Fic: Like Father, Like Son, PG
Like Father, Like Son
by Laura
Zod settled himself into the body; the vessel Brainiac had prepared for him. Rao, possessing physical form again after so long felt wonderful.
“Lex? Lex?”
The voice of a boy, to use one of the Terrans’ words. One of the many words Jor-El had excitedly taught him after his visit to Terra, many cycles ago. Zod turned around to face the boy and walk towards him. For a moment, he thought he saw Jor-El again. He reached out and attempted to touch the face, but the boy flinched away. Jor-El, along with the rest of their planet, was long since dead. This must be Kal-El, son of Jor-El.
“You have your father’s eyes,” Zod told him.
With encouragement, Jor-El had also given him words describing the forbidden. Words such as kiss, touch and love, accompanied by thorough demonstrations. The Terrans’ mating practices were such fun.
Cycles later, Jor-El’s wife, Lara, had experienced the forbidden. Many times, Lara had taken a leaf out of her husband’s book and ignored Kryptonian convention, and worn her hair uncovered and loose. Zod had seen such heat in Jor-El’s eyes when she did that. Jor-El and Lara had spent much time exploring Terran mating practices on those occasions.
But all of that was a lifetime ago. Somewhere along the way, the differences of opinion between him and Jor-El about how to save their dying planet had begun. Zod had been denied admittance to Jor-El and Lara’s home. He had not witnessed the extraction of this child from his birthing matrix.
He had made his own efforts to save Krypton. The all-powerful Science Council had refused to listen to either him or Jor-El, so he had overthrown it with the use of force, throwing the planet into disarray and hastening its destruction. Jor-El had still been a member of the Science Council, so his actions had earned him Jor-El’s enmity, and the separation of his spirit from his body and imprisonment, at his former friend’s hands, in a collection of crystals.
While he had been in prison, before his sentence had been handed down, Zod had hatched a plan, with Brainiac, to infiltrate and re-program the ship he had known Jor-El was building for his son. Brainiac had sent a signal which had re-programmed Kal-El’s ship just before it left Krypton’s atmosphere, ensuring that it carried a different message than the one Jor-El had written.
And now, Zod was no longer in any manner of prison. This boy would continue to pay dearly for his father’s actions.
“Hello, Kal-El,” Zod announced.
“Where’s Lex?” he asked.
“Lex is dead,” Zod informed him. That wasn’t precisely true, but it served his purpose well enough.
“Why are you here?” Kal questioned.
“Revenge,” he said.
Zod described to Kal his imprisonment by his father. “And in the end, the only survivor of his pathetic crusade was his son.”
“Then this is between us. These people did nothing to harm you,” Kal said.
“No. But you feel no pain greater than to see others in agony,” he replied. And The Green Death had been so very painful, with no respect to age or gender.
“I won’t let you destroy this planet like you did Krypton,” he stated.
“You don’t have a choice. Unless you join me.”
“I’ll never join you,” Kal said. Rao, he was as stubborn as his father had been. All Jor-El had needed to do was listen to him. They could have worked together, before it had become far too late to achieve anything.
“Well, I hope that’s a decision you’ll be able to live with. Forever,” he said, drawing the ring emblazoned with the symbol of his house out of the coat this body wore. It flew out into the sky, before speeding back and taking the son of his enemy with it, consigning Kal-El to The Phantom Zone.
Zod allowed himself a smirk. He would bring Terra, this pathetic, backward planet, to its knees. And there was no-one to stop him.
-end-
by Laura
Zod settled himself into the body; the vessel Brainiac had prepared for him. Rao, possessing physical form again after so long felt wonderful.
“Lex? Lex?”
The voice of a boy, to use one of the Terrans’ words. One of the many words Jor-El had excitedly taught him after his visit to Terra, many cycles ago. Zod turned around to face the boy and walk towards him. For a moment, he thought he saw Jor-El again. He reached out and attempted to touch the face, but the boy flinched away. Jor-El, along with the rest of their planet, was long since dead. This must be Kal-El, son of Jor-El.
“You have your father’s eyes,” Zod told him.
With encouragement, Jor-El had also given him words describing the forbidden. Words such as kiss, touch and love, accompanied by thorough demonstrations. The Terrans’ mating practices were such fun.
Cycles later, Jor-El’s wife, Lara, had experienced the forbidden. Many times, Lara had taken a leaf out of her husband’s book and ignored Kryptonian convention, and worn her hair uncovered and loose. Zod had seen such heat in Jor-El’s eyes when she did that. Jor-El and Lara had spent much time exploring Terran mating practices on those occasions.
But all of that was a lifetime ago. Somewhere along the way, the differences of opinion between him and Jor-El about how to save their dying planet had begun. Zod had been denied admittance to Jor-El and Lara’s home. He had not witnessed the extraction of this child from his birthing matrix.
He had made his own efforts to save Krypton. The all-powerful Science Council had refused to listen to either him or Jor-El, so he had overthrown it with the use of force, throwing the planet into disarray and hastening its destruction. Jor-El had still been a member of the Science Council, so his actions had earned him Jor-El’s enmity, and the separation of his spirit from his body and imprisonment, at his former friend’s hands, in a collection of crystals.
While he had been in prison, before his sentence had been handed down, Zod had hatched a plan, with Brainiac, to infiltrate and re-program the ship he had known Jor-El was building for his son. Brainiac had sent a signal which had re-programmed Kal-El’s ship just before it left Krypton’s atmosphere, ensuring that it carried a different message than the one Jor-El had written.
And now, Zod was no longer in any manner of prison. This boy would continue to pay dearly for his father’s actions.
“Hello, Kal-El,” Zod announced.
“Where’s Lex?” he asked.
“Lex is dead,” Zod informed him. That wasn’t precisely true, but it served his purpose well enough.
“Why are you here?” Kal questioned.
“Revenge,” he said.
Zod described to Kal his imprisonment by his father. “And in the end, the only survivor of his pathetic crusade was his son.”
“Then this is between us. These people did nothing to harm you,” Kal said.
“No. But you feel no pain greater than to see others in agony,” he replied. And The Green Death had been so very painful, with no respect to age or gender.
“I won’t let you destroy this planet like you did Krypton,” he stated.
“You don’t have a choice. Unless you join me.”
“I’ll never join you,” Kal said. Rao, he was as stubborn as his father had been. All Jor-El had needed to do was listen to him. They could have worked together, before it had become far too late to achieve anything.
“Well, I hope that’s a decision you’ll be able to live with. Forever,” he said, drawing the ring emblazoned with the symbol of his house out of the coat this body wore. It flew out into the sky, before speeding back and taking the son of his enemy with it, consigning Kal-El to The Phantom Zone.
Zod allowed himself a smirk. He would bring Terra, this pathetic, backward planet, to its knees. And there was no-one to stop him.
-end-