Boom!
The bald man soared backward as Adrian's blow landed squarely in his chest, crashing into the earth with a violent impact. Rock and debris sprayed into the night air.
In an instant, Adrian moved, touching the opponent's arm with precision. He seized it, hurling the weakened man forward.
Before Adrian could react further, the Kryptonian woman who had been struggling to her knees surged toward him at devastating speed. While Adrian was momentarily distracted, she hurled a silver bracelet into the air.
The bracelet split open, forming a swirling ring of shimmering energy. A powerful force erupted from it, sucking in air and whipping winds violently in every direction, threatening to pull Adrian straight into its center.
At the last possible moment, a familiar figure appeared.
Clark.
He seemed to materialize from thin air, as though traveling from the icy expanses of the North Pole itself. With no hesitation, Clark leapt into the path of the unstable portal to shield Adrian from the crushing suction.
The force of the pull was overwhelming. Before either of them could resist, Clark was dragged into the silver vortex. As he vanished, the ring's surface shimmered with images — buildings rising up like a miniature city trapped within the swirling energy.
Adrian reacted instantly, activating his super speed. His hand shot toward Clark, but the pull of the space far outpaced anything Adrian could match.
He grasped nothing but cold air.
Clark's figure shrank rapidly, swallowed into the strange dimension like a bit of starlight fading into darkness.
Adrian stood frozen, watching helplessly.
Around him, Courtney and the others who had rushed from the parking lot stood in stunned silence, eyes wide at what had just happened.
With a swift motion, the Kryptonian woman withdrew the silver ring. In its returned form it was just a simple mirror — but on its surface glowed the reflections of Clark, Lana, and Lex.
When Adrian saw the images in the hand of the Kryptonian woman, his face, already unreadable, hardened further. A palpable chill radiated from him, so intense that even Courtney and the others felt it in the distance.
Whoosh!
In a blink, Adrian used his super speed to seize the injured bald man he had earlier thrown aside. Then, without hesitation, he reappeared in front of the Kryptonian woman, eyes glowing with lethal intent.
Brilliant crimson beams shot out from Adrian's eyes, aimed directly at the bald man's face.
Wounded and weakened, without full sunlight to empower him, the bald man could not defend himself. Adrian's heat vision struck home, the intense energy driving into his eye sockets.
Even a Kryptonian could not endure such agony. The man screamed, writhing in pain as red heat seared through him.
"I will not repeat myself," Adrian growled, voice cold and merciless, his eyes like burning embers.
"Let Clark go. If you don't, I will make your companion suffer horrors you cannot imagine."
He spoke without hesitation, firing another blast in the direction of the wounded man.
"No! I don't care!"
The Kryptonian woman's voice was unnervingly calm. She shook her head, eyes fixed on the mirror in her hand.
"As long as the mission succeeds, no life is worth more than our goal. Clark is in my control now, and that is enough."
Her words were chilling in their detachment.
Adrian halted his heat vision. Expression cold and unreadable, he reached down, gripping the bald man's head with both hands and twisting sharply.
Crack.
The sound was final. The bald man's head was torn free.
The Kryptonian woman's eyes widened with horror as her comrade fell.
"Since you claim to sacrifice others so easily… what about you?"
Adrian did not hesitate. Shadow began to seep from the ground beneath him, tendrils spreading outward like inky black fingers.
The dark tendrils coiled up, transforming into solid, rope‑like shapes that wrapped tightly around the Kryptonian woman's limbs. She struggled fiercely, but her strength was fading.
The air around became thick and oppressive. Fear, guilt, regret, loneliness — every dark emotion within her was amplified until it felt as if she were being dragged down into some bottomless pit of despair.
Her mind reeled as the shadow pulled her deeper and deeper, and for the first time since she arrived on Earth, terror gripped her fully.
She tried to scream, but it felt as though her voice was being sucked away, leaving only a silent howl in her mind.
Courtney and the others watched in horror as the scene unfolded. Adrian, cloaked in living shadow with mist rising around him, appeared more nightmare than man, as if something ancient and monstrous had crawled up from the darkest depths of legend.
"I…" Wildcat Yolanda whispered, eyes wide, "Now I understand why he wrote about those dark, unspeakable things in his book. They might be real. That form… he looks like the fiercest of them all."
