Beyond the Veil Book 3: Deception

Chapter 01: World Under Siege Part One. 

"This is Cat Grant….with Daily Bugle Communications….trying to get to you the news, assuming that there's anyone left out there to get the news to, the…..the Earth has been invaded by a hostile Alien force….they're here and they're…..they're coming for us….they're here."

Cat's eyes tracked upwards as she once again came face to face with what appeared to be Norman Osborn, for the second time that day. Her eyes wide with fear, she couldn't help but notice that Osborn was hovering an inch or two off the ground. He was no longer dressed up as the Green Goblin instead he now wore a set of dark battle robes.

"Ah, the media, well I suppose the rabble will be amused by anything these days," Osborn commented as he placed his hand on Cat's shoulder and the blonde shivered underneath his grip. The blonde closed her eyes as she felt a numbness spread throughout her body. "So, you wish to spread a message but there are no longer any ears out there to listen. The world is blind to your plight and it's even more ignorant to the fact that their heroes are failing."

"There will…."

"The General has not given you permission to speak, worm," one of the guards stated as he grabbed Cat by the hair. "So frail, so fragile, so helpless, I could pop your…."

"Enough," Zod stated. "She's nothing but a cockroach, just like all of them are cockroaches. And they cannot stop us."

"Well the irredeemable Cockroach-Man might not be able to defeat you but how about your friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!"

Zod turned to face the Web Slinger as he flipped off him after trying to drop kick him in the head.

'He's merely a child parading around in a Halloween costume,' Osborn advised Zod. 'I trust you can take him out without any problem.'

Zod nodded at the voice in his head as the Web Slinger bounced backwards and landed in a low crouch against the closest wall. He immediately fired off a web line which latched onto the wrist of one of the Kryptonian soldiers.

The Soldier shifted his hand so he was gripping onto the web line and Peter got the impression that this was not going to end well for him. A loud snap echoed outwards as he yanked hard on the line pulling Spider-man towards him into a vicious clothes line that sent the Web Head flying ass over tea kettle due to the force of the blow.

'Yeah, this wasn't such a hot idea,' the Web Slinger managed as he felt like he was going to hack up his ribs alongside the blood that he did cough up. The super powerful blow that he suffered was proof positive of that fact and the Web Head used his feet to block the follow up attack. He had to fight, no matter what happened, no matter what the situation was, he had to keep fighting until his final breath.

As his new found resolve filled his body, he twisted impossibly in mid-air and delivered a vicious hay maker that impacted against his foe's face with the same force as a semi-truck going at full speed.

'Hmm I can almost see why this gave you trouble. No matter, I was merely caught off guard, he will kneel before Zod like all the rest,' Zod commented dryly to Osborn.

Out of nowhere a massive optic blast from Cyclops knocked Zod backwards a few steps due to it's force.

"Amusing," Zod commented in a bored voice as he blocked another optic blast with his hand. Blurring forwards he nailed Cyclops with a huge punch to the back of his head.

Jubilee sent a stream of fireworks into Zod's face which caused him to back off a few inches.

"YAY, I GOT…"

Before Jubilee could be nailed in the side of the face by an unamused Zod, Nightcrawler bamfed in from out of nowhere and transported her clear of the danger. A look of supreme irritation flashed across the General's face as the young oriental mutant escaped her proper punishment. Taking advantage of his distraction an enraged Logan rushed over his razor sharp adamantium claws extended.

Due to his savage ferocity the Wolverine was able to score a strike across the Kryptonian dictator's chest, though it did little more then leave three long scratches against his skin.

Shifting backwards every so slightly Zod effortlessly dodged the rest of the berserk Canadian's barrage. He followed that up by grabbing Wolverine by the wrists he yanked them hard to the side then used his heat vision to burn off Logan's skin. The mutant gave a loud scream as he felt the agony of his flesh being melted.

Just because he had a healing factor, didn't mean that the pain was negated. He still felt every single agonizing moment.

Storm created a level of fog, hoping that would be able to mask their next attack. However, the Kryptonians were able to see through any fog with their X-Ray vision.

Captain America turned up with a shield in his hand and he flung it at Zod, who caught it within his hand with little effort stopping it's momentum dead.

