Several days later…
Jor-El called for an immediate emergency session with the ruling council of Krypton to go over the catastrophic consequences of their actions. "Do you not understand what you've done? My attempt to halt the Celestial's emergence was dangerous enough, but harvesting its energy? Krypton's core is now collapsing at an accelerated rate! Why didn't you heed my warning!" Jor-El shouted.
"We needed energy. You, yourself proved it was possible when you accessed the Celestial's power to create the containment field." A councilmember reminded him.
"Yes, and my intervention has already accelerated the emergence beyond what we predicted. I told you to take no action in trying to extract more cosmic energy until I could understand the consequences. The Celestial Rao may have blessed Krypton and our space sector with life, but we still do not know what dangers we may have brought onto ourselves." Jor-El told them. "We are dealing with forces beyond our control and we may now only have a matter of weeks. I warned you that any further tampering would be catastrophic."
"Our energy reserves were exhausted. What would you have us do, Jor-El?" A councilman asked him.
"Look to the stars, like our ancestors did! There are habitable worlds within reach. We can begin by using the old outposts." Jor-El told them.
"As you seriously suggesting that we evacuate the entire planet?" The head councilwoman asked him.
"No. Everyone here is already dead." Jor-El stated. "Give me control of the Codex. I will ensure the survival of our race. There is still hope. I have held that hope in my hands."
[BOOOOOOOOOOM!]
Jor-El and the others were surprised by a sudden explosion that destroyed the council chamber door and produced a thick cloud of smoke. The three guards by the door were quickly gun downed by energy blasters. Through the smoke Jor-El could make out the silhouettes of people before he saw General Zod walk through flanked by members of his own personal regiment. All of them were wearing their armor and carrying weapons. "This council has been disbanded!" Zod announced.
"On whose authority?" The councilwoman was insulted at his presence and interruption.
"Mine." Zod raised his blaster and fired a blast dead center at the councilwoman, killing her. "The rest of you will be tried and punished accordingly!"
Zod nodded to his second, Faora-Ul and she ordered her men to seize the rest of the Council. "What are you doing, Zod? This is madness!" Jor-El told him.
"What I should have done years ago. These lawmakers, with their endless debates, have led Krypton to ruin!" Zod shouted.
"How can you place all the blame on them alone, Zod? I was the one who attempted to halt the Celestial's emergence - an action that only accelerated our doom. This is as much on my hands as anyone's." Jor-El reminded him.
"No! You tried to save us! It was these fools who harvested the energy despite your warnings. You warned them and I warned them and now our planet is doomed. I've held my tongue and did my duty but no more!" Zod blasted another councilor in anger. "No more will we let these idiotic bureaucrats lead our people to extinction!"
"And if your forces prevail…you'll be the leader of nothing." Jor-El informed him.
"Then join me. Help me save our race my friend." Zod pleaded with Jor-El. "You are Krypton's greatest scientist and the most brilliant man in this entire galaxy of the universe. You alone discovered the truth hidden in our planet's core and you alone had the courage to act. If the council had listened to your warnings instead of exploiting your work, we would have more time. So, join me and use that intellect of yours towards our salvation. We'll start anew. We'll sever the degenerative bloodlines that led us to this state."
Jor-El could see through Zod's words of honey to find the poison underneath. "And who will decide which bloodlines survive, Zod? You?"
"Don't do this, Jor-El. The last thing I want is for us to be enemies." Zod told him.
"You have abandoned the principles that held us together. You've taken up the sword against your own people! I will honor the man you once were, Zod…not this monster you've become." Jor-El answered and Zod was disappointed in his friend.
"Take him away." Zod ordered so three men took him away for detainment. As they walked down the hallway, Jor-El's service robot arrived.
"Sir, is everything all right?"
"Out of the way!" The soldier ordered only for Jor-El to give the drone a subtle nod before closing his eyes. The drone released a bright flash of light that blinded the three soldiers and gave Jor-El his moment to act. Jor-El knocked a gun away and headbutted the soldier on his left before punching the soldier on his right in the side. He grappled with him and knocked him into the third guard before blasting one of the men with an energy blast. He was hit in the face but quickly recovered, kicking out the soldier's leg and then elbowed the soldier behind him before blasting the two of them dead.
