chapter 14: coup d'état

*** Kar-el P.O.V.

" connect me to kara, pls," I asked Serena as I keep an eye on the video feed around the council chambers.

" yes, uncle" kara spoke after joining the server.

" kara would you remember a thing for me?" I spoke hesitantly as this could lead to unknown consequences.

" what do I need to remember?" she asked as she waited for Kal's pod to escape.

" Remember that... remember that anti-life could be resisted with hope and symbol of freedom. hope is not equal to lies, life = free will." I could only hope that this investment of mine at least prevented the worse from happening.

" what does that even mean? " kar-el inquired as she entered her pod.

" You will understand when the time is right. just remember it and never forget what I just told you." I spoke before Serena interrupted us.

" kar-el, the coup has begun, the general will be reaching the council chambers in 38 seconds." she projected the live feed in front of jor and me as she informed me.

" zor, prepare Kal for the launch. he will be leaving as Zod enters the chambers." Jor-el took the lead as we both began preparing the cathedral weaponry systems for the eventual visit from Zod.

" all systems online, hyperdrive will be activated as he exits the planet gravitational fields. Waiting for confirmation now." zor spoke through the communicator.

*** General Zod P.O.V.

"general, we reached the destination. waiting for further orders." the pilot spoke as I exited the ship with all the soldiers.

" Make sure that they don't receive reinforcements until we get our hands on these politicians" I ordered him as my troops fired at the unprepared guards on the perimeter. The ship took a defensive position as ordered to prevent any intervention.

I began marching toward the core chamber while killing anyone that tried to stop us with my gun. before long I reached in front of the scared and confused elders that still won't believe what is happening in front of their own eyes. honestly, it was pathetic that I used to follow orders from such headless chickens.

" What is the meaning of this? have you lost your mind, Zod?" the head chicken asked while taking deep breaths.

I aimed at him and fired without question and he fell like a sack of meat after slamming on the wall.

" It is time that you all pay for the crimes that you had committed, anyone that tries to resist will have the same future as this one had," I announced as my troops started binding them while I observed.

A lieutenant entered the chamber and walked towards me before whispering," An escape pod was launched from the outskirts of the capital a minute ago, we were unable to stop it because of low man force. "

"who? " I whispered back as I focused on him.

" it's not confirmed yet but the site of the launch is a separate laboratory designated for kar-el," he answered the unasked question too when I turned my entire focus on him.," both Jor and Kar-el are observed to enter El cathedral before dawn as they haven't left until now." I nodded to excuse him.

" Allow me to make an example of house El so that no one would dare to challenge your authority, general" Faora-UI spoke as she kneeled before me.

" Not now commander, We need to set our priorities straight. we can deal with them after we won this revolution first. let them run as they like for now, they may be able to run but not hide. I need to here with me to help me lead our forces to certain victory more than catch a few traitors. " I dismissed her plans for now as we turned to leave with our prisoners.

" What is the status of the team responsible for acquiring the codex?" I asked Faora-UI as we took a turn toward the left.

" they should be able to secure it by now, we would be receiving the news from them any time now," she informed me as she communicated with other commanders leading our troops against resistance.

I embarked into the ship as I ordered her," inform me as soon as we receive any info."

****kar-el P.O.V.

" launch has been a success, we have safely deported Kal-el. The phantom drive will be activated any time now and it did just....now." zor informed us happily through the communicator.

" good, prepare kara for deporting now. we don't have much time now, prime A.I. will be concentrating all its focus on the planet anytime now to make sure that order can be maintained again. " Jor-el instructed him as he looked at the view above the skies of Kondor. Both the revolutionaries and the resistance were fighting with the entire power that they had. Hundreds were dying every second as they clashed.

" they have acquired the duplicate codex. " Serena told us as soon as she felt the change in the fake codex location.

" how much time do we have before they realize that it's a fake, according to you?" I asked her believing in her judgment.

" In my opinion, not much. As soon as they will put in under a new A.I. that I haven't hacked, they will realize that it is a fake. so I would say 3 minutes at most. " she informed me.

" Give all the data that you have collected from Zod's server related to positions of the fleet to the Prime A.I. then, zor begin the engine of the pod. it's time for kara too." Jor instructed to which both Sarena and zor followed suit.

*****Zod P.O.V.

" General, we have obtained the codex successfully and it will be in your hands in a minute." Faora-UI gave me another good news as I was ordering my troops to attack at weaknesses I found in opponents' formation.

" very good, things are going according to the plan. Now we only need to grab victory before dusk." I commented as I sat on the command seat and put my head on my left arm so I could observe my victory while leaning.

Suddenly, a soldier entered the command deck with a horrified expression on his face.

" What??" I barked at him as I could guess that he brought bad news.

he hesitated for a few moments before finally opening his cursed mouth," somehow..somehow Prime A.I. acquired strategic information about our fleets and currently..."

" currently what??" Faora-UI screamed angrily.

" currently devastating our troops like an adult deals with a child. " he finished before lowering his head.

Before I could give any orders to deal with it, Another soldier entered and tried to speak before sensing the mood in the room and kept quiet.

" what do you have now?" I briskly asked him.

