The trial

The alley was narrow, damp, and reeked of old garbage and wet asphalt—classic Central City backstreet, the kind Barry Allen had zipped through a thousand times without a second thought. Except now his head throbbed like someone had used his skull for a drum solo, and the world felt... wrong. Too busy. Too LOUD.

He groaned, pushing himself up on one elbow and shook his head to clear it of the noises. Wincing as he heard everything going on in the city all at once, like it was all being crammed into his head all at once. Looking down, his costume was gone, replaced by what looked like a shimmering, holographic pair of shorts and a green t-shirt emblazoned with ‘I got turned into a dragon and all I got was this lousy t-shirt,’ courtesy of a Green Lantern construct if the signature glow was any indication. Barry blinked hard, trying to shake off the fog.

Memories came in jagged flashes. Being in the amphitheatre of the Fortress of Solitude, seeing the look of relief on Diana’s face when he handed her back her Bracelets of Submission. She kissed her forehead. Then searing pain…

He sat up fully, wincing as every voice and noise blared out around him. He almost didn’t register the hand offered to help him up to his feet. Opening his eyes, his vision blurred until it focused on a pair of women kneeling in front of him; then he realized the hand being offered was Supergirl's.

But Supergirl and Power Girl. They looked... different. Taller, for one thing. Supergirl had always been petite and bright-eyed, but now she looked more mature, full-bodied and curvaceous. Almost matching Karen, her older counterpart, down to the last detail, save for her different hair length. Both women wore versions of their respective costumes, but they were tinted green like his clothing.

“How are you feeling, Barry?” Karen asked, smiling as the Flash got to his feet.

"Why is it so LOUD?” Barry asked, hissing in pain as he felt he could hear background chatter and cars from miles away.

Kara knelt beside him first, her expression softening into something almost gentle. "Easy, Barry. You're okay. That’s super hearing... Just focus on my voice, try to block out everything else around you. Push it to the back of your mind, like chatting in a crowd.”

Barry rubbed his temple, doing as she said, and found he could filter through it with a few seconds of effort. Looking around now that he could focus, Barry squinted in confusion. “Where are we? And why are you wearing green? Is it March already?”

Power Girl snorted, but there was no real humour in it. "No, Barry, Faora-Ui tricked us all. She bit you and Bruce and tossed you both out into direct sunlight.”

Barry’s eyes widened. "Wait. You mean…"

Kara nodded grimly. "She turned you both for us to chase while she made a break for it. We managed to find you and get you to turn back.”

Barry looked down at himself, suddenly hyper-aware of every ache. "I got bit… I got bit in the…" Reaching for the side of his neck, the bite wound was practically gone, having healed rapidly after his transformation into a kryptodrake and back again. “Where’s Batman, did he…?”

"We got word back from Clark and Diana," Karen explained, still in a soothing tone. "Right now, Arkham is being thawed out, but there’s been no injuries or deaths. Thank goodness.”

“What about here?” Barry exhaled slowly, processing. "No one got hurt. Civilians?”

Kara shook her head. "We were fast. Though… Not as fast as you, but we managed to corral you in and get you to someplace shady to change back.”

“With a little help from a friend.” Smiled Hal, hovering a meter away and nodding back at the Flash as he brandished his fist sporting the lantern ring. “I provided the clothes for free.”

A wave of relief hit him so hard he almost laughed. "Okay. Okay, that's... good. That's something." He looked up at them again, really looked. Noticing both women had a sheen of what looked like snake scales creeping up their necks. Not only that, their height, their build. They were changed. "You two look... different. Taller. Scalier. Is that normal?”

Karen shrugged, glancing at her own arm where faint golden scales shimmered even in the dark. "Prolonged exposure. The longer we're in sunlight, the more it sticks. We're holding it back in the shadows for now, but yeah. We're not exactly poster girls for normal anymore.”

Kara’s voice was quieter. "We're trying to stay out of the light. Batman thinks that if we stay dark long enough—a total blackout—the Phantom energies will decay. Maybe a week. Maybe less. Then we might... go back.”

Barry pushed to his feet, testing his legs. They felt normal. Fast. But there was an undercurrent, like static waiting to discharge. "And Faora?"

"Out there," Karen said flatly. "We don’t know where, though.”

"We need to get you back to the Fortress of Solitude before any stray streetlight hits you wrong. You were pretty far gone, but then again, the first time is usually the worst."

