15725/Kandor: The Last of Krypton

Kandor: The Last of Krypton
Date of Scene:	03 September 2023
Location:	New Krypton, Milky Way
Synopsis:	The planet New Krypton is founded, the bottled city of Kandor is restored to some form of its splendor. But then the Oans make their move, sending a force of Lanterns and battle spheres to destroy the Kryptonians once and for all. The heroes of Earth clue by four the Lanterns in to the reality of the situation and the tide of the battle is turned... but at what cost?
Cast of Characters:	Alura In-Ze, Monet St. Croix, Caitlin Fairchild, Jon Kent, Conner Kent, Kyle Rayner, Mark Grayson, Donna Troy, Clark Kent

---

Alura In-Ze has posed:
The alert goes out to all lanterns capable of getting there in time. Existential threat level alarm, greatest of emergencies. A Kryptonian Criminal escaped from the Phantom Zone is about to unleash a Doomsday Weapon that will see the obliteration of countless civilisations. An unstoppable force that will rend the entire galaxy in to eternal war... they must be stopped at all costs.

--

On New Krypton, the heart of the Sanctuary of Solitude sits at the centre of what will become New Krypton's capital, Kandor. Transplanted via Brainiac from Krypton. Restored by duplicating his technology. Bringing a dead species back to life using the very preservation protocols Brainiac battles within himself every day. Over head a dull yellow sun baths the emptiness in a subtle light. It's enough to make a Kryptonian feel good but not enough to give them superpowers like on Earth. Just the edge these pioneers need to settle a brand new hostile world.

Alura is looking mighty proud with the gathered friends. This is ceremony but ceremony light because keeping the Kryptonians bottled up any longer is just continuing their needless suffering. The world itself is fairly barren. These plains are flat and preseeded with Kryptonian substone technology in to the soil so that the city can support itself.

"It is with immense joy," Alura says to those gathered on this otherwise quite secret mission, "for us to finally bring one of Brainiac's stolen civilisations back from the extinction. Welcome to New Krypton."

With the motion of her hand, she activates the machine. A force field blossoms over them in a huge half dome and then in the blink of an eye, the city of Kandor, ruined by its time in the bottle, appears around them.

The tall arcology stands before them and the surrounding buildings are hanging banners depicting the virtues of Krypton. The rebirth of the core values of Kryptonians having come about by their liberation from Brainiac.

Unity, Truth, Peace, Synergy, Imagination, Purity, Justice, Restraint, Industriousness, Altruism. And hanging from the arcology, the biggest banner of them all: Hope.

The large crowd of Kryptonians burst in to celebration around their visitors and music is struck up. Food is being handed around.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
And Monet St. Croix is off to the side. Basking. Staying quiet and beaming along with the ceremony. She's got her head slightly tilted, a rare full smile on her face with her head at a slight angle. And taking in things in the ways only a telepath can.

Letting the joy and radiance from everyone go through her in a rare moment of total joy. Something that she cannot necessarily feel for her own sake.. But for others, it is a precious thing. She is smiling. Fully. Even as she does not speak or say much beyond just watching.

She is reflective and contemplative. When was the last time that she was truly happy with things and events? One had to make the most of precious moments when they came. This is someone else's celebration. Their happiness. Their fate and destiny to make the place their home in a wayward galaxy.

She smiles and watches, the delight in the crowds not quite reflecting on her. But she just listens and /feels/. And that is enough.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin holds her breath while Alura works her machine magic. This is it-- the culmination of months of works. A year and a half since Alura returned and set her mind to the task of bringing Kandor back to the universe at large. All the prep work, all the planning, the exhausting hours spent refining the Kryptonian technology and integrating Brainiac's algorithms. It all comes down to this.

And then in just a few moments it is done. Just like that. And Caitlin raises her voice in a cheer of exultation to join the others, visitors and residents alike, as they take their first steps on what is now-- officially-- New Krypton.

"Alura, you did it!" Caitlin cries out in congratulations, and gives the Kryptonian matriarch a rib-cracking hug. "Oh my gosh! It's-- this is incredible!" she declares, setting the smaller woman back on her feet. "You -did- it!" She looks over her shoulders at her friends and fellow Titans, flashing a uninhibited grin that shines even under that warm, orange sun overhead.

Jon Kent has posed:
Jon Kent can't help but be taken with a strange mingling of feelings. This is a new home for him and his people, although they weren't his only people. He would probably always be an Earthling first - his sentiments, his upbringing, while cosmopolitan even in the galactic sense, had still largely been grounded on Earth, in Metropolis and in Smallville. City boy and country boy, human and Kryptonian. Becoming a man.

And yet neither world was really his own. Timelost, displaced, his family were still the same and yet different in the subtlest of ways. Sometimes he couldn't even specify what they were he could just feel it, that faint quantum grinding of his past against his present, living in a world in which he might never be born but growing increasingly certain that he would never get back to the place where he had grown. Maybe it wasn't where he belonged. He was needed here or, at least, he felt that he was. He certainly felt wanted, which is better than he had feared. But every year it ticks closer to the day he would be born and every little difference can't help but make him feel a strange unease.

Enough, Jon. This is a happy occasion. Think of others first. Service and humility. The old lessons of his father.

He applauds and smiles wide and it is a genuine smile. He is happy for everyone. He nods to the Titans present, for he is one of their number as well. He has made so many friends here, in this timeline, in this universe. Maybe this could truly be home. To find a comfort here would not dishonor the family he lost, but merely honor the family he had gained.

Conner Kent has posed:
It is a new planet and all that, but Conner has to admit that New Krypton is extremely boring. Because it is empty. There is some vegetation on the oceans, but it has not quite managed to evolve enough to colonize the surface. So, it is all rocks and sand.

Which is good, because it means Kryptonian vegetation will have nothing to contend with and should, in theory, spread all over the world during the next decades.

But fact is there was not much to do until the city finally appears. Which brings a lot of happy people and their alien music. Too techno-pop sounding for him, but okay. It is a party, what could possibly go wrong?

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle is just floating in the peace of space. Ever since his run in with Shazam, there's just something peaceful about the stillness to the Moon. Being completely undisturbed by the hustle and bustle of Earth. It's all so lovely. And that peace shatters. "Priority Alert. Priority Alert." The ring goes off. It starts to talk about the nature of alert.

Standing up, this s why Kyle has pulled himself out Europe. Even if he's not on Earth, no more sitting on the sidelines. A streak of Green energy goes off from the surface illuminating space. He can't call out to other Lanterns. Technically, Kyle -isn't- a Lantern. It's complicated. In some ways he is a Lantern. In other ways, he's not.

