A/N: As I said, updates are slow, but here's chapter 5, the next chapter will be in two weeks and, after that, I've no idea, probably a month or maybe even two, this isn't my priority.
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Danny descended from orbit over the Southern Ocean, his escape rocket still held above his shoulders and the Fortress sunstone seeming to radiate heat at his waist.
Only now, thousands of miles from the city, did the hate boiling just under his skin start to cool. Oh, it wasn't gone, far from it, but it had gone from an inferno to a cold, painful thing deep within his heart.
He had been too fast with Kaiser… and the rest of the Empire, rage causing him to spend only a few hours instead of days with the ma- no, the vermin.
And yet… perhaps that had been a good thing; Danny didn't want to grow too indulgent, and while Kaiser had earned worse than what happened to him, he also wasn't worth the effort.
The very thought left him divided, on one hand, criminals, particularly the capes, deserved to suffer, to be made an example, to be torn apart for weeks so as to experience every bit of the suffering they caused.
And on the other hand, humans understood examples, but those weren't human; they were insects, parasites, vermin, and one doesn't spend weeks on an insect, just step on it and move on to the next until there are none left.
So, perhaps an hour or two was a good compromise.
Finally, he saw the first signs of Antarctica, the ice-covered polar desert that was the most extreme location on the planet, at least above the ocean level. Danny had briefly considered using the sunstone closer to home at the North Pole, but at his level, such a distance didn't really matter.
Sure, it would increase his flight time by a few minutes, but Antarctica was an actual continent, with a solid foundation beneath the ice. It was also significantly colder, more hostile, without any native population, and harder to reach than the alternative.
In other words, he'd be harder to bother here.
Stopping more or less in the middle of the continent, Danny looked around, making sure there were no research stations anywhere near, then he closed his eyes, letting power gather behind his eyelids, red light almost spilling out from them.
When he had enough, he looked down and released his heat vision with twice the power of an atomic bomb, the resulting blast melting a twelve-foot-radius hole straight down the ice sheet, continuing for about two miles before reaching bedrock.
The underground detonation of compressed water was deafening, the entire ice sheet fracturing around him for five miles, large cracks spreading like a spiderweb all the way around, the entire region shaking and looking like it had been hit by a meteor.
Like a criovolcano, the hole exploded, spilling a mixture of superheated steam and ice chunks at supersonic speeds around him, enough that he had to adjust his grip so his ship didn't fly off.
Danny winced, his mouth pressing into a thin line. Maybe that hadn't been the best idea he ever had, he had expected to just burn a neat hole, exactly like he had seen done in comics, but this was real life, physics and heat expansion were a thing.
The column only lasted a few seconds, but it rose for miles into the air and was probably visible from space… if there were any surviving satellites over the region. Then it rained back down, the deadly ambient temperature quickly freezing the water.
Like hail, the large chunks of ice started falling, hitting the cracked ice sheet and exploding into shards that spread for hundreds of feet, a deadly event that only served to damage the devastated land even more.
Despite everything, Danny knew the damage was only superficial; even this destruction would be inconsequential to the overall health of the continent, quickly healing in a week or three, but it had been impressive.
The dip in his reserves was minimal but noticeable, the effort leaving him slightly winded for the first time since he was a toddler, but it only took a breath or two to recover.
Then he dropped down, the hole already filling with melted water, but quickly freezing over… Well, not that quickly, the water was still hot and would take a few hours to cool even in this temperature, but the edges were already becoming ice.
He'd have to drain the water; at least then the hole would last a month or two.
Reaching bedrock, Danny was in total darkness, the water-filled shaft blocking any sunlight from reaching his location and forcing him to make his eyes glow red with restrained heat to generate light.
He started excavating and compressing the ground, creating space for his fortress to grow beneath the ice. He had considered using the sunstone on the surface, but this would make it even harder to reach, and once grown, the Fortress would have its own energy source, not needing the sun.
