CRACK!
And then—
The sound of bone snapping echoed through the air once more.
Alex's right hand twisted slightly—
and Ursa's neck broke cleanly in his grasp.
Just like that, the ambitious Kryptonian matriarch,
freed from the Phantom Zone only days ago,
ended her brief return to life in a single, rciless instant.
> "L–Lady Ursa!"
Noa's voice shook with disbelief.
His eyes widened as fear—cold and absolute—consud him.
He was terrified.
Monts ago, he'd stood proudly at Ursa's side.
Now, he watched as both his comrades—Adara first, and now Ursa—
were slaughtered like insects.
By this man.
By Holander.
> Impossible…
No one could be this powerful… not even General Zod himself!
The thought barely ford before panic took over.
BOOM!
Noa didn't even think.
He turned and fled, rocketing into the sky with all his speed.
He didn't dare fight.
He just wanted to live.
---
Alex's lips curled into a faint, icy smile.
> "Run? Now? Don't you think it's a little late for that?"
He raised his hand—
a simple, effortless gesture.
Invisible power rippled outward.
In the next instant, Noa froze midair, his body locked in place as if the atmosphere itself had solidified around him.
> "W–what's happening?!"
Cold sweat stread down his forehead as he struggled helplessly,
caught in an unseen vice.
Then—
CRACK!
Another sickening snap.
Alex rely flicked his wrist.
Noa's neck twisted at an unnatural angle.
The lifeless body dropped from the sky,
slamming into the dirt with a heavy thud.
Like a discarded puppet.
---
Clark Kent could only stare.
His entire body was rigid,
his mind struggling to process what he'd just seen.
He'd fought alongside Alex,
he'd even been beaten by him more than once—
so he knew how strong the man was.
But this…
This was sothing else entirely.
Those Kryptonians who had tossed him around like a child—
who had laughed at his weakness—
were nothing but flies to Alex.
Swatted. Crushed. Erased.
In seconds.
> "That's… impossible…"
Clark's voice trembled.
> "Holander… how can you be this strong?"
---
And then—another voice.
Cold, chanical, filled with disbelief.
> "No… it can't be…"
Alex recognized it instantly.
Brainiac.
He didn't hesitate.
BOOM!
In a flash, he was gone.
---
Five streets away, atop Smallville's clock tower,
Brainiac stood overlooking the chaos below.
When Alex appeared behind him, the air itself seed to shatter.
> "Damn it," Brainiac muttered, his synthetic face tightening.
"He's faster than predicted."
Even for a machine, panic flickered in his eyes.
He'd just witnessed Holander annihilate three Kryptonians—
elite soldiers, bred for war—
and kill Ursa as easily as snuffing a fla.
There was no algorithm that made sense of that.
> "Brainiac," Alex said, voice casual but laced with mockery,
"we et again. You really are the cockroach of the universe."
Brainiac straightened, his tone suddenly grave.
> "Holander, you've made a grave mistake," he said evenly.
"You should have listened to Lady Ursa's offer."
> "Oh, please," Alex replied with a shrug.
"She didn't know how to be polite."
With that, he lifted his hand.
A wave of telekinetic force slamd into Brainiac,
locking him in place like a bug trapped in amber.
> "Holander—wait—"
BOOM!
The rest of Brainiac's words were lost in the shockwave.
Alex's telekinetic grip constricted,
and the android's body crumpled inward,
crushed into a burst of green tal and synthetic gore.
When the dust settled,
all that remained was the faint clatter of a small cube hitting the rooftop.
Clink.
Alex glanced down.
> "Again?" he muttered.
Another cube—another Fortress of Solitude.
He sighed.
> "Guess so people never learn."
He picked up the cube, his expression faintly amused.
This wasn't the first ti he'd taken the Fortress from Brainiac,
and apparently it wouldn't be the last.
To be fair, it wasn't entirely the robot's fault.
Brainiac had thought the Zod family would be enough to handle Holander.
He was wrong.
Very, very wrong.
Ursa and her soldiers hadn't lasted ten seconds.
And General Zod himself still remained trapped in the Phantom Zone—
aning Brainiac still needed the Fortress.
It was no wonder he kept it close.
It just never occurred to him that he'd lose it to Alex again.
---
Worth noting—
when Brainiac had taken the Fortress before,
he'd also confiscated Clark Kent's key.
Which ant Alex now held both.
He could open the Fortress anyti he wanted.
But since he'd already returned it to Clark once,
he had no reason to keep it for himself.
The Fortress wasn't useful to him—
at least, not directly.
Its only real value was the AI consciousness of Jor-El inside.
And through Jor-El,
Alex could perhaps learn more about Krypton…
and maybe—
discover a way to destroy Brainiac completely.
For that, though, brute force wouldn't work.
Artificial minds couldn't be threatened into cooperation.
He'd need Clark's help.
---
BOOM!
Decision made, Alex vanished once more—
reappearing beside Clark.
> "Holander!" Clark called, hurrying toward him.
Alex tossed the cube casually his way.
> "Look what I brought back."
Clark caught it, his eyes lighting up.
> "You recovered the Fortress!"
> "That's right," Alex said with a nod.
"But I need to talk to Jor-El. There's sothing I have to ask him."
> " too," Clark said imdiately.
The two exchanged a look of mutual understanding.
Without another word, they took off together,
heading for a remote stretch of wilderness far from Smallville.
---
Monts later,
the quiet valley trembled as the cube flared to life.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK!
Massive crystal spires erupted from the frozen earth,
forming into glittering towers of alien beauty.
In seconds, the Fortress of Solitude once again stood before them—
radiant and awe-inspiring beneath the pale sun.
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