Second Chances: Superman and Lois

Chapter 12

This chapter will contain a major twist that helps connect Superman and Lois with Supergirl.

"What brings you back here my son?" the hologram of Zeta Rho asked his son Tal Rho, better known the world as Morgan Edge as he stood in his fortress.

"There has been a complication in our plans." Tal said.

"What kind of complication?" Zeta asked.

"Kal-El and I are not the only Kryptonians on this planet. Kara Zor-El is here as well. She just revealed herself to the world and appears to be fulfilling the same role as her cousin. And unlike Kal-El, she knew me on Krypton. If she should recognize me." Tal said.

"Calm yourself Tal. If the daughter of the house of El still lives on Earth, then use that to your advantage. Try and use your history with her to befriend her and try to gain her help." Zeta said.

"You forget that she despised me on Krypton and I doubt her opinion of me has changed much because of the actions I've taken on Earth." Tal pointed out.

"True. But still, perhaps you should start looking into how she came to Earth. If you can discover that, you might be able to uncover new information that can help you with the eradicator." Zeta said and Tal nodded.

"You realize this means we'll have to delay the timetable a bit until I can determine how much Kara Zor-El will impact it." Tal said.

"This is a delay worth taking. We've waited this long for our resurrection. We can wait a bit longer." Zeta said.

"I will not fail father." Tal said.

"I know you won't. I was sure to beat any trace of failure or weakness out of you when you arrived." Zeta sneered as the hologram flickered out, leaving Tal alone on a world he did not ask to be on, but one he intended to truly make his own. However, what he did not realize was that his own father was playing him.

At the same time, in deep space, Zeta Rho, who was still alive and well, standing in the domed city of Argo, which was the surviving piece of Krypton and on it was the last of the Kryptonian population.

"Pathetic. It will be a wonder if he manages to execute the plan before I arrive." Zeta said, since he'd been working on a way to get himself from Argo to Earth so that he could oversee the rebirth of Krypton himself.

Zeta exited the secret chamber he had in his home on Argo, since he had to keep up appearances that he had truly changed and was working for the betterment of his people in the city until he could go to Earth. But more importantly, before he went to Earth, Zeta had an even more important goal to finish on Argo. Getting his wife back, since like him, Lara Lor-Van was also still alive on Argo, though to his pleasure, her second husband Jor-El had died when Krypton exploded. However, the rest of the house of El, including Lara's in-laws, Zor-El and Alura Zor-El, were still alive in the city and Alura actually sat on Argo's high council.

However, before Zeta could give his plans any more thoughts, he was shocked when his door was broken down by Argo's peace keeping forces, led by captain Thara Ak-Var.

"Zeta-Rho, by order of the high council, you are under arrest." Thara said as she proceeded to place Zeta in cuffs.

"This is outrageous." Zeta said.

"It would be if we didn't know about this." Lara Lor-Van said as she and Alura Zor-El entered the residence and Lara revealed Zeta's secret room.

"You really think that we truly believed that you'd ever changed your ways. You're still the same arrogant waste you've always been, but now, you were willing to sacrifice another planet to satiate your quest for power." Alura said, making it clear that Zeta's fate had already been determined.

"I am trying to bring Krypton back. We shouldn't be forced to simply scavenge and survive on this rock. We deserve our own world." Zeta said.

"But not at the cost of another." Alura said.

"I am working with the science guild to find a suitable world for us to colonize, you know this, you were supposed to be helping us with it. We will not take another race's planet from them." Lara said.

"Take him away to await trial." Alura said and Thara nodded.

"So you don't want to know what's become of your children?" Zeta asked with a grin as he saw both women freeze at that.

"Be careful with what you say next traitor. Speak while you still can?" Alura asked, not daring to let herself hope for what Zeta was implying.

"The information will come at the cost of my freedom. Though I'm not sure why I should help the family that took my wife from me." Zeta said.

"I never loved you Zeta. I only married you because our families thought it would be a good match. But when I met Jor-El, I felt no guilt for leaving you for him in an instant. He was twice the man you'll ever be. He believed in choice and freedom. Now tell me what you know about my sons. Both Kal-El and Tal-Rho." Lara said, since she'd known about Tal, but Zeta had made it impossible for her to ever see him.

"I told you what the price is." Zeta said.

"If you don't want to tell us now, fine. You're aware that the council has a means of extracting information from you. And I might not even wait for them to use them. Tell me what you know about my daughter." Alura said, ready to strangle Zeta for toying with her.

"Alura, calm down, there's only one reason he'd use our children against us. They're alive." Lara realized.

"Is this true?" Alura asked, needing to hear Zeta say it.

"Yes." Zeta said reluctantly, knowing that since Lara had figured it out herself, he had no leverage over them.

"Take him to interrogation. Find out everything he knows." Alura said to Thara, who nodded as she and her forces took Zeta away.

"You and Zor-El need to find a way to get us to Earth as soon as possible." Alura said.

"I'm going to go over Zeta's files, see if he has anything that can help with that, since I want to see both of my sons as badly as you want to see your daughter." Lara agreed.