Just Another Meteor Freak

by jadedbluerose

Clark Kent has seen many strange things in his life; he's an extra terrestrial living in a town of meteor infected humans. But in the aftermath of the second meteor shower he discovers a cousin with his own strange past. What will the Kryptonian do when Danny Fenton arrives, bringing the ghosts of his own mysterious past along with him?

37. Perdition

Chapter 36

Perdition

Disclaimer: I own neither Danny Phantom nor Smallville

Clark growled, throwing an angry fist at one of the crystalline outcrops as the image of planet Earth faded from view. Looking out all he could see was darkness, but he wasn't sure if the darkness came from outside his prison or within. It was like he was trapped in a crystalline gilded cave, long slivers of silvery gemstone jutted out all around him, surrounding him with darkly glimmering light. It was similar in a way to the ice caves he'd seen when he went to the Far Frozen with Danny, but more malevolent in its darkness and jagged edges. Claustrophobic claws of crystal lanced out from the sides of his prison, giving him barely any space to move.

Crowing in frustration Clark took a hesitant step forward, hoping that somehow he could find a way out. He needed to get back, needed to stop Zod. But he didn't even know where he was to get back from. His boot pressed down onto the crystalline floor, and Clark pulled back when he realised there was more give in the floor than he imagined. Cautiously he repeated the motion, touching the toe of his shoe to the strangely mirror like floor.

The surface rippled, emanating out in thickly warping concentric circles that didn't seem to slow. He stepped back, concerned by the unending distortion of the floor so much that his back bumped into one of the crystal protrusions. There was a brief moment where his prison seemed to freeze still, a breathless instant of dread before the whole thing shattered, splintering away into thousands of crystal shards and he was falling down a deep silvery crystal tunnel.

He fell and kept falling, the tunnel around him a seemingly bottomless pit until time itself seemed to lose all meaning. For half a moment he wondered if this was what Alice had felt, falling down the rabbit hole, but then he dismissed it as entirely different. Instead a very different tunnel came to mind, and his earlier parallel suddenly seemed less sedate. Because the feeling twisting in his stomach right now was the same one he'd got the one time Danny had described his portal accident all those months before.

Clark twisted, struggling helplessly against his freefall. But just as he got used to the strange sensation of falling there was a loud roar. Wind surged around him and he felt something sharp biting into his skin. Then there was pain as he was mercilessly thrown into the ground. Clark froze there, red spots dancing on the edge of his vision as he struggled to retain consciousness. Everything ached, his limbs feeling loose and disconnected from each other, his skin feeling raw as he felt something harsh tearing against his skin.

Pained eyes blinked open, and Clark grit his teeth as he struggled to find his feet. There was something missing, and as he absently lifted his hand to wipe across a bloody cracked lip he wondered what it was. Here, where ever here was, he could feel that there was something absent deep inside him. It wasn't something he really noticed before, something he relied on as vital but now was gone. It was a sort of... warmth; something that had surged up three years ago when the sun had had a strange solar flare. When he'd been turned human at the beginning of the year he hadn't noticed it, but now he missed it like air.

Parched lips cracked and coughed as Clark dazedly rubbed his chest, choosing to focus instead on things he could do rather than what was gone. Dazedly he looked at his surroundings, but all he saw was an endless desert of steel grey sand, interjected with harsh jagged black cliffs. It looked barren, completely vacant of anything that could be considered life, and the light bore down so brightly it seemed to drain what little colour there was in the landscape.

"Hello!" He called, projecting his voice as far as he could across the deserted sands. "Is anyone there?" but all he heard was the soft reverberations of his own echo as his voice bounced back off the sand and rocky cliffs.

It seemed like this was all there was, an endless, vacant, desert wasteland. The sky above was a fierce shade of bleach, but there didn't seem to be any source of light, there was no sun burning in the sky, no clouds to cut through the expanse. The sky above him seemed as desolate as the landscape, barren of anything but the biting desert sand that whipped around him. Harsh shards of dust bore into him, leaving his jacket in tatters as the fierce wind and sands cut through the well worn fabric.

Clark let out a deep steadying breath. He had no idea where he was, only that Zod had sent him there. But he had to find some way out of the wind; otherwise the windstorm would cut him to ribbons like it was doing with his jacket. That decided he stood up, deciding to walk up to the cliff face in the hope that the wind would be less intense there. Sand slipped under his feet, and more than once he found he had to stop as the wind threw cutting grey sand up into his eyes.

He made it about halfway towards the cliff face when he paused, frowning as he saw two black spots on the horizon fast approaching just over one of the grey sand dunes. They were coming fast, tearing over the sand hills so quickly that twin wakes of grey pooled out behind them. And Clark didn't know what to think because they seemed to be coming right towards him. He blinked against the desert wind, just a moment too long as suddenly the creatures were upon him.

Clark couldn't see much, only two black shadows that leapt upon him. Then there was a blur, long clawed fingers scratching into him and the flash of sharpened black teeth. The creatures seemed to be enshrouded in draping black rags, halfway between a desert robe and the soft linen used to dress a mummy if it were dyed black. But the creatures attacked him from above, clawing at him from the air as they floated above him, driving him down into the ground.

He struggled back, desperately trying to throw the attacking creatures off. But he was too slow, and dagger like claws tore into his arm, ripping a long gash into his upper arm that was quickly soaked in oozing blood. He bit back a scream as the second creature screeched at him, wolfish teeth glistening black against the harsh brightness of the landscape. Clark bit back his own scream, unable to throw the creatures off as the blood loss got to him. Despite the harshness of this desert environment he felt cold, and blackness encroached along the edge of his vision as he was forcefully sent into the blinding depths of unconsciousness.

Line Break

Danny groaned, coughing painfully as he rolled onto his knees. His chest burned, and as he pressed a hand against his heart he felt a painful throb of weakness surge through him. His hand pulled away, coated in a layer of sticky puss and gooey red that had bled through his shirt. A gasp escaped him as he pulled himself to his feet, and his other hand fell heavily against cold metal as the thing behind him ended up supporting most of his weight.

Every part of him ached, his bones felt like they'd been shaken loose, and aside from his burning chest there was a stabbing throb emanating from one of his thighs. His knee buckled, driving him even further into the metal thing behind him. It took a minute for him to recognise it; it was the crumpled remains of a power transformer from a relay station. Idly he mused that at least that explained the crackling noise of electricity overhead. He creased his eyes, wondering what on Earth had just happened and which ghost he had to blame for feeling like he'd been hit by a train.

Another throb in his chest sent him reeling, crashing back down to his knees as it all came back to him; Lex's abduction, his return, the chaos in Metropolis and Brainiac, the insane look in those brown eyes as he beat him. Danny fought back the urge to vomit as he remembered the feeling of his sword sinking into Brainiac's chest, the resistance as black blood pooled out around his blade and the crazed laughter as Brainiac declared that he'd already lost.

Danny shivered, letting out a shaky breath as his arms curled protectively around him. He felt... fractured. Disassociated. He rolled over, allowing himself a minute to just stare at the stars and wallow in self pity. Time passed, whether it was minutes or hours he didn't know, but eventually the call of the city on his core became obtrusive. He relished in it, letting himself sink into that instinct rather than consciously think of what he was doing.

He morphed into his ghost form, lifting off the ground as his legs twisted into his ghostly tail. It was a relief in a way, his body escaping the pains of his flesh the only way it knew how. He pulled away from the relay station and back towards the centre of the tumult. The din of the city rose around him, and he found himself struggling across the surging masses. There was a pull on his core, somehow surpassing the horror around him and he followed it.

Phantom froze as he released a juddering cough, tasting the acrid taste of ectoplasm in his mouth. Moving through the city was hell, even more so than it had been earlier in the evening. Now he barely had the energy to move, but the riot was still causing as much damage as it had before. And with every second that passed, the sheer agony from failing in his obsession chipped away at what little reserves he had left. His tail disappeared as he was forced to the ground, no longer able to summon the energy to stay in the air.

But he was still moving, still going. And if there was one time he was thankful for only being half-ghost it was now. Sheer human stubbornness kicked in, allowing him to push through the pain and keep going to where the pull on his core was strongest. And even though he knew he was destroying himself by ignoring the other calls to protect; the fact that he was human as well allowed him to ignore it just enough to choose what he was going to direct his obsession towards. It was something that he'd never realised before, a small freedom in his ghost nature that he hadn't expected. But then again he'd never been in a situation so horrendously widespread as this where his core was pulling him in almost every direction.

He rounded a corner into a blocked off street and gasped at what he saw. It was Chloe. Chloe and Lionel Luthor together, slowly being overwhelmed. Phantom felt a wave of panic flutter over him, and forced himself onwards through the crowd. He knew he was being hit, his already battered body meeting more abuse as he pushed through the writhing throng, but eventually he was at Chloe's side.

Chloe panicked for a moment at his touch, throwing a sloppy punch at him which he only barely managed to catch in his near exhausted state. "And here I thought you'd be so happy to see me." He commented, somehow arranging his face into a confident smile.

"Danny!" The blonde shrieked, happily throwing his arms around him. And for a moment Danny just let go, basking in the brilliance of that small wave of pure relief that exuded from her sunlit watery aura.

"We need to get inside." Another voice called, and it took a moment for Phantom to recognise it as Lionel's. He nodded, absently twining his arm protectively around Chloe's waist as he met Lionel in the eyes. He didn't know what he was looking for but there wasn't time. Phantom reached forward and caught the man's wrist just as a man threw what looked like a Molotov cocktail into the crowd. Stretching the limits of his power he teleported all three of them to the top of LuthorCorp Plaza, the clearest image in his head after hearing Lionel's voice.

Phantom shuddered, collapsing heavily against one of the large air vents on the roof. The ring that initiated his transformation formed, but he managed to force it back, if only barely. Green spots danced on the edge of his vision as he looked at his surroundings, realising for the first time that they weren't alone.

"The city's tearing itself apart. All those people, we have to help them." Lana's voice spoke, soft and fearful. From his vantage point he couldn't see her and whomever she was talking to. But that also meant it was unlikely that the three of them had been seen. Lana sounded scared, but with the way his powers were shutting down he could barely feel Chloe's aura right beside him. Even Lionel's was too far and he was barely a yard from him.

"Help them?" A second voice asked, sounding nearly bemused. And it was almost Lex's apart from the inherent wrongness to it. In that one word Phantom heard two voices superimposed over each other, bouncing against each other in a terrible clamour that sent a violent shiver down his spine. Phantom didn't recognise the second layer to the voice, but there was something about it that set every single one of his nerves on high alert.

"With the powers Fine gave you," Lana's voice replied, sounding vaguely astounded. "You could end the riots. You could save everyone, Lex."

"Lex Luthor is dead." The second voice replied, and this time the additional layer came through far more. It had different inflections to Lex, more refined diction. But a cursory glance at Chloe told him that she only heard the malevolent tones coming from Lex's voice. Phantom frowned, suspicion rising uncomfortably in his stomach even as his core screeched in failure.

