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The Batwing tore through the sky above Metropolis. Its engines screamed, a thin contrail of smoke trailing behind. Inside the cockpit, screens scrolled with satellite overlays, tactical readouts, and a thousand little windows of what-ifs. Batman's jaw was a hard line beneath his cowl.
He keyed the comms. The Watchtower answered, a burst of static and the tired voice of Martian Manhunter.
"Batman," Martian Manhunter answered, his voice thin and ragged over the line. The feed carried the strain of a body badly bruised. "We are… recovering. H'El outclassed us. He's gone...but we've a lock on his destination."
"Any Casualties?" Batman's voice was flat and impatient.
"None, but it seems Zod was taken out and he left in a hurry," J'onn said. "Superman is en route. He says he has a way to stop H'El. He also warned us not to join him... don't try anything reckless Bruce."
Batman's hand tightened on the stick. He had expected this. "I anticipated that defeat," he said, eyes sweeping a tactical map that lit up with Superman's vector. "There's much H'El didn't show. That clone shouldn't even be considered a Kryptonian by our metrics. He's a different order of problem."
On the HUD a waypoint blinked: Arctic. Fortress. The snow-glass icon was signaling.
"But It's fine," Batman continued, calmness wrapped around steel. "I have a solution to render him powerless. Tell me exactly where he went."
There was a long breath before J'onn answered. "The Fortress of Solitude. Clark's heading there as well and he said the same thing.." the Martian's voice cracked with pain and fatigue "..and he hopes to prevent catastrophe without killing him."
Batman allowed a shadow of a smile. "Interesting," he said. "Because I know someone else will be there to try and take him down. My option is merciful, if merciful is possible. I can't speak for Clark, but I know what Arthur will try."
Martian Manhunter's replied. "And which is…?"
Batman's eyes flicked to a small metal box secured in a harness beside him. Inside, something glowed golden faintly, a tool never meant for the common enemy.
"He will try to claim H'El," Batman said softly. "Arthur will bind him, turn him to shadow's will and use him as a sword. I will try to not let that happen. I would rather strip H'El of his powers and keep him alive. Containment. That's the solution."
"Do whatever you see best," J'onn said, voice heavy with trust and fatigue. "Just...be careful. H'El is… unpredictable."
Batman's mouth flattened into a line. He keyed the feed with one final instruction. "You all recover. Regroup when you can. I'll try to handle this." Then he cut the line.
Silence filled the cockpit for a moment only the instruments, only the bat-shaped HUD tracking the Arctic node. He engaged the afterburners, and the Batwing lunged forward, speed increasing. The world outside blurred to streaks of light.
Batman looked at the golden item again, the glow reflected in his cowl: power without restraint leaves ruins; mercy without method leaves monsters.
****
Superman cut through the upper atmosphere like a living light, a crimson streak dragging across the clouds. The blue of his suit shimmered against the gray stormfronts ahead, his cape trailing behind him. Below him mountains blurred into glaciers, glaciers into endless white. The Arctic.
Every second brought him closer to the Fortress of Solitude, and with it the man who had nearly killed them moments ago.
H'El.
Kal-El's mind racing faster than his flight. The phantom ache in his chest, the memory of their last encounter burned. H'El's power had been unnatural, even by Kryptonian standards. Faster. Stronger. His blows had sent Superman to his knees. His words, worse still, had cut deeper than any strike.
"You've forgotten what it means to be Kryptonian, Kal-El."
Superman's fists tightened until the air around them crackled. His eyes glowed faintly red, twin stars smoldering in the cold sky.
"Not this time," he muttered under his breath, voice hard as steel. "Not holding back again."
He wasn't going to hold back anymore. Not against someone like H'El.
Not when the cost of restraint was Earth itself.
Last time, he had fought as Clark the man raised in Kansas, the protector who always believed mercy was strength. But mercy had gotten cities leveled, lives lost.
This time, he would fight as Kal-El of Krypton.
****
The world beneath was a frozen, glaciers stretched endlessly, the storm above was parted by the colossal wings of Kamish, the mighty marshal dragon, whose every wingbeat sent thunder through the sky.
Atop his back, Igris stood, motionless as a statue carved violet flame and darkness. His longsword rested at his side, its edge still faintly glowing. The icy winds did not touch him, nothing did. His helm turned slightly, violet eyes narrowing as a ripple passed through the air.
Even from this distance, Igris sensed something… or someone was moving now in the fortress they just left behind them.
He shifted, gaze cutting toward the Fortress of Solitude they had just left, its crystalline spires gleaming in the far-off white horizon. Power flickered there, faint but sharp.
And then a voice, calm and absolute, slipped into his mind.
"Don't bother with him, Igris."
It was Arthur's voice.
Igris immediately bowed his head, the faintest spark of deference in the disciplined rigidity of his form. The shadows around him pulsed once, and then, from a swirl of violet light beside him, Arthur Blackwynd stepped out, his cloak billowing in the wind. Beside him, emerging from the same rift of dimensional energy, was Kara, her hair catching the cold wind, her cape torn but still billowing.
Arthur's violet gaze swept across the horizon, then fixed on the Fortress in the distance. His tone was measured, but there was iron beneath it.
"That one is mine."
At once, Igris dropped to one knee. Kamish roared low beneath them, a sound that trembled through the clouds.
"As you command, my liege," Igris said, voice echoing.
He raised his arm, and from the shadows at his feet, a mangled figure lay there, the corpse of General Zod, broken, deformed, dead, and the Kryptonian's face twisted beyond recognition. Igris presented him like a knight delivering the proof of conquest.
"The enemy is dead."
Kara stepped forward, eyes widening as she took in what was left of the once-proud General. Her expression twisted, not pity, but a somber understanding of what this meant.
"I can't even recognize him in this state…" she murmured.
Arthur's gaze lingered on the corpse not with gloating, but with something colder.
"He got powerful too quickly," he said quietly. "And it had a price. His body needed time to adapt to Earth. Time he didn't have."
Kara crossed her arms, her jaw tightening. There was no sympathy in her tone.
"After what he told me, he didn't deserve mercy, that much is clear."
Arthur met her gaze calm.
"He didn't get any."
Then Arthur stepped forward, placing a hand on Igris's armored shoulder.
"Well done Igris," he said, his tone softer now a rare acknowledgment. "Take him straight to my base. Make sure his body is secured."
Igris bowed his head again.
"It shall be done."
Arthur and Kara jumped from Kamish's back into the open sky, in a flare of shadows, Kamish increased his speed, his vast form cutting through the storm clouds, vanishing toward the horizon with a roar that cracked the sky.
Arthur and Kara hovered there in silence for a moment, suspended in the air. Snow spiraled around them, Kara turned to him, a small, determined smile curving her lips.
"So… to the Fortress?" she asked.
Arthur nodded, eyes narrowing with focus.
"Yeah. But be careful, Kara. You know what we're walking into. I already told you what kind of monster H'El is. he's not just a normal Kryptonian. I'll take him on first."
Kara met his gaze, her eyes burning with confidence.
"Don't worry," she said with a smile, her tone light. "I'll follow your lead this time."
For a brief moment, the hard edge in Arthur's expression eased, and he smiled back at her.
"Good," he murmured.
Then, without another word, both of them turned skyward. The air shimmered around them, power building. Kara's eyes flashed blue; Arthur's burned violet. A thunderous boom cracked across the sky as they both accelerated twin streaks of light tearing across it.
Their destination The Fortress of Solitude and H'El.
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want