Underline means they're speaking in Tameran.

Black Victor Cachat- M'gann's mind reading goes back to when Robin told her it's okay to read the bad guy's minds. Which I think led to what she did in season 2.

Paragon Eight- I don't have plans for a Supergirl hookup actually.

Plurg- One more update tomorrow. Every episode, I post the chapters for are daily for five days.

Guests- I think you'll be surprised later in the story.

4.

Tameran Gladiatorial Arena

August 23

10:52 UTC

Marching through long, stone lined hallways, Conner and Jaime were jabbed in the back by Tameranian guards using their spears. Heavy shackles kept them from raising their arms up too high and it was quite hard to se anything in front of them due to the dimly lit environment.

"Et teuwel bastish!"

"What was that?" Jaime asked as he was forced forward next to Conner.

"How would I know? There's a lot of...aliens down here with us. Could be any one of them." Straining to see anything, Conner could only make out the dark outline of a large individual in the same predicament as them. "I just have a bad feeling about this."

Heading further into the dimly lit corridor, the two Earthlings could hear the chanting of a crowd steadily getting louder and louder. Entering a large, round central area where the hallways met up with a barred metal door leading outside, the two were surrounded by a large number of guards and various aliens, some large, some small, but all humanoid in appearance. After being forced to line up, several Tameranain guards came forward and attached metal collars around the captive's necks and making sure they were on securely. Another one then typed a few keystrokes into a remote-like object while small red lights lit up on the side of the collars, except for Conner and a few others who already had one on.

"Attention," one of the more heavily armed guards shouted at the prisoners. "The collars mounted around you're necks translate any language into what you are fluent in. Should you decide to remove them, they will explode. Should you think you would survive that, just remember, they suppress any abilities you have. You are here for the sole purpose of entertaining our Queen and determining her future mate. The one standing tall among the fallen, will be Tameran's new king and Queen Komand'r's new mate. Prepare to enter the combat area, and may only the strongest survive."

"Um, Conner?" Jaime asked.

"Is this for real?" an alien asked.

"What?" Conner answered Jaime.

"I could be king," another alien said quietly

"They really mean we have to fight to the death?"

"Guess so."

"I, I don't want to do this," a frightened alien declared. "I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS!"

Grabbing this collar, a blue skinned reptilian alien ripped it off. The moment he did so, a wire stretched from one end to he other as a high pitched beep sounded a moment before his head was no more. Those close by, including Jamie and Conner, were splattered with blue goo from the alien.

"HA HA! Now that's entertainment!" Standing a few yards away from the two team members, a large, muscular, white skinned alien with glowing red eyes grew excited at what just happened.

Signaling several of the guards, the main one faced a large gate leading outside. Slowly, the large, heavy gate opened up, splitting down the middle as the crowd got even louder. Again, the prisoners were pushed forward and were greeted by a roar from the crowd of Tamerans filling stone seats circling a wide, dirt floor area with large columns and rocks scattered about. One by one, each of the remaining prisoners were taken outside into the bright sunlight with Conner and Jaime being among some of the last ones out.

Stepping onto the loose soil, Conner breathed out a long breath. Like the others, he not only wore a collar around his neck, but also the same skin tight pants as the other prisoners. Dark purple for the most part, they had a long patch of light, pastel purple on the outside of their legs with metallic belts and black, calf high, boots.

Looking around, Jaime took in everything he could, coming to the conclusion he and Conner may have traveled back to the Roman Empire only with aliens in place of humans. "This looks like-"

"The Coliseum," the Kryptonian finished.

Seeing the prisoners enter the arena, Blackfire stood from her shaded seat lined with only the softest pillows and with every delicacy Tameran was known for. Servants stood back from their spots as she flew to the end of her royal box seat.

