Disclaimer: This story features Superman, which is a trademark of DC Comics, and the cast of the Tenchi Muyo! OAV series, which is a trademark of AIC/Pioneer LDC, Inc. This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made off this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don't archive it without my permission. Don't be shy.

Continuity Note: This story takes place between ACTION COMICS #773 and SUPERMAN v. 2 #165. And it also takes place some time after OAV Episode #13.

Original Tenchi Muyo! concept by Masaki Kajishima and Hiroki Hayashi
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

[My name is... is...]

[I don't know?]

"My name is Lord Fudou, as recorded in the genealogical records of the Juraian Imperial Registry!" the peculiar green man announced as he pushed and shoved his way past the crowded stands and leaped over the barrier down to the arena floor. "Beyond Jurai I am better known by the moniker given to me by the Sole Jurisdiction of R'Nagg--Legion, The Pariah Who Lives as Many!" he extended his hand to the others already gathered on the other end of the floor. "Take note of my handiwork."

It was even better than he'd imagined. At long last his day had come. Every seed of treachery had finally borne fruit. All that was left to do now was to reap the bitter harvest, separate the wheat from the chaff. Chaff, like the pitiable fools at his feet.

[I hear a man speaking... my friend? NO. He tricked me. Made me forget who I was... Who am I? Where is the power?]

"You played right into his HANDS," Ryoko shouted. The former space pirate curled her fingers in frustration, as if she wanted to tear apart the entire scene with her bare hands like some tragic nightmare. Legion found her emotional display breathtakingly beautiful... like watching snow melt and collect in a gutter on a warm winter's day. She grasped Lord Tenchi by the shoulder and pointed down at the man he'd just defeated in the King's duel. "Tenchi... how could you...?"

"I gave him no choice, Demon," Legion snorted. He saw Tenchi point his sword at him again and he raised a dismissing hand to stop him before he could speak. "Don't embarrass yourself, Lord Tenchi. I've waited seven hundred years for this moment. Why should you attempt to stammer out an explanation for your actions when one can simply ask the author?"

Before he went on he looked down at the other contestant of the duel he'd arranged. Komorebi lay motionless on the floor, his prone body curled up in a fetal position facing away from him. The ones who dwelled inside Legion couldn't help but laugh at this sight. Humiliated, defeated, utterly lost in orbit around a world he never knew. As his friends gathered about to help him, Legion couldn't resist snickering himself.

"As you can see, Lords and Ladies of Jurai, I have chosen my man well. 'Komorebi' was a fiction, but his spirit was true. He refused to give up, no matter how hopeless the odds became. His powers fading without a yellow star to sustain them, a powerful opponent in Lord Tenchi, and without so much as a single weapon to fall back on when his might abandoned him. Tenchi couldn't have defeated him without killing him, and that was precisely what he has done. I'm most impressed, my boy. I was hoping you would win, but even _I_ didn't expect you to give His Majesty such a chillingly efficient performance. I know no one else here did..."

[I hear others around me... mumbling... pleading with me to wake up. I want to do it, but I feel so weak. One of them... one of my friends? He hurt me--hurt me and took away my strength. I'm confused and I have to DO something...]

"Damn and blast!" the human Steel snarled as he pulled out some mechanical device out and affixed it to Komorebi's forehead. "This man need immediate medical attention. Pulse is bad, breathing is shallow... Washuu, if you've got some miracle snake oil in that robe of yours I'm not too proud to ask for it."

"Nothing practical," the puerile scientist replied. "His physiology is too alien to make use of anything I've got on hand... can't even find the wound... There's no tear on his vestments where Tenchi hit him. This just got weird, kids. If I only had access to my laboratory--"

"Beggars would ride," Steel muttered. "One disaster at a time. How's the neural restorer working, Cogito?"

The X'vyvian filth nodded his simpering head in response as he knelt down over Komorebi's cranium. "Difficult to be sure, given his unconscious state. Assuming his mind is still functioning, the machine should be handling its end of the process." They would scamper around his body and fuss over saving his life. Their efforts would amount to nothing. He'd seen to that a long time ago.