"Amusing, a hallow symbol of hope," Osborn stated with disdain, spinning in a rapid three sixty he hurled the shield back at Captain America who jumped over it at the last second in order to avoid it. The Star Spangled Avenger landed on his feet, staying calm, cool, and collected.

A huge punch from Captain America was blocked was Zod hoisted off of the ground by his neck. His feet were swinging back and forth as Osborn drove him into the ground then dragged him forwards before lifting him back up into the air and tossing him to the side like the piece of trash he thought the first Avenger was.

"Alright, that's it!" Hulk growled as he went for Zod and he nailed him with a huge punch.

The General's jaw was knocked back and he felt the pain. He had to wait for the healing factor to kick in but the Hulk nailed him in the ribs. He blocked a third punch but the Hulk's strength was good.

He saw two of his Kryptonians having trouble with a blonde woman who exhibited Kree powers. That annoyed Zod and he would kill her just for that.

"Are you about to give up, monster?" Zod asked but Hulk shoved him back. Blood splattered from Osborn's mouth as Zod looked at him.

"Never," Hulk growled as he tried to smash in Zod's skull but he used speed and agility to get around the brute's attacks.

"I've enjoyed a challenge," Zod stated as he grabbed Hulk around the head and smashed him into the wall. The Hulk smashed into his chest but Zod picked him up and hurled him across several states with a great force. His ribs were cracked but the General still managed a few cutting words, despite the sudden shortness of breath "Or I would if you were one."

"You've seen nothing yet," Iron Man stated as he blasted Zod.

"Inferior man of iron," Zod growled out with supreme annoyance as he slammed his hand into the chest of his enemy causing the chest plate to buckle inwards as time seemed to stop briefly before Iron Man blasted backwards due to the force of the blow. "You waste my time."

Iron Man skidded to a halt as he was able to use his repulsors and jets to arrest his momentum. Wasp tried to fire at Zod but her attempts to stop him were futile. Her Wasp sting having the same effect a pea shooter would have on a tank.

Spider-Man nailed him across the back of the head causing his head to snap forwards briefly. The crazed Kryptonian responded by grabbing the Web Slinger by the ankle and throwing off to the side through the closest window.

The two exchanged punches that rocked each other back and forth, as they tried to take their enemy down.

"You will kneel before Zod," The General ordered as he tried to drive Steve Rogers to his knees.

Needless to say, Captain America wouldn't kneel before another man any time soon and his action spoke louder than any words as he nailed his enemy with a rocket buster of a shield slam to the chin that sent him flying back a few steps.

Zod stepped backwards into a defensive stance in order to collect himself.

'Well you've got this one under perfect control,' Osborn stated to Zod in a bored tone. 'I'd fry him if I was you.'

'Just wait and watch for the master to take control,' Zod stated as he refused to be rattled by this Green Goblin even though he was making several unhelpful comments from the other side of the link as he blocked the Star Spangled Avengers fist as he attacked once more by catching it in the palm of his hand.

Steve Rogers, super strong as he was, was pushed backwards several feet by the Kryptonian General director.

Zod felt like he was just getting warmed up despite the fact that these heroes were bringing the fight to him on a level he'd never experienced before. The longer he was under the embrace of the yellow sun, the stronger that he would get and the weaker that he would be. So he merely needed to fight a defensive battle.

"Is there anyone who wishes to pose a challenge to General Zod?" he asked.

"You know talking in the third person is a sign of insanity, don't you?"

Karen flew in, dressed in a white top, jacket, and dress pants. Her old costume didn't quite fit her anymore but that didn't stop her from drilling Zod in the side of the head with a huge punch. She had to stall him until Helena got the contingency plan in place.

Her old costume didn't quite fit her anymore but that did not stop her from drilling Zod into the side of the head with a huge punch.

"Faora, take care of her," Zod ordered and a dark haired blur shot through the sky that tried to nail Karen in the side of the face. She dodged the punch and nailed Faora in the side of the face.

The two of them struggled as the battle continued on the ground.

The Phantom Zone was not a friendly place to be in, no matter how anyone looked at it.

"So on a scale of one to we're really screwed, how bad is this?"

Kara looked at Kitty with a raised eyebrow, a strained smile and an expression on her face like she'd been asked the stupidest question in the world. "What do you think?"

