Chapter 271: Beneath The Ice
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PLANET ORENA - DEEP SPACE
The portal tore open above a silent ice wasteland. A swirl of violet and black light split the clouds like a wound, and from it descended Arthur Blackwynd and Raven. The instant their boots touched the surface, the ice beneath them shifted.
Arthur’s eyes glowed faintly violet as he raised his hand, shadows flickering from his ring and spreading like veins through the air, his Shadow Ring pulsing with light. The shadows expanded, slithering across the terrain, reading the ground, scanning the distant horizon.
"Be careful," Arthur said without turning. His voice was calm, but there was an undercurrent of tension beneath it.
Raven folded her arms and exhaled softly, dark energy coiling faintly around her fingertips.
"When am I not careful?" she murmured, eyes already half-glowing with a athyst hue. Her aura spread outward invisible at first, then faint ripples of energy as she tried to sense any form of life.
The wind howled.
Nothing.
Arthur’s shadow constructs dissipated one by one, rging back into his ring. He frowned, scanning the readings.
"Nothing here," he said quietly.
Raven shook her head. "Sa on my end. No trace of life, not even faint echoes."
Arthur lowered his hand and looked out into the endless horizon. His jaw tightened slightly.
"My Shadow Lanterns weren’t mistaken," he muttered. "This place might be empty now, but soone was here. Recently."
His tone was certain, the kind that ca from instinct more than evidence.
He rose off the ground effortlessly, floating into the thin atmosphere. Raven followed silently, her cloak rippling in the cold wind.
For a mont, the two flew side by side a streak of violet and black cutting through the gray clouds. The planet stretched endlessly beneath them.
Then Arthur suddenly stopped midair. His eyes glowed brighter, narrowing as he looked down.
"There," he said.
Raven halted just behind him and followed his gaze. Below them a crater. Massive, circular, and deep enough to look like a wound in the planet’s crust. The rim was scorched, blackened as though sothing imnse had once been buried there and violently unearthed.
They descended together. Arthur landed first, his boots crushing shards of rock. He crouched, running his hand through the dust. The texture told him everything.
"It seems like whatever happened here... happened recently," Arthur said, eyes flicking across the crater walls.
Raven looked around, her expression tightening.
"What could’ve been down there?"
Arthur straightened, his shadow ring glowing faintly as it picked up traces of lingering energy.
"I don’t know," he admitted. "But this doesn’t look like the aftermath of a battle." He pointed toward the center of the crater, where the rock had lted. "This was an extraction sothing was taken from here. So sort of a ship, or a machine."
Raven looked up at the dim sky.
"This planet looks dead, Arthur. Are you sure there’s anything left here?"
Arthur’s gaze was steady, but his tone sharpened slightly.
"Positive," he said. "Though compared to the last one we visited, this one’s less of a corpse and more of a patient on life support."
That earned a small, quiet smirk from Raven. She watched him as he turned away, lifting his hand once again. A swirl of violet energy gathered before him, forming a portal that shimred like liquid darkness.
"We’re heading back to Earth," Arthur said firmly.
Raven took a step closer. "What about Kara and.."
Arthur cut her off, his tone calm but absolute.
"My senses told
Kara would get herself into trouble," he said, glancing toward the sky as if he could see beyond the stars. "And I still allowed it because I trusted her."
He exhaled slowly, the violet glow in his eyes dimming.
"This ti, whatever they extracted from here, I’m certain it’s heading toward Earth. And I will not allow it."
He looked back at Raven, expression resolute.
"At least this way, we can prepare before they arrive."
The wind picked up as Raven gave a small nod. She didn’t argue further; she could feel his certainty, the quiet storm brewing beneath that composed exterior.
Arthur stepped through the portal first swallowing his form entirely. Raven followed a heartbeat later, her cloak billowing as the portal sealed shut behind her.
The crater remained silent once more. Only the echoes of their presence lingered faint traces of violet energy fading into the air.
