— — — — — —
"Zod?" Jor-El frowned. "Wow… haven't heard that name in ages. Where did you even hear about him? And why are you asking now? Don't tell me they escaped or something."
He looked serious now. "They were sentenced to 200 years of exile. There's no way that much time has passed yet."
And to think… Zod and his crew had actually lucked out and avoided Krypton's destruction.
"Yeah, well… things didn't go as planned," Renzo said with a shrug. "They've escaped. And they know Clark is on Earth. He's on his way here now with a fleet. And you know how he is—he's definitely not coming with peaceful intentions."
"For the Kryptonian Codex… and Earth, right?"
Jor-El immediately cut to the heart of it.
"Exactly." Renzo nodded. "He's after the Codex in Clark's brain. And he plans to terraform Earth into a new Krypton. So yeah—we're enemies now. And a fight is definitely coming. I need intel."
Not that he couldn't handle it without intel—but better safe than sorry.
Who knew what kind of weapons Zod might be hiding?
"Still the same bastard as always…" Jor-El shook his head. "That sounds exactly like something he'd do."
"And if he really wants to rebuild Krypton, he'll need more than just a suitable planet. He'll need the genetic data backup stored in the Codex."
Then, suddenly, Jor-El gave Renzo a strange look. "But wait… you said he's after the Codex in Clark's mind. But you also have it."
Renzo smiled and spread his hands. "Zod doesn't know that I exist. Or that I have it. Honestly, he probably has no clue I'm even involved."
Jor-El: "...Fair enough."
He couldn't argue with that. It made sense.
"Alright then," Jor-El finally said with a sigh. "I'll tell you everything I know about him. Just make sure you both work together and stop Zod."
And with that, he began explaining everything he knew about General Zod and the fleet.
Renzo and Clark listened intently, nodding now and then.
It took them over half an hour to finish.
---
"This guy… really isn't a good person."
Clark frowned, deep in thought.
Honestly, just the fact that Zod had killed his parents was more than enough reason to hate him.
But after hearing from his father about all the awful things Zod had done in the past? Clark's impression of him had plummeted even further.
Now he fully believed what Renzo had said earlier—if Zod made it to Earth, he'd absolutely try to terraform it.
That was just the kind of person Zod was.
"As long as you understand that," Renzo said seriously. "So, once he gets close to Earth, we take him out—fast. Don't hold back. And don't give him time to absorb the sun's energy. We can't afford to let things spiral out of control or risk innocent people getting hurt."
He had no interest in watching some re-run of Superman & Batman duking it out like in the movies.
Not that he was afraid of Zod—far from it. He just hated unnecessary drama.
Especially when it involved Batman.
In Renzo's opinion, Batman was a walking headache. Gotham turning into a hellhole? Yeah, he blamed Batman for at least half of that.
All that 'we don't kill' crap? Totally delusional.
For the truly evil ones, what's the point of letting them live? Just so they can break out again and hurt even more innocent people?
That kind of misguided mercy was why villains in Gotham had zero fear. They knew they wouldn't die no matter what they did.
Extreme ideals always end up being dangerous.
"Uh… do we really need to go that far?" Clark asked, hesitating. "Can't we just defeat him and send him away? Out of Earth, maybe even out of the solar system?"
"After all, he's Kryptonian too, right? There aren't many of us left. Wouldn't it be better if there were more?"
Maybe… just maybe, one day Kryptonians could rebuild their race. And who knows? If they could convince Zod and his followers to become heroes, they might actually help protect Earth.
Clark wasn't wrong—Renzo was lazy about this sort of thing. Unless something ticked him off or seriously crossed the line, he usually couldn't be bothered. And when he did step in, his methods tended to be... intense.
"You're way too naive," Renzo muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
What is this, a saint audition?
If Clark wouldn't handle Zod, Renzo sure as hell would.
"Seriously, Clark, wake up! Zod's not someone you can reason with!" Jor-El said, sounding just as exasperated. "Do you think they locked him in the Phantom Zone for fun?"
"He's a hardcore militant. A total extremist. There's no way he's going to coexist peacefully with anyone—especially not Earthlings. You can't talk him down. Trust me on this. You either destroy him with Renzo's help or seal him away permanently. No other way."
Jor-El paused for a second, then looked at Renzo.
"As for the rest of the Kryptonians in his crew… you might be able to win them over. Clark probably doesn't have the edge for that. But you? You've got the presence and the leadership skills to pull it off."
Clark: "..."
Getting dismissed by your own dad kinda stings...
"You didn't need to say it—I was already planning on doing exactly that," Renzo said with a nod.
As long as Zod was taken out, Renzo was confident he could handle the rest of the Kryptonians.
After that, he downloaded a full backup of Kryptonian tech from Jor-El, including all the data from the ship itself.
Then he and Clark—who also got a copy of Jor-El's memory core—left the icy cavern together.
"Let's seal this place up," Renzo muttered as he glanced at the cave entrance. "Wouldn't want someone stumbling in here by accident."
With a light stomp of his foot, frigid energy surged out beneath him. In seconds, thick sheets of reinforced ice began spreading rapidly, sealing off the entire cave—including the inner chambers.
Anyone wanting to get back in would have to dig through dozens of meters of ice. And not just any ice—Renzo had strengthened it.
"Smart move," Clark said with a smile.
The two boarded their ship again and spent the next thirty minutes flying back to Clark's house.
...
A few days later
At Clark's home, in the underground base…
Renzo suddenly looked up from the spacecraft he was assembling. His gaze pierced through the building and into space as he locked onto several warships entering the solar system.
"They're finally here. Time to deal with them."
He stood up, eyes sharp.
"Diana!" he called out as he flashed into the villa. "The Kryptonians I told you about—they've arrived. I'm heading out to meet them. Won't take long. You stay here."
"Alright. Be careful. Come back soon," Diana said as she hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"No worries. They're not that tough. It'll be fine."
With that, Renzo vanished from the living room and shot straight into the sky.
Whoosh!
Moments later, he was standing mid-air in the vast emptiness of outer space. Clark arrived soon after, floating beside him.
They both stared at the approaching Kryptonian fleet, moving fast toward Earth. Clark frowned.
"That's Zod's fleet, huh? Should we wait for them to come to us?"
"Nope," Renzo said flatly. "We go to them. Last thing we need is to scare the people on Earth—or give any of the local schemers some stupid ideas."
"Yeah," Clark thought, "there's definitely no shortage of power-hungry maniacs down there."
"Let's move!"
With a burst of speed, Renzo launched himself toward the fleet. Clark nodded and flew after him without hesitation.
.
.
.