SUPERMAN: LOST SON #1 (OF 3)

Superman fell, spinning though space. Explosions buffeted him on all sides, making it almost impossible for him to orient himself. His enemy did not relent, hurling bolt after bolt at the Man of Steel; he'd already destroyed the moon on which Superman had taken refuge, smashing it into rocky debris.

*Brainiac, deploy forcefield, maximum dispersal!* Superman sent to his erstwhile ally. Against the backdrop of stars and deep, unrelieved night, Superman spotted the skull-shaped craft of the Coluan Collector of Worlds, gleaming with a pulsing multitude of lights. The craft was taking heavy fire; it was damaged and shuddered with explosions rocking it from the inside, but it kept coming on, it's own power-beams lancing into the darkness.

*Negative, Kal-El. All forcefields inoperable. All remaining power redirecting to weapons array.* The cold, alien voice reverberated in Superman's head as the gleaming ganglia of the craft passed over him, heading straight towards their foe.

A big chunk of the destroyed moon careened close to him, and Superman used it to right himself. Clambering to his feet on the rock, he watched as Brainiac's ship hurtled into the teeth of the bristling web of defensive satellites that protected the ancient world below them: Orinda, a secret and hidden world, spoken of only in whispers in the darkest corners of the universe. It was, at long last, the end of Superman's long quest, the lair of his most persistent, most implacable, and deadliest foe. A foe who harnessed fearsome and appalling dangers, and directed them at Earth, like a diabolical conductor of an apocalyptical orchestra. Superman knew if he couldn't break through these planetary defenses somehow, his adopted world would be doomed.

Come on, come on... he urged Brainiac from his vantage on the rock. Light from the nearby yellow sun glinted off the plain and pure surface of his white costume, recognizable only by the red 'S' on his chest and the cape that hung from his shoulders. Ten years of constant searching for this place, and a ten year running battle with his foe had distilled the Man of Steel into his simplest and purest essence. His hair was long and floated about his shoulders, and his beard was thick, giving him the look of a prophet too long in the wilderness and still so far from the Promised Land.

Orinda's planetary defenses were proving too much for Brainiac's ship. The cranial reflectors were scored by fire and leaking ionized particles, and parts of the ship were flying off under the incessant barrage.

* Core systems overloading.* Came the dispassionate voice of Brainiac. *Complete shutdown imminent. Initiating self-destruc---*

The ship exploded, causing Superman to shield his eyes. Just like that, the last vestige of the Computer Tyrant of Colu was gone. But Brainiac had not been destroyed in vain, nor could Superman spare a moment to consider it, for when he could see again, a faint spark of hope flared within him. The destruction of the skull-ship had taken out a node of Orinda's defensive web in a chain-reaction of explosions that exposed a small corridor.

Spidery drones were already scuttling in to repair the damage, but the Man of Steel wasted no time. He kicked off from the space-rock and shot towards the opening in the web. Beams of lethal energy sizzled by him, but he banked and corkscrewed, making for the opening with every ounce of speed he had left.

He shot through the gap, a streak of silver and red, just as the web was made whole behind him. Deep, sonorous laughter echoed in his head.

*You are too late, Kryptonian,* Superman heard the sepulchral voice of his enemy reaching out from his lair on the planet below to taunt him. *The Earth is doomed, and now you have sealed your own fate. Come to me, and we will put an end to this at last. Extinction awaits you below."

After ten years of pursuing this foe, ten years of battling back wave after wave of assaults on the Earth, each successively more deadly than the last, Superman knew well that this was no bluff. The last, fatal gambit was in play, and it was win or die--- with everything he loved at stake.

*Hit me with your best shot.* He spat back at his foe, and gritting his teeth, he shot over the arc of the planet and threw himself into the final round of his never-ending battle.




Superman stood outside the smoking ruins of his Fortress of Solitude, a chill arctic wind causing his cape to billow out behind him. He held Lois Lane close to him, shielding her from the cold, but she looked up at him with tears of joy and relief in her eyes.

“Is it finally over? Is Zod defeated?”

Fighter jets soared overhead, hovertanks rumbled in the background, and infantry troops conducted mop-up operations, but the fighting was all but over. Newly-minted General Steve Trevor of the USAF was overseeing the surrender of the Galactic Emperor’s elite strike force, assisted by Supergirl and Superboy.

“The only empire Zod* rules now is in the Phantom Zone,” he told her, pulling her closer. “Faora got away, along with their son, but there’ll be no refuge for them. The worlds under Zod’s control are in full revolt, especially after his defeat was broadcast across the galaxy. It’s over, Lois.”


But not without a price. Countless lives had been ruined across the universe by the renegade Kryptonian’s reign of terror, and in the end, Superman had lured him to ultimate defeat at his Fortress of Solitude, the last true bastion of Krypton in the universe; the Fortress itself was Zod’s last casualty. It had been all that remained of his birth-world. Crushed and half-buried in the snow and ice was the remains of a statue of his parents, holding aloft a shattered globe of Krypton.

Seeing his stricken look, Lois reached up, took him by the chin, and pulled his gaze back to her. “We’ll rebuild it.” Her smile was balm for his loss. “Even better than before. After all, we’re going to need a place to honeymoon. People like us can’t just go to Niagara Falls…”

Sudden happiness like the dawning of the sun burst within him. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Lois’ mouth quirked and her brow furrowed in mock annoyance. “Don’t be dense, Smallville. I’m locking this down before the next cosmic crisis comes along!” And she reached up on her tip-toes and kissed him.

