Chapter 261: Phantom Zone Conspiracy

Chapter 261: Phantom Zone Conspiracy

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Superman and Batman turned away, leaving. Batman however remained puzzled about something, his gaze never left the floor, his mind already dissecting the implications.

It was Bruce who spoke first. "The Council banished Zod to the Phantom Zone," he began quietly, his voice filled with that familiar suspicion. "That’s supposed to be a prison outside of time, a place no one comes back from. So tell me, any idea how they escaped?"

Superman exhaled through his nose, his blue eyes narrowing slightly, not in irritation, but in understanding. He’d expected that question the moment Bruce became silent.

Before Batman could press further, Clark spoke.

"Before you say anything, Bruce... I have an armory here. Everything you can imagine. Even Kryptonian weapons and technology. Including something called the Phantom Zone Projector."

Batman’s head tilted slightly, the name alone triggering a hundred silent theories behind his cowl. "Projector?"

"It’s a device," Superman explained, gesturing toward the far wall where a tall, crystalline vault glowed faintly behind an energy field. "It can transport prisoners or objects in and out of the Phantom Zone. It was created it as a way to contain criminals safely, permanently. It was never meant to be used lightly. I’ve never used it."

Batman’s eyes, hidden beneath the cowl, sharpened. He didn’t move closer, but the tone in his voice changed quieter, "You’re saying it’s been locked away here all this time?"

Clark nodded, his voice steady. "Yes. I haven’t touched it since the day I found it. You can scan the Fortress yourself if you want...I know that look, Bruce."

Batman’s lips twitched almost imperceptibly, the faintest ghost of a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes. "I’m not saying you’re lying. I’m asking if you’re sure no one else has used it."

Superman frowned. "No one else has access to the Fortress."

"That’s what I thought about the Batcave once upon a time." Bruce countered dryly. "Security means nothing to people who can move faster than a bullet or think faster than a computer."

Clark’s gaze hardened. "Bruce."

But Batman wasn’t accusing he was analyzing. Every word, every pause in Clark’s tone. His voice came out colder, more focused. "If Zod and his soldiers escaped the Phantom Zone, someone helped them. And if it wasn’t you, and if your projector hasn’t been touched, then someone else had the means."

Superman’s eyes softened slightly, knowing where Bruce’s mind was heading even before he said it. "You’re thinking of Luthor."

Batman was silent.

Clark turned, walking a few paces away before speaking. His voice was calm, but it carried an undertone of grief. "Lex is gone, Bruce. We don’t even know what became of him. He took himself and Arthur down with him during that Cadmus incident, I scanned the area personally. There was nothing left no life, no signal. I mean we thought Arthur was gone as well till he appeared again."

Bruce’s eyes flicked toward him, his tone unchanging. "That’s what concerns me."

Superman’s brow furrowed. "You are thinking of someone else.."

"I think someone always does," Batman replied simply. "Luthor’s shadow stretches further than his lifetime. Someone had to know about his tech, about its access to alien technology. If they got their hands on anything from his vaults, Kryptonian data, blueprints, maybe even fragments of your father’s tech they could have built something capable of breaching the Phantom Zone. Or it could have been someone else entirly, one we have no clue about. A new threat."

Superman didn’t argue. He only stared at the wall of ice-crystal ahead, jaw tight. "...I also think Zod’s release wasn’t random."

"I think it’s orchestrated," Bruce said quietly. "And that’s what’s been on my mind. Not Zod himself... people like him are predictable. Soldiers, zealots, conquerors. But whoever opened that door?" He looked up, eyes narrowing beneath the cowl. "That’s the real threat."

Clark turned to face him fully, his cape shifting slightly in the cold air. "You think someone wanted them here. Why?"

Batman’s voice dropped lower, his mind already ten steps ahead. "Distraction. Or leverage. You, Kara, maybe even Arthur. Someone benefits from chaos, and they just unleashed Krypton’s worst nightmare to get it."