To Kyle this feels strange because he knows the source comes from Kryptonians. Yet they're asking for a human for a help. Kyle doesn't see himself as "The calvary" to people with Superman's powers. Calvary are people like Fennec Shand. Someone that can take out half of a room before breaking a sweat. Kyle can't take out that many Kryptonains without breaking a sweat. Still, much like Superman before him, he's here to help. And whatever help a Green Lantern can bring, Kyle will bring it in spades. It's just a matter of being there in time. Kype hopes he can.

Mark Grayson has posed:
When Mark has asked his father about Kryptonians, the former Omni-Man has been non-commital in his answer. He did say that the Kryptonians of Earth were not like Viltrumites. But he refused to have expound beyond that.

He had attended the event with the other Titans, dressed in his costume, the iconic yellow, blue and black, goggles pulled over his eyes as Invincible applauds for the reconstitution of the city and that the refugees would have a place to live.

"I've been to the moon a couple of times..." he admits as he settles his hands on his hips and looks around. "But I know I've never been this far out before. Pretty ama-zing, all things considered."

The mood is infectious and Mark is just absorbing the moment. It's always good to do good, right? So yeah. So in the mode right now.

Donna Troy has posed:
    This has been a long time coming. It has been three years since Bushwick and Genosha had been restored, but the destruction of the gear taken from Brainiac's ship had mean that the other recovered bottles had remained bottled. Today marks the end of that, and the start of something new. Not just for the surviving Kryptonians -- with a way to restore the bottled cities to normality, there are a few other alien cities that may soon find themselves returned to life outside their bottles. Donna is immensely pleased for her Kryptonian friends, but today may be the first of several celebrations if the device works.

    And it does. Donna gives Alura's shoulders a congratulatory squeeze one Caitlin has put Alura back down again. This is New Krypton, and today is about the Kryptonians. The other cities are a question for another day, though another day soon. In a secure lab at Titans Tower, half a dozen other cities, not entirely forgotten, remain in their bottles monitored, unknown, waiting.

    Donna glances up with a brief squint at the pale yellow sun. It's a compromise. Not the one she would have chosen, but she understands it. Donna's choice would have been a red sun. Life-giving, but not super power giving. She and Diana had argued for the continuity of giving the New Kryptonians what they were accustomed to. A place that would seem like home, but also a degree of security. Under a yellow sun, they would inevitably be seen as a threat by the galaxy at large before long. Who knows, they might /be/ a threat to the galaxy at large. Alura had listened, but found a middle ground. Not enough to grant the New Kryptonians the power of those of their species who had come to live on Sol, but a boost to help them resettle on a new world. They'll learn soon enough, and there will be Kryptonians under other yellow suns. There will be artificial means to boost them. And yes, that would have happened under a red sun too, eventually. Under a red sun, the New Kryptonians would have needed help building their new world. But would that be a bad thing? Perhaps not. Perhaps a little reliance on others, and a little of the integration with other societies that would have engendered is exactly what New Krypton needs. A few hundred Amazons to help them build anew, and at the same time share with the New Kryptonians the wisdom of Themyscira. Isolation and concepts of racial superiority is what leads to Kryptonian Hegemonies and the like. This is a risk.

    Donna nods her head at Mark, distracted by all these thoughts. "That's the thing about space. There's a whole lot of it and it's never lacking in new sights," she agrees. "I'm sure you'll get the chance to see a whole lot more of it with us, we seem to end up wandering off-planet for one reason or another fairly often."

    Donna's eyes study the banners of the Kryptonian Virtues. Glyphs she knows well enough. Her Kryptonian is good enough to read the words, but these are more than words; the Virtues are supposed to be the core values of Kryptonian society, a subject of much philosophical discussion between herself and Kara in the past. Donna cannot help but be somewhat reminded by the display of the way the Laws of The Five are often seen carved into public buildings in Themyscira. Such reminders are good -- but on the other hand words can lose their meaning if you're so familiar with them that you no longer really read them.

    /Urvish/, /:jahghah/, /urkynon/. Peace, restraint, altruism. Today is a day of /shahrrehth/, of hope, for more than one reason. Donna's biggest hope is those other three of the /girod/ virtues are the ones that dominate the future.

    Donna is hopeful. But also wary.

Clark Kent has posed:
Clark Kent aka Kal-El aka Superman was here. Listening to the words of his aunt, Clark smiles and nods in agreement. All of the things the House of El stood for were in front of them. Proud he was, and he stood solidly behind his family and what he hoped was to come.

Watching as Kandor was returned to his state, Kal El beams with pride. It was almost like Krypton was come again.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
One by one streaks of green emerge from hyperspace above the seemingly dead planet. Strategically, it is well placed to go unnoticed. A large asteroid field defends it from stray celestial objects. The sun is dull and uninteresting. The planet itself otherwise barren. Where else would a Kryptonian Criminal hide out?

Captain Luddd, a tall man with brusselsprout like hair and green skin to match stares down at the world below. << "That force field is going to take all we've got just to get through and then we have the criminal and their weapon to contend with. If we don't shut down their energy core whatever weapon it is will be unstoppable." >>

The vagueness of the threat isn't unusual for Lantern operations. Villains are good at inventing new and creative ways to destroy the galaxy. Kryptonians are no exception - just look at Zod after all. The skies over New Krypton fill with blue and followed after them are orbs - battle orbs from Oa. These things are rarely seen and only in the most dire of circumstances.

<< "Lanterns a-" >> Before Luddd can even finish his sentence, the orbs open fire on the force field below shrouding the city of Kandor in mystery. << "... attack" >> His eyes narrow in confusion. Why would their sponsors, the creators, the Oans, attack like this.

--

Alura eeks and is squeeze hugged by Caitlin. She laughs and returns the hug, then returns Donna's touch with a touch of her own to her shoulder. "It's a dream given form. A home away from home. And I will be visiting to help out where I can. The suncore should be enough to power expansion for the next generation at least. And by then, hopefully, they can manufacture new ones."

"And thanks to the generous donations from the Justice League, while the crops try to take hold on this new world they will have plenty of food, medicine, aid in general. New Krypton owes Earth a great debt."

"That we do," says an older looking man in a long white robe. He smiles to the alien visitors. "Krypton has, for the longest time, shunned the notion of species beyond our own planet. There was an ancient wisdom to it, one that allowed us to live a peaceful existence. But perhaps we took that moderation to extremes. A little change can be a welcome thing."

A strange siren begins to sound out over the city as rainbow pulses scatter off the shielding above illuminating the city with weird shadows and highlights. One of the nearby Kryptonians cries out in fear, "It's BRAINIAC! HE'S BACK!" People begin to run for the shelter that has kept them safe for so many years.