On the other side of the battlefield, Supergirl righted an overturned hovertank and helped the injured crew-members to safety, but her superhearing had not missed the exchange between her cousin and the woman he loved. Kara Zor-El found that she was able to smile.

“You’re amazing,” Superboy landed on the permafrost next to her. His arm had been hastily dressed in a sling, and was cradled close to his body. “The way you took down Faora… She was Zod’s best fighter, his legendary Tigress…!”

Supergirl shuddered, and wiped fresh blood from the cut on her scalp: the Tigress had been aptly named. The fight had been a near-thing. Faora was a vicious and cunning killer, and the fight with her had brought out a feral side in Kara. Raised on a jungle planet after the destruction of Argo City, she had taught herself to suppress the ferocity she had once needed just to survive. It had served her now, but what made the difference was what Faora didn’t have: the training and compassion Kara had learned from her time on Earth.

Supergirl opened her mouth to respond to Kon-El, but stopped, spotting something in the distance. A flying figure was approaching fast, coming out of the aurora borealis. One last surprise from Zod?

“Kal, incoming…” Kara called out a warning.

Superman looked up from Lois as Kara and Kon came up beside him, ready to resume the battle if necessary.

“Hold on, she’s a friend,” he raised a hand to forestall them and stepped forward.

The woman came in for a landing in front of him, her cape settling around her. A ponytail of vibrant red hair trailed behind her, and the colors of her costume resembled Superman’s own, but the ‘S’ on her chest was imposed over a four-pointed star.

“Supernova,” Superman greeted her, and then frowned: something was wrong. The new arrival wore a blue mask over the top half of her face, but her distress was palpable. “Kristin, what is?”

“You’re alive…?” There was confusion in her voice as she looked around, taking in the site of Emperor Zod’s last stand. “But how can that be? That doesn’t make any sense…” She put her hands to her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

Superman gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m a little worse for wear, but I’m fine. Are you all right? Do you need help?”

A small whimper escaped her.

“Superman, who is she?” Lois stepped up to him, alarmed at the newcomer’s pronouncement.

“Her name is Kristin Wells,” he told Lois, Supergirl, and Superboy, but he didn’t look away from his obviously troubled friend. “She goes by Supernova; she's the one who helped me during the Brainiac War last year.* She’s from the future. The 29th century, to be precise. She came back in time to help me, but she can’t remember why…” Unbidden, a memory came to Superman of his friends from the 31st century, the Legion of Super-Heroes, appearing to him as if in tribute, paying their respects on the eve of his greatest struggles.** Back then, it had felt like a goodbye. But he had just won a decisive victory against his deadliest foe, surely the danger was passed…?



“Traveling through time has consequences,” said the woman who called herself Supernova. “The time-stream protects itself. If you stay in one place too long, it tries to assimilate you, to make you of that time… But sometimes the memories bleed through.” She gnashed her teeth. Superman and his friends watched her, but there seemed to be nothing they could do to help. “And I’m starting to remember why I came back." She looked him full in the face, her eyes wide and panicked. "You're not supposed to be here. History records that after today, Superman is never again seen on Earth!"

Lois sucked in a breath, and Superman felt her grasp on his arm tighten. Supergirl and Superboy exchanged a look of shock and concern. Superman frowned, remembering the Legion's farewell.

"Kristin... are you saying I was supposed to have died in the fight with Zod...?"

Supernova shook her head, her hands gripped into little balls of frustration. "I don't know. It's all just leaking into my consciousness, like a dream I'm struggling to remember. I've been here too long..." She stamped a foot, blew out a breath. "No. Emperor Zod doesn't conquer the Earth. You defeated him. But he was never the greatest threat to you. There is another. He was always there, making his plans, waiting to strike. It all has to do with the Great Disaster..."

"The what?" asked Superman sharply; he didn't like the sound of that. "Who is this other? Is it Darkseid?"

Supernova stared back at him, her eyes imploring as if he had answers for her. "I don't know," she said in a horrified whisper. "I don't know anything for sure, except that just by being here I'm changing the future. Or maybe I was supposed to be the one to warn you about him all along...?" She gave a strangled groan and her knees buckled. She fell to the snow-packed ground, head in hands.

Superman knelt before her, taking her by her trembling shoulders. "Kristin--- Supernova! Warn me about who?"

She shook, as if terrified. The others crowded in around them to hear her response, her voice barely above a moan. "Superman, all I know is he's called the Omega Man, because he means the end of you..." And with that, she slumped forward into his stunned embrace, unconscious.


Hours later, at S.T.A.R. Labs in Metropolis, Superman walked with his old friend Dr. Emil Hamilton. The gray-haired scientist scratched his beard as he scrolled through the readings on his tablet.

"I've never seen anything quite like it, Superman," he mused. "Ms. Wells is absolutely awash in tachyons. It's no wonder she's slipped into a coma; it's her brain's way off defending itself from anti-paradoxical forces."

"Will she be okay, Emil?" Superman had not realized what the young woman had risked coming back in time to warn him of his fate.

