At Metropolis General, Val was still recovering from being destroyed by Rokk in the last exam. He was still in a coma and busted up. Rokk went to the hospital to visit him. Tasmia was there on guard when he showed up. "Are you here to finish the job?" Tasmia joked.

"No," Rokk said simply. He then turned to the unconscious Val. "It would be a mistake to interpret this as an apology but...I regret your current status."

Rokk then left the hospital only to be met by Tyroc outside. "If I kill you here, there's a good chance I fight Princess Mara in the exam," Tyroc figured.

"Kill me? Impossible," Rokk doubted.

"I'm going to wipe that arrogant smug look off your face. This shall be a battle between equals," Tyroc said confidently.

"The arrogant one is you, Tyroc. The fact that you consider yourself my equal is arrogance in itself," Rokk lectured.

Tyroc glared at Rokk in anger and then screamed in his direction. However, no sound came out as Tyroc's lungs were internally destroyed. Tyroc coughed up blood devastated. "As soon as I knew your intentions, I contaminated the air with fine metal grains that entered into your lungs. From there, I fucked you up," Rokk explained.

Tyroc was unable to speak as his lungs and throat were blasted full of holes. Rokk then hit Tyroc with a swarm of metal shards that ripped his body to pieces and created a storm of dust down the street. "Tyroc, I thank you for that. I feel a lot more cheerful now," Rokk said as he walked off like a boss.

On the day of the second exam, Kon, Garth, Berta, Tasmia, Lonna, Brainiac 5, and Rokk showed up. Mara was late and Tryoc was...well...dead. The stadium for the matches was the Metropolis Stadium with a modification. High walls were placed around the ground floor, and no one was seated at the lower levels. This was to avoid as much as possible collateral damage from the fights. Kara had her own private booth at the center-top of the stadium as per usual. Hu Krinn, representing the Braal Confederacy, joined Kara.

As far as humanity was concerned, Berta was the only one they could root for, the only human. She came from a family of so-called female witches capable of manipulating the weather. Legend had it, she was related in some way to Storm of the 21st century. The capitalist cities across the planet were able to bet on who they thought was going to win. Rokk and Mara were the heavy favorites. With the stadium at half-capacity, the attendees were high-ranking humans and aliens. Security was tight with Brainiac 5 drones at the entrances and exits and covertly present within the crowd. The Vindicators were all present, those who lost the first exam and those who never participated at all. Noticeably absent was Salu.

As before, the Vindicators were only allowed to fight with what they had on them. Kara turned to Brainiac 5 attending her. "Where the fuck is Mara?" she hissed.

"I have been looking for her but nothing yet," Brainiac 5 replied.

"If she forfeits, I'm going to be so pissed," Kara told him.

"I understand," Brainiac 5 nodded.

Kara then turned to Hu who had just arrived. "How was your trip? I hope it didn't tire you," she said politely.

"No, it is good this exam is happening on Earth. Whenever you go anywhere in the galaxy, chaos follows you," Hu replied. "Shouldn't you be deciding an heir by now?"

Kara chuckled at that. "Fuck you, Hu. I intend to rule for at least another good fifty years." Kara then pointed to the roof of her stadium. "This stadium's roof is so well put together that if I magically put a forest, a mountain, and a lake on top of it, it would still not collapse," she said proudly.

"Sounds far-fetched but I'll believe you for now, Supreme Leader," Hu allowed.

Kara then took to the mic to address the entire stadium. "Everyone, thank you for coming to the Vindicator Exam. We will now begin the final rounds for the...eight...that made it through the preliminaries. Please watch until the end."

"If there is supposed to be eight, one is missing," Hu counted.

"I won't disqualify Mara until her match actually starts and I've already made her match the last one," Kara assured him.

1st Match

"First Match: Garth Ranzz Vs Kon-El," the stadium speakers boomed.

The stadium clapped politely for their controversial prince with only a few cheering for Garth. In the stands, Garth's father, Luc, mother, Perla, and sister, Ayala, were present. Garth's other brother, Mekt, had become a hater and a dissident so he was not present. The Vindicators other than Garth and Kon then exited the ground arena to the stands.

Kon and Garth faced off in the center of the arena. Garth wore his signature blue suit with two lightning streaks across his chest. Kon wore a simple black gi, white boots, and gloves with no chest armor to give him maximum flexibility. The two were forbidden to use energy attacks that could potentially endanger the spectators. Kon was also forbidden from going Super Insane.

"I have been looking forward to this, brat. You'll either be forced to break the rules disqualifying yourself or you will lose. That's the reality of it," Garth said confidently.