After years absorbing sunlight, even if indirectly, the sunstone should have more than enough energy to grow, and Danny could use his heat vision to make up for any lack anyway.
Over an hour, the ground had been compressed, leaving a wide open space under the ice, the water on the shaft having fallen to accumulate on a ten-meter deep pool he had created beside where he rested the ship.
Taking a breath, Danny took the sunstone out of his pocket, fixing the sharper point into the ground and taking a few steps away from the device.
For a moment, a flash of light emanated from the crystal as the sunstone came to life and scanned the area for suitability. Then, the solar energy reserves were activated, drawing on almost two decades of absorbed sunlight to fuel its growth.
It started slowly, several crystals sprouting from the sunstone like leaves, extending into the air before multiplying, translucent spikes digging into the compressed land for support.
After only a moment, it accelerated, sunstone growing faster and faster, going from the size of a person to a house, then further in only a few minutes, covering his ship and the already frozen pool he had created.
Danny started retreating, taking step after step backward as the Fortress rose into the air, tower-like crystals coming into being.
At the size of a large hill, the castle-like structure stopped growing, the spiked, upper crystals digging into the ice sheath on top, and a twenty-foot-tall door with the symbol of his house carved on its surface stood in front of him, the white, crystalline 'S' almost glowing with power.
With his father gone, and the PRT aware of his identity, this would be his new home, at least for today. He'd have to get somewhere in the city for his sister once she woke up, and maybe he'd spend time there, but that's something for later.
Slowly rising in the air, Danny flew closer. The large door released a brief flash of light towards him, then parted in the middle, snapping open in only a second despite its size, with white light coming from the crystals to illuminate the entrance.
For the first time in his life, Danny entered a Kryptonian building, the crystalline surface seeming to shimmer under him as he accelerated towards the center.
The entrance hall was large, at least ten times the size of his old house, with an eighteen-foot-tall statue of a dignified black man embedded on one wall. Stairs rose from both sides of the statue, converging on a single, normal sized door behind the statue's head.
With a flash of light, a hologram of the same man materialized in front of him; he stood with both arms behind his back, had short hair and a beard, and was wearing elegant white robes with the typical 'S' symbol prominent.
Danny landed only a few feet in front of the man, a strange feeling in his chest. In truth, being reincarnated, he didn't really know how to react.
In his previous life, he had been human, and he hadn't even known Krypton in this one, so, while intellectual, he knew he was a Kryptonian; he never felt any particular attachments to his home planet.
"Welcome, Kal-El, my son," the man said, his strong voice almost emotionless, but Danny's kryptonian senses could catch the hint of pleasure. "It is good to finally see you."
"Jor-El," Danny whispered, seeing his birth father for the first time in his life, the conflicting feeling in his chest growing stronger.
He… had grown to despise his birth parents during his first life, and it had been a struggle to form any attachment to the Heberts in this one, but he had eventually grown to see them as his true family.
Now, he was meeting yet a third father, and he had no idea what to feel about it, which set of experiences to judge him by, what to expect.
The hologram's eyes seemed to flash briefly, too fast for any human to catch, then it refocused on him. "I had hoped to meet you earlier, perhaps when you were still a child, but I am glad to see my absence did not hamper your development, and your adopted family was acceptable."
"You were watching me?"
"No, like the Fortress, I was inactive until a few minutes ago, but it is trivially easy to acquire information on this planet, and your mobile communication device provided a good starting point. May I approach you?"
Danny nodded, and the hologram seemed to take a few steps towards him, hand leaving his back for the first time to almost touch his face. Jor-El was smaller than him by only an inch or two, but Danny was still growing, and he could definitely see the resemblance between them.
"You have grown well. I can not help but wish I could have seen it myself. Your mother would have also loved to see you," the hologram said after a few seconds, stepping back and seeming to take a breath. "But indeed, it was wise to keep the Fortress contained until now. Come, we have much to discuss."
Jor-El's hologram started walking, and Danny followed after him, his mind working at full power to take in the situation. "What exactly are you?"