A silence fell over the crowd as the King of Jurai finally stood up to confront Legion's proclamation. His daughter beat him to it. "I fail to see how this benefits you in any way, Fudou," Ayeka snapped. She stood up from Komorebi's side and fell in behind Tenchi. "All you've done is confess to what we've been saying from the very start! This man is no Juraian nobleman and you only sought to use him to infiltrate a puppet ruler into Jurai's Royal Family! Well, it may have cost Mr. Kal-El his life, but I promise you that you'll be made to pay for what you've done to his mind and body! If it's the last thing I do, I--"

"Then it is true, Fudou?" Asuza demanded from the stands, cutting off his daughter's worthless threats. "You have abducted an alien being, altered him to deceive the throne and all for the sake of a sick prank? Is THIS what has become of your respect for the--"

"SHUT UP, FOOL!" Legion yelled with a passion he hadn't felt in centuries. It was glorious, after all these years of anticipation, to finally be doing this at long last, "The only prank here is the one Jurai has played upon itself. A kingdom built on the conquest and annexation of alien worlds, yet wholly ignorant of the peoples living beyond their own species. Had I attempted this scheme anywhere else--ANYWHERE ELSE--it would have been thwarted in minutes, O Sovereign Emperor. But not Jurai, Asuza, not when backward traditions and ancient prejudices rule the day over careful pragmatism and rational thinking! Yes, I brought you an alien and dressed him up like a good little purebred Jurai--colored his hair blue and his eyes purple like he was one of your own insipid family!

"And you checked him over meticulously, never bothering to consider that I might have found ways to elude your vaunted genetic scanning technology. And even if I hadn't, you'd have accepted him anyway, wouldn't you? After all, I told you exactly what you wanted to hear. A man, far more powerful than any who ever walked your world, and he could marry your precious girl and rule the Empire a thousand years after you're gone. Never mind that you've already four heirs to your throne as it is, to say nothing of dozens of qualified suitors to whoever actually takes over. No, who needs the divine right of kings when you have a god-man who catches falling starships and fights your battles for you?"

[He's... telling the truth? I'm not who I thought I was. But I can't remember who I am. Feel a strange warmth on my face. One of the people trying to help me put something on my head. It's trying to change me-- Restore me? It hurts. I want to cry out for someone, but I can't remember who. I want to stand up and face whoever has done this to me, but it's all I can do to resist this machine--!]

Legion locked eyes with the Emperor and knitted his brow. "But he didn't WIN, did he, Asuza? Your Juraian of Tomorrow lays battered and broken by the Forgotten Branch, an Earthling you couldn't be bothered to consider. Not that he'd ever stand up to your indifference, but once I backed him into a corner he had no choice but to expose you for the fool you are, old man. Expose not only your personal folly, but that of your culture as well."

"And what makes you worthy to judge, Fudou?" Asuza demanded with an accusing index finger extended towards him. "While the rest of us rebuilt Jurai seven centuries ago, you stole away and never returned! What would you know about our ways, that you should dare to question them?"

The others within Legion were clawing away inside of him to be allowed to speak, but he suppressed them a moment longer. He'd compromised enough for this. He wouldn't deny his glory now. "Who am I? Who are you? I know firsthand what it is to be not only a citizen of Jurai, but to be one of the de facto underclass, the half-breeds who walk among you and bear the incessant prejudice of our 'betters'. Why did I leave, Your Highness? Why did your mongrel son leave? The only difference between us is that where he fled to a backward speck of a world, I went to the capital world of the Sole Jurisdiction, where I could remain in contact with the Galactic Community, where I could study, and learn, and plot. I ask you, what do you know, Asuza? What do you know about what it is to be Juraian? To be R'Nagg? Or Kryptonian?" He shifted his gaze to his wife Funaho sitting to his side. "Or human?"

[Kryptonian...? The thing on my head is making a strange buzz. I can see someone standing in front of me... Two of them... my parents?]

"It was I who suggested arranging this duel to take place before an audience of select guests, Asuza," Legion raved on. "That was no coincidence. I wanted to give these nobles of Jurai a small idea of what their ancient intermarriage program has produced. Not all of them supported it, of course, and even you flip-flopped on the issue when it proved unpopular. But this wasn't a theoretical tariff on imported beverages. A generation of men and women like myself were the result, and all the sticky political associations that went with them. And when we left Jurai, the lot of you never gave one whit of consideration of what that would entail.

