POV: Dru-Zod Grand General of Krypton

General Zod's face was twisted into a grim scowl. One that was matched by everyone on the bridge.

Krypton was under attack.

Krypton.

Not the solar system, the planet. Such an obscene security failure hadn't occurred in twenty thousand years. And yet, it was happening now. It was happening on his watch. Hundreds of Generals had come before him, and none had failed as grievously as he had.

The armada of Jarkula-looking ships hung over the planet tauntingly.

Taunting him, reminding him with their very existence that he had failed. The tactical display highlighted the drifting wreckages of the various defense platforms and starfighters that hadn't been outright vaporized.

They hadn't failed. They had done their duty, they had fought for Krypton seemingly to the last against overwhelming odds. When this was all over, if there were any survivors left in those powerless hulls, he would see them properly recognized. Of course, he would do what he could to honor the dead too, but the living were the priority.

He had failed Krypton. His people-, no, his purpose was dying with every second he wasted.

His fists clenched, as they finally got within range he ordered them to disable their stealth suites and for all ships to engage. An order they eagerly jumped to follow. Only sheer discipline had thus far held the gunners from firing and the fighters in their launch bays.

The fiery explosions that followed paled in comparison to the inferno of rage burning in his heart.

/

POV: Lieutenant Colonel Faora Hu-Ul

Even the inertial dampeners couldn't stop her from getting pressed into her crash couch. Despite the sensation of someone standing on her chest, she was utterly calm.

A loud klaxon let her know the targeting computer had finally picked a landing spot. Her only response was to tighten her grip on her rifle, the synthetic muscle in her armor locked up, ensuring she wouldn't somehow break her neck from the upcoming maneuvers.

The pod jolted sharply everytime her podmates were launched to their own destinations. Finally, it was her turn, a mechanical arm locked onto her chest plate and maneuvered her into the firing chamber. A brief whine of static and suddenly the smooth metal was replaced with screaming winds and anti-air fire.

With the railgun sending her on the right trajectory, her jump packs boosters engaged, ensuring she remained on target and sending her hurtling towards the ground even faster. If the giant currently crushing her lungs hadn't done it, the sight of Kandor burning would have left her breathless.

Before she knew it, she was a mere hundred feet from the ground, her armor suddenly flipped itself and the thrusters fully opened up. Jerking her to a stop so suddenly that if she had been from any other Caste, she would have been turned to paste. She came down in a crouch, her armor immediately gave her back control.

She completely disregarded the glowing red ground her entrance had created. The various temperature warnings that appeared in her HUD were superfluous at best, her armor was rated for far worse environments. Instead, she immediately started firing at the highlighted forms of the Enemy. Her targeting software pointing out the most likely locations where their CPU's were located.

Each discharge of her weapon blasting head sized holes in the damnable machines. Their yellow shields bursting like soap bubbles. Within the first five shots she had narrowed down which spots were instant kills, her computer updating according to her findings.

Her own shields sprang up to deflect sharpened cables and plasma bolts alike. All the while she unerringly blasted holes in the machines. Only thirty seconds on the ground and she had completely cleared the street of hostiles.

Her teeth grit at the mound of Kryptonian corpses, her helmet highlighted the piddly civilian grade blasters and armor some of them had been equipped with. They were police, they were equipped to deal with street thugs and the like, not planetary invasions.

No, that was their job. They were Krypton's protectors, they were supposed to be the ones who died for Krypton. They were supposed to defend Krypton, not avenge it. Yet here she was, surrounded by the corpses of those she was meant to serve.

Faora Hu-Ul was furious, but she still had a city to clear, so she pushed her emotions down as she was taught. She marched deeper into the city, rifle up and face blank beneath her visor.

/

POV: Kara-El

Consciousness came slowly. Oddly enough, the first thing that grabbed my attention was the air. It smelled like nothing, unnaturally clean.

Groggily, I wondered, Where was the smell of smoke? My brows furrowed. Smoke? Why would there be- Then it all came back to me.

My eyes shot open. The first thing I saw was my warped reflection looking back at me, it took me a few moments of confused staring before I realized I was laying in a pod of some kind. Panic quickly gripped me as my last memories came back to me. Was I a prisoner aboard the robots ship? Had they kidnapped me?

