Time rewound several hours earlier.
After Courtney's heated argument with Pat, she sat alone in her room, reflecting on her choices.
He had been right — putting her friends in danger wasn't heroic. It was reckless.
So, she tried convincing her companions to hand over their borrowed hero gear.
As expected, none of them agreed.
They were teenagers who had suddenly found themselves living the dream — heroes wearing the legacy of the fallen Justice Society of America.
Of course, they weren't going to give that up easily.
Rick Tyler, the volatile student at Blue Valley High, now called himself Hourman. The enchanted hourglass once owned by his father granted him one hour of enhanced strength, endurance, speed, and durability — just long enough to make him feel invincible.
Wildcat, the confident class president, had donned Ted Grant's old suit. With it, her movements became feline and fluid, her reflexes lightning fast, her strikes bone-breaking.
And Doctor Midnight, a quiet and brilliant girl with no combat experience, relied on something else entirely — the high-tech goggles of her predecessor.
The AI within could hack databases, identify energy signatures, and even trace conversations across frequencies.
Together, they had discovered that Adrian Kent — the mysterious boy from Smallville — was the one who had taken the Star Scepter.
So, with Hourman behind the wheel, the four of them drove out to the Kent Farm to find answers.
But the moment they arrived, chaos erupted.
Courtney barely had time to react before a blur of motion appeared at her window.
A blonde girl — Kara — was suddenly there, gripping Courtney by the neck with terrifying strength.
Wildcat lunged forward to pull her away, but Kara sidestepped with effortless speed, her hand slicing through the air like a blade.
Courtney fell free, gasping, clutching her throat.
"Wildcat, start the car! Didn't you say you got your license?" she shouted hoarsely.
"My license is in processing at the DMV!" Wildcat yelled back, panic rising.
"I'll guide you!" said Doctor Midnight, her goggles flickering to life. "Fasten your seatbelt, turn the ignition to 'on,' and if you're overheating—"
"I don't need the air conditioning!" Wildcat snapped. "Are those goggles defective?!"
Still fumbling, she finally managed to start the car. The engine roared, tires screeching against the dirt as the vehicle shot forward.
Then Courtney's heart dropped.
"Wait! Hourman's still out there!"
Before Wildcat could react, Kara blurred and reappeared in front of the speeding car.
"Stop—!"
Too late.
The car slammed into Kara with a deafening crash. The entire frame crumpled like paper, and yet the Kryptonian didn't budge. She pressed her palms against the hood, halting it completely.
Metal groaned under her strength as the vehicle was shoved backward several feet, its occupants thrown against their seats.
"Hmph."
Behind her, Hourman — shaken but alive — charged forward, his hourglass glowing fiercely. He swung at Kara with all the power his relic could grant.
The punch connected squarely — and did nothing.
Kara's eyes flared red. A beam of heat vision tore through the air, striking Hourman square in the chest. The impact sent him tumbling across the dirt, motionless.
"Rick!" Courtney screamed, blood dripping from her ears after the collision.
"Oh my God…" whispered Martha Kent, who had been watching from the farmhouse. Her hand flew to her mouth. "She—she killed him!"
"I know," Jonathan said grimly beside her. "They're just kids, Martha. Clark — stop her! Don't let her kill anyone else!"
Inside the wrecked car, Wildcat coughed blood. Next to her, Doctor Midnight had slammed her head into the window, bleeding badly.
Before Wildcat could reach for her, the car lifted off the ground. Kara had raised it with one hand, her expression still calm, almost detached.
Courtney, broken and battered, met Wildcat's terrified eyes from the backseat. Without her Star Scepter, she was just another frightened girl.
And then — Kara threw.
The car spun through the air toward the old barn — where the Kents' secret, the spaceship, was hidden.
"No!" Clark shouted, racing forward. But he couldn't fly, and he couldn't reach it in time.
The car was seconds from crashing through the roof when it stopped — suspended in midair.
A figure hovered beneath it, one arm raised.
Adrian Kent.
The sunlight reflected off him as he held the twisted car effortlessly above his head, the sheer force of his presence stilling the chaos.
For a moment, Courtney and the others thought they were dead — then realized they'd been saved.
Adrian slowly lowered the vehicle, but when it was a few meters from the ground, he let it drop.
Crash!
The wreck hit hard, shaking the earth. The girls screamed as pain shot through their already bruised bodies.
Courtney groaned. "He… saved us? I think?"
Adrian's cold eyes flicked toward them briefly. His focus was on Kara.
"What do you think you're doing?" Clark shouted, stepping between them.
"They're intruders," Kara replied flatly. "They meant harm. Eliminating them is justified."
"So you're just going to kill them?"
"Yes," Kara said. "Kal-El, you pity them. Pity is a weakness — it kills you from within."
She reached for his arm. "Come with me. You need to remember who you are."
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Clark snapped, jerking back.
But suddenly, his body was pulled toward her by an unseen force. His feet lifted off the ground — she was drawing him into the sky.
"Adrian!" Jonathan shouted desperately.
In an instant, Adrian shot upward like a launched missile, slamming into Kara's abdomen. The impact cracked through the air like thunder, sending her flying.
Clark dropped from her grasp, crashing to the dirt but unhurt.
Adrian hovered above, dust swirling around him, his expression dark.
"Sorry," he said. "I couldn't care less where Clark wants to go. But what I hate most are self-proclaimed gods who think they can rule others — you, or Jor-El."
Kara barely had time to rise before his fist connected with her face. The explosion of air shattered the ground beneath them. She was hurled backward, smashing into the dirt and carving a crater as cracks spread in every direction.
Adrian blurred forward again, grabbing her by the collar and lifting her.
"This is my planet," he said, voice low and edged with fury. "Not Krypton. So wipe that arrogant look off your face."
His next punch landed with a concussive boom, launching her across the field in a cloud of debris.
From the shattered remains of the car, Courtney and Wildcat stared in disbelief. Even Doctor Midnight, barely conscious, whispered weakly, "My goggles… just scanned him…"
"What did they say?" Wildcat croaked.
"They identified Adrian Kent as an unknown biological entity. Nothing on Earth matches his energy signature. Not human. Not metahuman. Preliminary classification: alien."
Despite her pain, she kept talking — her voice trembled, but her curiosity didn't die.
On the porch, Martha clasped her hands tightly, her heart pounding.
She didn't know who to be more afraid for — Kara, the self-proclaimed Kryptonian, or Adrian, her son, whose power had just surpassed everything she understood.
If Kara was truly Clark's sister… then Adrian was her brother, too.
And right now, the two were locked in a battle that could shatter the sky.