Kal-El rolls over in bed. He is groggy, still tired and not ready to get up. His alarm goes off.

"Good morning Kal-El, it is time to wake up." The voice of Brainiac tells him from his alarm clock.

Kal sits up and rubs his eyes.

"Kal, Kal, you're still asleep? Come on its time to get up." His wife, Lo, tells him.

"Huh, uh yeah." Kal-El says as he gets out of bed.

Kal-El heads into the kitchen.

"Dad, you're awake!" Van-El, his son, exclaims.

"Morning Van, I trust you did you homework." Kal-El says.

"Of course father." Van says.

Kal goes to make himself some breakfast. He feels something paw at his leg. It's their dog, Krypto.

"I guess you need to eat too, don't you?" Kal says.

Kal pours Kryto his breakfast.

"Brainiac, add dog food to the shopping list." Kal says.

"It is done, Kal-El." Brainiac says.

"Ready for school today Van?" Kal asks.

"Aw, do I have to go?" Van-El asks.

"Van." Kal scolds.

"I'm going, I'm going." Van says as he heads off to prepare for school.

Kal-El feels two arms wrap around him. He turns around and sees his wife, Lo.

"Good night last night?" She asks.

"Every night with you is good." Kal says.

The two begin to kiss. Just the, the ground begins to shake beneath them. Krypto barks.

"Brainiac, what was that?" Kal asks.

"It was just a tremor, nothing more." Brainiac says.

"My father used to talk about those all the time when I was young." Kal says.

"Your father thought Krypton was doomed to destruction." Lo reminds him.

"Do you ever wonder what would happen if he was right?" Kal asks.

"No, I didn't have to grow up listening to the rambles of a mad man." Lo says.

"My father isn't mad, he's just… stubborn, and refuses to be wrong." Kal says.

"Well that attitude got him ostracized from the science council." Lo says.

"Is that why you never went into science? Your grades were pretty good in school if I recall." She then asks.

"I just always felt that farming was my calling." Kal says.

"I'm ready." Van says, as he comes back into the kitchen.

"Speaking of good grades, it's time for me to take Van to school." Kal says.

"Did you feel that quake? Maybe I should stay home today." Van says.

"Nice try, but Brainiac says there is nothing to worry about." Kal says.

"It is true, I did say that." Brainiac says.

"Aw man." Van says.

"Okay, I have to take you to school and then get to the farm, come on let's go." Kal says.

"Can you pick up Van after school?" Kal asks Lo.

"Why?" Lo asks.

"I want to go see my father." Kal says.

"You sure?" Lo asks.

"Yeah, I know we don't always see eye to eye, but sometimes I think he needs me around." Kal says.

"Sure honey, I'll get Van." Lo says.

Krypto jumps up on the couch and goes to sleep.

"I guess he has his plans set for the day too." Kal says.

Kal-El drops Van-El off at school and heads to the farm. He loved spending his days on the farm. It may not be exciting to some, but working outside on the open land it where his passion lies. As he is going over the crops, the ground begins to shake again.

Kal looks around, he doesn't have any Brainiac devices around to check with. Sometimes he just likes the solitude. But Brainiac said there was nothing to worry about this morning, so he wasn't too worried now.

After Kal finishes on the farm for the day, he heads to his father's. Kal-El loves his father, Jor-El, though they don't always get along. Not ever since Jor-El was banished from the science council. He had become bitter over the years.

Kal arrives at his father's house and knocks on the door. A Brainiac screen pops up.

"Who is it?" Brainiac asks.

"Kal-El." Kal says.

"One moment please." Brainiac says.

The door slides open.

"Son, this is a surprise." Jor-El says. His hair was white and his face was looking old.

"Hello dad, how are you?" Kal asks.

"I'm still here, how are Lo and Van?" Jor-El asks.

"They're both fine, you know, you're welcome to come visit us at anytime." Kal says.

"Van doing well in school?" Jor-El asks.

"Yeah, his grades are good." Kal says.

"Your grades were good once too." Jor-El says.

"Dad." Kal says.

"No no, you were bright, you could have helped people." Jor-El says.

"So farming, making food for people isn't helping?" Kal asks.

The ground begins to shake beneath them.

"Do you ever think, maybe you were right?" Kal asks.

"Don't go there son." Jor-El says.

Kal-El goes to the table and picks up a picture of his mother, Lara.