"My name is Zod." The voice replied, echoing menacingly across the rooftop. And then the two were gone, Zod pulling Lana into his arms and flying away; apparently in full control of all the powers of a true Kryptonian on Earth.

Phantom gasped, his core flaring in agony within the confines of his chest and for a moment the world span around him. He felt gentle arms catch him as he fell backwards, his back slamming heavily into the vent as he tried to steady himself. He heard a male voice speaking, but it was muffled and then it too vanished as his vision faded almost completely.

He was loosely aware of being guided inside, but the next thing he was conscious of was sitting on a leather sofa in a huge office. There was a damp cloth being pressed against his head and he felt rippling concern drifting off from Chloe's familiar aura. She was talking to him, but it took a minute for him to register what she was saying.

"...at happened to you?" Her soft voice asked, laced with concern and underlying fear.

"Brainiac." Phantom wearied, eyes blurring as he tried to focus on her. "Well, Brainiac and everyone... everyone else out there."

"You fought him." Chloe murmured, her green eyes creasing in fear.

Phantom nodded painfully. "Yeah." He murmured. "And beat him, just..." He stopped as his weakened core gave a painful throb and for a moment it felt like he was losing his hold on reality entirely. Apparently the act of essentially killing a man, even if he was just a replicate, was more destructive on his core than he'd imagined. He gasped, struggling to pull himself together as Chloe released a fearful gasp.

"Danny, hold on." She whimpered, clasping his hands almost painfully tightly. "Can you tell me what's happening to you?" She asked.

Phantom let out a strangled gasp, finally finding her eyes again in the dark room. "All ghosts have an... obsession." He said, struggling for breath. "It's what... what defines us. Gives us strength. But it has limits... and being here... the city is kill... destroying me" He didn't know how coherent what he was saying was, all he could see was those two soft green eyes. It helped ease some of the pain in his body, made it easier to ignore.

"I would presume that the websites speculating about your obsession are wrong then." Another voice cut in, Lionel's. Phantom hadn't even realised he was in the room, but it made sense. It clearly wasn't Lex's Plaza office and the only other executive with this sort of office in the building was Lionel.

Phantom let out a scoff that was probably closer to a pained cough. "Pretty much." He said, finally placing Lionel in the room, standing just behind a large desk.

"How is this any different to Pariah Dark?" Chloe interjected, mercifully drawing the conversation away from an uncomfortably private topic. "I mean, the reports said people were scared, but it was nothing like this."

"Fear." Phantom replied almost immediately. "And panic. Back then... everyone knew what they were fighting... came together against the ghosts. But this..." He paused as a wave of pain washed over him. "There's nothing to fight... nothing to run from. So they're scared."

"And with no policing body to enforce the rules the masses descend into chaos." Lionel observed.

"Maybe." Phantom conceded, not really up to getting into a second ethical debate with Lionel on the same day. "But the whole city isn't out there." He commented, rubbing his chest in pain. The burn seemed to have closed over at least, but it was still tender and he was just managing to get his breathing under control. Slowly. "Most people are just waiting inside, riding it out. Not all people are like that."

"So what happens now?" Chloe asked, her hand resting comfortingly on Phantom's arm as she drew their attention back to reality. "That was Zod, wasn't it? On the rooftop?"

"Clark must not have been able to get to Lex in time to stop him." Lionel confirmed.

"Would explain... why Brainiac was laughing at me when I beat him." Phantom mused brokenly, "He knew I'd be too late."

"Zod has taken over Lex." Lionel stated bluntly, and somehow it felt like the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees.

"Clark." Chloe murmured. "You don't think Zod actually..."

"He's alive." Phantom interjected. "I don't know where, but he's alive."

"How do you know?" Chloe demanded.

Phantom shook his head dazedly, the pain in his core mounting with every moment he was stuck here. But he didn't have the strength to go out and fight either, and he knew it. "I just... do." He said. "Probably the same way I was able to find you from half a city away."

"So where... what happened?" Chloe asked, her voice bordering desperation.

"It's the dagger." Lionel commented. "The dagger that Jor-El gave to Clark..." He paused significantly before pressing on. "It might still be there at the farm. We can use that to stop Zod."

"You mean kill him?" Chloe demanded turning her full attention to Lionel. "Kill Lex?" Phantom's core gave another agonising throb and he lost coherency once more. He let out a shaky breath, feeling strangely like he was evaporating away into nothing. But it only lasted a moment before desperate green eyes were staring at him. He wanted to let go, so badly. But he couldn't, not when those green eyes were staring at him filled with frantic pleading and helpless desperation.

"I'm okay." Phantom murmured, concerned at hearing how breathless his own voice sounded.

Chloe nodded, her right hand tightly gripping his left while she gently dabbed at his forehead with the damp cloth. He was struggling, and he knew it. But he had to be real, had to exist for just long enough to hand on the torch. Anything after that was irrelevant, but he needed to ensure that things would be okay. That one thought grew, solidifying him enough that he was able to pick up a second wind, or maybe he was onto his third by now.

Gingerly he stood up, managing to walk over to the window despite the battered condition of his leg. "We need to get the power back." He commented, touching a hand to the glass. He was fully aware of the twin concerned stares on his back, but he didn't know how long his energy would hold out. "That way the people will stop panicking and will be better prepared."

"I'll make my way to the Daily Planet and see if I can learn anything else about the Kryptonian virus that's shutting everything down." Chloe suggested, picking up speed as she spoke. "I mean maybe if I can match those symbols to the ones that you were scribbling..."

"That won't help us." Lionel interrupted from behind him. "We... we need Clark to decipher them."

"But you're Jor-El's Oracle." Chloe retorted, either forgetting Phantom was on the room or discounting him for the time being. "I mean, don't you have access to some sort of Kryptonian/English dictionary?"

"The connection that I felt with Jor-El and the Fortress... it's gone." Lionel replied, and Phantom turned around to face him. The man's face was serious, but lined with a sort of weariness that Phantom couldn't fathom. It was concerning because that could only be a symptom of a much bigger problem. "I can't feel his presence anymore." He emphasised, confirming Phantom's suspicion. "But if we can get to that dagger, we can stop Zod. We can stop all of this." Lionel added, seeming to ignore the question.

"I can't make it back to Smallville with my leg like this!" Chloe bemoaned, sounding almost defeated. And it was only then that Phantom saw the long gash cutting through the lower half of one of her jean legs. She must've been injured in the mob outside, before he'd been able to get to her and take her to safety. With how much the wound had bled, it was surprising she could stand, let alone make it however long the walk between the rooftop and this office was.

Lionel nodded in acknowledgement, his face grim as he looked between the two of them. The silver haired man frowned, moving forward and pressing a silver handgun into Chloe's hands. Usually Danny was adverse to human weaponry, but in this case that small level of protection allowed his mind a brief sort of respite. "Here." The man said, meeting her in the eyes. "You take care, Miss Sullivan."

"You too, Mr Luthor." Chloe replied seriously.

Lionel nodded and turned to leave, but he paused just before the doorway. "Phantom..." the man called back, his voice sounding strained around his name. Phantom looked up, meeting Lionel in the eyes. "You too hold responsibility for what has happened here," Lionel warned with darkened eyes. "I entrust that now you understand the ramifications of not ending a problem before it begins." And with that he left, the door clicking closed behind him.

"I'm not even gonna ask." Chloe commented just as Phantom sagged heavily against the desk. "Is there any chance you'll come and help me try a decrypt?"

Phantom shook his head, "I don't think I can." He replied, already feeling his energy waning. He felt the twin rings appear and despite his protestations he was forced back into his human form, gasping at the additional pain that came from the switch. He looked up to meet Chloe in the eyes, reading the fear in them. "If I go down there... if I go down there I won't survive." He managed to say, in too much pain to try and pretty up the truth. Chloe's fear sparked and Danny sighed tiredly. "I'll do what I can, but I can't go down there. Can you hand me Lionel's laptop?"

Chloe nodded, sliding the computer across the desk. Despite having not seen it before, he was completely unsurprised to see the Kryptonian matrix that came onto the screen when it booted up. It looked vaguely reminiscent of what Technus did when he tried to take over the world the second time around, but there were about ten extra dimensions of complexity to it.

"Can you understand it?" Chloe murmured, and Danny nodded tiredly, sending her a weary glance.

"Yeah, but it's... insanely complex." Danny replied. But he was already typing, trying to bypass the system to see if he could replicate Tucker's old anti-virus/anti-ghost program. It took ten minutes and the complete cannibalisation of Lionel's desk phone, but he managed to create a chip with the right coding. It wouldn't stop the virus, but it might just give Chloe an edge. "That's the best I can give you. Take that to the Planet and see if you can make any progress."

"What about you?" Chloe asked. Taking the chip reverently as Danny placed it in her hands.

"Me?" Danny asked, sending her the most roguish grin he could manage as he forced his pain to the side. "I'm gonna go find Clark."

He turned, moving to leave but was stopped as Chloe's soft hand caught around his wrist. There was a strange look in her eyes as he looked at her and then all he registered was shock. Chloe dove forwards and kissed him, her lips tasting of fear and desperation and a strange sort of sweetness that he couldn't fathom. A wash of bold happiness mixed with dazed nervousness came over him, pooling from Chloe's gently rippling aura and Danny found himself smiling pleasurably into the kiss. He blinked in surprise as she pulled away a moment later, slightly breathless and looking almost shy, a soft blush colouring her pale cheeks.

"Promise me you'll come back okay." She murmured, locking her green eyes with him. She took a step back, but kept his hands firmly clasped in hers.

"I promise I'll do my best." Danny replied, taking in her glistening eyes and blinking in confusion as he watched her nod and limp quickly out of the room. Absently he touched his fingers to his lip where a strange tingling sensation was buzzing, still completely confused about what had just happened. But he didn't have time to worry about that, about what Chloe had intended by kissing him. Instead he had to focus on finding Clark. That was the most important thing right now.

Danny sighed, releasing a tired breath as he walked out of Lionel's office. He knew he couldn't go down, his core couldn't handle it and he was already too unstable as it was. Instead he went up, limping the full way up and out the door to the rooftop. Tiredly he clamoured over towards the edge and took a heavy seat down. His head was swimming, and beneath him the city burned orange. But the sky overhead was already lightening with the first signs of morning.

He knew he needed to find Clark, he himself couldn't hold up anymore. Between the battle with Brainiac and what he'd faced with the tumult of the city, his core was stretched almost to breaking point. The only thing holding him to the Earth was the knowledge that Clark wasn't there and he was needed in order for the people to be safe, to protect them. So Danny closed his eyes to the city, drawing in on himself as much as he could before casting out his aura sensing powers further than he ever had before.

