Superman Movieverse Forum

Title: Family Reunion
Author: Mr. Beeto
Rating: PG-13
Beta: htbthomas and Shado Librarian
Summary: AU Twist on Donner/Singer Movieverse: Tie the three films together into a cohesive whole, and provide a more credible and interesting reason for Superman to have returned to Krypton.

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Author’s Notes:
Thanks again to the beta team of htbthomas and Shado Librarian, a.k.a. dandello.

Chapter 44 – Twilight of the Gods

Thursday, October 5, 2006 4:30PM EDT
Superman soared high above the new land mass and scanned the area for Luthor, finding him with Grant Hunter and Reilly Dixon on a peak in the center of the new continent.  The plateau was familiar, but resembled nothing the earth had ever seen before.  It looked like Krypton, and Luthor’s hiding place was a replica of Krypton’s Valley of Elders, with the towers memorializing Sor-El, Kol-Ar and Pol-Us lining the east rim and leading to a chamber that was very much like the interior of his Arctic Fortress.  However, unlike the Fortress’ radiant white, Luthor’s creation was a dingy gray, and looked polluted.  It was as if its appearance reflected the sorrow of Krypton’s forefathers over the perversion of their technology.

Superman returned his attention to the task at hand and closely scrutinized the area, his gaze eventually locking on the kryptonite tipped spear that Luthor held in his hands.  Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me, Superman thought.  He doesn’t really think he’s going to take me out with a spear, does he?  He turned his gaze to the two other men, carefully examining their possessions and confirming that the only apparent kryptonite was the tip of Luthor’s spear.  He’s either getting sloppy, or grossly overconfident… Or maybe a little of both.

Superman focused a searing beam of heat vision across the sky that cut the head off the shaft of Luthor’s spear, dropping it to the floor, and then sent it sliding to the back of the chamber with a gust of superbreath.  Luthor swore loudly, and went scurrying after the blade as Superman flew in for his landing.  He came down harder than he intended, pounding the center of the plateau with so much force that he sent spider web fractures radiating across the surface from the point of impact.

The force of the impact surprised the Man of Steel, and he took a deep breath to calm himself before proceeding.  The last thing he needed was for accidentally excessive force to give Luthor another excuse to escape justice.   I can’t let him get off so easily this time, Superman promised himself.  I need to stay calm while I do this.

His brief meditation was interrupted by Luthor’s maniacal laugh.  “See anything familiar?” the madman asked.

“I see an old man’s sick joke,” Superman replied sternly.  He sensed Reilly walking around behind him, but kept his attention on Luthor.

“Really, just an old man’s sick joke?” Luthor retorted.  He gestured to the towers behind him and said, “Well, I see my new apartment, and a space for Kitty and my friends and that one there, I’ll rent out.”  Luthor turned and looked at the towers, as if seeing it for the first time, grimacing as he sarcastically added, “No, you’re right.  It’s a little cold.  A little… alien.  It needs that human touch.”

Superman walked over towards the left staircase and said, “I don’t have time for this, Luthor.  This ends now.”

Luthor replied eagerly, “Oh, I couldn’t agree more.”  The criminal nodded to Reilly, and the man swung a billy club hard at Superman, striking him behind the knees and sending a surprising jolt of pain through the hero’s legs.  Superman staggered forward, stumbling to his hands and knees, scraping his palms in the process.  In was only then that he noticed the familiar and deadly green glow emanating from the new cracks in the surface of the plateau.  He focused his vision on it, but the effort made his head feel as if it was about to explode.  A few seconds later, his x-ray vision finally penetrated the crystal and confirmed his fears.

Luthor was chuckling as he ran down the stairs.  “Kryptonite,” he said melodiously.    He planted a vicious kick in Superman’s ribs and continued kicking him as he said, “Didn’t your father ever teach you to look before you leap?”

Superman rolled on his back, struggling to catch Luthor’s foot and prevent another painful blow when Grant and Reilly grabbed him by the head and dragged him away.  “Oh, you’re wondering how I did it,” Luthor gloated.  “Crystals are amazing aren’t they?  They inherit the traits of the minerals around them.  Sort of like the children inheriting the traits of their father.”

Superman looked over at Luthor in alarm and the madman said seriously, “Oh, yes, I know about the brats…  Trust me, they’re next.”