"Shut your face and fight," Kon replied.

In the stands, Brin watched the fight closely. "You're not going to win by shitting your pants this time, Kon. In close-quarter combat, Garth has the edge."

Garth went into a defensive fighting stance and analyzed the electrical activity going on throughout Kon's body. Kon, however, simply stood casual until he suddenly aggressively charged. Garth evaded Kon's first punch and blocked Kon's rapid punches. Garth then avoided Kon's kick and got up and close. Garth punched Kon to the chest shocking his heart and then started a series of index finger hits to shut down his energy pathways. Kon tumbled away from Garth before he could finish.

Kon flared up a red aura as he powered up his Insane power. Kon charged Garth only to be pushed back by a strong rotating electrical field. Garth and Kon clashed repeatedly on the ground and in the air as their respective auras sparked off each other. The two finally clashed at the fist creating an explosion of rock and dust. When the dust settled, there was a massive hole in the ground. Garth remained standing while Kon was in the middle of the crater in a fetal position.

"You understand now? You have no chance of winning," Garth told Kon.

"I was just scoping out your power," Kon bluffed as he got back up. "The real fight begins now." Kon then created several clones of himself. Garth eyed the clones realizing they were real. Each clone had a fraction of the original Kon's power.

"Come at me, brat," Garth challenged.

"Don't underestimate my power," the Kon clones said to Garth.

Four clones attacked while one remained behind to observe, supposedly the real one. Garth battled the clones in close combat easily enough. He showed off some fancy moves, shocking each of the clones as he made contact. After destroying each of the clones, Garth turned to Kon. "You're going to be the Supreme Leader? How is that even possible?" he mocked.

"My abilities were set when I was born. Everything was determined then. I was born an Insane Kryptonian prince and heir to the Imperial throne. Do you think anyone can just become Supreme Leader? If they just work hard? I was born to be Supreme Leader, chosen by destiny. It was determined by fate. People must live the path they're given, the path decided by us, one they cannot defy. Your destiny is to be ruled by us or to die by us," Kon said to him.

"So, what?" Garth said dismissively. "I'll still beat your ass here in front of all of your subjects, kid."

Kon then created a two-dozen clone army of himself. "This is some bullshit," Garth gritted his teeth as the clone army charged him. To his credit, Garth used some mad moves to beat down the clone army. Garth then targeted the one Kon that was just watching thinking he was the real one. Garth struck Kon in the chest to end the fight.

"The one not fighting is the real one, obviously," Garth said to Kon. Immediately, Kon's clones evaporated into smoke as if to confirm the theory.

Kon smiled at Garth and then evaporated into smoke. Suddenly, Garth sensed he was under attack by two Kon clones. "What the fuck?" Garth wondered as it became obvious one of the two was the real one. Garth spun like a top creating an intense electrical field. The two Kons were blasted to the ground where one of them evaporated.

"I can emit an electrical field from anywhere on my body," Garth explained.

"He's amazing. To think he's gotten this far," Luc, his father, said impressed.

"You're within range of my ultimate technique. You're fucked now," Garth said as he unleashed a rapid fire of strikes all over Kon's body to close up his energy pathways. After hitting Kon sixty-four times all over his body, Garth was confident the battle was over.

"You've just got your ass kicked, kid. Frustrated? It takes more than royal pedigree to win. You lack experience and hard work," Garth taunted.

Kon eventually got back up. "Not impressed," he bluffed.

"Just give up. I don't hold a grudge against you, kid," Garth said to him.

"Shut the fuck up. I have plenty of power left," Kon said.

Garth sped toward Kon and punched him to the chest shocking him as he did. Kon tumbled about on the ground for a good while. "You're hopeless," Garth shook his head.

Kon eventually got back to his feet. "Don't act so tough. You're not the only one special here. I'm not like your little sister you beat."

"Damn you," Garth hissed.

"You're desperate to fight the crown but it's really destiny," Kon taunted.

"You, dumbass kid. All sixty-four pathways have been closed. How are you going to fight me now?" Garth shot back.

"Judging me like you know anything," Kon scoffed.

"Show me then, brat," Garth allowed.

"I will," Kon promised.

Garth looked to Kara in the stands and then back to her son as if asking permission. Kara merely nodded. "I'm going to beat your ass with the intent to kill now," he said to Kon.

Kon tensed up as he attempted to power up just below Super-Insane. To his disappointment, he couldn't power up at all. Garth merely stared at Kon like he was an idiot. Suddenly, the ground ruptured like an earthquake as a second Kon rose from the ground. This Kon had a flaring red aura as he rose up and uppercut Garth with incredible force. Garth fell to the ground stunned.

