secluded location in the rafters, flanked by BRAINIAC "Because it looks to me like you've brought me a man in a costume. BRAINIAC, examine him. Find out what's so special about him."
BRAINIAC moved over to Bruce's unconscious form, his hand shifting into a long, sharp appendage as he did. He moved his arm towards Bruce, slowly bringing the blade closer and closer to Bruce's skull. Before it made contact, Bruce's finger moved to his belt, pressing a control. As he did, the Fortress' lights went dark, BRAINIAC falling apart into a series of nanites.
"What?!" Zod yelled "Kal-El, what is the meaning of this?"
"You made a miscalculation, Zod." Clark replied, smirking as he said "You didn't account for the Justice League."
"Seriously?" Bruce said as he stood up "That's not your best comment, Kent."
"I'm sorry, do you want to try something else?" Clark asked "My bad guy, my quips."
"Just keep him off of me." Bruce said, making for the console, a beam of heat blocking his path "Kent!"
"On it!" Clark said, speeding up to Zod and tackling the Kryptonian General up through the roof of the Fortress "You've threatened my friends, my family, what gives you the right?"
"What gave Jor-El the right to imprison me?" Zod retorted, slamming his fists down on Clark's head, sending him hurtling to the ground "I was like a brother to him, and he betrayed me!"
"You destroyed Krypton!" Clark spat "I won't let you do the same here!"
"I saved Krypton!" Zod responded as he sped up to Clark, kicking him through the wall back into the Fortress "It's council had become corrupt, the bloodlines running it polluted!"
Clark stood up, wiping blood from his lip. It was an odd feeling, fighting someone as strong as he was. He was taking damage the same way any man would fighting another man. That gave him an edge though.
Zod would have the same weakness.
Clark sped up to Zod, ducking under the Kryptonian General's attempted strike and launching them both up. He had an idea. He just had to hope it would work.
...
Bruce worked the controls in the Fortress. The EMP from his belt had fried just about every circuit, but he'd done some studying on the Kryptonian technology of the Fortress. Not enough to make him anywhere near an expert, but enough to know there were redundancies. He just had to essentially run a system restore, similar to what he'd had to do when Dick had downloaded a couple of videos to the bat computer a few years back.
Of course, the text on that computer had been in English, rather than the alien symbols appearing on the crystalline interface of the Fortress. He pressed two fingers to his ear while entering the code for who he wanted to contact on his gauntlet.
"Supergirl," He said "I need you at the Fortress. Now."
...
Kara flew towards the Fortress at high speeds, flanked by Diana, J'onn, and Barry on the ground. Behind them, Kyle was fighting a pair of Kryptonians with Donna, whilst Dick had pulled out a variant of his escrima sticks, tipped with Kryptonite.
As she entered the airspace above the Fortress, a large mass impacted her, taking her to the ground. She stood up, facing down one of Zod's troops. She pressed two fingers to her ear.
"Supergirl to Batman," She said "I think I'm going to be a while."
...
"What's going on?" Bruce asked "Supergirl, I can use the technology, but I can't read the interface!"
"I'll be there as soon as I can." Kara's response came, followed by the line going static.
"Supergirl?" Bruce asked "Report!"
"Not everyone's a soldier, Batman." Barry's response came through "I'll help out here with the others so Kara can get in."
"Barry, stand down!" Bruce growled into the communicator "You can't fight a Kryptonian!"
"I can try." Barry replied, the hint of a chuckle being audible as he added "I'm the fastest man alive."
The line cut off as Kara came hurtling into the Fortress, touching down beside him. Bruce made for the exit, Kara catching his arm.
"They've got it out there." She said to him.
"They need my help." He replied "I've got the Kryptonite, I can-"
"You can help them by helping me in here." She cut him off "I can read it, you can hack it. You go out there, against an army of super powered Kryptonians, you're a liability."
"You don't know a damned thing about me!" Bruce yelled "I'm-"
"You're Batman, we know." She said sarcastically "But what is Batman? Just a man in a costume! You need to admit that to yourself sometime. Now, you asked me to come help, so let's do this."
Bruce growled slightly under his breath before finally nodding, Kara releasing his arm. He moved over to the console.
"Let's get started."
...
Clark exchanged blows with Zod furiously, neither of the two men letting up as cuts and bruises formed on their faces. Zod grabbed Clark by the S-shield on his chest, punching Clark away while holding on to the fabric, the symbol being ripped from Clark as he hurtled towards the ground, impacting it hard.