General Matthews was beginning to get impatient with the afternoon’s progress.  First, they lost the yacht to the sea, and then a squad of F/A-18s from the Truman shot down an unidentified flying platform before they got a good look at it.  Matthews felt their captain had approved the attack a little too hastily.  If it really was a Kryptonian weapons platform, it was unlikely to have missed the Osprey, and someone like Luthor was unlikely to demonstrate mercy with warning shots, if he was controlling it.

To make matters worse, the Osprey carrying the second SEAL squad had hit a flock of seagulls and was forced to ditch in the sea.  Although he was grateful that all men had reportedly evacuated safely to the life rafts, they’d be out of commission until the other Osprey collected them.  The mishap had taken an important asset against their target off the board temporarily.  He swore quietly as he looked up at the infrared image of the debris field from the supposed weapons platform, which was quickly disappearing under the sea.

Across the command center floor, Colonel Johnson was cajoling the troops to keep their focus on the mission.  “Forget about the wreckage for now!  We need to find that helicopter!” he reminded them.  Matthews was pleased that his second in command continued to reflect his commander’s priorities on their mission.  The man had never disappointed him.

A few minutes later, Tech Sergeant Reynolds shouted across the room, “Sir, I think we may have something.”

“Where?” Johnson pressed.

“Ground Zero, sir,” Reynolds answered.

“Resnick, let’s get a close-up of ground zero up overhead,” Colonel Johnson commanded.

Matthews walked over towards Johnson and Reynolds while glancing up at the new satellite infrared image on the overhead screens.  The picture seemed to be looking down at the precipice at a thirty degree angle, and clearly showed a helicopter at its edge, with two men milling about at either side of the plateau behind it, and a third man standing in the opening of a cavern in the peaks at the far end, about thirty feet above the main elevation.  He assumed the man up top was Luthor, though the infrared images didn’t offer sufficient clarity to be sure.

“Gentlemen, I think we have our target,” Matthews declared.  “Get our teams in there, and remind them that Luthor is a live capture.”

“Yes, sir,” Johnson replied, and he rushed over to another workstation to get the orders out.

Matthews continued to observe the overhead display and he witnessed a sudden thin line of heat across the screen, targeting something that the Luthor was holding.  The man scrambled back inside the cavern, and a moment later, a new figure appeared in the middle of the plateau.

“It’s Superman, sir!” Reynolds said excitedly.

“We still have a job to do, Tech Sergeant,” Matthews replied sternly.  He shouted over to Johnson, “It looks like Superman’s getting first crack at Luthor, but our teams are still a go.”

“They’re on their way, General,” Johnson assured him.  “ETA fifteen minutes.”

“There’s not a lot of time on the clock, Johnson,” Matthews reminded him.  “We’re cutting this awfully close.”

“That’s the best we can do if we want a live capture,” Johnson pointed out.  “Whether we send in the Blackhawks, or have the SEALs abort their rescue and move against the target, it’s still fifteen minutes.”

“Point taken.”

“Sirs, Superman is down!” Reynolds interrupted excitedly.

Matthews looked up and saw one of the figures sprawled out on the ground as the other men descended on him.  “Oh, shit!” he muttered.  “I was really hoping they were wrong about the kryptonite, but it looks like they’ve lured him into a trap.”

“Orders sir?” Johnson inquired.

“Add Superman’s safe extraction to the mission parameters,” Matthews told him seriously.  “Tell the teams to haul ass and pray they get there in time.”



How could I have missed this? Superman berated himself.  A kick to his ribs from Luthor sent another jolt of pain through him.  Every cell in his body felt as if it were on fire from the kryptonite poisoning even before the assault from Luthor and his men.   Every breath sent a jolt of pain through him, due to the ribs left broken by the assault.  Weakened and robbed of his invulnerability by the massive kryptonite radiation, he felt defenseless against them.  I have to get away from here – have to find a way to stop this perversion of Krypton from killing everyone.  He desperately tried to crawl away from his tormentors against the agonizing pain.

Reilly stepped in front of Superman, blocking his path of escape, and pushed his face down into one of the puddles.  Superman barely had the strength to push his assailant’s hands aside and pull his face from the water.  Somehow he managed to push himself back up on his hands and knees, greedily gulping the air as he pushed himself forward and prayed he’d make it over the edge of the plateau before the next blows came.  His prayer went unheeded, as Grant dropped heavily on his back, forcing him back to the ground and knocking the wind out of him.

