The Last Son, Book Two: Reckonings

by The Writer with No Name

AU Season 2. Crossover with Superman. In his second year at the Institute, the young Man of Steel must deal with new friends, new foes, and growing public curiosity. Rated T for now. Author's Note inside.

27. Accused

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: ACCUSED

Xavier Institute, Bayville, New York, June 25, 2008

It was a pleasant June morning when Scott and the rest of the X-Men returned to the Institute, in good spirits. Final exams had ended a few days ago, and today, their term grades had been released.

"All right!" Evan declared, as he got out from the back seat of Scott's car. "Now our vacation can get really started!"

Scott chuckled as he looked to Jean, sitting next to him in the front seat. "So, how'd you do, beautiful?"

Jean smiled. "Oh, I did fairly well." she replied. "You?"

"The same."

By then, Kitty and Lance had stepped out of Lance's jeep, and walked over. "I take it that everyone did well?" Kitty asked.

"I have to go call Mutter; I promised zat I'd call und tell her if I did vell!" Kurt exclaimed, before he bamfed away, leaving a cloud of sulfur in his wake.

Lance chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes."

"That's great!" Kitty exclaimed. Then, she paused. "Hey, where's Ali?"

"After she got her grades, Ali had to go help Clark with a few things over in Asia; apparently, there was an earthquake in Vietnam." Scott answered.

Jean smiled. "I guess having two super-heroes around will take a bit of getting used to."

Just then, Remy pulled up on his motorcycle, and he and Rogue hopped off. "What about you guys?" Kitty called to them. "How'd you do?"

Rogue sighed. "Solid B+ average, fer both of us." she replied. She half-glared at Remy. "Maybe if someone hadn't been flirtin' every other minute during study time, we maht've done better!"

Remy chuckled. "Y' invite Remy t' de candy store, an' den say, 'Don' touch'? Y' so cruel t' Remy, chere." he quipped. His grin grew. "'Sides, Remy didn' recall 'earin' y' complain, at de time."

Rogue lightly blushed. "Aw, shut up, Cajun."

Just then, a sonic boom echoed overhead; this sonic boom wasn't quite as loud as the ones they were used to, as what had made it wasn't capable of flying too much faster than sound. Seconds later, Power Girl, in her uniform, slowly descended from the sky, touching down noiselessly next to them. "Hi, guys." she greeted. "I take it everyone else did well?"

"Yep." Lance replied. "You?"

Power Girl sighed. "A- average." she replied. "I'm still working on juggling super-hero work, my career, and school; I don't know how Clarkie does it."

"Hey, better than a B-, PG." Evan said.

Then, Kitty blinked. "Where's Clark?" she inquired. "Wasn't he with you?"

"Clark said he was going to drop by his Mom's after 'work'." Power Girl replied. "Apparently, Mrs. Kent needs a bit of help around the farm. Clark told me to go on ahead; he said he could handle things." She smiled. "I didn't want to intrude; they haven't really had a chance to talk since Mrs. Kent visited for Clark's birthday."

By then, Professor Xavier, Logan, Ororo, and Hank had walked outside to greet them. The Professor smiled. "Judging from all of your expressions, I trust that you all did well." he said.

Scott nodded, grinning. "We did okay."

Ororo smiled. "Well done, all of you."

"Not bad." Logan said. "Just don't expect Danger Room sessions to slack off over the summer."

Scott and Jean shared a smile; Logan was just being Logan.

As they all started to head inside, Scott felt a strange sense of unease fall over him. Jean quickly noticed. "What's wrong, Scott?"

"I don't know. It's probably nothing," Scott admitted, "but I'm just getting the strangest feeling that we're being watched, somehow."

Jean lightly smiled. "It's probably just your imagination, Slim."

Scott smiled back. "Yeah, you're probably right." he agreed. With that, he and Jean followed the rest of their friends inside...

...but still...some tiny part of Scott felt that Jean was wrong...

Deep Space

In the middle of the solar system, far from any deep-space Earth probes, a single, spherical automaton floated in the black of space, watching the bright blue planet from unimaginably vast distances, at the very outermost limits of its scanners...but it was the only safe distance to scan from, now that it had confirmed its masters' worst fears.

Kree Sentry 469725 continued scanning the Earth facility – the 'Xavier Institute,' as it was called – as it had been doing for the past several Earth-days, constantly broadcasting its data-feed back to its masters, while waiting for further instruction.

And even further out, at the very edges of the solar system, the massive Kree Fra-Kesh-Class Heavy Cruiser loomed, waiting like a predator for its tiny prey to dart out of its hole.

Aboard the bridge of the Cruiser, Supreme Public Accuser Ronan looked over the bridge-crew from his command-chair, waiting.

Finally, they were here. After dispatching a Sentry to scan Earth from a distance – and waiting for the data-stream to reach them – he had confirmed his suspicions. There was a Kryptonian power-signature coming from Earth; it was emanating from a Kryptonian outpost at the planet's north magnetic pole. After that discovery, the Sentry had held its position and commenced with remote scanning; hopefully, the Sentry gave off too little of a power-signature for the outpost's scanners to pick it up at that distance.

Once he had confirmed it, Ronan had sent word to the rest of the Empire, top priority. The response had been swift: one of the Kree people's most hated enemies had survived. Within hours of sending that message, a massive Colosseum-ship had jumped within range of his own ship; from that ship, once they had captured the Kryptonian scum, Ronan could judge him, and that glorious moment would be broadcasted all over the Empire. His family's honor would be forever restored.

All they had to do now was locate him...

"Lord Accuser, sir! We're getting a data-feed from the Sentry!"

Ronan instantly rose from his seat. "Report." he ordered.

The communications officer gulped. "Well, my Lord, we have determined where the Kryptonian most likely calls home: it is a facility on the Earth-continent North America."

Ronan frowned. "And..?"

"W-Well, my Lord...it appears that...that the legends about the Kryptonian people are true."

Ronan's frown grew into a snarl. "What?"

"It's true, my Lord! See for yourself!" the officer exclaimed, gesturing to the screen. Ronan walked over, and looked; the screen showed a map of the planet...and a single red dot moving back and forth all over the planet, at incredible speeds.

"So...the tales are true." Ronan muttered. "Under the light of a yellow sun, those scum gained unnatural power."

"Y-Yes, sir." the officer said. He gulped. "We...we were fortunate to have never engaged them on a planet with a yellow star."

Ronan's glare made the officer reconsider that statement, before the Supreme Public Accuser returned to his thoughts. "Would our Power-Suppression Collars have any effect?"

"It's unlikely, my Lord; the Collars act to suppress any abilities that the average genome of the target-species do not grant. For a Kryptonian, that kind of power is natural – at least, under yellow sunlight."

"The sun is his strength." Ronan thought. "If we remove him from it, then he is powerless." He started to smile. "Order several of our fighters to enter Earth's atmosphere; we'll capture him with our teleporters, and take him to the Colosseum..."

"Again, my Lord, that is not likely to work." the officer said. "The Kryptonian moves much too swiftly in the atmosphere for our fighters to catch him."

Ronan scowled. "Then we attack." he snarled. "We'll move the ship into bombardment range, and we won't stop until he surrenders."

"Um...my Lord?" the officer piped up. "Are you certain that such an action is wise..?"

Instantly, Ronan had grabbed the officer by the throat, and pulled him up to his eye-level. "You dare question my orders?!" he roared.

"P-Please, forgive me, my Lord!!" the officer stammered. "I d-do not mean to question you...but...it is m-my duty to at least raise these concerns, for your sake, my Lord!"

The officer's apparently heartfelt loyalty calmed Ronan's rage enough to put him down. "Explain."

The comms officer took a deep breath. "Lord Accuser, the last encounter we had with a Kryptonian was 500 years ago; a single, light-armed Kryptonian vessel strayed into a battle between our forces and the Skrulls. At once, both sides turned to annihilate the ship; the Skrulls hated the Kryptonians almost as much as we do."

Ronan chuckled. "Likely their only redeeming quality."

The entire bridge crew softly chuckled at that. Only the officer remained calm. "My Lord, it took both sides to bring that ship down, and in that time, that single ship – that single light-armed ship – inflicted untold damage to both battle-groups." The officer looked grave. "In the 500 years since, Lord Accuser, our own technology is virtually unchanged; the same could be said for the Skrulls. Not only that, the Kryptonians have had five centuries to innovate and improve...which they are well-known for doing."

Ronan's teeth clenched. "Insufferable Kryptonian cleverness...the meddlers of the universe." he growled. "They dared to think we would actually lay down our arms and talk of peace to the Skrulls?!" At that, murmurs of agreement filled the air. Calming, Ronan added, "But I understand your point, Officer. Tell me...what would you recommend?"

The officer gulped. "Well, my Lord...based on his activities, it seems that the Kryptonian has befriended the humans dwelling at this 'Institute.'" he said. "One detail of note is that all these humans possess a distinct genetic mutation – one which they have termed the 'X-Gene,' my Lord. If we use the Sentry as a distraction...it may be possible for several fighters to slip in."

Ronan smiled as he understood. "We take his friends...and lure him to us." he finished. He placed his hand on the smaller Kree's shoulder. "Well done."

The officer smiled, overjoyed. "Th-Thank you, my Lord!" he exclaimed. Then, his expression turned grave. "There...there is another thing you should see, my Lord." he added. "We have managed to identify the Kryptonian." With that, he tapped a few keys, bringing up an image.

It always repulsed Ronan how much the humans and Kryptonians looked alike; it made him sick to even look at the people of Earth. The image was of the Kryptonian – a male youth, actually flying from the unnatural powers the sun gave him – clad in a red-and-blue variant of the Kryptonian military uniform...

...but what utterly infuriated Ronan was the crest upon the Kryptonian's chest.

Ronan let out a roar of sheer rage, as his Universal Weapon crackled with energy as his grip on it tightened. "AN EL" he roared. As if having a survivor of Krypton was not insult enough, the survivor was from the very family that had designed and built the accursed Sentrius, the very thing that had disgraced his family..!!

"There's more, my Lord." the officer finished, as he brought up another image. This image was of a flying female, in early adulthood, close to the same age as the Kryptonian, and clad in a silver uniform, similar in design to the Kryptonian's...with the crest of the House of Lir – the cohorts to the House of El in building Sentrius – upon the uniform's chest.

Ronan's eyes narrowed. "Another one..."

"Almost, my Lord." the officer said. "She appears to be a part-human descendant of the Kryptonian that crashed on Earth, 500 years ago."

"Send out the fighters." Ronan ordered, his fists shaking. "Capture those humans – every last one of them. And deploy several ground troops at the Pole; capture or destroy that structure; we will either possess their technology at long last, or ensure that it never falls into Skrull hands." He could barely contain his rage.

At the same time, he couldn't believe it; he would have his revenge on the descendants of Sentrius' creators. The gods were smiling on him. His revenge would be perfect...

...and he would wait no longer to have it.

Kent Farm, Smallville, Kansas

The afternoon sun shone over the small Kent farm as Martha Kent, in her work overalls and flannel shirt, emerged from her barn. "You can just toss those bales up into the hay-loft, Clark." she called, smiling.

At his Ma's request, Clark walked out of the barn, clad in a white t-shirt and blue jeans, carrying two large bales of hay. "Sure thing, Ma!" he exclaimed, smiling. Then, with perfect accuracy, he tossed the hay-bales up into the barn's hay-loft. "Anything else you needed help with?"

"Well, there is a bit of ploughing that needs doing," Martha said, "but we can work on that after lunch." She smiled. "I'll just fix us some sandwiches." With that, she headed towards the house, and Clark promptly followed.

Within minutes of stepping inside, Martha had fixed them both some sandwiches, and they had sat down to a nice, quiet lunch. Clark smiled; even after being gone for so long, this place still felt like home.

Before long, they had finished their meal, and simply sat there, as Clark's Ma calmly sipped her tea. "So," Martha said, "you said that your friends got their grades, today?"

Clark nodded. "They all passed, with flying colors."

"That's wonderful, Clark." Martha said, smiling. "And how is everyone at the Institute?"

"They're all fine, Ma." Clark said, smiling. "Some of the New Mutants are still trying to prank me, but I think they're getting the message."

Martha chuckled. "Well, your father and I certainly didn't raise any fools." she said. Her smile grew. "And how are you and Alison doing?"

Clark grinned. "We're both fine, Ma." he said. "She's really been a great help during 'work'."

"Yes, I had thought so; apparently, there have been a few sightings of another flying person, helping Superman on a few occasions." Martha said, chuckling. "I hope you've told her how much you appreciate her helping you."

"Of course, Ma!" Clark said, smiling.

"That's good, honey." Martha said softly, her smile becoming a bit wistful. "I'm so glad to know that you're doing fine."

His mother's tone of voice put Clark on edge. "Ma...what's wrong?"

Martha lightly flinched, before smiling weakly. "Jonathan and I always did have such a hard time of putting one over on you." she murmured. "We always had to write out our Christmas shopping lists, so that you couldn't hear us..."

"Ma..." Clark said.

Martha took a deep breath. "Clark..." she said softly, "...I have something to tell you..." Suddenly, she erupted into a fit of coughing.

"Ma!!" Clark cried, bolting to his feet. "Ma, what's wrong?!" Martha couldn't reply, since she was coughing so much, but she managed to point to a nearby cupboard. Clark's eyes flashed electric-blue as he used his X-Ray vision...spotting a jar of medication. He darted over to it and took out the jar, before handing it to his Ma. Martha promptly took out one pill, put it in her mouth, and swallowed.

As soon as she had done so, the coughing started to subside; within seconds, it was gone. Martha looked at her son heartbrokenly. "I'm...I'm so sorry you had to see that, Clark..."

Clark felt his head start to spin as he started to put things together. His Ma needing his help...the cough he'd heard when he' called her before Christmas...even now, she looked thinner, and much frailer than usual...it all came to one horrifying conclusion. "Ma...you're very sick..."

Martha smiled weakly. "I had thought about telling you at either Christmas or your birthday...but I just couldn't; those were supposed to be happy days, sweetheart." she murmured. "I'm not sick, Clark. I'm dying."

Clark felt as though someone had just stabbed him in the heart with a Kryptonite dagger. "D-Dying?!"