I lunged up to press against the cool glass. Instantly a hissing sound surrounded me, and my efforts doubled. They were gassing me. That was the only explanation I could come up with as I started to get dizzy. Then to my surprise, the glass I had been beating on suddenly gave way and slid up and away.

Not wanting to risk it closing again, I rolled out of the pod, uncaring of the painful drop that awaited me. I shot back to my feet and took in my surroundings. I was in some sort of medical room, various pieces of equipment were pressed up against the walls. All of them were too big for me to use as a weapon, and if they were smart, the devices would have been maglocked to the ground while the ship was in transit anyways.

A quick inspection of my person revealed I was dressed in what appeared to be a white skin suit, the material almost appeared to glow in the white light of the room. It was unlike any skin suit I had ever worn before, as it had a strange refractive quality to it, as if the fabric was made of spun glass or something. While my state of dress was certainly odd, it was the state of my body that I was actually concerned with. My arms which I had been certain would at least have been covered in burns were unblemished, even the symbols were gone, except for a pair of glowing red El crests on the back of each hand. And I could find no signs of injury where the robots cables had struck me.

Barely enough time had gone by for me to glance around before the door to the room hissed open. I got into a defensive stance, it wouldn't mean much unarmed, but it was leagues better than just accepting my fate.

What walked through the door wasn't the robot I feared. Instead, a black haired kryptonoid woman entered the room, her gaze focused on the data pad in her arms. When she glanced up and noticed me she froze, her eyes going wide in surprise. "Oh! You're awake!?" Her brows furrowed. "How are you awake? The pod should have kept you sedated for at least another few days."

My shoulder slumped in relief at hearing her speak Kryptonian. "Where are we?" I put aside the whole sedation thing, I needed to know what was going on.

"We're in Kandor’s main hospital." She made to move towards me. "I think you should get back in the pod, you're not fully healed yet-."

"Are we still under attack? Did we win?" I interrupted her, I needed to know.

"The fighting is over. The defense fleet managed to push the invaders out of the system."

"Push? You mean they got away?" My eyes widened at the thought. "How is that possible?"

She just shrugged "I'm not sure, they say they're investigating the reason, but the rumor is that the main ship managed to jump from orbit."

My mind raced with what that meant. If it were true then that meant Krypton's main defense had been rendered useless somehow, either it had been taken down, or the method of the jump was able to punch through the interference.

"Do you know what happened to my parents?" My Mom should have been safe in the vault, but I didn't know anything about my Dad's situation, besides the fact that he had been on Argo. Speaking of. "Was Argo attacked as well?"

She shook her head, "Your father, to my knowledge, is fine, though your Mom was brought in with severe blood loss a few hours ago and is recovering in a pod at the moment. And regarding Argo, It was less of an attack and more like a siege. They just shot down any ships that tried to leave, nothing actually landed on Argo." She walked over to me, "Now, if your curiosity is sated, I do have to ask that you go back in the pod, you need to rest after what your body has been through."

As I lay back into the pod, I realized the pod was a sun chamber. It was designed to blast a patient with intense but precise bursts of red sun radiation, while simultaneously taking control of the nanites in our bodies to further facilitate the healing process. The AI monitored the patient and determined the duration and concentration of the bursts. It also explained the strange skin suit I was wearing, it must have been made to allow solar radiation through, to not interfere with the healing pods effectiveness.

/

Now that I knew what was going on, I was much calmer the next time I awoke. When I sat up, I immediately noticed there were people in the room, heavily armed people to be more specific. Instantly, I went from relaxed to tense as I took in their armored forms. Matte black and gold with helmets obscuring their faces, the crest on their breastplates are what caught my attention the most. It was the crest of Krypton's Ruling Council.

"By order of the Council, you are to come with us." The closest one to me spoke, their voice made androgynous by the suits speakers. I stared at them dumbly for a few seconds, apparently it was a few seconds too long as the one that had spoken grabbed my arm and roughly dragged me out of the pod. Keeping a firm grip on my arm, they pushed me to the door. My bare feet barely registering the cold floor with all the thoughts running through my head.