The Kon that had been fighting Garth the entire time evaporated as a clone. The real Kon had been underground since the ground explosion. He had used his clone as cover for him to dive deep into the ground and then fought with only his clone for the rest of the match. Underground, Kon didn't have to worry about the need to breathe. As with space, he could survive for an extreme amount of time without air. When the time was right, Kon erupted from the ground for a sneak attack.

Garth was knocked out cold making Kon the winner. "In your face...literally," Kon smiled. "You can't fight destiny. You're not like me, a prince with Insane blood. You're a failure," Kon trash-talked.

The stadium gave polite applause at the victory of their alien overlord's son. Any chance the Insane Kryptonian royal family might be humbled today was lost.

2nd Match

As Kon did his victory run around the arena, Garth was taken away by the medics. Luc, Perla, and Ayala went to visit Garth at the infirmary. Aside from a concussion and being physically exhausted of his power, he would be fine.

"The crowd seems excited," Hu noted.

"That's because it was a great battle," Kara smiled, proud that her son had won even if it was super obnoxious.

"Any news of your daughter's arrival?" Hu asked.

Kara turned to Brainiac 5 attending her. "No sign of Mara yet."

"In your round with Lonna, try to stall it," Kara ordered.

In the next match, it was Lonna Vs Brainiac 5. The two slowly entered the arena and met in the center. As the fight began, liquid metal poured off of Brainiac 5's skin and became a second liquid-metal Brainiac 5. The first Brainiac 5 drone went after Lonna with a poison needle attached to his wrist. Lonna dodged Brainiac 5's strikes. Brainiac 5 opened his mouth and fired off poison darts that hit Lonna center mass. As it looked like Lonna was done for, it was revealed that her body was actually made up of insects wearing her clothes.

The real Lonna engaged the liquid metal Brainiac 5 by punching him through his face. Brainiac 5 formed another head and swung Lonna around. At the same time, the first Brainiac 5 fired a poison smoke grenade from his elbow. The liquid metal Brainiac 5 withdrew as Lonna appeared to suffer from the influence of the poison. Brainiac 5 went for the winning blow with his first drone unit. He sliced through Lonna only to find they were insects camouflaged to look like her. The Brainiac 5 unit was now covered in bugs, but it had no effect on his joints or operations.

"I made a point to put insect repellent on my drone before this match," Brainiac 5 said to real Lonna. "What will you do now?"

"I've already won," Lonna said as she panted from the effects of the poison.

Brainiac 5 gave her a curious look and then suddenly the first unit exploded with metal pieces scattered across the arena. Salu emerged from the wreckage in her Vindicator uniform. The crowd gave a WTF look wondering how this was possible. "I enlisted Salu's help before the match. She hitched a ride with one of my bugs which was inside me. At the right moment, she infiltrated your unit and destroyed it from within," Lonna explained.

"Impressive use of our loophole," the liquid metal Brainiac 5 said.

"You said I could use whatever I brought into the arena," Lonna said smartly.

"Indeed, but how do you intend to defeat my second unit?" Brainiac 5 asked.

"Like this," Salu said as she threw a freeze grenade at Brainiac 5's feet. The grenade exploded flash freezing Brainiac 5's liquid metal body. At the same time, Lonna passed out from the non-lethal poison. Now, only Salu was left awkwardly standing. She sheepishly shrank to near-nothing and disappeared.

"I'm going to call it...a draw," Kara ruled.

The crowd was less than enthusiastic about this and began chanting for Mara's name.

3rd Match

The third match was between Berta and Tasmia. Berta began the match by throwing a wind shuriken. Tasmia dodged the wind shuriken as it landed on the ground and created a crater. Berta then pointed her hand at Tasmia and blasted her against the wall of the arena with her wind power. Berta pointed her hand at Tasmia for a finishing strike. Before she could, Tasmia flipped over Berta and ran to the other side of the arena to get some distance.

Tasmia remained on the other side of the arena stalling it out. Due to the angle of the sun, the shadows were on her side of the arena. Berta let loose a wind gust that ripped at Tasmia and the spectators behind her. In response, Tasmia sent her shadow out toward Berta. The shadow was a meter too short.

"Looks like there's a limit to how much you change the shape and length of your shadow. It can only go as far as the surface area of your own shadow," Berta judged.

"Sure," Tasmia confirmed.

