2012-06-21 Enter Lor-Zod

It's early evening, just before sundown. The park running trails have their usual regulars, including one Lois Lane in her underarmor brand dry-fit workout clothes. iPhone hooked to the waistband of her booty shorts (worn over tights), the white cord runs to her ears, blasting the i<3radio app's 80s rock station as she too runs through the scenic trails. What a pleasant end to a rather uneventful day. What could go wrong?

In a downright strange echo of events from last week, a bright pinpoint of light flashes against the evening sky, and a projectile begins to penetrate the atmosphere. The object, at first vaguely shaped like a crystal-spike-encrusted sphere, begins to burn up as it approaches. Soon, it looks more like a smoldering meteor as it plummets toward the park, below.

High overheard, Supergirl is flying alongside her cousin, learning patrol routes and the neighborhoods of Metropolis. She's been getting more and more known in the city, having engaged in stopping supervillains and gang activity. And the more she sees action as a heroine, fullfilling her childhood fantasies of being like the legendary heroine Flamebird, the more Kara knows that despite all that's happened to her, this is the life she was meant to live. And it's a good life.

The approach of the meteor catches Kara's attention and she point it out to Kal. "Looks like trouble..." She smiles and winks. "Race ya!" And without a further word, she shoots off towards the object falling in the sky.

Superman exhales as Supergirl speeds away from him. Rather than shooting off towards objects falling in the sky, Superman has learned over the past few years to be wary of tricks. Instead, he uses his X-ray and Telescopic vision to get information about the falling object. He follows along, but more slowly, clearly not racing. He can get there in plenty of time if he needs to.

Oblivious to the falling object, Lois continues jogging, pony tail bouncing behind her. It's when the few people on the trail near her, having spotted the falling object, break and run for it that the reporter slows to a stop and looks around. What in the world? Standing still, she pulls out an earbud, "Hysteria" clearly audible to the supercousins flying over head, and looks around twice before tilting her head back and looking up.

The "meteorite," viewed closely under enhanced vision, clearly resembles some sort of construct. In fact, it rather resembles the configuration of a small Kryptonian craft -- perhaps eerily familiar to Superman, in fact. It's also headed right in Lois's general direction, perhaps not going to hit her directly -- but it's certainly getting too close for comfort.

As Kara approaches the object, she notices the design. She pauses in mid-flight, sharply inhaling and her heart beating faster. Another survivor? Who could it be? Her mind runs rampant over the possibilities, even daring to dream that it may be her parents, or Kal's.

While Kara daydreams, Superman moves into action. Careful to preserve whatever is inside, he attempts to slow the unidentified falling object at pace that prevents it from crunching into the ground, but not so quickly to smoosh the innards of the inside. Of course, if there is someone alive in there, it is likely they wouldn't be hurt. Lois? That's another matter.

It's a meteor! Lois's eyes widen faintly. Unlike the REST of the park's visitors, Ms. Lane stands there watching the falling object coming closer and closer and... oh! Superman! Lois's mouth opens in a faint smile at the sight, and stays there for a good three seconds before the smile the fades into concern. Her hands come up to pat her hips then her chest. DAMMIT! She's not packing her pen or notepa- Her iPhone! Lois' smile returns and she yanks the phone out of its holder.

The craft is quite hot to the touch, though certainly not so hot as to trouble Superman, and it is fairly easy for the Man of Steel to catch it and slow its descent. Soon enough, it looks like Superman's just holding up a large, round piece of space debris unless one is especially familiar with such an object.

Supergirl blushes scarlet as she shakes herself from her reverie; she almost let this ship crash into a city! Flying after Superman, she mutters "Sorry" and looks like a child that got caught snatching sweets. She looks around nervously, switching to Kryptonian. "Kal, this could be another survivor! What are you going to do? This is a city, not a farm; people will have seen this. We can't keep hiding the truth when it drops right into a major city..."* She's whispering, but her cousin can hear it clear as day. To Lois, Kara just smies. "Btter keep back, Ms. Lane. We don't know how dangerous this could be."

Superman turns to look at Supergirl as she gets nervous. "Keep calm, Supergirl. It'll be okay." He inspects it in greater detail as he brings it down softly to the ground. "It's similar design to the others, Kara....but...." He pauses, looking at it in more detail. "It isn't made with any elements found on Krypton. Whoever this is, they must have escaped Krypton too somehow." Letting it down upon the ground, he purses his lips in consideration. Finally he reaches into the side and tears the top open.

Lois queues up the camera app on her iPhone, lips parting in wonder as she watches that superhuman show of strength and restraint. It never fails to make Lois' knees slightly weak. "Keep back? Are you kidding me? This is amazing! Your cousin just caught a meteor, with his bare hands, and I've got front rows seats," she says just before Kal 'backs her up' with his comment to Supergirl. Lois gives Kara a smug little smirk before moving over to start video recording. This is going to eat her cell-battery so hard! But it's going to be SO WORTH IT! She lifts her phone to get the meteor in frame when Kal rips it open with his bare hands. She can't quite restrain the heady blush flodding to her cheeks as a not-so-squeaky-clean thought drifts past her mind, setting her eyes roving toward the Man of Steel...

