Royal Palace, Ma'aleca'andra:
"This is lunacy, your Majesty! You simply allow them to leave with the residents of our planet?!"
"Residents or slaves, A'marr?" He asked to his adviser, who looked flustered as the rest of his council could not meet his gaze.
"A'marr is simply distraught that you would allow another to leave the citizens of our planet, my love," his Queen J'arlia spoke at his side, but he saw through her words and narrowed his eyes.
"Amongst my council of advisers, A'marr is the loudest voice when it comes to voting against any attempt to make A'ashenn equal to G'arrunn."
"Father is right, Mother," his son spoke up and S'turnn felt proud as J'emm continued. "If we had allowed the A'ashenn to continue living as no more than animals under our rule, how long would it take for someone who hates it to gather an army under their command? How long before they would attempt to destroy the very society we pride ourselves on?"
"They would be foolish to attempt such a thing with their dwindled numbers," Another adviser spoke with a snort, to which his son shook his head as S'turnn cleared his throat.
"And what if they decided beings just as extraordinary as Match and Chris, both of whom were powerful enough to vanquish Mongul and his assistant?" That made the room silent and S'turnn gave a subtle smile at J'emm's thankful nod.
"Exactly. Do you, adviser G'onn, believe that you are capable of facing off against such a being and emerging victorious?"
"I-I would not need face such a beast. I simply would ravage its mind."
"Oh really? Well, I would be more than happy to tell Chris that and ask for you to prove your claim, if you wish?"
"S-S-Such a thing would not be needed, your Highness."
"Oh, I insist on behalf of my son. It would be a wondrous display of your might," S'turnn spoke in agreement, both son and father enjoying the B'lahdenn turning a pinkish-red as he paled.
"A-Ahem! Perhaps I may have overestimated my might, your Majesty, your Highness."
"See that such a thing does not happen again," S'turnn spoke with a smile, sweeping his gaze across the council and nodding when they all bowed their heads. "Good. Now, onto more important matters-"
"Your Majesty!" S'turnn narrowed his eyes as the doors to his throne room was swung open, holding up a hand to silence all that wanted to shout at the running scout.
"What causes you to interrupt a very important mission, young Scout?" he asked, giving the G'arrunn time to breathe before she spoke.
"O-Our scanners...picked up an armada...approaching from Jupiter."
"And how many ships did you detect?"
"S-Seventeen hundred and counting, your Majesty." S'turnn's eyes widened as gasps echoed through the throne room just as he heard the low whirring of machinery turning.
The next moment, his heart sank as countless demonic roars tore through the air followed by the ceiling collapsing in upon itself.
"Citizens and royal family of Mars!" a deep voice bellowed as something heavy crashed into the centre of the throne room.
The smoke was dispersed with the smash of something heavy and S'turrn grimaced as a brutishly build monster dressed in a black tunic with green accents and a guild stepped forth towards him with a grin.
"Rejoice for today, you join as servants to the great Lord Darkseid. Please, do resist if you wis-"
"J'emm, no!" S'turnn tried and failed to catch the arm of his son as he rushed past, feeling a cold chill running up his spine when the monster grinned and lunged forward.
"A volunteer! WonderFUL!" the being grunted as he ignored the psychic compulsion from J'emm, whose eyes widened as a heavy fist blew through his guard.
The fist continued and crashed into his chest, knocking the wind from his lungs as he was sent blasting backwards. J'arlia gave a startled and agonised wail as J'emm slammed through his throne, S'turnn himself rushing at the monster when he tried to pursue.
"Oh?" the beast hummed as S'turnn blocked his charge, raising an eyebrow and his grin widening when the Martian King sent him back with a telekinetic pulse.
"Do not even dare to touch another scale on my son's body."
"Your son, huh? I myself am the son of a father, but I do not need him to fight my battles. Why not allow your son the same courtesy?"
"Because I love him and I do not wish for him to be in harm's way."
"So, you coddle him? As expected of Martians, I suppose." S'turnn narrowed his eyes before he stomped on the ground, unleashing a shockwave that pushed the monster up and through the hole in the ceiling.
Shooting after the monster, his eyes widened as he was greeted by the sight of Ma'aleca' andra ablaze.
The underground city was in ruins, gaping holes left in the cavern ceiling and ground by the rain of plasma cannons while hundreds of G'arrunn, B'lahdenn and the A'ashenn that remained were dragged screaming through dozens of Boom Tube portals.
"Do not look away from your foe!" S'turnn shifted the density of his body just as a fist blew through his head, anger burning in his veins as he turned to the surprised look of the monster.