"Get me Lara." Jor-El ordered and the drone connected him to his wife.
"Jor. Behind you!"
Jor-El quickly turned and blasted two more of Zod's men. "Lara, prepare the lab. I'm coming for the Codex."
Jor-El walked out of the Council building and saw a literal civil war being waged between Zod's faction and the part of Krypton's army that stayed loyal to the council he was trying to overthrow. Jor-El called his flying mount and hurried to Krypton's incubation and genesis chamber where Krypton's children were grown. Without fear, Jor-El dove into the chamber and retrieved the Codex which was the skull of an ancient Kryptonian and is the genetic template for every single Kryptonian yet to be born. It's what would allow the Kryptonian race to be reborn and continue onward.
After stealing the Codex, Jor-El returned to his home where the House of El's faithful Kryptonian hounds, Zyra and Tor, greeted him at the entrance. Their newborn pup, Krypto, bounded around their feet, still too young to understand the gravity of the situation. In his lab, Jor-El immediately began the delicate procedure that would ensure Krypton's legacy would live on through his son.
"Begin cellular integration," Jor-El commanded as he placed the ancient skull-like Codex into a scanning chamber. Streams of data filled the air around him as the genetic information contained within began to decrypt. "Kelex, initiate the bonding sequence."
The process was unlike anything attempted in Kryptonian history. As the Codex's information was decoded, specialized energy fields began to rewrite Kal-El's cellular structure at the quantum level. Every piece of genetic information, every strand of Kryptonian DNA, was being carefully woven into his son's cells. Kal-El slept peacefully through the procedure, unaware that he was becoming something unprecedented – a living repository of his entire civilization.
"Integration at sixty percent," Kelex reported. "Cellular stability maintaining optimum levels."
Jor-El watched the readings carefully. If this worked, his son would carry within him the genetic codex of every Kryptonian yet to be born. Not just their DNA, but their potential, their future, their hope. The procedure took hours, but finally, the last sequences aligned.
"Integration complete. The Codex has been successfully merged with Kal-El's cellular matrix."
Upon confirmation of the procedure's success, Jor-El lifted his sleeping son, feeling the weight of their civilization's future in his arms. It was then that his security systems alerted him to approaching forces. He knew Zod would come. Quickly, he donned his family armor, its metallic surface automatically conforming to his body.
The doors to his lab burst open. Zod entered with two of his soldiers, their weapons raised. Zyra's protective growl filled the chamber while Tor positioned himself between the intruders and Krypto, who huddled behind his father.
"I know you stole the Codex, Jor-El. Surrender it and I'll let you live." Zod offered, his voice carrying a dangerous edge.
"This is a second chance for all of Krypton. Not just the bloodlines you deem worthy." Jor-El stated, and Zod's eyes narrowed as he sensed something had already been done.
"What have you done?"
"We've had a child, Zod. A boy child. Krypton's first natural birth in centuries. And he will be free to forge his own destiny." Jor-El said with all the pride he had as a father.
"Heresy!" Zod's face contorted with rage. "Destroy it!"
Before his men could fire, Jor-El had already moved. Two precise shots from his sidearm dropped the soldiers, but Zod was already charging forward. The two men collided with bone-crushing force, years of military training evident in their movements.
"Stop this madness, Zod!" Jor-El pleaded as he blocked a series of strikes. "We were friends once!"
"Friends?" Zod landed a devastating punch to Jor-El's ribs. "Friends don't betray their people's future!"
They crashed through a console, sparks flying as they grappled. The fight carried them across the lab, neither man holding back. Zod's military training matched against Jor-El's desperate need to protect his son. Their combat moved like a deadly dance, each anticipating the other's moves from years of sparring together.
"You would doom us all with your misguided ideals!" Zod snarled, activating his wrist blade. The metallic weapon extended from his armor, its edge gleaming in the red sunlight streaming through the windows.
"No, Zod. I'm trying to save us!" Jor-El caught Zod's blade arm, straining against his friend's strength. "But not through genocide. Not through deciding who lives and who dies!"
The blade inched closer to Jor-El's throat. "Sometimes the old must be cut away for the new to flourish!"