  “You took nine years of my life from me,” Luthor was ranting angrily from somewhere behind him.  He pulled the kryptonite spearhead from his pocket and continued, “Nine years stuck in that disgusting cage, wasting away with my brilliance intolerably restricted.  Time to return the favor.”

Luthor grabbed Superman’s hair, and pulled his head back, forcing the Man of Steel to arch his back as he drove the kryptonite spearhead into it, which provoked a loud and anguished scream from Superman.   Luthor laughed maniacally as he pulled the blade out, and stabbed him again, this time breaking the shiv off inside his back.  Once Luthor released his grip on his hair, Superman fell heavily to the ground, and Luthor sneered, “You don’t look so super now.”

Grant and Reilly descended on him again, and this time Superman only had the energy for the feeblest attempt at defending himself, and settled for protecting his head with his arms.  Oh, God.  I’m not going to make it.  And the Earth will pay the price for my failure.



Lois sighed in frustration and irritably said into the phone, “Dad, I can’t talk about it on an unsecured line – you’re just going to have to trust me on this.  We’ll explain everything after this is over.”

“What do you expect me to do?” Sam Lane complained.

“I don’t know – find a way to keep Daniels’ superiors from giving him the fifth degree if his report’s a little light on our rescue,” Lois suggested.  “Run interference for him until we can explain everything.  Dad, if this gets out we may all have to go into hiding.”

“What have you gotten yourself into?” Sam pressed.

“It’s not like that,” Lois protested.  “It’s just that if certain people knew about it – including some of your friends in the military – they could get some bad ideas in their heads and cause a lot of trouble for us.”

The discussion was abruptly interrupted by Kara tearful cry, “They’re hurting Dad!”  She lunged towards the door, but remained held in her seat by the seatbelt and instead pulled the whole plane to the right.

“Hey!  You’re pulling us off course!” Richard complained.

Kara suddenly remembered her seatbelt, and unbuckled it, and a moment later, she had opened the door and flown out.

“Kara!” Lois hollered.

“Who was that?   What’s going on there?”  Sam demanded.

Lois switched off the phone and shouted, “Kara Allura Zor-El Kent!  You get your rear end back here this instant!”  Lois unbuckled her seatbelt and stood facing backwards between the two front seats.  A beat later, she added, “Your feet better be back on the floor of this plane by the time I count to three!  One…  Two…  Thr–”

“But they’re hurting Dad,” Kara complained tearfully, suddenly standing in front of Lois.

Lois knelt down in front of the little girl and asked sternly, “If they can hurt him, what do you think they’d do to you?”  Kara’s sobs grew stronger, and Lois pulled her into her arms, rubbing her back as she gently told her, “Kryptonite is as deadly to you and Jason as it is to your dad and I don’t want you getting hurt…  But it doesn’t affect Richard and me the same way.  We can try to help.  You just need to show us where he is.  Do you think you can do that?”

Kara nodded against Lois’ shoulder and said, “But we gotta hurry!”

“Okay,” Lois promised her.  “Shut that door, and then come up front with me.”  Lois returned to her seat, and looked over at Richard, who was staring back at her with a wide-eyed expression.  Lois told him, “We need to turn around.”



Alex Daniels sat in one of the side seats near the rear of the Navy Osprey, frustrated by their failure to locate the two fugitives from yacht, Stanford Harris and Katherine Kowalski.  Superman had identified their location on a ledge relative to the float plane’s location.  However, he’d never provided coordinates for the plane and their search had located neither the missing criminals nor the ledge they were supposedly sheltering on.  It didn’t help that new peaks were continually emerging from the sea, many of them at odd angles.  They’d been forced to abandon the search when the distress call came in from the other Osprey.

They were finally approaching the site where the other aircraft went down and Daniels reflected on the afternoon’s most spectacular event while he observed his men standing ready to pull the other SEAL team from the water.  He was determined to keep his report accurate while still keeping his word to Superman’s family and protecting the two very special young children who had saved his life.  His thoughts turned to his own family, and he was sure that if the roles had been reversed, he and his wife would protect their two-year-old son every bit as fiercely as Lois Lane was trying to protect hers.  What the hell am I going to put in my report? he wondered.