Alura looks up at the attack, feeling a shudder run down her spine. She looks to Clark, Conner, and Jon, "Activate your belts." She taps her belt to give her a large dose of Sol straight to the system. With now enhanced vision she looks up through the sky to the attacking force. Green Lanterns? So many of them! "Zounds - why are the Lanterns attacking us."

Her eyes search around to the Titans that have joined them. "How do we communicate with them to tell them to stop attacking? Whatever this is about we must be able to resolve it peacefully. The city shields can't take this heat forever."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix braces quickly and then goes to quickly clench her fists. She goes to close her eyes to try and press her mind up and out into space. She grits her teeth, her feet digging into the ground. Fists clenching, nails drawing blood. Ankles seemingly crushing together in her high heels to twist, heels snapping off, ankles digging hard into the ground as if trying to brace and get support from something unseen..

She tries to cast her mind up and out into the void of deep space, through the planetary orbit out to the shields and intot he great beyond of where the Lanterns would approach. But she was a weak telepath. She was not Charles Xavier. She was not J'onn J'onnz. She was not Jean Grey. So as she tries to make contact into deep space with alien minds that she has never met or encountered, protected by the strange sentient energy rings that were given to the Lanterns by the Oans at dozens of kilometers away..

She fails completely. She does not snap back.. But instead she stands still, looking like a feral beast trying to draw together in a defensive posture to get ready to pounce or slash out..

Even as only someone with enhanced senses can pick up her going quietly.. "I.. Can't." Can't reach them. Can't get through. Can't communicate. There is no cessation, no hiss of pain from overload.

Even as M keeps on throwing her mind out into the void, trying to get some level of connection. Someone hse can talk to, that she can esnd emotions to, that she can establish a network with. Seh's doomed to failure. She knows this. It's just wasted effort that could be more efficiently utilized elsewhere.

They have Alura. They have Caitlin. They have Donna. There are super-geniuses. Super-Ambassadors. Superheroines. Women and men whom have the minds to work out the impossible. Women and men that can move the world - inspirationally and literally. She is a nothing. She is a nobody. She is a non-entity.

But that does not stop her. From trying. From failing. From trying again.

Even as once more there's an ever quiet cry that only one with enhanced hearing and paying strict attnetion to her and pick out.

"I.. Can't."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin stares overhead in dawning horror. She knows what those green lights are. It could be nothing else. One of the mightiest-- perhaps THE mightiest-- military forces in the entirety of the universe is descending upon New Krypton. In force-- and with no formal declaration of war. Just unmitigated violence.

Caitlin shares a quick look with Donna that contains a wordless conversation in a few blinks. "I'm on it," Caitlin assures Donna, as the two of them reach an unspoken conclusion at the same time. Caitlin looks at the others, nods once. "Do your thing, Titans," she instructs them. "Alura, I'm going to shore up the defenses. Call me if they get close to ground."

Caitlin turns and sprints at bewildering speed to get to the sunstone generators that are keeping that protective dome aloft, to buy the others as much time as possible to save the day. It takes her just a few minutes of fleet running, vaulting over cars and walls with ease, to get to the facility, and she smashes a few of the access doors out of her way when they don't open swiftly enough. Caitlin gets to the main control panel, eyes scanning over the Kryptonian language adorning the crystals. Donna might better understand the nuances of Kryptonian language, but Caitlin is plenty confident in her ability to understand their *engineering*. Months of working with Alura on precisely this project have given her cunning mind a formidable edge when it comes to the sunstone technology, and she starts working swiftly to reinforce the already-faltering shields.

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner was heading to meet with Clark and Jon when the party goes south and a bunch of alien spaceships drop off nowhere (or maybe hyperspace) and start bombarding Kandor. Or at least trying to, good thing there is a forcefield.

It is Brainiac? That would make sense. Green Lanterns would make much less sense, he though they had cleared up the crazy stuff with the Guardians a year or so ago. And in any case, they wouldn't just bombard a city, right? They are space cops, not space killers.

But as he activates his belt to get a charge of 'real sunlight', his senses expands and those tiny green dots up there, do look like Green Lanterns. "Crap. Maybe they think this is Zod's base or something," he wildguesses.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle is flying to the location and along the way there's a woman. She's clearly a lantern, but dressed in something completely beyond the standard uniform. She's wearing a simple green skirt, boots that sprawl up to below the knee. A white top that comes up a bit that looks like either the top of a dress, or stylish shirt. There's a lantern symbol on the green choker like necklace.

The woman has blonde hair, it's not quite a pixie cut, but that's due to the length. Both ears go out to points like an elf. She wears white gloves with green accents.

"The Fashionista Lantern?" Kyle asks for a moment. And before long the pair are flying together. "New Rookie?"

"Yeah," Kyle half-lies. "Get the signal?" he asks.

"Why else would I be out here?" She smirks and nods to her, "Arisa."

"Kyle," he introduces himself.

"How bad does it gotta be for the Oans to call all of us? I mean, I thought Kryptonians were good," Kyle asks. There are always rumors of how bad it would be if Superman would turn on the world. These are the kind of visions.

"Bad," Arisa shakes her head. "You've heard the rumors. Get them under the right Sun, they're practically Gods. Does you world only have kind Gods? If it doesn't you need to picture whatever that is and make it ten times worse," Arisa replies cooly.

Kyle's stomach sinks, but he keeps pressing onward.

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Happy to help where I can, Donna!" Mark responds with a grin. "What type of food do they have? I feel like I should try some Kryptonian grub." And maybe find a little something to bring back as a souvenier.

However, when the klaxons start to blare, his attention turns towards the sky as lasers streak down to the ground, striking the forcefield, his eyes widening in horror behind his goggles at the orbital strike. He rises slightly off the ground, ready to take flight once he has direction on what he will be doing. He cannot hear Monet's cries - but he can help with the defense of New Krypton, even if he does not understand the reason why the Lanterns are attacking.

But before he can react rashly, he reminds himself that he is part of a team. He looks over to Caitlin and Donna, waiting to see what their lead is. As Caitlin heads into the city and calls out for the Titans to do their thing, he considers. And then he looks up into the sky.

He /can/ go into space. That's where he'll go. Planting his feet into the ground, Invincible rockets upwards - leaving a crater in his wake as he launches, weaving between the space bombardment as the Viltrumite rises higher into the air to break atmo. If he can get up there, maybe he can give those on the ground a report. Or even disarm the situation!

He's got so much to learn.