"Oh, that bad, huh?" Kitty asked and Kara nodded.

"Yes, Kitty, it's that bad, actually it's worse than that bad," Harry offered as he did a head count, all of his girls were here. "Well I've got bad news and worse news."

"Isn't it always that way with you?" Gwen asked with a slight smile but she was silenced by the exasperated look on both Kara and Harry's faces, the looks Jean, Kitty, and Rogue where given her weren't much better. Sighing softly, Gwen tried to contact the outside world.

"Won't work, the Phantom Zone blocks most external forms of communication," Harry said to the group.

"And you say most because…." Jean offered as she trailed off and allowed Harry to answer the question.

"I say most because Zod found a way to communicate with his underlings on the other side of the Phantom Zone," Harry told the girls and they all nodded in understanding.

"I figured as much," Jean offered but she could sense the Phoenix was getting uneasy which never was a good thing. 'What is it now?'

'There are things in this Phantom Zone that….well I'll put it bluntly, I'm not too fond of,' Phoenix offered Jean and she knew that if Phoenix was disturbed by what was happening, then there was cause to be really worried.

"We've got to keep moving," Rogue offered them and that was a statement that all of them could agree on as they continued their trip through the Zone.

"There's got to be a way out of here," Wanda stated as she raised her hands but stopped. "And my powers don't work."

"Powers seldom work in the Phantom Zone, well in certain parts they work better than others," Kara informed Wanda and the smile on her face faded. "It's kind of hard to explain and by hard to explain I mean worse then trying to explain the mathematics involved with time travel and the creation of new time lines based on the events that may or may not have been changed by something as simple as sneezing or theoretical cross-dimensional portal physics."

"I see….I see," Wanda offered as she bit down on her lip in frustration but Harry grabbed her hand.

"We'll find a way out, don't worry," Harry told Wanda and she was not worried, well not completely.

Kitty's eyes nearly bugged out and it was for a good reason as she stepped on a dried up husk that was on the ground in front of her. Her stomach twisted into a knot and there was one word that escaped her mouth.

"Um, no offense, but EWW! ..So totally EWW!" Kitty exclaimed loudly as Gwen and Wanda exchanged a nervous look with each other.

"Yeah….I agree with that….that thing was alive once," Laura offered as she sniffed the air. "There's decay….and something else out there….but we can't see them."

"Phantoms," Kara whispered as she looked up and they heard the eerie screams of several haunting voices all around them.

"Listen to me, in the Phantom Zone, it's kill or be killed." Harry ordered them as calmly as he could be in this situation and the girls nodded. "Don't hold back, not even for a minute, or we won't make it out of this alive!"

Kara wished she could fly as did Harry. This area of the Phantom Zone was not conducive to using their powers.

Jean dropped to her knees and screamed in pain. Her mind was being bombarded by the tormented thoughts of those who died here and where now damned to haunt this place for all time. Rogue and Kitty grabbed Jean by her arms and lifted her up to her feet, even though she was pretty much dead weight.

"The exit portal is around here somewhere, isn't it?" Harry asked Kara and the blonde nodded her head furiously, looking like a blurring bobblehead as she did so.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, exit portal, it's over there, where all of those Phantoms are," Kara commented with a rapid intensity that made it sound like she was on a sugar high though there was a certain meekness to her tone.

"Of course it is," Wanda offered wishing that she could use her powers but punching them out seemed to work out fairly well. Her knuckles cracked against them satisfyingly enough. "Is there any area of this Phantom Zone place where I could use my powers, a bit more easily?"

"I wish…yeah around here somewhere. But considering what your powers did to Riddle it might turn them into massive beach balls of death," Harry offered to her as his heart pumped at a steady pace within his chest.

He saw it, as it dreaded it, there were civilians on the ground, which was going to make this far harder to deal than he hoped. Harry kept taking tentative steps forward.

A barrage of arrows from Hawkeye did very little to deter the Phantoms although Harry supposed that it was better than nothing.

"Hey, Arcane, could do with a bit of that hocus pocus right now!" Hawkeye yelled.

"Sorry, I would if I could," Harry stated and Agent Mimic blasted one of the Phantoms with her wrist gauntlet.

"Well, we need something to even the scales because these things…."