"I agree," Midnight Doctor said with a shudder, watching the dark aura radiate from Adrian. "Maybe those horrors are part of him. If he's hurt or angry… he becomes something else entirely."
Courtney's face, unlike the others, did not whisper of fear or mythic monsters. Instead, concern and worry flickered in her eyes.
Meanwhile, the Kryptonian woman was being dragged beyond where shadows gave way to nothing. Her voice trembled, raw with panic.
"No! Stop! I will let Kal‑El go! Don't… don't drag me down!"
Her words were desperate, her conviction shattered by fear.
Only her head remained above the inky depths.
Snap!
Just before she would have disappeared entirely, Adrian reached out and seized her last free hand. His expression was cold.
"In words, you speak of sacrifice and ideals," he said, voice flat, "but when faced with your own fear, when you see your weakness reflected back at you, grand speeches become nothing but excuses."
Then he pulled her up.
"Release Clark. Release the others."
The Kryptonian woman, visibly shaken as though every harsh thought inside her head had been ripped apart, looked at Adrian. After a long moment, she removed the silver bracelet and let it fall.
The bracelet sprang open again, flaring with light and wind. The strange suction disappeared, and reality rippled as though waking from a dream.
In the next instant, Clark was ejected from the distorted space.
At the same moment, Lana and Lex were also released.
"Ugh…"
Lana hit the ground on her knees, gasping for breath.
Lex staggered to his feet, still dazed, touching his head as though checking if it was real.
Lana looked around, shaken but alive. Nearby she saw the defeated bald man and the dirt‑covered remains of the Kryptonian woman whose uniform was torn and ragged.
Adrian stood not far from her, expression unreadable, watching.
Clark hurried to Lana and Lex as soon as he could.
"Lana, Lex — are you both okay?" he asked, concern in his voice.
"I'm… okay," Lana said slowly, glancing back once at the woman who brought them here, then offering Clark a faint, forced smile.
Seeing the woman finally release Clark softened Adrian's icy expression just a little.
He addressed her directly.
"The space you just used… was it the Phantom Zone?"
The Phantom Zone — a dimension used by Krypton to imprison the worst of Kryptonian criminals, a place of ghostlike existence where those inside could see but not touch, where time barely even passed. General Zod himself, if he survived Krypton's destruction, should be trapped there now.
The Kryptonian woman's eyes widened. She stared at Adrian in disbelief.
"No, not the Phantom Zone itself, but something very close to it… how do you know about it?"
She had assumed that even Kal‑El knew little of the Zone, yet here was Adrian, knowing far more than she expected.
Adrian offered no answer. After a cold look, he turned and walked away.
"Bart."
Adrian's voice cut through the quiet.
"Take her to 145."
Metropolis 145 — the base of the Justice Society, a place of training and containment.
"Me?" Bart stammered, clearly hesitant. He did not feel strong enough to handle the Kryptonian woman alone.
Adrian stepped in front of him.
"If you know her weakness, you won't be afraid. Use green kryptonite to weaken her. I know you have some from previous… acquisitions. Don't let it leave her vicinity, understand?"
"Un‑understand!" Bart choked out, then nodded.
Adrian had no intention of killing her. A living Kryptonian, no matter how hostile, was far more valuable than a corpse.
Once Bart found the green kryptonite and escorted the Kryptonian woman — along with the bald man's body — to the Justice Society, the battle finally came to an end.
Lex watched Adrian's departing back with a complex expression, realization dawning on him.
There were far more secrets hidden in Adrian than anyone had suspected.
Strange space. Alien enemies. Incredible powers. Lex's mind buzzed with questions, though none were spoken.
"So… our mission is over?" Midnight Doctor asked, eyes flicking around the battlefield.
"We barely did more than watch," Courtney admitted with a tired sigh.
Wildcat rubbed her side, still sore. "Does someone want to help me up toward the hospital? I think I may have cracked a rib."
"I'm coming," Courtney said, helping her up.
Everyone began moving slowly toward safety.
Clark, seeing that Adrian had subdued the threat, turned to leave and fulfill his agreement with Jor‑El… but an anguished cry from the hospital stopped him in his tracks.
===
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