Chapter 188: Home is Gone
In the vacuum of space, aboard General Zod's mothership.
A Kryptonian Commander walked onto the bridge and asked in a cold voice, "What's the progress?"
"The transformation device is basically complete."
An engineer stood up and showed the engineering blueprints to the Commander.
"We're currently ahead of General Zod's projections. The engine is ready. We are now starting the engine to prepare for final debugging. Once successful, the engine can be put into operation. Fort Rozz will serve as the center of the transformation device, releasing gravitational waves on Earth, sweeping across the planet's surface and helping us transform the planet into New Krypton."
"Excellent." The Commander nodded in satisfaction. "The General will be very pleased when he returns."
At that moment, Zod and a small team, along with Non, had taken the Kryptonians from Fort Rozz to Earth. It seemed that after they issued their television warning, they discovered that the Earth organization called A.R.G.U.S. was up to some small maneuver again.
However, no one took it seriously anymore. After their recent clashes, they had all discovered that this A.R.G.U.S. was just a bunch of complete amateurs, hardly a threat.
The Commander thought for a moment and asked, "How much Earth time has passed since General Zod demanded the handover of Kal-El?"
"About four hours."
A nearby communications officer pressed a crystal. A crystal panel materialized, and black, sand-like particles formed a countdown.
"According to Earth time, they have twenty hours left."
"Ah, still that long!"
The Commander paced about irritably.
"I told the General that giving them twenty-four hours was too lenient."
Just then, someone on the bridge suddenly shouted, "Sir, something just broke through the atmosphere at extremely high speed and is approaching us!"
"What? Give me a visual!"
Countless crystals began to assemble. Against the crystal background, an ever-shifting black substance took on a physical, model-like form, functioning as a surveillance display.
From the 3D model, they could clearly see that the one flying towards them was none other than the Son of Krypton whom Zod had vowed to find, Kal-El, known to humans as Superman.
He was in a deep blue uniform, his cape fluttering vividly behind him, and he was carrying some kind of huge, black object in his hands.
Zooming in on the model's image, they saw that it seemed to be... a spaceship?
"That's the spaceship Kal used to escape Krypton!" the operator exclaimed.
The Commander's eyes glinted as well. "General Zod said our primary mission was to find this ship, which holds the secret of the Codex... Ha! It seems Kal-El's Kryptonian bloodline has awakened, and he's bringing the Codex to surrender to us!"
The Commander was overjoyed and immediately waved his hand.
"Open the bay! Welcome the Son of Krypton's return! Inform General Zod of this good news. With Kal-El and the Codex, the establishment of New Krypton is a certainty!"
"But... sir," an operator next to him reminded him weakly, "when the General issued the ultimatum, he only said for Earth to hand over our compatriot. We don't seem to have mentioned the Codex, did we? How would Kal-El know?"
"Eh?"
The Commander froze and blinked.
Right, something seemed off.
"Wait!" The engineer's face suddenly changed as if he had realized a terrible fact. "We escaped from the Phantom Zone using Phantom Drive technology for the mothership! If Kal-El's ship also uses a Phantom Drive... a collision between the two engines will create a singularity, a black hole... a black hole leading directly to the Phantom Zone!"
In fact, at the end of the movie *Man of Steel*, Zod's mothership was also dealt with by the human side using this trick. They directly airdropped Superman's infant spaceship via a transport plane, and the physical collision of the two Phantom Drives sucked away Zod's entire army.
The timeline had changed. A group of Kryptonians who hadn't seen the movie still had a premonition of what was about to happen.
"Oh, damn it, activate the shield! Fire!" the Commander roared. "Shoot him down!"
"Can't... can't do it!" The operator's face was pale. "The system has been hacked by someone unknown. All weapons are locked and need ten seconds to reboot..."
They obviously didn't have ten seconds.
Superman flew overhead and, hefting his spaceship, threw it with immense force. Under his divine power, the small spaceship spun as it hurtled toward Zod's mothership.
A violent impact, and the Kryptonian alloy hull instantly disintegrated. The energy from the two Phantom Drives collided, and the dimensional energy burst through its restraining shell, transforming into a giant, dark vortex!
Like a terrifying demon claw, it pulled at the entire spaceship. In an instant, tiny cracks had spread across the whole hull. The mothership twisted and deformed, and brilliant sparks of energy erupted, illuminating the dark universe like a grand display of fireworks.
No one could escape the Phantom Zone's vortex, not even Kryptonians.
In what seemed like a single moment, the mothership, carrying a full crew hurling curses, was sucked into the vortex and vanished without a trace.
Superman clapped his hands, pleasantly surprised. "Ha, it really was just like Mr. Orin said. I thought it was going to be a tough fight..."
Kara had given him a prototype Kryptonian battlesuit. On the outside, it still looked like Superman's classic red-and-blue uniform, but it actually released a force field from the S emblem on his chest that enveloped his entire body. This force field was designed to merge with Superman's own bio-force field, making it not only indestructible but also able to resist radiation from things like Kryptonite and a red sun.
He was also using the battlesuit's built-in system for long-range communication.
"Yeah, yeah, a whole ship full of Kryptonian arch-criminals with the same power as us... just thinking about it is scary," Kara said on the other end, sticking out her tongue with lingering fear.
"Good thing we outsmarted them."
"Don't get cocky too early," Orin Vale said calmly. "Zod will soon find out his mothership has been ambushed. He should be back soon. Before that, we need to set things up here to give him a welcome as warm as coming home."
This remark made Kara let out a "pfft" of laughter.
For some reason, hearing Orin Vale say "a welcome as warm as coming home," she suddenly started to feel a little sorry for Zod...
***
*Boom!*
Missiles bombarded the black Kryptonian spaceship in mid-air. Dazzling fire and explosions erupted, but only licked past the outer, azure energy shield, having no effect.
Yellow sand filled the air under the scorching sun, and dust was kicked up by the tracks of war vehicles. Fighter jets tore through the blue sky, swooping in and unleashing all the missiles from their pylons without reservation.
But they took off, it seemed, only to fall.
It was a completely meaningless attack. A small Kryptonian team neutralized the human troops' assault with almost no effort. The aftershocks of the explosions formed fireballs in the sky. The debris of war vehicles and tanks burned as they were sent flying, severed limbs and corpses littered the ground, and everything was vaporized by energy beams from Kryptonian weapons.
General Zod stood on the ground with his hands clasped behind his back, shoulder to shoulder with his adjutant, Faora, silently watching the effortless battle.
"Weak. They crumble at a single blow," Zod shook his head. "They're hardly worthy of being called an opponent."
Beside him, Non remained stone-faced, no longer speaking.
Just then, a Kryptonian flashed over from the mothership behind them at supersonic speed, shouting urgently, "General! General..."
"Calm yourself, Leonard. Didn't I tell you that the most important thing on the battlefield is to remain composed, no matter what?" Zod said coolly, with the air of a Master strategist who had everything under control.
"Tell me, what happened?"
"The... the home is gone!" Leonard yelled. "Our mothership's been stolen!"
"What!?"
Zod's eyes went wide as saucers on the spot.
(end of chapter)