"Let me SHOW you... seven hundred years ago I returned to my mother's estate in the Sole Jurisdiction. Now, the R'Nagg are perhaps even more bigoted and jingoistic than Jurai, but among them I had far less difficulty, as my Juraian longevity and social status made me too powerful to directly oppose. They despise Juraians, but fear them, and justifiably so. But none of you even knew that, did you? Even when my mother walked amongst you, you had no idea.

"I exploited those advantages, and grew to hold great power and influence in the Jurisdiction. Of course, my alien heritage prevented me from taking on any overt position of authority, but I always remained a top advisor, a hidden power working from behind the shadows. I was pleased by the reversal, using my alien nature to take control over the same people who resented me for it. But I wasn't satisfied, not while there was another nation that I could overcome in the same fashion.

"And so I turned to R'Nagg culture, and learned of the disciplines of K'ann Heg, what you might refer to as black magic. I learned to bide my time and wait for the right moment to strike, and so I did, right up until the day I learned of a insurrection on one of the Jurisdiction's annexed territories. Cogito's native world of X'vyv'x, where he had enlisted the aid of the Earth-based hero known as Superman--the man Lord Tenchi just impaled before your very eyes.

"He's the last of his species! Sent to live on an unexplored colonial province on the edge of Jurai space. A stranger in a strange land, the perfect tool to use against an unsuspecting empire built on ignorance of other worlds! It was a simple matter to have my agents gain access to the Galaxy Police reports detailing Jurai's contact with Earth, and then to use that information to best exploit the wedge driven between Jurai's Royal Family, but I had to understand Superman just as well, and for that I needed help."

[A man and a woman... they look at me as if they recognize me, but not as someone they know. He stares at me intently, ignoring the devastation going on outside his home (But I thought I was lying on the deck of a starship?). She looks at me with abject horror, but she refuses to look away, as if there's some part of my offensive appearance that she refuses to deny. I see myself in a reflective panel on the man's equipment, and realize how strange I must seem to them. Blue hair, purple eyes... a brightly colored costume in stark contrast to their two-toned robes. I don't know if they want to help me, or erase what little identity I have left!]

Legion lowered his voice and felt control of his own body slacken as one of the others took over his speech. "And who would know Kal-El of Krypton better than Zod, Jurai Regent? Zod, once revered as master strategist on a planet beyond the confines of this very universe! Zod, who crushed an entire world beneath his heel, before the man you call Komorebi rose up and murdered him in cold blood! Zod, who will see his standard flown across countless other planets by proxy of Legion! Our ally used his sorcery to commune with the dead, in the hopes of finding someone to aid him in his scheme, and so he found US. Long have I and my associates observed Kal-El from the grave, watching his every move, but powerless to avenge ourselves. He gave us the opportunity, and we provided him with the strategic master stroke that unfolds even now."

"Bold talk," Asuza harumphed as he crossed his arms across his chest, "from a corpse. Jurai has countless enemies across the galaxy, Fudou. Legion. Zod. If the Sole Jurisdiction thinks meager theatrics an effective way to wage a war against a more powerful opponent, then I fear they are gravely mistaken. You plot has failed. Now go, before I--"

"Still don't get it do you?" Legion broke in, his voice now uttered in a falsetto tone, as if impersonating a woman. "You gave up control to us the moment you laid in a course for the Beol System. Oh, Komorebi may have lost the duel and cost us a chance to rule Jurai through him, but Zod, Quex-Ul, and myself, we'd never enter into such a venture without a contingency plan. Why, even now we--"

"Enough chatter!" Legion suddenly added, interrupting his own train of thought with a new voice, this one as brutally simple as the last one was unctuous and conniving. He reached into the opening of his black tunic and pulled forth a small device. With an impatient snort, he depressed the red button on the face as if he wished to squash it out of existence. "Our moment is at hand, Zaora! Let the Tree-King see it for himself!"

And even without full sensation of his body, Legion felt the deck shake beneath his feet. The rest of them felt it, too, as Lord Tenchi and his motley crew struggled to right themselves against the sudden upheaval. Before anyone could ask what had happened, Zod chose to explain.