---

Up in space, as the Lanterns are assembling, one of their number, the diminutive Ch'p has answered the call. As his green glow moves and arrives, the squirrel-like Lantern frowns. <<I didn't hear an order to attack!>> he chitters over the comlink, watching the orbs as they fire upon New Krypton. He forms his green glow around him, preparing to attack what may ever come up from the surface to counterattack. They're committed, after all!

He links up with Kyle and Arisa. <<They're Kryptonian criminals, we can't let them continue to build their forces!>> comes the chittered response.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Themyscira will provide food too. Also expertise in agriculture and animal husbandry, which may be particularly required in taming a brand new world," Donna tells Alura and her white-robed friend. However any further comments on interplanetary aid or the wisdom of change are interrupted by an entirely different need, that of security.

    Amazon eyes are extremely sharp, but not sharp enough to see what's happening in space. Donna looks up, but sees nothing beyond the flares of light marking attacks, nothing of the attackers themselves just yet. Green Lanterns? It was inevitable there was going to be conflict between New Krypton and the Green Lantern Corps after the greetings the Earth's Kryptonian immigrants had received at Oa previously, but so soon? And straight onto the attack? Donna had wondered if she was being a bit paranoid about the amount of trouble this was all going to cause, but perhaps she was not being paranoid enough.

    Donna give a nod to Caitlin, and takes to the air. Everyone has their own talents and their own roles, and while Caitlin is the engineering expert, Donna, as Monet had observed, is a diplomat as well as a warrior. She flips open her T-Com, sending a quick message to Mark. "Invincible, be very careful. Observe and report back, do not engage unless necessary."

    While Mark heads up into space, Donna takes up a position a few miles up where she can observe the city, and patches into the T-Jet to relay a wide-spectrum hail.

    <<Green Lantern Corps, this is Princess Troia of Themyscira, an ambassador from Earth in the Sol System, member of the Titans, and ally to your representatives in sector 2814. You are attacking a civilian settlement, call off your attack! There has clearly been a major misunderstanding. Repeat, you are attacking a civilian settlement, and endangering the lives of thousands of innocents. Please cease all attacks and send an investigation team. As a neutral party, I offer my services as diplomatic go-between and to help clear up any misunderstandings. Please respond.>>

Alura In-Ze has posed:
The two Kryptonian engineers are surprised when Caitlin rushes in and starts using the controls. They know her - she's been around a lot - but everything happening at once is causing a startled response. "Caitlin. Thank Rao you're here," one of them says. "We need help fixing the planetary defense array."

The second chimes in, "It's a set of big big cannons to shoot at things attacking us. But Brainiac smashed it all up good during the first rebellion. None of it has worked for 50 odd years..."

They have crystals scattered about and are fiddling with a machine across the room from the shield controls. "Your guess will be as good as ours. There are no records on how this goes together. If only Alura were here..."

Alura has a disturbed look on her face. She was not out of the Phantom Zone the last time the Kryptonians encountered the Oans. But she is glancing at the glyphs floating above her forearm. The shield energies are dropping fast. The moment that shield drops it'll be an all out fight in the streets of New Krypton's capital, Kandor.

That is when a being shimmers in to existence before her. A giant gryphon like creature set aflame. Alura stumbles back from it and feels a hand on her shoulder. A big green hand. She looks up to see another alien with four arms. "Vohc... Flamebird..."

Alura In-Ze has posed:
--- 20 years earlier. Alura dropped to her knees. Her clothes in tatters. The torments and decay of the Phantom Zone getting to her. Day after day, relentless doubt and drain. There was no end to it. A warm hand reached out and she took it.

"I am Flamebird," says a kind face, "I will help you escape this place - but you must do something for me."

Alura was shakey to her feet but the light from Flamebird somehow filled her with renewed vigor, "What... is it you need?"

"There will come a day when you will be given a choice. A choice that you must say no to. To say yes will mean the end of your free will and the inevitable doom of a world called Earth. You will be offered godhood. You must destroy that which offers it to you or.. all will be lost."

Alura In-Ze has posed:
--

The now. Vohc says, "Alura In-Ze. Again. A timeline between our last encounters. Your new world will fall today. But you have a choice. You can save it. There are only two of you here capable of receiving the gift of Rao, the power of the gods, and with it you can banish the Oans and the Lanterns from this place and keep it safe."

Alura recoils from Vohc remembering his rage when the El's destroyed his hegimonic timeline. Then Flamebird speaks up and motions through a rip in space to a glimmering palace beyond. "Hidden in Aethyr is the palace of the gods. There you can drink from its nector and take the power to destroy your enemies. But you must not."

Vohc speaks up, "This isn't the time to play. There will be -no more- building if this city falls. There will be nothing left. No more Krypton, no people to be gods to Flamebird. This is not the time for you to destroy... and you know you cannot destroy that palace, which is why you cheat and try to have Alura destroy it for you."

Alura lifts up her arms, "STOP! Both of you STOP. I'm not a God and I never even asked for the powers I have. I have freewill. I have studied the gods with thanks to the Themyscirans and I understand you both now. Your existence is endless torment, everything decaying and dying and falling away. You are trapped in an endless loop where you make the same choices, the same mistakes, again and again.. you lament these choices but are fated to repeat them because it is who you are, it is your nature. You do not have the free will of mortality."

She point a finger at Flamebird and then looks at Vohc, "And you demand I choose between two options. But there is a third. I believe in my friends. My allies. My family."

Vohc's eye twitches and he looks over to Clark, "Then perhaps Kal-El will do what needs to be done. To sacrifice his life to save this world and countless others. Flamebird pipes up again, "You must destroy it, because if not you, or Kal-El, then another will fall pray to the enticement. Perhaps your general Zod."

--

Captain Luddd summons up a green energy shield about himself and launches down toward the planet. He holds out his arms and a giant mace appears of green energy. He strikes at the shield; a crack forming, then draws it back to swing again when he gets a curious communication from the inhabitants below.

<< "This is Captain Luddd... please say again." >> His eyes narrow once more and he opens a channel to the Oan orbs, << "Cease fire. I believe they are willing to surrender." >> And yet... the mighty Oan weapons continue to blast down on to the shields. Their beams sweep back and forth creating rainbows of exotic particles. << "Lanterns - can anyone speak to these claims. Does anyone know what a Themyscira is.. what a Titan is.. what Earth is?" >> He brings up a holographic interface to examine this so called 'Earth'. None of this was in the mission briefing.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The minds are calming somewhat. If only as there seems to be an immediate cessation of aggression. Monet's not capable of picking that up at this far distance, but she can get a senes of what the back and forth is going on. Even as she still tries to mentally broadcast up and out into space, going to use languages that she had pulled from others. Primary Shi'Ar. Majadestian Trade. Kree Formal. She goes to continuously try and broadcast in cycles the words formed in each language and sent up and out to space. Complicated things put as simply as possible. She could -speak- them but she couldn't necessarily /understand/ what someone would think back or say. Fortunately, she just had to keep up the messages to ensure that things stood down. She goes to keep herself coordinated, even as she switches as smoothly as she can between the major galactic languages that she can distantly recall from negotiations at the spaceport.