Hal finally decided to pipe in on the conversation as he aimed his ring at the three standing in the alleyway and conjured a hard-light bubble around all of them. "Alright," he said, making sure everyone was okay. "I think this might be a better way of getting us there without you running faster than I can keep up. At least I can still keep you contained if you lose it again.”

“Thanks, Hal.”

Flying out of the alleyway at breakneck speed, Green Lantern and his passengers flew north. While the city thawed, police and paramedics thought they heard a roar from three monsters like the ones that attacked Central City earlier, but all they saw was a green comet fly off faster than their eyes could follow.

***

Back in Gotham City…

The four Kryptodrakes flew out of the city, out of sight of the police and reporters who tried and failed to keep up with them. Martian Manhunter followed as they reached an altitude the copters could not match, and they quickly vanished into the clouds. All that was needed for Batman was to lead them to the back cliffs of the Wayne estate and fly through the waterfall that concealed the Batcave from the cliff face—one by one—passing through the watery entrance to land inside.

The Batcave was pitch black; the emergency lights were off, and the monitors were dark. Batman, Superman, Aquaman, and Mera landed on a platform meant for the Batwing, occupying the small space only briefly. As soon as they entered the near-darkness of the cave, the four felt an intense wave of fatigue wash over them as the sun's effects wore off. Any worries about space on the landing pad disappeared quickly as they began to shrink and transform back into human form.

Clark, who had experienced this enough times, managed to stay conscious throughout the shift, panting as he kneeled on the metal floor, hands braced beneath him to keep steady. Looking at his bare arms, his eyes squinted in concern when he saw something alarming: the skin on his hand, extending up his forearm and elbow, was covered in a smooth layer of black reptilian scales. His fingernails had become longer and curved, like claws. His toes were clawed, and his skin now bore black scales all over. He was losing himself more each time, worsened by the continued solar exposure Bruce had warned about.

Looking up to the others, Arthur and Mera sluggishly picked themselves up off the floor, slick with sweat and completely nude after changing back into human form. They were exhausted, but slowly regaining their strength. Bruce, on the other hand, was **** on the floor and showing few signs of stirring. Mild static from the earpiece in his ear told him that due to the lead shielding in the cave, he and the others were not connected to Diana’s communications, at least for now.

“How long do you think he’ll be ****?” Asked Arthur, his breathing slow as he sat up with Mera clinging to him the entire time. The two looked down at Batman as he slumbered.

“If it's anything like our first time, probably a few hours. But at least he’s safe amongst friends.”

“Indeed.” Called out Alfred Pennyworth, making his way up the flight ramp with Jonn Jonnz behind him. The two carry sets of clothing for the group to wear while they gather their strength. Alfred knelt over Bruce and, with aid from the Martian Manhunter, lifted the **** man off his feet and wrapped a blanket around him as they all made their way deeper into the Batcave to sit and get dressed. Once Bruce was settled over a cot in the back of the cave, Alfred straightened himself and brushed down his pant legs as he folded an arm behind himself in a poised stance. “Master Bruce was always a light sleeper; I presume he will be with us shortly. Might I offer some tea while we wait?”

“You’re not confused by any of this?” Asked Mera, now fully clothed in a sweater and pants, the man had offered. “None of this seems strange to you?”

“Your highness, I dust a literal cave of bats that houses a priceless car collection, a life-sized Tyrannosaurus Rex display and a giant penny. And right now, I’m catering to a pair of aliens, a royal couple of Atlantis and Master Bruce passed out under the estate property. Ask me again what I find strange.”

“Your sense of observation is always appreciated, Mr. Pennyworth.” Smiled the Martian Manhunter as he joined the others, now fully dressed, in the heart of the Batcave. The green-skinned telepath floated over to the main computer, where he typed a few commands, and the screen lit up with a video call of Diana staring back at them, her smile warm and relieved to find her friends.

“Thank Hera you are all safe.” The Amazon Princess smiled as she eyed her friends, who were looking back at her. “Were you able to contain Bruce?”

“They were.” Called out Bruce in the background. The man had fully gotten dressed and made his way up to the computer screen, where Diana smiled down at him from the display. “Did Barry get contained without incident?”

Behind Diana, a green blur whizzed into view and stopped just at Diana’s shoulder to wave to everyone. His costume gone, he was wearing clothing offered by the Green Lantern, who hovered in the background.