Martha nodded. "I have Van Braun's Syndrome, Clark; it's a genetic disease – I've had it ever since I was born. My DNA is gradually losing its ability to repair itself." she continued. "I got a report from the doctor a few days after Jonathan and I found you. Apparently, there are three possible stages to it – three levels of affliction. Stage One – the kind I have – is the slowest progression, giving the patient some chance for longevity. Stage Two is much more severe, and as for Stage Three...well, Stage Threes are lucky to make it out of childbirth." She weakly smiled. "It's the reason why I could never have a child of my own; it started in my ovaries, and has been spreading slowly ever since."

Clark's scientific mind processed this, while the rest of his psyche was reeling in shock; proper DNA repair was critical in meiosis, which generated gametes – if repair was missing, mutations could accumulate, causing meiosis to stall completely. And if repair-capability was lost altogether...

"How...long..?" Clark finally managed to choke out.

Martha sighed. "The doctors say that I have two years, at most." she replied. "In fact, they're confident that I'll make it to two years, since I take care of myself."

Clark felt his eyes start to sting. "There...there must be something we can do..."

Martha smiled sadly, and shook her head. "It's incurable, honey." she answered.

"Well...w-what about gene therapy?" Clark said. "That should get things back to normal, and I'm sure that the Professor would gladly pay for it..."

"No, Clark, that won't work; they still haven't located the exact genes that cause this. Gene therapy can't help...at least, not yet."

Clark suppressed a sob. "Well...well, fine, I'll just look through the medical archives in the Fortress. Kryptonian medicine is eons ahead of Earth medicine; my people could have easily fixed something like this!"

Martha slowly stood up. "Clark..."

"There has to be a cure, Ma!" Clark continued, fighting tears. "I'll find it! If there's a procedure, I'll learn it, and I'll..!"

Martha placed a fingertip on Clark's mouth, shushing him. "No, Clark." she said simply. "I don't want you to do that."

Clark's eyes went wide. "But...but Ma..." he whimpered, his eyes watering, "...I can save you..."

Martha instantly hugged her son, holding him close. "Oh, sweetie," she cooed, "I know you can." She moved back, to look him in the eyes, smiling through tears. "But don't you see? This is natural. This is how I'm supposed to die."

Clark fought hard to keep from sobbing. "Don't...d-don't say that, Ma..."

"Honey, I've known this was coming ever since we adopted you." Martha said. "For a while, I didn't want to believe it, either." She smiled as tears started to fall from her eyes. "But do you know what? I understood why I had it; I couldn't have a child of my own because God was giving me a beautiful little baby boy that He wanted me to look after."

Clark felt tears start to run down his face. "Ma..."

"I've had a good life, Clark." Martha continued. "I had the child I'd always wanted; I got to see my beautiful baby grow up; I got to see him leave the nest...and find his way back; I got to see him find a new family, and meet someone special; and I got to see him become the amazing man he is today." Her smile grew. "I have no regrets." She chuckled. "Well, maybe just one: that I never got to see my grandchildren, but I'll be okay with that."

Clark felt the tears speed up. "But Ma..."

"I know this is hard, honey," Martha said, hugging him, "but this is what's supposed to be...just like with your father..."

"No, Ma!" Clark cried. "Pa died because I just wasn't fast enough!!!"

Martha hugged him tighter. "Oh, no, sweetheart." she cooed. "It was not your fault, do you hear me?" She held her son close. "Ever since you left, I couldn't understand why your father had to leave us...until I first saw you start to do what you do...and I just knew: that was why Jonathan had to leave. God had given us the task of raising you; He decided that Jonathan's task was finished, and He called him home." She smiled tearfully. "And it's the same thing with me, sweetie; God thinks I've done what He wanted me to do...and now He wants me to come home."

"But...but I don't want you to go, Ma..." Clark whimpered, hugging his Ma closer.

Martha smiled. "Sweetheart," she cooed, "no matter what happens to me, I'll always be with you, looking down on you, with your father; we'll be the proudest parents in Heaven." She smiled. "Well...maybe the second-proudest."

Clark said nothing; he only hugged his mother closer, crying silently. Martha remained silent as well, as mother and son just held each other for a little while longer.

Deep Space, several hours earlier

In the vast emptiness of space, just beyond the solar system that the planet Earth called home, a single green light moved through the unending vacuum, illuminating the infinite blackness.

At the heart of that light, within its protective force-field, was a 22-year-old African-American man, tall and athletically built, with dark eyes, which now had a green glow from the use of his powers, and a bald head, with a thin beard framing his mouth, clad in a black bodysuit with the shoulders trimmed in green, and with the crest of a single green lantern emblazoned on his suit's chest, within a white circle. Around his right wrist was a high-tech communicator, which relayed critical messages from his home base, and upon his right ring-finger was a single, green ring, with the same crest as that of his suit. Around his body was a green glow, emanating from the ring.

Green Lantern Corpsman John Stewart smiled to himself as he prepared to finish up his patrol before returning to the home base of the Green Lantern Corps. As he flew, propelled by the energy of his power-ring, he reflected on the past two years, the two years since he'd joined the Green Lantern Corps, the elite galactic peacekeeping force that kept things from getting out-of-hand across the universe.

It had all started two years ago, during his last tour of duty as a U.S. Marine; he'd been assigned to Iraq, and was just a few days away from completion of his mission, due for an honorable discharge, when he'd seen something fall from the sky. Luckily, it had been fairly close to base, and it was during off-hours, so he'd been able to go and check it out without anyone noticing.

What he had found had changed everything.

The object had been a spaceship, and its sole inhabitant – a tiny little grey-skinned, white-haired, robe-clad man – was severely injured. He'd managed to "borrow" a few medical supplies from base and patch the little guy up...just in time for a man in the same uniform he now wore to show up.

Apparently, the injured alien was one of the wise Guardians of the planet Oa, and the guy in green – Hal Jordan – was a member of the Green Lantern Corps, and, right then and there, the Guardian offered John a chance to join up.

John had always wanted to be part of something bigger, greater than himself; it was why he'd joined the Marines. And he'd just been offered that chance again.

After being discharged and stopping by his old loft in the States just long enough to catch his breath, John had met up with Hal again, and been officially inducted into the Green Lantern Corps.

And for the past two years, John had been a Green Lantern. He had his complaints; every Lantern did, at times. Still, he enjoyed the challenge of keeping the peace throughout the known galaxies...and slowly, he was being regarded as more than just a rookie from Earth.

He could live with that.

Suddenly, his wrist-communicator started to beep, snapping John out of his recollection. Promptly, he switched it on. "Lantern Stewart reporting."

"We need you, Lantern."

At once, John's eyes went wide at who it was. "Guardian Krallen!" he exclaimed, automatically saluting one of the wise founders of the Corps.

"At ease, Lantern Stewart." Guardian Krallen replied. "I trust your sector is quiet?"

John nodded. "Nothing's going on out here, sir. I was just about to head back."

"Good; then I caught you in time." Krallen said. "Lantern, the Galactic Confederacy has just informed us of something...disturbing."

John nodded; the Confederacy was a loosely-knit alliance of space-faring worlds. It had begun several millennia ago, when the Kryptonian people – God rest their souls – had constructed their massive World-Gate network. At the time, the Kryptonians had not started to encode their technology, which allowed many other races – having just discovered space-travel – to travel from one galaxy to the next. At first, Krypton had been hesitant to allow such use of their technology, due to their ancient law of noninterference, but after much debate, Krypton's wise Council of Twelve ruled that, since these other races were already capable of space-travel, they would be exploring the rest of the universe, anyway, so allowing them to use the Gates would cause no harm. The development and fostering of trade and galactic commerce had commenced, which very soon led to the birth of the Confederacy. Though Krypton had never joined the Confederacy, it had retained some friendly relations with it, as well as the Corps, after asking them to help enforce their ruling to keep the Gates from being used in war or conquest.

And then, they had encountered the Kree and the Skrulls – two of the big powers in the cosmos. After that little meeting, the Kryptonians had promptly shut down the network, to prevent those two war-mongers from using it, with some help from the Corps. Fortunately, most of the member-worlds in the Confederacy had developed step-through, by then. Ever since, the Confederacy and the Corps had formed something of a forced alliance, as they were only strong enough to really oppose either the Kree or Skrulls together.

"What's the problem?" John asked.

"I received a communique from Head Councillor Wazzo of the Galactic Council." Krallen replied. "She had recently intercepted a transmission from the ship of Kree Accuser Ronan."

John scowled. "And what's that bastard up to, I wonder?"

"The Accuser's transmission was meant for the Kree Supreme Intelligence; he was boasting that he would 'at long last put an end to our most hated enemy'."

John arched an eyebrow. "Sounds like a new campaign against the Skrulls; we can't get involved in that."

"I said the same to Councillor Wazzo, but she was adamantly of the opinion that Ronan was not referring to the Skrulls." Krallen replied. "She went on to say that Ronan was following a power-signature; one that suggested trans-light-speed travel."

"'Trans-Warp'??" John exclaimed. "The Skrulls aren't even close to developing that! Neither are the Kree, or anyone else, for that matter!"

Guardian Krallen's expression turned grave, and John knew he was about to drop his bomb...and boy, was he right. "The Councillor had a detailed analysis of the signature done; the power-signature is half-Kryptonian – a conclusion that I and the other Guardians agree with."

John's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "What?!" he exclaimed. "But Krypton exploded, thirty years ago! There were no survivors!"

"Apparently, that is not the case." Krallen replied. "There must have been a survivor...and the Kree have found out about it."

John's expression hardened. "Where?"

"On your birth-world, Earth." Krallen said. "Earth and its solar system are part of the Neutral Planets Treaty...though I am certain that fact is of little concern to Ronan; we both know of his family's personal vendetta against Krypton. Your orders, Lantern Stewart, are to head to Earth, and find the survivor of Krypton before the Kree do. I will contact the Councillor; she will send a contingent to support you – knowing her, she will likely come, herself . I need not tell you of the significance of this discovery; Krypton's people were one of the greatest civilizations in the known cosmos – it would be a tragedy if that survivor were lost."

"Understood, Guardian Krallen. I'm on my way." John replied. "Lantern Stewart out." With that, John switched off his communicator.

Earth was only a few hours away...but his ring didn't have enough energy to get him there, let alone take on the Kree; he had to recharge, first.

His brow furrowing, John scanned the endless black horizon, before he spotted a planet nearby...with pockets of oxygen in its upper atmosphere. Quickly, John flew towards it, entering the atmosphere, before touching down on a mountaintop, within one of those precious pockets, and lowered his field.

John winced as soon as the air filled his nostrils; the air was damn pungent, but it was breathable. Luckily, he wouldn't be here long. Concentrating, he held his ring-bearing hand into the air, and began to speak the Lantern's Oath:

"In brightest day, in blackest night,

no evil shall escape my sight.

Let all who worship evil's might

beware my power...Green Lantern's light!"

As he spoke the oath that every Lantern had taken, his ring started to glow, as his words caused it to access the sub-dimensional link to his Power-Lantern, which drew energy directly from Oa's Lantern Core, fueling his powers. Instantly, a beam of green energy shone from the emerald-colored, glowing torch into his ring, refueling it in seconds.

John smiled to himself as he raised his field, again, before rising out of the atmosphere, into space, and flying off towards Earth, considerably faster than he had flown before.

He had a mission to carry out.

Kent Farm, Smallville

Shortly after lunch, Clark had gone back out into the field, to start ploughing. He had hoped that the work would keep his mind off of things...but his thoughts just kept drifting.

"I'm not sick...I'm dying..."

Dying.

Ma was dying.

Clark could only grimace to himself as that terribly familiar, heart-wrenching helplessness filled him. It had been six years since he'd felt that...six years since his Pa had...

Suddenly, the familiar beeping of his belt-computer shook him out of his grim thoughts. Quickly, Clark took it out, and opened it.

His eyes went wide as he saw what the Fortress' sensors were picking up.

At once, Clark darted away from the plough, before zipping by his Ma as she was preparing the seed for planting. "I'm sorry, Ma, but I've got to go!" he called back. "It's an emergency!!"

"Okay, Clark!" his Ma called after him. "I'll be fine!"

But Clark was already in the house, donning his uniform at incredible speeds, even for him. His change complete, Superman darted out of the house and took to the air, flying across the planet at top speed, flying high into the atmosphere...where his eyes confirmed what the Fortress had detected.

There, in the very edges of the atmosphere, was a fairly small, gleaming metal sphere, with numerous metal instruments jutting from its surface...both for the purposes of scanning...and combat.

A Kree Sentry.

It was so small, the Fortress hadn't been able to detect it until it was this close, not with all the background cosmic radiation. From a distance, the Sentry could only perform the most basic of surface scans; it was possible that it hadn't detected him yet...

Suddenly, the Sentry turned towards him, firing a high-powered laser. Superman easily evaded it, as his eyes glowed blazing red, before his eye-rays lanced towards the Sentry, piercing its transmitter, hopefully before it had a chance to broadcast to any nearby Kree vessels...

Instantly, the Sentry dropped like a stone, falling towards the Earth, but Superman quickly caught it. As he lifted it up to his face, he managed to catch a quick glimpse of its screen before it went dead. The message was in Kree, but he easily understood it.

Kryptonian engaged...commence with operation.

Superman's eyes widened. 'The Kree know about me??' he thought, with dawning horror. 'But...why haven't they..?'

Just then, his belt-computer beeped again, and Superman checked it. The Fortress was now detecting two Kree Ral-Mahk Fighters entering Earth atmosphere over the Fortress...

...heading for the Institute!!!

This had just been a diversion!!!

Horror gripping his heart even tighter, Superman turned and flew for the Institute with all that he had, hoping against hope that he wasn't too late...

Xavier Institute, a few minutes earlier

In her room, Alison, after changing back to her regular clothes, had sat down on her bed, her pencil and paper in hand, and had started to work on the new song she was planning to sing on her upcoming concert, next month. At the foot of her bed, Krypto sat by her feet; earlier today, while she and Clark had been helping in Vietnam during the earthquake, Krypto had been escorting a plane carrying relief supplies through a tropical storm.

Alison sighed to herself, as she absently nibbled on the end of her pencil, trying to overcome the intense bout of songwriter's block she was having...the one that was only worsened by the fact that this concert would be the biggest one of her life...