"A biogenetic weapon, Jurai Regent!" he sneered. "Contrary to your assertion, Legion's knowledge of Juraian space-trees and their operation has been most instrumental to our mutual cause. And as you say, your nation has any number of enemies, most of whom would have gladly given us a remote device which we could plant on your ship while the crew was so fixated on your less... reputable guests." He shot a glance at Ryoko and smirked. "We preferred to have ours purchased through a third party, the better to reduce speculation about when or how they would be used."

"The Shimosato," Funaho piped in. "The device used to cripple it as it approached Planet Jurai... that was no accident--"

"Correct, woman," Legion replied. "All a deliberate effort to win Komorebi over with the people. And of course, a test to ensure that the device would have the desired effect when we used it here. Propulsion, communications, weaponry, teleportation technology, all disabled by the microbial agents currently infecting this ship. NOW do you see why we wished to conduct this duel in secret, Asuza?"

"Left to drift in space," Ayeka said with more than a hint of dread, "this ship's orbit would gradually decay, until it finally crashes onto the surface of the planet below. And once Jurai ships take root in soil--"

"Their power is lost, Lady Ayeka," Legion finished. "And unlike the Shimosato, there'll be no dashing young men of steel to stop this vessel from doing exactly that! You'll find the planet below quite habitable given the technology available to you, although the magnetic field surrounding Beol II happens to be particularly disruptive to communications signals. And since no one knows where you are, and since I took the precaution of poisoning Ryo-Oh-Ki earlier to eliminate your only other means of escape, there's very little chance of you attracting any attention once you're down there. Who knows? With as many of you on this ship as there are, you might even begin a new race of self-important blue-bloods. At least this time your mistakes will be confined to a single planet."

[But I can see what will happen if I don't accept them. Not just their world, but others will be endangered. It's too late for their home (ours?), but I have to do whatever I can to keep it from happening to anyone else. If that means embracing something I don't understand... then I'll take that chance. I approach the man (father?), and he places his hand on my face...]

"And with that red sun looming over us," Lord Tenchi surmised, gesturing to his fallen opponent, "then there's no way he can escape or get help. You weren't giving me an edge, you were hedging your bets."

"As I understand," Legion chortled, "Kal-El knows more than a thing or two about agriculture. You'll find him most useful, assuming he recovers from his injuries."

"You're too good to us, Legion," Ryoko snarls. "So why not just kill us and be done with it? Or are you afraid you might lose a few of those crooked teeth in the process?"

"My memory probe must have addled your brain more than I thought, Changeling," Legion scoffed. "You of all people should know full well what happened when Kagato tried to use lethal force with Tenchi in attendance. No, we discussed it thoroughly, and the only wild card in our plot was Tenchi, and his fantastic ability to create Lighthawk Wings. An incredible power, but one he can only use when under duress, such as a matter of life and death." He turned to the King and smiled.

"But that's not what's on the line here, is it, Asuza? You and your lot will be trapped on the surface of that mudball for the rest of your miserable little lives, leaving your people vulnerable to chaos and internal strife--a vulnerability only I will know to exploit, allowing me to seize power throughout the empire. A dire fate for all Juraians, but nothing lethal, else Lord Tenchi would summon his fabled Lighthawk Wings and somehow put a stop to it. Well, no one will die here, Your Majesty. Nothing of any importance will be lost today. Just your kingdom, your precious rituals and traditions, your technological advancements! But Tenchi can't whip up a Lighthawk Wing to save an abstraction! Just a handful of puny lives, and you'll all live on happy and content as dirtfarmers on the planet's surface! Of course, Superman may not survive, but that's hardly MY doing, now is it?"

[And he says to me... "My son, be silent... and learn." And suddenly it all comes back to me.]

"Actually, he just might pull through," Washuu said calmly. "Even at rock bottom, he's a remarkable specimen." She knelt down over Komorebi's fallen body and checked his pulse to keep tabs on his condition.

"Perhaps," Legion admitted, "but with that red sun overhead, he'll never be able to escape from the prison we've built for him."

[It hurts, just as I had feared. A lot of it is painful to experience. Krypton's destruction. Doomsday. The day I found out Lori had died. Burying Zod and Zaora and Quex-Ul on that barren husk that had once been a thriving world. Watching the Joker violate reality... None of this was pleasant to begin with, but to absorb all those experiences at once--!]