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JUSTICE LEAGUE WATCHTOWER – CONFERENCE ROOM
At the center of the room stood Superman, fists clenched at his sides. Batman faced him across the long tallic table, cowl shadowing his eyes, voice as calm as ever. Around them sat the League Wonder Woman, Flash, Hal Jordan, and J’onn J’onzz, alongside the other present mbers all watching as the air between the two titans thickened.
Superman broke the silence first, his tone sharp but restrained.
"Bruce... are you really positive about this?"
Batman didn’t flinch. His hands folded over the console, the blue glow of holographic Kryptonian glyphs reflecting off his gauntlet.
"I double-checked every piece of data. You can verify it yourself if you want but it won’t change the outco." His voice was calm. "You, Kara, and the Phantom Zone remnants aren’t the only Kryptonians left. There’s another one out there. And this ti, he’s not hiding."
Clark’s brows furrowed, the anger fading into wary disbelief. He stepped closer to the hologram, where ancient Kryptonian symbols flickered in and out of coherence. "You’re saying soone else... survived Krypton’s destruction?"
Batman’s reply was cold, direct. "No. I’m saying soone was never there when it happened. Jor-El’s ssage wasn’t just random. It was a breadcrumb. ant for you, Kal El."
Clark’s eyes narrowed at the ntion of his father and his real na. He looked at the hologram again, watching Jor-El’s spectral form flicker for a heartbeat before vanishing. His voice softened, uncertain. "I’m not saying you made it up, Bruce. It’s just..."
Bruce’s gaze lifted, cutting through the hesitation.
"Just hard to believe?" he finished. "Understandable. But I’ve seen enough evidence to know that your father Jor-El didn’t send random signals into the void. He was hiding a lot of things... one he didn’t trust the Council to approve. One of them happens to be you."
He tapped a control on his gauntlet. A new projection appeared, coordinates, astral charts, encrypted fragnts of a transmission.
"What you need to do," Batman continued, "is find this Kryptonian before Zod does. His na is H’El. And from what your father’s data implies..." his tone lowered andsteady. "he’s the kind of person who could be manipulated or beco sothing worse."
The room stayed silent for a mont.
Then Hal Jordan leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, trying to lighten the gravity. "So let
get this straight, we’ve got a new Kryptonian on the board, a guy nad ’Hell’, and Zod’s on a cosmic scavenger hunt? Fantastic."
"Sounds like Tuesday," Flash muttered, drumming his fingers against the table. "Except this Tuesday involves potential planet-breaking."
Wonder Woman’s expression was calm, "If this H’El is as powerful as Kal, then Zod finding him first would be disastrous. We’ve don’t want to see what happens when Kryptonian strength serves a corrupted purpose." Her eyes flicked to Clark, filled with concern.
Superman exhaled slowly, frustration dimming into reflection. "I can’t just fly blind into space. If he’s been out there this long, he’s not going to be easy to find."
Batman’s voice cut in, quiet but absolute. "You won’t have to search. I’ve already found his location. And I’ll continue decoding what’s left of Jor-El’s encryption. There might be more to his ssage than we’ve uncovered."
Clark turned to him, the edge in his tone softened now. "You went through my Kryptonian archives... again."
Bruce’s mouth twitched a hint of that dry, near-invisible smirk. "Let’s just say I’m good at finding things I’m not supposed to."
Flash leaned toward Hal and muttered under his breath, "Translation: Batman broke into the Kryptonian equivalent of God’s Dropbox."
Hal groaned. "And we’re still trusting him with space tech."
Clark ignored the jokes, eyes still on Bruce. "if H’El’s really out there... then we’re running out of ti, I should go."
Batman nodded once. "You should." His gaze flicked to the screen, "this won’t just be another invasion. It’ll be a war of ideologies."
The room went still again. The Earth turned silently below.
Finally, Wonder Woman stood. "Then we prepare while Clark goes to look for him." she said firmly. "If Zod intends to invade... we will et him with everything we have."
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If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
&
If you wish to read more or simply support
than check out my patreon at
"spatreon/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want
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