'Okay, I'm only psyching myself out.' Alison thought. She glanced at the lyrics that she had come up with so far...outlined by several Kryptonian characters at the edges of the paper. Alison smiled to herself; when exams had finished, Clark had taken it upon himself to start to teach her the Kryptonian language, to Alison's delight. So far, it had been hard going, since Kryptonian was governed by an entirely different set of rules than English – or any other Earth-based language – but she was starting to grasp a few of its rules.

After a few minutes, Alison checked her watch. 'It's time, already? Darn...' she thought, as she got up to change. Today, they were doing an outdoor field-skills drill, since it was a fairly nice day. Within minutes, she had donned her uniform and had headed out of her room, letting Krypto snooze.

As she walked down the corridor, she spotted Mark heading back to his own room, and she smiled. "Hey, Mark." she greeted.

"Greetings, Alison." Mark replied.

Alison chuckled. "No offence, Mark, but you need to update your language program."

Mark blinked. "My wireless system has already provided me with the most up-to-date encyclopedia programs."

"That wasn't what I meant, Mark." Alison said, smiling. "It isn't what you say, it's just...the way you talk."

"My choice of words is selected for clear and efficient communication." Mark reasoned. "I was unaware that it presented a problem..."

"It's not a problem!" Alison said quickly. "We don't have any problem with the way you talk, Mark. It's just that...if you want to attend school, this coming year, you might want to re-evaluate your choice of words. Almost nobody talks like you do."

Mark blinked, and then nodded. "Understood."

Alison smiled. "So, what are you up to?"

Mark smiled. "I have recently come to understand part of the mechanism of telepathy from my discussions with Professor Xavier; it appears that telepathy is merely the reading of electrical activity in the brain, and the translation of that activity into recognizable form." he answered. "My sensors are capable of scanning brain activity; therefore, if I can develop an algorithm that successfully and consistently translates scanned electrical impulses into comprehensible language, it is possible to duplicate the telepathic phenomenon."

Alison smiled. "A mind-reading machine, huh, Mark?" she asked. "Well, good luck with that!"

"Thank you." Mark replied. "Good luck with your training session."

"Thanks!" Alison said, before she headed outside, as Mark proceeded to his room.

As Alison stepped outside, she found the rest of the X-Men, as well as Logan and Ororo, already there, in uniform. "You're late, Diva." Wolverine said.

Power Girl smiled. "Sorry. I just bumped into Mark, for a minute."

"So, what's on the schedule for today?" Shadowcat inquired.

Suddenly, before anyone could answer, Power Girl's eyes widened, as her hearing started picking up a sound...a sound unlike any she had heard, before...

Jean noticed her expression. "What's wrong?"

Before Power Girl could reply, two large aircraft darted into the sky above the Institute, moving so fast as to seem that they had come from nowhere. They were larger than fighter jets, made of blue-black metal, with two large, curved-back wings, a single fin extending back over the single exhaust, and tapering to a point at the front, with various markings along their hulls...

...markings that no human hand had ever made.

As the two alien craft hovered overhead, one emitted a single beam of white light, aiming it down...at Shadowcat; the instant the beam touched her, she vanished.

"KITTY!!!" Avalanche cried.

The other ship emitted a similar beam on the Institute itself, while the first ship began to aim its beam towards the rest of them. "Scatter!!" Cyclops ordered, and the entire team split up, but the beam was too fast; in seconds, it had touched every single one of the X-Men, including Storm and Wolverine, until only Power Girl remained. Power Girl tried to fly above the two ships, out of reach of their beams...but she simply wasn't fast enough; the beam shone on her...and then...

...blackout.

By the time Superman had reached the Institute, the two Kree Fighters had already reached it, and were using their teleporter beams to abduct his friends...and Ali...

Superman's eyes narrowed in sheer, righteous fury, as he flew at the Fighters, full speed.

By then, Krypto had emerged from the Institute, realizing that something was wrong. He snarled at the two Fighters, and flew at them, teeth bared...only to smack into their shields with a yelp, sending him falling, to land on the ground, dazed, but unhurt.

As the Fighters' teleporter beams shut off, Superman flew at one Fighter and slammed it with a punch, sending it flying to the side, taking a considerable chunk out of its shield-strength. By then, both Fighters had had enough, and took off, into the sky, making for open space. Superman flew after them, at top speed; in the atmosphere, he was faster – if he overtook them before they broke orbit, he had a chance.

Superman closed on the Fighters as he chased them into the stratosphere, firing his eye-rays at both ships, trying to slow them down. He could see their shields start to buckle; a few more seconds, and he'd break them, and then he could force them to land...

They were just breaking orbit, now. The Fighters' shields were starting to buckle, growing thinner, unable to repel the constant stream of nova-hot energy from his eyes...

...and then, the Fighters' engines flared to life, as space rippled around them, before they seemingly winked away.

Step-through. They were gone.

Superman nearly let out a cry of despair. He'd failed them. If he'd just gotten there, sooner...he just wasn't fast enough...

...but the Argo was.

Superman instantly put his despair aside, as he scanned the horizon...and found an ion-trail. His eye-rays must have just started to get through the Fighters' shields; he must have hit one – not enough to stop it, but enough to leave a trail that the Argo could follow.

'Hang on, guys...' Superman thought, '...I'm coming for you.' With that, he flew back down towards Earth, to quickly check on the Institute, before heading to the Fortress.

Had he stayed a second longer, he might have noticed a green light on the horizon, steadily growing closer.

When Superman reached the Institute, he smiled as he saw the New Mutants emerge from the building; he must have interrupted the Fighters before they could start abducting the New Mutants. As he touched down, the New Mutants gathered around him. "Clark, what's going on?" Bobby asked.

"What the heck were those...those things?!" Ray exclaimed.

Mark's eyes narrowed worriedly. "My brief sensor scans indicate that they were Kree Ral-Mahk Fighter-craft."

Superman nodded. "They were."

Jamie looked ready to cry. "D-Did...did those ships...take everyone?!"

"I'm afraid so, Jamie." Superman replied. "That's why I'm going after them."

"Not alone!" Jubilee declared.

Roberto nodded. "We're with you, Big Blue! Let's stick it to those..!"

"No." Superman said firmly. "Absolutely not. The Kree are completely ruthless; I will not put all of you in this much danger. From what I can tell, it's me they're really after."

"But...why??" Amara asked.

"No time to explain." Superman said. "I want all of you to get back inside and head to the Danger Room; if the Kree come back, their scanners shouldn't detect you that far underground." He turned to Mark. "Mark, your database should contain schematics on Kree technology; I want you to work on jamming their scanners, in case they do come back."

Mark nodded. "Affirmative."

Superman then knelt to Krypto. "Krypto, I want you to stay here, with the others." he said. Krypto started to whine. "I know, boy, I know, but I need you here, in case the Kree come back – I need you to help protect them." Krypto let out a little whine, before giving Superman's face a quick lick, indicating that he understood.

Superman then stood up. "I'll be back as soon as I can...with the others." he said.

Bobby nodded. "Good luck." he said.

"Thanks." Superman replied, and with that, he flew off, heading north, towards the Fortress.

Superman's thoughts were grim as he flew; chances were, the Kree were expecting him to follow, and had likely taken his friends to a system without a yellow sun. His expression became firm.

He'd lost his Pa.

He was going to lose his Ma.

But he'd be damned before he lost the rest of his family.

He would not fail again, yellow sun or not.

Suddenly, his belt-computer began to beep, and he quickly checked it; the Fortress was showing four bio-signs approaching it.

His eyes narrowed; apparently, the Kree Fighters had left a few visitors behind.

Well, that was fine with him.

Within minutes, Superman had reached the Fortress; as he'd expected, his sanctuary had automatically raised its defense-shield...and the four Kree soldiers, in full armor, were blasting it with their laser-rifles, to no avail.

His eyes narrowed in fury, Superman dove at the attacking Kree, tackling one Kree at Mach Three as he decelerated, sending him flying to slam into the shield, out cold. Kree were, physically, stronger and more durable than humans were...which meant that he could smack these bullies around a bit.

Turning, the remaining Kree snarled at him, and started to open fire; Superman shrugged off their shots easily, before he zipped over to two of the Kree, grabbed their weapons, and bent them in half. He then grabbed the two soldiers, lifted them up with barely any effort, and tossed them into the third, knocking all three out.

Turning, Superman spotted the first Kree, as he got up, holding a disc-like device: an explosive. "Kryptonian scum!!!" he snarled, in the Kree language. "We came here to seize this crystal monstrosity...but now we'll destroy it, along with any last trace of your filthy..!"

But he was cut off, as a green beam of energy lanced down from the sky, engulfing the Kree and making him drop the explosive...as a tall, well-built, African-American man, a few years older than he was, clad in a black-and-green bodysuit, descended from the clouds, his body surrounded by a green glow.

'A Green Lantern Corpsman...' Superman thought. For a moment, he wondered why the Fortress hadn't detected him...and then he remembered: Krypton and the Corps had always been on friendly terms, in the past. The Fortress only alerted him of danger; it would have recognized the Corpsman's power-signature, and promptly dismissed it. It made sense that this Lantern was here; Earth was part of the Neutral Planets Treaty, which the Corps enforced.

"Kree soldiers," the Green Lantern said, in Kree, "you are all under arrest for the violation of Section Fifteen of the Neutral Planets Treaty." And with that, he slammed the soldier against the frozen ice, knocking him out, before tossing him with the others, and then taking a small, electronic disc from his arm-band, and tossing it at the Kree; instantly, the disc expanded into an energy-dome, containing the Kree soldiers.

While the Lantern worked, Superman darted to the dropped explosive, and disarmed it. He then took a closer look at it. "A Kuramach High Explosive." he said. He chuckled. "It just might have damaged the Fortress...5000 years ago."

The Green Lantern smiled. "Good to hear." he said. He chuckled. "A real, live Kryptonian...as I live and breathe!"

Superman grinned. "The rumors of our extinction were slightly exaggerated." He frowned. "Only slightly."

The Lantern nodded, and then extended his hand. "John Stewart."

"Kal-El." Superman replied. He lightly chuckled. "Although, most call me 'Superman,' these days."

Green Lantern arched an eyebrow. "I'm guessing there's a story, here." he said. "Jesus, you step off of Earth for a couple of years, the whole planet goes nuts."

"I'm sure you have catching up to do," Superman quipped, "but I'm afraid I don't have time to help."

"Neither do I." Green Lantern said, his tone serious, as well. "I'm here on behalf of the Galactic Confederacy, to offer you citizenship with the Confederacy, as well as protection from the Kree Empire."

"A generous offer," Superman admitted, "but I can't accept." His tone turned grave. "Regardless, the Kree have captured several of my friends, and I intend to rescue them."

John's eyes widened, and then narrowed. "I figured that bastard Ronan was up to something...should've known he wouldn't fight you near a yellow sun."

"Ronan?"

"The Empire's current Supreme Public Accuser." John explained. "Bastard's got a real hate for you Kryptonians...especially your family, since his family had led basically every raid to try and take Krypton..."

"...and always got decimated by the Sentrius Battlestation." Superman finished.

"Bingo." Green Lantern replied. "The Guardians intercepted a transmission he sent; we can tell that he'll be heading for the Kren-Ziar System."

"One of the Empire's most heavily defended territories." Superman replied. He remembered that much from his studies on the Kree during his years in the Fortress; the planets in that system were rich in mineral deposits, and the Kree had enslaved the entire indigenous population to work their mines.

His fury only grew at that thought.

"Confederacy ships will be in this system within a few hours." John said. "We can help you get your friends back..."

"We can't wait that long." Superman said.

"Look, even a big Kree ship won't be able to step-through again until it recharges for several hours. Your friends aren't going anywhere." John said. "I'll contact the Guardians, and we can coordinate..."

"Kren-Ziar is only fifteen minutes away by Trans-Warp."

John's eyes widened. "You...you guys have Trans-Warp?"

"It's how I was planning on going after them."

John chuckled. "Well, that system doesn't have a yellow sun; be an awful shame if you got yourself killed...especially while I'm supposed to watch your back." he said. "Need any backup?"

Superman smiled. "I suppose having a Lantern around might come in handy." he quipped. "Why not?" With that, he tapped his belt-computer, shutting off the Fortress' shield, before walking to the door and opening the lock, allowing himself and Green Lantern to step through.

As they stepped inside the Fortress, John whistled. "No matter how much you hear about something, seeing it for real always gets you."

"Fortress: initiate navigational assist program: Vehicle Bay." Superman instructed. At once, a glowing path became illuminated down one corridor. "That path will take you to my ship, the Argo. I'll follow shortly." Green Lantern nodded, and headed down the path.

Alone, Superman said aloud, "Fortress: bring up all data regarding the Solara Project." Instantly, a holographic computer screen popped up in front of him, displaying the information.

In the Kren-Ziar System, he would have been at a disadvantage...but recalling it from his studies had made him think of something else...one of his family's old research projects...

After he had finished reading, Superman nodded to himself. "Fortress," he instructed, "based on Solara Project data, construct one single-use Solara Cell, ten percent charge."

Within minutes, the Fortress had assembled the Cell, as well as a case to carry it in. Superman promptly took the rectangular, hand-sized case, and clipped it to his belt, before heading to the Vehicle Bay.

Soon, he had reached the Bay, where Green Lantern was standing next to the Argo, scanning it with his arm-band. John grinned as Superman walked in. "Nice little rig you've got here!" he exclaimed. "Most ships this class would have a little trouble taking on a Kree Cruiser...but with the stuff you've loaded on here, this baby could probably take on at least half of the entire Kree fleet!"

Superman smiled. "Hey, she might not look like much, but she's got it where it counts!" he joked. His smile became a bit forced. "Even though I've finished installing the Trans-Warp Drive...I haven't tested it, yet."

"No time like the present."

"True." Superman agreed. "Well, let's go!" With that, he tapped his belt-computer, activating the Argo's teleportation system, 'porting them both inside.

Within the ship's cockpit, Superman sat at the pilot seat, while John sat at the co-pilot's seat, as the ship automatically strapped them in. Superman quickly tapped a few keys, and the Argo whirred to life, extending its engine-pods. After typing a few more commands, the Bay's doors opened, and the Argo flew out, heading straight up, out into space.

Once they had cleared Earth's atmosphere, Superman took a deep breath. "Okay...here we go..." he warned. With that, he began tapping keys, bringing the Trans-Warp Drive online, and entering the calculations for a Trans-Warp burn to the Kren-Ziar System.