Hamilton adjusted his thick glasses, looking at a loss. "There's nothing ailing her physically. As best as I can tell, right now, her brain is fighting to assert her original consciousness. Only time will tell if she can do it. If she wakes up, she'll be fine. Ah, here we are."

They stopped outside the viewing window of what seemed to be a cell, consisting of a bed, a toilet, a chair, and a desk with scattered sheets of paper atop it. Pacing in front of the desk, in a gray jumpsuit, was a bald man, reading from a tablet of his own.

"Good morning, Lex," Hamilton said in a guarded tone.

Lex Luthor did not cease his pacing, didn't even look at his visitors, just held up a preemptory finger as he continued to read from his tablet.

Superman crossed his arms over his chest and didn't rise to the bait.

After a drawn-out moment, Lex looked over at them as if they were an long-expected nuisance, and asked, "Did you know the star Betelgeuse probably exploded today? I say probably, because the S.T.A.R. blog doesn't cite the confirming telemetry from the Rannian relay satellites, yet. I assume they will, though, as David Knight is usually pretty thorough. I follow him regularly. He's slightly less dim than the typical apes you have working around here, Hamilton."

"I hadn't heard. About Betelgeuse, I mean," Hamilton added hastily as Lex sniggered. "But that star is too far from any inhabited systems to pose a threat."

Lex smiled and made a little noise, as if confirming a private thought. "So it doesn't bother you that Betelgeuse had enough nuclear fuel to burn for another million years, or so? Give or take a few hundred thousand?"

Hamilton opened his mouth to retort, but thought better of it. He fumed, and said, "Lex, you enjoy the privilege of residency here rather than at Blackgate because as morally repugnant as you are, you have a brilliant intellect---."

"Morally repugnant?" Lex's eyebrows arched.

"And you have sworn to devote that intellect to helping humanity now," Hamilton's voice rose a little, ignoring Luthor's interruption. "So here's your chance to do some good. Superman has a few questions for you."

Luthor turned to his old archenemy with a gracious expression. "Alright, alien, ask away." He tapped his tablet against his leg.

For a moment, Superman almost changed his mind. Lex Luthor hated him, and the brilliant scientist's grudge against him had many times endangered not just the city, but the world. How could Luthor be trusted? But they stakes were high, and if there was anything as expansive as Lex's intellect, it was his ego: if there was a chance he could prove his superiority, he'd take it. He'd most certainly use this opportunity to his own advantage, though, so Superman reminded himself to be wary.

"Who or what is the Omega Man?"

"Never heard of him." Lex didn't even blink.

"Take a guess, then." Superman shot back.

Luthor sat in the cell's only chair, crossed his legs nonchalantly. "Then give me a context. I'm smart, but I'm not a mind-reader. There's a difference, you know, among humans."

"Lex," Hamilton warned with a low grumble.

But Superman went on, speaking quickly. "Someone--- or something--- with the power and will to kill me. Someone who's always been around. Someone with a reason to want me dead."

Lex snorted, amused. "That does narrow it down," he conceded. "Wants you dead, or wants you out of the way for another purpose altogether?"

"I don't know." Superman admitted. "But whoever he is, he's serious enough of a threat for someone from the future to come back and try to warn me."

"Ah. This tachyon-drenched Supernova, who was just admitted to the hospital wing. Kristin Wells."

Superman looked at Hamilton, who was abashed.

"We give him limited access to our daily logs and interdepartmental memos so he can contribute to various initiatives. He's been surprisingly helpful on a number of projects, as you might well imagine." Hamilton cleared his throat, uncomfortably." But he keeps hacking into classified servers. We can't figure out a way to stop him."

Lex gave them an indulgent smile.

"Yes, Supernova," Superman sighed. "She's in a sort of coma, fighting off the effects of the timestream trying to assimilate her consciousness. Can you help her?"

"Probably." Lex seemed confident. "I'll look into her case."

"She also mentioned something about a Great Disaster..." Superman added as an aside, but the words elicited an unexpected response from Luthor. Though his outward demeanor did not change at all, Luthor's pulse skipped, his respiration quickened, and his dermal temperature spiked. "You've heard the term before." Superman pointed out, surprised.

A bland smile settled on Luthor's face. "Of course. Anyone acquainted with certain obscure esoteric texts written in dead languages has heard it. I think maybe Vandal Savage mentioned it once, too. Or was it Jason Burr? Either way, it's unimportant. Superstitious nonsense. Just as every culture has its creation myths, they also have their foretellings of doom. Armageddon or apocalypse. Or Apokolips, for that matter."

Superman latched onto that. "So you think this is about Darkseid?"

Luthor's shrug was eloquent. "My dealings with the Lord of Apokolips were somewhat limited.* He's certainly demonstrated he can and wants to kill you, Superman. But removing you has always been a means to an end for Darkseid. He wants the Anti-Life Equation. Killing you won't give it to him."


"Then who, Luthor?"

"The number of people with that kind of ingenuity and intent I could count on one hand," Lex blew out a breath, thinking. "Hell, for all you know, I could be this Omega Man."

"Hardly." Superman couldn't resist the jab, his gaze pointedly traveling the small confines of the cell.

Luthor smiled coldly. "Overconfidence, boy scout? That's not like you. This must have you really shaken up."

He had let Luthor get to him. Rolling his eyes, Superman turned away. "I'm sorry, Dr. Hamilton. This was a waste of time."