It was painful, and the further he spread himself out the more he felt the life force of people everywhere, not just in Metropolis, but spreading out to almost all of Kansas. It was agonising, and the more he extended himself out the more people he felt die within the tumultuous reaches of his core, but it was unavoidable. And the whole time he was desperately searching for a familiar sense of overpowering sunlight. If he could just find that then nothing else would matter. If he could just find that single aura, then everything else would be okay.

Line Break

Lana's heart beat with dread as she stared at the man in front of her. Physically he looked like Lex, but everything about him was wrong. The way he dressed, the way he held himself... of course the fact that he was now calling himself 'Zod' didn't exactly make things better. Lana was scared, and she didn't know whether it was really Lex in there, a Lex who'd cracked under the phenomenal powers he'd been giver, or if Fine had done something to him in the hours between when she'd last seen him and now.

Lex – Zod – whatever – had grabbed her on the LuthorCorp Plaza rooftop and then picked her up and flown away. Lana hadn't even known that one of the powers he now possessed was the ability to fly and she wasn't exactly comforted by the revelation. They'd landed in the warehouse district, apparently worse for wear after the virus and subsequent riot had gone through. It looked like a demolition ball had rolled through it, and there were strange scorch marks on the outside alley wall.

"Let go!" Lana snarled between clenched teeth as Lex's hand clasped tightly around her arm. Now they'd landed, he was practically pushing her forwards, forcibly guiding her towards one of the warehouses. His other hand crushed the doorknob, forcing the side door open before he led her inside. "Where are you taking me?" She demanded, struggling in his grip to try and free herself.

"Zod doesn't take orders, he gives them." Lex replied, his voice sounding so much colder than she'd ever heard it. And Lana still didn't know what she was dealing with in this new version of Lex.

"What is Zod?" She demanded, glaring at him as she tried to pull away. "What are you talking about?" But Lex didn't reply. His grip on her arm tightened to the point where it was almost painful, cutting off her circulation. Lana struggled not to give any sign of pain, not in front of him. But he still forced her onwards, through a narrow hallway until they rounded a corner into the main storage area of the warehouse.

Lana's eyes widened in shock and she found herself biting back a fearful gasp as she drunk in every detail with morbid fascination. By now the sun had risen, bathing the warehouse chamber in soft golden light. It pooled down through the high windows, casting the sole object in the room in unearthly shadows. It was the black ship. Floating deceptively calmly two feet off the floor of the warehouse. The black ship that had first appeared a year ago and released those two horrendous aliens. The same black ship that had taken Lex away and returned him completely corrupted.

"Oh, God." Lana heard herself murmur, pressing her fingers disbelievingly to her lips as she stared between Lex and the black ship. "You're one of those things from that ship!" She accused, pulling away from him.

"Aethyr and Nam-Ek?" The man replied, his voice devoid of any emotion. "Mere foot soldiers here at my command."

"Whatever is happening, it's not you." Lana urged, desperately wanting to be right. She couldn't lose Lex, not like this. Everyone she'd ever known had left her or died and she couldn't lose Lex too. "It's the ship." Lana insisted, desperately hoping that she could break whatever hold the ship had on him. "It's Fine controlling you. You have to fight it, Lex."

"I already told you, Lex is gone." The man replied, his voice a cruel imitation of Lex's.

"I don't believe that." Lana murmured, staring desperately into those cold blue eyes.

Lex – Zod – turned away nonchalantly "Do you really think Zod cares what a primitive like you believes?" He asked scathingly as he walked towards the ship.

Lana eyed him warily as carefully controlled fingers brushed against the smooth exterior of the black craft. "If Lex is really dead, then why waste your time with a primitive like me?" She demanded, torn between the urge to get away from him and the desire to stop the monster that seemed to have taken over Lex. And the easiest way to do that was to keep him talking.

"To bear witness to the end of the human era and the rebirth of Krypton." The man replied placidly, moving around the ship so that the entire black craft stood between them.

"Krypton?" She repeated dumbly, sending a confused glance towards him. It wasn't a word she was familiar with, and it jarred unfamiliarly in her throat to repeat it. It sounded almost made up, like a strange bastardisation of the word cryptic.

"A shining jewel in a vast, dark universe." Zod explained, blue eyes glimmering distantly as he stared at some far off point. The almost lustful look in his eyes sent a cold shiver racing down her spine that only intensified when the man turned that calculating gaze on her. "And you have the privilege of playing a part in its resurrection."

Lana took a step back, thumping into the warehouse wall as Zod touched the side of the ship more deliberately. There was a bright flash of white blue light, and Lana felt an almost tangible wave of energy wash over her as it arched out from the ship. The light was so intense that she had to shield her eyes, and when it was finally dim enough for her to look she found that the ship was completely gone.

Instead, Zod was smiling at her from the centre of the warehouse, a strange octagonal thing in his hands. It looked vaguely like a slimline external hard drive for a computer, but the shaping was altogether to alien for that to be it. And even from this distance she could see strange shapes etched onto the surface, glyphs that played almost teasingly at the back of her mind as something she almost recognised.

Zod cocked his head, smirking in victory as he stared at her. A moment later he was at her side, holding her hands tightly against the wall so that she had no chance to escape. Hatefully unfamiliar blue eyes stared down at her, leering at her unabashedly. And Lana couldn't stop herself from shivering at the murmured threat the man whispered in her ear. "There's no escaping what's about to happen."

Line Break

Danny jolted abruptly, his eyes blinking open as he felt another presence suddenly intrude on his rooftop meditation. That was the closest description he had to it, although straining himself to try and find Clark's aura over the rest of the city could hardly be likened to true meditation. His senses abruptly snapped back into himself and he found himself toppling backwards as he lost balance. Eyes wild he stood to his feet, searching the rooftop for the intruder. He must have been 'meditating' for longer than he'd thought because already the pre-dawn grey was spreading across the eastern horizon.

"Calm yourself, young one." A strangely soft voice commanded. But it was gentle, almost comforting, and laced with the quiet sort of paternalistic tone that Danny had only really heard from his own dad and Uncle Jonathan.

His eyes locked on a strange figure. He was clad in a black leather jacket hanging open over a pale yellow shirt. He looked like an African-American man in his late forties, but what Danny could feel of the man's aura was anything but human. It was shifting, eddying between insanely powerful and almost painfully weak, and was somehow touching on energy levels that Danny had only ever observed in ghosts. Not all the time though, but it was there. And wherever he was from, it wasn't one of the energy types that Clockwork had taught him to recognise.

"Who are you?" Danny asked, locking eyes with the man's dark ones.

"My name is J'onn J'onnz." The man replied, his voice soft and warm. "And I am a friend."

Danny frowned, taking a step back and almost tripping over an air vent. He didn't know what to make of this man, and with the way his core was, writhing in constant agony and damaged to the point where if he was human he'd be dying of a heart attack, he wouldn't be able to handle it if the man attacked. "Why are you here?" Danny asked cautiously as he regained his balance.

"You need assistance." The man replied evenly.

"There's millions of people out there need more help than me." Danny bit back, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That is true." J'onn replied. "However none of them are capable of eliminating the true cause of this chaos."

"And you think I am?" Danny replied defensively.

The man smiled. "I was a friend of Jor-El's on Krypton. In Krypton's final hours he requested that I watch over his son, Kal-El." Danny frowned in confusion as a half remembered lesson flitted through the back of his mind. "In this capacity I have observed him, and by association you, for this past year."

"Where are you from?" Danny asked, reserving his judgement despite the deep feeling of unsettlement that arose from the fact that this stranger seemed to know his secret.

"Mars." The man replied, his voice completely serious.

"You're the Martian Manhunter." Danny murmured, eyes creasing as the pieces suddenly clicked into place. Usually he'd be scared, concerned about a clearly powerful stranger appearing before him. But at the moment his core was in too much pain for him to worry about that. "You helped Jor-El track down lawbreakers after he created the Phantom Zone."

J'onn smiled, an almost proud glimmer coming into his eyes. "I will admit that I was concerned when you first appeared in Kal-El's life; by records you were nothing more than a juvenile delinquent, set to lead him astray. But you have more than proved yourself as a true virtue to his life, Danny Phantom."

"Some virtue." Danny replied, his own self derision flaring up. "Clark's gone and the world is practically destroying itself because of me."

"Young one, it is no fault to fall. It will only be your fault if you choose not to get up again." J'onn replied comfortingly, and Danny felt something soft and warm reach out from the man's aura towards him. It wasn't unfriendly, but it was unexpected in as much as... well, Danny was the only one he knew who could do something like that.

"How?" Danny asked, looking confusedly at the man.

"That is not important for the moment." J'onn replied, crossing his arms behind his back. "You are looking for Kal-El, correct?" He paused, and Danny nodded mutely in response. "Unfortunately the way you were searching would allow you to find him only if he were still on Earth even if you had refined that skill to perfection. When Zod was released he entrapped Kal-El in the Phantom Zone, punishing him to that prison as vengeance for Jor-El's imprisoning of Zod."

"Clark's in the Phantom Zone." Danny repeated, taken aback, and a shiver of dread raced down his spine.

"Correct." J'onn acknowledged. "I believe that if you were to go into the Phantom Zone you would be able to guide Kal-El back to this world safely."

Danny was dumbfounded. "You want me to go into the Phantom Zone?" He repeated needlessly, his own panic intensified at the idea. He'd known about the Phantom Zone even before he'd come to Smallville, and every time he thought of it a shiver of pure dread ran down his spine. It was the worst punishment that had ever been conceived in conscious memory, and J'onn was just proposing he went there of his own volition? "How do you expect me to do that?"

J'onn just smiled enigmatically, his eyes flashing a bright shade of cherry before he vanished. Danny watched as a long trail of red arced up into the sky, the man's strange smile seemingly burned into his mind. Danny's eyes fixed on the brightening horizon, musing over what he had learned. He knew of J'onn, like a character from a book, from one of Clockwork's lessons. He was a mystery, a bounty hunter come soldier come policeman, and Danny had no idea what his intentions towards him were. But...

This was the only way to save Clark. And once that was acknowledged Danny found he didn't really have a choice. Every step he took down the cement staircase to the ground floor was agony, his core screaming at new levels for him to go out and protect all the people who were in danger. But his mind was fixated on one idea; if he got Clark back everyone would be safe. It was... strange, a sensation he couldn't describe rising in the pit of his stomach as he walked through the battered streets of Metropolis. In the light of day it looked far worse, and the mob still showed no signs of stopping.

His mind sort of blanked out, thrown into too much pain and conflict from the constant failure and simultaneous satisfaction of his obsession. Danny stumbled blindly through the Metropolis streets, picking over rubble and debris as he made his way back towards the highway that headed back to Smallville. He didn't know whether he touched onto his powers, but the next thing he was really aware of was staggering through the archway that led to the farm.