"Why does the Council want me?" I could think of many reasons, but considering how roughly I was being treated, most of them were bad for me.

No one answered as we took an elevator to the top floor, where a sleek VTOL waited. I was unceremoniously shoved into a chair which locked me in place with a null field. I literally couldn't even blink. The ride was short, but my eyes burned something fierce as I had to hold them open for what must have been five minutes straight.

Once more, I found myself being manhandled into an elevator and led down a hall to what I assumed was where the Council convened, at least judging by the sheer amount of ornate engravings on the walls and door.

The room looked like what I remembered a courtroom looked like. At the end of the room was a raised dais on which seven gaudy throne like chairs sat, currently the room was empty except for me and my escort. I was placed onto a slightly raised circle which lit up with a green glow the moment my feet made contact. I immediately felt the effects as everything below my waist was immobilized by what was probably a localized null field. Null fields were great for safely handling prisoners as it literally canceled out all inertia in its boundaries. No doubt, with just a press of a button they could make the field cover the rest of me, but for the moment they just made it impossible for me to move from my spot.

Once I was secure, a door behind the dias hissed open and the Council members streamed in. They all looked elderly with their gray hair and wrinkled faces. It was actually rather jarring to see them since everyone on Krypton could enjoy a youthful appearance, that meant these men and women chose to look old. I could only assume it was to appear more wise and knowledgeable, as it was instinctive to equate age with wisdom.

"You have been brought before us today for a reason. Tell me Lady El, do you know what that reason is?" The one in the center chair spoke first. His tone giving away nothing.

I swallowed and answered "No esteemed Councilor, I do not." I could only pray it wasn't something actually incriminating, but considering how I had been treated thus far I wasn't too hopeful.

"Are you sure you can't think of any reason as to why we called you here?" A Councilor pressed.

"No. I can't." I was freaking out inside, trying to think of anything they could have called me for. But I was coming up blank, as I couldn't have done anything truly incriminating until after I got my lab. My record thus far should have been all but spotless. At least in terms of stuff that would warrant a Council meeting.

"Tell me then. Do you recognize this?" Slightly above our heads a hologram formed.

My eyes narrowed, and my brows furrowed. It was an easily recognizable image, something any kryptonian who had finished their basic education would be able to recognize. It was a three dimensional cross section of a kryptonian cell. "Well yes, I do recognize that, but I don't under-"

"Look closer." He stated flatly.

I bit my tongue at the interruption and did as I was bid. "It looks…..damaged? The cell membrane almost looks... degraded or worn away? And the organelles look a little shriveled, almost like it was exposed to an acid, but I've never seen anything like it before." My tone becoming more clinical as I examined the image. My brain seeing something it didn't understand, and it was now working overtime trying to figure it out. "The solar receptors responsible for processing and distributing solar radiation looks ...burnt?" I squinted at the darkened receptors.

"An apt analysis considering you don't have any supporting data to compare to." The Councilor on the far right spoke this time. "This sample was taken an hour after the Defence Fleet pushed the invaders out."

An hour? But that would mean ..."Was a chemical weapon deployed?" My eyes widened in horror at the thought.

"Oh no. There were no reports of any chemical weapons." The Councilor reassured me before continuing. "No, this sample was taken from you."

I froze as I processed those words. "Me?" Of all the things I thought they were going to say, that was not one of them.

"Indeed. You see, this kind of damage is rarely seen in a Kryptonian. It's so rare in fact that there is only one known cause for this kind of damage." This time a hint of an emotion flickered across their faces, something I could only assume was a smile with how fast it had disappeared. "You Kara-El are being accused of developing and utilizing yellow solar radiation technology. Do you deny it?"

My mouth went dry. They had literal proof of it sitting right in front of me. "Yes, I do deny it."

The room went quiet at my claim. "You deny it? Then can you explain the cellular damage?" He sounded almost amused.

"Yes, I can." I had planned for such an eventuality and had come up with viable excuses in case I was ever brought in for the vambracers. Of course, at the time I hadn't known an invasion was coming, so I had to do some quick modifications to make the story fit. Fortunately, quick thinking was literally what I was built for.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"A few weeks ago I had been working on a bracer that emitted concentrated red sun radiation. I know that there are already plenty of designs out there for similar devices, but I wanted to try designing one myself from the ground up. It was a project I had started on a whim so I had never quite finished it. When my mother was attacked during the invasion I put them on in the hopes that it would at least increase my chances of saving her. But I must have done something wrong when designing the emitters as it was generating yellow light instead of red."