The gray-haired scientist shot a disappointed look back at Lex, and followed after the Man of Steel. But before they could walk around the corner, Luthor called out: "There isn't anyone on Earth with the means or the raw power to kill you, right now. I would know: I'm sort of an expert on the subject." Luthor seemed to swallow some gall with that pronouncement. "Go look out there. Among the stars. That's where you'll find your Omega Man."

Superman stopped in his tracks. Not turning around, he shot over his shoulder: "You're sure about that?"

Luthor began to casually bounce the foot of his crossed leg, and stifling a yawn, he said, "Call it an educated guess from the smartest person on the planet." And with that, he went back to reading off his tablet.


That night, after he had fallen asleep, Lois got out of bed, wrapped herself in his cape and stepped onto the balcony of her apartment. The night was cool, but warm against her breast was the Kryptonian heartstone he had given her a few hours ago.* The red gem in the gold setting pulsed with his strong, steady vitality, just as its twin on his chest thrummed with hers.

* Note: See the story "World of Tomorrow" from the recent Prelude to Ten Years Later Special for more background on the heartstone.

"This is pretty, but it doesn't let you off the hook for an engagement ring," she quipped as they lay together afterward, her head on his chest.

His chuckle had been low and lighthearted. "I'll bring you back a diamond from the heart of the Crystal Falls of Arctura. You'll have to wear sunglasses just to look at it in the daytime."

She had laughed and ran her fingers over the heartstone on his chest. Several moments went by, and she became thoughtful, watching the gently-fluctuating glow. "Is that really my heartbeat?"

"Yes," he said. "The stones are attuned to us now. No matter where I go, or how far apart we are, our hearts will always be close together."

She had cried a little then, and he held her until she stopped.

"I just wish you didn't have to leave now," she sniffled, wiped her eyes. "After the whole Zod thing. You need a break."

"I'm fine, Lois. And the sooner I face this Omega Man, the better. I don't want a threat like that hanging over our future together."

"But how can you trust Luthor? He's always wanted you out of the picture. What if he's trying to manipulate you?"

"I don't trust him," Superman had admitted. "But that doesn't mean he wasn't telling the truth. Or that he can't use the truth to his own ends. But I think he was right. I think whoever this Omega Man is, he's not from Earth, and I'd rather deal with him far from my home. My biggest fear has always been that an enemy would hurt my loved ones to get to me."

They had been silent for a few moments after that, too many thoughts going unspoken. It was Lois who had finally broken the silence.

"That woman, Supernova... If she's from the future than all of this is just history to her, recorded fact." Her voice had caught, but she had cleared her throat and went on. "She said after today, you are never seen again..." She lifted her head and turned to look at him, tears threatening again.

He had stroked her hair, and told her. "No. It doesn't work like that, Lois. I know, because of the time I spent with the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century. The very act of traveling back in time makes it possible for history to be changed. It's why Supernova is in a coma, the timestream is trying to protect the integrity of its continuity, because her actions have threatened it: she's already changed the future by warning me. And that's all I need to beat this."

He had sounded so confident that her aching heart had started to ease then. Soon after, exhaustion had taken him, and he fell asleep, snoring lightly.

Huh, she thought, unexpectedly amused, Superman snores. She had never loved him more than in that moment.

But she wouldn't sleep, wouldn't waste the opportunity. For hours, she just lay there, listening to his breathing, watching his face, committing every line and curve to memory, from the little divot in his chin, to the stray curl of hair over his brow. It was still many hours before dawn when she sighed and got out of bed.

It was a clear night, but the stars that looked down on her had never looked so aloof, their light so glaring and unfriendly. She hugged the cape closer across her bare shoulders, a breeze stirring her dark hair as she walked to the wall of the balcony. Don't you take him from me, she sent a warning out into the void.

As if keeping watch, she stood on that balcony while he slept, but it wasn't long before she heard him stirring behind her. His arms enveloped her, pulling her back against his chest, his chin on her shoulder. She pressed her cheek to his, and together they looked out into the sky.

"It was on this exact spot that I first told you I loved you," she muttered dreamily. "Do you remember, Smallville? Right before the Evil Factory debacle?"*

* Note: this happened in Adventure Comics Annual #1.

"Of course I do," Superman sighed. "I wish I had been able to tell you then that I loved you from the moment I first saw you, all those years ago."

Sadness and joy suffused her in equal measure. "We have a lot of time to make up for, then." She twisted in his arms until she was facing him, and stretching to her tip toes, gave him a long and lingering kiss.

And she noticed he was in his costume. So soon...

Her eyes swam. She took the cape from her shoulders and fastened it to his. Her hands pressed on the 's' shield, unwilling to let go for the moment.

"Promise you'll come back to me, Clark."

"I promise, Lois. I promise."

There was time for one last kiss, and then he was rising from the balcony, his gaze locked with hers as he flew up, up, and away...


"WHERE IS THE KRYPTONIAN?" The fifty-foot glowing figure of crimson energy waded through the destruction he wrought in Metropolis, beams of fiery death shooting from its eyes; where they struck, vehicles exploded and buildings burst into flame. "SHOW YOURSELF, SUPERMAN! COME EMBRACE YOUR DOOM!"