Tasmia then waited for the sun to go lower to give her a bigger shadow and stall out the match. The crowd was audibly pissed at this as nothing happened for a good while. Every so often, Berta sent a wind gust Tasmia's way. The intense wind ripped into Tasmia's clothes and skin. "How long are you going to keep this up?" Berta asked Tasmia.

Tasmia sent out her shadow with a longer distance this time. Berta casually walked back to avoid it. "Waiting for the sun to set?" Berta mocked.

"Yeah," Tasmia said obviously.

A shadow then appeared near Tasmia and started to chase her. "Shit!" Berta realized as she ran around the arena trying to avoid it. Berta then looked up and saw a pocket drone in the air Tasmia had sent out. Berta blasted the drone with her wind power slicing it up to pieces.

Berta prepared her next move when she was suddenly caught. "The fuck?" she wondered as she could no longer move. A shadow had appeared behind her. Tasmia had sent her shadow down the entrance hole Kon had made in the previous battle and up the exit hole Kon had used to uppercut Garth. The distance between each hole underground didn't count against the length of the shadow.

With Berta under control, Tasmia stepped toward her forcing Berta to step closer to her. The two walked closer to each other with Berta forced to mimic Tasmia's movements. Tasmia then casually took out her sword for a close-quarter finish.

"Release me now or I'll unleash a tornado on this entire arena," Berta threatened.

Tasmia hesitated as the wind picked up around them forming a dust devil. The wind became more and more intense around them, and it started to affect the crowd in the stadium. Tasmia considered Berta's desperation to win. If they got any closer, Berta might rip her to pieces in the wind and threaten the spectators in the stadium.

"I give up," Tasmia said and then withdrew her shadow from Berta. Immediately, the winds died down.

The crowd, not realizing how close to death they were, was pissed. Kara frowned as the entire stadium booed the match. Still, Kara was pleased Tasmia had the intelligence to know when to end the match and not obsess over just winning. It was something Alex would have done. With Tasmia's forfeit, the win went to Berta, but Tasmia had won Kara's respect.

4th Match

The fourth and final match of the round was Rokk Vs Mara. However, Mara was still absent with no intel from Brainiac 5 as to where she was. The crowd was becoming impatient with the delays and the last two lackluster fighters. In their private box, Hu advocated for his son's advancement. "You appear to have no choice, Supreme Leader. You cannot make your guests wait any longer."

"As an absolute ruler, I assure you I can," Kara told him off. "Another ten minutes. The crowd wants to see this fight above all the others. More importantly, I do. It would be cruel for me to not get what I want. What's another ten minutes?"

"There is some truth in what you say, Supreme Leader," Hu allowed.

"Some truth?" Kara asked miffed. She then turned to Brainiac 5 attending her. "Where the fuck is she?" she hissed. "I will have every man, woman, and child on this whole planet looking for her if she's not here in ten minutes."

"She's somehow able to evade all of my drones, surveillance cameras, surveillance drones, and all of my spy satellites," Brainiac 5 said.

The crowd became more and more restless with some making borderline traitorous statements against the Crown. The ten-minute extension finally expired. "Fuck," Kara realized.

Flashback-Night Before

Mara hosted four Vindicators under the tutelage of Lemnos and secretly members of the Church of Scientificity. They were Elysian, a male humanoid with Earth-bending powers, Sussa Paka aka Spider-Girl, Joshua Michael Allen aka Parasite whom Mara had defeated before, and Nigal Douglas aka Sun Emperor with sunlight powers similar to Sun Boy.

Unbeknownst to the other Vindicators, Mara's win against Parasite had been prearranged by Lemnos. It was stalled as long as possible to give Parasite some of Mara's power while still giving Mara the expected win. "If you stay with your family and the Vindicator Corps, you will eventually succumb to your Insane nature. You'll be a deranged killer like your brother. You'll be a villain," Josh said to her.

"If you keep messing around with the Vindicators, your soul will rot," Josh added.

"Come with us and Praetor Lemnos will give you peace," Nigal enticed. "There's no point in forcing you to come with us. It's your choice."

"What is your decision? Don't drag your feet," Josh pressed. "If you continue to use your Super Insane powers, you'll lose yourself, progressively eating away at your soul. It looks like you're at Super Insane level one, but when you reach higher levels, your Insane nature will take you over."

"With Lord Lemnos, you will be free of your royal duties, the Vindicators. In order to receive this freedom, you must discard something. What is your goal?" Sussa asked. "If you don't leave with us now, forget about Lord Lemnos forever."

"A planet like this only chains you down. Sever your ties to this place. Obtain a higher position within the church," Elysion said.

"How?" Mara asked finally.