Danny stumbled, losing his footing as he made his way through the loft. Chloe was doing her part, trying to cut through and decipher the Kryptonian code, and with any luck Lana would have taken his hint with the chess piece. But J'onn had given Danny his own task. And this was the only to save Clark. Nothing else mattered other than bringing Clark back. This time, Danny knew he wasn't enough, that the world needed a Kryptonian and not a ghost. And for him, if he could just get Clark back, then he could let go, let go of his physical pain and the agony of his core.

He fumbled, tripping over his own feet as he made his way over to the bookcase. The world was screaming, and it was pulling on his core. His head was pounding with the demand to 'PROTECT!' but he couldn't do any more. He'd practically exhausted himself, and he knew it. But he had to do this; he couldn't get to Clockwork, not with how his core had been depleted. He could barely summon an ecto-blast, let alone a portal to the Zone.

So he had one other choice, and as his hands found their way to the hollowed out book he only hoped this would help. Clasping a hand to his chest he struggled to summon the rings that would turn him to his ghost half, but they wouldn't come. He just didn't have the strength. Danny groaned, clasping a hand do his chest as he raced down the stairs. A moment's indecision overtook him before he took Clark's old motorcycle. For all the work Clark had put into Jon's old one, it still wasn't road ready yet. Danny swung a leg over the dirt bike and pulled out of the barn, throwing a cloud of dust up behind him as he sped across the dirt track that led towards the caves.

The bike skidded to a halt and Danny jumped off, racing through the entrance with the octagonal key firmly in his hand. He paused briefly, once more pressing his hand to his chest as he struggled to find his breath. The world outside was encroaching; people near and far were panicking, dying, and this time he wasn't good enough to save them. He shook his head as he rounded the corner, coming into the cavern where the octagonal table sat. Not daring to wait a minute more he plunged the key into the table, relishing the brief respite as the white light of the portal overtook him.

"Daniel Fenton." The voice of Jor-El echoed all around him as he walked through the crystalline archways, overpowering and resolute. But at the same time, Danny could tell that something was drastically wrong. Instead of the crystalline white that the Fortress had been when Danny first saw it, many of the crystal walls had become a violent shade of crimson. And even the air felt different, less vibrant than before, like a computer shutting down or watching the last dying breath of a man on life support. Something had gone terribly wrong and Danny got the distinct impression that it was a direct effect of Brainiac opening the portal for Zod.

"Jor-El." Danny replied evenly. No matter the state of the fortress, he had to do this. "You know why I'm here."

"I am aware." Jor-El replied. "But there is nothing I can do. The fate of this world now rests outside my hands, or even your own. Now it is the humans who must be charged beginning Zod's downfall."

"But you don't expect them to succeed." Danny accused.

"The tools necessary for Earth's only chance have been lain out." Jor-El replied after a brief pause. "It is unlikely that they will succeed."

Danny frowned, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Which is why we need your son back."

"I cannot retrieve him. It is beyond my power." Jor-El replied, his voice blunt.

Danny shook his head. "No." He denied. "It isn't. There has to be something you can do."

"There is nothing." The echoing voice replied. "Kal-El chose his fate when he opened the portal for Zod. I can no more bring him back than I can destroy the vessel."

"You created the Phantom Zone." Danny replied. "And I know that you would have made a backdoor. You were heralded as a hero in the Ghost Zone, but you were better known for planning for anything. Even with Clark's ship you planned everything down to the stitches on his baby blanket. "

"And yet here you are;" Jor-El replied "a child with powers that even I could never have planned for. Daniel Phantom, several months ago you came into contact with the crystal consol, and in so doing passed several of your own experiences into the crystal nexus."

Danny took an involuntary step back. He knew that when he'd passed through the consol he'd absorbed some of the memories that the Fortress had stockpiled, but hadn't been aware that Jor-El was learning from him at the same time. It was worrying, but he couldn't afford to let that stop him for now. "Then you know what I am and what I can do. Please, there has to be something you can tell me to help bring Clark back."

"You are aware of the danger of the Phantom Zone and the perils which it contains." Jor-El stated.

"Yes." Danny replied. "And I know that no matter what, Clark doesn't deserve to be there."

"What is deserved and what really happens rarely coincide. The question is; what are you willing to risk to bring Kal-El back to Earth."

"Anything." Danny replied immediately. And in that moment it wasn't his core speaking, tactically planning out the best way to protect people, but his human heart, crying desperately for his cousin. "To get Clark back I'd do anything."

The light in the console flared for a moment, emitting a bright white light. And from the bottom layer of crystals a tiny pentagonal shard floated out. It was small, a dark shade of cyan blue marking the edges and glyph on at the palm sized crystal. Danny gulped, noticing that the crystal before him bore the insignia of the house of El; an 'S' like shape nested firmly in the centre of a diamond shaped pentagon. It was beautiful, but looking at it there was something deeply unsettling about the crystalline stone that made him want to back away.

"This crystal" Jor-El explained "was forged on Krypton. It is the only thing that the phantoms of the Phantom Zone fear."

"One touch will send anything, ghost or phantom straight to the Phantom Zone." Danny continued, catching on with widened eyes as he realised exactly what he was looking at. Clockwork had spoken of it, but had never explained what had happened to it, and Danny had presumed that it had been destroyed when Krypton fell.

"You must understand, Daniel, that what you intend to do is not without risk." Jor-El cautioned, and Danny could have sworn he heard an edge of concern in Clark's birth father's voice. Well, so far as a synthetic replica of the man's consciousness went. "This crystal will take you to the Phantom Zone, due to your ghost nature. You must take the crystal and give it to my son; only he will be able to open the gateway that returns to this world."

There was a brief pause, and Danny got the feeling that Jor-El was considering something as the crystal continued floating bodingly in the air. "I cannot guarantee what will happen to you. Ghosts sent to the Phantom Zone lose their corporeal form, joining the ranks of the dispossessed souls of their phantom inmates. What will happen to you, being half ghost, is something that I cannot say. It is possible that going into the Phantom Zone will have lingering effects on you both as a human and as a ghost."

Danny nodded, understanding what Jor-El was saying. With his nature, nothing was certain. It would be impossible for anyone to predict what would happen to a halfa in the Phantom Zone since he was the first. And after so many months of warning, learning to fear the very concept of the Phantom Zone he could hardly believe that he was making this choice. But Danny wasn't going to be dissuaded. "I understand the possibility, Jor-El, but this world needs Clark more. If that's a risk of saving him, then it's one I'm willing to take." He paused, frowning in consideration for a moment. "Kinda ironic, isn't it; Danny Phantom is going to the Phantom Zone."

And before Jor-El could say anything Danny reached out, his fingers clasping hard around the crystal. Instantly his stomach writhed, twisting into fearful knots. He wanted to run away, to drop the thing that felt like it was scorching him from the inside out with a fire made of arctic ice. Inside him his blood boiled and froze, and his head pounded hard as he struggled for breath. It was hysteria physicalised, and it felt like the stone was simultaneously trying to reduce him to his ghost form and force him into his human one.

It felt like the day he'd first walked into the Fenton Ghost Portal, the energy attacking every molecule of him as his body tried to find some new equilibrium. He felt the white rings form and flicker out, felt blood morph to ectoplasm and back, felt his core screech at him and his heart freeze in between beats. But he couldn't hear anymore, all that he was aware of was the source of writhing pain emanating from his hand, but he was in too much pain to unclasp his fingers to let it go. White spots danced on the edge of his vision, flickering and flaring in his peripheral. And then he screamed as he felt the world explode around him.

Line Break

Lana grunted as Zod forced her into the room, making her lose her balance as she stumbled forwards. She was finally free of his iron grip, but there was nowhere for her to go. She whirled around, staring the man angrily in the eye as she realised she was standing in Lex's office at the Mansion. "How did you know to come here?" She demanded, meeting his cold gaze with her own simmering fury. "This is Lex's home. If there wasn't some part of him still alive inside you, how did you remember this place?"

"You had feelings for this human." Zod stated, his eyes glimmering in something almost akin to amusement.

Lana gritted her teeth and replied "Yes". It was putting it lightly, but she knew that the unfeeling simulacra of a man in front of her wouldn't care about that.

"His feelings for you were also strong." The man replied with emotionless cruelty. "They left an unpleasant taste when I consumed his essence." Zod turned away, stalking across to the office desk where a laptop was sitting almost innocently amongst a pool of shattered glass. "This virus crippling your technology can only be stopped at the original point of infection. It's the only reason I'm here."

Lana could only watch as Zod pulled out the strange octagonal hard drive, sitting it vertically on top of the touchpad. There was a silent moment where Lana anxiously hoped nothing would happen, but then the glyphs started glowing an eerie shade of yellow and the octagon started spinning. A brief electronic beeping flitted through the air before the soft yellow glow of the overhead lights from the library came on.

"You got rid of the virus." Lana murmured, looking at the now normal screen on the laptop.

"I needed to acquire information." Zod dismissed with casual nonchalance.

"The power..." Lana mumbled, looking between the computer screen and the lights.

Zod smirked, briefly looking away from the screen. "It would take days for your people to restore it..." He replied with a casual smirk. "If they had that much time." Lana flinched away, unable to look him in the eyes any more. Instead her eyes strayed to the computer screen, where an image of the Pentagon quickly zoomed in.

"The Pentagon?" She questioned, looking askance at his profile.

"There's something there I need." He replied vaguely, his eyes fixed firmly on the screen as twin lines of that strange writing rolled across the top and bottom of the screen.

"What are you going to do?" Lana asked, looking at him warily.

"Finish what I've started." Zod replied, meeting her eyes briefly before turning his attention back to the screen. "The black ship would have sent the pulse around the world, reshaping its crust."

"Into what? Lana asked sceptically.

Zod turned to face her, his eyes filled with an unfathomable contradiction of nostalgic longing and stoic power. "My home." The man replied, his voice somehow betraying his pining for all its neutrality.

"The planet you were talking about..." Lana surmised, straining to remember the word. "Krypton."

"Only this time it will be perfect." Zod confirmed, slowly advancing her. And Lana found herself backing away from him, desperate to get away from his cruelly lustful eyes. "The start of an empire, ruled by the bloodline of Zod."

"I thought you needed the black ship." Lana retorted, glaring at him.

Zod sighed and turned away, giving her the opportunity to reach for a weapon. One of Lex's decorative swords came to her hands; something like a Japanese jutte. But it was long and heavy and felt like it would cause a lot of damage if she used it. "Its hard drive can still initiate the pulse, but I need access to your military satellites to broadcast it." Zod said, walking away, complacently unaware of the danger he was now in.

Lana swung the jutte over her shoulders, holding in just the right position so that she could swing it. "I'm not gonna let you do this." She warned, pulling his attention back on her.

"There's nothing to be afraid of." Zod replied, an almost playful smirk crossing his face as he looked at her. And Lana felt his gaze rake up and down her, cold eyes undressing her in his mind. "The fate of your race will not be yours if you give me what I want."

"What?" Lana asked, incapable of stopping herself in disbelief. With all he was doing, what could he possibly want from her?