"Protect the civilians," Natasha stated in a fierce voice as she tried to nail her enemies with all that she had. The Widow's Bite managed to back them off just a slight bit but they were not out of the woods yet.

The Phantoms bounced back and there was a huge crack that resounded all through the Phantom Zone as they kept at them, never yielding once in their attack.

They encountered more dead bodies of the criminals that had been banished into the Phantom Zone but had long since been consumed by the Wraiths. It was a grisly sight for certain and it turned the stomach.

Harry suddenly found him able to access the full scope of his abilities.

"Power's back!" Harry yelled and he decided to strike whilst the iron was hot, using the heat vision to propel into them.

'It's useless if we can't get to the escape portal,' Kara thought frantically as she propelled herself into the Phantoms, using a combat dagger she'd found near one of the bodies to stab at them.

'We'll find a way, we always do,' Harry thought to her, and Kara nodded.

As long as there was life, there was always hope.

The phrase "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again" was something that was applied to the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in spades. He was going up against the dastardly combined entity that was Norman Osborn and General Zod.

Needless to say, the first attempt to take Zod down did not work so well but Spider-Man was not a quitter, he kept trying again and again, to the point where it was almost absurd how many times he went back and forth to that well.

"Just give up, you're embarrassing yourself," Zod stated. "Come to me, kneel before Zod, and you'll be spared."

"You know, you can just come out of the closet already. We won't judge, it's obvious you get off on getting other men to kneel before you," Spider-Man managed but it was hard to quip with busted ribs.

"Do you ever shut up?" Zod asked.

'No,' Osborn commented lightly from deep within his mind but Zod refused to acknowledge the voice in his head.

Faora and Karen had their hands intertwined as they pushed back and forth attempting to gain leverage on the other.

Karen gritted her teeth as her suit jacket was ripped open by Faora, who then knocked Karen back a few inches with a huge rocket buster of a punch to the ribs. The blonde fired back with one of her own and they sent their heat vision against each other.

"You know, a fine specimen like yourself, there is no need for us to be fighting. If your a good girl and play nicely perhaps the General will let me keep you," Faora offered as her eyes were fixated on a certain part of Karen's anatomy. "It's a pity that the General sent the Star Child away, I'm sure he would have been fun to play with as well."

"More so than an obsessed nutcase who gets off on making other men kneel before him," Karen offered as she grabbed Faora in a headlock but Faora countered by flipping her out of it with a backdrop driver, intending to drive her into the pavement head first.

Karen was able to shift just enough that she gracefully landed on her feet. Faora grabbed her and ripped the front of her shirt open, causing a large hole to appear where her breasts were.

"Nice armor, you'd look better without it, though," Karen offered as she aimed a punch but Faora blocked it.

"I never give up that much on the first date," Faora countered as she knocked Karen back but the top half of the armor was slightly damaged by Karen's latest attack.

Karen could see that her pants were slightly torn, but clothes were the least of her worries. Faora spearing her into the giant billboard with J. Jonah Jameson's face on it was far more bothersome.

The two females crashed into a huge puddle of mud and they rolled over, exchanging punches with each other.

Karen's clothes where mostly drenched and torn now as she was soaking wet with mud, mud that Faora was trying to drown her in. Faora sat on her face and gripped her thighs around her head tightly as she held her down beneath the water, but Karen fired back by rolling Faora over into a pinning predicament. Grabbing hold of her armor she ripped it off her with savage roar. Faora responded to this by using her heat vision to launch Karen back, burning open the front of her shirt and revealing her bra clad mountains to the world in the process.

Karen rolled Faora over and pinned her down, removing her armor but Faora used heat vision to launch Karen back, burning off part of her outfit.

'That contingency would be good any time now,' Karen thought as she saw Emma and Selene discreetly make their way onto the scene, although what they will be planning she could only pick up.

"We'll take care of the rest….keep the female as a souvenir for our Lord."

"My thoughts exactly, Emma."

Elsewhere on the ground, more guests had joined the battle.

"IT'S CLOBBERING TIME!"

The Thing rushed forward, barreling over several of the soldiers like a freight train before a combined effort was able to knock him back.

"A creature made of rock, the humans must be desperate to have such a primitive and pathetic warrior," one of the Kryptonians commented in a snide voice.

