Author's Note – I do not own any of the characters, Marvel and DC do.

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Chapter Five

Alert

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"I'm here!" Clark declared as he decelerated to a stop beside General Zod. Looking round at the Central Command Nexus of the Solar Defense Fleet, he noted that the normal semi-relaxed tempo had sped up quite considerably. "What's happened?"

Zod glanced at him, then used his rank circlet to send a mental command that caused the hologram of the solar system to change from its normal state to one far less cluttered. A glowing string of dots stretched from the edge of the hologram to Earth, round it several times and then back the way it came.

"…what is that?"

"A problem." Zod growled. "A big problem. That is a Kryptonian Stealth-drive trace. The Stealth-drive is not very efficient, slow and lacks agility, but it shields the craft it is mounted in from any form of detection and can be adjusted to open small holes in the shielding effect to allow for active scans. However, the drive leaves a slight resonance in the informational underlayer of the multiverse that allows its route to be plotted after three days, but the trace vanishes within ten."

"A Kryptonian Stealth-drive?" Clark repeated. "But… who?"

"We don't know." Zod growled. "My gut says it's the Kree, but we cannot rule out the Skrull or the Shi'ar, all of them have managed to acquire Kryptonian technology in the past, so any of them could be the ones who did this."

"And whoever did it has managed to perform a full recon of Earth without us knowing." Clark grimaced. "Please tell me that there's a maximum size that this Stealth-drive can conceal."

"There is." Zod confirmed. "The Golden Feather is three times the maximum size that the field can enclose and anything that uses advanced weaponry would generate too much energy for the shroud to conceal. The Kryptonian Defense Fleet used to deploy recon drones that utilized that technology, allowing us to gain advanced warning of enemy craft without them detecting us in turn. My guess would be a recon fighter launched from outside the system to perform a sweep before returning to its mothership. The Kree often used such a tactic, although the Shi'ar might have adopted that technique too. The Skrull prefer to use recon in force. We would know if it was them… unless something has happened that has changed their strategic preferences…"

Zod trailed off thoughtfully and Clark sighed.

"I see. I know you dislike politicians, should I be the one to alert the United Nations?"

"That would be for the best, Kal."

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"Ho. Lee. Shit!" Bobby Drake gasped as the headline Alien Probe Detected – Invasion Imminent? Scrolled across the bottom the the screen on which Clark was giving a speech to the assembled delegates of the United Nations. An instant later, a hand slapped the back of his head. "Ow!"

"Don't swear." Jubilation Lee snapped as she lowered her hand, ignoring the puppy-dog-eyes he sent her way.

"Come on!" Bobby pleaded. "I mean, alien invasion? They'll be mobilizing everyone! We'll finally be able to show how awesome we are!"

"Some of us proved it at the Battle of the Cure, remember?" Chris shot back from where he was sat on a chair, brushing Lara's hair as she sat on the floor, leaning against his knees as she all but purred in contentment. "I'm not sure if we'll get to do anything, though. I can still only hold my breath for thirty minutes, so I'm limited to near-earth operations unless I get a suit and there's over fifty fully-empowered Kryptonians available to smash up any invaders, not to mention all the alternate reality hero teams that Dad's arranged mutual reinforcement pacts with… and then there's… Mr Black!"

"Mr Black scary." Lara confirmed, causing almost half of the occupants of the room to stare at her in shock.

"Henchgirl helped Lara by doing something to reinforce her bones without stopping her being able to grow." Chris explained, continuing his chosen chore.

"Bones now strong as father's." Lara confirmed, idly popping a claw and looking at her reflection in the adamantium blade. "Still lighter, means move faster."

"So, we're not gonna get into it unless things go bad." Rogue mused, one hand stroking her bracelet. "Ah hope that don't happen."

"I agree." Martha Kent said as she and May Parker entered the room, pushing trolleys piled high with sandwiches and various soft drinks. "May and I have spent quite a bit of effort on helping you, we'd hate to see it go to waste."

The comment caused the building tension in the room to dissipate in laughter.

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"More aliens." Magneto swore as he watched Superman speaking on the main screen. "As if the presence of the Kryptonians and the New Olympians wasn't enough, we now have to deal with three different alien empires?"

"My lord…" Chrome offered diffidently, "In the face of this revelation, I have to ask… how can mutantkind survive against such odds without the humans and their allies?"

Magneto opened his mouth to snap at his chief acolyte, then he frowned in thought.

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"Interesting." Doom mused as he watched the feed that was being transmitted through the Gate. "It would seem that my country's relocation was just in time…"

"North Korea is now under your lieutenant's command, father, and the people are beginning the basic infrastructure projects required to link the two lands for unification." Cynthia said as she flew to land in front of her father's throne. "What do you wish to do with Kim Jong-un?"

"Keep him in stasis for now." Doom said almost absently. "Once I have raised the living standard in the land he once ruled and placed its people into my protective hand, I shall personally release him so he may see what he might have achieved were he not so focused on his own pleasures."

"Yes, father."

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"I wonder how my old friend will react to this." Charles mused as the holographic screen floated in front of him.

"No clue, chuck." Wolverine shrugged. "Judging from what we know, he'll either hide away… or try to do something big."

"If he does, he will try not to interfere with those defending the Earth." Charles stated. "To risk seeing everything he wishes to achieve destroyed is not his way."