Sirens wailed and emergency crews scrambled into the fray to rescue casualties. Squads of Science Police converged on the City of Tomorrow district to combat the menace, but their energy weapons were having no effect on the goliath. There seemed to be nothing to stop its rampage.

"Lois Lane reporting for DPO from the scene of a sudden and devastating attack on the City of Tomorrow," monitors across the city and the world showed the Daily Planet Online's most intrepid correspondent, running down a street against the flow of fleeing civilians. She turned and spoke into the camera-drone tracking her, bringing her viewers into the heart of the story with her. "A monstrous humanoid, over fifty-feet tall, is leaving a trail of death and destruction in the heart of this great city. It appeared only moments ago, and attacked without warning. Very little is known about the monster, or its reasons for this attack, only that it has been calling for Superman. As is well known, Superman disappeared three years ago, without a trace. The whereabouts of his cousin, Superwoman, are currently unknown, though she is thought to be temporarily off-planet with the Justice League." A flash and an explosion rocked the street, and Lois was forced to take cover behind an overturned truck that was smoldering. She dashed hair out her eyes with one hand and, crouching down, addressed the camera-drone. "This just in from Dr. Emil Hamilton, executive director of S.T.A.R. Labs," she pressed one hand to the earbud she wore. "The creature seems to be emitting massive amounts of red stellar radiation, on the magnitude of--- my god!--- a condensed star. But, amazingly, it otherwise appears to be human, some kind of mutation. He reports help is en route..."

Sensing significant movement, the camera-drone panned up and the fiery giant came into view, stamping down the avenue. The lenses found their focus, showing the world the figure of a behemoth with a shaved head, engorged with energy. Its half-lidded eyes betrayed none of the madness inherent in his actions.

"FACE ME, KRYPTONIAN! SURRENDER YOURSELF TO THE POWER OF RED SUN!"

The gargantuan foot hovered over Lois' hiding spot, but she didn't see it, having covered her ears to protect them from the booming voice. Across the city and the world, people held their breath, watching as the foot descended. Lois Lane was about to be killed live online.

"Not today, monster!"

The voice was projected dramatically through the speakers of a flying figure swooping onto the scene just in time, his palm pulsars blasting Red Sun backward. Lois rose from cover, but directed the camera-drone to capture the new development.

In armor of gleaming green and purple, the new arrival flew overhead and continued to bombard Red Sun. His face was clearly visible behind a clear glass bubble: it was Lex Luthor.

Red Sun staggered back, off-balance from Lex's attack. It fell into a building, crushing a dozen floors with the impact and setting it alight on contact with its coruscating body. But it pushed itself erect again, and directed a blast of scarlet rays to engulf Luthor. The armored scientist let the red beams wash over him, and when he could be seen again, laughter rang from his speakers.

"It appears that convicted criminal Lex Luthor has come to stop Red Sun," Lois Lane's tentative narration could be heard over the video of the fight. "Luthor is clad in some kind of armor and is packing some experimental tech. As unlikely as this sounds, he may well be the best hope Metropolis has of surviving this attack..."

Red Sun roared and thrashed through the streets, its enormous arms flailing for the flying figure harrying him.

"You'll have to do better than that, alien!" Lex swerved up and around to avoid the creature, and as he did, he keyed open a circular aperture on his chest. A low whine sounded and a glow came from it so bright Lois had to look away from the fight. A thick beam of light shot from Lex to hit Red Sun. The creature screamed and spasmed, jerking in the throes of the blast. As millions watched, it fell to its knees, its form contracting as it hit the pavement. The light of Luthor's blast continued to do its work, though, and as it crashed to its back, it shrank to human-size and lay unconscious.

Spontaneous cheers erupted from bystanders and viewers. Lex Luthor landed next to the prone figure, who now appeared to be only a red-skinned man in a jumpsuit. The triumphant Luthor raised his hands, and could be seen grinning broadly beyond his head-bubble.

But the Science Police on the scene had not forgotten who he was. They soon surrounded him, weapons trained on him and calling for him to, "Get your hands up, Luthor!"

Lex complied with the most innocent of expressions on his face.

Pushing her way through the cordon of S.P.s, the camera-drone zipping along behind her, Lois Lane ran up to the city's newest savior. "Luthor! Lex Luthor! Lois Lane, Daily Planet Online! What in the world just happened here?"

Lex turned an aggrieved look toward her and her camera, well-aware this was being seen by millions, perhaps billions. "What just happened was I saved the city, Ms. Lane." He was the very picture of humility. "As these officers in the Science Police are about to discover, when this monster appeared, and all conventional means to stop it failed, Mayor Morgan Edge called on S.T.A.R. Labs for some unconventional means: namely, me."

So many questions seem to flicker across Lois' face, but the one that came out was: "How did you stop it? That beam...?"

"Elementary physics, Ms. Lane," Lex smiled. "The matter-converter beam is my own proprietary design. Stellar radiation, red or otherwise, is a byproduct of the fusion of hydrogen into helium: I simply converted all of the available hydrogen around Red Sun into helium, effectively dousing him. Now, gentlemen," he addressed the S.P.s. "I suggest we get this man back to S.T.A.R. Labs for containment and study. Before he wakes up, preferably."


The headline read: "SUPERVILLAIN SAVES CITY; HAS LEX LUTHOR TURNED A NEW LEAF?" with a byline of Lois Lane.

