12 Meanwhile

Meanwhile

Zod observed as the spaceship left the atmosphere. There was no emotion on his face as he stared at the child who inadvertently helped him.

'Beep'

A bot floated towards him.

"What is it ?" Zod commanded

"General your request for a meeting with the council is scheduled in the next 30 minutes and Jor-El is at the hangar waiting for you"

" Hmm. Offer him refreshments. I will be there shortly"

"By your command"

Jor- El stood at the hangar admiring the view. Him having time to just stand outside and not bury himself in his research were rare as such he enjoyed just watching the land of his birth.

He looked around and frowned his oldest friend hadn't changed and his house was just as bare as the day he had first been assigned to it.

Career soldiers like Zod never took families as they couldn't commit to a relationship as higher the rank the less they mingled with civilians in a unofficial capacity it almost seemed that all of them never had emotions like attraction, love although in Zod's case his temper was something of an outlier amongst his peers. He remembered the day he and Zod first met a mining colony where Krogans had kidnapped the workers and demanding money and he had been called to negotiate the price. Zod had been young and been ready to storm the whole place and when the talks failed it turned out to be a trap and the commanding officer was shot dead Zod had saved his life taking three blasts on his back and then carried him who had been knocked unconscious 10 miles to the nearest spaceport all the while defending attacks by Krogan military at the end when the backup had arrived and they were ready to mount their offensive the Green Lantern Sinestro had intervened and stopped the fight from escalating.

Personally he still thought Zod still held a grudge against Sinestro for interfering.

Sinestro had been insufferable and had been using the power of being a Lantern to humiliate them and forced them to pay reparations and he had stood there looking down at them as if nothing they could do could harm him and he knew it.

Zod had broken the medical restraints when he heard Sinestro had tossed his dead comrades into the nearest Sun as he didn't want them soiling the planet.

Not even a dead body to bury.

Jor felt the familiar fury rise again and he calmed himself. Just as Zod entered his sight.

"Zod"

"Jor-El"

" How have you been? I didn't hear from you for a while now but it looks like you are still in good health"

"Stop the pleasantries, Jor. I called you here not to discuss the weather"

" Alright. What has you this worked up? You usually do humor me for a minute or two before going for my jugular."

" The situation is serious follow me to the office"

"Alright"

Sometime later…

As both Zod and Joe made their way to council hq.

" This is definitely serious. Hopefully the council understands us"

" I do not hope Jor. I confirm "

Kara stood at her balcony she had forgotten about Dio and her conversation with him only when she got the alert that Dio's spaceship has departed that she actually remembered.

"Mom Dad"

" Yes sweetie."

"Dio left just now."

" Oh! You didn't go to see him off."

" No way. I had plans with Zee da and Ama ta I did give him the gift you told me to give him."

"Okay. Sweetie"

Kara scrunched her nose whenever someone said okay to her she got mildly annoyed it had started with Dio and after taking a class as a teacher her patience was paper thin with people who used it.

" Mom, not that word again. It's forbidden in this house."

" Sweetie. It was your first class, if you want to become a lecturer like me you will be hearing it a lot"

" Then I will become something else"

"Sure. Anything you want."

"Mom, you are not supposed to agree with me" As Kara ran and hugged her Mom by the waist.

" Dear so what did Dio say ?"

" Just the he was leaving didn't mention anything about coming back, thanks for the help and how he's going to travel the open space and he recommended that we should travel too and see the wider universe and that a family space pod would be a good investment and that if we are traveling in the next 6 months we could visit him on X565 where he's going to be for some time."

" Dear seems like he is happy leaving Krypton. As for visiting X565 or any other planet we are currently very busy probably next year when we are done with our current assignment"

" Hmm… fine. Where's dad? "

" He's with your uncle Jor in his office since the last hour do tell them dinner is ready. I hoped Lara would come as well"

" We can visit them this weekend. I will go and call them"

As Kara ran towards her dad's office she heard the sound of argument. She stopped herself as she stepped lightly to catch a glimpse of what had uncle Jor in such a boiling rage.

"You should have seen Zod, the council brushed him off completely. How callous can you be to call the entire military a waste of resources and cannon fodder they are thinking of using Brainiac to defend our borders from next year. "

" It's not that bad." Zor defended the council. " The council is having issues with the budget, the resource crunch is also causing too many problems and Brainiac had performed well against primitive races"

"Brainiac has had zero success rate against sentient races or those who can adapt. Krogans are a result of it. It was an easy colony until the council put Brainiac in charge and a week later, Krogans re engineered our tech and used that to fight against us."

" That's speculation"

" What about Sinestro? Since he has got that ring we have lost all our colonies near Krogan plus the council sent Zod and his team to patrol the edges of phantom zone for 6 months immediately because he and his team were being reckless and showing war mongering behavior"

" The council was lucky that Zod had kept his temper in check or else he might have murdered them on the spot. Even afterwards he didn't speak a single invective or curse against them he was just gnashing his teeth through the whole trip back"

" That would have been quite uncomfortable."

" I agree. But I feel that Zod is right. The council has become completely pacifistic and none of them care about the average Kryptonian"

Kara knew she had heard too much so she walked backwards 10 steps and then spoke loudly.

"Dad and uncle Jor, dinner is ready"

As she entered the room they were no longer angry but showing a pleasant face to her.

" Okay Kara. Jor you go ahead I will follow you" as Jor El went to the dining room.

Zor turned around and faced Kara.

" You shouldn't have done that."

"What!"

"Eavesdropping is bad. I saw you."

Kara shuffled her feet.

"Sorry Dad. But uncle was really angry."

"It is justified. I agree with him but no one can go against the council and live on Krypton hopefully Zod's temper cools down. Krypton has never been this vulnerable since centuries and don't you go around talking about this most likely when Zod comes back he can petition once again"

"Sure. Daddy"

"Now let's go and see what your mom has made for us today"

" I hope it isn't that green stuff "

" I don't like it either. Let's not keep your mom waiting"