With a desperate move, Jor-El slammed his forehead into Zod's face, using the momentum to twist the blade arm. There was a sharp crack as the wrist blade broke off, falling to the floor between them. In the same fluid motion, Jor-El snatched up the broken blade and slashed defensively as Zod lunged forward again. The blade caught Zod across the left side of his face, opening a deep gash from his temple to his jaw. Blood streamed down his face as he staggered back, his hand touching the wound that would become a permanent reminder of this day.
"Look at what you've become!" Jor-El shouted, still holding the bloodied blade. "The honorable man I knew would never murder children!"
"The man you knew died with the hope of Krypton!" Zod charged again, his rage intensified by the injury, but his fury made him reckless.
Jor-El dodged the wild attack, getting behind Zod and driving him to his knees. He raised the broken blade, its edge pressing against Zod's throat. For a moment, time seemed to freeze. All the years of friendship, of brotherhood, flashed through Jor-El's mind. Memories of their youth, of battles fought side by side, of celebrations shared and hardships weathered together.
He couldn't do it. Even after everything, he couldn't kill his friend.
Instead, Jor-El struck Zod with the blade's hilt, knocking him unconscious. As Zod slumped to the floor, the sounds of battle outside grew louder. Krypton's loyal forces had arrived, engaging Zod's remaining soldiers in the streets around the House of El.
"Secure the traitors!" a commander shouted as troops rushed in, quickly taking custody of Zod and his fallen men. "Are you alright, Jor-El?"
"Yes," he answered, though the word tasted bitter in his mouth. He watched as they dragged Zod's unconscious form away, remembering the friend he once was, wondering how it had come to this. The broken wrist blade lay on the floor, a symbol of their shattered friendship.
Several Days Later...
The remnants of Krypton's High Council gathered in the Chamber of Justice, its ancient walls bearing witness to what would be one of their final acts. Only three councilmen remained of the original body, survivors of Zod's violent coup attempt. The chamber, normally filled with the quiet dignity of scholarly debate, now thrummed with tension. Armed guards lined the perimeter, their weapons trained on the thirteen prisoners kneeling in the center of the vast room.
Lara stood beside Jor-El, cradling baby Kal-El protectively in her arms. The infant slept peacefully, unaware that he carried within his cells the future of their entire civilization. Jor-El's face remained stoic, though his hand never left the small of Lara's back – a subtle gesture of support and protection.
General Zod and his followers had been stripped of their military insignias, their armor replaced with simple grey prisoner garments. The fresh scar running down the left side of Zod's face stood out starkly against his pale skin, still raw and angry – a permanent reminder of his final confrontation with Jor-El.
The surviving Councilman, his face still bearing scorch marks from Zod's attack on the chamber, stepped forward. His voice carried the weight of authority, though it trembled slightly with barely contained anger. "General Dru-Zod, you and your conspirators stand accused of high treason, attempted overthrow of the lawful government of Krypton, and the murder of High Councilwoman Ro-Zar and two other council members. How do you plead?"
Zod lifted his chin, defiance blazing in his eyes. "I plead that I acted to save our people while you sat in your towers and debated us into extinction!"
"And you, Jor-El," the Councilman continued, turning his stern gaze to the scientist. "You stand accused of theft of the Genesis Codex, violation of our most sacred reproductive laws, and the performance of illegal genetic procedures. How do you answer these charges?"
Before Jor-El could speak, Zod's voice rang out. "The great Jor-El, reduced to a common thief? No. He is a visionary who saw what needed to be done while you ignored the death throes of our world!" His eyes fixed on the baby in Lara's arms. "But to merge the Codex with that... abomination? That natural birth? You've corrupted everything!"
"My son is not an abomination," Jor-El's voice carried across the chamber with quiet authority. "He is Krypton's salvation. In him, our civilization will survive and grow in ways we never imagined. Not through rigid control, but through freedom of choice."
The remaining council members visibly recoiled at the mention of natural birth, their faces twisting with disgust. "This... child," another councilman spat the word, "is an affront to thousands of years of genetic perfection. You will remove the Codex from it immediately."
"I cannot," Jor-El stated firmly. "The integration is complete at the cellular level. The Codex is now part of him, as inseparable as his own DNA."