Outfitted in royal armor, Komand'r resembled an unstoppable force. Black and purple heavy armor covered her from head to toe with spikes lining her elevated, booted feet, knees, elbows, knuckles, and shoulders. Tameranian designs decorated her breast plate with a flexible material covering her stomach and joints. A tall, black metal collar stretched nearly to the top of her head with a purple cape hanging from the top of her shoulders.

"I'm going to thoroughly enjoy this," Komand'r said to herself. "Let the tournament begin!"

On her words, a loud chorus of horns and cheers exploded from the arena and could be heard far and wide.

Tameranian Palace

August 23

11:12 UTC

"You finished in there!?" Supergirl asked as she waited outside a room with a single light inside.

"Hey, this tech is not cheap like a shirt so it takes time to fully equip," Red X yelled from inside the room. "Not that I care."

"Cause you stole it?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Lucky shot in the dark."

Exiting the room, Red X adjusted his gauntlets and made sure everything was in place. Back in his uniform, he had the eyes of his mask glow red for an instant as his suit was now powered up.

"Here, big guy might want this back." Grabbing a red cloth from hanging over his shoulder, the Reaper faced anti-hero tossed it to the red and blue wearing blonde.

"Superboy's shirt."

"Found it in there displayed like a trophy next to my armor. Now," taking out a two foot long object, he had it expand into a five foot quarter staff, "where's our way off this rock?"

"Help us get our guys back, you get your trip home."

"Might want to sweeten the deal then, blondie. You want my help, I need incentive."

"You need a way back to Earth."

Flying around the corner and into view, Starfire saw the two standing in a face off type of situation. "Supergirl, Red X, we need to hurry. The death combat has just begun and we need to get to the super boy and beetle of blue."

"We're coming, Star." Narrowing her eyes at the masked man, Supergirl had them slightly turn red from her heat vision. "You will hep us, or we will le-"

"On second thought, I think I'll just sit next to Orange Crush over there on the way home, if you don't mind."

As Red X walked of, Supergirl let out a quiet snarl. "And what if I do mind?"

"Tough, cause I got dibs."

Gladiatorial Arena-

Chaos would not be the word to describe what was going on in the arena with thousands of Tamerans watching and cheering for more. Bodies of various aliens lay still on the dirt as those making up the stronger or smarter of the prisoners quickly dispatched of each other. Broken shackles were used as makeshift weapons as were the stones lying about and whatever debris the combatants could get ahold of.

Handfuls of dirt were used to blind opponents while others used their bare hands to finish off the ones they faced before moving onto someone else. There were a few instances where one of the super powered aliens would use their massive strength to gain an upper hand on the others before having the tables turned on them, thanks to the collars they wore and the Queen of Tameran controlling what they can and cannot do. One such stone skinned alien was unfortunate enough to find out his strength was only temporary when he lifted a large column above his head and found himself unable to hold it. It came crashing down on him and ended his life.

"Oh this is just too much fun." With an evil laugh, Komand'r pressed a few buttons on her remote to trigger the collars and allow some to gain back their abilities while others lost theirs.

Running from a rather large alien with beige skin covered with long spike-like tendrils on its back, Jaime darted around the bodies of fallen prisoners as well as those caught up in fighting each other. No matter what he tried, the large creature was right behind him with long, sharp claws ready to tear into the Hispanic teen's flesh.

With numerous fights around him, Jaime had to stay on his toes to simply survive. At first, he and Conner had stayed together until they were rushed by a group of purple skinned aliens armed with their shackles swinging over their heads. They were dealt with rather quickly, which resulted in the two losing each other.

Sliding under a toppled column, Jaime grabbed the first object he could to use as a weapon, and swung it as hard as he could at the pursuing alien. Spit and teeth flew from his mouth the moment the black ops member's attack connected, only it did not score a knockout like he hoped. The alien was now more angry than before.

"Um," tossing his weapon down, Jaime held his hands up, "s, sorry?"

Jaime Reyes, it is imperative you run immediately. Time is of the essence.

