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Volume 2: Issue 1

Superman: The Man of Steel #7

"Civil War"

By Tony Thornley

 

The doors of Siegel Memorial Hospital's emergency room flew open. The attendant on duty, Michael Freeman, grabbed as much paperwork as he could as a gust of wind blew through the waiting room. The wind stopped, and he heard a shriek. He ran into the waiting room to see everyone frozen as they regarded the man standing in the middle of the room.

"Please," Superman said, lowering two bloodied men to the ground. "Help them." Doctor Escobar, the attending in charge, rushed to the sides of the two heroes Michael recognised as Superboy and Steel.

"They've both got strong pulses," Escobar called, pressing his fingers to each of their necks. "I need another attending over here! Someone get me two gurneys!" Michael turned to when Superman had stood moments ago, but he was gone.

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"ZOD!" Clark Kent bellowed as he rocketed over Metropolis. His eyes angrily glowed red, igniting the air above Metropolis and leaving a fiery streak in his wake. Clark lowered his head as he approached the three Daxamites hovering over the ruined Daily Planet globe. He slammed into the first with a thundercrack and sent him flying through the air. His element of surprise gone, he spun back to the remaining two Daxamites, the general and his lackey, and blasted forward, catching Zod's nameless aide in the stomach.

"Halt Kal-El," Zod commanded. "Halt!" Superman stopped in mid-air, holding the second Daxamite by the throat. He turned and glared at Zod.

"What?" he growled, his eyes still faintly glowing red.

"Let Eem-Re go," he said. "I wish to speak. To have a parlay to use your earth terms."

"Why attack my friends?" he said, anger still evident in his voice. "If you just want to talk, why hurt them?"

"To get your attention Kal-El," Zod said. "I needed your attention."

"I got that."

"Shall we go somewhere private?" Zod motioned away from the city. Superman shook his head.

"What you have to say, you can say here," he said. Zod grimaced.

"You are the son of my greatest enemy," he said. "But I'm willing to set that aside for your help."

"With what?"

Zod laughed and held his hands out wide. "I know you're no conqueror Kal-El," he said, "but you are one of the greatest icons in the universe. Daxam is in the midst of a massive civil war. Brother against brother and all that. We need a uniting force. That force would be you Kal-El."

Superman frowned. There was something wrong here. Something about how Zod was speaking. He flew toward the Daxamite, about to say something, when an overly familiar sensation struck him.

"Kryptonite?" he muttered. "Why?"

"What are you talking about?" Zod asked, feigning confusion. Clark backed away to a safe distance. "And my offer?"

"To be your lackey?" Superman said. "To stand behind Zod and pretend to offer my support?"

"And save hundreds of lives!" Zod exclaimed. "You would unite a world under one banner."

"Yours," he stated. "Never."

"I hoped you'd say that," Zod said with a grin. He reached into his pocket and pain lanced through his body. Sonics. He covered his ears and doubled over in pain. After a couple moments, he looked up.

Zod was already on top of him.

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"Jimmy!" Lois Lane called in her cell phone. "I'm right beneath them, can you get anything?"

"I'm standing under the globe," Jimmy Olsen replied. He aimed his camera at Superman and Zod nearly a half mile away in the sky. He zoomed in to the combatants.

"I'm getting a pretty decent image," he continued. "It looks like Cl- err... Big Blue is getting whooped."

"Looks that way to m-" Lois suddenly stopped and clutched her stomach. She felt a slight trickle of water run down her leg.

"Oh shit," she muttered. "Oh shit."

"What?!" Jimmy exclaimed. Lois looked down at the ground and the small puddle next to her sneaker. It was too soon. She was almost three weeks early. She wasn't ready. Not now.

"Lois, what is it?" Jimmy exclaimed again.

"Jimmy," she replied, shaken. "I-I need to g-go to the hospital. My water just broke." She fumbled towards a bench and sat down. She began breathing heavily. She heard Jimmy begin to panic.

"Ma'am, are you...?" An African businessman with a slight accent stopped as he realised what was happening. "Someone call an ambulance! This woman's having a baby!"

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Lex Luthor grinned maliciously. He was loving the drama unfolding. It had actually gotten slow for a moment, but the Daxamite was on the offensive now.

"Mister Luthor," one of his lackeys said. Lex turned to the burly man, not recalling his name. "Bogey coming in. Approaching them fast."

"Power Girl?"

"Believe so, sir."

"Very good," Luthor said. "It only makes it interesting."

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Clark flew across the sky, his ears still screaming at him. The wake of his flight was causing massive waves in the ocean beneath him. In another few moments, he would be adjusted to the sound, but the Kryptonite, wherever it was, was making it nearly impossible every time Zod got close. He suddenly realised that Zod was taking longer than the previous times to catch up to him. He spun, catching himself. He saw the Daxamite man rocketing towards him. He narrowed his eyes as they began to glow red.