"Then you doom us all!" Zod surged to his feet, the guards immediately moving to restrain him. The fresh scar on his face pulled taut with his rage. "You speak of salvation through chaos! Our entire civilization, left to the whims of random chance!"
The surviving councilmen deliberated briefly before the lead Councilman spoke again. "General Zod, for your crimes against Krypton, you and your conspirators are hereby sentenced to three hundred cycles of somatic reconditioning in the Phantom Zone." He turned to Jor-El. "And you, Jor-El, for your crimes against our laws and traditions, you and your house are confined to your residence until the Codex can be safely extracted from the child."
Zod's laughter, bitter and hollow, echoed through the chamber. "You sentence us to a fate worse than death while this traitor corrupts everything we are!" He looked directly at Jor-El and Lara, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. "You think distance and dimension will stop me? I will find him. Wherever you hide him, whatever world you send him to, I will track him across the stars themselves." His eyes locked onto the sleeping Kal-El. "I will reclaim what you have stolen from us. The Codex belongs to Krypton!"
"Enough!" The lead Councilman commanded. "Proceed with the sentencing."
The guards activated their weapons, energy fields surrounding each of the prisoners. Faora-Ul, Zod's most loyal lieutenant, stood proud even as the stasis field began to take hold. "For Krypton," she declared, her voice unwavering.
"For Krypton!" the other soldiers echoed as the crystalline structure of the stasis field crawled across their bodies.
Zod's eyes never left Jor-El and his family as the crystal began to encase him. "I will find him!" he shouted, his voice distorting as the field took hold. "I will find him, Jor-El! Lara! And You will bow down before me, Jor-El. I swear it! No matter that it takes an eternity! YOU WILL BOW DOWN BEFORE ME! BOTH YOU, AND THEN ONE DAY, YOUR HEIRS! I will find him! I WILL FIND HIM! "
Ice crystals formed across Zod's skin as the cryogenic stasis took hold, his face forever frozen in a mask of rage, that final threat still echoing through the chamber. Each prisoner was systematically frozen, their bodies encased in sheets of ice, suspended in individual containment pods. The pods were loaded onto the dark, angular phantom drive ship that would carry them into their eternal exile in the Phantom Zone. Even as the freezing process completed, Zod's eyes remained fixed on Kal-El, their burning intensity unchanged until the very last moment before the ice claimed him completely.
As the ship rose into Krypton's crimson sky, Jor-El watched with a complex mixture of emotions – sadness for the friend he had lost, determination for the path ahead, and fear for his son's future. The council guards immediately moved to escort the House of El to their residence.
"You've doomed us all," one of the surviving councilmen muttered as they passed.
"No," Jor-El replied quietly, looking down at his sleeping son. "I've given us a future. One free from the chains of our own making." He turned to address the council one final time. "You can confine us, but you cannot stop what's coming. Krypton's heart is already beating in my son's chest, and through him, our people will have a chance to live again – not as a stagnant society bound by rigid tradition, but as something new, something greater."
The council guards escorted the House of El back to their residence, their weapons never lowering despite Jor-El and Lara's peaceful compliance. Behind them, the phantom drive ship carrying Zod and his frozen conspirators rose into the crimson sky, beginning its journey to the Phantom Zone. Zod's final threat still echoed in their minds: "I will find him!"
Once inside their home, the guards established a security perimeter, their orders clear – the House of El was to remain confined until the council could determine how to extract the Codex from the child. But they didn't understand that time was a luxury Krypton no longer had.
In the Temple of Rao, the few remaining priests gathered for what they knew would be their final prayer. Their voices echoed through the vast chambers as they chanted ancient hymns, even as the ground beneath their feet trembled with increasing violence. The head priest, his face lined with age and wisdom, looked up at the towering statue of their celestial god and whispered, "So it ends as it began, in fire and transformation."
Deep beneath the surface, in the vast network of geothermal power plants that helped power Krypton's cities, engineers worked frantically to maintain stability. Warning signals blared as sensors detected massive energy fluctuations from the planet's core. "The readings are off the scale!" one technician shouted over the din of failing machinery. "The containment field isn't just failing – it's accelerating the process!"