<PARLEY. PARLEY>> Donig it in the best undertones of the rather complicated diplomatic discussions that had been had there (before the assassination of the Shi'Ar delegation by royal feuding).

Up in space, a Lantern with an oversized and hooked beak and a dark, feathery pattern on his frame would go, "Hey, what'thh that?" Speaking along the Lantern network with a horrible stutter of someone who was still getting used to speaking that way.

Or just really, really lazy.

"Oh, yeth, it'h that whiny bird thtuff." Going to pass it along the network while a passing styled lagomorph would taunt back.

"Ehh, you sound like you swallowed your throat, Duck."

Blowing him a raspberry, the seeming waterfowl in space would go, "You're dithpicable."

Clark Kent has posed:
Superman activated his belt at the urging of Alura. She had good instincts as the Lanterns arrive. His instincts were to leap into the fray, but this time he held back, assessing the situation, and waiting for something to come to him. Speaking of instincts, his were on high alert as of right now.

There were a lot of heroes he recognized in the fray, and each one of them was a valuable teammate. Sticking close to Alura, he hears everything. "If I must sacrifice myself for others, I will do it." His steely determination in his eyes reveal he speaks the truth.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin glances at the situation. Two competent-seeming engineers: good. Broken anti-orbital defense weapons: bad.

It only takes her brain a moment to make a snap decision. "Get on the shield generators. Get the emission frequency of those ... Oan cannons, and set our emitters on an inverse frequency. Start pulsing the emitters to conserve power," she adds. "It should help disrupt the waveform and buy us some time. They'll probably adapt quickly, so don't sit on your thumbs once it's done," she advises them.

That leaves one ginger super-genius to wrangle with a completely unknown machine using technology so advanced it makes the Stark reactors look like RV car motors. Caitlin interlaces her fingers and sticks her arms straight out, muscles and tendons *cracking* noisily. "Okay genius, it's on you now," she scolds herself.

The redhead starts pushing the crystals around to identify the broken ones, and looks over her shoulder at the techs. "Conductive putty?" she calls back. One of them holds a finger up to forestall her and retrieves a canister from a cabinet, and tosses it underhand at Caitlin. She catches it easily and starts using the adhesive to reconnect the crystals to the cluster stem in their proper order, testing each one against a power inductor to determine its function.

"<Guys!>" she announces over the comm net. "<Shields are stabilizing. I'm gonna try to get the sunstone cannons online. Ten minutes.>" A long beat. "<...I think.>"

-- Up in space:

D'le fairly dances back and forth with excitement as the battle unfolds. His ancticipation grinds to a halt when Luddd calls for a cease-fire. "<A Cease fire? Why are we ceasing? Howcome we're not fighting them?>" He zips a tight orbit around Ch'p, like a crazed hamster running laps. "<C'mon, let's go fight 'em! I can take 'em all on!>" he declares, and swings two building-size fists through the air as menacingly as he can.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Alura, they are Green Lanterns, and then there are those weird orbs," Conner is not sure what to hit, particularly now some of the Lanterns have stopped firing. But then he turns to Alura and sees... they guy that caused the timeloop, probably caused Brainiac too, probably messed up time so bad Alura lost her (maybe evil) twin sister forever.

Yep. Vohc is probably definitely the villain here. So, Conner goes for him, "you don't get to make demands here!" He shouts, aiming a kick at the face of the Kryptonian godling. "This is all your fault! You were there and didn't stop Brainiac. You were there and created the freaking Hegemony. And you are here again, and all you can do it kill more people with a fake choice!"

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle knows this might come at a cost. It might come at a big cost to hm, but hearing Arisa talk about Kryptonians like that. He's worried about those that could get caught in the crossfire. A couple he works with. So, he'll tap into the ring's communications.

"Lanterns. You don't know who I am, and I may not know about you. What I can tell you, that I'm new, but I carry a ring, too. I understand the weight and responsibility. I've been to Sector 2814. That sector holds Kryptonians. They all go under a banter. It's a red S inside a diamond shape. Sometimes the background it is around is yellow. Other times black or white. The nuances may be different, but they all follow a principle. These beings are selfless. I've seen them, the power to move planets, be kind to children. Do the littlest things to make someone happy. They meet the world with compassion instead of power. They want the same thing every Lantern does. We want peace in the galaxy. I may not know everything we're walking into, but I do know, if you see those symbols, they're allies. These will be some of the most loyal allies that will give you their last breath," he thinks on it for a few more moments.

"You see anyone with that symbol, spare them. Show them mercy, let them show you where they stand. In the aftermath of this, you'll see their kindness. And when the times are tough, they'll be the ones to stand with us, no matter what. All of them are worthy of rings, most would turn them down because they would think that's too much power to hold for one person. I beg all of you to listen to me. These are not our enemies out there," he says to everyone and is unsure how that will land.

Kyle will give Arisa a look and she will nod to him.

"So we have allies?" she asks.

"At least a couple," Kyle nods.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Arriving on the edge of space and drifting there, Mark takes in the assembled Lanterns and orbs and presses his ear piece to link it with the his T-com. <<It looks like a full-scale assault up here, Troia!>> He sends her a quick count on the Orbs... and that the Lanterns could easily number in the hundreds. <<But it's the orbs attacking, not the Lanterns!>>

But, it does give him an idea. There is one Lantern of the Titans that he knows of. <<Kyle!>> he calls out over the comms. <<Are you up here in this mess?? It's Invincible! Cait and Troia are planet-side!>>

What can he do? How can he help? He goes back to his youth. A young boy that put up a poster of Superman on his wall.

What would Superman do?

Mark could probably ask him directly, but right now, while he's up in space... hard to do. <<Last warning! Stop firing or...!>> He hasn't figure out 'what' will happen if they don't.

---

Ch'p frowns slightly as D'le flits around him. "<We can't just rush in, D'le! The smart thing to do...>" His powers activate and form a Houndstooth hat, magnifying glass and pipe that sticks out of the corner of his mouth.

"<Is to re-evaluate the situation and make sure that our intel is not incorrect.>"

Donna Troy has posed:
    There is a tradition -- more than a tradition -- on Themyscira. Offer your enemy three chances to make peace or surrender before you take the severe actions their refusal might necessitate.