"You've lost, Kal-El." Zod said "Surrender to me now, kneel before Zod, and I may spare this world."
"Like you spared Krypton?" Clark panted as he stood back up "Come on then, Zod. Let's end this."
Clark charged Zod, tackling the older Kryptonian and pulling him skyward. As they reached the atmosphere, a red aura of heat began to form around them. Clark continued to pull skyward, taking Zod out of the atmosphere and to the moon. He slammed Zod down into the ground, grabbing the General by the head and dragging him around at high speed until they reached the dark side of the planet.
He knew how this would work. He just had to keep Zod fighting at full power here. The more energy Zod used, the faster he would fatigue, the faster the yellow solar energy that saturated his cells would drain. It was something Clark had an edge on.
He'd been on Earth for decades. There was a lot more energy for him to burn.
Zod swung for Clark, his blow being blocked, sending a shockwave hurtling outwards from them, cracking the ground beneath them. Now it was a battle of attrition.
...
Bruce continued to manipulate the console. Meanwhile, Kara was above him, exchanging blows with another Kryptonian. He was thankful Kara had found a way to convert the interface into English. Now, he was working on the only logical course. Unfortunately, the system was fighting him every step of the way.
BRAINIAC's avatar was gone, but his presence in the system was still very much there. He made the next move, finding his access denied. He pressed two fingers to his ear.
"Batman to Batgirl," He began "Do you still have the Oracle virus on system?"
"Yeah, but why would you want that?" Barbara asked "It's not going to help in a fight."
"It will in this one." Bruce replied, beginning to tap commands into the computer on his gauntlet "Upload it to me now."
There was a pause before the file showed up. Bruce pressed a few commands, interfacing with the Fortress computer system and beginning a file transfer. It was a crude attack but effective; BRAINIAC could outmanoeuvre him because it was a machine against a man. When it became a machine against a man and a machine, a whole other ball game began.
After a moment, the Fortress went dark. A second later, it was bathed in a red glow, Kara and the Kryptonian she was fighting falling. Bruce turned just in time to see Dick come swinging in on a grapple, catching Kara mid fall. The other Kryptonian wasn't as lucky, their blood slowly running along the floor.
"The death of any sentient is regrettable." Came a voice as a holographic avatar of a man with grey hair and a beard appeared "However, in this instance, an exception may be made."
"Uncle Jor-El?" Kara asked as Dick set her down "I thought BRAINIAC erased him."
"BRAINIAC erased my primary program, yes." Jor-El replied "However, I am, as the Humans would say, 'hard wired into the system.' If I am ever erased, restoring the Fortress to it's base settings will restore me also."
"You factory reset." Dick said with a smirk "Bruce, you old dog."
"Less of the Bruce." Bruce replied, narrowing his eyes "I'd like to keep my identity secret from some people."
"Sorry." Dick replied sheepishly "What now?"
"I can return any prisoners within the atmosphere to the Phantom Zone." Jor-El replied "However, I cannot detect one escapee."
"Who?" Bruce asked.
There was a pause.
"General Zod."
...
Zod gripped Clark by the throat as he dragged him back to the light side of the moon. He'd been smart, taking the battle there, but he'd also made a fatal error; he'd assumed Zod wouldn't see through the ploy.
Clark looked towards Zod as he saw the glimmer of yellow sunlight begin to appear over them. He could feel his own strength returning, so knew Zod was feeling the same now. As they reached the light side of the moon, Zod hurled Clark away from him, towards the Earth. Without gravity inhibiting him, Clark hurtled through the void at a greater speed than he had before, hitting the atmosphere hard. As he did, he heard something in his earpiece.
"-him into the atmosphere... can do the rest." Came the voice of Bruce through the earpiece.
"Come again?" Clark said weakly "Bruce, you're breaking up..."
Static. The line was dead. Clark plummeted down, hitting an ice cap and shattering it as he went under the icy depths. As he came back up, he saw Zod slowly descending.
"You have lost, Kal-El." Zod said, smiling wickedly "Now, kneel before Zod!"
"I kneel before no one..." Clark said "Not you, not BRAINIAC, no one."
"Then you will die." Zod said, his eyes beginning to glow red before he doubled over in pain "What is this?"
Zod screamed in agony as he was seemingly ripped across the sky in the direction of the Fortress at lightning speeds. Clark sped after him, attempting to see what was happening. As he reached the Fortress and set down, he could see; the Phantom Zone projector was engaged at full power.