"You're back online?" Jaime asked as he began running for his life again.

My abilities have been overridden with the device planted on me. I am currently attempting to break that override before armoring up.

"I would prefer you armor me up now!" The teen leapt over a fallen minotaur looking alien while the one following him simply bat it to the side. "Don't know how long I can keep this up."

Just have to reconfigure the signal being used.

Letting out a huff, Jaime only hoped his tech would be back to working order sooner than later.

Across the arena, Conner was having about as much luck as jaime was with his powers not working. Not used to being as vulnerable as a regular person, he was feeling the hits he was receiving and actually getting winded. Not being able to absorb a continuous amount of energy from the sun would have that effect on a Kryptonian.

"Hey, come over here you little scuzz bug slimo!"

Looking behind him, Conner saw the large white skinned alien humanoid making his way over to him. His booted feet pounded into the ground with each step as he drew closer. One smaller alien thought he could get the drop on the larger one and attempted to claw at his back. He was immediately grabbed and thrown toward the audience where an electrical current coursed trough his body before he could land in the stands. Apparently, the collars also made it impossible to escape through the crowd.

"Fraggin' bastish!" Charging forward now, the large humanoid reared his fist back and slammed it into the ground, creating a shallow crater where Conner once stood. Not giving up on the attack, he then tried to grab the Kyrypto/human but missed as Conner ducked under then landed a kick to his side.

"Guh, geez! What are you made of?!" Hobbling from connecting his shin to the alien's rib section, Conner backed up, ready for another attack.

"Only the best goes into making the 'Main Man', little maggot."

Grabbing a good sized boulder, the large alien threw the object Conner's way, missing him, but distracting him enough to hit a shoulder charge. With the Titan co-leader skidding to a halt, the alien quickly grabbed him by the leg and threw him into the wall, then hit a front kick to his torso.

"Heard you were super strong. Looks like Lobo heard wrong. Gonna enjoy peeling your face from your head to use as a snot rag." Grabbing Conner by the neck, the alien, who went by Lobo, put on enough pressure to choke the life from him.

From her private box, Queen Komand'r saw Lobo ready to finish off Conner and let out series of tisks. "Oh no, we can't have the hot one go out without a fighting chance."

Pressing a few buttons on her remote, Komand'r had Conner's collar activate, allowing him to use his strength and for Lobo to lose his. "There now. High heel's on the other foot."

With his fist cocked back, Lobo went to deliver the finishing blow when it felt as if his hand hit solid steel and cracked in several places. Letting out a howl of pain, he dropped Conner who momentarily questioned what had happened before picking up a stone and easily crushing it. Snarling, he then leapt up and landed a hard right cross to Lobo's face, sending him backwards a few meters. A beep then sounded on his collar, signaling his powers were now nullified.

"Can't have this too easy, can we, babe." Letting out another laugh, Komand'r had the last standing prisoner's powers deactivate. "Now, let's see what you're really made of."

"Conner!" Joining his friend, Jaime nearly fell to his knees from being exhausted. The alien following him had slowed down and yelled at the remaining dozen or so prisoners.

"Where have you been?" Conner asked as he helped his friend stay on his feet.

"Been, been running, from, from monstroso over there. You?"

"Getting my behind kicked."

"Attack the two humans!" Jaime's alien 'friend' ordered.

"Why should we listen to you?" another one responded.

"The Tameran Queen shows them favor. They have their strength," the alien lied. "They can't take us all on at once!"

"I want the little one's scalp!"

"I want the little one's head!"

"I want the little ones eyes!"

"I claim his skin!"

"Jeez, I always wanted to be popular," Jaime said. "But not like this."

Circling around the two team members, the large number of aliens made sure there was no way they could escape. Both Earthlings were literally backed into a corner as the stone wall was directly behind them. Cheers from the crowd increased in volume at the impending massacre about to happen as Komand'r looked down upon the two and sighed.

