Quick Recap. Clark, and Deanna are in the Phantom Zone. Deanna is held captive by Zod in his bed chamber; He has told her he knows of her empathic gifts, and that she must give him an heir lest she be harmed after of which he leaves. Meanwhile Clark has been forced into becoming a gladiator with threat of Deanna's blood being on his hands if he refuses. Clark reluctantly accepts but with his own plans in mind.

We now return two hours later to find Deanna in the bed chamber pacing the floor planning her next move.

Chapter 4 - To The Death, or Not?

Deanna paced the floor; What was she to do? She couldn't give herself to Zod, have him enslave humanity, and the future itself be might never exist then, or worse she might never be born. However she couldn't let the man she love be killed either.

"There has to be a way for me to have my cake, and eat it too." She thought.

Just then her thoughts were interrupted by one the guards.

"Here" He said gruffly tossing a sack of cloths at her.

"Get dressed, and be quick about it. General Zod wants to see you."

Deanna stared at him; Did this idiot really expect her to do what he said?

"You will dress, or we will drag you to him as you are by your hands leaving lour clothes in tatters."

That got her attention; She picked up the sack, and the guard left. She then started taking out the clothes to take better look at them. They weren't as offensive as she expected them to be. Quite the contrary really. A black dress with satin see through long sleeves; and a pair of black sandles. The only draw back to it was that the dress was so tight it looked like it would be painted on her if she wore it. She looked at it with disdain.

"This is Zod's way of getting on my good side?" She thought to herself.

It mattered little though she had been made aware of the consequences if she refused; So she quickly decided to stomach the embarrassment, and wear it. After all it was better to have some form of decency than none at all. About fifteen minutes passed, and she came out fully dressed; The guard leered at her, and she backhanded him across the face.

Then she said with as much brutality as she could muster "Take me to Zod you worm."

The guard smiled, and did as he was told. Minutes later she was entering the entrance to the arena. It was a room covered by a large beige tent; with black stone pillars to support it, and ropes that were attached to the pillars that kept the pillars in place. The were large steel cages lined across the walls with weapons strewn across the floor beside them. These cages were where prisoners would dwell till it was there turn to fight; Behind them were roped railings attached to long wooden poles with skulls on the ends of them,And she guessed it was to keep the the onlookers at bay so as not to interfere with fight at hand. The center of the room was the arena itself; On the far end of the room were stone steps, and a the top of those steps sat Zod in a twisted wood throne. He wore a long black trench coat; black tunic, a necklace with the crystal attached at the end, A sword that hung across his chest in it's scabbert, black gauntlet gloves, black pants, and black boots.

"How appropriate that this entire place is as twisted as his soul," She thought to herself.

Zod nodded his head; The guards brought her to the foot of the stairs, and then Zod looked at her with hunger for her in his eyes.

"Kneel before Zod." He said in a commanding voice.

She stood tall, spat at the ground near his left boot, and tossed her head in such a way that meant "You wish." At this Zod nodded to his guards again, and they shoved her hard to the stone steps. Instantly she felt a hot ppain in her stomach; But she ignored it, and began to rise to her feet again. Half way to being all the way to her feet she was stopped by firm hand from one of the guards. She looked up at Zod who by now was furious. He stood slowly, and raised his hand as if to swat a fly.

"I said KNEEL!" He said menacingly.

Now very much afraid of what might happen to if she refused she got on her knees, and knelt. Zod smiled, lowered his hand, and sat down.

"That's better; Now you may rise, and sit on my lap while we talk." He said smugly.

She could tell that this was not a request but a command. So she stood; walked up to his chair, and sat on his lap.

"I'll play along for now" She thought.

Zod reached up; attempted to stoke her face, and was bit lightly on the hand as a result. He pulled back smiling; then wagged his finger in a scolding way, and spoke in a teasing way.

"I take it by that bite that you reject my honor offered to you to bare me a heir...?"