    Hey, if you're facing the overwhelming power of the Oan fleet, maybe make it four....

    Donna looks down to the city below. The shields still hold, but they are taking a beating. Time for try number two.

    <<Lantern Corps, I repeat, you are attacking a civilian settlement. Hold off your attacks! I repeat, I am Troia of planet Earth of the Sol system, in treaty with Asgard and the Shi'ar Imperium. I am an ally of your agents in that sector, 2814 I believe you term it. Hal, Kyle, either of you guys up there? Tell them to stop! The city below is a civilian settlement recently rescued from Brianiac. Not only are you endangering the hundred thousand people of that city who have only just escaped their suffering at Brianiac's hands, but you are endangering the equipment created to restore Brianiac's prisoners, and thus the lives of many million more innocent civilians in the other bottled cities we were able to recover from Brainiac's ship. Please stop this senseless attack at once, and if you have any doubts about what I am saying, send down an investigation team and we will explain everything to you. >>

    Up in space, an Ungaran corpsman looks uneasy. "I was at Earth in sector 2814 a few cycles back," the red-skinned lantern says. "That's the planet that defeated War World. I attended the clean-up operation in the aftermath." His ring projects an image in space for those fellow lanterns in his unit, the display showing the vastness of War World with a captured Warzoon dreadnought speeding towards it on a collision course. The swirling pattern of a wormhole opens up behind War World and starts to swallow it just as the mighty dreadnought crashes into the station the size of a small moon. "There was a Titans and a Troia of Themysciran involved in that, but she was believed lost while crashing the dreadnought into War World after they'd disabled its shields and forcing it to flee. There is truth in what's being said, but it's possible the speaker is an imposter..."

    Unaware of the discussions above, Donna continues. <<Lantern Corps, the shields of the city are almost depleted.>> A minor lie, Caitlin and the science guild workers are working wonders with the ancient machinery. <<I call on you to cease fire at once and open civilized discussions to clarify any confusion that may have occurred before people start dying. I /know/ the Corps would not intentionally assault innocent civilians. Either you have misunderstood something or have been deliberately mislead. Cease fire!>>

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura rounds on Kal, placing herself between the portal to the crystal palace and the man she respects so very very much. "Kal no!" Her eyes locked on him she holds out her hand. He's faster than her, stronger than her, but she also knows who he truly is.

"You spent a life time saving the people of Earth. Believe in them, believe they can help us now too. Up there are some very confused Green Lanterns. They're fighting a war they don't even know has been going on since the beginning of Kryptonian civilisation. Trust in the truth," she points to the giant Truth banner, "And have the Hope that we gave them." She then points up at the giant Hope banner, the symbol of their household El.

Then she rounds on Vohc only to see him get punched down by Conner. She suppresses an amused smile as the green alien scrambles to defend himself against the angry Kryptonian-Human, next generation. "You two close that damn portal. This is not happening. Not today, not ever."

Her gaze returns to Clark, "I won't let you do this. You would end everything you believe in. You'd become a god of war, a destroyer. That's not you. That's not what you've fought for for so long. If we die today then we die showing them who we really are. What we really stand for. We cannot surrender to another eon of violence. God powers? it's just another weapon - the universe doesn't need any more of those."

She looks up at the orbs Conner mentions. They are certainly a major source of fire power that are draining the shields. If she gives the order to destroy them the Lanterns will have to respond in kind. She can feel the fear and frustration shacking through her body. Her hands are shaking, she hadn't even noticed. How can they be so close to restoring their people and yet about to lose it all in a single moment.

The very few Fighters Guild left have rushed out on to the streets with Kryptonian rifles in hand. That - that is the utmost of their ability to defend this city. Brainiac saw to that. These were recovered from Brainiac collaborators. The new defense force of New Krypton. The shields begin to fizzle despite Caitlin's optimistic report.

The head defender calls out, "This is it. When they come for our people - you shoot. You don't hesitate. This is the last line, no further."

Alura has no choice now. Start a war with the lanterns and may be survive the day. Take the power of the gods and vanish the lot of them. Or stand down and let the Kryptonian people come to a final end.

Alura has to take her eyes off of self sacrificing Clark as she makes the hard call. "We attack the orbs and hope .. HOPE .. the Lanterns forgive us." She commands in this moment of tragedy. Just as giant null energy guns rise up out of the ground (thanks to Caitlin) and turn to face up in to the sky. Weapons like this haven't been seen since the first time Zod attacked Earth.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Captain Luddd hears radio silence at his question until he hears the voice of one Kyle Rayner. The lantern feels a stirring in his heart. He has -never- seen Oan weapons outside of the Oa system - let alone turn up and start shooting. Expecting the Lanterns to follow suit. Then comes Ungaran's attestment too. More evidence to the contrary. It could be a trick, a trap.

And who is he to disobey the orders of their founders. The Guardians of the Universe. It's right there in the title. Perhaps they know something he doesn't. Yet, looking down up on the city - there is that symbol as described by Kyle. This could be the end of his career as a Lantern - but what kind of a career would it be if he didn't follow his heart.

He looks around at the other lanterns with him and sees a similar look of doubt, mixed with a desire to fight. It takes a certain kind of balance to be a lantern. << "ORBS CEASE FIRE" >> ... Nothing.

The shields of the city drop briefly and the beams of the oan weapons begin to strafe across the city and the arcology. As the shields come back, there are fires below and who knows how many civilians dead. Victims of Brainiac. And technology to undo the damage that monster made. His face twists and contorts in annoyance.

<< "I don't know what's going on here. But I know it ain't right. We're the LAW. We investigate and prosecute and when needs be fight. But we are -not- the aggressors. We keep the peace and not even Oa is above the law. LANTERNS! :: DESTROY THE ORBS!" >> He turns about and creates a giant shield, taking on one of the Oan beams directly.

Clark Kent has posed:
What would Superman do indeed.

Everything happens so fast. That happens when Kryptonians are involved. He hears Caitlin's status report. Listens to Troy's confident words. And as Conner lets his anger get the best of him, Clark looks at the Lanterns present. "Ok. That is quite the escalation." Looking back over his shoulder at Alura and, well, Vohc as Conner aims his kick, "This is not going to go well unless we can end this quick. People will die. Even with Rayner's help on their side. I can't have that on my watch. You know that...I would sacrifice myself for even one of us...or them."

Clark's eyes find Alura's for a brief moment of closure. Her words strike home, and he smiles. Then...she was distracted by the battle. "I'm not going to become the God of War Aunt."