There was a huge crash as the Thing drove him into the ground like a railway spike with a stone pillar he'd lifted up off the ground.

"I'm sorry, pathetic?" the Thing asked as he went hand to hand with one of the other Kryptonians.

The Invisible Woman slipped in. The fact that Harry disappeared into nothingness was weighing on her heavily, about as much as the hovering discs that were appearing.

"Reed, you know about this stuff, what are these things?" Johnny asked.

"I'm not sure, but I'd really like to study one up close," Reed offered as he had a look on his face that most boys had when they spotted their first set of naked breasts.

"Okay Reed, you can marry the alien technology later, but while you're gawking, I'm going to be doing something," Johnny offered as he closed his eyes and yelled out. "FLAME ON!"

Johnny shot up into the air.

"Johnny wait…"

A huge beam shot out from one of the discs causing him his powers to short out and sending him crashing into the ground.

"Okay, that's just a minor setback," Johnny offered weakly but his nerve endings were all on fire to the point where he could not sit up properly. His ribs were cracked, his liver and kidneys ached, his knees felt like they were frozen, he was not in a good shape.

"What's that?"

Reed looked over and saw them arrive.

"Doom Bots, that's just what we need," Reed stated with a grimace. Trust Victor to try and capitalize on something like this.

"And they're coming in droves," Susan stated as she used the shields to block the drones hovering above her head.

Surprisingly, the Doom Bots started to fire on the hovering drones, to Reed's great surprise.

"Do you not think that DOOM will allow some inferior pretender to just sweep in and claim this world for his own, Richards!" Doom told him in a booming voice. "No, this world is DOOM'S! And I will not allow this Zod to take it from me without a fight. He will fall before my might just like any other!"

"Mostly because you want it for yourself," Johnny whispered but Doom ignored him, he had little time for brainless insects with the IQ of a fruit fly.

Pointing his gauntlets in the direction of the several of the Kryptonian drones. Doom proceeded to fire off a laser beam from each of his finger tips which punched through them with the force of a rail gun.

Captain America was still breathing, so Captain America was still fighting. As long as there was blood pumping through his body, he would be able to take down his enemies.

He did a forward roll with his shield and flung it into the air, as Iron Man blasted one of the drones with his unibeam.

"I've got bad news and worse news!" Iron Man stated to the team and Wasp closed her eyes in frustration as she started to blast the drones but her stingers were not getting her anywhere.

"What's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that these things are repairing themselves so quickly that we can't destroy them," Iron Man stated as he pointed towards where one of the drones was healing itself up.

"Where does someone get technology like this?" Wasp asked as a huge explosion rattled their hearing.

"And the worse news?" Captain America grimaced, he was doing his best to keep steady and everyone calm so they could deal with this situation.

He saw Nightcrawler teleport a few injured civilians out of the way, before a large billboard crashed onto them.

"The worse news is that none of us will be around to worry about it for much longer," Iron Man informed them as he let in a breath. "He's planning to transport all organic life on Earth that isn't Kryptonian into some kind of dimension between dimensions, a zone that is everywhere but nowhere."

"What can we do to stop it through?" Wasp asked as she pushed back. "Tony, you're smart, surely you could figure this out!"

"Give me a minute to figure it out, I'm closer than I think that he thinks that I should be," Stark told her in frustration.

"If only Arcane was here, he'd know what to do," Wasp muttered.

Spider-Man had been knocked rather hard to the ground with several Kryptonian soldiers where looming over them when suddenly they were blasted back by Electro of all people. The invaders had broken open Ryker's Island and released a few of the guests.

"Hey, webs, look alive, wouldn't want you to croak before I'd get a chance to do it myself!" Electro yelled as he looked at Spider-Man.

"Wait, what….what…I don't understand?"

Electro shook his head. "It's quite simple really, if this Zod creep takes over the world, they're going to be nothing left to rob."

Somehow in Spider-Man's concussed head, that made sense.

Rhino rushed in charging forwards with his horn held low to the ground. He ended up catching one of the soldier underneath his legs and lifting his head upwards suddenly sent him flipping upwards into the sky.

The Wrecking Crew, Zemo, The Crimson Dynamo, and the Abomination stepped forward as well.