“Hey, everyone, they got me just a few minutes ago,” Barry called out, turning his gaze to Karen and Kara, tending to their children in the background. “Thankfully, no one got hurt.”

“Now all that’s left to worry about is Faora…” Batman spoke up, taking his seat in front of the computer and checking the local news. “Wherever she may be.”

“I’ve been gleaming over global news for any word of a giant black dragon monster rampaging across the world. Apart from what happened in Gotham and Central City, there’s not much else.”

“Which means either she went into hiding or she attacked somewhere reporters aren’t allowed to go.” Bruce surmised, checking news feeds around the same time Diana was back at the Fortress of Solitude.

“I’ve always wondered why you laced the inside of the Batcave with lead,” Superman questioned out loud as he looked up and around the dark cave they were in. “I knew you were secretive, but I always felt it was a bit paranoid.”

“The walls are also enveloped with sound retarding materials so that we can’t be heard by anyone with super hearing outside of the cave. So, unless you have wings and sleep upside down, no one can hear you.” Bruce spoke over his shoulder. “For me, it's necessary to plan for the things you cannot account for.” Looking over his shoulder to the scale-skinned man, Bruce’s face remained unreadable as he returned his gaze to the screen. “You’re getting worse. You shouldn’t have gone out to stop me. Now there’s no telling how much longer the detox time will need to be for you if you keep getting exposed.”

“We didn’t have a choice. And I was the most in control of myself when I changed. What were we supposed to do?”

“Chase after Faora-Ui,” Batman answered bluntly.

Exhaling out a breath of frustration, Clark found a hand over his shoulder from behind, finding it to be Alfred’s as he made a patient nod over to the master of the house. “Please forgive Master Bruce. He does not respond well to open gestures of kindness. I’ve yet to get a thank-you for my many years of offering him tea to help calm his nerves before sleeping. Now he chooses not to sleep.”

“There.” Pointing up at a satellite camera feed, Batman zoomed in until he showed an overhead view of Belle Reve penitentiary. The roof from overhead looked folded open like a cardboard box, and several emergency vehicles were trying to put out fires… and thaw out people. “This is the only location that isn’t on any of the local news.”

“Belle Reve?” Asked the Flash out loud in confusion, scratching his head. “Why would she go there?”

“It’s home to some of the worst meta-human convicts on the planet, and a black site. No one knows about it, no one is allowed near it. The government made very sure of that.”

“But how would she know how to find it?”

“It wouldn’t be hard,” Kara spoke up behind the others, cradling her daughter in her arms, who now looked almost three years old. “I can hear half the inmates threaten to break out from halfway across the globe. Pretty sure she could do the same.”

The Green Lantern landed beside Diana, coming into view from the screen with a concerned look on his face. “Now it's just a matter of finding out where she is and just how much damage she’s done.”

“If only we had a way to…” The video feed to the fortress of solitude began to crackle with static. The League members there reacted to what seemed like a tremor, as ice and crystalline formations cracked in the background and began to crumble.

“Diana? Hal?” Batman called out, trying to strengthen the signal. “What is going on?”

“Bruce! They’re…” The sound of a roar called out as the roof of the chamber Diana was in broke open and sunlight spilled in, then the video feed cut out dead then and there.

“DIANA!!!”

A burst of air turbulence blew out, stunning the others until they realized that Clark had disappeared, a trail of air rushing out where they had originally come, leading towards the waterfall entrance of the Batcave. By the time they had realized what had happened, Superman was already gone.

***

The crystalline walls of the Fortress of Solitude shuddered as sunlight poured through the massive breach in the roof. Shards of ice and Kryptonian crystal rained down like an icy avalanche, forcing the remaining heroes—Clark's cousins, Diana, the Flash, and the newborns cradled in Fortress robots—to scramble deeper into the darkened corridors. The amphitheatre's glow dimmed as they retreated, voices echoing in panic. Hal Jordan hovered alone at the threshold, ring blazing emerald against the arctic glare. His suit flickered with strain as he raised both hands, maintaining the hard-light barrier that kept him and the others from being buried and kept the attackers from getting through.