"Too bad the only good looking ones won't survive this. Oh well, only shows they were not worthy of being with me." Tossing the remote to the side, the queen sat back in her throne and smiled wickedly as she enjoyed the show.

"Nice knowing you, hermano," Jaime told Conner as they went into a defensive position.

"Same here." With his fists clenched tightly, Conner was ready to go down swinging.

Stepping forward, a large, nearly seven foot cyclops alien with mountains for muscles snarled with drool flowing out of his mouth.

"Um, you take the ugly one," Jaime said as he stepped behind Conner.

"Thanks. But you should take the ugly one."

"No, you take the ugly one."

"Fine, I'll take the ugly one." No sooner had conner said those words, when another, equally gruesome alien stepped forward. "Um, which one's the ugly one?"

Rolling his shoulders, the alien responsible for uniting the others against the two, let out a growl. "Tear them to shreds."

Advancing, the group of aliens forced the two Earthlings back, each was already mentally claiming the different parts they wanted as trophies when twin streaks of incredibly hot light burned the ground before them. A second after that, a blur of red and blue shot across from the side with two of the leading aliens disappearing from sight. Following that, a bombardment of green orbs shook the ground, kicking the dirt up and forcing the rest back where a few of them were lifted into the air by an invisible force and thrown into the wall to knock them out.

"Miss me, chico?" Flying in a low arc, Wonder Girl shot past both her boyfriend and Conner, and planted both of her fists into the gut of another alien, landed, then went to work fighting the rest.

Nailing a left hook, the blonde demi-Amazon knocked an alien back before smashing another one's face with a leaping spinning back kick. Grabbing her rope, Wonder Girl let it fly over her head to create a dome-like structure to ensnare another one looking to slam his fist into her. With his arms caught, the black ops member flew upwards with her rope trailing behind her then flipped the captured alien over her shoulder to smash him into the ground.

Separated from the blonde black ops member, Mrs. Martian battled an armored being with is back impervious to attacks. Taking advantage of this fact, he often would take strong, fast swipes with his tail and keep her at a distance with broken shackles he used as weapons.

Blocking a few swipes from the metal chains by creating a barrier over her forearms, the Titan co-leader drew him in where she grabbed hold of his right fist. The moment her hands locked around his hand and wrist, she phased through the dirt floor, trapping him in an exposed position, then burst from the ground, taking him out with an uppercut to the face. Loose soil rained down around her from where his fist came out of the ground as she hovered for a moment before flying off to her next opponent looking to do harm to her husband.

Moving faster than the aliens could keep up, Supergirl went from one, to another, then another while landing hits to their heads. None could block or counter her attacks and were soon down to their knees from the onslaught. Rushing two of them, the blonde Kryptonian roughly grabbed them by the necks and threw them into the high walls where they hit hard, leaving cracks in the stone. As for the last one, she quickly flew over to him, grabbed him by the legs, and went into an incredibly fast spin.

Resembling a tornado, Supergirl picked up speed as she flew into the air the let go. The unfortunate alien flew like a bullet towards the crowd, stopping only when he was electrocuted by his collar upon reaching the invisible barrier surrounding the arena floor. Looking around the area, the Kryptonian woman spotted a few remaining aliens attempting to flee the battle and gave chase.

"Guards!" Komand'r shouted as she got to her feet and marched down the few steps below her throne. "Attack the ones interrupting the tournament! I'll take care of the prisoners myself. No survivors."

Reaching over to where she tossed her remote, Komand'r saw it was nowhere to be seen. "Guards, find my remote for the collars! Guards! Guards?!"

"Looking for this?" Sitting on her throne with his legs dangling over the armrest, Red X waived the remote in the air as he spun his collapsed staff in the other hand. On the ground lay her royal guards, knocked out with red binds wrapped around them.

"Wha-how did you-"

"Trade secret, carrot girl." Moving himself to a sitting position, the masked man gave the remote a look over. "Hmm, I wonder what this release button does."