"What are you doing here?" Captain America challenged him.

Zemo watched him. "Now, Captain, I would hate to leave your demise to the hands of anyone but myself."

With that said he pulled out a large energy weapon that he used to cause a great deal of damage to one of the Kryptonians.

Rachel made a mental note to tell Harry in the future that Zemo had developed a weapon that could harm Kryptonians but she was kind of glad that he had it right now.

She could not reach Harry or the others over the bond and their forces were dropping fast.

Zod had vanished but Rachel could have sworn that she saw something else arriving out of the corner of her eye.

Back in the Phantom Zone, Harry felt determination flow through his body. He'd generated a force shield to try and push back the attacking Phantoms back but they kept coming.

"No matter what, we need to get to the portal and get everyone who got trapped in here by Zod out of here," Harry managed in a strained voice.

Wanda, now she had her powers back, managed to blast the Phantoms. Her hex bolt were working with various degrees of success although she was holding back a lot. Harry's comment about massive beach balls of death had freaked her quite a bit. Also trying to distort reality in a place where reality was already distorted, that was a huge problem. The woman held her hand into the air and once again blasted them back. She heard the sinister heart beats.

"Yeah, easier said than done," Kara stated as she used heat vision on the ground.

"Got to try," Black Widow offered as she did a duck and roll as she did so Mimic fired a huge blaster over top of her which punched right through several of them.

The phantoms were slowly being driven backwards and Harry offered a slight smile as the group kept moving forward.

'Zod would have to leave guards,' Kara thought with an exasperated sigh and Harry grabbed onto her hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

'We'll find a way, Kara,' Harry thought to the blonde, as the two of them closed their eyes and raised their hands into the air then conjured their Patroni. The Nightwing and Flamebird they summoned forth blasted outwards in a twisting corkscrew of dancing light that caused any Phantoms they touched to burst into flames. Unfortunately the attack took quite a lot out of them.

The psychic assault the Phantoms caused by their very presence was forcing Jean to keep as tight a grip on her powers that she was capable of.

'Is there any reason why you're completely freaking out?' Jean thought to the Phoenix Force and there was a second where the Phoenix paused. 'Any good reason at all?'

'Well there is a good reason, this Phantom Zone was meant to drive the prisoners insane because it was a torment for the most horrible criminals,' The Phoenix explained as she tried to keep it together and thankfully Jean was strong enough not to lose her mind.

'I see,' Jean offered in a frantic tone of voice but Harry grabbed her.

'Just calm down Jean, my love, it's going to be okay,' Harry offered as he used his X-Ray Vision, there were more Phantoms crowding around the cave with the exit portal.

The good news was that they might be able to get there.

"Any progress?" Coulson asked, despite everything that he saw here being completely and utterly horrifying, he'd seen much worse back on earth. After all he'd accidentally walked in on Fury and his wife having sex once.

"Yes, a slight amount," Harry admitted as he scanned the edge of the cave to try and scope out his surroundings. He bounced off the walls to avoid an attack from a Phantom.

Then something happened.

Something that was utterly surprising and completely baffling at the same time, no matter how many times Harry ran it over in his head, he couldn't wrap his head around what was happening in front of him.

One of the Phantoms began to attack the other Phantoms. Whoever the Phantom was, he had more guts than brains.

Kara and Harry smiled as they had been bought some time.

"I don't know why they're having a squabble," Mockingbird offered but Coulson shook his head.

"It doesn't matter, it's bought us some time, time that we didn't have before," Coulson stated as the entire party slipped into the cave.

Once everyone was inside Hawkeye fired three arrows into the cave wall near the entrance, there was a slight whine then the explosive charge in the arrows went off causing the entrance to cave in behind them.

"That won't hold the Phantoms for long," Kara offered fretfully but Gwen's full focus was on Harry, she sensed that he had a handle on the situation.

"We don't need long, we only need a minute," Gwen stated to them and Harry was on it immediately, slipping over towards the portal.

He slammed his hands on the wall, gripping onto it as he instinctively knew that he could open the portal. He had no idea how much time passed on the other side though.

A dreadful thought passed his mind, that it could have been ten, twenty, or even a hundred years since they left after they had been sucked into the Phantom Zone.