"An heir." Lex replied simply, and Lana felt her eyes widen a bit. But fear quickly turned to rage, burning through her and giving her strength. She lunged forward, the jutte in her hands swinging forward in a perfect arc. But Zod caught it, and the next thing Lana knew she was being pressed hard against one of the wooden walls, staring at the dark eyes of the monster Lex had been turned into.

She wasn't even given a chance to breathe, suddenly she was screaming as icy pain drove through her right hand. She felt the shaft plunge in, the blunt ended weapon pushing painfully through flesh and past bone as Zod shoved the weapon in down to the hilt, entrapping her against the wall in throbbing pain. Blackness bit at the edges of her vision, taunting her with its appealing protection, but the pain tore through her in icy lances, keeping her just aware enough to watch him leave.

"We'll discuss this further when I return from your Pentagon." Zod smirked, turning around and leaving her pinned there, whimpering like a helpless dog chained on the floor. The pain was too much, and she could still feel the icy bite of iron inside her hand, screaming at her with the wrongness of the intrusion. She gasped, falling helplessly against the wall in defeat.

Lana gasped, panting in merciless pain as the fingers in her hand started curling limply against the jutte's hilt. But her eyes fixed on something small that was sitting innocently on the floor.

A white chess piece.

A harsh bark of laughter escaped her as she stared at the little piece. It was the knight; the same one Phantom had left out for her just the previous morning. He'd been talking about how she'd be needed to keep Lex himself, and Lana couldn't help the bitter irony at how wrong he'd been. She frowned, her left hand stretching out just far enough that she was able to catch the white figurine in her fingers. It must have fallen out of her pocket while she struggled against Zod.

In a strange way it helped her, that little white piece. She knew her 'white knight' wasn't coming, not today. But Phantom had been speaking about how it was his favourite piece; it was 'powerful in its unpredictability'. Lana bit her lip in understanding, suddenly knowing what he meant. The knight was powerful, not because it was limitless, but because it was the only piece that could take the queen without compromising itself.

Lana grunted, looking up at the jutte that held her in place. She wasn't going to wait around anymore; she wasn't some damsel in distress waiting for her prince to come save her. She'd grown up. She plunged the little chess piece into her pocket, setting her good hand around the metal hilt. Steeling herself against the pain she tugged, feeling every inch as the iron rod slowly, achingly, was pulled out of her hand. She threw the weapon aside, sagging heavily against the wall for just a moment in rest.

She was done waiting, done hoping for someone else to save her. It was time for her to step up, and this time, it was her turn to play the white knight.

Line Break

Clark gasped, rolling over in pain as twin gashes across his cheeks made themselves known. And that wasn't the worst of his injuries. The creatures seemed to have abandoned him, at least for now, but he was left forsaken in this sandy desert that he was starting to think was more of a death trap. He'd tried to fight them off, but the most startling revelation was the fact that he didn't have his powers. They were just gone, completely vanished. He should have suspected it, what with there being no sun here, but he hadn't realised until it was far too late.

Clark groaned, rolling over onto his side just enough to get back up onto his feet. He could taste blood on his lips, the metallic taste sharp against the dryness of his throat. He coughed, spitting out a lump of bloody bile onto the grey sand before he managed to pick himself up. He didn't know how long he'd been knocked out, but it had probably been a couple of hours, judging by the way the sand dunes had changed in the rugged wind.

He shook his head and started walking, limping slightly when he realised how much damage the creatures had done to his leg. He wasn't used to pain, not long lasting like this was. Usually the worst he experienced was from being exposed to kryptonite, but that went away almost as soon as the green rock was gone. And with how much he was hurting now he wondered how normal people handled it.

It was probably half an hour later when he stopped, frowning as he saw a bright flash of light coming from behind one of the smaller cliff faces. Clark proceeded cautiously; worried that he'd encounter another of those black robed creatures. He fumbled over a pile of sand that had gathered near the cliff face, tripping slightly as he climbed over the ridge. But he broke into a run when he saw the cause of the light.

He recognised the cloak first, spilling over the figure like a blanket of white snow. But the boy rolled over, revealing a familiar mess of dark black hair, tips absurdly whitened to snowy points. Clark raced over, not daring to wonder why Danny was here. He ignored the pain from his own leg as he helped the boy up, pulling back slightly when his eyes opened to reveal two orbs the colour of tarnished silver. Danny groaned, pulling clumsily away from him and giving Clark the chance to fully look at his cousin.

While the air here seemed to bleach the colour out of everything, his cousin looked like he had been completely drained of colour. His usually pale skin now seemed to be an ashen shade of grey, and the bright green gem that decorated his cloak had turned a stony black. Most alarming was the fact that Danny seemed to be stuck somewhere between his two forms, wearing the knightly costume of his ghost form while his hair was mostly the raven of his human one.

"Danny?" Clark asked, surprised by how dry his own voice sounded. "How did you get here? Did Zod send you?"

Danny frowned and held up a hand; effectively silencing him as the boy dazedly shook his head. "Just give me a second to get my bearings." The boy murmured, his voice sounding slightly strained. Eventually dark silver eyes fixed on him, betraying a sort of pained weariness that made Clark want to wince. "Sorry." The boy said, his voice sounding slightly bemused as he pressed one hand into his chest. "We didn't know what would happen when I was sent here, I'm just glad that I seem to have a body."

"Sent here?" Clark pressed, confused by the younger boy's complacent tone.

Danny nodded, a strange look appearing on his face. "Welcome, Clark, to the Phantom Zone." Danny said ominously.

"This is the Phantom Zone?" Clark questioned after a long minute.

Danny nodded sadly. "It's... better and worse than I imagined." He commented, seemingly surveying the surroundings. "How long have you been in one spot?"

"Don't know." Clark replied. "I was attacked by a couple of dark... things."

"Phantoms." Danny surmised quickly, looking briefly at him before he ripped a long strip off his shirt. "We need to bandage that." He said, gesturing towards Clark's still bleeding leg. "But then we need to get moving. It's not safe here." The boy didn't give Clark a chance to protest, instead leading him over to a blackened rock so that he could stem the bleeding.

"Jor-El created this place, years ago, to hold prisoners from the twenty eight known inhabited galaxies." Danny explained as he worked; his movements quick and precise and his voice devoid of emotion. "Before the Fall, Krypton used to have close ties to the Ghost Zone, and the associated troubles that come from it. When your father realised that the prisons on Krypton couldn't contain all the inmates he created this, a dead end wasteland of a pocket dimension in the Ghost Zone."

Danny sighed, tying the last knot and dragging Clark up to his feet, the break allowing him a chance to press him for more information. "What's happening out there?"

Danny frowned. "It's bad." He summarised. "When you stabbed Brainiac you gave him the connection he needed to bring Zod back. The city itself, I don't know how it was when you last saw it but the riots were still going when I... left. Chloe's working on shutting down the virus but I don't know how much luck she'll have. And Lionel's trying to find a way to stop Zod."

"Mom and Lois?" Clark pressed, but Danny was shaking his head.

"I don't know, Clark. Nobody's heard from them." The boy replied sadly.

"And you?" Clark asked.

"Just peachy." The boy replied, an edge of venom in his voice.

Clark frowned, "What's wrong?" He urged, slightly concerned.

"Just tired, Clark." Danny wearied, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "Fighting in Metropolis did me absolutely no good, and that was before I was sent through a portal that is supposed to rip people like me out of our corporeal form. And now we're stuck here in the single worst prison the Zone has ever known."

"So now we're inmates?" Clark jested lightly, trying to draw the tension away.

Danny shook his head defensively. "No." He replied hotly. "You were thrown in as revenge and I'm the rescue party."

"What's the problem then?" Clark pressed gently, absently following Danny as he picked a path across the dunes.

Danny just crossed his arms, seeming to ignore the question. Instead he led on, escorting Clark through a small valley between two blackened cliffs. It was a welcome break from the wind, giving Clark a chance to think. Danny had always been very quiet about the Phantom Zone, but now that he was here he could sort of understand the reason for Danny's silence. But Danny seemed to have a genuine fear of the place, one deeper rooted than just dread of being ripped out of his corporeal body. It was almost like he thought there was a valid reason to be sent here as punishment.

They proceeded silently for a long while, silence stretching uncomfortably between them. But eventually Danny paused, unclasping his right hand and passing a small object over to Clark. It was a small pentagonal crest, and Clark immediately recognised the symbol for the house of El etched in blue onto the crystal surface. "What's this?" He asked.

"Your father gave it to me." Danny replied. "It's the only thing the phantoms here fear, it'll keep you safe."

"That's how you got here?" Clark guessed, turning the crystal over in his hand. He wasn't sure what to make of Danny's mood. The younger boy seemed to be mulling something over, but Clark couldn't tell what it was.

"Yeah." The boy replied, turning away and leading them on again. "That crest, it's legendary. For a ghost, just touching it is enough to send them here, even if they're overshadowing someone else. For the rest, Jor-El was able to use it to open a direct portal in here, but you'd have to ask him how that function worked. There's a number of living inmates here, but the most vicious offenders were condemned for eternity. He would destroy their corporeal body and leave their essence to haunt the wasteland."

Clark felt a cold shiver run down his spine, that sort of thing made his birth father sound ruthless and cruel. "I can't believe anyone would do that." Clark commented, but was stopped when Danny abruptly blocked his path.

"Jor-El was a great man." Danny retorted vehemently. "What he did in creating this place is what has ensured the safety of both the Real World and the Ghost Zone. It's a place where the lawless can be sent to be with their own, and ensures the safety of all those outside. Time has no meaning here, the living keep on living. This meant that people who would have left powerful and vengeful ghosts can't, and the worst of the ghosts are permanently locked away."

Clark blinked, slightly curious with what Danny had just let slip. He remembered, months ago, Danny saying he was grateful for the 'services of his family' but he couldn't believe that this was it. It wasn't often that Danny talked about the Ghost Zone like this, not the politics going on behind the scenes. And it looked like they had a while to go before they got to the exit; whatever that was. So Clark decided to use the opportunity to ask Danny a little about the ghost world.

Danny sighed, looking reflectively back at him. "The Ghost Zone... is a complex place." Danny replied eventually. "There's a lot of stuff that living people aren't meant to know, and I won't betray the trust of my mentor by saying it. But on the other hand, there are some things I guess wouldn't hurt for you to know."

The boy paused for a minute, looking out from behind a cliff face, apparently checking for danger before he led the two of them out into the grey dunes. "The Zone has a convoluted society, and what we see in the Real World is a poor reflection of most of the denizens. That said... there are some similarities to what we know. It's actually kinda comparable to our justice system now I think about it, just a little bit more abstract about the regulations.

"In America we have the government, and they make the rules. In the Zone there's the Council of the Thirteen, I mean, ages ago there was the King and he made the rules, but that sorta stopped when Pariah was deposed. There're exceptions to the rules and each of the Realms tend to have their own specific laws, but the Council decides the major ones.