"Don't you dare!"

Pushing the mentioned button, Red X smiled beneath his mask at the reaction Komand'r had. The result was for the collars on the remaining prisoners being deactivated, popping open, and falling to the ground. "Well, look at that. Who would have guessed."

With a roar, Komand'r launched a starbolt at Red X, only to see the man disappear before being hit and reappear standing behind her. "Bet my bottom dollar, and have I got plenty, you're the old sister. Getting slow in your old age?"

"How dare you insult the Queen of Tameran. Who do you think you are?"

"Sister!"

Drawing Komand'r's attention, a female guard floated down from the sky and stood in front of the throne.

"Sister?" Komand'r asked astonished then sneered, "Koriand'r."

Taking off her helmet, Starfire tossed it to the side then powered up her fists. "I am here to challenge you for Tameran's throne, sister."

"You, want to challenge me? Since when did you develop a backbone?"

"Since I learned what being sisters really means."

On the arena floor, the three rescuers had just finished up with the last alien. Despite him gaining his super strength back, a large wolf-like humanoid stood no chance against the three superpowered women and fell quickly.

"We, we just got rescued by my girlfriend, your wife, and your cousin," Jaime quietly said once the females were finished. "The guys will never let us live this down."

"Wanna tell them that?" Conner said as he watched his wife and the others make sure they were the only ones left standing.

"No. No, not really."

"Conner!"

"Jaime!"

Rushing over to the two men, Mrs. Martian and Wonder Girl all but tackled them to the ground as they embraced their significant others, with Mrs. Martian saying how she could 'feel' Superboy again, now that his collar was off, when the crowd began chanting rhythmically.

"What's going on?" Wonder Girl asked.

"Really don't like this," Supergirl commented.

Back in the Queen's viewing box, Komand'r looked at her sister with contempt. Narrowed eyes never left the Tameranian princess who was suddenly welcomed by those who saw her.

"Whatever you're thinking, dear sister, you cannot challenge me for the throne. I'm the rightful ruler of Tameran. I defeated you, I claimed the throne and the crown." Spreading her arms out, Komand'r hovered into the air, her cape flowing behind her as if it were displaying power for her. "There is nothing you can do except turn yourself in for disobeying the sentence handed down to you for coming back home."

"No, she won't!"

Grabbing the Queen's attention, Domom'r came out of a corridor within the crowd with a large number of Tameran guards behind him.

"I told those who stand against you, the real princess, the true ruler of Tameran is back. We will not be held down by you any longer."

"You will be content with your place," Komand'r yelled. "Under my rule, Tameran is a force to be reckoned with, with only room enough for the strong. The weak will parish, as will you after I finish off my sister."

"You hold us back from what we wish to become. We may be warriors, but we wish to become more!"

The crowd began cheering, and more and more, they began to chant one word over and over, 'Kromotae''.

"Kromotae'?" Komand'r said unimpressed then looked back at her sister with an evil chuckle. "Hear that sister, dear? They believe you can defeat me in Kormotae'. Even after you lost last time. Do I really have to put you down again for you to understand you cannot defeat me? I was always the better fighter. Always the strongest between us. And I always won everything we competed in. What makes you think this will be any different?"

"Because, my sister," Koriand'r said as she floated up into the air, losing her armor and returning to her purple and silver uniform. "Last time, I wished to not fight you. I thought you loved me as I loved you. Seeing what you have done to Tameran, our people, what you have done to my friends, I know for sure you only love yourself. I challenge you to Kromotae'! For Tameran, and for myself. Do you accept, or forfeit?"

Grinning, Komand'r let out a dark laugh as she tilted her head back. "Koriand'r, when I'm done with you, no one will ever think to challenge me again. But after I put you down for good, when you're taking your last breaths, I want you to remember, you wanted this, you challenged me this time. And I did it with glee."