He looked to Asuza once more and held out his hands to punctuate his life's work. His voice shifted once more to Zod's inflection and the words came spewing forth like a palpable, caustic thing. "I give you the luxury of one final decision, King of Failure. In either case your life will be spared, but there is a way for you--or anyone else here, for that matter--to be allowed to escape this fate and return home."

He took a second device from his tunic and held it up for all to see. "A Sole Jurisdiction freighter has been in radio contact with me since the moment they entered this system. Your crew hasn't alerted you to their presence as the vessel has a cloaking shield that obfuscates them from your sensors. They will teleport Legion aboard to safety and leave this system once and for all. Legion--and all those willing to pledge allegiance to him. We will succeed with or without your cooperation, Jurai Regent, but we are willing to grant you a place in the new order. All you must do is forsake your self-important social bearing, kneel before me, and swear eternal loyalty... to Zod."

[But there's so much good that goes along with that. Watching the sunrise with Pa, hearing Ryoko thank me... seeing my first novel on display at the bookstore... my wedding day... It's worth all that storm and stress and far more to have those memories. It's those gentle moments that remind me what I'm fighting for, and I know what I have to do now, but there's nothing I can do. Forgive me, father, but I don't have the strength--]

The ancient monarch frowned for a moment at this and then smiled defiantly as he waved his hand dismissingly. "Given such a... charitable offer," he grunted, "I'd sooner enlist the aid of the devil herself. Until my guards can take over, of course."

Before Legion could respond, he heard the implosion of air behind him and then felt a lithe arm clamp down on across his chest like an iron bar. In front of him he saw a beam of orange light extend across his field of vision, and heard the ionizing air sizzle as it drew closer to his neck.

"The King and I don't always get along so good," Ryoko growled, "but it doesn't take a pair of old pals to notice that you forgot one thing, Legion. If we go, we're taking you with us. Unless maybe your boys outside might consider cutting a deal for--"

He laughed at this even as her energy blade sliced across the tip of his long goatee. "For my life, Changeling? Do you think I'd even be here if I valued my life above proclaiming my total victory over you all? Hah! You're talking to someone who communicates with the dead, simpleton! Even if I had cause to fear death, my people will still carry out my plan with or without me. They have standing orders to do so! Better to have a half-Juraian at the fore of the revolution than none at all, eh, Asuza? If you won't kneel before Zod, then I'll give you that to decide at least! Well?"

He could almost hear Asuza's teeth grinding at the final realization that he'd been undone. In all likelihood, he'd have him executed for what little vengeance he could muster, but Legion wasn't bluffing. He knew the risks and he didn't care. Death would be a fair price for what he was witnessing now.

"Let him go, Ryoko."

And then, the grip on his person was relaxed, as the Changeling's arms drew back from his body and he looked around to see her staring at Lord Tenchi. "He's right," the Earthling said, "killing him won't solve anything now, even if you could... He's put too much thought into this. You can't stop him, Ryoko, and neither can I or the King or any of us."

"Most prudent of you, boy," Legion mocked. "A true Prince of the Blood to be sure. I imagine you'll be leading this group one day. You're certainly more qualified for it."

And suddenly, Tenchi smiled with a wild look in his eye, and as he ignited his sword and let the blade flip down towards Komorebi's body on the floor, something shook Legion's confidence to the core. "WE can't stop you, Legion. But I know someone who can."

The people knelt around him backed away in terror as Tenchi quickly kicked over Komorebi's body and plunged the sword directly into his chest. The child Sasami cried out in fear, and as the blade shifted its color from the usual blue into a brilliant yellow, Legion wondered if he should be doing the same. From within, the ghosts who shared his soul demanded to know what was happening, and for the first time since he began this alliance, he had no answer.

No answer, save for what was transpiring before his very eyes. Golden energy flew away from the sword in great arcs of power, and while most of the sparks and flashes were directed into his body, a few sprung out towards Mihoshi, Steel, Washuu, and Cogito, passing through them harmlessly.

And despite his unparalleled communion with death, Legion felt himself shudder as Komorebi's hands began to twitch, then shake, then clench into fists.

[Something's changed... the power... I can feel it. It's not the same as before. It's alien, uncomfortable as it enters my body... but it's working. And I know. I know what I have to do now.]