With a roar, a blast of telekinetic power sent the monster further through towards the surface of Mars. Following closely after was the Martian king, bringing several stalagmites with him and flinging them towards the monster.
The behemoth just laughed as he shot forward and S'turnn's eyes widened when the monster blasted through the stone structures like it was nothing.
With a wide hook that he barely ducked under, the shockwaves created by his swing were still enough to sent him hurtling back towards the ground.
His eyes were locked onto the tall monster that turned and clapped his hands, creating a shockwave to send himself rocketing after him.
S'turnn raised his hands and the sands of Mars moved with him, creating a thick wall that gave him time to move out of the way. The monster came blasting through it and crashed into the ground, but S'turnn was ready as stone shards rained down from above.
Each was sharp enough to pierce through the toughest of metal, but he grimaced when the monster sidestepped from side to side in rapid succession, dancing around the stones with a grin.
Then, his eyes snapped to him and the next thing he saw was a monstrous fist snapping into his skull. The ground beneath them caved in and S'turnn felt dazed as his head snapped back.
Hands grabbed onto the wrists of his upper arms, his bleary vision treating him to the sight of the grinning behemoth who laughed.
"Hahahaha! Wonderful battle, Martian King, but know that you are no match for Kalibak, son of Darkseid! Now...die."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Unity Sphere Loading Bay:
The engines of the shuttle shut down with a hiss as the loading bay doors closed with clicks and snaps. I let Sphere take control of turning the ship off while opening the exit hatch to the shuttle.
'That was a fun time.' After Ma found out that she had a Kryptonian 'niece', I had to make a ton of promises that I would bring her to meet the family once her mind was set back in the right place.
The fact that Pa and Lois decided to side with her didn't help, but thankfully, she decided to let me leave though not before making me promise again that she'd get to meet Match's new girlfriend as well.
Did I drop that little bit of info in there to get the attention away from me? I have no idea what you mean.
'Now, I should probably make sure that everything went smoothly as well as prepare for the date of Rae and I,' I thought as the ship doors closed behind me, making my way towards the hallway that led to the medical room.
What I didn't expect was for M'comm to be waiting for me, in his Martian form and eyes locking onto me as I walked closer.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Can we...talk?" he looked a bit hesitant and uncomfortable as he asked that, both of which surprised me.
The prideful and confident M'comm, uncomfortable and hesitant? Yeah, something was wrong.
"Sure, what's up?"
"It's about your relationship situation."
"Ah, I was actually expecting your dad to be the first to ask about it," I murmured, a sheepish smile on my face as he snorted.
"He was, but Mom convinced him that I should be the first one to ask," he replied, making me chuckle before I waited as he sighed.
"So, what did you want to know?"
"Are you going to treat her as less important now?"
"Not in the slightest. She's still the woman I loved first and foremost," I replied with a smile, feeling his mind pushing against mine and letting him in.
"...Huh, I guess Mom was right. You really do love her."
"Yeah, now get out of my head. It's kind of creepy." He just looked amused at my words as I pushed his mind back out, shaking my head and bumping the side of my head to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling.
"Well, that's all I wanted to know, but don't be surprised if Dad tries and find you later to continue this discussion."
"I won't be," I replied and he smiled. "Do you perhaps have something to say about this?"
For a brief moment, he paused, staring at me before shaking his head with a smile. "I've known M'gann long enough to know that she can fight her own battles, but should you break her heart, know that you'll have a pissed-off Martian who has no qualms about leaving you as a comatose vegetable."
"Noted," I spoke with a smile, watching as he walked past me towards the other tunnel of the loading bay.
'Huh, he's really the protective type.' I shook my head with a smile as I turned, taking my time to make my way to the medical room.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Unity Sphere's Medical Bay:
"Kori, no."
"B-But I made it with love." I blinked at the sight that greeted me when I walked into the medical bay, staring at Match who sat on a hospital bed of sorts.
Sitting on a chair next to the bed was Kori, who looked downtrodden as she held a bowl of what looked to be purple porridge with carrots and meat in it.
"...Do I even want to know what that is?" I asked out loud, to which Match shook his head while Kori turned around with a delighted smile.
"Friend King Chris!"
"Just Chris, Kori. No need for the friend or king," I replied with a smile, walking over and scanning Match's form. "How's the wound?"
"Turns out I just needed a bit of direct sunlight."
"You needed the equivalent of a solar death ray to burn out all the kryptonite radiation in your blood, Match." I turned my head as M'ree entered, fully in her Green Martian form with a lab coat thrown over her shoulders.
"It's kind of the same thing."
"Of course it is. Hello, king Chris."
"Again, just Chris. I don't like the king part."