Superman’s eyes flashed faintly, the familiar glow of his heat vision fading just as quickly as it came. "If you’re right..."

"I usually am," Batman interrupted flatly.

Clark gave him a sidelong look, half amused. "You really are impossible to talk to sometimes."

"Which is why you asked me here," Bruce said evenly, his tone betraying no emotion but the corners of his mouth almost lifted. "To see the angles you’d rather not."

Superman sighed, finally letting a small laugh slip. "I guess I did."

****

The cold void of space was vast and indifferent yet in that black clam, one figure hovered motionless above the curve of Earth.

Arthur floated in the darkness, the faint light of the sun glinting across the black armor of his Shadow Lantern uniform

Below him, the Earth looked peaceful an illusion he knew better than to trust. Above, the Watchtower was like a silent guardian in orbit, glinting faintly against the backdrop of the stars. Arthur’s eyes narrowed.

"Even they didn’t detect a thing..." he muttered, in irritation.

He floated there, arms crossed, "The tech of the Kryptonians is something else," he said to himself, scanning the blackness ahead. "I’m sure they can make even their ships invisible to every scanner known to man. But..." He frowned, closing his eyes. "With my senses, I should still be able to pick them up."

The ring on his finger pulsed.

Then, one by one, dozens of faint violet lights flickered into existence across the solar system his Shadow Lanterns, connected through the web of his will.

Their voices came in unison, deep, reverent.

"My King."

Arthur’s tone softened, though it still carried weight. "Report. Anything unusual?"

Silence. Then a faint ripple of psychic feedback the synchronized thoughts of his shadow soldiers.

"Nothing yet, my King. Our rings are scanning every quadrant, but there is nothing."

Arthur exhaled slowly, his breath fogging inside his visor. "You know you can use your rings to scan more efficiently, right?"

One of the voices, Sinestro, the wisest of his shadow corps, answered calmly.

"We are already doing that, my King."

Arthur’s lips pressed into a thin line. His hand clenched, faint sparks of violet energy pulsing around his fist. "Ugh, I know..." he muttered. "I’m just..." He stopped himself mid-sentence. "I’m just frustrated that I can’t find them like this. I’d rather not wait for them to strike first."

For a moment, only the silence of space answered him. He could feel the tension gnawing at him not fear, but impatience. A general waiting for an unseen enemy.

"Damn it," he hissed under his breath, violet light flickering brighter. "I’ll find another way."

Arthur tilted slightly forward, and moved.

The darkness around him exploded into motion. His body streaked through the void like a comet of violet fire, his passage bending light and leaving trails of burning shadows in his wake. In seconds, he pierced the thin edge of the atmosphere, the friction igniting a blazing light around him as he descended.

To the naked eye from below, it would’ve looked like a falling star.

From a distance, hidden among space debris, Kara floated silently. Her golden hair swayed weightlessly in the vacuum, her cape behind her as if it was frozen in space.

She had followed him not out of distrust, but something far more complicated. She’d watched the way he lingered in orbit, restless, vigilant, consumed by the weight of responsibility he never asked for. The faint violet flare of his power still glowed across her eyes.

When he vanished toward Earth, the silence of space returned and only then did she speak, her voice soft, trembling with conviction.

"I know what you’re thinking, Arthur..." she whispered to herself, eyes narrowing toward the blue planet below. "You’ll find them, and when you do, you’ll face them alone... just like always."

Her expression hardened, but pain flickered behind her eyes. "Not this time. This is personal."

Her hand curled into a fist, the faint red glow in her eyes appeared "I will not let that madman destroy what I’ve come to love... not again."

The stars reflected against her determined gaze. For a heartbeat, she looked toward where Arthur had vanished and then she turned away.

"I’ll find Zod before you do," she murmured. "And I’ll end him myself."

without another word, she angled herself toward the edge of the solar system and the vacuum exploded with a sonic crack that shouldn’t have existed in space, her body vanishing into a streak of gold and blue light that tore through the void.

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If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.

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