In their private chambers within the House of El, Jor-El and Lara worked with practiced efficiency to complete their final preparations. The guards outside their residence were too distracted by the increasingly violent tremors to notice the subtle hum of machinery behind the sealed doors. The launch pod that would carry their son to safety stood ready, its phantom drive humming with carefully contained power.
"Sir," one of the younger guards called through the door, his voice betraying his fear as another tremor shook the building, "perhaps we should evacuate you to a more secure location?"
"There are no more secure locations," Jor-El replied calmly while continuing his work. "The council's failure to heed my warnings has doomed us all. Save yourselves if you can."
The ancient cape of the House of El lay carefully folded beside the launch pod, its fabric seeming to shimmer with the weight of generations of history. As Jor-El made the final adjustments to the navigation systems, he could hear the guards outside beginning to abandon their posts, the preservation of their own lives finally outweighing their duty.
"Kelex, final systems check," Jor-El commanded.
"All systems are functioning at optimal levels," the robot reported. "The phantom drive is stable and the coordinates for Earth have been locked in."
Lara stood at a nearby console, monitoring the increasingly unstable readings from the planet's core. "The emergence is accelerating," she said, her voice tight with controlled fear. "We have minutes, not hours."
Through the high windows of their chamber, they could see the chaos unfolding across Kryptonopolis. The surviving council members were now frantically trying to organize an evacuation, though they had nowhere to go. Transport vehicles filled the sky as people attempted to flee, though there was nowhere safe to go. The great towers that had stood for millennia were beginning to collapse, their advanced materials finally failing under the astronomical forces being generated from within the planet.
In the streets below, crowds of people ran in panic as the ground split open, revealing rivers of molten rock that glowed with an unnatural blue energy – the power of the awakening Celestial bleeding through the planet's crust. The automated defense systems tried vainly to maintain order, their holographic warnings drowned out by the sound of destruction.
"Kelex, have you confirmed the coordinates?" Jor-El asked, double-checking every detail of their plan.
"Yes. Planet Earth. Orbiting a yellow sun, just as you specified." Kelex answered, displaying a holographic map of their son's destination. The image showed a blue-green world that seemed so far removed from Krypton's harsh environment.
"Earth? The planet your ancestors visited?" Lara asked, momentarily distracted from her monitoring.
"Yes. Its yellow sun will make him stronger than we could ever imagine." Jor-El explained as Kelex displayed information about the planet's native species. "Under that sun, his cells will drink in its radiation. He'll have powers we can only dream of."
"But they're so primitive, so barbaric," Lara protested, though her voice held more worry than judgment.
"Were we so different?" Jor-El asked gently. "Look at what our 'advanced' civilization has wrought. They're young, yes, but they have such potential for growth, for good."
Another violent tremor shook the building, and warning signals began blaring throughout the complex. On Lara's monitor, the core readings had gone critical. Through the windows, they could see massive fountains of energy erupting from the ground, shooting into the sky like inverse lightning.
"He'll be an outcast among them," Lara said, looking down at their sleeping son. "A freak. They'll kill him."
"How?" Jor-El moved to her side. "He'll be a god to them."
Young Krypto, sensing the tension in the room, whimpered softly from his place near the launch pod. The pup's parents, Zyra and Tor, had already been lost in the chaos of the past few days. Jor-El looked at the small creature and made a quick decision.
"He'll need a companion," he said, gently lifting Krypto and placing him in a specially designed compartment next to Kal's pod. "A piece of home to guard and guide him."
Lara nodded through her tears as she lifted Kal-El one last time. The baby stirred but didn't wake as she wrapped him in the House of El cape, its fabric containing centuries of their family's history. "What if the ship doesn't make it?" she whispered. "He'll die out there, alone."
Jor-El took her free hand in his. "Lara, look at me." When she met his eyes, he continued, "Krypton is doomed. This is his only chance – our people's only hope. Everything we are, everything we've learned... it all lives on in him now."
The ground shook more violently, and through the windows, they could see entire sections of the city beginning to collapse. The red sun that had nourished their civilization for millions of years seemed to pulse with an angry light, as if sensing its children's end was near.