The next day, Lois Lane quit the Daily Planet.


Kristin Wells woke up. One moment she had been adrift in a numbing multicolor swirl of potentialities, and the next she was on her back and blinking against the harsh illumination of hospital lighting.

"She's awake," someone outside her field of vision gasped. Her body rebelled when she tried to sit up, so she settled for a feeble flap of her hand. "Somebody get Dr. Faulkner. Ms. Wells is awake!"

By the time the doctor was leaning over her, Kristin had managed to coax words from her long-disused vocal chords. "How long?" It came out in a hoarse whisper, but the doctor attending her understood.

"Four years, Ms. Wells. How do you feel?"

Hard-won memories surged to the forefront of her mind. Four years...? Ignoring the doctor's question, she croaked, "Superman...?"

A line creased her doctor's brow. "Gone. He left Earth the day you fell into a coma. No one has heard from him since."

Gone, the doctor had said. But not forgotten. Not by her. And not by some others, too, she was willing to bet.


From the central dome of Moon Base Challenger, the astronaut skipped over the gray, rocky surface of Mare Tranquillitatis, a slim-barreled sidearm in her gloved hands. Just ahead of her, scuttling over a low ridge, was an insectile creature as big as a dog, with eight legs, three eyes that stood up from stalks on its thorax, and a stinger for a tail.

"Challenger Lane, you are on an unauthorized excursion. Please advise status immediately," a stern and insistent voice crackled over her headset comm. "Lois, what the hell are you doing?"

Sighting down the length of her pistol, she was unable to get a bead on the fast-moving alien pest. "Sorry, Ace, there wasn't any time to check-in with you," she told Moon Base Commander Kyle Morgan. "I found what was eating through our fuel lines. Lunaticks. I bagged two already, and I've almost nabbed this last one."

"Lunaticks? Damn it, Lois, we have protocols," came the response, crackling over her comm. "They may not look that dangerous, but they're fast and sneaky. And if they get a hold of you, they can tear you up like a starving pirhana. There's a reason the White Martians left them behind on the moon when the Justice League kicked them off the Earth."

"I read you loud and clear, Ace," Lois' tone was apologetic. She quickened her pace up the slope. "But my reporter's instincts tell me if we don't deal with this now, it'll just get worse, and we'll never get that resupply launch off the ground."

"That's well and good, Lois, but you're not a reporter anymore," Ace snapped. "You're a Challenger of the Unknown, now, and when you're living on borrowed time you don't take unwarranted risks."

"I thought that was exactly what the Challengers did," Though no one could see her, Lois was grinning behind her faceplate. She enjoyed bantering with Ace, but she had to concede, the old man really had seen just about everything.

Cresting the ridge over which the lunatick had just disappeared, Lois stopped short. She looked down into the blue-tinged basalt basin of the Sea of Tranquility: it was filled with chittering and moiling lunaticks. Hundreds of them. And in their midst was a lunatick of monstrous size: a queen. It raised its eyestalks to Lois and its antennae squirmed furiously at her.

"I hate being right all the time," Lois grimaced, raising her sidearm. The beam from her ray-gun slashed into the queen, dividing her neatly into two parts and splashing green goo in a wide arc; in the low gravity it floated in spherical nodules that were oddly mesmeric. Lois fired twice more, remembering that queens could regenerate if enough of their nervous system survived. Gore and body parts flew off into space. The lunatick brood went wild, surging forward, their front mandibles reaching for the killer of their queen.

Lois turned and started back down the cliff in big leaping hops, as fast as she could go. "I took out the queen, but her offspring are none-too-pleased with me. Request immediate extraction."

Waves of lunaticks boiled over the ridge, scuttling towards her as fast as they could move--- which was faster than Lois.

The sound of Ace cursing could be heard over her comm. "Standby, Lois. No one is even suited-up. We're raising Deanna on comms."

A quick glance over her shoulder showed the lunaticks almost upon her. Lois waited until the last moment, then ignited her suit-jets. The kinetic puff of energy jolted her forward and out of the reach of the alien vermin's pincers. She floated up, arcing over the lunar surface, her legs still moving as if she were running on air. When she touched down, she landed awkwardly, and just barely kept from stumbling. She had opened-up a small lead, but the lunaticks started closing the distance almost instantly.

"Negative on the standing by, Moon Base Commander. Heading for fuel bunker niner," Lois huffed, her breath coming in loud gasps. "If these little buggers are attracted to our fuel, maybe that will distract them from me."

Lois missed any response Ace may have made in the second ignition of suit-jets shooting her into the air. She saw the dome of the fuel bunker ahead, long pipelines extending from it to snake across the lunar surface back to the Challenger Base. If she could just reach it, she had an idea.

Something slammed into her back. She swatted at it reflexively, shaking loose a lunatick before it could tear her suit. But more were on her tail. She made two more jumps before exhausting her suit-jets, giving her some space, but the little monsters were relentless.

"Lois, Deanna is en route," Ace's worried voice echoed in her helmet. "You should see her any second."

"Ace, open all hatches on bunker niner, and cut-off the fuel lines immediately!" Lois yelled back. The bunker was only a few feet away. The lunaticks were right on her tail.

Then a flying figure swooped into her line of sight, metallic skin gleaming in the reflected moonlight.