Not today, you oversized lizards," he muttered through gritted teeth. Faora-Ui descended first, black-furred wings blotting the sky like storm clouds. Her form was massive, easily thirty feet from snout to tail tip — scales glinting obsidian beneath the fur, horns curling wickedly, red eyes burning with triumph. Around her, a ragged, snarling pack of newly turned kryptodrakes growled and clawed through the hole they had dug in the once impenetrable crystal fortress. Former Belle Reve inmates, their minds shattered into feral loyalty. A lean, serpentine kryptodrake with crimson scales and fiery hair roared as she breathed fire down at the green energy dome, causing Hal to sweat but stay focused on his projection. While a wiry, electric-blue one crackles with static, blasting him with electrical energies with the same ferocity. Others in mottled greens, grays, and sickly yellows, all roaring with mindless hunger, like wolves flushing a rabbit from its den.

“Step aside, Lantern,” Faora snarled with clear contempt. "Or join my flight."

Hal's ring suddenly glowed brightly as a huge emerald wall shimmered and trembled under the blows of kryptonian claws—likely Killer Croc, Mammoth, and Cheetah—who had transformed into reptilian monsters, committed solely to breaking through the green barrier between them and the determined human.

"I've faced worse enemies than these escaped zoo rejects. Try me."

Faora's sarcastic laugh echoed, a guttural sound that made her flight members chuckle as she dove. Her claws scraped the barrier, causing green shards to burst outward, but the wall held firm, flexing like living steel. The rest of the flight attacked in a wave: heat vision blazing from multiple snouts, frost from freezing breath forming along the edges, tails crashing with the **** of bombs. The barrier cracked and spiderwebbed under the ****. Hal grunted, sweat visible under his mask, as he pushed more will into it, reinforcing weak points with extra beams and summoning large emerald clamps that snapped around the lead dragons' limbs to pin them mid-air.

"You think raw power beats discipline? Cute."

One of the smaller drakes, a sleek, venom-green female, slipped through a momentary gap, jaws wide for his throat. Hal spun, ring flashing: a gigantic emerald fist materialized and smashed her sideways into the snow outside, cratering the ice. She rolled, snarling, already scrambling back up. Faora-Ui circled higher, assessing.

"You delay the inevitable. Your friends cower in the dark while we claim the light." She narrowed her reptilian eyes, and twin beams of crimson heat vision shot forward, piercing the wall. The construct hissed, edges melting green to slag before Hal could repair it. He responded instantly: emerald chains whipped out from the barrier, wrapping Faora's forelegs and yanking her down. She roared, twisting free with brute ****, but not before Hal followed up with a colossal construct—a massive glowing anvil that dropped from above, smashing her into the ground hard enough to send snow billowing like a nuclear plume. For a moment, the flight hesitated. Then they redoubled: a coordinated barrage. Heat vision converged on one spot; freezing breath sought to make the green brittle; claws and tails hammered relentlessly. Hal's wall buckled inward, cracks widening. His breathing grew ragged, ring energy dipping into the red zone on his HUD.

Come on, ring," he whispered under his breath. "You’ve been through worse..." Inside the Fortress, muffled cries echoed. Kara, clutching her daughter, and Karen, holding back her children in the shadows, while the Flash stood ready with Diana. They could hear the battle: roars, energy clashes, the groan of straining constructs. Outside, Faora rose from the crater, wings spread wide.

"Enough games."

She signalled with a sharp wing-snap. The flight formed up behind her in a wedge, then charged as one, all heat vision firing in unison. Hal's wall shattered in a blinding emerald explosion. Shrapnel constructs rained harmlessly as he dove backward, ring sputtering. He summoned a **** shield bubble around himself just in time. The dragons crashed through the breach, tumbling into the amphitheatre. Claws gouged crystal floors; tails lashed statues of Jor-El and Lara to rubble. Hal hovered between them and the retreating corridor, ring flaring one last time. A dozen emerald lances shot forward, spearing wings and shoulders—not lethal, but enough to slow the advance.

"You want them? Go through me!" Hal bellowed, his fists raised and lantern ring glowing hot.

Faora landed heavily, towering over him. Pinning the man down with her talon, her fanged grin widened. "Brave. Pointless."

She lunged, and a sonic boom shook the Fortress. A massive, black-furred shadow streaked through the broken roof, wings folded, slamming into Faora like a meteor. The impact hurled her across the chamber, smashing through a display case of Kryptonian artifacts. Dust and crystal shards exploded outward. Superman, fully transformed, dark scales gleaming beneath thick black fur, horns swept back, tail lashing, landed between Hal and the flight. His red eyes glowed, chest heaving, a low growl rumbling from his throat. The kryptodrakes froze, instincts recognizing a rival Kryptodrake as they backed off. Hal collapsed, **** but safe in Superman’s presence.

