Author's Note – I do not own any of the characters, Marvel and DC do.

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Chapter Twenty-Four

New Zion

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"…and behind me is Jerusalem, transported from Earth to land here, on New Krypton." The reporter said as he waved at the bustling city. "As you can see, the inhabitants are already building new homes and infrastructure as they expand their capital city now that they no longer have to worry about their neighbours attacking them."

"Alan, how come we're communicating in real-time?" The anchor-woman asked and Alan smiled slightly.

"The Kryptonians have built a special piece of technology, a Portal, located on the land-bridge that joins the two continents. The other end of the Portal is located on a small island on the edge of the Bahamas, , an island that they purchased in exchange for a fully-working water-fed fusion generator, the installation of a superconductive power net stretching to all the islands in the Bahamas, thus granting emission-free power to the entire country, and specialised desalination and water-purification plants, again, one for each island, thus ensuring that everyone has access to clean, safe water.

"The Kryptonian island, formerly called Little Bahama Bank, is now known as Friendship Island and is the location of the New Krypton embassy to Earth. Already, it is becoming a tourist attraction as people flock to try and spot one of the New Kryptonians."

"Thank you, Alan." The anchorwoman smiled. "The changes caused by our allies on New Krypton continue to reverberate across the globe. One country relocated to another planet, a second now fully able to provide power and clean water to all of its citizens, researchers working with Kryptonians to adjust Kryptonian Medic-pods enough that they can be used to heal humans and a new generation of Kryptonian children being grown in artificial wombs, their future adoptive human parents being carefully chosen even now…"

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Xavier muted the television as Logan strode into the study.

"How did it go?"

"I got a good look round Black Island." Logan nodded. "They're good, chuck, real good. He collects people, those who are the best of the best, and employs them, making sure they're happy. I think that the Iron Chef could give Martha a run for her money. Met Black's wife and kids too."

"He has children?" Xavier asked and Logan nodded.

"Son name Timothy Hunter-Black, daughter named Raven Black. Tim's part-Kryptonian due to how Black and his wife adopted him, goes by the name Superboy."

"Another Superboy?" Xavier half-laughed. "Our Chris Kent, Kal's Connor Kent and now Black's Timothy Hunter-Black? We may have to start adding pre-fixes to all the alternates."

"Yeah, well, I briefly stepped through to see his other realities." Logan stated. "The second one's a Justice League one like you thought, 'cept in that one, there's a Martha Kent as well. The other I only saw through a screen, but it's weird, chuck. They have ninja, but ones that don't hide in the shadows and who throw elemental attacks around. Black's protegé in that one has a name that means Vortex Fishcake of all things."

"Vortex Fishcake?" Xavier repeated incredulously and Logan nodded.

"Something like that. May have translated it wrong, it's a variant language." Logan shrugged. "So, three realities in one dome. Did I miss anything here while I was checking things out for you?"

"Not really, no." Xavier replied. "Everyone's still recovering and we're going to hold Angel's service on Saturday."

Logan nodded slowly. "Yeah, damn. Kinda got used to him popping in and out. I was gonna suggest recruiting him for the X-Men once he'd gotten more patrols under his belt."

"He would have been a true asset to the team." Xavier agreed sadly. "His loss is a great…"

"AAAARGH! MEIN EYES!"

Logan and Charles stared at each other for a moment, then Logan wrenched open the door and sprinted out even as Xavier backed his chair out from behind the desk to follow him.

"Elf! What happened!" Logan shouted as he dashed into the living room, only to screech to a halt at the sight of Kurt making evil-warding signs at a computer-tablet that was lying innocuously on the floor.

"What the…?" Logan muttered, then he picked up the tablet. "What's got you in such a… oh, that is wrong."

"Ja!" Kurt almost hissed. "Ack! Vhat iff Amanda sees zat… zat filth!"

"What happened?" Xavier asked as he floated in and Logan handed the tablet over.

"Fanfiction."