"Bulleteer!"

The former JSA-er known as the Bulleteer snatched Lois around the midsection and scooped her out of reach of the lunaticks. At that moment, though, the hatches of the fuel bunker opened, and the lunaticks, denied their living target, settled for the enticing scent of the hydrogen fuel instead. They crowded through every opening, pouring in from all directions.

"Clever," Deanna Knight, daughter of Bulletman and Bulletgirl, winked at Lois, realizing her plan.

Bulleteer flew them a safe distance away, but stayed just within range of the bunker. When the last of the lunaticks had disappeared inside the bunker, Lois said, "Commander Challenger Base, please confirm fuel lines to bunker niner sealed."

"Bunker niner is isolated, Challenger Lane. Blow those things back to Mars."

Held aloft by Bulleteer, Lois Lane aimed with one hand and squeezed off a single shot. The beam sizzled through the bunker and the whole thing went up in a blossoming ball of fire. Flaming fragments scattered in all directions, but Bulleteer gathered Lois to her chest and spun them around, letting the fiery shrapnel bounce harmlessly off her Nth Metal liquid-alloy skin. Over the comms, cheers could be heard from Challenger Base.

"Threat fully eliminated," Lois reported with fierce satisfaction. "Consider Earth-launch a go."

"Acknowledged," Ace breathed a relieved sigh. "And you're going to want to be on that launch, Lois. We just got a call from S.T.A.R. Labs, Metropolis. Kristin Wells just woke up..."


"I have a bad feeling about this," David Knight muttered under his breath to his wife. The two of them followed Lois Lane through the twisting cement corridors of the lowest levels of S.T.A.R. Labs H.Q., and she set them a brisk pace.

"You had a bad feeling about that Thai restaurant last night, too. And the Metropolis Meteors trading their starting pitcher. And switching to that new toothbrush." Deanna chided him gently. She was clad as Bulleteer, her skin gleaming in the transformation that had been permanent since their last days in the Justice Society of America. Deanna had always struggled with her superheroic legacy, and found that she had fit in better pushing the boundaries of science and exploration with the re-purposed Challengers of the Unknown. Plus, it had allowed her to work more closely with her husband, who had also retired his cape-and-tights to concentrate on his work with S.T.A.R. Labs.*

* Note: David Knight and Deanna Barr marry and leave the superhero life shortly after the "New Axis of Evil" storyline concludes in Justice Society of America.

"This is different, and you know it," David had grown increasingly more nebbishy as he got older. And now, he had shed his lab coat in favor of his Starman uniform once again; he didn't wear the hood anymore, though, because where they were going, protecting secret identities wouldn't be a priority. A new and improved Cosmic Rod was holstered at his hip.

"Are you referring to the fact that we're about to embark on a mission across the vast gulfs of time and space, and may never see home again? Or that we'll be traveling in an experimental spacecraft that might just as likely blow up as deposit us into the heart of a star?"

David Knight knew when his wife was having fun at his expense and didn't need to see the crooked smile she beamed at him.

"Yes, those things, too," he hissed, annoyed. "But I was referring to the fact this team is being led by Lex Luthor."

Overhearing them, Lois looked over her shoulder, and said, "Just because Luthor designed and built the Starflake doesn't mean he's leading this mission. I'm in charge, and believe me, I won't let him forget it."

David Knight shared a frown with his wife, who shrugged; but he didn't drop the matter. "I don't understand why he has to come with us. I mean, why would he even agree to it? He's always hated Superman. Why would he risk his life to go looking for him?"

Lois stopped and turned to her friends and teammates. "Luthor is a dangerous man, I get it," she explained in a patient tone, like a woman who had had this conversation before. "Do I trust him? Hell no. Does he have his own reasons for volunteering? Undoubtedly. And I'll need everyone's help keeping an eye on him. But the fact is, he's indispensible. Natasha may be piloting the Starflake, but Luthor is the only one who knows the ins and outs of the L-drives that power it. There are simply too many things that can go wrong, too many variables to account for, and Luthor is the only person on Earth who could possibly answer for them."

"I get it," David groused. "I'm just not real happy about it."

Lois blew out a breath, and put one hand on his shoulder, and another on Deanna's. "Neither am I. And convincing Ace and Dr. Hamilton was tough, too. But, if Supernova is right, than finding and helping Superman is essential if Earth is to survive this so-called Great Disaster."

"We're with you, Lois," Deanna clasped her hand over her friend's. "And we'll get him back."

A few minutes later, the trio reached the cavernous hanger deep below Metropolis. At their stations across the chamber, S.T.A.R. Labtechs and engineers were preparing for the culmination of 18 months of work: in the center of the wide-open space was the spacecraft they had nicknamed the Starflake. Suspended just off the ground by the L-drives invented by Lex Luthor, it resembled nothing so much as an enormous crystalline snow-flake. The scintillating spikes radiating from the center sparkled in the floodlamps trained on the craft.

Their fellow Challengers awaited them nearby. Mission Commander Earth-side Kyle Morgan stood with S.T.A.R. Executive Director Dr. Hamilton, chatting with Supernova and Natasha Irons, the Starflake's pilot. Natasha wore a specially modified Steelsuit, designed by her uncle not just for spacetravel, but for combat, and Natasha looked like she was ready for anything the cosmos could throw at her.