The Councilors stared at me through narrowed eyes, their disbelief was a palpable thing. "You're trying to get us to believe that it was an accident? That you, an El, made such a grievous miscalculation?" I nodded.

"No one's perfect." I shrugged. Trying to maintain an air of innocence. "For all my claims of being a prodigy, I am still rather young."

The Councilors started to debate amongst themselves, but they must have turned on some sort of sound suppression tech as I couldn't hear any words. I watched as they gesticulated, their mouths moving silently, some of them looked calm, others were more frantic and aggressive with their movements.

Eventually sound returned to the world. "This Council has agreed to drop the charges regarding unlawful experimentation." The sudden return of sound made me jump, but once I processed his words, my tense shoulders sagged in relief. "However, there are other allegations that need to be addressed."

My whole body tensed at those words. Other allegations? What else could they have? My mind raced.

"With your reckless actions, you have endangered the life of one of Krypton's brightest." The Councilor paused. "Because of your ineptitude, one of our greatest minds may not survive the night."

"What are you talking about?! I didn't hurt anyone!" I shouted, I had done many things that would raise eyebrows, but I had never hurt anyone.

They all looked at me in silence, some had what I would hesitantly call pity. "You really don't know do you?" One of them said quietly. The one in the center just sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly. "Regardless, ignorance, no matter how genuine, cannot excuse what has been done."

"What are you talking about? Who did I hurt?" Dread creeping up my spine. Clearly they knew something I didn't.

"Thinker Alura Zor-El is currently in a coma. She was left in that state due to Yellow Sun poisoning. It was your actions that led her to that state." And just like that, it felt like the world had disappeared from under me.

I stared, his words resounding in my head on loop. My Mom...in a coma...yellow sun… I felt dizzy. Nausea rising up in me.

"It's clear to this Council that the damage done was unintentional on your end. Due to that, we have decided that you are to be sentenced to the phantom zone for only five cycles."

My head snapped up, my eyes wide. "What!? No! You can't!" They couldn't do that! If I went there I couldn't save anyone. Everyone would die...and if everyone was dead then who would let me out? I was hyperventilating now, barely able to form coherent thoughts with how much raw fear was coursing through my veins.

"It has already been decided. The Law is the Law. Five cycles is the shortest sentence one can get to the phantom zone."

With those words a big machine descended slowly from a recess in the ceiling. It floated under its own power, with a hiss the machine split into four equal parts, slowly drifting apart until it formed the corners of a rectangle. With a hum, the machine began to warm up, the sound getting louder in pitch until it was no longer audible. Electricity sparked and gathered in its center, contained by the multitude of invisible fields. Slowly a tear in space began to form, widening until it encompased the entirety of the rectangles' invisible boundaries.

It granted me a view of...something...I couldn't even describe what I was looking at. My mind unable to even process it. A different universe with different laws, laws that had no place in this one. This was the phantom zone. Where up was down, in was out, where time stopped and sped up at a whim, in some places even going backwards. A hellscape, a place where criminals were said to go mad. A place even death had forsaken. But most importantly, it was the place where I was going.

"Please! Don't put me in there! You don't understand! If you send me in there everyone is-" Suddenly I couldn't move, my desperate plea was abruptly cut off as what I could only assume was the null field rose to fully encompass me. Tears gathered in my eyes as I began to lift off the platform, until I was floating level with the portal. My one chance to save myself was gone now. Frustrated and fearful tears filled my wide eyes.

"Kara-El. This Council finds you guilty of Criminal Negligence. You are hereby sentenced to the Phantom Zone for five cycles. May you find atonement in the void."

Slowly, I started to drift towards the portal. Tears would have rolled down my cheeks, but the field holding me caused them to just pool in my eyes, almost completely obscuring my fate. I wasn't sure if that was worse or not.

Just as I started to pass through the outer protective fields, a loud bang resounded through the chamber.

"STOP! DIRECT OVERRIDE 798-209!"