Xavier blinked, then glanced at the screen, his eyes darting across the written lines before he winced.

"Ouch. That is a terrible piece of writing. The spelling is all wrong, the tenses keep changing… and I've missed the point, haven't I?"

"Yeah." Logan chuckled. "The writer has elf-boy here linking up with Avalanche, in a rather… explicit way."

Xavier looked back at the tablet, then winced.

"That is very badly written."

Kurt stared at him in shock and Logan tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

"Chuck's a top-level telepath, remember? He's seen far worse in people's thoughts."

"Ja, but… I zhought zhat ZheBeardedVun vas not gveat, but zis…"

Logan shrugged. "Well, at least you know another author to avoid."

"Ja. Avoid zhe Zhalty Uchiha at all costz. He makes ZheBeardedVun look like David Eddingz."

"…ree ninety-eight ninety-two forty-three… there we go. I've added him to your blocked list." Logan supplied, handing the tablet back to Kurt. Xavier stared down at his empty hands in shock.

"Logan… how did you do that?"

Logan smirked.

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"Falcon."

"Director." Samuel said as he obeyed the hand-signal and sat down.

"You said you needed to discuss something important." Fury prompted and Samual nodded.

"It's about Angel, sir. He was a nice kid, a real symbol of hope… I think his legacy needs to be continued."

Fury raised his eyebrows slightly. "Are you suggesting what I think you are?"

Samual nodded again. "He helped me master my wings. With him gone… I think that New York needs an Angel."

"So you want to take his place."

"No, I want him back." Samual replied almost instantly, then he sighed. "But he's dead and I'll be damned if I'm going to let him be forgotten."

"I'm not really the one to give approval for this." Fury noted, earning another nod.

"I've discussed it with Clark, Goliath and Warren's dad. Warren Jr had already started to convert the top of one of his office blocks into a base for Angel and his planned team to work out of."

"Team?" Fury queried.

"Team." Samual confirmed. "Warren Jr's idea was that Angel would lead a team of low- and medium-ranking heroes at the local level, sort of an entry into the ranks of superheroes thing, similar to the West Coast Avengers. Once the trainees were experienced enough, they could transfer across to fill gaps in the other teams, the ones that deal with bigger problems than street thugs and organised crime."

Fury nodded slowly as he considered it. "Very well. I assume that you are going to lead this new team?"

"Once we find some more members, yeah." Samual agreed. "Assuming that you accept my resignation from SHIELD."

"I don't." Fury said, then he held up one hand before Samual could protest. "Instead, I am moving you to emergency reservist status. You will still receive pay and access to SHIELD intelligence. In addition, I'll assign an agent to help you with the paperwork for your new team, once you've assembled it."

"I… thank you, sir."

"Don't make me regret this." Fury replied, although the slight twitch of his lips belied his stern tone.

"I won't, sir."

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"So, what do you think?"

"I… I'm almost speechless." Clark admitted as he followed General Zod above the relocated Jerusalem. "Relocating one city is mind-blowing by itself, but effectively relocating an entire country?"

"Only a third of it, land-wise." Zod corrected. "The hardest part was actually keeping the plans secret from all of Israel's neighbours while still ensuring that we were able to convince the entire population that they wanted to participate."

"Well, you did it." Clark agreed. "What the… those aren't normal cars!"

"We re-purposed one of the factories to make conversion kits." Zod shrugged. "The local garages did the rest, by now almost every single car is now a hover-car. One minister pointed out that it really saves on the cost of building roads, all they really need are a few bridges over the ravines and some guide beacons."

"Bridges?" Clark asked and Zod nodded.

"The vehicles hover a bit over one of your meters above the ground. If they drive off cliffs, they tend to plummet."

"Ah."

"No." Zod deadpanned. "Aaaaaargh."

Clark groaned at the joke and Zod chuckled at his reaction.

For several more minutes, they flew on, Clark watching as the patches of greenery rolled by underneath, then Clark broke the comfortable silence.