End Flashback

Present Day

Kara eventually disqualified Mara and canceled the games altogether. The crowd and all those watching were pissed. "I want all the Vindicators assembled at HQ. I want a massive manhunt for Mara to start now. Lock down the planet," Kara ordered Brainiac 5.

"As you wish," Brainiac 5 replied.

Immediately, all spaceships on Earth were grounded and no ships were allowed to land. Anyone speculating that Mara was missing was censured. Brainiac 5 quickly took control of the Internet and all social media.

At HQ, Brainiac 5 took charge of intelligence. "Between the time Princess Mara was last seen to the present, several ships left the planet. They were all carrying lead-covered containers. I suspect one of those containers holds Princess Mara. That means one ship is the real one and the others are decoys. I have been able to track the ships to several planets," Brainiac 5 said.

"Was she kidnapped, or did she go willingly?" Kon asked.

"Unknown at this time," Brainiac 5 replied.

"Regardless, you are to bring her back," Kara ordered. "I'm splitting you all up into teams."

As it happened, Garth, Brin, Tasmia, Chuck, and Kon were put in a team. Despite Kon's protests, Garth was made the leader of this team. They assembled outside a Charon-class shuttle. "There is a strong possibility of enemies, and we could be ambushed. Since this is a rescue mission, we will be in a pursuit formation. If you go off on your own, you'll likely die," Garth said to them all.

"Brin will take point as he has Mara's scent and can track her," Garth said to him.

"How do you have her scent? Were you give her panties?" Kon asked rudely.

"No, her shirt, ass," Brin shot back.

"We're a balanced team of tracking, speed, firepower, control, and strength. I don't particularly care for the royal family, but Princess Mara is a comrade and I'd rather have her running the show than this prick," Garth said pointing at Kon.

"The fuck you say?" Kon asked outraged.

"Therefore, I will put my life on the line to help her. That's how we do things as Vindicators. At the very least, we'll kill the motherfuckers that took her," Garth concluded.

Kara then approached the team with teary eyes. "If you find her, please bring Mara back. If anyone can save her, it's you, guys."

"I'll definitely bring her back, on my life, believe it!" Kon assured her.

"Thank you, Kon," Kara said appreciatively.

Kara then went with her own team. Several Vindicator teams entered shuttles and took off to the various planets.

Random Forest Planet

Several hours later, Garth's team arrived on their assigned planet having no idea whether it was a decoy. The planet had a red-dwarf sun which slowly drained Kon of his power. Brin sniffed around the area and caught a scent. "She's here," he detected.

"Communications are jammed," Tasmia reported.

"That would seem to confirm it," Chuck figured.

"If we go back to report, they may be gone by the time we get reinforcements. I also doubt whoever took Mara has our firepower. I say we go after her," Garth decided.

The rest of the team nodded. "I smell four others other than Mara," Brin said.

The team went through the forest environment on foot at Tasmia's speed. Kon used his X-ray and falcon vision to scan the forest continuously. "Bombs ahead," he reported.

"I see them," Garth said as they came into view.

"Let's destroy them," Kon said.

"No, that will alert the kidnappers to our presence. We go around," Garth ordered.

At one point, Kon nearly tripped over a wire for a bomb trap. Tasmia took hold of him with her shadow. "That bomb wouldn't do shit to me," Kon said dismissively.

"It would give away our position and not all of us are practically invulnerable," Garth scolded. "Be more careful!"

"I could handle these fools all on my own. I see them right now," Kon said.

"When were you going to tell us this?" Brin asked annoyed.

"I'm going to get Mara, right now!" Kon said excitedly.

"Idiot, they could have Kryptonite weapons and then you're fucked," Garth scolded.

The team snuck up on the kidnappers, Elysion, Sussa, Josh, and Nigel. With them was a lead container presumably carrying Mara. "I can't see through the container. It's lead," Kon reported to Garth.

"We have to assume Mara is in there, potentially unconscious," Garth said to everyone.

Josh suddenly threw a dart bomb right at Garth and Kon blasting them. The two fell at the kidnapper's feet. Sussa then pulled hard sending Brin, Tasmia, and Chuck hurtling forward. The forest was full of spider web wires branching out in all directions. "Got you all," Sussa smirked.

Suddenly, the kidnappers were held in place by Tasmia's shadow. "You're mine now," Tasmia said to them all.

"Very nice but I can absorb your shadow energy technique," Josh said as he started taking Tasmia's energy. She quickly withdrew upon realizing what was happening. Elysion then formed a solid rock dome around the five of them.

"Well...shit," Garth muttered.