"I am an AI, an artificial consciousness containing a copy of Jor-El's mind at the time of my creation to act as a guide for you, and as a repository of Kryptonian knowledge after its destruction."
"So you know everything he did?"
"No, there was much of my original's classified work which was protected, neural devices preventing it from being copied; however, I assure you, everything related to his family and feelings had no such protection.
"Despite my lack of participation, know that I, and as a result, your original father, feel pride at the way you developed. It is a… unique experience, and better than anything Jor-El had felt before. I also know your mother would have loved to see you."
They continued walking through the crystal hallway, then out into another, smaller room, where a circular device was embedded into the floor.
Danny felt another spike of pain running through his heart, the loss of his adopted father hitting him harder than ever. Deep down, he knew Senior would have done the same thing he did… if he had the same powers.
However, he also knew Senior would regret it later. Daniel Hebert Senior didn't like having an aggressive temperament; it was something he always felt ashamed of, apologizing after calming down, even when he knew he was in the right.
Danny Hebert Junior felt no such thing, even now, when he was fully himself again, he didn't feel ashamed of torturing Kaiser, quite the contrary, his only regret was not doing so earlier.
"Even after what I've done?" Danny asked. "Would Jor-El still feel pride now?"
"Jor-El was not a particularly aggressive kryptonian in life, and I can not say I approve of torture, but I understand your actions, and they do not change anything about my feelings… From the information I have, I do not think they'd change your adopted father either."
From anyone else, Danny would have considered the words a comforting lie, but he didn't think his birth father's AI was capable of that, or at least he didn't think it would cross his mind to do so.
It helped make him feel better, if only slightly.
In the center of the room, the circular device seemed to come to life, displaying a holographic image of the house El symbol, along with a wealth of information that Danny couldn't immediately understand.
"Was Krypton really destroyed?" He couldn't help asking. Everything he knew pointed to yes, and the little information on his ship said so, but this dimension was different enough that he was curious.
"Indeed, the destabilization of Krypton's core resulted in the ultimate destruction of the planet, but I do not know the full reason, that was part of Jor-El's work and protected from replication."
"Why have you brought me here?"
Jor-El waved an arm, and the holographic display shifted, the symbol giving way to a large structure, almost like a digital representation of a hypercube, only vastly more complicated, composed of millions of small, crystalline structures.
Then it shifted again, an old picture of Scion appearing in front of the structure.
"As I said, it was wise not to activate the Fortress until now; it should have prevented our discovery for quite some time. Earth was not Jor-El's first choice of destination for your escape pod; that was a much safer planet thirty-seven sectors from here, but he had programmed a vast array of contingencies, and some of those must have activated during transportation."
"Earth was the second choice?"
"Twelfth, there were better planets for your initial development, but Earth was an acceptable alternative, and relatively safe compared to the remaining eighteen targets.
"Currently, the planet is being parasitized by a multidimensional entity, although the infection is still in its early stages. The parasite's reproduction cycle should last at least another hundred earthly years, but the Fortress' activation could have drawn the hive-mind's attention."
For a second, Danny just took the words in. Jor-El had known about Scion; he had known and still sent him into the planet… no, that's right, it hadn't been the first choice, there were eleven other planets he could have ended up in.
And if he were sent to any one of those, he wouldn't have met his family.
Despite everything that happened, despite how much he hates villains, and despite how much he was still hurting, Danny just couldn't regret meeting the Heberts.
"How can I deal with Scion?" he asked the hologram. "If Jor-El thought Earth was better than at least eighteen other planets, how was he planning to deal with the entities?"
"The native population of Earth was deemed to present a minimal threat, and considering the parasite's long reproduction cycle, there is more than enough time for you to develop and leave the planet before its destruction. There is no need to deal with the creature.
"In the worst case, if you are noticed, the parasite's nature indicates it would proceed to study, not eliminate you, giving you more than enough time to escape. The lack of growth in your brain indicates it has not done so."
"Jor-El planned to just… abandon Earth?"