Supernova spotted them, and waved them over.

"Are we ready to go?" Lois asked without preamble. Unlike the others, she had no superheroic alias, but wore a magenta Challenger flight suit, adorned only with a yellow hourglass patch sewn onto the arm. Her hand rested on the blaster holstered low on her hip.

"We're ready, Ms. Lane," Natasha Irons answered confidently. "Just waiting on Mr. Luthor."

"Actually, I have a number of doctorates, so 'mister' doesn't exactly accord me the respect I've earned," a boisterous voice echoed in the hanger. His tread metallic in his purple and green battlesuit, Lex Luthor strode up to them, casting admiring glances up at his creation, the Starflake. "Besides, just 'Lex' will do fine, Natasha. Especially as we're all going to working in such close quarters for the foreseeable future."

"He's going to be like this the whole time," David Knight groaned to his wife; she slipped her hand into his, and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"Looks like you're all here," Ace grunted in approval, looking them over and scratching his chin. "In my day, the Challengers were simple adventurers, not space-faring super-heroes."

"Ex-superheroes," said Starman.

"But one thing hasn't changed, you are throwing yourselves into the unknown, risking all on a throw of the dice. At stake, the life of Superman, and just possibly the survival of the human race." Ace glanced briefly at Supernova before going on. "I've never been one to believe in mystic mumbo-jumbo or doomsday predictions. All I know is, the world needs Superman. And after all he's done for the world, if he needs a little help, then we at least have to try this. Good luck, Challengers."

Lois hugged him, and then she hugged Dr. Emil Hamilton. "We'll find Superman," she promised and followed after Luthor, Steel, Supernova, Starman, and Bulleteer as they headed for the ramp leading into the Starflake. "And we'll bring him home."

Moments later, the strange spacecraft powered-up. The keening whine of the L-drives echoed throughout the underground hanger, and the crystalline spines began to pulse in a prismatic spray of color. The light and sound built to a crescendo and when it broke like the tinkling sound of glass shattering, the Starflake seemed to simply wink from existence.


Superman groaned and twisted in pain. Every nerve of his body seemed stretched and excoriated. He was suffering from solar deprivation, his every cell gasping in torment. Unrelieved darkness yawned like a pit before him, and try as he might, he could not seem to move, or pull away from whatever held him fast.

How had he gotten here--- wherever 'here' was--- and how long had he been here? His mind was barely able to hold onto coherent thought. Memories and impulses rose and slipped away just as quickly.

"What are you doing here?"

He didn't recognize the voice. It was a voice intimate with loss and hollow with despair. The speaker materialized out of the air. He was clad in loose fitting clothes of white and black, adorned with a gold harness and a cloak of green, with the hood covering his features. He hung in the blackness in front of Superman, like an apparition.

It was a fair question. What was he doing here? He struggled to dredge up the answer, but his mind was a morass. That's when he became aware there was another voice in his head, something infiltrating his consciousness, whispering to him, trying to tell him something, if he only had the knowledge to understand...

But knowledge came at a cost. His father Jor-El had told him that.

When had he spoken to his long-dead Kryptonian father...?

"Who are you?" The newcomer in the green cloak pressed him. "What are you doing here?"

The answer was manifold. He was Kal-El, the last son of an extinct people. He was Clark Kent, the last hope of a beleaguered world.

"I'm Superman," he told the newcomer, and his voice seemed to echo in the void, as if it were the only sound in the universe. "I'm fighting to save the Earth. I stand for truth and justice." He said it like an affirmation.

The lonely figure said nothing, but pulled back his hood to reveal a gaunt face, colorless hair, and deep-set, haunted eyes that regarded Superman with pity.

"I've been fighting so long..." Superman's eyes unfocused as he struggled for the memories. "Years, I think. I'm not sure anymore. The Galactic Golem. Imperiex Probes. The Khund Armada... All of them intent on destroying the Earth. I need to know why. I need to know who is behind this. I need to save..." His voice sounded faint and dwindling even to him. "... everybody."

The lonely figure stared, as if trying to comprehend the enormity of Superman's burden.

"I'm looking for the Omega Man..." Superman muttered to himself. He repeated it over and over, on the verge of delirium.

Minutes passed. Or was it hours. His companion stayed there, watching Superman intently, as if he expected revelation.

A word surged up and escaped Superman's throat: "Darkseid!" he screamed. The word expanded to fill the space around them, then like a thing alive, floated away to rebound for an eternity. Superman thrashed in whatever fastness held him, but even his strength was not sufficient to free himself. The other consciousness invading his mind whispered to him, words and meanings he was not yet equipped to grasp. It seemed a multitude, all speaking at the same time. It made it hard for him to think.

"Do you know where you are?"

Superman winced. If he knew once, he wasn't sure anymore. Instead of answering the question, he grasped for something more concrete.

"Who are you?"

The lonely figure regarded Superman with resigned desperation. "I had a name once, but the only name that matters to me now is Pariah. And I come to you, drawn by your anguish, to bear witness to your last days."

The words were the tolling of bells to Superman. As he lay there, clawing his way to a kind of meaning and understanding, they released in him a memory he needed, and he became aware that he was pinned like a sacrifice, where Darkseid had left him in the company of Promethean Giants older than his universe, crucified on the Source Wall...

TO BE CONTINUED