" the codex in the chamber was fake, someone was manipulating the A.I. inside into believing that it was real. " At least this one had guts to say the truth.

"Escape pods exiting the atmosphere as soon as revolution began, somehow Prime A.I. learned about secrets of our fleet and the codex was fake from the beginning. where is El's? " I asked Foara-UI as my blood pressure kept rising.

" Both kar-el and zor-el are still in the El cathedral, the others must be on the launch site," she replied as she divided the fleet into two and ordered one to go towards the launch site while we turned toward the cathedral.

" You will pay for betraying me with blood, Jor-el I hope you and your cousin would be prepared for the consequences," I muttered as I turned toward the exit with Faora-UI and others following behind me.

***** kar-el P.O.V.

" General Zod has landed at the entrance, what are the orders? " Serena asked as we both turned towards the entrance.

" how many? " jor asked her.

" 6 including the general himself" she swiftly replied.

" let the guests come inside, we must show El's hospitality. " I told as I put on a predatory smile.

Now that both Kal and kara had escaped already, I could be a little carefree as it removed a lot of stress from me.

Serena allowed Zod to enter by opening the entrance for him and his soldiers.

" what have you done, jor? hand me the codex before things become irreversible. " he addressed Jor as his soldiers prepared and pointed their guns at us. I just let things run their course while preparing for the eventual clash.

Serena was preparing the defense system of the cathedral to attack the troops behind Zod without their knowledge. Zod should have thought twice before attacking a scientist at his home while he had the time and resources to defend himself.

" We had a child, Zod. A boy child. krypton's first natural-born child in centuries so that he could have free will that we never had, the ability to choose, and then we uploaded the codex inside him. " Jor explained to him while distracting him.

" heresy, where is he now?" Zod bellowed completely focused on Jor-el.

" Away from you, a place where he can grow independently and secure. " Jor told him as he prepared his gun.

" get them" Zod ordered as he lunged at Jor.

Before they could react, Serena fired at them and neutralized them instantly while I put my spear's tip at Zod to stop his advance.

He swiftly diverted the spear with his knife while spinning towards the right and kicked at me, Jor-el blocked his kick and griped his leg while I rammed myself into him with full momentum.

We both fell on the floor and rolled to avoid any attack while Jor-el waited for the right time while keeping his eyes on Zod.

" two against one, huh? doesn't look honorable at all to me. " Zod remarked on his knees while keeping an eye on both of us.

" technically speaking, it was 6 against 3 but our teammate took yours out pretty quickly. " I replied the sarcasm as I prepared myself to get in the offense now.

this time I made the first move by thrusting the spear at him from down to up, he rolled sideways while decreasing the distance at him as this was the only way to counter my weapon with his knife.

He was certainly an excellent fighter but sadly for him, the result of this fight was already decided from the beginning. He was unprepared when I suddenly accelerated while aiming a kick towards his face. Preparations were a cheat in itself too, My battlesuit was not just slick and athletic, it was also highly armed with techs, like the burst drive equipped on the back of my shoes and back that provided me the ability to use quick and sudden bursts that instantly raised by speed for surprises like he just experienced.

His head slammed on the floor so hard that some of his teeth broke after receiving that kick.

" what was that?" he growled as he tried to rise again but failed because of a concussion he received from the kick.

" just one of the surprises that I have prepared for you, " I told him as I walked toward him before hitting him with the butt of my spear to finally knock him out for good.

" that was anti-climatic" Jor-el remarked from the sidelines.

I turned toward him as he continued," I thought I would see a great duel between you both but it ended before it even began" he told me while shaking his head.

" better to fight smart than hard. " I smirked at him as I entered my pod that was on standby.

" I hope I can leave it on your hands now. " I told him while looking at the fallen people around the room.

He prepared the pod to launch as he nodded before replying, " I will miss you, cousin. try to not get into trouble. "

I spend a few moments looking at each other before the pod launched itself and I finally said goodbye to my family.

A few minutes of silence remained in the pod as I exited the atmosphere before Serena remarked," we will be entering Phantom Drive now. "

As soon as we entered Phantom Drive, I knew that it was time to say goodbye to this universe too because the pod kept accelerating even after we reached enough speed to perform intergalactic travel.

"AAAAAaaaaaaa " I screamed while Serena tried to save us to no avail.

It felt like my mind exploded and there were no boundaries that could restrain me, at one point I felt like my body is a rope that was constantly spinning around a star, at another moment I felt like I was interacting with Serena's consciousness and at last I lost all awareness.

***** unknown to everyone but ×÷+-

As kara's pod was entering Phantom Drive just outside krypton's atmosphere, it got trapped inside the flux created by the black hole that the council used to keep prisoners because Prime A.I. focused all its attention on the planet that lead to the opening of the gate leading to the black hole. It was fixed in a few moments but that was enough for kara's pod to be stuck in a constant time zone that could trap her for decades.

<>. >>. >>>.<>>. ,,>, ><>, >, >, >>, >,

Author's block: I don't want to leave the chapter on a cliffhanger so I made it a little bit. From the next chapter, we will be in MCU as hinted in the prologue. I hope you guys are enjoying your holidays and everybody received just socks as gifts like me.