For a moment, Jor-El's AI just stared at Danny's eyes, seeming to think about his tone with care, and Danny swore he was trying to hold back a sigh.
"I am not unsympathetic to the planet's plight, but Krypton's situation did not allow me much room to act, and your well-being was always my priority. Am I to understand you will not accept simply leaving?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Yes, were you still a child, that would not be the case, but while some functions are still locked until you reach the age of majority, your choices have become my priority since you reached fourteen."
For a second, it was tempting to just… take Taylor away and let the planet be damned, if Krypton was a thing, and Earth had been a distant option, it meant there were at least a dozen habitable planets he could reach.
All the villains, all the criminals, the authorities that did nothing, the hypocritical heroes… let them all die at Scion's hand.
But he couldn't, not everyone deserved it, even among the heroes, there were those that were actually trying, and then there were the civilians, children, innocents.
And, most importantly, running away, not personally dealing with those villains, giving them free rain of Earth until Scion destroyed everything… The very thought left a bad taste in his mouth.
"That's not an option," Danny almost growled. "I won't abandon my family, and I can't just… let it destroy everything, or let those vermin run free until it does."
Jor-El nodded, and there was a hint of a smile on his face. "Very well, our energy generation is currently working towards growing the Fortress and finishing powering up all functionalities. With your permission, I will divert it to prioritize the Fortress's stealth features.
"Once that is done, we should be able to mask the development of weapons capable of directly affecting the entity… I would still counsel constructing an escape ship as a safety measure, and it may also be used to contact a member of the Green Lantern Corps; their assistance would be invaluable when confronting the parasite."
Danny's eyes widened in surprise, not only at Jor-El's quick agreement, but also that the Green Lanterns existed here; Earth didn't have any metahumans, but what else could exist out there?
Then he considered the AI's words. "You said we have time… what if we didn't? How many years do we need?"
Danny was already planning to kill the Slaughterhouse; he had been planning to deal with them for years now, so Jack Slash wouldn't be talking Scion into a rampage, but he doubted the Warrior Entity would last a hundred years before snapping.
Jor-El seemed to understand there was something more to his question, the hologram's eyes briefly flashing. "Krypton had not dealt with this particular parasite before our self-imposed exile, but I believe five years would be enough to adapt something, ten to be absolutely safe."
"Do it," he ordered, then thought about something else. "Also, can you keep an eye on my sister from here?"
"Yes, I took the liberty of starting to monitor Taylor Hebert as soon as I learned of her. She is currently being watched by the local PRT, although there is no monitoring device directly watching her."
For the next three hours, Danny just… spoke with the AI, learning more about his home planet, his birth parents, and the full capabilities of the Fortress.
He also talked with Jor-El about the way to deal with the rest of the Villains in Brockton Bay. His birth Father didn't completely approve of his plans, but he seemed to know Danny wouldn't change his mind, and decided to help as best as he could.
Or perhaps that was just how the AI was programmed, while the hologram had a copy of Jor-El's mind, Danny learned it was not a completely sentient individual, and it wasn't independent, bound to obey him if he pressed.
In a way, that made things easier. Danny didn't know if he could accept another parent with any say over his life choices, but what little he learned made him wish he could have met the real thing.
Finally, he was shown a place where he could rest. With his body, he didn't really need to sleep for a few days, but everything that had happened had taken a mental toll, and now that he had a safe place, he felt like a few hours of rest would be good.
Entering the room, the bare walls and bed were the first thing that drew his attention; years of memories had been stored in his small bedroom in Brockton Bay, from the books his mother had read to him when he was only a toddler, to the pictures, and even the giant stuffed duck he had won for Taylor in a fair, only for it to eventually end up on top of his bed because he liked it more.
Lying down, Danny just stared at the empty ceiling, his hands closing into fists. Tomorrow, he was going back into the Bay; he was going to personally visit his sister, and then he'd continue cleaning up his city, and so help any that stood in his way.
After that… after that, there would be time to deal with Scion.
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