With an unholy whine of energy spilling across him, Komorebi raised his arms and began to sit up. As if on cue, Tenchi pulled the sword out of him and made room for him to stand. Even with the contact broken, amber light still roiled off the sword and onto his massive frame. His eyes burned like embers of coal, and without being consciously aware of it, Legion took a step back at the sight of it.

And slowly, impossibly, like some awful monster awakening from a long sleep, he began to rise.

[I know...]

"No..." Legion gasped. "Not possible. It can't be--!" At last something inside him found the presence of mind to recall his communicator, and he held it up to his face and drenched it with flecks of spittle as he screamed into it. "This is Fudou! Teleport me aboard and set course for Jurai NOW!"

"I'd hurry, if I were you," Ryoko purred.

"Yeah, I've seen him when he's upset," Washuu giggled.

And as Legion felt his physical form dematerialize in the teleportation beam, once again he heard the voices inside him begging him for an explanation. Contrary to the fantasies he'd had leading up to this moment, he had none.

Legion had slipped away, but he'd expected that. Like the man said, whatever became of him personally would have no bearing on the outcome of his master plan now. As for himself, took a deep breath and tried to understand what had been done to him.

"Steel?" he asked. "Cogito? Trying to figure out at what point you two got involved in all of this."

"Easy, partner," Steel offered, moving towards him, but then backing off in mid-motion. "I'd lend you a hand, but I'm not sure that'd be safe at this point."

"What do you remember, Kal-El?" Cogito asked.

"En--enough," he muttered. He felt the clothing on his body and felt something else underneath. "Costume? But--? No, focus. Have to find him before it's too late." He swiveled his head around and caught glimpses of the rest of them looking on in bewilderment. He'd be happy to offer explanations as soon as he'd gotten them himself.

"The ship is cloaked," Washuu told him. "You may not be able to--"

"There," he said after a moment of looking up and turning his head to search. A faint outline just on the edge of the ultraviolet spectrum. If the situation weren't so critical he might have taken the time to give Washuu a little smirk for upstaging her yet again, but as it was... "What's the fastest way off this ship--? Ah, never mind. Ryoko, you can phase me through the hull, right?"

He started pulling off the Juraian pants and ripping loose the gloves from his garments. "Well, yeah," she said, still shaken from what must have been a startling transformation to witness. Once upon a time he'd been dead--really and truly dead, and he'd gotten familiar with that sort of look ever since. "Look, if you're hurt," she offered, "I can go with you, give you a hand--"

"You're not fast enough," he replied curtly. "And I can't risk expending my reserves on carrying passengers. Whatever's been done to me, I can tell it's not going to last long, and that red sun won't help matters. I have to do this alone." He tore the tunic loose from his chest, revealing the traditional blue costume underneath. "This is a job," he announced, "for SUPERMAN!"

"Welcome back, sir," the teleportations officer said triumphantly. "I take it our mission is a succe--"

"Not now, fool!" Legion snapped at him, "Are we out of this star system yet? Can we go to hyperluminous?"

"Ah, we're still not far enough from the star's gravitational effects to safely exceed sublight speed, sir," he stuttered. "But we're moving as fast as we can, and it's only a matter of seconds before--"

"That's not fast enough!" he screamed. Legion shoved the man aside and stormed out the room and into the bridge. There he found the bridge crew feverishly working as if they were under attack, in contrast to the celebratory decorations that had been strung up around the deck. "What's happening?" he demanded.

The captain rose from his chair and pointed at the viewscreen. "The Jurai vessel, sir. They've launched some sort of missile at us just after you gave the command to be beamed back aboard. Strangely shaped, sensors can't make out anything but this bizarre energy signature surrounding it. Unbelievably fast, maneuverable, and when we can get a lock on it with our weapons, it barely slows down."

He stared at the image and caught his jaw dropping absent-mindedly. It couldn't have taken more than ten seconds for the teleporter to bring him aboard, and he was already in pursuit! More, he was actually gaining on them... the voices inside him wanted to know what was going on, and he still had no idea. He'd spent seven centuries plotting against his enemies from afar, and now he was forced to improvise...

No! They could still win! Fast as he was, Superman wouldn't be able to overtake them once they achieved faster than light travel. All they had to do was stay ahead of him a while longer, and his powers would fade once again, stranding him in the void of space. It was an unexpected complication, but if they could just stay ahead of him--

A helmsman turned from his console and looked fearfully at Legion, his green simian features quivering with dread. "Sir, you said that when you called to be beamed aboard, that the terrorist from Krypton would be defeated! That we would have won! Is this some trick by the Jurai--"

"Silence!" Legion snarled. "All I want to know is can we go to warp before that thing intercepts us!"

