The Herald of Galactus

Four months later

Metropolis

"OK, Kara... show me what you've got," Superman said as he stood in the kitchen of his apartment with his cousin.

"You sure about this, Kal?" Kara asked. "I mean... what if I blow something up?"

Superman chuckled. "All I'm asking you to do is make a pot of water boil. Heat vision's not that hard to control, provided you start slow."

"If you say so... but if this place goes up in flames, it's all on you." Kara nodded and concentrated, directing her gaze at the pot resting on the stove top. She activated her heat vision, focusing on making the water inside slowly come to a boil.

Superman watched as Kara did as he asked, impressed by her progress. "There you go -- keep it steady... don't overdo it, keep your beam as low intensity as you can..." Superman advised.

Kara nodded again and maintained her focus, keeping her beam going at a low level; before long, the water in the pot gradually heated up until it came to a full boil. Superman smiled as Kara powered down her heat vision. "There you go. Nothing to it, right?"

"I guess," Kara answered. "I mean, now I can boil coffee anytime I want... I'm sure that'll come in handy when I'm fighting kaiju... right?"

"Hey, you never know," Kal chuckled. "Still, you're doing well. When I was learning how to use my heat vision, I ended up burning down Mom & Dad's barn in Smallville more than once."

Kara laughed as she pictured Kal accidentally destroying his adoptive parents' barn. "Yeah, Uncle Jon told me a few stories about when you were learning your powers. You caused a lot of property damage, didn't you?"

"More than I care to admit," Kal answered, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Good thing I was able to repair most of it myself... I don't even want to know how much money it'd have cost otherwise."

Kara's phone began to buzz, and it wasn't long before Kal's phone started going off as well. "Both our phones going off at the same time... that seems ominous," Kara noted.

Looking at his phone, Kal nodded. "Looks like you're right. Jimmy, Lois, Diana, Bruce... I've got messages from all of them... and plenty of others" he remarked, scrolling through his notifications. He opened a video file sent to him by Bruce; the footage was of an imposing figure hovering over what appeared to be National City, and his eyes widened in disbelief; this man had a Kryptonian crest on his suit.

"Kal...? What is it?" Kara asked.

"Bruce just sent me this video -- look..." Kal answered, showing Kara the video clip.

"No way... is he... Kryptonian?" Kara asked, stunned.

"I don't know... but we need to find out what this guy wants," Kal answered. "What is he saying in this footage?"

"Hold on -- maybe there's a news report or something covering what's happening," Kara suggested, opening her web browser. Sure enough, several news outlets were reporting on the mysterious Kryptonian; Kara clicked on one of the articles and played the live stream footage of the broadcast.

"...I am Zod, Herald of Galactus..."