Superman finds the craft rather more fragile than a traditional Kryptonian one -- the materials really don't seem to be of the same kind of density. The top peels easily away, and then a burst of vapor hisses out from within. As that clears, a form shifts inside, and then a figure emerges: a slight form, a flash of tawny blond hair, and then what appears to be a teenage young man emerges, climbing into the light and blinking. He's dressed in a red, black, and white Kryptonian utility suit, and a house sigil is displayed very prominently on his chest. He stares up at Superman, then speaks in a language most on Earth have never heard: "He speaks in Kryptonian."

Supergirl moves forward to look at the occupant. She can barely contain her excitement; another survivor! SHe sees the face of the boy, dressed in something like a Kryptonian suit...

And then he straightens up. And his House sigil is displayed. And Kara's heart drops and her blood grows cold....

Supergirl visibly tenses up. She trembling, shaking, and her normally pleasant features are twisted into an almost unimaginable rage. "MURDERER!!!!", she screams out and tries to charge at the boy, fists balled up and ready to strike!

"Supergirl, No!" Superman dives between the pair, holding his back up to her and willing to take the strike right in the back if need be. His mind begins racing trying to come up with ideas on how to keep the peace and how to sell this as a non-interstellar visit from alien kind to Lois.

In a heartbeat, Lois' eyes drift to the capsule, surprised to see someone within. So young.... A symbol? Like Superman's but not.. Lane tilts her head, eyes coming up from the screen to peer with her own eyes at the boy and his ....spacecraft? Violet eyes widen.

And then Supergirl screams in that same, otherworldly language.... and dives the Visitor. Lois gasps, watching Superman fling himself between the youths, also using that odd language. She does, indeed, take a half step back now, wondering what is going on, and finally settling on a sheepish sort of, "Welcome to Earth?" Because she saw that movie, and that's how to greet things that fall out of the sky mysteriously. Let's just hope this isn't the variety that after the line is delivered starts attacking random civilians.... cause Lois is the only civilian left right now. -gulp-

The boy from the ship stumbles backward in surprise at Supergirl's reaction, falling to land sprawled on his backside atop he ship while staring at the two similarly-clad heroes. He's raised a hand defensively, and a look of real surprise tinged with fear shows on his face for a moment. It fades to a more neutral expression when Superman leaps to his defense, and his brow furrows a bit with what might be frustration. "Please tell your kinswoman to restrain herself. Her facts are clearly in error. I have never murdered anyone."

As for Lois, she gets a puzzled glance, but he does not yet speak to her.

Kara strains against her cousin, trying to break free and get to the boy. "You don't know!" She's screaming at Kal, tears streaming down her face. "He's of the House of Zod! Zod dstroyed Krypton! IT'S DRU-ZOD'S FAULT OUR FAMILY IS DEAD!" She fires off a blast of heat vision, missing the boy becasue of her struggles.

"Kara!" Superman attempts to grasp Supergirl as she pulls free and attempts to throw off to the side, but she gets away from him. "He's just a boy. His ship isn't /from/ Krypton. Pull yourself together!" Instead, he pushes out a quick blast of superbreath trying to put some distance in between the Kryptonian males and the young alien who is losing her mind.

Lois lowers her iPhone and clicks the screen to stop the recording as Kara tries to kill Lor with a hot glare. This is NOT something she'd like to see get out on the news... Lois's mind is already seeing the ramifications of someone like Godfrey getting his dirty mouth on this kind of information, Supergirl on a Rampage. And yet, there's that real fear of it, knowing that all this time, Superman is capable of losing control, just like that, and if that happened where would the world be? So, Lois does the only thing a sensible reporter in her position can do: she rushes TOWARD the fight. Around the ship, toward Lor, and reaching up to grab at his wrist. "Come on, E.T. Let's give the power twins a chance to slug this out," she quips to him. "Superman'll do something....something," she adds, not sure what the Man of Steel could or SHOULD do to keep his cousin from facing-eating the poor chap.

Lor-Zod feels Lois's pull on his wrist, and for a moment he's quite immovable, but then he sees the sense in it and lets her lead him from the ship. He slides to the ground and follows the reporter speaking the strange language away from Superman and Supergirl. He calls back at them over his shoulder, "Stupid girl! Dru-Zod tried to SAVE Krypton, and they exiled him to the Phantom Zone for it! How could he destroy the planet when he was imprisoned?"