And just like that, I stopped, my fingers tingling with how close they were to entering the portal. Slowly but surely I began to float back down onto the disk. If I hadn't been held up by the null fields I was sure my shaking legs would have given out.

"What is going on here!" A voice boomed behind me. A very familiar voice.

"General Zod!?" One Councilor stammered. "What is the meaning of this!"

"Kara-El will NOT be sentenced to the phantom zone!" His voice was firm.

"On whose authority?!" She sounded incredulous.

"Mine." That single word had the entire Council staring with gobsmacked expressions.

"You overstep your bounds, General. Guards! Arrest this man!"

I could hear the distinct sounds of weapons being charged.

"Arrest me?" He chuckled. "Perhaps I should rephrase, when I said my authority, I meant the entirety of Krypton's Military. All of them stand with me on this matter."

"You speak of treason Zod!" Her voice was shrill now.

"Perhaps." I could almost hear the shrug in his voice. "But the fact is. No soldier of Krypton will stand idle if you touch her. She saved Kandor. We who were born to protect this world and all its citizens, we will never forget the debt we owe her."

"Saved Kandor? Grant you, she did fight in its defense, but it was our military who sa-"

"Wrong." His tone brooked no argument. "If it wasn't for her, Brainiac would have completed his plan. Her actions are the only reason we managed to stop him before he bottled the city. Kandor, a city of seventeen million lives, a city which may I remind you, you also live in. Would have been in his clutches when he jumped out."

"Now. If you will excuse us, Kara still needs more time in a healing pod." He must have done something, for suddenly I found myself falling. Luckily he must have foreseen it because he caught me before I fell. I clutched at him desperately, fingers hooking onto armor plates and fabric, babbling my thanks nearly incoherently as he carried me out of the chamber.

It was all a blur as we traveled back to the hospital. As he placed me into the pod, I came to my senses. My hand clamped around his as he tried to pull away. "Mom, is she really….?" I faltered, unable to finish.

He looked at me, taking a moment to take in my lost expression. "Yes." He sighed.

I tried to sit up. "Then I have to go be with her. This is my fault, I need to-"

"No." He pushed me back into the padded pod. "You need to finish healing. You did serious damage to your cells Kara. The only reason you aren't in a coma as well is because your cells are younger and were more resilient. But if you don't heal now, the damage will be permanent."

"But-"

"No." He spoke more firmly.

"But I-"

"You need to heal and that's final. Either lay back and let the pod do its job or I will get a nurse to sedate you and then let the pod do its job. Either way you're not going anywhere until you heal."

Seeing no other option I nodded grudgingly and laid back, letting the clear lid shut over me. I maintained eye contact with Zod for as long as I could while the gas dragged me under.

/

I stared at Mom. She looked like she was sleeping, as if any moment now she would open her eyes and smile at me. But the medical chart at the foot of her pod said otherwise.

I did this. I was the reason she wouldn't wake up.

I stroked the glass over her face. "Mom. Please, if you can hear me. Wake up. Please? I didn't mean to do this. I'm sorry, just … please wake up."

She didn't respond. Which didn't surprise me. All the scans and tests showed no brain activity besides the bare minimum needed to be classified as alive. Every cell in her body had been severely damaged. She was only alive now thanks to the frantic and constant work of her nanites. Due to the nature of the damage, the healing pod couldn't even use red sun radiation, having to rely solely on coordinating and boosting the effectiveness of her nanites.

As good as the nanites were, even they had their limits. Apparently repairing burnt out solar receptors is where the line was drawn.

The only reason I was still relatively okay after my much longer exposure to the yellow light was because my cells were much younger and as such were more malleable, but even then the damage was extensive. Now, without any of the painkillers running through my system, I could feel a slight burn permeating the entirety of my body. They had offered me more after I was released from my pod but I had declined.

I wanted to feel the burn, it was the least of what I deserved after what I had done. In my folly I had created the vambraces, disregarding the fact that it was common knowledge on Krypton that solar radiation not of a similar wavelength to that of Rao was highly toxic to a kryptonian's physiology. I had dismissed it as some form of propaganda to further enforce the laws banning interstellar travel. Either made up by the Council, or perhaps a holdover from our more religious times. We worshiped the sun as a literal deity, it wouldn't be too far fetched to believe the light of another sun would be seen as something heretical or blasphemous.