She slapped him hard across the face.

"You're absolutely right. I will not bare you any children; Not today, or ever. I love Clark; Not you, You're a MONSTER!" She shouted indignantly.

Angered by her rejection, and insolence rose furious once more,and all charm dissolved from his features.

"Very well have it your own way." Zod said anger thick in his voice.

"Lock her in a cage by herself so that she may watch as her beloved lays dying in arena, Maybe then she'll change her mind."

With that the guards drug her to a cage; threw her in, and locked it firmly. See looked out of her cage terrified at what might happen next. Zod then rose as people began to enter the arena dressed in what could only be described as medevil clothes; Zod raised his arms in welcome, and gestured for his guards to lead them to their places behind the railings. Once all the guest were assembled Zod raised a hand for silence, and spoke loudly for all to hear.

"Bring in the Gladiators so that the death match may commence."

At these words men with long spears robbed in black cloaks, light chain-mail, and black chest plates entered. There were ten of them total; they split into two groups, And stood on either side of the room to control the crowds. Then two more men wearing the same garb entered with a man dressed like a gladiator of the of the roman empire. The man was stocky; wore a brown tattered tunic, a loin cloth, gauntlets, and shoes. The guards handed him a long wicked looking cleaver, and stepped back. In came his opponent; a more built man dressed the same as the last, but instead of the same weapon he was given a sword, and shield. She thought this odd seeing as how the cleaver the other man had would cut him in with on stroke. Then a thought occurred to her "Maybe he doesn't know what his opponent has in his hand."Moments later when the guards stepped aside she saw that her assumption was right. The surprise, and horror in the man's eyes said it all to her. Zod raised his hand for silence again, and the crowed grew still.

"Begin."

The battle began in earnest. The men circle one another looking for weak points in each others defenses, and then the man with cleaver stumbled. Instantly his opponent came in slashing hard aiming for the other man's head but he ducked, and made his own attack aiming for the man's now exposed torso. Just when Deanna thought the other man was done for he brought his shield up just in to catch the blow. The he paired with his sword as the other tried again. She turned away just in time to see Clark entering still dressed in his earth clothes (all except for his red jacket) but with a chest plate, and gantlets. His blue muscle tight shirt was torn in several places, and he had blood stain on his face from where it looked like he had been beaten. His hair was tousled, and sweaty as well. But all the same though he was still the most handsome man there.

She tried calling out to him several times above the rawer of the crowd but to know avail. Finally she closed her eyes; Opened her mind to his, and said "Imzadi." Instantly Clark looked over to her; He walked as close as he could to be able to hear her when she spoke, If she did.

"Are you alright?" She asked worry in her voice.

"I'm fine, You shoulda seen the other guy." He joked sheepishly.

She rolled her eyes at him, and then spoke in a harder tone.

"Cut the tough guy nonsense Clark." She said firmly "I can sense you're in pain, Are you okay?"

"I'll live. How bout you? You look awful, well in a beautiful kind of way." He said teasingly.

She blushed. "Thanks Clark."

He smiled, and then her expression grew serious.

"Clark they want you to fight." She said warningly.

He nodded his head gravely. "I know."

She shook her head. "No you don't. I meant they want you to fight to the death."

Realization donned on him, and he looked over at Zod staring directly into his eyes. "So that's what Zod wants from me, To see me become a cold blooded killer like him" Clark thought with a shake of his head at Zod staring at him. He turned back to Deanna.

"Don't worry Deanna, That's not going to happen." He said reassuringly.

Just then their attention was turned back to the fight at hand. The man with the cleaver had gotten the upper hand, and his opponent's sword arm was suddenly gone. The other man dropped to one knee holding the stump of where his four arm used to be. He looked up; Was about to raise his shield, and was a second too slow as the cleaver came down decapitating his head from his body. The victor raised his cleaver in triumph as the crowd cheered. His opponent's body was then dragged off by his heels. Clark looked down at the man, and watched him be dragged off. Then all of a sudden Deanna cried out.