"Then, where America has the court system, the Zone has the Observant's High Council. Strictly speaking their job is to make judgements and interpret the Council's laws. But they can be a bit over-zealous, especially since well..." Danny trailed off, a fleeting haunted look crossing his face. Clark was tempted to press the issue, but Danny appeared not to be willing to expand on it.

"Anyway, after that there's the policing bodies; Walker and Lacerator. Each of them has their own prisons and their official job is to catch lawbreakers and detain them after sentencing. Walker is admittedly the more outgoing of them, he actively seeks lawbreakers and sort of... well, he's one of the Realm leaders at the moment so technically he does have the power to make up local laws; he's actually the one that led the first Ghost invasion a couple of years back. He's got a grudge against me since strictly speaking I broke one of his local laws.

"Lacerator is a lot more private, I think he used to go out like Walker did, but now he just waits for prisoners to come in. See, when a ghost goes up in front of the Observant's there's pretty much three ways it can go. You can be sent to Walker, who'll imprison you for somewhere between five hundred and a couple of thousand human years. By human standards the prison would probably be considered Maximum security, but for us it's more like a prison farm.

"Then there's Lacerator's prison, which is essentially a life sentence. No escape once you go in and he's fairly medieval in his punishments. When I was taught about him I was told that he refined most of the torture devices to an art. He's partially responsible for some of the more unusual torture methods we see on Earth."

"That sounds cruel." Clark interrupted, unable to stop himself.

Danny shrugged. "It is by human standards, but ghosts don't feel things the same way. For living people, mortality is actually a great motivator to enforce good behaviour; no one wants to die in prison. But ghosts are basically immortal, while it's feasible to destroy a ghost it's almost impossible, so the threat of torture like that is the closest we can taste to true mortality." Danny paused, eyebrows creased in something akin to concern before shaking his head dismissively.

"The worst punishment is being sent here. The convict's physical form is destroyed, reducing them to the phantoms that savage this place. For most ghosts the mere fact that a place like this exists is enough to ensure that they behave. Just knowing that you can be reduced to one of those creatures, stripped of your essence and confined to less than the meanest ghost powers is terrifying. Those things can fly, and do have the power to attack physically, but they can't do anything much else. And to a ghost that's terrifying. We're a society that respects power, and to be reduced to that is the single worst fate you could anticipate."

Danny seemed to sigh, shaking his head slightly before continuing on about the similarities and differences between human and ghost legal systems. Clark could tell there were bits that Danny skated over, either too private or because Clark wasn't meant to know. It was worrisome the way he slipped between identifying himself as a human and identifying himself as a ghost. A year ago Clark wouldn't have noticed the pronouns but months of living with the boy had made him listen to that sort of thing.

"And that's why most of the Zone has great respect for your father." Danny commented eventually, drawing to the close of his long explanation. "Before him, the third sentence was essentially the death sentence, destroying the ghost completely if it was possible. But all that does is make murderers. The ghost who destroyed another may have been officiated in doing it, but it was still murder, to use the human maxim it's blood that doesn't wash off. The Phantom Zone saves that, removing the threat while simultaneously protecting the moral virtue of the ghosts involved in detaining them."

Clark nodded slowly in acknowledgement, beginning to understand Danny's point. But what really got to Clark was knowing that one Danny would actually be a part of this. This wasn't history laid out in some textbook; it was the way the world really was for him. It was one thing to know that Danny would one day be a king, but it was another thing entirely to hear that future king talk about the way his world worked. As he'd spoken, Clark had heard some small part of the great man his cousin could one day become. Danny may have come here to save Clark, but even now he could hear the echoes of the future King of the Ghost Zone in his young voice.

Clark just needed to make sure that Danny got there, and that meant escaping this prison and defeating Zod first.

Line Break

Martha let out a shaky breath, there was a gash on her forehead that was making her feel lightheaded, but she couldn't afford to think about that now. She'd woken up to find that their plane had crashed, Lois barely breathing amongst the wreckage, but still alive. She'd sent out a mayday call, but hadn't got any answer. She hadn't been able to tell if that was because no one was there to answer, or because the radio itself was broken. She remembered dazedly walking out of the plane, a gaping hole rent into the side had allowed her to get out easily, and finding little but snow for miles around.

She'd been about to give up and try searching the wreckage for anything like a survival kit when she'd seen a strange glittering structure on the far side of the plane. Hoping that it was a sign of civilisation she'd bandaged Lois up as best she could before making a sled out of the broken plane door. It was just light enough that she could pull Lois on over the snow, and, after wrapping the young woman up in a blanket she'd set off, desperately hoping that Lois would make it just long enough for her to get them both to safety.

Half an hour later Martha was pulling the makeshift sled into the entrance of the strange crystalline structure, but the further in she went, the less it looked like anything made by humans. The floor was covered in a thin layer of snow and ice, and tall crystalline columns formed the walls and ceiling. But the further in she went, the less settled she felt. White lit columns gave way to flickering red, like the walls themselves were on fire, burning from the inside. But it was shelter, and despite the darkness and the flickering red, it was safe enough for Martha to stop and tend to Lois as best she could.

"Martha Kent." A deep masculine voice spoke, and Martha jumped at the sudden noise. She whirled around, looking for the speaker, but paused when she realised that the voice had come from inside the structure itself.

"Jor-El." She answered dryly. "This is the Fortress Clark told me about. Why did you bring us here? Why did you crash our plane?"

"You were taken as pawns by the Brain Interactive Construct. The being you know as Milton Fine." Jor-El replied in explanation. And Martha crossed her arms over her chest uncomfortably, ill at ease with speaking with her son's birth father.

"Clark?" She interrupted, feeling suddenly wary.

"I gave him a dagger to kill the vessel of Zod." Jor-El replied, apparently choosing to ignore her question and lay blame on her son. "Instead, he chose to use it against Fine."

"Where is he?" Martha demanded, wishing that there was a face she could look at. "Where is Clark?"

"The dagger is part of this Fortress." Jor-El replied callously. "Plunging it into Fine destroyed all copies of him but also damaged this structure and released Zod."

Martha bit her teeth, losing patience with the man as he danced around the truth. "What happened to my son, Jor-El?"

"Banished forever by Zod." Jor-El replied, and Martha felt the world crashing around her. She couldn't lose Clark, not now. Not when she'd just lost Jonathan.

"Bring him back." She demanded, glaring into the air above her. "You have to bring him home."

Jor-El's reply was cold in its immediacy. "Not within my power. His destiny is now in the hands of the young ghost child."

Martha pressed a hand to her lips, not daring to ask what he meant. It was clear that wherever Clark was, somehow Danny was there too. And that thought broke her heart. "I've lost my husband and now my son and nephew because of your games!" She yelled, hearing her voice break as her misery turned accusatory.

"We have both lost much, Martha Kent." Jor-El replied. "But you must put aside your anguish if you wish to save your world. Kal-El's mission must be completed. Retrieve the dagger and kill Zod's vessel... Lex Luthor."

"You want me to murder Lex?" Martha demanded, torn between anger and dread.

"Zod has taken over his body and given him all the powers of a true Kryptonian." Jor-El explained, and Martha felt a cold shiver run down her spine. She understood, now, why the man would make such a demand, but it went against everything she had ever stood for. And even if she could get close, nothing short of a kryptonite bullet could ever kill a Kryptonian and those weren't exactly in huge supply.

Martha gaped, struggling for words against such a gigantean task. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"You must find a way or all is lost." Jor-El replied, and Martha could have sworn she heard a hint of concern in that omnipresent voice.

"All right." She nodded, thinking things over. She would find a way, she had to. Even if she never saw her two boys again, at least she would know that she'd done what they would have wanted her to. "Send me back."

"Everything you've done for Kal-El" Jor-El said, and this time there was a marked difference in his voice. She could almost feel the heavy tone of gratitude as the man spoke. "You have my deepest gratitude. I couldn't have wished for a brighter light to guide my son. Farewell, Martha Kent"

Then there was a flash of bright light, and suddenly she wasn't in Clark's Fortress, but at her farmhouse in the back yard. Lois was lain out beside her, unconscious and bleeding, and Martha did the best she could to pick the poor girl up and take her to the shelter of the house. She called the ambulance service and waited sullenly as two very harried looking men came to take Lois away. All the time she was thinking, pondering over how a human could possibly defeat a Kryptonian. The two men offered for her to accompany Lois to the hospital, but Martha knew she had to stay, that she had to find some way to ensure that Lex – Zod – didn't destroy anything more than he already had.

Dazedly she made her way out to the barn, picking through the rubble of what had obviously been Clark's last stand. Tears prickled at her eyes at the thought, but she couldn't afford to think of that now. Her eyes caught on a strange glimmer, a glint of steel half buried under scattered hay. She bent down to pick it up, brushing the unusual shaped dagger with her fingers. It was clearly Kryptonian, and Martha only hoped that it would take a Kryptonian down.

She heard panting behind her, and suddenly Lionel Luthor was there, breathlessly tired with dried blood caked across his face. He looked exhausted, but the first thing he did was make sure that she was okay.

"I'm fine.." She replied, realising now how close her voice was to hysterical. "Your son... Lex..." She said, needing him to understand.

"I know," Lionel replied, steadying her. And something in his deep voice calmed her fraying nerves. "I know. I know what I have to do. I..."

"Where's Clark?" Another voice cut in, and Martha distantly recognised it as Lana's. She looked ragged; her right hand was wrapped in a clumsy white bandage, but even from here Martha could see the blood soaking through.

"Lana." She replied, her eyes briefly flickering between Lionel and the Kryptonian dagger before returning to Lana. "I don't know where Clark is." And it was honestly true; Jor-El had never told her where Clark and Danny were, only that they were gone.

"I heard him talking to Chloe about killing Lex." Lana replied, meeting her in the eyes with dark conviction. "I didn't understand what was happening."

"Lana, where's Lex?" Lionel asked, taking a step forward and making Martha feel momentarily bereft in the absence of his steadying warmth. "We have to find him."

Lana scoffed, shrugging dismissively. "It's too late." They young woman wearied. "The things he can do now... I don't think there's anyone on Earth who can stop him."

"There might be." Martha heard herself say, holding the dagger out between the three of them like a symbol. "I have to kill him with this."

"You would never get close enough to even use that." Lana dismissed, her face turning to a considering frown. Martha noted idly that her left hand touched something in her pocket before the dark haired young woman looked back up at them. "But I can." The brunette stepped forward, holding her left hand out so she could take the blade. Martha momentarily drew back, reluctant to let go of the one tie she had left to her son. "A lot of people are going to die if you don't let me do this. It's the only way."

A silent look passed between them, and Martha met her determined brown eyes. A moment passed while Martha just looked at Lana, seeing not the little girl who had lost her parents in a meteor shower, but a fully grown woman, prepared to do whatever it took to save the people she loved. Martha nodded, pressing the blade firmly into Lana's hands. And with that gesture she put her trust in Lana; the one person who truly stood a chance at getting close to Zod.