"Brace for impact!" the tactical chief shouted, and his words were followed with a rumble that shook the entire world around them. Legion fell to the floor, and a pair of security men helped him to his feet. As the men around him scurried about trying to preserve their ship, he was lost in the clamor of the ghosts within his body.

"It makes no sense!" Quex-Ul bellowed within his mind. "His power was drained, there was no way he could replenish them! The Tree-People used some sort of trick to revive him, but Fudou should have accounted for--"

"It makes no difference, NOW," Zaora shot back. "Any moment he'll be upon us--even now he's made contact with the ship! We have to stop him before he ruins everything!"

"Legion has made an error in choosing to flee," Zod observed coolly. "So slavishly devoted to our plan that he failed to consider the moment. The instant the murderer's power returned, the Juraian vessel became the weakest link. We should have pressed our advantage."

"Damage report!" the captain demanded.

"Hull breach on deck seven! Already sealed off with force fields. Security reports severe structural damage to decks six... five... four... three..."

"Unidentified phenomenon reported in main engineering! Establishing visual... but--"

The viewscreen at the fore of the bridge switched from the field of stars that lay ahead of them to an interior shot of the engine room through one of the security cameras. At least that was what the crew had said, but looking at the image, all Legion could see was a blurry war zone. Men either fled or fired their weapons in random directions, but there was nothing for them to hit. There was nothing to see but streaks of red and blue darting past the camera's range faster than the eye could follow, and flashes of... lightning? The image flickered and faded before he could get a better look, leaving him staring back at the stars outside.

"He's here," Legion spat from a clenched jaw.

"Of course he's HERE," Zod snapped from inside his mind. "DO something about it. Order the ship to come about, get us close enough to the Jurai to open fire. If we move fast enough then we can hold them hostage, buy us enough time to think of something else--"

"Security reports weapons arrays severely damaged on deck three!" a crewman shouted. "Engineering teams dispatched to make repairs--"

"Intruder confirmed! Security forces report their firearms have no effect on him. Emergency bulkheads torn apart like paper!"

"You're mad, Zod," Zaora quipped. "As if we had a prayer of outrunning HIM. You're still back on the Earth of our universe, lording your superior power over a weakling humanity. We have to maintain course. Get as far from Beol as possible--"

"And if he tears this ship apart in the process?!" Zod screamed.

"We're already DEAD," Zaora shot back. These green pusbags die, but so what? Legion dies, but what does HE care? We can find a new host together for all four of us! At least the murderer will die aloft in space and the Jurai Royal Family is lost forever! A Pyrrhic victory, but still better than the desperate stall you propose. Do it, Legion! Do it while we still can--"

"How soon until we can go to hyperluminous?" the captain asked.

"Fifteen seconds," the helmsman replied.

"Alter course to the nearest Jurai settlement," the captain ordered. "If we make it we can tell them he forced us to invade Jurai space. They'll take our word over his if we play it right. Even a Kryptonian can't take on the entire Jurai fleet!"

"Yes," Legion croaked. "The security men can hold him off for a while longer. Just enough to get us away from here. All we have to do is--"

"They're not holding him off at ALL!" Quex-Ul yelled. "The situation calls for action Legion, not vague assurances! He'll tear us apart while you mumble to yourself. What are you going to do?"

And he still didn't know.

"Reports coming in now... severe damage to hyperluminous engines. Reactor core overloading. No casualties, only minor injuries sustained. Intruder sighted heading for the bridge."

"Status of the engines? How long to make repairs?"

"No one left to make repairs, sir. The entire engineering staff is unconscious."

"Jettison the reactor. We can't fight him and stop it from exploding at the same time--"

"Hull breach on deck two! Deck one! Security to the bridge, on the double!"

All activity froze as he came smashing through the floor like a torpedo. Other than the yellow energy dancing around his body, everyone on the ship knew exactly who he was. The red and blue costume was unmistakable.

"Superman!" the captain shouted. "Stop him!"