With trembling hands, Lara placed Kal-El in the pod. "Goodbye, my son," she whispered, pressing a final kiss to his forehead. "Our hopes and dreams travel with you. You will travel far, my little Kal-El, but we will never leave you... even in the face of our deaths."
Jor-El activated the launch sequence, watching as the pod was sealed and lifted into position within the rocket. He inserted his command key into a nearby console, revealing a compartment containing a glowing red crystal – the sun crystal, a power source of incredible potential that would one day help their son understand his heritage.
"It's time, Kelex."
"It has been an honor serving the House of El, sir," the robot responded. Jor-El quickly removed Kelex's memory core and liquid geo interface, placing them in a compartment within the ship along with the sun crystal.
As the launch countdown began, Jor-El turned to Lara. In her eyes, he saw the same love that had led them to defy their world's traditions and create new life naturally. Without words, they came together in a final, passionate kiss, pouring all their love and hope and fear into that last embrace.
The rocket lifted off just as the ground beneath their feet began to break apart. They watched it rise through the chaos-filled sky, their hands clasped tightly together. All around them, Krypton was literally tearing itself apart as the Celestial within began its final emergence.
Deep within the planet's core, the Celestial embryo that had been growing for millions of years finally awakened fully. Its consciousness, vast and alien, touched briefly on the dying world above it. It sensed the fear and chaos of the tiny beings that had lived their brief lives upon its incubator, but such concerns were beyond its comprehension. It had a greater purpose, a cosmic destiny to fulfill.
As Jor-El and Lara held each other, watching their son's ship disappear into the distance, the final phase of destruction began. The planet's surface cracked like an eggshell, revealing blinding white light from within. Massive tentacles of pure energy, each larger than continents, burst from the ground as the Celestial began to emerge.
Lara stood at the window, watching their son's ship disappear into the chaotic sky. Behind her, Kelor's systems flickered as the building's power began to fail. She placed her hand against the window, feeling the heat of their dying world through the supposedly indestructible material. You were right all along," she said softly to her husband, who stood beside her. "This is the end."
The Celestial's emergence accelerated, its vast form pushing through the planet's mantle with inexorable force. In its wake, Krypton began to implode, it's very atoms being torn apart by the cosmic energies being released. The red sun seemed to dim as something far brighter took its place – the awakening form of a being that had used their world as its cradle.
Jor-El and Lara shared one final look of love before the end came. "Make a better world than ours, Kal," Lara whispered. Then, in a blinding flash of light and energy, Krypton ceased to exist. The planet's death threw out a shockwave that rippled across space, carrying with it the scattered remains of a once-great civilization.
Where Krypton had been, a newborn Celestial now floated in space, its form still adjusting to its full existence. Its body, composed of pure energy and cosmic matter, dwarfed the remains of the planet that had nurtured it. As it gained full awareness, another presence made itself known.
Arishem the Judge materialized near the newborn Celestial, his towering form casting shadows across the debris field that had once been Krypton. The newborn Celestial communed with him in a language beyond human comprehension, sharing the knowledge it had gained during its long gestation.
"The Eternals of Krypton failed in their purpose," the newborn conveyed. "They allowed their charges to become stagnant, to turn inward rather than reach for the stars. The seed of expansion was lost."
"A waste," Arishem agreed, his cosmic voice echoing through the void. "This sector's development has been delayed by their failure." His enormous head turned slightly, detecting something of interest. "And yet..."
Both Celestials became aware of a small ship, already far distant, carrying within it the last hope of Krypton. They sensed the Codex merged with the child's cells, the genetic legacy of an entire species preserved in a form they had never anticipated.
"Unexpected variables create new possibilities," the newborn observed. "This outcome was not pre-determined."
Arishem considered this. "Perhaps not all is lost. We shall observe."
As the Celestials communed, the Watcher appeared, his cosmic form shimmering against the backdrop of destruction. He spoke to unseen audiences across the multiverse:
"And so fell Krypton," he intoned, "its great civilization ended not by the petty conflicts of its people, but by cosmic forces they barely understood. Through the sacrifice of Jor-El and Lara, through their defiance of tradition and their embrace of hope, they have not only preserved their civilization but have set in motion events that will reshape the very fabric of reality. Watch now, as this child of two worlds embarks on a journey that will echo through eternity..."