Outside, two pylons began to extend behind the Argo, extending back from its engine-pods. Seconds later, two graceful short wings extended out from the pods. The Argo was ready for Trans-Warp.

Inside the ship, Superman had finished the calculations; he needed only to enter them. He took a deep breath. 'So long, Kansas...' he thought, as he and John braced themselves...as he entered the commands.

Outside, the Argo's engines flared to life, as the ship streaked away into space, at speeds hundreds of times the speed of light.

When Power Girl came to, the first thing she noticed was that she had a monster headache. Slowly, she stood up, and looked around; she was standing in the middle of a spotlight, the entire surrounding area completely dark...and the rest of the X-Men, plus Wolverine, Storm, Beast, and even Professor Xavier, were lying in the spotlighted circle, out cold...with strange-looking metal collars around their necks...

...like the one around hers.

"Guys?" Power Girl asked, as she quickly shook the others, waking them.

"Ugh...what happened?" Cyclops muttered.

"The last thing I remember...was those ships over us..." Jean murmured.

"Merde...either Remy needs t' stop eatin' dose triple-spicy tacos," Gambit said, "or we jus' been abduct'd by aliens."

"And what is with these collars?" Shadowcat exclaimed.

"I don't know," Power Girl said, her eyes narrowing, "but they're coming off!" With that, she grabbed hers and pulled...

...but the collar refused to budge. Power Girl pulled with every ounce of strength she had – zip. Taking a deep breath, she reached to her belt, and switched on her music, to form a cutting beam on her fingertip...but nothing happened.

A horrifying realization came over her. "Scott," Power Girl said, "take off your visor."

Slowly, Cyclops did so, keeping his eyes closed...and then slowly opening them; no deadly red rays emerged. "What..?"

"These collars," Professor Xavier said, pulling himself back into his wheelchair, "are suppressing our mutant powers."

Cyclops then turned to Jean...and smiled, as he took in all her technicolor glory. "Hey, right now, I'm not complaining." At that, Jean lightly blushed.

"But vat's going on? Vhy are ve here?" Nightcrawler asked.

Hank nodded. "As much as I can appreciate the advanced science behind these devices," he mused, "I'm also curious as to the extent to which they suppress our mutations. Kurt's mutation, as well as mine, also affect our appearances, yet we are, physically, unchanged."

"Simple-minded Earthling."

At that deep voice, the entire group turned, to see a very tall, powerfully built humanoid being, clad in dark green robes, with only his human-like face visible...revealing his light-blue skin and his glowing blue eyes. In his hand was a large, mallet-like metal staff.

"Our Power-Suppression Collars only suppress your active mutant-related abilities." the massive alien said, his voice laced with condescension. "Your appearances were affected by your mutations long ago."

"Who are you?" Cyclops asked, putting his visor back on. "And where are we?"

The alien chuckled, and simply tapped his staff to the ground; instantly, the entire area lit up. They were in the middle of a massive amphitheater, with the seats filled to the brim with blue-skinned aliens, with white hair, clad in variations of blue robes, seemingly everyday citizens, all shouting at them angrily, and a thick dome above them, with star-filled space beyond it.

"Amazing..." Beast murmured. "This place...it is incredibly reminiscent of the Circus of ancient Imperial Rome..."

"It is good that you appreciate it, human," the alien said, "for it is very likely the last thing you will ever see." His eyes narrowed. "I am Ronan, Supreme Public Accuser of the Kree Empire, and this is one of our Colosseum ships, where, among other things...criminals are sentenced."

Power Girl's eyes went wide. A Kree...but then that would mean...

...he knew about Clark!!

"I see." the Professor said calmly. "You say you are an Accuser...are you part of the...Kree Empire's legal system?"

Ronan chuckled mirthlessly. "Human," he said coldly, "I am the Kree legal system." His face twisted in rage, as he pointed his staff at them. "And you – all of you – are here to answer for your crimes against the Kree Empire!!"

"What?!" Avalanche exclaimed.

"Oh, Hell, no!" Rogue shouted. "We didn't do anything wrong, pal! So go find someone else's butt to probe!"

"SILENCE!!!" Ronan roared, as the crowd shouted in support of the Accuser.

Slowly, Beast stepped forward. "Accuser, you say we are here to 'answer for our crimes.'" he said calmly. "What crimes?"

At that, Ronan stopped, raising his hands for silence. "'What crimes'?" he repeated. His eyes narrowed. "What CRIMES?! You are all guilty of one of the most heinous crimes ever committed against the Empire! You gave refuge to one of the Kree people's most hated enemies!! You sheltered a fugitive from Kree law!!"

"What fugitive?" Storm shouted. "There are no fugitives in our home!"

Ronan smirked, as he simply tapped his staff against the ground. Instantly, a holographic screen popped into view above the Colosseum, which began to show a scene that surprised the entire group...

The screen showed the Professor, Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, and Jean, sitting in the Fortress of Solitude, talking with Clark. The Professor smiled, and said, "But the far north isn't much of a home, even with technology as amazing as that of your Fortress. Would you like to join the Institute?"

Clark smiled. "You want me around, even though I'm something of a risk to your secret?"

"Ours is the cause of peace, my Kryptonian friend." Xavier replied. "In time, mutants will be revealed to the public eye...and when that time comes, mutants will need shining examples, both to aspire to, and for the public to see that we are not a threat to them."

The screen promptly dissipated. The Professor was astonished. "How..?"

"Our technology allows us to pluck evidence from your human minds, 'mutant.' You cannot hide from your misdeeds." Ronan sneered. "You are guilty of not one, but two counts of this heinous crime!! The evidence of that stands among you!!!"

"But why?" Shadowcat asked. "Why do you hate Kal's people so much? What did they ever do to you?"

Ronan laughed. "Do you hear, my friends?" he shouted to the crowd. "The Earthling wants to know why!" At that, the crowd erupted in another wave of shouting and curses, until Ronan raised his hand for silence. "Let me tell you all a story, humans; one which every Kree child knows." he growled. "For countless millennia, before your pitiful race could even crawl, our people have fought tooth and nail against the vile Skrulls; it cannot be counted how many of my people fell against those soulless, shape-shifting vermin. But then, just a few millennia ago, my people chanced upon another race, one with technology that could, at long last, make the Skrulls tremble. We rejoiced at the arrival of our saviors, and praised the gods that victory was at hand."

Ronan's face twisted in rage. "But it was not to be, for the Kryptonian race, cowardly and arrogant, refused to fight against the Skrulls; instead, they fled back through their network of World-Gates, locking it behind them, so that we could not use it. My people searched the cosmos high and low, hoping against hope to find them, and beg them to help us. After many years, we at last located the galaxy they called home, and our entire fleet jumped within one galaxy of it; one jump more, and we could plead with them, to end the war forever."

"But, again, we were denied." Ronan growled. "For the crafty Kryptonians had foreseen our actions...and left a massive, crystal monstrosity in that galaxy; a titanic Battlestation – Sentrius, we later learned it was called – designed with only one purpose: to keep us out of their galaxy." His teeth clenched. "And it succeeded...all too well. My people were defenseless against the weapons of that...thing; it kept firing and firing, no matter how many times my people begged for mercy! In less than two minutes, our fleet was decimated; only a handful of ships escaped, and they were fortunate!"

The X-Men were silent for a moment...until Wolverine spoke up. "Buster, you're full of it!" he snapped. "You actually expect us to believe that?!"

"You DARE?!" Ronan roared. "This is the sacred history of the Kree people! The hated Kryptonians cost us victory against the Skrulls! The use of their World-Gates alone would have been a strategic advantage! And then, a scant thirty years ago, word spread that the Kryptonian home-world had been destroyed; every Kree rejoiced at the knowledge that those foul scum had at long last received justice!"

His eyes narrowed. "Until we learned that you were harboring the last survivor of that hated people! Now, you will face Kree justice!" he roared. "And your mutant powers will not avail you!!"

Wolverine snarled. "Well, bub, you're plumb out of luck," he growled, "'cause there ain't nothin' 'mutant' about these!!" And with that, he popped out his claws with a short grunt of pain, as his healing factor could not repair the damage, before he charged at Ronan...

...only to crash into a glowing blue force-field around Ronan.

The Kree Accuser sneered as his weapon crackled with energy. "The Supreme Public Accuser is the embodiment of the Kree state. You may not touch me." He raised his staff.

CRACKLE-ZAP!!!

A blast of blue-white energy shot from Ronan's staff, sending a slightly singed Wolverine flying back towards the rest of them.

"It is sacrilege." Ronan finished. "For such an act of contempt, I should destroy you all...but it will never be said that Kree justice is unfair." At that, the crowd erupted in cheers, which, of course, Ronan ate up. "The evidence will be heard, and the sentence delivered, as it has been done for countless centuries." Ronan then slammed his staff against the ground. "Let the trail begin!!"

"Kree justice? Unfair?" Rogue muttered sarcastically. "Nevah!"

"Logan, are you alright?" the Professor asked.

"Ugh...yeah, I'm fine." Wolverine grumbled, sitting up. "Bastard just got a lucky shot in..."

"Why do I get the feeling that we aren't going to get a fair trial, 'Kree justice,' or not?" Cyclops muttered.

Power Girl nodded in agreement. Things did not look good...

Kren-Ziar System, Deep Space

At the very edges of the Kree-controlled Kren-Ziar System, all was quiet. Nothing was happening to alert the Kree Sentries that patrolled the system...

Suddenly, space seemed to ripple, as the Argo emerged from Trans-Warp, flying into the System, its pylons and wings retracting, as its Trans-Warp Drive started to power-down.

Inside the cockpit, Superman breathed a sigh of relief. 'Thank God that Jor-El left detailed notes.' he thought.

"Well, that was a rush." Green Lantern quipped.

Superman chuckled. "It's good to know I didn't do too bad of a job of installing the Trans-Warp Drive."

Green Lantern frowned, as he checked his arm-band. "Looks like Ronan isn't wasting time."

Superman nodded, frowning as the Argo's sensors picked up the galaxy-wide transmission coming from within this system; Ronan was broadcasting this 'trial' to the entire Kree Empire. "His Colosseum-ship is in orbit around Ziar IV."

Green Lantern nodded. "We'll have to get around that mine-field." he agreed. The Kree had built a field of spatial mines around Ziar IV, the largest and richest mineral-deposit in the system, to ensure that, if all else failed, that their slaves on the planet could not flee. The mines couldn't really harm the Argo – especially with Superman's recent enhancements – but triggering one could alert Ronan, prompting him to flee, or worse...

"I'm also getting two Kree Sentries ahead of us; we'll be in their sensor-range in three minutes." Superman said. "Argo: deploy cloaking field."

Outside, the Argo began to fade, as it raised its cloaking field, disappearing completely, both to the naked eye, and to any sensors.

Inside, seconds after raising the field, a beeping came from the control console. Superman checked it...and frowned. "The Trans-Warp Drive is having trouble cooling down; I was afraid of that. It's not a major problem...but it means that the Sentries might detect us through the cloak."

"We'll have to power-down a few other systems, to make up the difference." Green Lantern said.

"I agree," Superman replied, "but the systems we don't need won't cut our power-signature down enough, and the ones that might do the job are ones that we do..." But he suddenly paused. "Hang on...if we instruct the engines to conduct a ten second burst at maximum burn, we can cut the engines entirely and let momentum carry us in! That should drop our power-signature enough!"

"And the burst will draw the Sentries to our present location...and ignore us as we slip by! Brilliant!" Green Lantern exclaimed. "Well, what are we waiting for?" Superman nodded, as he began to enter the commands into the console.

Outside, within the cloaking field, the Argo's engines flared to life, engaging a short burst at its top speed...before powering down completely, its engine-pods retracting. Ahead, the two Kree Sentries perked up, and flew towards the Argo...

...before passing the cloaked ship by completely, ignoring the lowered energy-signature, dismissing it as background radiation, in favor of the energy spike a few clicks ahead.

Once the Argo was out of the Sentries' sensor-range, its engine-pods extended, its engines powering up, as it continued further into the system.

After a few minutes of travel, the Argo's radar-screen began to beep. "I've got Ronan's ship on radar." Superman reported. He looked closer...and frowned. "And I've got the mine field on radar, too. Those mines are packed pretty close together, and they look like they're pressure-sensitive; if they get too close, they might bump against the Argo's shields, and detonate, tipping Ronan off."

Green Lantern smiled. "Leave that to me." he said, powering up, a green glow surrounding him. "I'll just use my power-ring to nudge some of those mines out of our way; I'll just need to keep back, so they don't detect me."

"I think I've got that covered." Superman said. "I should be able to re-route the cloaking system through the shield-generator, and use it to project the cloaking field with a wider radius; as long as you stay within the field, the mines won't see you."

"Sounds like a plan." Green Lantern agreed. "Let's do it."

Outside, the Argo slowed considerably, before the slight ripple of its cloaking field expanded to a much wider radius around the ship. Seconds later, the Argo's teleporter deposited Green Lantern outside, within the field, just as the ship was approaching the vast field of spherical, spiked spatial mines. Taking aim, Green Lantern fired an energy beam, engulfing one mine, and guiding it away from the Argo, getting it out of the ship's path. As two more mines glided close, Green Lantern nudged them away, before pushing away several mines that were getting close to the ship's port side. Finally, as they neared the end of the mine field, only three mines were blocking their path. With one last push, Green Lantern guided them clear, as the Argo cleared the field.

As Superman 'ported Green Lantern back inside, he said, "It's smooth sailing, now." His eyes narrowed as he increased speed. "Looks like we aren't a moment too soon; Ronan looks like he's about to pass sentence." He smiled as he saw his friends stall the Kree Accuser. 'Hang on, guys...we're almost there...'

"So, how are you feeling?" Green Lantern asked.

Superman frowned. "I've been better." Ever since arriving in the system, he'd keenly felt the absence of a yellow sun. So far, his powers were running on the 'reserve' solar energy his body was storing; he was going strong, since he wasn't using his powers, keeping energy consumption low. He wouldn't run into trouble until he actually faced Ronan. He hoped he had enough power, but he did have an ace in the hole.

He only hoped it was enough...

"We've no time to lose." Superman said, as he punched up a maximum burn, heading towards Ronan's ship. He had to be in time. He had to be. Otherwise...