That was when Clark makes the decision they knew was coming. "It has to be me! Vohc is right. I choose life! And sacrifice..." With that, Clark steels himself and summons his full powers of speed, strength and willpower to destroy the thing that was so tempting...

...power. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And if anyone could resist that temptation, it was Kal El. Clark Kent. Superman.

Avoiding Alura, her grasp, and her words, Clark flies at incalculable speeds through the rip in space/time, his aura glowing near-white in colour from the heat he generates through the atmosphere at this speed. Then, Kal El hits the palace in Aethyr with the kinetic energy of a supernova...and was gone.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
As up in the sky the giant shield flickers, and the attacking spheres blast along the city in a strafing pattern, Monet goes to try and fly up, taking a searing blast along her body right before the weapon is blasted away by one of the Lanterns.

The Lantern drives it off as it goes on it's less than merry strafing way even as Monet is left singed into the ground hard. She goes to pick herself up and goes to try to work at establishing a network if possible through Donna. She's done this before - Donna makes a rally point, a known mind that she can focus on and use to triangulate where everyone is to pass along information if they let her. She knows most of the minds at least in passing enough to keep them in contact. It's something she can do.

WIth any who will accept it, she goes to try and pass along and share information through it. To try and get the ability to coordinate a defense o fthe planet together - and to help work at figuring out what is going on.

This takes most of her focus - she's a standing duck at this point with having to contact people spread throughout the city inc haos and fighting. So she's very vulnerable if something does go to blast at her.

The sensation of Superman coming to a decision, moving to go fast.. Fast.. And AWAY registers after he's done it. Before she can even make mental contact with him. She catches the after-images as he goes faster than the mind can think, faster than the senses can feel. Faster than she can process or imagine.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin gets the crystals aligned surprisingly quickly. Her Kryptonian is mostly adequate, but some principles of engineering are common to any species. Things have to work in certain orders and in certain relationships with each other, and despite being a lumbering primate, Caitlin has an intuitive knack for seeing patterns in engineering chaos.

The last task is to manually hook up the conduits to the weapon systems. Caitlin gets the feed to the guns installed so they can start aligning, but when she goes to the power source, she comes up short. It's not fueled by sunstones. It's fueled by something else. A different crystal, with green-limned edges and an inky, swirling mist contained within.

"Oh God," Caitlin breathes in prayer.

"<Alura, I...>" Caitlin works automatically, connecting the crystal while she reaches out. "<Alura, these defensive cannons, they're-- they're null-energy projectors. They don't just do damage, they delete things from our universe.>" She rubs her arms and shivers; memories of entropic energy eating her alive wracks the redhead for a moment. "<If I fire these, I can't-- there's no guarantee what it'll do to spacetime. Or to anyone on the surface.>"

There's a moment of hesitation. "<I could ... I could overload the emitters with a radiation surge. It would blow them out, but it would give everyone-- every Kryptonian," she amends, "on Kandor with the equivalent charge of one of the sun belts.>"

She hesitates, fretting her lip. The cannons are controlled by AI. It just takes one Big Angry Button to activate the defensive maelstrom. "<But I can't say for sure what it would do to the Sunstone reactor,>" she admits.

Much like Alura, Caitlin's hands are trembling. As much out of fear as what Alura will say, versus... the decision Caitlin might have to make if Alura /can't/ say.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
Kyle gets a reply after that speech, but it's not from the com he thinks it would be.

<<Kyle!>> Kyle pauses for a moment, "Mark?" he asks himself. The voice continues, <<Are you up in this mess?? It's Invincible! Cait and Troia are planet-side!>>

<<This Lantern. Code names over the com. Trust me. I'm enroute. How bad is it?>>

As he continues, he hears another set of communications. Donna Troy's calling for a cease fire.

Everything is going from bad to worse. Kyle doesn't know about Superman's impending sacrifice; Kyle only knows about his own. There are reasons Kyle doesn't make any of the Lantern meetings. His status amongst his peers is murky at best. And something quintessential to his own survival is remaining hidden. Well, his speech is the exact opposite of being hidden.

<<Invincible. Tell the team it's been an honor. I don't think this is going to go well for me.>> Kyle thinks there's going too be a Sciencell with a long sentence in his future, but he wouldn't change what he's done. Nor will Kyle change what he's about to do.

Flying onto the scene, Kyle looks for one of those orbs and charges -straight- for it. Pulling back with a right hand he focuses and forming above him is a giant robotic hand. A generic hand based off of a Gundam, but it's not far enough to really identify which one. It's very nondescript as a result.

Kyle let's out a screen and drives his fist into the canon. His arm mimicking haymaker strikes that the construct follow. The giant robot hand pulls back and Kyle tries driving it forward again. He's going t smash his way inside. There's no going back now.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark is unaware of what is going on planet-side. He only has what he sees from where he is. He can only see the constant bombardment, and Troia's words. And then he hears Kyle over his comms. <<This Lantern?>> Mark asks. <<Dude, there's like one hundred of you!>> But it's the rest of his words that put a cold lump in Mark's gut.

<<Naw, man. You ain't going down alone.>>

And as the lone non-Lantern in space, he makes his choice. Pulling himself up, he stretches his fists out and rockets off at Mach 2 towards the nearest Orb. If there are Lanterns near him or in his way, he will bowl them over. Fortunately, for Mark, most of them have heard the order from the surface and have started to turn against the Orbs as well.

Mark slams into the first Orb at full speed, looking to use it as a pinball to send it careening towards other Orbs and set off a chain reaction as he pushes forward.

---

Meanwhile, Ch'p is the one shaking D'le. "<I don't understand! Why are the Guardians attacking civilians!>" Finally, he releases his fellow Lantern. "<We have to help!>" With that, he's turning his attention to the nearest orb and makes a giant mallet and starts to smash it up and down on the orb.

Eat your heart out, Harley Quinn.