"You pulled him back..." He said to Bruce "You son of a bitch, you actually did it."
"It wasn't me." Bruce said, adding quietly "And call my mother that again, I will end you."
"I don't doubt it." Clark smirked "If it wasn't you, then who?"
"It was I, Kal-El." Came the voice of Jor-El as his avatar appeared "When an entity spends prolonged periods in the Phantom Zone, they gather a degree of background radiation. This radiation can be recalled, along with the entity, at any time. It is a design flaw we were never able to correct..."
"Prisoner recall." Dick said, smirking "Sounds like a good flaw to me."
"Indeed." Jor-El said, pausing "Now, may I have a moment with my son?"
There was a pause before Bruce, Dick and Kara walked out of the Fortress. After a moment, Jor-El spoke again.
"Kal-El, today you have faced a truly dark part of Krypton's past. I am proud of you for overcoming it." He began "However, this incident has revealed that the Fortress of Solitude contains a vast amount of dangerous technology. It is for this reason that I must shutdown this structure. Indefinitely."
"What?!" Clark said "Jor-El... Father, I've lost one Father recently. I don't want to lose another!"
"My son, you shall never lose me." Jor-El said, his avatar moving to Clark and placing a hand on his chest "I live on always, in you. You have seen my life through your eyes, as yours will always be seen through mine. You shall be able to access my counsel, should you require it, through the command crystal from the Fortress when placed in the ship you came to Earth in. However, the Fortress itself must be destroyed in order to prevent anyone else from misusing it's power."
Before Clark could reply, the Fortress began flashing red as it rumbled.
"The self-destruct has begun." Jor-El said, a crystal removing itself from the central console "Take the command crystal and go."
Clark paused for a moment. After a breath, he embraced the hologram, his arms passing through it. It was a silly gesture; he knew there was no touch. However, he needed it. He needed the closure.
He pulled the crystal from the console before speeding out of the Fortress as it began to collapse.
...2 Weeks Later...
Clark walked into the bullpen of the Daily Planet. The building had taken quite a beating during the Kryptonian invasion. However, the place had been restored well, not that Clark had seen the restoration. Not that most of them knew, anyway.
Superman had been needed more than ever during the restoration of half the planet, so Clark had been away, under the guise of arranging funerals for two uncles, Joe and Jerry. It had given good enough excuses for him being away, and with Bruce owning the Daily Planet, it wasn't questioned in a big way.
He moved to his desk in the office he and Lois shared, sitting down. Lois was absent, probably out on some lead. He pulled up a black document and began typing the story Perry had asked him to look into via e-mail. After a few minutes of typing, he looked up, seeing Lois sat on the desk opposite him, a coy grin on her face.
"Morning, Smallville." She said "Where've you been?"
"You know where I've been, Lois." Clark said with the same grin "What's up?"
"Not much. Just I've been thinking." She replied, standing and moving round to his desk, leaning on it "When the Kryptonians attacked, I was stuck in a lift for three hours. With Snapper."
"I'm sorry." Clark genuinely empathised.
Snapper Wilson was a known bigot and misogynist, with little interest in women past what they could do for him. There were rumours about some of his out of work activities, but none were substantiated, and all of them seemed like things that belonged more in the rumours section fo Cat Grant's gossip column than actual discussion.
"It's fine, but it got me thinking." Lois said "When I was stuck in that lift with him, I wasn't thinking about the innuendos he was making, or the attack outside. I was thinking about something else."
"What's that?" Clark asked, pushing his glassed up the Bridge of his nose.
"Screw it." Lois said, grabbing Clark and kissing him "I don't do talking about emotion well. More of a do it now or forever hold your peace kind of girl."
"Good to know." Clark said, straightening his tie "Is that all?"
"No. I was going to ask if you wanted to have dinner this evening?" Lois asked, smirking "If you tell anyone I asked you, I'll deny it, of course."
"Of course." Clark said with a smirk "Go on then."
Lois leaned in to kiss him again. As she did, the police scanner in the corner of the room went off.
"Armed robbery of First National bank in progress." Came the voice on the scanner.
"I've got to go." Clark said with a small smirk, standing up and removing his glasses "I'll see you later, Lois."
Before she could reply, he disappeared out of the window in a red and blue blur, flying up, up and away.
...
So, that's the end of volume two. I really did struggle with this one, and it was written over a long period of time. I included the epilogue as part of this chapter for the sake of it's short. Up next is Justice League United Volume Two, the title of which will b e revealed soon.
R&R, please, no flames. B.