There was no otherwise.

Kree Colosseum Ship

For the past fifteen or twenty minutes, Ronan had been yanking memories from their heads, presenting them as 'evidence' to their 'crime,' Cyclops thought angrily. 'Some trial this is.'

"You see, my friends?" Ronan declared, as the latest 'evidence' vanished. "For the past two years, these humans not only gave refuge to the Kryptonian, they actually accepted him as part of their family, knowing full well what he was! They actually made use of his perverse power, even granted him a position of leadership!" At that, the crowd booed, and cursed at the X-Men...while Ronan looked to a device on his belt, before quickly putting it back.

"I don't get it." Shadowcat whispered. "It sounds like this jerk's already made up his mind; what's he waiting for?"

"Probably whatever he's checking that gizmo for." Spyke muttered. "That's probably the fifth time he's done that."

"Accuser Ronan," the Professor said calmly, "you stand ready to condemn us, yet you have not heard our side of the story. How can we possibly defend ourselves against your accusations..?"

"There IS no defense!!" Ronan roared. "You humans condemned yourselves the very second that you welcomed the Kryptonian into your home!!!"

"Then why are we even here?!!" Cyclops shouted.

"SILENCE!!!"

"No, Accuser!" Cyclops yelled back. "This isn't a trial! It's nothing but a farce! You'd made up your mind before we'd even gotten here! Why bother with this stupid kangaroo-court?!"

"How DARE you?!!" Ronan roared. "You dare mock the Kree legal system; the system which has brought order to the Empire before your pitiful race could even speak?! If you speak one more time, human..!"

"You don't care."

The X-Men all turned to Power Girl, who had just spoken. Ronan's face twisted in rage. "You WILL be silent, Kryptonian FILTH!!!!"

Power Girl completely ignored him. "You don't care at all what happens to us!" she accused. "We're just bait! You're really after Kal! That's why you captured us! You knew you couldn't beat him on Earth, so you took us to make him come after you!"

The crowd went silent at that revelation. "Oh, and for the record, Ronan, your story's a little off." Power Girl continued. "Our people didn't find just you; they just happened into a battle between you guys and the Skrulls! And the reason we didn't help you was because we were trying to bring a peaceful end to your war, one that would have been good for both sides, but you wouldn't listen!! We locked out the Gates so that neither of you could use them to conquer and enslave even more of the universe! Oh, and one last thing: both you and the Skrulls came after our people, not to 'beg,' but to do to us what you'd done to so many other worlds! We just defended ourselves, Ronan! So the next time you decide to get all high-and-mighty...get your facts straight!!!"

At those revelations, the crowd began to murmur, considering them. It sounded like the exact details of the Empire's defeat at Krypton's hands hadn't been made public, Cyclops thought. "Quiet, all of you!" Ronan ordered the crowd. "Don't listen; it's nothing but Kryptonian lies!!"

Ronan glared at Power Girl. "So...that insufferable cleverness exists in even diluted blood." he sneered. "But you're wrong, filth; while I do hope for the Kryptonian to come after you...you are all guilty of crimes against the Empire, and you will be judged! Your sentence will serve as an example to all who oppose the Kree Empire!" He raised his staff. "The evidence has been heard! Now the accused will face sentence!" He pointed his staff at them. "For the crime of harboring fugitives from Kree law...I find the accused..!"

Suddenly, a bright beam of blue light shone through the dome above, between Ronan and the X-Men...depositing Superman and a black-and-green-clad, African-American man there.

Superman glared at Ronan. "I declare this trial invalid, Accuser!!" he yelled.

The crowd gasped as Ronan's eyes widened in surprise...and then narrowed. "You DARE?!!" he bellowed. "YOU?! A filthy Kryptonian?! You dare to interfere in the hallowed duties of the Supreme Public Accuser?!!"

"You're not much of one to talk about 'interfering,' Ronan!" Superman's comrade declared. "Do you have any idea of how many parts of the Neutral Planets Treaty you violated?! When this gets back to Oa – and believe me, it will – I guarantee that the Guardians will ream you out something fierce!!"

"Be silent, Green Lantern! You have no authority, here!" Ronan bellowed. "This is Kree business, and you will not..!"

"Your business is with ME, Kree!!" Superman roared, stepping forward. "But let's talk about your 'business,' shall we? Did you tell them that they had the right to representation? Did you tell them that they had the right to two witnesses for their defense?! Did you even tell them that they had the right to have this trial conducted on their home planet?!"

Ronan snarled.

"Uh, no!" Shadowcat exclaimed.

"Ah don't recall bein' told anything." Rogue said. "You guys?"

"Nope." Avalanche said.

"Nor do I." Beast said.

"We were told nothing." Storm agreed.

"Thought so." Superman said. "Well, Accuser, there are two explanations: either you willfully refused to inform them of their legal rights...or you're massively incompetent."

"You dare mock me?!" Ronan exploded. "I am the greatest Accuser in the Empire's history!!"

"So it was willful, then." Superman said. "I wonder what your Supreme Intelligence would think of that."

"Good question." Green Lantern said. "You want to tell him?"

"That depends on the good Accuser." Superman replied. He walked up to Ronan, looking him right in the eye. "If you have business with me, Kree, then take it up with me, and leave my friends out of it, you coward."

Ronan looked ready to explode, but he remained calm. "If you wish to stand trial," he snarled, "then I will gladly judge you!!" He smiled cruelly, and shouted, "Let the trial of the Kryptonian..!"

"I'll save you the trouble, Ronan!" Superman declared. "Am I a Kryptonian? Am I the sole survivor of Krypton? Am I descended from the family that supervised the construction of the Sentrius Battlestation?"

His eyes narrowed. "Yes."

Ronan's eyes widened in surprise...and then he smiled with wicked glee. "You all heard him!!" he shouted to the crowd. "There's no need for trial! GUILTY BY HIS OWN ADMISSION!!!"

"Exactly, Accuser." Superman said. "And, as such, I claim the right of Appeal by Combat."

Ronan's smirk instantly vanished. "You...you cannot!" he stammered. "You have no right..!"

"Kree Imperial Year 567,843." Superman quoted. "On that date, in this very system, a non-Kree citizen accused of a crime, upon admission of his guilt, was granted the right to an Appeal, with the motion being seconded by an impartial third party."

"The Green Lantern Corps have always stayed neutral in your affairs, Accuser; sounds like I fit the bill." Green Lantern said. "I second the motion."

At that, Ronan was shocked to silence...and then his teeth gritted. "If you are so eager to die...far be it from me to stand in your way!" he sneered. He pointed to the other end of the arena, where the X-Men were, as a rack filled with weapons rose out of the ground. "Choose your weapon, filth," he sneered, "and pray to whatever gods your kind pray to that they shall have mercy on your soul, for I will NOT!!"

Superman refused to respond; he simply turned, and walked towards the weapons-rack, followed by Green Lantern. "You sure you're up to this?" Green Lantern asked.

"I have to be." Superman answered.

Cyclops felt sick to his stomach as he saw their teammate calmly walk to the weapons rack, and take a pair of slim, slightly curved swords, briefly spin them to check their balance, and nod to himself. "Kal, what are you doing?" Cyclops asked.

"You don't have to do this!" Jean added.

"Yes. I do." Superman replied.

"But...but without yellow sunlight, you don't have a chance!" Shadowcat cried.

"I have a bit of power left over; hopefully, it's enough."

"Kal...there must be another way..." Beast said.

"There isn't." Superman said firmly. "I'm not letting you all die; not for me."

"Kal..." Storm began.

"No. He's right." Green Lantern interrupted. "If you all just leave now, Ronan can just bring you all back here, only he won't make the same mistakes as before. If Superman wins this, the 'charges' are permanently dropped."

As Superman passed by, Power Girl stopped him. "Tausha...are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Superman smiled, and gently glided his finger along her cheek. "I'm sure, taushi. I'll be fine."

Power Girl smiled. "Okay." she replied. "Go get him."

Superman smiled, and with that, he turned, and headed back out to face Ronan, alone. As their friend, went Cyclops could only hope that he knew what he was doing...

As he walked back out into the arena, the twin swords resting against his arms, Superman calmed his mind, focusing on the task at hand.

As he looked ahead, he noticed that Ronan, as he'd expected, had kept his Universal Weapon; currently, the Kree Accuser was waving to the cheering crowd, expecting an easy victory.

'Hate to disappoint you, pal.' Superman thought. He'd meant what he'd said; his friends were not going to die for him.

Still, he was going to have to be careful, to use his remaining power wisely. He still had the Solara Cell, but he had to keep that until he absolutely needed it.

Once he'd finished playing to the crowd, Ronan turned to glare at Superman. "Well, Kryptonian, are you ready to die?!"

Superman matched the Accuser's glare. "I don't know; I wasn't planning on dying, anytime soon."

Ronan's teeth clenched, as he raised his staff high, speaking the words of this ritual: "Let justice be done!!!" And with that, he pointed his Weapon at Superman, firing a blast of blue-white energy at him.

Tapping the absolute tiniest fraction of his remaining energy, Superman darted aside, just barely evading the blast, before recovering, his blades held at the ready, as Ronan charged at him, head-on. Superman held his ground, and blocked Ronan's staff high, forcing Ronan to move past him, so that he would be in range for close combat, where Ronan couldn't use his Universal Weapon as effectively...a tactic that the Accuser had anticipated; Ronan unleashed a savage knee-kick to Superman's abdomen, sending him flying...but Superman did a mid-air flip, landing on his feet a few meters away.

Superman lightly winced; that knee-kick had smarted. Shaking it off, Superman assumed the fighting-stance of the graceful ataru Kryptonian fighting style, which he had studied in the Fortress, a style reminiscent of the ancient samurai of earth. As Ronan came at him again, Superman blocked high, and then forced Ronan's staff low along the ground, so that he was on the opposite side of Ronan, where his kicks couldn't reach without him shifting his balance. As Ronan tried to pull back, to get Superman into his attack-range, Superman saw his chance; he released the block, and stepped forward, not letting Ronan get any distance between them, before he flipped his hands around, and slammed his clenched fists into Ronan's gut, tapping the tiniest fraction of his strength.

That hit knocked Ronan off-balance, causing him to stumble. Superman moved his right leg behind Ronan's, and struck with his right heel, hitting the inside of Ronan's right knee; Ronan cried out in pain as Superman's hit forced his knee to bend, causing him to start falling. Superman then whirled the motion into a step behind the Accuser, striking him straight between the shoulder blades with his right elbow, sending him falling face-down in the dirt.

Roaring in fury, Ronan got back on his feet and blasted Superman with his Weapon, sending him flying, to land hard on the ground, but Superman promptly did a hand-spring, easily recovering. He'd have a nasty bruise on his chest, until he got some sunlight...

Roaring again, Ronan slammed his staff into the ground, sending a ripple through the ground towards him. As the mini-quake came at him, Superman did a short somersault, leaping over it, and landing on his feet; he was starting to get low – he couldn't keep this up too much longer. Just then, Ronan closed on him, unleashing a vertical smash, which Superman just barely had time to block, though he couldn't push Ronan away...not without completely depleting his reserves...

"Interesting little yarn you told about our peoples' history," Superman muttered, "but I think you left out a few of the details."

Ronan grinned savagely. "You're right, filth; I did leave something out." he sneered. "I left out the fact that it was my family that always led the charge against that monstrosity! Your people, your very family destroyed my honor...and today, on this glorious day...we will at long last be avenged!!"

And he punctuated the sentence by head-butting Superman mercilessly, knocking him back a few feet, before charging at him. With all the strength he could afford, Superman knocking Ronan's staff to the side with a quick block, before turning his blades to slash Ronan's side as the Accuser rushed past. Ronan howled in pain, as blue blood dripped from the tips of Superman's swords. Before Ronan could recover, Superman quickly turned and slammed Ronan with a kick, knocking him back a good twenty feet.

A bead of sweat dripped from Superman's forehead. He was starting to run low; he had to end this now. Then, as Ronan roared in rage, and came at him again...he got an idea.

Superman concentrated, watching his foe's charge carefully, trying to guess where Ronan's center of gravity was; if he had it too low, this technique wouldn't work. He watched Ronan's charge, as the large Kree grew closer...and then, Superman was fully in the moment.

He held his blades in front of him, and was perfectly still, perfectly fluid, completely ready...and then, as Ronan was less than a meter away, Superman crouched low, evading Ronan's attack, before he slammed his fists, as well as the pommels of his blades, right into Ronan's gut, with as much strength as possible.

Ronan wheezed at the strike, stopping dead in his tracks, stumbling back.

This was his chance.

Before Ronan could recover, Superman darted towards him, and leapt with a fraction of his remaining energy, somersaulting directly over Ronan. As he flipped, Superman brought his two swords together, to slash Ronan's shoulder as he passed over the Accuser, before landing behind him.

Ronan snarled as he turned, ready to attack...but stopped as one of Superman's blades rested against his throat, right above his jugular vein. Superman needed only to flick his wrist to send Ronan's head rolling across the floor.

Superman's eyes narrowed, as he breathed slowly, with exertion, his energy nearly gone. To his surprise, he heard the crowd actually cheering, applauding the skill of his technique, but right now, all he cared about was ending this. "Yield." he ordered.

Ronan's expression was one of utter incredulity; he couldn't believe that he'd been beaten, or that his own people were cheering for his enemy. His expression twisted. "NEVER!!" he roared, and he promptly tapped a button on his staff.

Instantly, four panels in the arena wall opened, releasing four blue-maned, lion-like beasts, which instantly began to circle Superman, while Ronan backed away. The nearest beast roared, before swiping at Superman, who darted aside, before pausing to catch his breath...where a second tackled into him, sending him flying. As Superman fell to the ground, a third beast leapt at him, pinning him, and trying to bite him; Superman managed to keep the beast back with his blades, before he got his foot on the beast's belly, and kicked it away, slamming it against the wall, dazing it. As a winded Superman got to his feet, the remaining beasts started to close on him. Superman tapped the energy that he had left, inhaled, and blew; his gale-breath was only half as strong as normal, but it was more than enough to send the beasts flying, stunning them.

Before Superman could turn, a blast from Ronan's Universal Weapon sent him sprawling, to land hard on his back, his swords clattering away. "What's wrong, Kryptonian?" Ronan sneered, as he stalked towards Superman. "No yellow sun to hide behind?" He stood over the fallen Superman. "Your kind got what they deserved." he spat. "And now...KRYPTON ENDS HERE!!!" And with that, he raised his Weapon, and brought it down...