"Other way around, actually," he smirked, backhanding the first two men to approach him. They fell to the ground with a thud and didn't move except for the rise and fall of their chests. He leaped to the other side of the bridge and grabbed two more crewmen from their consoles and held them up by the fabric of their uniforms, knocking their heads together rather than wasting his knuckles on the job. One had the presence of mind to actually try a laser pistol on him, but before he could fire a single shot Superman was already on top of him. A spark of golden lightning leapt from his fingers as he reached for the rifle, and the crewman dropped it with a yelp of pain. As if he still posed any sort of threat after this, Superman gave him a chop at the base of his neck to put him out. Perhaps the wisest of all was the captain, who tried to retreat out the door, during the fracas, but Superman spotted him first, and gave him a quick shove in the back, causing him to hit the door face-first before it could slide open to let him out.

And just like that, Legion was the only one left standing.

"No..." he gasped, backing away from him with a half step. "Planned for everything... wasn't supposed to happen this way..."

Superman stalked over to him and grabbed him by the sleeves. "The last time we met," he growled, "you expressed some dissatisfaction with the way I handle my affairs, Legion. So I decided to try something a little different. Maybe take a page from your playbook. See how you like it."

He squirmed impotently in the Kryptonian's grip, but the only response was a triumphant smile. "This ship isn't going anywhere," Superman declared. "I picked up a few things about Sole Jurisdiction technology when I helped liberate Cogito's people a while back. I managed to jam the reactor so that it'll blow itself to kingdom come in less than a minute. If you want to stop it--"

As if to emphasize his point, the entire ship rumbled and shook beneath them. Legion nearly lost his balance, but Superman just tightened his grip.

"If you want to stop it," he continued, "you can order the computer to jettison the core. I believe that's what your people were about to do before I showed up, right? My super-hearing isn't quite up to snuff at the moment. I may not even survive the explosion, in case that might have any bearing on your decision."

Legion felt the muscles in his arms spasm as the energy from Superman's body crackled and jumped out from his hands onto him. If Superman noticed this, he didn't acknowledge it as he continued speaking. "Of course, I'll be happy to LET you give that order to the computer, provided you bring this ship about and tow the Juraians to safety. And I'm sure they'd want to board your vessel and sent out a distress call to the nearest patrol. That's up to them, naturally."

"Y-you... idiot!" Legion stammered. "We know you better than you know yourself! You'd never kill me, and even if you did, I'd die happily knowing you and Asuza's family were lost forever!"

"Wrong on both counts, Legion!" Superman smiled. "My memory isn't quite what it was, and besides, I'm putting your life in your hands. Oh, I suppose I'd be responsible for the lives of your crew if you call my bluff, but I don't think you'd kill us all for no reason! Look at the viewscreen."

He turned to the monitor and found nothing but a field of stars adorning Boel like a great ruby in the center of a cosmic crown. "You'd need telescopic vision to tell, but the nearest of those stars is about seven light years away. Now, if you sent a communique from this ship to that star, it'd take only a few seconds to get there, thanks to your advanced technology. But a conventional electromagnetic wave would need seven years to get there. Like the kind of EM pulse this ship's engine will generate when it blows. Oh, it'd take the better part of a decade for someone to notice it, but someone in that field of stars WOULD notice it. And who do you suppose OWNS those stars?"

"I... I..."

"Tick-tock," Superman admonished him. "There isn't a way to spin this to your favor, Legion. You either quit now while you're behind, or you can be Legion, the Man Who Arranged an Extended Camping Trip for the King of Jurai. Hardly the revolution you had in mind. What's it going to be?"

The voices within him were furious, but there was nothing they could tell him that would do any good. He sucked in a deep breath and expelled it with his next words. "Computer: Jettison the Reactor, under special command authorization of Fudou. Code sequence Zero-Nine-Seven-Four. Execute."

"Authorization confirmed. Working," a sterile voice replied over a PA broadcast. For a few interminable seconds there was silence, save for the incessant buzz of the alien energy of Superman's body, and then the deck shook underneath them. The core had exploded just as it had flown clear of the ship. Superman dropped him to the ground unceremoniously.

"If it makes you feel any better," he offered, pointing to his jaw. "Not that it'll do you any good at this point."

Legion closed his eyes tightly and grabbed at the hair on his head in frustration.

NEXT: TO ALL THINGS...