"As long as you are the ruler of the Unity Sphere, you will be king Chris, or is Emperor Chris more your style?" she joked, giggling when I rolled my eyes with a snort.
"Not in the slightest. How's the new lab?"
"Not as good as the one I had on Mars, but definitely much better than nothing."
"Let Sphere know what you need and I'll see if I can't get those for you on Earth."
"Keep making promises like that and I might just steal you away from my sister."
"You do that and I'm dismembering your entire mental psyche." I smirked at M'gann's words when she entered the medical room, eyes narrowed at M'ree who gave a shrug.
"Just a joke, sis. No need to get so mad."
"I haven't forgotten about you taking my favourite toy and breaking it."
"Am I the favourite toy here?" I whispered to Raven as I noticed her behind M'gann, who gave a shrug as the two sisters started having their own mental conversation.
"I think you're the new favourite toy."
"That makes more sense," I replied, leaning back as Rae rested against the back of the chair. "I've been called worse and I've got a lot of utility. I can cook, clean and move heavy furniture by the ton."
"Uh-huh, but you let half of my day pass by," she spoke in a dry tone, but the faint twitch at the corner of her mouth gave her away as I chuckled.
"Want me to make it up with dinner?"
"What did you have in mind?"
"Well, since you're a vegetarian only when it comes to what you eat, I'd say Geotjeori instead of kimchi since the latter takes days to get ready. Maybe make it into a spicy vegan pizza," I replied, not missing the flash of excitement in her eyes. "That would be the appetizer, of course.
For the main, I was thinking either a creamy coconut curry, butternut squash pasta or spaghetti aglio e olio. As for dessert, I could finally try my hand at a fruit sorbet. What's your favourite fruit?"
"Strawberries."
"Alright. Strawberry and banana sorbets, it is." I nodded, smiling at her hand on my shoulder before my gaze moved to the last and final person in the room.
Unlike her usual outbursts from earlier, she was eerily silent, eyes open with a dazed expression while staring up at the ceiling.
"She's...well, she's not good, but she's no longer under their control," Raven whispered as she noticed my gaze, to which I smiled as I rose and walked over.
Kara didn't seem to care for my presence as I sat down on the bed beside her, simply glancing at me for a moment before looking back up at the ceiling again.
"Kal-El...he's really gone?"
"Unfortunately, yes. He is," I replied, Kara letting out a shaky breath and a hesitant nod at my response.
"I see."
"Were you close to him?"
"We were supposed to be," she muttered, taking a soft breath, "but something malfunctioned with my ship. It landed on Apokolips instead of following after Kal-El's ship and I've been stuck there for the past thirty three years."
"Really? Then, why do you look so...young?" I asked as I looked at her. She didn't look any day older than twenty at most, which made no sense.
Unless...did they freeze her with some time dilation thing?
"The training," she replied and I winced as I saw the flash of haunted agony appearing in her gaze for a brief moment.
"You don't have to say anything. Just...rest and be happy knowing that we're glad you're safe."
"You...look a lot like him, you know? At least, the image I had in mind of him," she spoke and I chuckled as I gave a shrug.
"That's what happens when you're a clone of the guy."
"Full Kryptonian?"
"Half."
"Right, you mentioned that," she muttered and I smiled as I stood up, smoothing out the covers.
"What are you two talking about over there?"
"Nothing that concerns the guy wanting to tough out a hit from a kryptonite axe." I snickered at Match's huff before his face twisted with a grimace as he ate another spoonful of whatever Kori was feeding him.
Whatever it was probably didn't taste good, but from the bright and happy smile on Kori's face, I knew he was going to eat every bit of it.
He couldn't stand to upset her, after all.
"So, you're the king of all of this?" Kara asked and M'gann decided to respond in my stead as she finished her conversation with M'ree.
"He is."
"Impressive."
"Just had to fight a warlord for the deed, but hey, at least he's getting an all-time paid vacation in a stasis cell," I replied with a shrug and was surprised when Kara giggled softly.
"I suppose that's a fair trade."
"Anyway, I'm gonna go prepare for Rae and I's date so I'll see you tomorrow?"
"I'd like that." I smiled and nodded at her reply, turning to M'gann who kissed me before I waved to everyone else.
"Kori, make sure Match stays here. Rae, ceremony hall 17 at eight. Sphere will show you the way."
"Can't wait," I just shook my head with a chuckle at her dry tone, cracking my neck as I left the room and began making my way to the kitchen.
Time to cook up a storm.
A/N: We start off with a fight and we continue with building up Chris' relationship.
Next chapter: Apokolips Begins I
As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...
Ba-Bye~!