The Game Cafe in Marvel and DC

58 – Arrival and the coming of Zod

[A/N: Double post, enjoy]

"Say, would you like to go for a quick flight?" I asked the Man of Steel who sat before me.

Not waiting for an answer, I got up from my seat before abruptly stopping where I stood. Humming in thought, I had a sudden epiphany.

Before those who were still observing the scene, my form began to split.

As if my body was undergoing mitosis, I split in half, forming two bodies from one.

One of my bodies walked over to the counter, while another stepped outside.

I was both and both were me.

I was growing.

With each passing day, I improved and became something...something more, or perhaps, I was becoming what I was supposed to be but was limited by the last embers of my Humanity. Either way, I was improving.

Stepping outside, I briefly waited for Superman to follow, and follow he did, though with clear reluctance likely after seeing so many 'Criminals' that were in my store.

Not waiting even a moment, I took flight, floating into the air above the plaza my Metropolis Entrance was located in, ignoring all of the points and stares from the common citizen.

I was somewhat surprised the people did not flee, but considering the Man of Steel was now floating behind me. Did they think that with Superman here they were in no danger? If I were a Villain, then all of them would be in great danger as I could simply use them as hostages against the Man of Steel or kill them outright.

Tempted to scare them, I was torn from my thoughts by a simple cough from the Kryptonian behind me.

"Right, lead the way Kal-El," I laughed internally upon seeing his face morphing into a frown.

Just as he was about to ask me something, I shook my head faceplate, turning to the rapidly growing crowd beneath us, all cheering his name.

He shut his mouth, quickly turning to smile and wave at the people before flying high up into the sky, becoming nothing but a blur.

Of course, the instant he moved I was already ahead of him. I didn't really know what we would be talking about, if anything Superman would likely want to know who and what I am, as well as how I knew such private information about him. Personally, It felt great being able to leave the Cafe every once in a while, but I think I still prefer my quaint cafe over whatever lay outside of it. 

Abruptly stopping, I briefly glanced around, noting the particular location he chose for us to speak, a certain News Agency that was quite famous in Metropolis, the very same one that Superman worked at in his civilian identity.

"Quite the peculiar spot to choose to speak privately, don't you think?" I asked, sending a knowing glance, not that he could have recognized it with the whole 'not being human' thing.

He said nothing, instead examining my form head to toe, or in my case, claw to floating slate.

"What are you?" He asked, straight to the point.

"Just your friendly neighborhood Envoy of the Void," I answered cryptically with a sing-along tune.

"Envoy of the...what?" He asked, confused.

Happy to answer him and give the boy scout a good scare, I cast [Gaze of the Void].

With a wave of my hand, reality beside me tore open and the hungry maws filled with eyes slammed into the barrier separating Earth from the Void.

Lunging back, Superman focused on the tear in reality, "What the hell are those?!" Superman cursed, causing me to stop.

"Huh. Never thought I would hear the famous Man of Steel curse," I mocked with a chuckle before continuing, gesturing to the creatures of the void with a claw, "Those are the regular inhabitants of the void, as you can see, they are not exactly friendly."

"And you said that you are...their envoy?" Superman asked, concerned.

"Essentially, though I am not as aggressive as them, as you can very well see. I am simply on...vacation, if you will," I told him, telling him a complete lie that would mess with him.

"And how do you know me?" 

I scoffed, "You don't even bother putting on a mask. All that separates you from your civilian life is a pair of glasses and a costume."

He opened his mouth and was going to say something but immediately closed it.

"That's...I did not think about that," The Man of Steel admitted with a sheepish expression.

"Seriously?" I looked at him, baffled before continuing, "Regardless, your private life isn't as private as you think. Not like you can solve this problem anymore, as there are millions of photos of you circulating on the internet by now so there's no point for you to get a mask or something," I noted.

"And what about everything else? You asked me about something...a cousin, an...ice fortress, and someone named...Zid? Zod?" Superman asked.

"Ah, I'm afraid you must have misremembered my words, I asked no such thing," I avoided, amused by his expression.

Suddenly he turned his head.

Far away, further than the human eye could see, a meteor was burning in the Atmosphere, only, it seemed the Meteor was not breaking apart.

"Huh, you wanna get that?" I asked the Man of Steel as the meteor was going to crash somewhere between here and Gotham.

Turning to face the Kryptonian, I found that he was already gone.

"Well, hope he has fun with that, I'm going to head back to the Cafe," I talked to myself.

...

Flying as fast as he could through the air, it took Superman only a few moments to reach the meteor that was hurdling down to the Earth.

When he reached the meteor he was surprised.

Whatever it was, it clearly was not a meteor.

It was made of a strange material and after a few moments of examination, Superman's eyes widened.

Engraved on the hull of object, was a bold 'S.' The Kryptonian Symbol for Hope.

Reaching out, Superman grabbed onto the object and slowed its descent, until it was stopped completely and under his control.

With immense strength, he carried the object all the way down to the ground and set it down as gently as possible.

Once done, he focused his senses on the pod.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

A heartbeat...

In a blur of speed, he gripped the pod, dug his fingers deep into the metal, and pried it open.

There, lying inside the pod, was a teenage girl with long blond hair wearing a skin-tight suit with the Kryptonian Symbol of Hope.

Warning signals flashed inside the pod before suddenly alerts and warnings flashed across the pod.

A Distress Signal was activated.

...

Deep within space around the remains of a long destroyed world, a strange ship floated aimlessly within space. This ship was one that was to be sent into the Phantom Zone, a dimension that acted much like a humane prison that the Council of Krypton used to imprison their criminals, dangerous beasts, and so much more. The dimension prevents those inside from death or age, keeping them trapped in an endless cycle in a barren wasteland of a Dimension.

This ship, which was dormant for decades, flickered into life, as its power turned back on.

Unfortunately, or rather, fortunately for those on board, a critical failure in the ship's systems led to all of the prisoners trapped in stasis on board being released. Released to witness what remained of Krypton.

And while the prisoners on board gathered themselves and scoured the system for whatever supplies they could find, the ship detected a distress signal weeks after they awoke.

Thinking that more of their race may still be alive, they retrofitted the ship that was to be their transportation to their eternal prison and made it into one that rivals a battleship.

Gathering everything they could from the remains of their planet and the few outposts in the system, they set sail for the Signal, in both hope that some of Krypton survived and that they would have a planet in which they could rebuild their once great Empire.

THIS CHAPTER UPLOAD FIRST AT NOVELBIN.COM