“Are you alright?” Cal and Stormy cancelled their barrier. The younger Kryptonian drifted forward, face concerned as Dan held himself motionless. “That stone outputs even more power than the All-Spark and it seems more volatile.”
Dan gave Cal an absentminded nod, focused on the deluge of solar energy that poured into his cells. It rode the edge of his limits, held in check by his biofield as his power slowly grew. For the first time since his rebirth, he absorbed as much sunlight as his body could take at one time.
Venom stored the overspill, a reserve they could use in times of need. His power slowly pushed higher and it became easier to hold the stone in check. He drew in a breath that settled the rush of energy in place, a smile turned to Stormy and Cal.
“It’s fine, just a bit distracting,” a flick of his hand projected a limited map of the galaxy. He focused his efforts on scouting out o-class suns, but he’d included blue stars and quasars in his efforts. “I have three potential quasars, we can do a more in depth survey of the space around them and then…”
“We should ignore this one,” Venom hissed out as the most distant of the three was highlighted in red. “It lies close to Klyntar, the closer we get to the sleeping Hive, the more likely it will awaken.”
Dan nodded and reduced their targets to two. Knull was far less agreeable than Cyttorak, a dark and ancient power that dreamed of an empty multiverse. Two locations were enough.
“Once we’ve secured the local space, we’ll see if you can handle a small amount of its light,” Dan transferred the coordinates to Cal and scooped Stormy into his arms. “If not, we’ll wait until you’ve taken the serum and try again.”
It was likely Cal and Kara’s Bronze Era dna was too weak to safely process a quasar’s power, but the Gold Era genetics granted by the serum would be just fine. So long as it was safe, Dan would build a retreat around at least one of the targets. It would give his Kryptonians a massive boost that was desperately needed in this universe.
“Alright, but we’d better bring Kara along,” Cal glanced back towards the Earth, where Kara held the fort with Bear. “She’d never stop complaining if I powered up without her.”
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“So that’s a quasar…” Kara’s eyes shone as they closed with the brilliant glow of the active galactic nucleus. “Will it really boost our power as much as you say?”
“It might, now keep close,” Dan wrapped his biofield around the group and limited the amount of radiant energy the two younger Kryptonians received. “Your current genetics are likely susceptible to oversaturation sickness.”
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Many versions of Superman couldn’t even bath in a yellow sun, lest they overwhelm their body’s ability to process the energy it took in. They would gain a temporary increase in might, but die soon after as their cells fell apart under the strain.
“I can feel a change…” Cal looked at his hands, eyes unfocused. “I’m not sure, but my biofield seems more responsive, more refined.”
“I feel it too,” Kara frowned. “Things within the field are more defined, I’m detecting energy that I never knew existed.”
Dan had noticed it as well. The light of the quasar expanded the scope of his biofield, deepened its connection to the matter and space around them. Eyes distant, he slashed a hand against the void and ripped open a small tear.
“I think I could teleport without using the phantom zone…” the spatial layers that he could fracture with his all out attacks opened up under his aura’s touch, shifted aside in a similar fashion to how it treated air. “Both of your powers are rising much more quickly, but I’m detecting a bit of negative feedback within your cells.”
Dan shook his head and pulled the group back. Steve, Bucky and Logan would awaken in a few days. Once the safety of the serum was confirmed, both Cal and Kara would receive their dose. Stormy seemed fine, rejuvenated by the quasar’s glow as he scampered toward the bountiful light.
“I can’t wait to upgrade my bloodline,” Kara gave a disappointed sigh as they left the energy’s effective range. “It’s frustrating to grow so slowly, especially when I know what I’m missing.”
“It won’t be long now,” Dan smiled at her woebegotten figure. “You two should head back to Earth, get the Fortress started on a new construction crystal and call me when the new Kryptonians wake up.”
The pair nodded and vanished in twin flashes of light. Alone, Dan followed Stormy’s path closer to the quasar. The cat was curled in a ball, drool on his face as he soaked in the supercharged light.
“Come on bud,” Dan scooped Stormy into his arms and worked his way closer to the brilliant source of the glow around them. He scaled back the energy from the power stone and let only the external light into his cells. “Let’s see how a full dose affects us.”
The quasar grew, slow but steady as he advanced. The refinement and amplification effect on his biofield continued, a sharpened level of quality and control. If it had the delicate hand of a surgeon before, now it strayed toward a near mechanical level of accuracy.
“It’s also interacting with my magical wards…” Dan examined the gargantuan labyrinth that surrounded his mind. Silver threads had blended into the gold, dashes of fortified light that empowered the structure of his runes. “My own power isn’t rising much more than it was under a blue sun, but the quality of the growth is different.”
Dan stopped at a healthy distance and set Stormy down. The unconscious cat would nap until he was satisfied, but Dan had a few more things to do before he relaxed. His focus returned to the power stone, willpower bent against its constant resistance as he forced it to change the sunlight it produced to match the quasar’s glow.
“It seems like my body doesn’t benefit as much from the different coloured stars as the standard Kryptonian,” the power stone could infuse concentrated light into his body and boost his growth, but his natural absorption seemed to maintain a steady upward curve. “Only the stone seems to give me the results I expected…”
Perhaps it has something to do with his ‘perfected’ bloodline. It was limitless as far as his upper ceiling, but it did include a composite of all the different growth speeds that a Kryptonian could have. It was likely that it would continue to increase over time, until it overtook any natural Kryptonian before him.
“For now, the stone is good enough, but once I reach a certain point I’ll need to work something else out.” Dan shook his head. Once his power blossomed above universal and into multiversal territory, it was likely the stone wouldn’t be enough to supercharge his growth. “For now, let’s see how these new spatial abilities work…”
Dan slashed his hand and carved open a gash in the void. His biofield reached out to grip its edges, a reinforcement that created a stable tear. He pushed further, a tunnel aimed towards the Earth. The empty black gateway resolved into an image of the distant Sol system and a step carried him into the star's orbit.
“Far less jarring than the phantom zone,” Dan nodded as he sealed the portal behind him. “But I think I prefer getting all that extra time to think…”