"But these recent tremors." Kal says.

"Son." Jor-El says.

"It's just, don't things feel, not right sometimes?" Kal asks.

"I thought like that once too. My data assured me that Kryton was doomed. But that was almost forty years ago, and I was wrong." Jor-El says.

"What if you weren't. What if Kryton had been destroyed?" Kal asks.

"I had a plan. I was going to send you off world, to a planet you'd be safe on." Jor-El says.

"You were?" Kal asks.

"Yes, you were so little, just a baby. I would have done anything for you." Jor-El says.

"I think- I need to go see my own son." Kal says.

"And dad, please stop by some time." He continues.

Jor-El nods as Kal-El heads home.

Kal-El arrives home and heads to his sons room.

"Hey dad." Van says.

"Hi son, how was school?" Kal asks.

"It was fine, I got a top grade on my science test." Van says.

The ground shakes again.

"Gee, it sure has been doing that a lot recently." Van says.

Kal sighs.

"What is it dad?" Van asks.

"Son, the day you were born was the happiest day of my life. I remember it so well. I remember every one of your firstday's thereafter." Kal says.

"What are you saying?" Van asks.

"I just, I don't think you're real. I don't think any of this is real." Kal says.

"Dad, you're scaring me." Van says.

Kal-El kneels down and kisses his sons forehead.

"I love you son. As real as any father could love their child." Kal says.

The ground begins to shake again.

"Dad, what's happening?" Van asks.

Kal-El holds his son's hands.

The two look out the window. Buildings in the distance begin to fall. Explosions go off and there is a bright white light.

"It's coming, it's coming, it's coming, it's coming, got it!" Maxima shouts.

Superman can hear, but all he sees is a white light.

"Quick, put it in the bag." Maxima says.

Superman begins to come to and he sees Lobo holding out a burlap sack as Maxima puts some sort of purple… thing inside it.

"Now cinch it tight." Maxima says.

"I got it." Lobo says

Superman holds his head. He was overcome with sensations of grief and anger.

"Who did this to me?" He asks, curtly.

"It was Mongul." Maxima says.

"What- what was that?" He asks.

"It's called the Black Mercy. It's a plant that attaches itself to a host body and puts them in a dream world of their hearts greatest desire." She explains.

"Dream world, felt pretty real to me." Superman says.

"That's the idea." Maxima says.

"Man, maybe I should put this thing on, I'd have babes and booze for days." Lobo says.

"THAT THING IS A CURSE." Superman shouts.

"Superman, are you alright?" Maxima asks.

"I will be, once I take care of Mongul." Superman says.

"Superman, you've had the Black Mercy on you for a month." Maxima says.

"What?!" Superman exclaims.

"I assume Mongul didn't want to fight you. He claims you attacked him outside the arena, and he put you down. It took us til now to find you." Maxima says.

"You stayed?" Superman asks to Lobo.

"Hey, you're my buddy." Lobo says.

"He couldn't beat Mongul." Maxima says.

Lobo grunts.

"Well I will." Superman says.

Superman's shirt had been ripped off. The Black Mercy bonded deep with his body. He grabs a piece of scrap metal and used his heat vision to shape it. He molded into the shape of his family crest. He then went over to Maxima and ripped her chains off. He used the chains to attach the metal plate to his cape, then he headed to the arena.

"Winner, take your prize." Mongul says to the warrior who won the latest battle.

Two Warzoon's hold the loser's arms. A third one gives the victor an axe. He raises it above the loser's head. As he swings, it is ripped out of his hands.

"Hey!" He shouts out.

He looks over and sees Superman holding the axe. Superman uses his heat vision to melt the axe.

"Go." Superman says.

"Mongul, you owe me a fight." Superman says.

Mongul bites his bottom lip.

"I thought I showed you mercy. Now I'll have to teach you a lesson." Mongul says as he makes his way to the center of the arena.

The two stand there as they prepare to face off.

Victor continues looking into Lex Luthor. After that business with building the factories, he begins looking into other LexCorp sites. There are so many of them around the world. It is clear Lex went around construction labor unions to get most of them built. Some are building parts that don't seem to be going to anything he can find on record. Or even off records as he digs deeper. Then there's the mystery of his parent's death. The line that exploded shouldn't have even been a gas line. There wasn't a deep investigation done into what happened. And Lex had a huge insurance policy taken out on his parents. Victor continues to string these threads together on his board.