...and with the very last ounce of his strength, Superman caught the crackling Weapon just below its head, inches from his face. He knew he was too weak to push Ronan back.

And so he didn't try.

With his last energy, Superman pulled the surprised Ronan in, making the Accuser lose his balance, where Superman put his foot on Ronan's stomach...and rolled back, throwing Ronan across the arena, to land ingloriously on his face thirty feet away.

"That's always been your people's problem, Ronan." Superman panted, as he struggled to his feet. "All you can see is the obvious. Even back before your Empire started, you had that problem. Did you ever wonder why the Skrulls chose to trade with that other species on your birth-planet? The Cotati?" His eyes narrowed. "No. All you cared about was the easy way; you killed the Cotati and took the Skrull technology for yourselves. Your entire Empire is just based on Skrull tech; nothing of the Kree Empire came from yourselves. That's why we defeated you; that's why you haven't advanced any in the past few millennia; that's why your people, your Empire are utterly stagnant: you have no imagination."

Superman grinned. "I knew you would try to lure me away from the yellow sun, Ronan," he added, as he took out the spherical, white crystalline Solara Cell, "so I decided to bring the sun with me!" And with that, he pressed his thumb to the Cell, expanding it, and clipping it over his belt...where it began to glow a bright yellow.

Ronan's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. 'WHAT?!"

"Yellow sunlight, Accuser." Superman said, smiling as he felt the light energize him, his exhaustion vanishing, his minor wounds instantly starting to heal, and his power returning. "It's a little something we came up with, a few centuries ago, with a little imagination. You know, if you Kree had just been willing to develop in your own time, you could have really made something of yourselves." He sighed. "But now...now it's just too late for you."

Ronan snarled. "No, Kryptonian FILTH!!!" he roared. "It's too late for YOU!!!!" With that, he raised his Weapon to fire...

In less than a second, Superman had closed on Ronan, grabbed the handle of his staff, and slammed the arrogant Accuser with a punch, sending him flying, and leaving the Weapon in Superman's hand. "Brother, you'd think you Kree would have at least thought to encode your technology!" Superman quipped. "If you had, I wouldn't be able to do this!" At that, he tapped a key on the staff, and tapped it to the ground, before throwing the Weapon away, where it struck the wall, sticking into the stone.

Instantly, the Power Suppression Collars around his friends' necks popped right off.

Wolverine grinned. "Well, whaddya know! Flyboy had this thing in the bag, the whole time!"

Superman smiled. "Sorry if I worried you."

Cyclops grinned, as he and the rest of the X-Men walked over. "No problem, Big Blue."

By then, the four beasts had recovered, and had started to circle them. "Why don't we save the thank-you's until after we get out of here?" Green Lantern suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Superman agreed.

"I agree." Professor Xavier said.

"Cool by us." Cyclops added. With that, the entire group assumed a circle formation, ready for the beasts' charges.

As one beast leapt at Professor Xavier, sensing an easy target, Jean promptly raised a TK-barrier, knocking it back, where Avalanche knocked it into the air with a tremor, letting it plummet back to the ground with a thud. As the groggy animal tried to recover, Shadowcat promptly phased its feet into the ground, trapping it.

Roaring, Wolverine charged at the second beast, driving it back with swipes from his claws, distracting it enough for Hank to tackle it, knocking it to the side. As the feral animal tried to recover, Rogue tried to drain it with a touch, but its fur was too thick to get through. Before the creature could attack her, Storm swept Rogue safely to the side with a gust of wind, before unleashing a lightning bolt, shocking it into unconsciousness.

The third beast pounced on Spyke, who instantly generated a coating of spikes, driving the beast back, where Cyclops slammed it with an optic-blast. As the beast recovered, Green Lantern pinned it with a beam from his power-ring, giving Gambit the chance to charge a handful of cards, and hand them to Nightcrawler, who 'ported over to the beast, placing the cards around it, and 'porting away. The beast stopped snarling, and let out a soft whine...seconds before the cards detonated, sending the unconscious, slightly singed animal flying.

As the last beast pounced at them, Power Girl switched on her music, and knocked it back with a hand-laser, as Superman darted behind the beast, grabbed its tail, and spun it around and around, before letting it go, to slam into the wall.

"ENOUGH!!"

Superman and the others turned to see the enraged Ronan, holding his Weapon. "You – all of you – are enemies of the Kree people, and you will be judged!!!" And with that, he fired a blast from his Weapon, but Superman and the others promptly dodged it, as the blast struck the walls of the arena...causing them to crumble, as the damage traveled all the way up to the benches. The Kree audience fled in terror from the collapsing area...all but one little Kree girl, who was crying her eyes out in utter terror, as two Kree adults, a man and a woman – presumably her parents – ran towards her, trying to reach her...but they weren't going to make it...

Superman's eyes narrowed in determination, as he darted towards the collapsing section at full speed, reaching it just as it started to collapse...

As the dust settled, the X-Men and Green Lantern were silent, as they saw no-one there, amongst the rubble. The Kree parents noticed this, as well; the mother started to sob, burying her face in her hands, as the father simply held his wife...

Suddenly, the rubble started to shake, as Superman pushed one massive block of stone aside, standing up, before he lifted the little Kree child out of the rubble, and set her down on the ground, where she hurried over to her parents. The crisis averted, Superman turned back to the arena...and glared at Ronan.

In a fraction of a second, Superman flew at the Kree Accuser, and sent him sprawling with a single punch, before picking up his two swords. As Ronan tried to get up, reaching for his weapon, Superman closed on him and kicked it away, before crossing the two blades to form an 'X' shape, with Ronan's neck in the upper 'crook' of the X.

Ronan scowled. "Well, filth...go on! Finish it!"

Superman's eyes narrowed. "For what you've done...and what you would have done...I should just rid the universe of you, here and now!!" He pulled his arms back for the strike...

Ronan shut his eyes tight.

SHING!!!

Ronan opened his eyes.

Superman hadn't even touched Ronan; he had thrown the two blades wide, burying them in the ground at his sides. Superman then grabbed Ronan by the collar, lifting him up. "Surprised? Don't be, Ronan." he said coldly. "Because you aren't worth it. I am nothing like you, and I never will be. I came here to get my family back...and that's what I intend to do."

His eyes narrowed, before starting to glow red. "But I don't ever want to see your face ever again, Accuser." he snarled. "Because if I ever see you again – if you even come near any one of my friends – I'll come back here...and I won't be as nice as I was, today." And with that, he tossed Ronan onto his rear, before turning, and walking back to the others, just as his Solara Cell ran out of power, turning black.

Ronan scowled, struggling to his feet, as he grasped his Weapon. "You think this is over?!" he roared. "Do you think you can just leave?! I am the embodiment of the Kree Empire, and I will not..!"

"HOLD!!!"

Ronan froze in utter terror, as a massive, holographic green head appeared behind him. It was the Kree Supreme Intelligence, the massive organic computer, linked to the greatest Kree minds, which ruled the entire Empire. "You forget yourself, Accuser." the Supreme Intelligence said coldly. "This Appeal has been won; the Kryptonian and his companions may go free."

"But...b-but Supreme One!" Ronan protested. "These humans...these X-Men have insulted me! They harbored the Kryptonian! They are enemies of the Empire!" He pointed to Superman. "And him! His kind deserve nothing but death!"

"His kind have already received death, Accuser." the Intelligence replied. "Our quarrels with Krypton should have ended when their planet did."

"Supreme One, you cannot be serious!" Ronan cried. "For what he has done..!"

"What has he done, Accuser? This Appeal was decided before it even began; the Kryptonian's technology could have let him ANNIHILATE you at any moment, yet he spared your life...TWICE, if I am not mistaken. Furthermore, he saved the life of a Kree citizen." the Intelligence countered. "Accuser...these are NOT the actions of an enemy."

Ronan face twisted. "But Supreme One..."

"What is even more disturbing," the Intelligence continued, "is that you have displayed behavior unbecoming the Supreme Public Accuser...so much so that disciplinary action is needed. For now, you will return to your ship."

At that, Ronan began to vanish; the Intelligence was teleporting him away. "NO!! You cannot do this..!!" he yelled...and then he was gone.

"Green Lantern Corpsman John Stewart." the Intelligence said. "Return to Oa, with the Empire's apologies to the Guardians. This 'trial' should never have taken place."

At that, Green Lantern bowed. "Thank you, Supreme Intelligence."

"X-Men of Earth." the Intelligence added. "Return home, also with our apologies; today, there has been a gross miscarriage of Kree justice, one that never should have involved you."

Professor Xavier lightly bowed. "We will, Supreme Intelligence. Thank you."

The Intelligence seemed to turn to Superman. "Child of Krypton...what is your name?"

"I am Kal-El, son of Jor-El and Lara, born from the House of Lo to the House of El." Superman answered, using his full, formal name.

"On this day, Kal-El of Krypton, you are cleared of all charges the Kree held against you and your people." the Intelligence said. "However, whether or not you pose a threat to the Empire remains to be seen; much uncertainty lies with your presence...yet such thoughts are best left for another day. For now, Last Son of Krypton...go in peace."

Superman bowed in response...and then paused. "There is one other thing I must say, Supreme Intelligence." For peace's sake...he had to at least try...

The Intelligence sounded surprised. "Your charges have been absolved. What more could you need to say?"

"It has nothing to do with your quarrel with my people, Supreme One," Superman said, "but with your quarrel with the Skrulls."

"Oh?"

"Supreme One, you and the Skrulls have been fighting for the past countless eons." Superman continued. "But do any of your people remember why?"

The crowd lightly murmured at that.

"Supreme One, this war has gone on for so long, ultimately, it does not matter why; whatever your initial grievances were with each other, you have both paid for them countless times over in the blood of your people."

"Furthermore, Supreme One, how many of your people have died in this war?" Superman asked. "How many of the Skrulls have died, for that matter?"

The Intelligence was silent for a moment. "They cannot be counted."

"Supreme Intelligence, one of my people's deepest beliefs was that every life – be it Kryptonian, human, Kree, Skrull, or otherwise – is precious, unique, fragile...and irreplaceable." Superman said. "Supreme One, for the sake of your people, if none other, I implore you...no, I beg you...let this war end. Talk to the Skrulls; surely, they are just as weary of it as you. No victory you gain could possibly be worth the price you have paid."

The Intelligence paused, considering Superman's words, before speaking. "Your argument is both wise and moving, Kal-El of Krypton; for that, the Empire is grateful." The Intelligence's eyes lightly narrowed. "However, the hard truth remains that, even if we were willing to lay down our arms, there is no guarantee that the Skrulls would do the same. Indeed, if we attempted to make peace, they would surely see it as weakness; they would play along, while secretly planning to attack. They are shape-shifters; duplicity is as natural to them as breathing. We are truly sorry, Kal-El...but the Empire cannot lay down its arms."

Sighing sadly, Superman bowed. "I understand, Supreme One." With that, the holographic image of the Supreme Intelligence vanished.

"Well, this sure has been an interestin' day." Wolverine said, retracting his claws.

"Yeah," Cyclops agreed, "but why don't we just get out of here...before the Big Giant Head there decides to change his mind."

Superman smiled. "I guess we have worn out our welcome." he said, and he tapped a button on his belt-computer; instantly, the Argo de-cloaked just outside the dome, as its teleporter beam shone down through the glass. Slowly, each of his friends began to step into the beam, letting the ship 'port them away.

"Bye!"

Superman heard that call just as he was about to board the Argo, and he turned, mildly surprised. There, on the edge of the bench-area, was the little Kree girl he'd saved, smiling and waving at him, while her parents stood behind her, lightly smiling.

Superman smiled back, and waved, before he stepped into the beam, following his friends back to the Argo.

After a brief but humiliating reprimand, the Supreme Intelligence 'ported Ronan back to his own battleship, leaving Ronan to seethe. As he walked to the view-screen, his rage only grew as he saw the Kryptonian's tiny ship – a fly compared to his own – start to fly away from the Colosseum-ship, towards the edge of the galaxy...where his ship was...

Ronan smiled slyly to himself; he knew for a fact that two Cruisers from his family's personal fleet were patrolling the system adjacent to this one. If he contacted them, they could arrive in minutes, once the Colosseum-ship moved out of range. The Supreme Intelligence was blinded by logic; it could never understand how necessary the Kryptonian's death was.

Once it left, he could simply say that the Kryptonian's ship had suddenly exploded, despite his efforts. No-one would be the wiser, not with three ships loyal to him...

"Contact the Veramach and the Wrialak!" Ronan thundered. "Tell them to jump to our coordinates!"

"My Lord??" the comms. Officer asked.

"Just do it!!" Ronan bellowed. To the rest of the crew, he ordered. "As soon as the Colosseum leaves, deploy Fighter squadrons and man battle-stations!"

The tactical officer walked up to him. "My Lord...I must inform you..."

Ronan glared at him. "Where do you stand, Officer?"

The officer met his gaze solemnly. "I stand with you, my Lord; we all do." he said. "But it is my duty to point out that the Kryptonian vessel is of the same class that our forces and the Skrulls encountered, 500 years ago..."

"Your point is noted." Ronan said. His expression hardened. "And ignored. You will carry out my orders, Lieutenant."

As the officer saluted and hurried away, Ronan glared out through the view-screen. 'You will not get away...not this time...'

As the Colosseum-ship turned and jumped away, the Argo flew off in the other direction, as Superman piloted it towards the edge of the Kren-Ziar System, where he could calculate Earth's location, and initiate Trans-Warp, to take them home.

"As much as I wasn't fussy about that Ronan guy just yanking us off of Earth, like that," Spyke said, "watching Big Blue beat the snot out of him was priceless!"

"Well, yeah," Shadowcat agreed, "but...God, Kal! Did you have to cut things so close??"

"Sorry about that, guys," Superman replied, "but if I'd used the Solara Cell any earlier, Ronan might have just taken you guys and fled."

Storm blinked. "The...what?"

"Yeah, you kinda lost us there, big guy." Avalanche said.

"Join the club." Green Lantern agreed, chuckling.