"Clark watch out!" She screamed.

Just in time for Clark to jump back, and narrowly missing being cut in two by the man. It seemed that now that one man was out of the way his attention was souly fixated on Clark. Again the man swung, and this time Clark side stepped still narrowly miss the razor edge by a hair. Then the man changed tactics. Instead of swinging left to right; He brought the cleaver down hard over his head, Clark had just barely enough time to duck, and roll as the cleaver came down on the side of a pillar taking a part of it off as it went.

"The Shield, use the Shield!" Deanna shouted.

Clark leaped for the round shield from where the fallen warrior had left it; Scooping it up as he went barrel rolling, and just in the nick of time too. For if he stay in place a second later than his whole left side would be gone. He used the shield to fend off blow after blow trying stay on the defensive, and wear his opponent down but to no avail. Finally with one massive over hand stroke the shield tore in half. Now Clark had to use it as a weapon, If for no other reason but to stay alive for Deanna's sake. He swung the shield into his opponent making him stubble, and they both struck out at each other once more. But instead of hitting each other their weapons hit one another knocking both from their hands. Clark darted toward the man, and dove at him fulled by adrenaline; But man saw it coming so he laughed, and side stepped leave Clark to hit the ground dazed giving the man time to reclaim his weapon.

"Clark, here." Deanna said as she tossed him a sharp pointed edge helmet.

He caught it clumsily. Then stood to his feet tossing a glance over his shoulder to see that the man had regained his weapon, and was running at him full force cleaver held high. Just as he was upon him Clark lashed out with an uppercut to the chin at the last possible second. The man staggered back; But Clark only pressed his attack, and swung the helmet hard into the man's arm send his weapon flying. The man fell to the ground, and the with a howl of rage he ran at Clark who side stepped sending the man crashing against Deanna's cage who cried out in pain at the impact. Enraged at his lover's pain Clark struck out again; This time taking half of the man's helmet off, and the crowd shouted out it's approval. The began to chant "Kill him, kill him." The man stared at Clark fear in his eyes; Clark's face was taught with rage, and was about to strike when he saw the fear in Deanna's eyes. What he saw there stopped him dead in his tracks. He saw her fear not of what he was thinking of doing to this man; But the fear of what he'd become if he went through with that thought. A murder. She couldn't love a man who would murder another man in cold blood. Clark looked at the man; Then at Zod, and shook his head.

"No" He said as he tossed the helmet aside.

Zod sat back in his chair; disappointment written all over his features, and then he rose slowly but deliberately. He held up his hand for silence. The crowd grew silent.

Zod spoke "In the arena we answer failer with the only thing suitable...DEATH!"

The crowd shouted out again in agreement, And Suddenly two guards were on either side of Clark holding him at bay with their spears. Zod smirked; Walked down the stone steps drawing his sword as he went, and pointing it at Clark. Deanna knew what was coming.

"Zod don't! You win, just spare his life!" She cried out.

Zod turned toward her; then turned his blade, and drove it into Clark's opponent killing him instantly. Clark gritted his teeth in anger.

"You killed him for no reason!" Clark shouted.

Zod sneered. "In any arena there is only one victor. When will you learn that it's kill, or be killed here."

"Maybe in your world it is." Clark said through gritted teeth, and then he shook his head.

"But it's not in mine Zod.

Zod's sneered became a grin. "This is my world Kalel. Oh, and consider this your one free pardon because of the girl."He said pointing at Deanna, and then added. "The next time you fail to finish the it will be you who is dead not your opponent."

Zod looked at Deanna; then motioned for his guards to remove her form her cell, and brought along. The fight was over for the moment. The crowds began to break was lead away by the guards, and Deanna was escorted away to Zod's chambers once again.

Stay tuned for Chapter 5 entitled - Treachery, and The Way Home.