"They're busting through," Clint said as he reloaded his bow.

"I know, I know," Natasha offered and Harry managed to activate the runes on the stone, it was amazing how similar they were to what was taught in Ancient Runes at Hogwarts back in the magical world.

"EVERYONE THROUGH!" Kara yelled as she could see the Phantoms had dug their way through the rubble. She wondered what happened to their rogue Phantom.

Harry could have sworn that he heard a strangled and somewhat familiar voice yelling at him to get through the portal as they were about to be overwhelmed by the Phantoms.

"We got to go, get out of here, now!" Harry ordered them and Laura jumped up, cutting into the roof of the caves and forcing herself to move forwards. After a moment the roof began to crumble downwards in a shower of stone behind them.

"Good, time's been bought, but how much?"

"Just enough," Kara stated as she bit down on her lip and she X-Rayed the area around them.

Gwen would have been amazed by the technology under normal circumstances, if she wasn't scared out of her damn mind. The blonde started to rock nervously back and forth. Her stomach was tied into a tight knot and she closed her eyes in order to take several deep breaths.

The portal finally opened with a thunderous boom. Harry managed to get most of the civilians through to the other side of the portal although some had already been consumed by the time that he arrived on the scene. Once the rest of the group had slipped through he followed behind them.

Exactly where and when they would arrive, well that was an unknown factor for now.

In his deluded mind, Zod allowed himself to bask in his moment of triumph. All of the headway that they received were by luck and mere chance, elements that foiled all but the well placed of plans. The General stood outside of New York, surely there was some token resistance from the heroes but it was nothing more than that, a token. He walked over and saw Nick Fury standing on the other side of a cage.

"What's the matter, a bit winded there, Zod?" Fury asked but Zod ignored that statement.

"So are you ready to revel in the moment before the end?" Zod asked Fury.

"You know, you've made the mistake that many humans have before and I would have thought more from a supposed superior person," Fury spat back at him.

Zod watched Fury, like he was an amusement but said nothing.

"So, your master plan is…."

"It's not something that your baboon brain could comprehend," Zod offered harshly as Fury looked back at him.

"You'd be surprised what I'm capable of comprehending," Fury stated as he stared down Zod but the General was unblinking.

"We'll see," Zod offered as he waited. "Your Avengers aren't doing as well as you thought they might."

Fury was not going to allow himself to be rattled, he had stared in the eye of many horrifying things and lived to tell the tale. He did things that would make many grown men shit their pants, after all, he was married. He might have been forced to kneel before Zod but he did not do so willingly.

"Are you too proud to beg for humanity?" Zod asked as he stood on the other side of the bars.

It was a situation that Fury had been in many times, although he had been the man on the other side, ready to rattle.

"I managed to put Har-Rell into the Phantom Zone easily, even though he stopped my initial plan," Zod told him as he contorted Osborn's face into a grimace. "But you humans have a saying, and that is, when a door closes, a window opens, if I'm not mistake, that's how the saying goes."

"Perhaps," Fury stated neutrally but he did not say anything further. He kept his eye locked firmly upon Zod and the two stubborn forces went face to face with each other. "But I'm about to shut the window on you."

"Your hostility is rather amusing," Zod commented as he reached through the cell.

"So, are you going to sit there and talk or are you going to actually back up your big mouth?"

Zod turned around to see Wasp, Iron Man, Captain America, Ms. Marvel, and the Hulk standing ready to face him.

"You talk way too much," Hulk grunted, back and angrier than ever. And Zod would not like him when he was angry.

"Brutish creature, you will kneel…."

Hulk rushed forward once again but Zod's speed was about ready to match the Hulk's strength. It was a titanic struggle between the two of them.

Zod slipped behind shot heat vision into the back of the Hulk. Hulk spun around with a howl and grabbed Zod around the head with a melon crusher, trying to squeeze his head with rage flowing through his eyes.

Iron Man actually smiled, if he got the Hulk mad enough, he could crush Zod. The only problem was that Osborn was still in that body.

"HULK…."

"ENOUGH!"

Zod flung Hulk into the air once again, this time making sure he reached the Moon. He knew that the creature would return but this time he was ready for him.

Captain America dove down from above and got Zod into position for the next attack.

