I do not own any DC Characters used herein, and am only employing them in a story meant for entertainment purposes only.

Man Of Steel

Original Story By Twisted-Wun & LJ58

Edited and Reposted (With Permission) by LJ58

15

Kal-El ignored the four others strapped in behind him as he aimed the ship's nose at the wormhole his computers had already located, and targeted when he had been plotting the course to the likely location of New Genesis.

Behind him, Captain Atom looked bored.

Flash, the most unlikely candidate for this mission, looked terrified. Or at least uneasy the way he kept shifting in his restraints every other millisecond.

Diana looked composed, and as regal as her manner dictated, while J'onn J'onzz seemed to be meditating on whatever he was seeing beyond the portals that held his attention.

"Sooooooooo," Flash drew out not for the first time since leaving the solar system behind. "How long is this going to take?"

"As long as it takes," the Martian informed him dryly as Kal-El focused on the coordinates he was reviewing to ensure the optimal approach to the wormhole.

"So, did anyone notice Bats sent the same guys out that went to Warworld," Flash asked. "I mean, we got Wings back there," he said, stabbing a thumb at the closed hatch that led to engineering, "Instead of the Ring-Guy, but still….."

"Flash," Diana sighed. "Shut up."

"I believe Batman intended anyone that was watching us after our defeat of Mongul should continue to watch us as we departed," J'onn pointed out without taking his gaze off the stars cape beyond his portal. "Likely, he hoped that would give him time to prepare….other defenses in the hopes that their diverted gaze wouldn't be watching the rest of the team too closely."

"What rest of the team? We barely have a dozen guys….."

"Batman has been seeking others to join us," Diana told him, wondering if Flash really was that slow, or if he just slept through all their briefings. "Discreetly."

"He has," Captain Atom asked with a frown, obviously surprised himself.

"Yes," J'onn told him as the ship began to vibrate as it neared the wormhole.

"I wasn't told either," he pointed out.

"You were….busy," J'onn told him. "We didn't want to distract you from your primary duties."

"Right," the silvery hero murmured. "My….primary duties."

"I thought he worked with the League," Kal-El remarked, reaching for a series of controls he had yet to even touch as the shaking became more noticeable.

"He's been undercover with the possible backers of Cadmus," Diana told him, eyeing the man in question as she spoke. "We hoped to find out what was really going on behind the scenes, but we had to call him out prematurely when it looked like that creature might take more than us to put down."

"I see," Kal-El murmured, glancing back at Captain Atom even as he began to manipulate controls as the ship shook violently now.

"What's that," Flash howled. "I thought this thing was safe?"

"It is," Kal-El remarked blandly. "Provided the coordinates Shayera provided with Green Lantern's aid, we have a better than ninety-two percent chance of making it through the wormhole safely."

"Better than….? What?"

"He's joking, Flash," J'onn remarked in his own bland tone.

"Joking," the speedster rasped. "That did not sound funny. Not even close," he protested.

"Well, you'll forgive me if my attempts at humor and levity are not up to your standards," he told him. "Where I grew up, there wasn't much to laugh at?"

"That Krypton place…..?"

"Your military's research labs," Kal-El told him curtly, making Captain Atom glance his way again. "Or prison. At the time, I was hard-pressed to tell any difference."

"But….. How did they keep you….? I mean, you're….you," Flash sputtered.

"It's a long story. The Daily Planet only got part of it," J'onn assured him. "But Superman is on our side. He takes the planet's welfare as seriously as we do. Perhaps," he added somberly, eyeing the back of the Kryptonian's head, "More than most."

"Entering wormhole in five seconds," he reported. "You might want to recheck your restraints. This could get bumpy," he said as Shayera made her way out of engineering, and dropped into a seat to pull on her own restraining belts.

"I've got everything as smoothed out as it's going to be. Some of those modifications almost stumped me, but I think the energy flow is good, and the hypertrans-drive looks functional."

"Hyper-what," Flash asked.

"Later," Shayera barked, looking remarkable relaxed. "You might want to compose yourself, boy. First time transitions can be…..rough."

"Transi…?"

The howl torn from Wally's throat almost deafened them all as the ship blazed with energy, and dove right into the heart of the wormhole that seemed to flare open around them only as they entered it. There was a near blinding flash of light, and then hole, and ship were gone.