"Kryptonite and the Gem of Cyttorak." Logan pointed out and Charles winced slightly.

"…my old friend has been known to miscalculate on occasion, though."

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"Dammit!" Bolivar Trask cursed. "Just as we'd reached the levels required for phase one, Murphy's Law decides to wake up and kick us in the teeth!"

"It is irritating." Doctor Armin Zola agreed, glancing up from the laptop he was running a set of simulations on. "Vemind me to tell you about ze Kapitan and how he caused ze Red Skull gveat problems."

"The plan will be initiated after the current crisis is resolved." Master Mold decreed from the back of the factory. "At that point, those who would seek to stop us from following our primary directives will still be recovering, making their ability to resist significantly lower. In addition, the delay will allow for the construction of additional Silver Sentinels and the preparation of additional Bio-Sentinels."

"And zat is vhy you are ze vun in charge." Zola said admiringly, his skin briefly shifting to a metallic hue before resetting.

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"Cyclops." Superman said in greeting as the mutant entered the main hall of the Watchtower.

"Superman." Scott replied. "Clark asked me to pass the word to you and your brother, our Earth just got scanned by a stealthed starship. Might have been a probe, might have been a fighter. We don't know for sure. Either way, you may want to warn the others that Reality Alpha might be calling for aid if things go bad."

"I shall see to it personally." Clark Wayne promised, then he grinned. "By the way, can I offer you some food as you tell me how my counterpart is doing with his new team?"

Scott grinned as he and Clark started to walk towards one of the cafeterias on the station, the heroes of Reality 49's Justice League flowing round them on missions of their own. "Well, he's proving to be a really good leader, although that doesn't really come as a surprise…"

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Faora-Ul watched from the bridge of Station Prime, the first construction/maintenance orbital headquarters of the Solar Defense Fleet as a dozen starships slowly separated from their docking clamps, moving on low-powered reality-thrusters as they rotated to face their assigned courses. The energy-auras of their primary engines began to gather strength as they moved outwards on their patrol.

"Ironic." She mused quietly. "A dozen ships, each a copy of the Golden Feather, and not a single Kryptonian amongst their crews."

"But our numbers are growing, thanks to Kal-El." Az-Lan said from behind her, forcing Faora-Ul to suppress her twitch of shock. After a moment to check that she was in full control of her expression, she turned to face her flag lieutenant.

"They are." She agreed, her face briefly softening as she remembered being the guest of honor at the decanting of the fiftieth New Kryptonian child. "And with the longevity that the Sun grants us, we shall live long enough to witness our people rise once more. And this time, we shall listen to those who try to warn us!"

"May Rao bless our path." Az-Lan responded almost reflexively, then he shook his head slightly to re-focus, a habit he had picked up from his human girlfriend. "Sorry. Fighter Command has reported in, no trace of any Stealth-drive traces currently detectable around New Krypton. Unless whoever it was has launched a second wave…"

"Unlikely." Faora mused. "Remember, Earth and New Krypton are on opposite sides of the Sun, but in the same orbit. The Gates allow us to move from one world to the other in a single pace, so for us the distance is not an issue, but outsiders would probably not know of the Gates. The angle they approached Earth means that New Krypton was hidden from them and given how few systems have even one habitable planet, proportionally speaking, why should they continue to search when they have already located that which they sought? Unlike the few cases where there are multiple planets, we don't need to use chains of repeater satellites to transmit information between worlds, thus there is no obvious clue that a second inhabited planet is here."

"So, Earth is their primary target… whoever they are." Az-Lan said, looking worried. "My fiancee's relatives are still debating whether or not to move to New Krypton…"

"Fiancee?" Faora asked, distracted by the news he had let slip. "When did you propose?"

"Three days ago." Az-Lan replied with a goofy grin. "She said yes and we're hoping to adopt both human and Kryptonian children."

"I hope you intend to give me an invitation to the wedding." Faora said with a quick smile before turning her attention back to the starships that were accelerating away at almost fifty gravities. "However, it'll have to wait until we have confirmation on what we are facing."

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"I'm here!" Clark declared as he decelerated to a stop beside General Zod. "What is it?"

"The Isaac Asimov has detected what we believe to be the intruder, a single ship." Zod said, his gaze fixed on the holographic display that was showing only a small portion of the solar system with a pulsing icon marking the position of the unidentified craft. "The fact that there is only one ship rules out the Skrull, they dispatch fleets of at least a dozen, if not more, seeking to overwhelm their enemies with numbers. The Kree tend to use smaller groups, but they deploy flankers and scouts to extend their sensor reach. Even with the improvements the humans came up with to extend the range of our fleet's sensors, their outliers would have detected the Asimov had it been Kree. By a process of elimination, the only space-going group capable of building something so large and willing to deploy it on its own would be the Shi'ar, which is surprising given that their expansion was headed in the opposite direction."

Clark nodded to show that he understood and followed his godfather's knowledge, then the icon shimmered and changed to one that Clark hadn't seen before. Beside him, Zod stiffened, his face paling.

"Governor-general?" Clark asked after a long moment. "What does that mean?"

"That Earth is doomed." Zod whispered. "That, Clark, is the symbol for a Kryptonian Class 8 Combat Attachment… a planet-killer… We have nothing that can stand up to it… and it'll be here within a day…"