"Heads up!" Iron Man yelled as he blasted Zod with a series of missile launches. Zod hit two with his ice breath but he got hit with another one.

"Flying tin can," Zod grimaced as he went for Iron Man but Iron Man managed to dodge his attack, causing him to be frustrated and staggered.

The Wrecking Crew rushed over. It was odd for the Masters of Evil and the Avengers to work together, but all of sense of tradition was thrown out of the window.

Piledriver was piledrived by Zod into the ground. His skull cracking hard off the pavement. The rest of the Wrecking Crew was taken out like they were insects.

Faora looked up from where she was still fighting Karen halfway across the city. She'd received a signal from The General to return to his side but right now she had far bigger problems to deal with.

Namely it was Karen's driving her elbow into her stomach, the blonde followed it up by flinging her to the ground by the hair. The dark haired Kryptonian family rose to her feet and nailed the busty blond with a knee strike to chin.

Their clothes were ripped and both of them were dripping with mud. It was a less of an actual fight and more of a super powered cat fight.

Karen saw a figure in the shadows and her own portable computer got the signal indicating what was put on line. She could see that the Kryptonian weapons were being jammed, even if it was at the cost of the other technology in the area. The drones fell to the ground, smashing into pieces.

'Thank you Helena, you've bought us some time,' Karen thought as she pushed Faora back and smacked her fist into the face of the dark haired woman.

Emma was still hidden with Selene in the shadows. She was using her powers to actively hide their presence from the Kryptonian's and had slipped a suggestion into their minds. It had been fairly difficult to break through their mental defenses having taken every amount of cunning she had.

'I'd sooner kill them for attempting to burn down the church,' Selene thought harshly. Even though it was an illusion and not the real deal, she had it moved when she learned of Zod's arrival, it was the point of the matter and the principle of it. The woman seethed with anger as she threw her head back, gritting her teeth in rage.

Emma figured that she needed to be the logical, cooler head in this moment. 'One thing at a time, one thing at a time, we need to shut down the device before we all end up taking a permanent residence in the Phantom Zone.'

Selene nodded, she had taken a side trip into the Phantom Zone once before in the distant past, due to an enemy who attacked her and a malfunctioning spell. She did not want to go in there again.

She felt for her beloved due to the fact he'd been sent there. She saw took in the fight raging around her, between heroes and villains alike, not that it mattered to her. The battle between those two sides was an amusement at best, she supposed that many people needed a hobby. Right now all she cared about was seeing her love return to her safely and crushing Zod's throat under her stiletto's.

Amara and Rachel turned up and they were not alone.

"I tried to get into the Fortress, but it's been locked down by the Council for security purposes," Rachel told them.

She couldn't even get into the Arctic due to a force shield blocking her progress, the only reason it probably didn't blast the hell out of her was due to the fact she was one of Har-Rell's bonded. She supposed that it was better safe than sorry although it was no less frustrating. The woman closed her eyes.

.

"Don't look now, but here comes Zod," Amara offered to Selene.

Selene's smile crossed her face, she was looking to have words with the arrogant prick before she castrated then sucked the life out of him.

Faora and Karen stopped their fight as a thunderous BOOM echoed outwards causing any glass nearby the point of origin to shatter rather spectacularly.

A purple energy Vortex opened above New York City and several people flew out of the portal.

One of them was a dark haired blur who flew out of the portal and drove Zod into the ground with a huge punch to the face. His clothes were torn, his face scratched, but he was still breathing and still fighting. He held his head up as determination burned in his eyes.

Faora stopped in her tracks as she caught sight of him. Her eyes locked onto him and she kept them there, slowly running her eyes up and down on his body taking in every inch of the magnificent specimen before her as she fucked him with her eyes.

"Take out the relay points!" Harry yelled to them and his team nodded. "Zod's mine."

Zod was angered that he was humiliated in front of his troops and more importantly, his daughter. He did not want any man to be seen as superior to him in front of her.

'Well, you're losing control,' Osborn offered smugly. 'If you allowed me to take control, we would have won.'

Zod ignored Osborn once more as he sent heat vision at Har-Rell who responded in kind.

Both heat vision beams connected with each other as there was a loud explosion, with Zod staggering back a step but he did not let it phase him.

The fight was just beginning.