My memories of seeing Superman soaring through the air had only served to reassure me that I was right. I had rolled my eyes and placed my faith in knowledge from a comic book, and my Mom had paid the price for it.

"Kara." A hand rested on my shoulder.

"This is my fault." My vision blurred slightly. I tried to blink it away.

"No. Kara this isn't your fault. You are not responsible for this." My Dad tried to sound firm, but I could hear the lie as plain as day. Somewhere inside, he blamed me, even if he didn't want to admit it to himself.

My hands clenching hard enough for my nails to leave crescent marks on my palms. It would have taken less than a half hours worth of work to confirm whether or not other types of solar radiation was harmful. Yet I hadn't. Instead I had forgone all caution and allowed my memories of a fictional world to sweep me away.

"And how do you figure that?" I whirled around, my vision once more growing fuzzy. My tone scathingly bitter. "It was MY creation that put her here!" My hand came down to slap the glass behind me, just barely stopping my hand in time so that it rested gently against the cool surface instead. "I'm the reason she might not wake up." My anger leaving me mid sentence, by the end, my voice was little more than a whisper. This time I didn't blink the fuzziness away, letting them track down my cheeks. I couldn't bear to look at him after what I had done, turning my face downward in shame.

"No." He gripped my chin, forcing me to look up at him. "It is because of your creation that she is alive. Tell me. What would have happened if you hadn't had those vambraces?" I didn't respond, just staring at him in confusion at what he was trying to get at. "If you didn't have them, she would be dead. I saw the footage from Kelex, that robot had her in its grip. She was as good as dead without your intervention." He squeezed my shoulders. "Kara. Your actions are the only reason she might wake up. Without you, she wouldn't even have the chance to see another day. You understand me Kara?" He shook me slightly, "Say you understand!"

Taking a moment to take in his red puffy eyes and stone-like expression. I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I understand."

Twisting out of his grip, I went back to looking down into the pod. I may have understood, but I would never forget. It was my reliance on my past life's knowledge that led to this. Never again would I make that mistake. From now on, I would only use it as a reference point, not as a guide to be trusted blindly. This wasn't a comic book or a show. This was my life, and life was a game that played for keeps.

/

The sword was where I left it. Sitting innocently in the scorched dirt. The security drone currently hovering over it wasn't there to protect the sword, it was there to protect people from the sword. The security protocols on the sword was no joke, and it didn't discriminate. If I didn't personally allow the person to touch it or move it for that matter, it would regard it as a threat and proceed accordingly. Man, woman, child, it didn't care.

Slowly, I leaned down to pick it up. My hand pausing just an inch away, I took a moment to brace myself for what I instinctively knew was coming.

The moment my hand made contact, the El crests on my hands flared, and the symbols scrolled out of them and up my forearms. I grit my teeth as the searing script settled themselves once more against my skin.

"It hurts?" Dad asked from beside me, his voice a mixture of concern, clinical curiosity, and awe. I couldn't fault him for the last two. After all, this was probably the only time he will ever get the chance to see someone wield the sword. He was a scientist, and there was a lot about the sword that wasn't written down.

"Yeah." I sighed, flexing my arms as I waited for the pain to fade. "It's a type of safety measure."

"The pain?" He sounded puzzled.

"It's to ensure that whoever wields it never forgets what they hold. To make sure they never get lulled by its power. Its potential." I gazed into the red crystal, studying the way it reflected the light of Rao, while simultaneously emitting its own light. "When you use it, you feel like you could do anything. Like anything you want could be yours if you wished it. It's a heady feeling to wield so much raw power. It's so tempting to just ..." I trailed off, unsure where I was even going with this tangent. I sighed. "Anyways, let's hurry back so I can return this. The excess radiation it's emitting is starting to sting a bit."

"Right." With a hand on my back, he gently nudged me toward the air speeder we had arrived in.