"So… The last son of El decides to return to his paltry hut of a home. Did you come to save the weaklings?"

Clark's voice sounded rough, guttural, but clear. "This ends. Now.” The standoff hung in the frozen air. Faora's feral army versus the Man of Steel, the safety of his family just beyond the corridor.

The standoff in the amphitheatre lasted only seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Clark’s roar echoed low and resonant off the crystalline walls, vibrating through shattered displays and snow falling from the broken roof. The kryptodrake flight; Faora’s newly turned convicts hesitated mid-lunge, wings partly spread, tails lashing uncertainly. Their feral eyes flicked between their alpha and the larger, darker Superman. Instinct sensed power, even if their broken minds did not. Faora-Ui slowly rose from the rubble, shaking crystal dust from her black-furred shoulders. One wing was slightly crooked from the impact but snapped back with a wet crack as her healing accelerated to repair bone and tendon. She tilted her horned head, observing Clark with a mix of amusement and disdain.

“Kal-El,” she said, voice clear and mocking despite the fanged maw. “Still playing the hero. How quaint.”

Clark took one deliberate step forward, claws gouging furrows in the crystal floor. His tail swept once, scattering debris. Behind him, Hal Jordan slowly stirred back awake, ring flickering as he rebuilt a thin emerald barrier between the corridor and the chamber, enough to buy the others time if things went wrong. Faora spread her wings in a slow, theatrical gesture, addressing the flight like a general before troops.

“Behold,” she said, gesturing at Clark with a talon. “The Last Son of El. Once our people’s shining hope. Now, little more than a mongrel playing house with his half-breed whelps and his Amazon bitch.”

Clark’s eyes flared brighter red, heat vision shimmering at the edges of his sight, but he held it back. “This isn’t about me, Faora. It’s about what you’re doing to them. To everyone.”

Faora laughed, a deep, rolling sound that made the smaller drakes flinch. “What am I doing? I’m giving them freedom. Power. Purpose. Look at them.” She swept a claw towards her pack. “These were insects in cages. Now they soar. Now they burn. Now they answer to strength instead of chains.”

One of the drakes, a crimson-scaled brute, growled low, stepping forward as if to challenge. Faora’s tail snapped out like a whip, cracking across his snout. He yelped and dropped to his belly, submissive.

“Discipline,” she said, turning back to Clark. “Something you never understood. You coddle. You forgive. You let weakness fester. I do not.”

Clark’s voice came out rougher, strained by the effort of speaking through a draconic throat. “You’re not freeing them. You’re enslaving them. To you. To instinct. They don’t even know who they were anymore.”

Faora’s grin widened. “And you do? Tell me, Kal-El. Do you remember every moment when the sun touched you? Every thrust? Every cry? Or do the blackouts still spare you the worst of it?”

Clark stiffened. The words landed like blows. Behind him, Hal tensed, ring humming. Faora stepped closer, circling slowly, tail dragging through the debris.

“I’ve been watching. Listening. Your little family clings to shadows, policing each other like frightened children. Afraid of what they truly want. Afraid of what they are.” She paused, eyes narrowing. “But you… You came here into the light. You changed again. Willingly. Because deep down, you know this is what we were always meant to be.”

Clark growled. “I came to stop you.”

“Did you?” Faora tilted her head. “Or did you come because the pull was too strong to ignore? Because the moment you felt the sun again, the farm boy vanished, and the beast remembered how good it felt to dominate. To claim. To breed.” She stopped directly in front of him, close enough that their snouts nearly touched. Her breath was hot, metallic with the scent of ozone and blood. “So let us make this official,” she purred. “A parole hearing. Just like the one you gave me in this very fortress. Only fair, don’t you think?”

Clark didn’t move. Faora raised her voice, addressing the open chamber as though it were a courtroom. “Kal-El of Krypton. You stand accused of clinging to weakness. Of denying your birthright. Of shackling your bloodline to fragile human morality when you could rule the skies.” She leaned in, voice dropping to a venomous whisper. “How do you plead?”

Clark’s wings flexed once, feathers rustling. “Not guilty.”