Superman chuckled. "The Solara Cell; basically, it's a miniature star." he explained. "It's one of the technologies that came out of the Solara Project, led by my grandfather, Saer-El. Initially, the Solara Project was intended to reignite Krypton's sun, should the time come for it to start to die out. After a few years of research, however, Saer-El abandoned the Project."

"Why?" Jean asked.

"Reigniting the sun meant that it would become yellow, again...giving my people back their powers." Superman said. "Saer-El feared that the return of our powers could bring back the terrible wars that were all too common before the Council of Twelve; he felt it was better for our people not to tempt ourselves with too much power. The Council agreed, and the Project was abandoned, and its resulting technologies kept under safe guard by my family."

Power Girl lightly giggled. "Our people certainly were full of surprises, weren't they?"

"I'll say!" Nightcrawler exclaimed. "Zhose moves...vat vere zhey?"

Superman smiled. "It was the ataru style of swordsmanship, one of my people's fighting styles...and a personal favorite of my ancient ancestor, Von-El."

"Hang on." Wolverine said. "Wasn't he one of those Twelve Wise Guys?"

"That he was." Superman agreed. "But before that, he was the greatest warrior Krypton had ever seen, as well as a leader of great courage, and greater integrity."

Rogue chuckled. "Sounds lahke yer a regular chip off the old block, Wonder-Boy!"

Superman grinned. "Thanks!"

The Professor smiled. "I must say, this ship is quite a smooth ride." he said.

"I agree." Hank added. "It's amazing that a 500-year-old vessel as this is still cutting-edge!"

The Professor turned to Green Lantern. "We should also thank you, Green Lantern, for assisting us." he said, and he extended his hand.

Green Lantern smiled. "My friends call me John." he replied, and he shook it. "Once we arrive in Earth's system, we just need to touch base with the Guardians and the Confederacy's Head Councillor."

"Now that is something we can look forward to!" Hank exclaimed. "Who is this Councillor?"

"Winema Wazzo, Head Councillor of the Galactic Confederacy." Green Lantern explained. "She's from the planet Bgztl, one of the founding planets of the Confederacy. Bgztl exists in the 4th dimension, as well as the three that all other planets exist in; as a result, its people have several unique abilities...including intangibility. She was the one who alerted the Lantern Corps to Ronan's scheme."

Shadowcat brightened. "You mean there's a whole planet of people with powers like mine?" she exclaimed. "Awesome!"

"Soun's like dis Councillor lady be a whole lot nicer den de good 'ccuser Ronan was." Gambit said.

"Councillor Wazzo's one of the better leaders the Confederacy's had in the last little while." Green Lantern agreed. "She's always taken a firm stand against the Kree and Skrull Empires; both races hate her."

Superman chuckled. "I look forward to meeting her."

Suddenly, the Argo's radar screen started to beep, as three red blips appeared on it. "Uh-oh." Superman muttered. "I'm picking up three Heavy Cruisers on an intercept course; they're between us and the system's edge."

Green Lantern's eyes narrowed. "I knew that bastard wouldn't give up that easily." he muttered.

Just then, dozens of smaller red blips appeared. "They're launching fighters!" Superman exclaimed.

"What do we do?!" Shadowcat cried.

Superman's eyes narrowed in determination; truthfully, he'd been half-expecting the Accuser to try a dirty trick like this, as well. 'I hate being right.' "Argo: deploy armor!" he ordered. "Arm Disruptor and Positron Cannons!"

"You'll need backup, out there." Green Lantern said, as he powered up. "I'll see if I can keep a few of those Fighters off your back!" Superman nodded, before 'porting Green Lantern outside.

If Ronan wanted to play rough...well, that was just fine with him.

Outside, Green Lantern raised a full protective barrier around himself, as the Argo's shields seemed to solidify to an almost metallic state, before condensing around the ship, altering its appearance; the off-white hull turned a bright shiny silver color, as its stern became sleeker, its engine-pods gaining forward-curving spikes, as its weaponry extended out from inside the ship, and its bow more tapered.

As one fighter closed on it and fired, the Argo easily darted out of the way, as Green Lantern fired an energy-beam at the fighter, piercing its engines, rendering it powerless. The Argo gracefully turned, settling into attack position, before firing several electrostatic blasts from its Polaron Disruptor; the blasts exploded in powerful, wide-field bursts of blue-white energy, utterly devastating a dozen Kree fighters, turning them into nothing but paperweights.

By then, the fighters had opened fire on the Argo, but the ship's new armor easily shrugged off the lasers without even a dent. Taking aim, Green Lantern unleashed a green energy-wave, sweeping all the fighters away.

Aboard the lead Kree Cruiser, Ronan snarled in fury as his forces were being obliterated. "All Cruisers, open fire!!! Bring them down!!!"

At that command, all three Heavy Cruisers opened fire with their massive laser cannons, before launching numerous missiles, of equally massive size.

The Argo' armor easily repelled the lasers, and Green Lantern concentrated, strengthening his shield enough to repel the shots...though he knew he would have a hard time with those missiles...

Inside the Argo, Superman quickly brought up the ship's Countermeasures screen, and selected Radar Ghosts. Instantly, the Argo hacked into the missiles' guidance system, and made it look like there were enemy ships all around them; the missiles promptly adjusted their target-locks, veering away, to detonate harmlessly.

Superman's eyes narrowed. Enough was enough; it was time to end this.

And he knew just how to do it.

The Argo flew right at the Kree Cruisers, its armor shrugging off their lasers, while Green Lantern's beams destroyed their missiles. Once he was in range, Superman brought up the Argo's automatic sensor-sweep of the vessels, targeted their shields' weak spots...and fired.

The Argo's twin Positron Cannons fired several potent bursts of short-range, high-powered energy at each Kree Cruiser; aboard the lead Cruiser, the bridge shook with each impact.

"Shields down to 70 percent, Lord Accuser!" one officer cried. Another impact shook the bridge...and then another. "40...no, 10 percent!! My Lord, we can't take much more!!"

"What weaponry is that Kryptonian using?!" Ronan roared.

"He appears to be firing anti-electron bursts at us, my Lord; they're disrupting our shields at the subatomic level!!" one officer cried.

Another explosion shook the bridge, sending sparks flying. "Shields are DOWN, my Lord!! We're defenseless!!!"

"Fire everything we have!!" Ronan bellowed. "We can still..!"

"My Lord, it's too late!!" an officer cried. "He's going to fire!!"

Inside the Argo, Superman locked onto Ronan's ship. "Arm one Viral Torpedo." he ordered. In seconds, it was ready, and he fired.

Outside, the Argo launched a single spherical torpedo at the exposed lead Cruiser...where it attached to the ship's hull for but a moment...and then detonated, doing minimal damage.

Aboard the Cruiser, Ronan blinked...and laughed. "That's IT?!" he crowed. "Ready a full spread, men! It's time to..!"

But he stopped, as the lights on the bridge began to blink, the screens flickering, becoming corrupted with meaningless bits of data. "WHAT?!" Ronan roared.

"My Lord, that torpedo was carrying a virus! It's infecting the entire ship!" one officer cried. "Every system we have is going down!! It's even cracking into our comms systems, and transmitting itself to the other ships!!"

"Engage redundant systems!" Ronan ordered.

"We can't, my Lord! This virus is spreading into the redundant systems faster than we can engage them! It's a MONSTER, my Lord! Our ships are dead!"

At that, Ronan was shocked to incredulous silence...before he roared in sheer, undiluted rage, terrifying the bridge officers, as they worked frantically, trying to repair their dying vessel.

Outside, the Argo glided away from the dying Kree Cruisers, slowing to teleport Green Lantern back inside, before lowering its armor, powering down its weapons. Inside, Superman let out a tired sigh, as he looked upon Ronan's vessel. It was over.

"Whoa, Big Blue! You guys really stuck it to Ronan!" Spyke exclaimed. "This ship rocks!"

Superman chuckled. "We aim to please." he quipped. "Hang on, guys; we're going home." With that, he started to power up the Trans-Warp Drive, calculating the burn home.

Outside, the Argo extended its wings and pylons, before streaking away at trans-light-speed, heading for Earth.

Aboard his crippled Cruiser, Ronan watched through the main view-screen – the one that was barely working – as the Kryptonian craft streaked away at trans-light speeds...something he had previously dismissed as impossible.

"M-My Lord?" one officer murmured. "A-All systems are down, Lord Accuser; we did manage to activate the emergency beacon...b-but we have no idea if any friendly vessel heard it..."

Ronan ignored him.

"T-There is a bit of g-good news, my Lord; it seems that the virus ignored the escape pods, so we could evacuate before our air runs out!" the officer added.

Ronan nodded absently, but otherwise ignored him.

His mind was elsewhere.

He would not let this insult stand.

He would hunt the Kryptonian down...and destroy him.

Along with his friends...and the world that had harbored him.

His eyes narrowed in hate as he stared after the ship.

'So help me gods, Kryptonian...I will see you DEAD.'

Within fifteen minutes, the Argo had arrived in Earth's system, to Charles' amazement, before dropping out of Trans-Warp, causing Charles and the other X-Men to feel a considerable jolt.

"Sorry." Superman said, smiling sheepishly. "I forgot to warn you: Trans-Warp has a mean kick at the end."

"No kidding." Wolverine quipped.

Then, a long, sleek, silvery spaceship, with a central, rotating ring, came into view, flanked by several smaller ships. "Councillor Wazzo's ship." Green Lantern said.

Superman checked the console. "They're guiding us in." he observed, before he piloted the Argo towards the ship, settling it into the larger vessel's docking bay.

As the entire group teleported out of the Argo, a tall, slender, light-skinned woman, with long, dark hair tied up at the back of her head, with dark eyes, clad in a black-and-white robe, was there to greet them. At first glance, she seemed no different than any other human, but her nose was much smaller, with a slightly longer neck, but not too much longer. Charles had to marvel at the similarity between this lady and the human species. She was flanked by a half-dozen of armed soldiers – bodyguards.

"Councillor Wazzo." Green Lantern said, bowing. At that, Superman and the X-Men started to follow his cue...

"Please, don't bow!" the Councillor exclaimed. "I and the rest of the Confederacy are only glad that you all are safe!"

"We are very grateful for your alerting Lantern Stewart to our trouble, Councillor." Charles said. "With his help, Kal was able to rescue us."

Winema nodded, and then frowned. "The Kree Accuser should not have been allowed to come here, in the first place! Rest assured, the Confederacy will be imposing a strict trade embargo on their main shipping lines."

Green Lantern chuckled. "That ought to put a kink in their war-effort." he quipped. "I think Guardian Krallen would get on board with that plan."

Winema nodded, and then turned to Superman, smiling. "I recognize the crest of the House of El...your name is Kal-El?" she asked. Superman smiled back, and nodded. "The Confederacy will be glad to hear that the survivor of Krypton still lives. We are all glad to meet you."

"Thank you, Councillor." Superman replied. His smile became a bit embarrassed. "Lantern Stewart mentioned your generous offer of citizenship; I am flattered by the offer, but I'm afraid that I cannot accept. Earth is my home, and the X-Men are my family; I could never leave them."

Winema's smile became a tiny bit wistful. "Well, I am sorry to hear that, but we will respect your wishes." she said. Her smile grew. "We will gladly take you back to Earth; please, enjoy the trip from the observatory." She gestured to a corridor, and Superman and the X-Men walked away, heading to the observatory.

Only Charles, Wolverine, Storm, Beast, and Green Lantern stayed behind. "Your hospitality is most generous, Councillor...and we have not even been introduced; where are my manners?" Charles chuckled. He extended his hand. "Charles Xavier, Headmaster of the Xavier Institute. I am also a mutant; specifically, a telepath."

"I am Ororo Munroe, one of Charles' instructors." Storm added. "I am also called 'Storm,' as I can manipulate the weather."

"Logan, or 'Wolverine.'" Wolverine said, as he quickly popped out his claws – causing the soldiers to bristle – before retracting them. "It's easy to see why."

"And I am Henry McCoy, but my friends call me Hank." Hank said. "I am also called 'Beast'...the reasoning for which is obvious."

Winema smiled. "I am very pleased to meet you all." she said, shaking Charles' hand. "And I am Winema Wazzo, Galactic Head Councillor, and former Councillor to planet Bgztl." Her smile grew. "And you say you are 'mutants,' was it? Fascinating! It's amazing to actually see a people's evolution in progress, let alone meet it!" At that, she looked embarrassed. "I hope I did not offend you..."

"Not at all." Charles assured her. "I am glad that you are so understanding; I do not believe that some of my fellow Earthlings would feel the same."

Winema nodded, and then turned to Green Lantern. "Oh, Lantern Stewart, Guardian Krallen had asked me to convey your new assignment to you: your orders are to patrol this system – Earth in particular – to ensure that the Kree do not return."

John nodded. "Sounds good to me; I was a little homesick, anyway." he said. "I'll just get going." He turned to Charles and the others. "Take care." he added, before he headed off.

Winema looked sad. "I fear that the Kree's hatred of Kal's people was ultimately my people's fault." she said. "You were likely told how the Kryptonians stumbled into a Kree-Skrull battle...but you were likely not told about the details. You see, the Kryptonians were responding to a distress call from one of my people's trade convoys; they held back both sides, allowing the convoy time to get to the World-Gate and escape."

Storm nodded. "That certainly sounds like what Kal's people would do." she said. "But you shouldn't blame yourself, Councillor; I don't think Kal would."

"Thank you." Winema said. "Regardless, I am glad that Kal was able to avoid that Accuser's wrath."

"As are we, Councillor." Hank agreed.

Winema's expression became wistful. "I...I have always found your world to be beautiful...but, for me, looking at it is a bit bittersweet..." she whispered.

Charles blinked. "Why?"

"Oh, n-nothing..." Winema said.

"No, please, tell us." Storm said.

Winema suppressed a sob. "Seven years ago, my ship was traveling through this system, surveying the system for inclusion in the Neutral Planets Treaty; my ship suffered a core malfunction – most of the crew and I escaped before it blew..." she suppressed another sob, "...but...but the caretaker I had assigned to look after my daughter..." She lowered her gaze.

"Oh, Goddess..." Storm gasped.

Winema suppressed another sob. "My daughter...my little Tinya...she was only seven years old..."

"I am so sorry." Charles said softly. "It must be very hard to lose a child..."

Winema nodded, drying her tears. "Thank you." she whispered. Calming, she added, "Regardless, after this incident, we were considering inviting Earth into the Galactic Confederacy..."