A blast of hot energy enveloped Zod.

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"Sir," Luthor's lackey suddenly exclaimed. "There's another bogey!"

"WHAT?!"

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Zod was thrown back in the hot onslaught. Clark pressed forward, adding a gust of freezing breath, then again with his heat vision. He needed to continue to press the offensive, or Zod would be right on top of him again. He rocketed towards him, fists forward. He ignored the disorientation of the Kryptonite and slammed into Zod.

"Ignorant fool!" Zod cried, as Clark backed away. "You are dooming millions to die in the war to come."

"And saving millions more from suffering under your rule!" Superman cried. "What is the division? What are the ideals you are fighting for?"

"Does it even matter any more?" Zod cried. "You shall die for your insolence Kal-El!"

"If I actually did for every time I heard that..." he replied with a grin. He heard the flapping of capes approaching rapidly. Kara and Karen. Back-up.

He blasted Zod with heat vision again, sending him reeling. He swooped down again, and punched the Daxamite as hard as he could. Zod fell into the ocean and continued deeper and deeper until he was able to stop himself. Clark looked to see Karen approaching quickly. As Zod emerged from the water, Power Girl slammed into him. The Daxamite was again sent through the air. She joined Clark in the air.

"This is so weird," she said. "You okay?"

"Yes," he said. "I am. Did you feel Kryptonite on him?"

"Yeah," she replied. "A buzz at least."

A massive roar ripped through the air. The two heroes, turned back to see Zod rocketing towards them. A red and blue flash intercepted the Daxamite and hit him hard, throwing him straight into the air. The figure turned to face the two heroes.

"That should keep him busy for a moment," Valor said. "Can we talk?"

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The Fortress of Solitude felt cold to Clark. It had been a long time since he had been here. Despite the tropical location of the Fortress, the Kryptonian technology seemed to enjoy the cold. He walked past the statues of Kryptonian heroes that Power Girl and Steel had erected over the last year. He stopped for a moment at the statue of the Earth-2 Superman and heaved a sigh.

"I miss him too," Karen whispered, putting a hand on Clark's shoulder. The trio continued into the Fortress, stopping in the main hall.

"This is incredible Kal-El," Valor said. "A true momument to Krypton of old."

"You know of ancient Krypton?" Superman asked.

"Legends only," he replied. "Links between our races."

"And what's the deal with this civil war?" Karen asked.

"It was started by this so-called General Zod," Valor said. "He came from nowhere, and began attempting to usurp the government of Daxam. He demanded the Daxamites become a conqueror people."

"Wait," Clark said, "you said, so-called?"

"Yes," Valor said. "This is where the story became even worse. Zod murdered the entire Daxamite Senate and divided the planet. War erupted between his conquerors and those of us who don't wish that. We began spying on him and discovered the truth about Zod. He wasn't who he claimed."

"And...?"

"Zod is actually a Terran metahuman," Valor said. "A man named Kenny Braverman." Clark's face hardened and he turned to Karen.

"I'll go," he said. "You stay here."

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Lois breathed deeply as the pain lanced through her body again. The paramedics wheeled her through the emergency room as quickly as possible.

"We need Doctor Krenz from OB-GYN down here!" one of the paramedics called. One of the emergency room doctors rushed up to the stretcher.

"Miss...?"

"Lane-Kent!" Lois exclaimed.

"And the baby's father?"

"He's... out of the country..."

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The viewport revealed only a swirled mass of color and light. Matthew Ryder only allowed himself fleeting glimpses of the exterior of the station known only as Vanishing Point. Anything more would have driven him insane.

He entered the monitor womb, where Liri Lee sat, observing the time stream. At one screen, Waverider could see Rip Hunter fighting Chronos in the Cretaceous era, while another showed the Flash stopping Zoom from travelling into the past.

"Anything interesting?" the flame haired hero asked.

"Just the usual," Liri replied with a grin.

"Good," Waverider replied. The lights flashed brightly in the room for a moment. He shook his head and blinked several times.

"Weird," he muttered. He looked down at Liri, glanced at the viewscreens then back at her.

"Anything interesting?" the flame haired hero asked.

"Just the usual," Liri replied with a grin.

"Good," Waverider replied. He rubbed his chin, looked at the monitors, and then Liri.

"Anything interesting?" the flame haired hero asked.

"Just the usual," Liri replied with a grin.

"Good," Waverider replied.

Per Degaton listened for several more moments and smiled. Perfect. The loop device was working. He turned and began walking down the empty corridors of Vanishing Point. The fun he would have now.

And it all would start with the Man of Steel.

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In Superman- The Man of Steel #8: Superman on Daxam! The return of Conduit! And the birth of Superman's baby!