MoS

Connor flew down, and hovered just over the car where two men were trying to open the lock with a metal sliver.

"Lose your keys?" The two men looked up, eyes rounded, and turned and bolted without hesitation.

Connor flew around them, intercepted them, and hovered before them again.

"No, really, because that happens to me all the time. I mean, keys? Who remembers them all the time? Right? Right?"

The men stared up at him in panic, and then split up, one of them pulling a gun.

"Now, see, that's just not friendly," he said, and flashed down instantly to grab the man's hand, gun and all, and started to squeeze.

The man howled.

"I'd let go."

He let go, and Connor crushed the weapon into a shapeless blob.

"Ta-dah," he crowed, holding the man up in his free hand as he tossed the gun toward a nearby waste can. "Instant gun control. Am I good, or….? Oh, right," he said, and flew so fast after the other man that the one in his grip howled, and vomited.

He glared as he dropped in front of the second thief, and checked himself.

"You'd better be glad that didn't get on my jacket," he growled, and finding a discarded scrap of old, rusty fencing, bound the two men together inside, and flew them back to the car, and dropped them next to it.

"Hey, this yours," he asked the wide-eyed young man coming out of the brownstone to gape at him.

"Uh, yeah," he said, shutting off the alarm that had gone off belatedly on the late-model sedan.

"Thanks," Connor grinned. "I caught these two trying to break into it, and there's a gun two blocks that way in a trash can one of them had."

"In a trash can," the man sputtered as Connor started to rise back into the sky. "Are you nuts? What if some kid….?"

"Trust me," he grinned, tossing a salute at the young man who was still at least five years older than Connor appeared from the look of him. "No one will be using it again. Not without major recycling," he grinned, and sped off into the dark sky.

The man stared after him, then reached for his cell phone after he stared at the two men on the sidewalk wrapped up so tightly in that rusty fence wire that it looked like it would take a while to cut them out. Dialing 911, he tried to explain he wasn't joking, or playing a prank.

Across the street, hidden in shadow, two people watched from the alley.

"So that is Superboy," a voice drawled as special binoculars lowered once the boy was out of sight. "I'm not impressed."

"Are you nuts," the stocky man with the silver-haired woman sputtered. "Did you see him? He took those two out like…. Like…."

"Rest your feeble mind," the woman whose hair belied her age spat. "I saw enough to now that he is not anywhere near our Kryptonian friend's class. He was almost as fast, but he's not as strong, or as clever. For one, he obviously doesn't have his remarkable senses, or he would have spotted us," she sneered.

"But…."

"Be still. The information I've gotten from Cadmus will help, but I don't think we'll need much to stop this so-called hero. Just the right scenario," the woman smiled with an ethereal beauty that defied immediate description. "Come, we've work to do."

The man sighed, wished he had never joined Intergang, and followed.

It wasn't like he had a choice. Even before Bruno Mannheim took over, Intergang only had one retirement policy. The permanent kind. It had gotten worse since Bruno showed up with his new backers. The kind that really made you question your place in the world. Or the universe.

"Yes, boss," he called her, knowing she didn't like anyone using her name. Especially in public.

But it seemed that everyone in Intergang was weird of late. She just happened to be one of the weirder ones.

MoS

"Holy spit, what was that," Flash moaned as he finally lifted his head, and tried to remember how to breathe.

"Transition. We went between the bounds of the spatial realm you perceive as reality, to travel time and space between what are essentially dimensional folds."

"Say, what," Flash sputtered.

"Sorry," Kal-El went on. "That's as simple as I can explain it without getting bogged down in fourth-dimensional quantum theory."

"Uh, right," Flash murmured, shaking his head, and then wishing he hadn't.

He couldn't help but note that everyone else seemed already awake and aware.

"Don't feel bad," Shayera smiled at him. "I've known experienced warriors who still have trouble with transitions."

"Great," he muttered.

"The important thing is that we're on our way, and everything worked as well as Kal-El hoped," Diana told him.

Wally glanced out the nearest portal, and frowned.

"What happened to the stars?"

"We're between spatial boundaries," Captain Atom reminded him. "No stars, per se, and nothing you would want to stare at long anyway," he added, not even looking at the iridescent grayness beyond the ship.