"We are flattered by the idea, Councillor...but doing so now may not be the best time." Charles said. "Our people do not yet know about mutants..."

"...so it would not be prudent to inform them that they are not alone in the universe." Winema finished. "I understand, Charles." She smiled. "I only hope that, in the future, our peoples can coexist."

Charles smiled. "As do I, Councillor. As do I."

The view from the Councillor's ship was breathtaking, Power Girl thought with a smile. The entire solar system was ahead of them, passing by at a leisurely pace, as they watched, alone on the deck. "Wow..." Shadowcat murmured.

"It's beautiful..." Jean murmured, as Cyclops looped a loving arm around her shoulders, hugging her close.

Power Girl smiled at her friends, before glancing to Superman; her boyfriend had held himself apart since coming to the observation deck, looking out silently, his arms folded, his jaw set.

Something was bothering him.

"Clark?" Power Girl called. "What's wrong?"

Superman looked up, startled out of his thoughts, before his expression turned mournful.

The others noticed. "Yeah, CK, what's up?" Spyke added.

Superman looked down, his eyes shut, struggling with something...

"Oh, fer cryin' out loud, Wonder-Boy, spit it out!" Rogue exclaimed.

Superman took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry."

The X-Men all blinked. "Come again, mon ami?" Gambit asked.

"This whole thing – the Kree coming, the trial, everything – it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been there." Superman whispered. "He came after you because of me."

Power Girl shook her head. "Clark..."

"I should have warned you." Superman continued. "I should have told you about my people's history...but I didn't, and you all suffered for it...and I'm sorry." His eyes shut tight, as traces of tears appeared around the edges of his eyes. "Oh, God, I am so, so sorry."

Rogue blinked. "'Sorry'??" she repeated. "Fer what??"

"Because some jerk-off with a hate on your people decided to use us to get to you?" Avalanche added. "How's that your fault??"

"Yeah!" Shadowcat agreed. "Ronan's the bad guy, here, Clark!"

"Besides, you saved us!" Nightcrawler exclaimed.

Cyclops nodded. "We aren't mad, Clark."

"It's not your fault." Jean agreed.

At that, Superman smiled faintly. "Thank you." he whispered. With that, he simply turned back to the window, and most of the X-Men let him alone, letting their friend have his space.

Most of them, anyway.

Power Girl walked to Superman's side, and simply stood next to him, watching the sights with him. She didn't say anything; she knew her beau needed silence, right now.

She also knew that something else was gnawing at him...and it was her job to get to the bottom of it.

Xavier Institute

By the time the Councillor's ship had stopped at Earth, and Superman had dropped his friends off at the Institute with the Argo, before taking the ship back to the Fortress, it was nighttime.

After doing a quick patrol, Superman found that it was a quiet night; nothing was happening. After one last sweep of earth, Superman headed home, touching down on the Institute roof, and sitting down.

He'd saved his friends...but that didn't change the first grim truth.

Ma was going to die...and he just couldn't stop it...

"Hi."

Superman looked up, to see Power Girl, there, in uniform. "Hi." he greeted softly.

"Quiet night." Power Girl commented, sitting down next to him.

"Yeah."

Alison looked at him, lightly smiling. "Clarkie, what's wrong?"

Superman closed his eyes; he just couldn't say it, not even to his taushi – saying it just made it more real.

"Please, talk to me..."

Superman fought tears; he couldn't...

"Okay." Power Girl whispered softly. "I...I won't bother you..." She turned to go...

"Ma's dying."

Alison instantly turned around. "W-What?!"

There. He'd said it. Superman took a deep breath...and told her everything.

When he'd finished, Alison was very close to tears. "Oh, God...Clarkie, I'm so sorry..."

"Van Braun's Syndrome, Ali." Superman muttered. "A disease incurable by human medicine..."

"...but not Kryptonian." Power Girl finished. "Does your Mom know..?"

"I told her...but she doesn't want it." Superman said. "She...she thinks that it's her 'time'..."

Alison looked sad. "Maybe it is..."

"NO, Ali!!" Superman shouted. "The only reason Ma thinks that is because I couldn't save PA!!!"

Alison's eyes went wide. "What did you say?"

Superman's eyes shut tight, as tears started to seep through. "She's dying, Ali...and I can't stop it...just like...just like..."

Power Girl – Alison – took his hands in hers. "Clark...what happened, that day?" she asked.

Superman calmed. "It...it was the last day we really saw each other." he whispered. "Do you remember?"

Alison lightly blushed. "Yeah." she said. "I remember being so scared that you'd see my braces."

Superman chuckled. "I actually thought they were cute." he teased. His expression turned grave. "This is what happened, Ali..."

Smallville, Kansas, July 16, 2002

The Kansas sun was hot above 15-year-old Clark Kent's head, but Clark didn't mind. The fairly tall, lanky youth was clad in his usual white t-shirt, blue jeans, and work boots. After hanging out with Lex, Vic Wally, Arty, and Ollie for a little while, he'd promised his Pa that he'd help in the fields, and he was on his way home.

Clark's expression saddened as he thought about the months ahead. High school would be starting soon. He would have to hide his powers – his 'alienness' – from everyone...including Lana...

'Well, it's not like I had a shot with her, anyway...' Clark thought glumly, as he kept walking. He was never going to meet a girl he could trust with his secret...

"Clark! Hey, Clarkie, wait up!"

Clark smiled to himself as 12-year-old Alison Blaire ran up to him, trying to catch her breath. Alison only came up to his chest-level, her mid-length blond hair in two pigtails, clad in blue shorts and a light rose t-shirt. She as keeping her mouth closed...but his flashes of 'X-Ray' vision told him that she had braces.

"Hey, Ali." Clark greeted.

Alison smiled shyly, lightly blushing. "Watcha doing?"

"Just heading home, to help Pa." Clark replied.

"Oh." Alison said. "But...how come you're sad?"

Clark sighed. Ali might have been younger, but she was no dummy. "High school's starting soon."

"Why are you sad about that?" Alison asked.

Clark sighed; keeping this secret in was going to make him explode. "Ali...I'm not like everyone else."

"I know." Alison said, blushing again. "You're so super-nice..." Then, she quickly covered her mouth, hiding her braces.

"That's not what I mean, Ali." Clark said. "You see..."

Suddenly, Clark froze...as he listened. His eyes widened. "Ali, listen!"

Alison froze. "But...I don't hear anything..."

"LISTEN!" Clark insisted.

Alison looked ready to cry. "Clarkie, you're scaring me!"

But Clark was focused on the sounds in the distance: the screech of tires, the crunch of metal...and the helpless screams of innocent people...

Over the past few months, he'd occasionally heard screams like that, coming from far away; they only lasted a few seconds, but they nearly drove him mad.

He couldn't do anything about those screams...but these were another story.

"Ali, get to my house and call an ambulance! It's only a few minutes away if you run!" Clark instructed. "Tell him there's going to be an accident!!"

"W-What?!" Alison cried. "B-But Clarkie, h-how do you..?"

But Clark didn't answer, as he darted off, running towards the sounds at high speed, trying very hard not to trip or stumble, as he often did at those speeds. Within seconds, he had reached the source of the sound: a flipped, burning car was in the middle of the road. Two of the cars passengers, a man and a woman, were lying in the road, dazed...but their daughter, no older than Ali, was still trapped inside, pounding her tiny fists against the windshield as she screamed, tears running down her face, as flames from inside the car approached her...

Like lightning, Clark darted towards the car, sliding to a stop in front of the windshield. Clark gritted his teeth as he jabbed his fingers into the metal around the windshield, and pulled with all his strength, as he yanked the entire windshield out of its frame, before he scooped the little girl into his arms, turning to zip her to safety...

...and then the car exploded, sending them both sprawling. Clark managed to turn himself, to land on his back, skidding across the gravel; he was fine, though Ma would likely have a fit about his shirt – it took a lot to hurt him – but, more importantly, the little girl was fine. As he stood up, letting her go, the girl rushed to her parents, who embraced her, overjoyed that she was safe.

Clark smiled at the sight. He'd helped them. Then, as he spotted the tell-tale sign of Ali's pigtails peeking over a nearby hill, he chuckled, before looking back to the family. Somehow...seeing that sight...it felt...right, somehow...

Suddenly, another sound filled his ears: a heartbeat.

Pa's heartbeat.

But it was wrong. It was slower, quieter, and then...

Clark's eyes widened in horror. "PA!!!!" he cried, as he darted off, as fast as he possibly could, racing home.

As he hit his current top speed, his feet stumbled, unused to that velocity, and he fell flat on his face. Clark picked himself up, and ran for home, fighting to keep from falling over.

Within minutes, he was home...and he saw his Pa, clutching his chest, start to fall back. "H-Hang on, Pa!!!" Clark cried, as he rounded the bend, skidding, before heading for his Dad, catching him as he fell. "MA!!! Call an ambulance!!!"

Jonathan Kent smiled at his son. "Clark..."

"D-Don't try to talk, Pa..." Clark whimpered, fighting tears.

Jonathan put his wrinkled hand to his son's face. "Clark...you're here for a reason..." he whispered. "I know what it is...I just wish I could tell you before I go..."

"D-Don't talk like that, Pa." Clark sniffled. "You're gonna be fine..."

"Son...you already know what it is..." Jonathan said. "I love you, boy...never forget that..."

By then, the ambulance had arrived, taking his sick Pa to the hospital, as well as Ma, who'd hopped in the ambulance, as well, leaving him to look after the farm. Clark stayed in the house all day, worried to death about his dad. It wasn't until night that the sheriff had driven Ma back home. Clark looked at her as she came in, her eyes red from crying, as she spoke the words that shattered his world.

"Clark...I'm so sorry..."

Bursting into tears, Clark ran out of the house. He ran for the old barn, in the middle of the night, too hurt and angry at the world to care who saw him. He ran inside, and tore open the crate that held the ship. "Why?!" he screamed at it. "Why did you send me here?!!" He got no answer.

Breaking down, he knelt in front of it, weeping into the metal, absently pounding his fist with every word. "Why?! Why?! Why?!" The hull simply absorbed the impact, which could have shattered stone. He simply placed his hand on the hull. "Why..." he whimpered.

Suddenly, the metal felt warm. He looked up, and saw a glowing crest within the metal.

The crest of a stylized 'S', within a diamond.

Then, a hidden panel opened, and two crystals extended out from the ship; one was long, slim, and the other was flat, almost diamond-like. They were for him.

Clark took the crystals, and something just...woke up, within him. He then turned around, heading home.

As Clark got home, he saw that his Ma had been crying more as he walked into the kitchen. "Ma..." he whispered, "...I'm sorry."

Martha Kent blinked. "What?"

Clark started to sniffle. "I'm sorry I couldn't save Pa."

Martha started to tear up again. "Oh, no, no, no..."

Clark broke down. "I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough!!!" he cried, falling to his knees.

Martha was instantly there, holding him close. "You listen to me, right now, Clark Joseph Kent." she sniffled. "It was not your fault, do you hear me, boy? It was just your father's time; we don't know why...but it was." She hugged him closer. "So don't you ever say that again."

Clark just cried, at that, letting his Ma hold him, as they sat there, together.

Tears slowly fell from Superman's eyes as he finished, as Alison dried her own eyes. "I...I do remember seeing you take that fall." she said. "I was so scared...like I was today; I thought I was going to lose you..." She suppressed a sob. "But that's nothing compared to what you went through..."

"He died, Ali." Superman – Clark – sniffed. "He died right there in my arms; he never had a chance; he was DOA." His eyes clenched. "If I'd just gotten there sooner..!"

"Clark...there was nothing you could have done..."

"There should have been!!" Clark cried. "God, what's the point of having all this power if I can't even save my own Dad?! And now it's happening again!! Ma's dying and I just can't stop it!!!"

Alison hugged him close. "Clark...dying is a part of life...and a part of what it means to be human." she cooed. Smiling, she added, "Only one person can save everyone, baby...and I hate to break this to you, but it's not you."

Clark weakly smiled. "I know that."

"People just die, Clark; it's natural – life ends, and starts again." Alison said. "I know it hurts...but it's better than it not hurting when they're gone, right?"

Clark slowly nodded. "Right." he said. "But..."

"But nothing, tausha." Alison cooed, as she hugged him tight. At that, Clark rested his head on her shoulder, and quietly cried. "That's it, baby...let it all out..."

After a few minutes, Clark raised his head, and met his taushi's eyes. "Are you okay, now?" she asked.

"I will be, Ali." Clark said. "But there's something I need to do." He stood up. "Alia...thank you."

Alison smiled. "It's what I'm here for." Smiling back, Clark took off into the sky, heading west.

Within minutes, Clark had reached the Kent Farm...specifically, the lone tombstone overlooking the Farm. "Hi, Dad." Clark whispered. Slowly, he knelt down in front of the grave. "I...I know I haven't been here in a while...and I'm sorry about that."

He took a deep breath. "I know why I'm here, Pa..." he whispered, "...I...I just wish it hadn't taken you dying for me to find out."

He lightly smiled. "I met someone, Pa; you remember little Ali, right?" He chuckled. "Well, she's not so little, anymore!"

His expression saddened. "Dad...for the longest time...I blamed myself for not being able to save you..." he said, "...but you knew I couldn't, didn't you? You knew what I was meant to do...He told you as He took you home, didn't He?"

Clark felt his eyes start to sting. "I miss you, Pa." he said. "I miss you so much." He fought his tears back. "So...do you mind if I just sit and talk to you for a while?"

Clark then looked skyward. "You don't mind...do You?"

The night sky made no objection.

"I'll assume that's a 'no'." Clark said. Then, he sat cross-legged in front of the grave...as he began to talk to his father.

Author's Note: Van Braun's Syndrome, as far as I know, is a disease I made up. If it's a real condition, feel free to tell me.

Also, before anyone asks, yes, this chapter was partially inspired by the episode "Trial by Fire," on the new Fantastic Four show.

Coming Soon:

It's all come down to this…

Magneto's scheming…

Doom's plots…

Graydon Creed's hatred…

And the future fate of the Man of Steel and his friends…

New York's been sitting on a powder-keg…and the fuse has just been lit…

The world is about to change.

Be there for the first part of the Zero Hour trilogy, "Opening Moves," coming to your computer soon…