Faora’s eyes gleamed. “Then prove it,” she said. She stepped back and snapped her jaws in a sharp command. The flight surged forward as one—claws outstretched, heat vision flaring, tails whipping. Clark met them head-on. He slammed into the lead drake, shoulder-checking it into the wall with a crack of crystal. Another lunged for his throat; he caught its jaws in both claws and twisted, hurling it into its packmates. Heat vision slashed across his shoulder, and pain flared, but the wound smoked and closed almost instantly. He roared, wings flaring wide, and the sheer **** of it bowled three of them off their feet. But there were too many. A freezing blast caught his wing, brittle ice cracking feathers. A tail lashed across his ribs, drawing dark blood. Claws raked his flank. He staggered, snarling, red eyes blazing. Faora watched from above, wings lazily beating to keep her aloft.

“Yield, Kal-El,” she called. “Join us. Lead them. Or watch them tear your precious family apart while you bleed out on your parents’ floor.”

Clark’s breath came in heavy gusts. He glanced toward the corridor—where shadows hid Kara, Karen, Diana, Arthur, Mera, and the children. Hal’s emerald barrier flickered, thinning. He straightened. Blood dripped from his side, but his voice was steady.

“No.”

Faora sighed theatrically. “Pity.” She raised a talon. The flight froze mid-attack. Then, as one, they pulled back, wings folding, snarls dying in their throats. Faora glanced at the sky visible through the broken roof. The sun hung low, painting the horizon in blood and gold. Dusk was minutes away. Sneering, Faora called out to her flight, who stopped and followed her lead, taking to the skies.

“WE’LL FINISH THIS ANOTHER TIME,” she shouted. “WHEN THE LIGHT IS STRONGER… AND YOUR RESOLVE IS WEAKER.”

With a powerful downbeat of her wings, she shot upward. The flight followed in a jagged formation, snarling, wings pounding thunder until they disappeared into the darkening Arctic sky. Silence settled over the amphitheatre. Clark stood amid the wreckage, chest heaving, blood pooling beneath his claws. Slowly and painfully, he folded his wings and sank to one knee. Hal landed beside him, ring dim but steady.

“You okay, big guy?” Clark didn’t answer immediately. His gaze remained on the broken roof, on the fading light. Like watching a house of cards collapse, Hal stepped back as Clark began to revert to near-human form. He rolled onto his back to look up outside, where the first stars were starting to appear.

***

Stepping out of the safety of the inner chambers of the fortress of solitude and out into the open, Diana, Kara, Karen and Barry looked out at what was left of the amphitheatre with shock and horror. The ceiling was gone, dug open by a dozen attackers with claws and heat vision. Outside, they could see the starry night sky laced with the Arctic aurora overhead. Inside the amphitheatre, the interior was reduced to rubble. The statues of the Els crumbled to bits, scattering across the cracked, fractured floor. And there at the center of the amphitheatre was Hal Jordan tending to a recuperating Superman.

“Kal!” Gasped Supergirl, just as the children rushed past her and scampered over to the prone Man of Steel. Though ‘man’ was hardly how one would describe him now.

Even in the dark of arctic night, his entire body was covered in smooth black scales. His hands and feet were taloned with sharpened, black claws. His hair had overgrown and spread down his neck like a lion’s mane, and from his brow were two stubby horns. Hal had to envelop himself in a forcefield for his own safety when the fledgling kryptodrakes rushed towards their father like a pack of wolves. Surrounding the draconian creature as he sat up, rolling his shoulder and looking down at his children and his healing injuries.

“Thank… Goodness… you’re all… Safe.” Clark sighed, his voice deeper in his enlarged state, still having trouble getting to his feet as his sons and daughters swarmed around him, squawking and barking with concern.

‘I don’t understand. She had a horde of Kryptodrakes with her. Why didn’t she have them drill through this place to get everyone? I’ve seen you go through entire mountains like they were made of cardboard.”

“Because of the nature of their affliction,” Diana explained to Hal as he kept his distance from the human-sized fledglings. “The second they’d end up in the dark, they’d return to human form and pass out. She’d lose control of her pack.”

“Her… Hostages…” Clark corrected, finally getting to his feet and finding that he towered almost a foot over everyone else. “She’s keeping them feral so she can control them… As their alpha.”

“So…” Hal frowned, crossing his arms as he floated a meter off the ground in the safety of his green barrier. “What’s the plan?”

Looking at what remained of his Fortress of Solitude and to his friend floating overhead, Clark gave an optimistic grin.

“How much of a charge do you have left on your ring?”