Line Break

Lana let out a tense breath, setting her shoulders squarely as she walked into Lex's office. She knew Zod was back, she'd watched him walk in from an alcove, but it still wasn't easy confronting him knowing what she had to do. The chess piece weighed in her pocket, a talisman of sorts that helped remind her why she was doing this. She strode forward, concealing all her doubts in a mask of courage and stepped through the door. Zod was bent over a singed briefcase, and Lana instantly knew that she didn't want to know what any of his further plans are.

"That's all it takes to end the world?" She commented, drawing the man's attention to herself.

"And begin a new one." Zod confirmed, turning around and looking at her with an evaluative look in his arctic blue eyes. "You freed yourself but didn't run. Why?"

Lana shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "I realized there was nothing to run to." She answered, stepping forward so that she stood just beyond easy reaching distance. "Sometimes... to survive, you have to give up the things that you care about... and just give into your fate."

"You would give me an heir, willingly?" Zod asked, closing the gap between them as a vaguely hopeful look crossed his dangerous eyes.

"The first of many." Lana replied seductively, offering him a smile that bordered a smirk. He was falling for it; she could see it in his eyes as he smiled smugly down at her. A moment later she stepped forward, initiating a kiss that led them over towards the sofa. Zod tasted of pride and tainted victory, and an overwhelming sense of dominating power that almost made her want to pull away. But she couldn't afford to, so she kissed harder, deeper, possessing him in the only way she could.

Lana briefly pulled away, layering soft kisses against his neck as she took a relieving breath, knowing that this was the closest she would ever come to kissing her Lex ever again. "Perhaps I've underestimated the females of your species." Zod commented, and a grim smile pulled at her lips as her fingers found the blade of the crystal hilted dagger.

"Maybe you just underestimated me." Lana replied, tears in her eyes as she pulled the dagger back. She couldn't think of him as Lex, Lex was gone, and all that was left was a monster. That thought surged through her, vengeance pumping through her veins at the thought of eradicating the demon that had destroyed Lex. The blade plunged forward, singing through the air with the promise of icy death.

But suddenly her hand was stopped, Zod's hand catching her wrist and yanking the blade out of her hands. "You shouldn't play with things you don't understand." He commented, and suddenly she was flying as he backhanded her across the room. Her head hit the wall hard, and Lana could feel a trickle of blood run down her cheeks as dark spots danced on the edge of her vision.

"Did you really think you could make a difference?" Zod asked maliciously through her foggy haze. There was a sharp sound of metal breaking, and the two destroyed halves of the dagger fell mercilessly in front of her face. Blackness was coming, Lana could feel it. The sympathetic cold hands of unconsciousness were reaching out to welcome her into their comforting grasp. His voice came out as a harsh murmur, his malice the last thing on her mind before the darkness overcame her. "Nothing can change the fate of your world."

Line Break

Chloe yawned, rubbing her eyes intense frustration as she tried uselessly to translate some of the Kryptonian symbols. She was desperately hoping to crack through the code, to find a way to restart most of the infrastructure failure. Absently her fingers touched to her lips, where the lingering cool taste of Danny stayed with her. She hadn't entirely meant to kiss him, but she didn't regret it either. For all the confusion it brought, she could easily say that it was the one good thing that had happened in all of this, a small light in the darkness.

Outside there was the indistinct sound of people shouting, and the steady clamour of shattering glass. It wasn't as bad as it had been a couple of hours ago, the light of day seemed to have taken the edge off the riot, but it was still pretty bad. She hoped that Danny had been able to get out of it, away from the violence that was clearly destroying him. The image of him fading seemed to have burned itself onto her retinas, holding his hand as he'd turned almost mist like, just about flickering out of existence like a dimming candle. She thought she knew his obsession now, what tethered him to Earth. He took protecting people to a whole new level, and for him, last night must have felt like murder.

Chloe shook her head, looking dazedly between her pen and paper work and her laptop screen. The program Danny had given her wasn't much; it seemed to be able to isolate the virus enough that she could read bits of it, but without being able to read Kryptonian herself, it was still beyond her to work on shutting it down. So she'd resorted to trying to find any repeating patterns in the notes Lionel had made. She did know what six of the symbols meant; three from the crystals that had united to make the Fortress, and three from Jor-El's warning. But just knowing the words for 'fire', 'air', 'water', 'Zod', 'is' and 'coming' wouldn't exactly help her translate a whole language. Especially considering that the symbol for 'air' looked a lot like the symbol for Clark's Kryptonian family.

Anxiously scribbling away, she almost missed the slight sound of scuffing feet on the floor and the heavy thump of an object falling onto the linoleum. Eyes wide she whirled around, the gun Lionel had given her releasing a warning shot before she even knew what was happening. One of the glass panels near the ceiling shattered from the bullet shot, and a dark jacketed figure with blonde hair and blue eyes stepped out from behind a potted fern.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't shoot!" The man said, arms raised appeasingly in front of him. "Okay? I work here. You don't have..." The figure paused, seemingly at the same moment that Chloe did because she recognised him. She hadn't seen him in years, not since they'd both had a summer internship here in her sophomore year at Smallville High. "Chloe?" He asked, blue eyes glittering in recognition as he chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck in an awkward gesture, reminding her confusingly of Danny when he was acting cluelessly embarrassed. "This isn't 'cause I didn't call you back, is it?"

Chloe half smiled, setting the gun aside on the table as she shook her head in bemusement. "Jimmy Olsen." She commented, staring at the man who she hadn't seen since he was a boy. He'd grown up a lot, probably standing just under six feet tall. But his blonde hair still had that messily tidy look and his blue eyes still had that strange offbeat air of innocent sophistication to them. "What are you... why are you here?" She heard herself ask, although she hadn't intended to come off so confused.

"A guy can't come back to the one place he fit in now?" Jimmy shot back, but his voice was light and he was smiling. "Seriously though, after a couple of years drifting I figured that Metropolis was as good a place as any to settle down."

Chloe shook her head half amusedly, hearing the young boy with big dreams in his voice. It seemed almost surreal to see him, perfectly preserved. It was almost as though the years hadn't changed him, hadn't worn on him like the time in Smallville had for her. But then, maybe that was a good thing. He had a sort of innocence to his eyes, completely unreserved and trusting. It wasn't like Clark's or even Danny's. And Chloe couldn't help but compare Jimmy's innocent eyes to the battle worn eyes of the two cousins.

"... so I was down in the basement," Jimmy said, and it took Chloe a minute to realise that she's missed the first part of his explanation in her contemplative observation. "Scanning archive photos into the database, when everything went screwy. First official day at the Daily Planet and the world decides to end."

Chloe shook her head dazedly as she looked at him, pacing in front of the decimated car that still poked through the basement window. And it was almost amusing to see the way his emotions played openly across his face. He was an open book, and that hadn't changed at all in the time it had been since she'd last seen him. "I can't believe you actually work here." She commented, looking at the young man bemusedly.

His face split into a wry smile, his blue eyes glimmering merrily and he opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a sudden lurch. Chloe felt her eyes widen as the ground beneath them trembled, picking up ferocity until the shaking seemed to rattle her all the way to her bones. A horrendous noise tore through the air, the sound of metal grating against metal combined with the clash of pressing earth. She sent a worried glance at Jimmy, his face a mirror of her own confused fear.

"What is that?!" Jimmy asked, leaning heavily against a desk for balance. But it was useless. The ground gave another lurch, sending her careening into him as she lost her own balance. She might have screamed his name, but the next thing she really knew was that she was on the floor as a bookcase collapsed over them, books tumbling out over them as the heavy frame was caught by a desk.

Jimmy's arms were wrapped instinctively around her, pulling her close to his lightly muscled chest. Chloe shook her head and pulled away, crawling cautiously out from under the bookcase and offering a hand to him so he could stand up. The ground was still shaking, but it seemed less turbulent than the initial shockwave. Jimmy stared unblinkingly at her, his fear obvious in his blue eyes.

"Since when are there earthquakes in Metropolis?" Jimmy asked helplessly, and Chloe bit her lip in hesitation. She turned, looking at the trembling sunlight as it pooled through the gaps in the window. The answer was that there weren't. There had never been an earthquake in Metropolis that wasn't caused by artificial interference. And as much as she wished it wasn't the case, in her heart she knew that the explanation laid in whatever plans Zod had begun.

She found herself desperately praying that Danny would come back with Clark soon. It was their only chance at finally ending this and stopping Zod.

Line Break

Clark let out a drawn out breath, trying to keep his breathing even. They'd been walking for the better part of an hour and the pain in his leg was getting to him. The bandage Danny had used to staunch the wound had soaked through, and Danny had quickly replaced it with another strip from his own shirt. The boy was now walking around bare-chested beneath the white cloak, but apparently the thick material prevented the biting sandstorm from getting at Danny the way it did Clark.

"How did you know about the gateway?" Clark asked between breaths as Danny raced up to the top of a grey sand dune.

Danny half shrugged, a surprisingly casual gesture despite the danger of their current position. In the hours they'd been there one more Phantom had attacked them, Danny had just managed to hold it off long enough before Clark had pulled out the crystal. A bright beam of light had flashed at the phantom and the creature had raced away screeching. But Danny had also been affected by it, and it had taken a good ten minutes before the almost feral fear had drained enough from his eyes for the younger boy to explain that it affected all ghosts and that he'd prefer if he didn't have to come into contact with it again.

"Your father was a great man," The raven haired boy explained, half sliding back down the dune, the white tips of his hair fluttering lightly in the waning wind. "And like all great men there were many who wished him harm. Your father kept it a secret, a backdoor in case anyone ever tried to imprison his family here. I knew about the gateway because I knew enough about him to deduce that he would have put something in place."

"You know, you never really explained how you know so much about Krypton." Clark pointed out, following the boy as he led the way around the back of the dune.

"I've got a teacher who's pretty keen on not repeating the mistakes of the past." Danny replied vaguely. "Sometimes I think he just takes sadistic pleasure in watching me struggle with what happened in the third century on Earth and how the onset of crystal technology on Krypton interfered with energy resonances that disturbed the balance between the two worlds." Danny paused, shifting subjects quickly with none of his usual finesse. "What do you plan to do when you get out?"

The change in subjects took Clark off guard, but Danny had turned around to face him with a heavy look in his eyes. "I have to stop him." He replied simply.

"Zod is a soldier." Danny replied darkly, arms crossed over his chest. "He will kill you."

"If it's the only way to save everyone we love, isn't it worth the risk dying?" Clark replied, looking confusedly at his cousin. There was an unfathomable look in those dark silver eyes, one that worried him down to his core.

"You would make both your fathers proud." Danny replied eventually. "You need to keep that conviction, Clark, no matter what."