"So, this thing can really…..do warp speed?"

"Warp speed," Kal-El frowned.

"This isn't a television show," J'onn told him. "We are not so much traveling faster than light, as we are simply traveling beyond….everything else."

"Everything, huh," Flash murmured. "Then how do we know where we're going? Or when we get there?"

"That's the job of the navigational computer," Kal-El told him. "Thankfully, this vessel had an adequate one already on board."

"It was Sp'l'loquan, it should be," the winged Thanagarian informed him. "It's why I took it, rather than any of the other heaps on Warworld."

"So, how did you end up on Warworld anyway," Diana asked.

"Long story," the redhead murmured ruefully.

"We seem to have time," Diana retorted.

Shayera eyed her, and shrugged.

"If you're really that interested, the short version is….I was exiled."

"Exiled?"

"I did something…..wrong. Well, wrong in my people's eyes."

"Yeah, what was that?"

"I tried to kill my commander," she told Flash in an irritated grumble.

"I assume you had cause?"

Shayera eyed Diana for a moment, but said nothing. She glanced to Kal-El, and Diana noted the direction of her gaze.

"I take it you've heard this one already?"

"Yes," Kal-El told her.

"You trust her?"

"I do."

Diana nodded.

"Good enough for me."

"Just like that," Flash sputtered.

"We cannot all be as suspicious as Batman," Diana reminded him.

"Princess," he snorted. "No one is as suspicious as Batman. So, Shayera, what made you try to kill your commander?"

"He gave orders I didn't like."

"Gave orders…. That's all?"

Shayera drew a deep breath.

"Thanagarians are warriors. We are raised from the nest to be warriors. We teeth on steel even before we are weaned."

"Ouch," Flash grimaced.

"It is a good way. It was a proud way," Shayera told him.

"What happened," Diana asked.

"We were taking a colony back from the egg-breaking Gordanians."

"Egg-breaking…..?"

"Let her finish," Captain Atom cut him off.

He had long felt that for the fastest man alive, the Flash could be more than a little slow.

Shayera eyed the silver-hued hero, then went on.

"The colony leaders were suspected of actively aiding the Gordanians against our people. Trading secrets for their own lives. My commander wanted an example made.

"That's common in war," Captain Atom remarked noncommittally.

"My commander wanted an….extreme example set. He not only wanted all the leaders executed, he wanted their families slain to the last babe."

"That's….."

"Barbaric," Diana finished for Flash, who seemed to have lost the ability to express himself just then.

"I won't deny that Thanagrians are savage in their own way. On Thanagar, especially against the Gordanians, you strike first, or you die. We are warriors, and don't question the life we lead. But to strike down babes and children? Even I could not do that."

"So you were exiled," J'onn said sympathetically.

"Only because they could not kill me," she sighed.

"Couldn't…..?"

"I was one of the elite corps of warriors that held the Polarians during the last invasion. I made lieutenant at my nest-mates's side by slaying more Gordanians in a single battle than our entire unit. I am…..a very good warrior."

"And you couldn't kill your commander?"

Shayera glared at Flash.

"It does seem peculiar for so accomplished a warrior."

"My commander is just as skilled as I. And….in the end, I couldn't strike the death blow. He was my nest-mate, after all. He would have father to our hatchlings. Instead, he was my executioner. He chose to shame me with exile, rather than grant me an honorable death."

"There is no shame in living," Kal-El told her. "So long as there is life, there is always hope."

"Now you sound more human than Kryptonian," Shayera snorted.

"Even Krypton had life-appreciation…."

"They were just beyond xenophobic, and didn't appreciate life coming to them from beyond their own world," she reminded him.

Kal-El said nothing for a moment, and then nodded.

"That is true."

"So, they exiled you to Warworld?"

Shayera snorted at Flash again.

"Hardly. I was to be sent to a prison planet. Not wanting to face that hardship, I stole a long-range scout…"

"Grabbing ships seems a habit with you," Flash remarked. "You're not going to grab this one, and leave us stranded out here, are you?"

No one commented as Shayera now glared potently at him.

"I'm just saying….."