My solar receptors, while not nearly as damaged as Mom's. They were still badly damaged. They told me it would take a while for the nanites to heal the damage. Most of the healing would occur during puberty, when my body started maturing, and that until they did, I should try to limit my solar intake. As the burning sensation would become more intense the more energy the damaged receptors had to process. And right now the combined light of the midday sun and the sword was proving their diagnosis correct.

Thinking about my damaged receptors made me realize, that perhaps, the pain caused by the Sword hadn’t been meant to be quite so excruciating. A majority of the pain had probably stemmed from my damaged receptors being forced to drink in the ramping levels of radiation the Sword emitted during active use. After all, crippling the wielder of the blade every time they used it was kind of counterproductive.

I stopped walking for a moment, a thought coming to me. "Hey, Dad?"

"Yes, Kara? What is it?"

"Do you want to hold it?"

He looked confused, but he followed my gaze to the sword. "But the security-"

"It listens to me. If I tell it to let you, it will." Seeing his hesitation still, I decided to go in for the kill. "Besides, the docs told me to watch my solar intake. The sword isn't good for me to hold." I grinned as I saw his parental instincts beat back whatever was causing him to hesitate, slowly he reached his hand out. It took a few moments of concentration, but I got him to be identified as a friend.

He held the blade with a childlike wonder. Holding the handle gently enough that I feared he might drop it.

I laughed, amused at his reaction. "Dad. Grip it tighter. You may not be able to access any of its functions but if you drop it, you'll still lose a foot."

His grip immediately tightened at the realization. He looked up at me and I did a double take at the shit eating grin he wore. "Jor is going to be so jealous."

I snorted as we got in the air speeder.

/

I felt immediate relief as I inserted the blade into the slot in the Quantum Forge. The symbols floated off my skin and back into the handle. As I stepped away, I absentmindedly rubbed my unblemished arms.

I whispered goodbye to the blade and thanked it for its help as I left. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination but the pommel seemed to glow a little brighter at my words.

When I finally made it back to the surface, I sealed the newly repaired wall. The ancestral home was completely fixed thanks to all the drones we had. I was currently completely alone as Dad had to go after dropping me off, with all the chaos from the invasion, he had a lot of work to do. I hadn't even seen Jor and Lara since waking up, seeing as how Jor was literally head of the Science Council I could scarcely imagine how swamped they must be.

I picked up the circlet on my bed, idly toying with the band of metal. Kelex or Penny must have printed another circlet as I distinctly remembered not taking it off when I left. Speaking of….

"Penny?"

No response. I glanced around in confusion. Penny was linked into the house's security systems, she should have heard that no matter where she was.

As I thought about it, my eyes found themselves staring at a particular spot on the floor. Slowly I put the circlet on, willing the box I had stashed there to rise out of the ground. Just as I had thought, the box rattled and shook.

The moment I unsealed it, a silver blur shot out and smacked me in the face. It's malleable form completely covered my face, blocking my sight. But even with the silvery material pressed to my face, I could still breathe through it.

"Kara! You're okay!" She sounded more distraught than I had ever heard her, and the way she clung to my face despite my efforts to peel her off showed it even more.

"Hey Penny. Glad to see you're fine too." I mumbled into the liquid geo, giving up on trying to remove her and settling for petting her consolingly. Eventually she floated off me, reforming into her default ball form.

"Why didn't you just take control of the room? Or alert Kelex of your situation?"

"I would have. But that box was meant to keep its contents hidden. It blocked all my attempts. I couldn't even access the net until now."

I winced at the image. From her perspective all she knew was that she had been taken offline in a cyber attack, then woke up in what amounted to solitary confinement for a week. "If no signals reached you, how did you power back up?" The signal that was sent out to turn everything back on shouldn't have penetrated the box.

"The virus only knocked out my ability to interact with the outside world. My processors were still operational. I managed to reassert control of my functions after forty-six hours." Her form rippled and spiked. "...I see I missed a lot."

Ah. She must have accessed the net, a lot of things happened in the time since she went inert.

"Yeah. You did. But now that you're up, you ready to get to work?"

"Of course."

"Good. I want you to bring me every scrap of data you can find relating to a particular word. Use my access codes to get into secure archives if you have to. I want everything, no matter how benign or irrelevant." As I spoke I was already bringing up holographic displays.

"What word, Mistress?"

"Brainiac."