"How goes recruiting parents for the new Kryptonians?"

"Quite well." Zod replied. "It is fortunate that the humans have a good grasp of psychology, one perhaps even exceeding ours in certain areas. Faora suspects that it is the consequence of the fractured nature of your planetary society. With over a hundred different cultures, the need to learn to understand the ways of others would become quite important. Krypton only had four different cultures in its recorded history and by the time of its fall, only two of those cultures remained and one was almost subsumed by the other."

"Oh?"

"Vathlo Island." Zod elaborated. "The Vathlonians were a proud, noble people whose word was their bond. For most of Kryptonian history, they led the world in technology and medicine. Had they been interested in conquest, then they could probably have ruled the planet, but they were more interested in philosophy and morality. They maintained good relations with all the other countries, remaining neutral throughout the Wars of Unification. After the rest of Krypton had become one nation, Vathlo started to make diplomatic overtures in preparation for the creation of a true world-state. Unfortunately, before it could come to fruition…"

Clark nodded slowly.

"There is a Vathlonian amongst my men." Zod added. "Iph-Ro. He is almost supernaturally gifted when it comes to the dance of politics. Without him, New Krypton could not have got even half as far as it has."

"I look forwards to meeting him." Clark noted.

"He looks forwards to meeting you as well." Zod replied. "He has many questions that he wishes to ask."

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Zod touched down lightly on the balcony outside his office, stepping out of the way to let Clark land. As the Earth-raised Kryptonian touched down, he stumbled and Zod caught him.

"Thanks." Clark said almost absently as he stared at the statue standing in the corner of the balcony. "Is that…?"

"A Gargoyle?" Zod asked his a slight smile. "Yes. You see, Israel was not the only place we moved, just the most public. We also moved the island-nation of New Olympus and relocated it to the west of Izh-Taro. The New Olympians were quite eager when we offered them a chance to move and several of them have already volunteered for the Defense Fleet. They also assigned Silverwing here to be the ambassador from New Olympus. He has the next office over and we share this balcony as it is a convenient landing area."

Clark blinked several times, then shook his head to clear it. "Sorry. New Olympus?"

"An island nation populated by beings commonly thought of as myth and legend amongst your people." Zod shrugged. "Tal-Din discovered it by accident, their cloaking device is quite… efficient. They had been hiding from humans for many centuries, if not millenia, but knew that they would be discovered eventually. When I stood before their Senate and offered them the chance to live without the fear of invasion, plus a military alliance with us, they accepted eagerly."

"Myth and legend?"

"Is that what you picked up out of what I told you?" Zod laughed. "Yes, there are many types amongst them. Centaurs, Minotaurs, Nagas… yet they are all capable of interbreeding with their offspring's forms being one of their parents. It is really quite incredible. My researchers are working on ways to integrate their medical technology into our med-pods, although there are certain system incompatibilities that still need to be overcome. Once it is done, though, the med-pods should be able to deal with all the sentient races in this system and will be upgradable to allow them to be used for many of the other known races, such as the Asgardians."

"Wow." Clark breathed. "Amazing."

"I agree." Zod said as he stepped into his office. "I have seen much and learned more since arriving. Come, we have some caf, it is remarkably similar to the human Coffee, but you can taste the difference. Fortunately, there were some seed-pods in stasis in the fleet base, so we have an ever-growing supply."

"Sounds interesting." Clark noted, glancing once again at Silverwing before stepping into Zod's office. "Ummm, does Goliath know about the New Olympus Gargoyles?"

"He should do, he apparently visited New Olympus a while back." Zod noted. "Although the clan was rather reclusive before the relocation… I'll have a message sent to him about it… unless… could you tell him?"

"Sure." Clark shrugged.

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Authors afternote – The New Olympians were a spin-off from Gargoyles, a spin-off that unfortunately never really made it past the early stages. Nevertheless, they were too awesome not to reference.

And regarding the other thing… yeah. I hold grudges. (evil smirk)