Donna Troy has posed:
    From her vantage point a few miles above the city, Donna gets a perfect view of that momentary failure of the shields, and the swath of destruction that cuts across one sector of the city. Donna makes sure to retransmit the footage from her body camera on the same channels as her appeals to the Lantern Corps. <<There are men, women, and /children/ dying down here,>> Donna broadcasts up to the Lanterns. She starts to accelerate upwards. <<Innocents! Slain by your weapons! 'No evil shall escape my sight?' It's right under your noses!>>

    Monet's familiar mental link starts to establish, and Donna /think/ her next comments, to those defending the city rather than the lanterns. <We need people putting out fires and doing rescues in the damaged parts of the city. Anyone best suited to that, get moving. Anyone able to make it to space I think you're needed, but right now we need to look like the injured party, not the aggressors. This situation could start to look a whole lot worse...>

    Donna uncoils her lasso, accelerating upwards. The silver stars that decorate her black-enameled armor begin to glow dull red from the aeroheating of her rapid ascent towards space. <<Lantern Corps, I have an oath to protect the innocent. I chose to believe that you are the force for good you claim to be, so I will assume this continued attack is due to a rogue element amongst you or a weapons malfunction, however I cannot allow the death of innocents.>> Her voice becomes a little less diplomatic and a lot more steely. <<My oath compels me to disable the weapons you've turned on this city and if any of you give a damn about /your/ oaths you will help me. If not, I advise you stay out of my way. I have no intention to hurt anyone, so don't force me to.>>

    Finally, Donna gets a reply. <<Equipment malfunction,>> the Ungaran Lantern sends back to Troia. For all he knows that /might/ be the truth, but there are a whole lot of confused and uneasy Lanterns in orbit right now. <<We have just been ordered by our commander to destroy the weapons platforms ourselves. But if you are who you claim to be, I want to know how you survived a collapsing wormhole.>>

    Hovering in space close by the Ungaran is the lumbering, four-armed form of a Branx Lantern. Not the quickest-witted of species. "You sure about dis?" he asks the Ungaran with a worried expression. "Dem little blue guys knows what they doing, right?"

    "You heard Captain Luddd," the Ungaran replies. "Our orders are to destroy the orbs."

    "Luddd our Captain," the Branx concedes, all four fists twitching with uncertainty. "But Luddd not blue."

    <<Glad to hear you've seen sense, Lantern,>> Donna replies. The stars on her armor are no longer glowing, and the air's getting thin. She slips the bone conduction mike from the T-com and clips it over her ear, hooks the T-Com back on her belt, and gives another boost as she leaves behind the last of the atmosphere and enters space, bearing down on a pair of orbs.

    In the silent blackness, Donna swings her lasso and lets the magical rope extend as she casts it out to hook onto a protuberance on one of the orbs. She hauls the lasso tight, then lines up on the other orb, hurling the other end of the lasso into the beam of fire the second orb is targeting the city with. Donna's Lasso won't make people tell the truth, but it makes an extremely good energy conductor...

Alura In-Ze has posed:
Alura twirls around as Clark races past her faster than the speed of light and straight in to the crystal palace. She breaths heavily as her heart wretches. The portal shuts behind with a boom and knocks her back several hundred feet. She slides along the ground and scrambles to her feet in time to see Conner's last punch miss Vohc as he disappears. The burning gryphon that is Flamebird turns to light and disappears too.

"... Clark," she says feeling her insides twist and turn. The corners of her eyes becoming wet. She knows that is who he truly is. Kal-El was a name given to him by his birth parents, but he grew up as Clark Kent. Superman is a tool he used to make the world a better place. She has to live up to that. That means she doesn't get time to mourn. Not when there is a world to be saved.

But the bad news keeps on coming as she hears from Caitlin over comms and in to her ears too. There's no Power Girl here. There's no Supergirl here. She's the strongest Kryptonian available. The doubt within her is immense. She cannot fill his shoes. Having a friend like Donna out there as well as all her allies in the Titans tilts the playing field.

<< "Stand them down Caitlin," >> because whatever happens now they must not reinforce whatever narrative has been spun to bring this war to their door step. Sometimes the heroic thing is what you don't do, instead of what you do do.

They came for a Kryptonian. She'll give them a Kryptonian. With a push off the ground she rises up in to the sky, that \S/ symbol upon her chest prominent as the wind whips her cape around. Tears rush down her cheeks as her hands form fists. Her eyes begin to glow intensely red, then white, and she pushes her fists forward and shoots up towards the battle in the skies.

She sees a Green Lantern with a giant shield being battered by an Oan ray. The shield is going to fail, so she strafes across in to the path and takes the hit for him. Captain Luddd sees that described symbol on the cape before him and his expression changes to one of wonder and absolution.

Alura grits her teeth as the energy washes over her. It hurts, every part of her feels like it's on fire and fire doesn't normally bother her. Another Oan beam turns in her direction.. then another. Three of them battering down on her. She pushes her hands out in front of her to shield her face. Another, then another, then another turn toward her. Six of them blasting down on her.

The physics alone begin to pushes against her impossible ability to fly and she begins to lose ground. Two more turn toward her. There is so much energy hitting her she becomes impossible to see, just a glowing star in the skin. She can feel herself giving way - it's too much for her. She wonders if Clark could do it - and she knows she must persist because he would have. There is no one else to do it.

Then - one of the beams shuts off as Kyle smashes his way through the orbs machinery. Then another as Mark takes one out. Two more stop focusing on her as Donna engages them. Captain Luddd, whom she saved but a moment ago races past her and throws missiles from his hands at two more of the orbs as his fellow Lanterns join in the battle.

Just as Alura can feel herself starting to fade, her vision blurring away, the beams stop. They are twisting and turning, battling the Green Lanterns, Invincible, and Troia of Themyscira.

Her uniform scarred from head to toe, she gasps in air as she hovers in the air, defiant, against the Oan genocide. Faith in the heart for those to do the right thing has paid off. Clark has stopped a greater evil from destroying the galaxy today, what it will cost him those still on New Krypton can only guess. Alura knows the tragedy that played out between Vohc and Flamebird must continue forever. May be they will be released from that burden if Clark was able to destroy the godly power source.

Alura In-Ze has posed:
One by one the Oan battle sphere's are battered in to submission. Junk floating in space amongst an arm of green. There will be a reckoning on planet Oa about what happened today. Turmoil and chaos in the ranks and accusations thrown about of genocide. Where the chips may fall only time will tell.

Once mighty Krypton stood alone, separate from the universe. That world, those people, they are gone now forever. But today is the birth of a new world, New Krypton, and New Krypton is not alone. A little change can be good every once in a while.

[ https://youtu.be/F7gDaGT-YX0 - The Planet New Krypton ]

The end ... or is it?



--

"The timeline has almost collapsed. It's now or never General." The Kryptonian scientist salutes with a thump of his hand across his ornately adorned chest. The fleet of Kryptonian Hegemony ships from another timeline, a timeline that should never have existed, has been running from the end of existence for months. Now the void before them matches the void behind them. There is only one place to go - to the new reality.

"Engage the Reality Breach Drive," General Zod of the Kryptonian Hegemony orders. A chevron cuts through the emptiness, burning bright as a sun, it carves its way through to real space, to the real time line, and the Imperial Kryptonian fleet emerges.

... to be continued.