"I was two weeks out of Thanagarian space when I blundered into a slaver run. They damaged my ship in the battle, and true to form, the cowards overran me with sheer numbers. Just my luck they were selling fresh stock to Mongul's slave pens."

"Considering how that ended, it was fortunate for you," J'onn reminded her.

Shayera eyed the Martian, then nodded.

"Yes, you're right. I'm lucky you showed when you did, and were able to divert even Mongul long enough for me to break out, and find a ship that could get me past the security posts. As I told Kal-El, you have my gratitude. And, do you need it, my service at your side in any battles you yet face."

"We usually try not to kill anyone," Flash told her, eyeing the mace she still carried.

"Sparing enemies is a good way to end up with a blade in your back," she told him.

"Well…"

"What Flash means," J'onn cut him off before he could say something inane. Again. "Is that humans, especially in the nation we reside, favor turning their criminals over to the courts for the Law to judge. If a death sentence is warranted, the courts decide. And carry out that judgment. Not individuals."

"And if they are trying to kill you?"

"We defend ourselves," Diana said pointedly, raising a clenched fist. "But there are few that can withstand our combined power. At least, so far. Of late….."

Her eyes went to Kal-El.

"And then there is this Darkseid character," Flash added, missing her troubled expression.

"How is it this Darkseid never attacked your people?"

"He tried. Once," Shayera told Captain Atom. "We are one of the few, the very few planets to successfully drive him back. Since we were no real threat to his campaign, and had nothing to do with it, he turned his attention elsewhere."

"Wait. Your people drove him off?"

"Nth metal," she reminded Flash. "It is far more powerful than you realize. My weapon can disrupt even magical forces, and is likely powerful enough to even slow down Kal-El if used properly."

"Really," Captain Atom murmured as he glanced at the mace.

"Even you," Shayera added, eyeing the hero.

Captain Atom said nothing to that.

"All right. We are on course, and should exit the wormhole in….. .three hours. I suggest we rest. Eat if you wish nourishment. I will be in the engineering section ensuring the transition did no unexpected damage. Try not to touch anything," Kal-El added as he rose, looking pointedly at Flash.

"What? Why does everyone always think I…..?"

"Just don't touch anything," J'onn told him firmly as Kal-El walked past them toward the hatch.

"I could use a bite," Flash grumbled. "Anyone else."

"Coffee sounds good," Diana agreed, rising with him as Kal-El disappeared through the engineering hatch. "Shayera?"

"I'll watch the instruments for now. Just in case," she told them as J'onn made no move to leave.

"I'll be in engineering with….Superman," Captain Atom murmured as he stood up. "There's a few things I would like to discuss with him."

"So," Shayera asked as she took Kal-El's seat, and glanced back at the Martian. "What's on your mind?"

"What makes you think….?"

"I'm a warrior. Not an idiot. I imagine your Batman has questions he expects you to answer for him."

"Batman is a very careful man. His concern, however, is more with Kal-El than you."

"Really? Why's that," she asked carelessly.

"Because so far as we know, you aren't as unstoppable as a Kryptonian."

Shayera grinned.

"Do you know my people once tried to approach Krypton. We thought a planet of isolationist scientists would be easy prey to add to our empire."

"I take it you were wrong?"

"We never saw them. Not one soul. Their tech kept our entire fleet out of their system. Just their tech. Robotic defenses the like even we had never seen."

"You've a point, I'm guessing?"

"Oh, yes. Superman…. Kal-El…. Is likely as Kryptonian as any of his forebears. Powerful as they were, they were made even more powerful because of their minds. Their technology. If you think his personal power is unbeatable, your paranoid friend is going to hate knowing that Kal-El has all the knowledge and history of his homeworld at his fingers."

"I know."

"And your Batman isn't worried over that?"

"I've not told him."

Shayera looked at the stoic Martian, and chortled.

"So, the mind-reader can keep secrets," she drawled.

"I do not read minds carelessly. It's a privacy issue I do not like to violate."

"Without cause?"

"Without cause," he nodded.

"I'll warn you now, Martian," she told him. "I've faced telepaths before, so you shouldn't trespass unbidden. My mind can be….dangerous for your kind."

"Then it is just as well I do not feel the need to try," J'onn smiled blandly at her.

Shayera just grunted, and turned to eye the instruments before her.

Continued….