Clark frowned, uncertain about what to say to that. Danny's mood in here seemed to be a rollercoaster, shifting from cool confidence to concerning levels of fear in an instant. It was worrying, especially since Clark had no idea about the cause. "You make it sound like you're not coming back." He said eventually, pausing to study his cousin's worn face.

Danny released a sharp breath of air. "The most important thing is getting you out of here, Clark." The boy replied after a minute. "Nothing else matters."

Clark stopped, grabbing the younger boy's arm tight enough to stop him from moving forwards. "You're coming with me." He asserted, looking into those silver eyes and missing the usual confidence that they held when they were blue or green. It was almost like he was dealing with a shade of his cousin, like the Phantom Zone had bleached out more than just the colour of his skin. "We'll stop him together."

"I can't!" Danny replied, pulling away and stumbling backwards into a dune. "Clark, when I came in here my core was stretched beyond its limits. The riots... I felt it all. Every fear, every injury, every death. I failed to protect them, I couldn't save them." He paused, angry tears glittering in his eyes as Clark began to understand what the boy, the halfa was saying. "But you I can save, you I can protect. And if I can get you back there then you can end all of this. You're the only thing that matters, Clark. You're the only one that can."

Danny turned away, walking forwards. The boy refused to say a word more, leading them on in silence. Clark allowed it, staring at his cousin's white cloak as the younger boy guided them over a dune. He hadn't really thought about how the riots would affect Danny, but he should have known. He remembered seeing the boy months ago, almost fading out of existence in the hospital waiting room because they'd found his dad hanging upside down in the barn. His obsession was clearly his greatest weakness as much as it was his strength, and Clark hadn't even accounted for it.

The silence stretched between them as Clark followed Danny in silence. More than once he opened his mouth, planning to offer some comfort, but he couldn't find the words, they were all too small. He himself understood some of it, he knew he had what Chloe dubbed his 'hero complex', adding weights around his neck, but he also knew he could never comprehend the depths to which Danny felt it. He couldn't imagine what it would feel like to have his entire life literally revolve around saving lives. And for a moment, more than anything, he was just grateful that he wasn't a ghost.

Clark jumped when a robed figure leapt out from behind a dune, grabbing Danny and pulling him down into the sand. The attack was so swift that he barely knew what was happening, and before he could do anything two arms grabbed him and forced him down onto his knees in the sand. He struggled, trying to get away from his dark robed assailant, but it was useless.

The taller of the two, the one holding Danny, pulled a cloth away from his face revealing a pair of startlingly familiar green eyes. "Kal-El." His dark voice spoke, filled with vengeance filled desire as he pulled out a crude dagger. Clark recognised him immediately as one of the Kryptonians that had escaped the ship all those months before. He took a step forwards, loosening his hold on Danny as the blade glinted menacingly between them.

"Nam-Ek!" Danny shouted, managing to surprise everyone present. "Wait! Don't kill him."

"Why should I spare his life? The one who sent me here?" Nam-Ek demanded, turning the dagger so that it was pressed at Danny's throat. The boy met him unflinchingly, a cold look pooling into his silver eyes.

"He can open the gateway." Danny replied darkly. "He can free us all."

The boy shifted and stood up, moving just enough so that his cloak completely enshrouded his face, leaving all dark but the glow of two corrupted silver eyes. Clark's eyes widened in fear at that dark gaze; in that instant Danny looked purely malevolent, almost more threatening than Zod had in the barn. Among the group there was a subtle sense of power shifting, as though his cousin had somehow taken control of the group and not in a good way. Clark thrashed against his captor, struggling desperately to escape. But a moment later Danny was on him, delivering a swift backhand to his face.

"You will be silent." Danny hissed, his voice just loud enough that everyone could hear. But then it dropped to a whisper, barely audible to Clark over the desert wind. "Just play along, we won't get rid of them. But I'll get you to the gateway safe enough." Then Danny rose, delivering a sharp backhand against his cheek before stepping away from him, and Clark saw a smug smirk on the boy's pale face.

"Who are you?" Clark's female captor asked, tightening her grip on his arms.

"My name is Phantom." Danny replied coldly, a cruel look in his eyes as he gazed towards Clark's captor. "The ghost destined to raze both worlds to the ground." He paused, choosing that moment to casually examine his fingernails. Clark had to admit, Danny was a phenomenal actor to be able to pull the 'evil' facade off so easily. "I suppose the Observant's Council took aggrievance to that."

Nam-Ek visibly sputtered. "You have a corporeal form!" The dark skinned man replied, green eyes wide as he took a wary step away.

Danny smirked; his blackened silver eyes somehow making him look even more sinister against the desert wasteland. "I do." He replied smugly. "Now I'm sure you and the lovely Miss Aethyr here could talk all day, but I would much rather return to the Real World. I hear rumour that your little leader has been returned and I'm sure he would relish the opportunity for a true challenge. There's nothing worse than an uncontested victory."

"Why shouldn't we just leave you here?" Nam-Ek retorted hotly, clearly unsettled by Danny's dark looks.

"I suppose you could," Danny trailed with a shrug. "But as I'm currently the only one that knows how to use the gateway, I would advise against it."

Danny turned away with a smirk, taking two steps before he paused. "Bring that for me." He commented, not even bothering to look back at him. "He will be needed." And Danny walked onwards, leaving Clark slightly concerned about his cousin's current motivations.

He was grabbed harshly, each of the Kryptonians grabbing one arm tightly as Danny led the way. There was something truly menacing in the way Danny had manipulated them, somehow sounding like Lex in the callous way he acted towards the people around him. It was as though all three Kryptonians had been reduced to mere objects that the younger boy could play with, and Clark didn't like it.

Danny marched onwards, shoulders square and looking chillingly regal as he led their group on through the grey desert. His cloak billowed around him, making him look somehow more powerful than any of them, despite the fact that at the moment none of them had any powers. It was a different side of Danny, a much darker one. And even if it was only an act it made Clark feel concerned with how easily he'd built up the illusion. Danny was a phenomenal actor, he knew that first hand. But Danny never lied. He'd tell half truths and let people make their own conclusions, but he could never tell a convincing lie. And that meant that there was at least some truth in the tale that had earned Nam-Ek and Aethyr's tenuous trust.

The younger boy paused at the top of a rise, gesturing towards a blackened archway at the bottom. Clark stumbled in his captors' grasp, but he was able to make out the structure. It was simple, looking like a simplified version of the crystalline structure of the Fortress, but there was one key difference. It was made of cobalt black, making it look sinister for all its familiarity in the wasteland landscape. Danny allowed them a brief moments rest before striding forward, lips pursed in silence. All too soon they were standing just outside the structure, allowing Clark his first glance inside where a small consol with the 'El' emblem silhouetted on the top lay.

"The others will be here soon. Open the gateway." Nam-Ek demanded, throwing Clark bodily forwards and against the consol.

"He doesn't know how." Danny growled, his voice filled with dark impatience as he glared at the green eyed Kryptonian. "But I do. Give me the knife." Clark could only watch as Danny grabbed the knife from Nam-Ek's hands, the blade glinting wickedly for a moment in the boy's considering hands. A malicious smirk appeared on the boy's face and Clark gasped at the sudden pain as the blade slid quickly across the palm of his hand.

"His blood," Danny commented, holding the darkened blade up to face the two other Kryptonians. "The blood of the House of El. It's the key to open the gateway."

"I trusted you." Clark snarled, glaring angrily at his cousin. This facade had thrown him off, thrown an insidious seed of doubt into his mind. And he wondered just how much this place had affected his cousin, how much of it came from the boy himself. Because the Danny he was seeing now was nothing like the boy that had spent the better part of a year with him, at least superficially. But the doubt was there, and Clark found that no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't read the emotion in his cousin's dark silver eyes.

"Trust is for the weak." Nam-Ek spat, his green eyes smirking greedily at Clark's prone and bleeding form.

"You're right." Danny replied, darting forward with the blade and stabbing Nam-Ek in the leg. The dark skinned man fell, eliciting a panicked cry from Aethyr who was instantly by his side.

"The gateway!" Danny commanded, gesturing quickly behind Clark. "Go Clark!" And that look held no room for debate. He saw the way the cold facade melted away into a face of determination as the two Kryptonians advanced on him. Clark's faith was restored, the seed of doubt dismissed as the Phantom Zone playing with his head as he looked into Danny's harried eyes. He wanted to hold back, wait just the minute it took for Danny to break free and come with him, but the boy briefly met his eyes and shook his head.

He had to go alone.

Clark planted his hand onto the consol, smearing the blood across the plate. He looked up briefly, too quick and yet far too long as he watched Nam-Ek's dagger sink into his cousin's chest. He was screaming, Danny's pained yell blending into his own as the world flashed bright white around him. His last image of that perdition was Danny sinking heavily to his knees, the smirking form of Nam-Ek standing over him. And then there was nothing as white light consumed him, taking him away from his cousin and the cruel reality of the Phantom Zone.

Clark gasped, eyes opening to a sunburnt field. He was sitting in the middle of a sunken crater, probably twenty feet in diameter. The first thing he felt was the comforting warmth of the sun's rays, filling him from the inside and renewing his strength as he felt his powers return. He stood up quickly, idly noting that his jacket had somehow been restored when he was released. Clark growled angrily as images of the decimated city, of Zod's cruel smirk and of Danny's sacrifice crossed his mind. And he knew what he had to do.

Danny was a ghost; he'd survived worse wounds than a stab wound to the heart. Heck, he'd survived being vivisected. Clark raced out of the field, desperately hoping that by some miracle his cousin would be okay, all the while knowing that without his powers he didn't stand a chance. Clark growled, angrily forcing dark thoughts out of his mind as he raced onwards. He couldn't afford to think about that now. Instead he had to focus on the task at hand. He had to make sure the world was safe.

Had to make sure that Danny's sacrifice meant something.

And to do that he had to stop Zod. Once and for all.

---

AN; I know all the Smallville loyalists are gonna shoot me for not having Raya, but as much as I loved her, her not being there meant that Danny had to go into the Zone. Plus... I was heartbroken when Clark met her, then lost her, then met her again only so she could die in his arms. *Sniffles*

Does this count as an evil cliff hanger of doom? Leaving you with an ending such as this?

Danny's in the Phantom Zone, dying from a stab wound... or is he?
And what about Chole's kiss, will Danny be able to fulfil his promise to return safely?
Will Clark be able to defeat Zod without his cousin, knowing that he may never see him again?

Lots of questions, and lots of love to all my faithful reviewers, seriously, you guys are the ones that keep me going.

And I think this is officially the longest chapter of JAMF to date, ringing in at roughly 18600 words and 32 pages in Word. So... well done for getting this far.

By the by, if it's not clear from the short temper and mood swings... Danny is still pretty roughed up from what happened on Earth; essentially the only thing keeping him going is the need to get Clark back to stop Zod. So he knows he physically can't fight Nam-Ek and Aethyr off when they stop him and Clark.

As always, adieu, bon soir, and stay well,

Bluerose