"LIAR!" Supergirl is sobbing as she stops fighting her cousin and collapses in the support of his arms. "Krypton had years before the destruction Jor-El predicted! Zod used weapons of mass destruction! His war lasted 2 months, but becasue of the weapons he used, Krypton had a matter of weeks left when he was exiled!" She looks up at her cousin, her voice raw from shouting and crying. "That's why it's just us. There wasn't enough time left. Our fathers were still working with prototypes when time ran out. If it weren't for Zod's actions...our parents could be here with us. Maybe others. It wouldn't be just the two of us." She turns back toward the boy, hatred flashing in her eyes. "Zod destroyed the last chance our family....*any* family had." She says the name 'Zod' like a curse.

"This isn't Dru-Zod, Kara." Superman doesn't back down and folds his arms over his chest. While Kal El didn't experience what Kara did, he knows enough Kryptonian history to know the particulars. And he also knows enough to realize that Lor didn't attack them, though would also have reason to be angry. "You need to calm down. This sort of reaction has many unforseen effects. You need to get control of yourself." Perhaps bringing her to Metropolis was a poor idea. Smallville. The Fotress. New dwellings are entering his thoughts as Lor and Lois skeeter away.

Some expressions transcend language. The sound of Kara's sobbing voice slows Lois's steps, causing the reporter to look over her shoulder at the cousins floating in the air. She spots that angry glare at Lor. If Superman folding his arms over his chest is daunting to some, what would it be coming from the human, Lois Lane? She turns to face the El's, folding those arms, and putting her back to Lor. A defiant stare, phone in hand, Lois stares Supergirl down, all but daring her: Go ahead. Continue your epic, super powered, alien rampage. It'll get front page attention, make no mistake of that. It's not even seven yet, giving this typist a full four hours before deadline to make the morning edition, and she has Perry on speed dial. "Stay behind me, kid," she says to Lor behind her. Any minute now, his Star-Trek inspired Universal Translator'll kick in and she'll stop being left out of the loop.

The youth glares at Supergirl, then he plainly disregards (or fails to understand) Lois's instructions, instead moving a bit to put himself in front of the reporter. " I'm NOT Dru-Zod, Stupid Girl! I never even SAW Krypton! If I were my father, I'd never allow you to speak to me so INSOLENTLY." His tone and manner betray overt anger and frustration very clearly, alien language or no.

Dru-Zod's son. Meaning his mother is probably Ursa. And her cousin is defending the offspring of two such...monsters. It's more than she can bear, frankly. She looks at Kal with sadness and confusion....

And Supergirl shoots up into the sky. Once she's outside the danger range, she goes hypersonic, then suborbital. In a matter of seconds, she's gone.

With a perturbed exhale, Superman turns to face Lor, "There is a lot to go over, for certain. Though our families were at war elswhere, I would hope cooler heads will prevail. Please pardon my cousin, she has a lot of growing up to do. I am Kal-El. My father was Jor-El, who died when Krypton exploded."

Annoyed, Lois started to move to step forward, to once again put herself between Lor and Kara, but then Supergirl goes orbital. She stands there, hands falling to her sides, violet eyes watching the two men left talking to each other, waiting for them to switch to English. A full three seconds after Kal speaks (it's a RECORD!), Lois quirks a brow and stares right at Kal. She folds her arms over her chest again, head tilting at him with a 'care to talk now?' look to her pursed lips.

The young scion of House Zod stares after the departing Supergirl, and then he turns and nods slowly, warily to Superman. " I'm not here to keep fighting Krypton's wars. Or my father's. My mission is just to see if I can find any other surviving Kryptonians. My ship tracked another ship coming to this world, and so I followed it here." He glances back over to the damaged, crashed ship. "Unfortunately, I'm not a highly skilled pilot. I did not intend to damage the nature preserve."

Superman looks to Lois and shakes his head slowly, "I'm sorry, Lois. This young man is not ready to make any comments regarding his voyage here..." His eyes move towards Lor..."In this intercontinental craft." Are there moments where Superman would lie? Take a picture, you just saw one. "Well, you found the ship you were following," Superman motions towards the area that Kara just vacated. " I think it is best if we go somewhere and speak. We have a lot to discuss."

The pursed lip expression slides into a cold mask of... what? "Inter...continental? Riiight. And I'm a Disney Princess," she retorts. Turning to face Lor, Lois says to the boy, "Good luck, Star Child. Looks like you caught Superman on a bad day." She shifts her now glary eyes at Superman, adding as if still talking to Lor, "Never known Mr. Squeaky Clean to lie to my face before." With that, she turns on her heel, pony tail whipping behind her, and starts toward home. "You're going to fess up, Superman. And you're going to make it worth it," she states as she goes, not turning to talk over her shoulder. Does she need to, given the angry set to her shoulders? "Because you're not going to like it if you don't," she adds, the fuming anger masking that little girl heartache of one's hero, the light of their life, suddenly found fallible. Perfection has been shattered. The world might suddenly start spinning backwards. Oh! If only it would! If only that could reverse time so Lois could have just walked AWAY with Lor rather than stand there and be LIED TO by Superman.