Return Journey

Mongul, the supreme ruler of Warworld, stood before the torn hangar door, his expression dark as the void of space. His advisors watched, holding their breath, unable to read any emotion on his stony face.

One advisor, gathering his courage, felt he must report. "The intruders have breached our scientific sector, taking all Earth prisoners. The warriors who encountered them report they are Kryptonians because they"

Mongul's stoic façade cracked, his crimson eyes flaring with an intense fury that his advisor had never witnessed. This twisted passion was new, frightening.

Swallowing the rest of his words, the advisor stammered, "Their chests bore the House of El's crest, from Earth's Kryptonian known as 'Superman.'"

Taking a menacing step forward, Mongul's towering silhouette engulfed the advisor in shadow. "I know who Kal-El is. I'll never forget. Where are these Kryptonians now?"

The advisor felt the crushing pressure, turning away from that terrifying gaze. "We've dispatched a pursuit team. We suspect their target is the star gate at the scrapyard."

"Fool! A single team against two Kryptonians?" Mongul's face twisted with rage.

"Yes, sir, we'll send more forces"

"Fool! Is there time to catch them now?" Mongul roared, spraying the advisor with spittle, who dared not wipe it off. Only two years in his position, the advisor was puzzled by the ruler's intense reaction to Kryptonians.

After a moment, Mongul ordered, "Send three teams and shut down that gate."

The advisor looked up in shock. "But, sir, closing it takes time, and so much energy and effort went into creating a stable star gate. The losses..."

"Do it!" Mongul boomed. "Capture those Kryptonians at any cost!"

As the advisor was drenched in spit again, he nodded meekly, his curiosity about the tyrant's history with Kryptonians deepening. Mongul commanded, "Prepare my ship. I'm going in person."

Jay, satisfied with the pursuit ships on his tail, sped into the city's dense heart. Their relentless fire rained down, causing chaos and destruction. Jay's breath grew labored, his limbs tingling—a stark contrast to his usual effortless flights on Earth.

He needed a quick victory.

Dodging into narrow building gaps with agile turns, the pursuers struggled, their small size now a disadvantage. Jay flew trickily—he dodged high and low, left and right, along the most challenging routes. Finally, one ship crashed, becoming a smoking wreck.

Two left, but the effort was draining Jay, the red sun's rays sapping him dry. He faltered, nearly plummeting from the sky.

Regaining control, the lapse allowed laser fire to strike his back, sending him plunging down in a trail of black smoke. He crashed through an alien outdoor café, stopping amid shattered tables and chairs.

Jay rose, his back burning, grateful his defenses hadn't completely failed, for the lasers could have melted most Earth metals.

Dazed, his super-hearing gone, he saw the frightened alien civilians, including the green seahorse-like creature Kara had named, fleeing in panic.

"Good idea, run," Jay muttered to the fleeing crowd. "You don't want to stick around. This might get ugly."

The buzzing of the pursuit ship engines pierced his normal hearing. One craft surged ahead, its guns blazing, diving toward Jay. The intense laser fire carved glowing lines in the ground, aiming straight for him.

Jay grasped a broken electronic billboard with Mongul's sneering image. Stepping forward, he swung the board like a baseball bat, shattering the ship's windshield. The vessel spun back, crashing into its companion, both exploding into a shower of burning debris.

After the last swing, Jay gasped for air, recalling his past life's struggle for breath during a kilometer run. It had been six years since he last sweat.

Pushing through his exhaustion, he shakily took flight again. He couldn't stop now; he had promises to keep, people waiting. For their sake, he mustered his remaining energy.

Kara piloted the ship through the collapsing tunnel before the gate shut, but as they traversed the turbulent passage, it began disintegrating. Erosive energies battered the hull, parts and metal shearing away. The ship groaned as if on the verge of breaking apart.

The violent energies made the windshield crack, nearly blinding Kara. But the exit's light broke through. "Hang on, everyone!" she yelled.

The ship's violent exit ground it to a halt, its wings shorn off, the right one breaking away during the landing. The craft finally stopped against a wall, its engines smoking heavily.

Kara caught her breath, incredulous. "That concludes our interstellar journey. Please gather your belongings and... exit in an orderly fashion."

She tried to open the hatch, which was jammed from the impact. Forcibly tearing it open, she was met with guns pointed at her head.

Surrounded by black-clad soldiers with helmets and goggles, they seemed ready for a monstrous threat.

"Hold your fire," Huntress commanded, stepping forward. "They're not the enemy."

Recognized as the leader, the troops lowered their weapons. Kara raised an eyebrow, "Helena, I thought you'd gone to work for the government. What are you doing here?"

Huntress shrugged, "As you see, working. We got a distress call from Kord Technologies, so I came with my team. But wasn't there another guy with you?"

Kara's eyes turned to the unstable portal. "He'll catch up soon."

"But the device is critical and losing stability. It'll vanish soon," Huntress frowned. "If he's not back in thirty seconds, he won't make it."

Kara's brows twitched with concern, but her gaze returned to the portal with renewed firmness.

"He promised," she said. "He'll come back. I believe."

Her faith was justified. With less than a second to spare, Jay shot out of the collapsing tunnel, a red and blue blur trailed by purple electrical arcs. He tumbled, crashing into the wreckage.

Gasping on the ground, Jay's exhausted breaths signaled his return. As he lifted his heavy lids and saw Huntress and Supergirl, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"Hey, ladies," Jay managed, "Am I hallucinating?"