Daniels was distracted from his thoughts when one of the men hollered, “Here we go!”  Ramsey was at the top of the ramp with Peterson, waiting to help their comrades in arms aboard once the aircraft was in position.  Razor had just strapped on a safety line and plugged his headset into a jack in the rear.  As Daniels heard the muffled navigation instructions that were guiding the Osprey to the life rafts in the water, he rose from his seat, clipping on a safety line as he joined the men at the ramp.  Just as he stopped at the top of the ramp, Razor turned to him and informed him, “We’ve got a priority message for you up front, Lieutenant.”

Daniels quickly marched to the front of the craft, leaving the other men to their duty.  There was a comm station just behind the cockpit wall, and the man assigned there handed him a printout with the new orders.  “It’s flagged urgent, sir,” the seaman told him.

Daniels paled when he read the startling message.  They had identified Luthor’s location, but not before the maniac had taken down Superman.  Army Blackhawks were deploying a platoon of rangers against Luthor, while the combined SEAL squads were charged with Superman’s safe extraction.  They were to join the effort as soon as the rest of the SEALs were aboard.

Daniels sprinted to the back of the Osprey, forgetting his safety line in his haste.  At the rear, he found Peterson and Ramsey venturing down the ramp to help pull the first life raft onto the ramp.  The two men grabbed the straps around the perimeter of the raft, and pulled it firmly against the ramp.  “Got it!” Ramsey declared.

The occupants began slowly pouring out of the raft’s tent opening and Daniels harshly demanded, “Come on, everyone out!  Let’s get a move on it!”

“What’s got you so wound up, Daniels?” someone asked.

Daniels looked over and recognized the commander of the other SEAL squad, his friend, Lieutenant Henry Marufo, who was just stepping out of the raft and onto the ramp.  Daniels somberly informed him, “It just came over the wire – they found Luthor, and he’s taken down the Man of Steel.  Command wants Luthor captured and Superman safely extracted, if possible.  So are you just going to stand there and let those Army helo crews have all the fun, or are your men going to get a move on?”

Marufo pressed the button on his throat mike and said urgently, “Grizzly team, Grizzly leader.  We have new orders, and we leave in two minutes, so get these rafts unloaded!”  The men from the Grizzly squad immediately responded to the command, and practically jumped out onto the aircraft’s rear ramp as they emptied the first raft.



Richard was overwhelmed by the afternoon’s events.  Not only had he discovered that his mild-mannered romantic rival was actually Superman, and not only had Jason inherited the hero’s abilities, but he was also now racing to the man’s rescue.  It was really never in question that he’d go back for him.  Richard wasn’t about to stand by and let the little girl get orphaned a second time – she needed her father.  The world needed him, too.  Richard couldn’t ignore that, no matter what it meant for his relationship with Lois.  How does an ordinary man compete with Superman? he pondered.  He wondered if it was even possible.

Richard returned his attention to the plane, where he was coaxing every last bit of the six hundred horsepower rating from the engine, pushing it forward at one hundred fifty-eight knots.  He briefly glanced over to the co-pilot’s seat where Kara had cuddled up against Lois after pointing out their heading.  She’d stopped crying but still had a very worried expression on her face as she sat quietly on her lap.  Jason, not wanting to be left out, was standing in the aisle beside his mother and sister, tightly gripping the back of their seat.

”We’re not going fast enough!” Kara suddenly said urgently.

Richard glanced over at her and told her sympathetically, “Kara, we’re already flying as fast as this plane can go.”

“I could get out and push,” Kara said innocently.

Richard stared back at her in surprise and thought, Did she just say what I thought she said?   Then he realized that Kara’s statement had been serious.

Lois had also recognized the sincerity of the little girl’s words and there was no trace of humor on her face as she firmly said, “Kara, you’re staying inside this plane.  If your dad’s hurt, that means there’s kryptonite around, and I don’t want to take a chance on you getting hurt too, and falling from the sky.”  Lois softened her tone and added, “It was sweet of you to offer, though.”

“What if I push from inside the plane?” Kara asked insistently.

Lois and looked back at Richard wide-eyed, mirroring his expression.  After a moment of thought, Richard broke the silence and said, “Just how fast does she fly?”

“Hypersonic,” Lois answered simply.

Richard blinked and returned his gaze forward.  “Amazing,” he said quietly.  He sighed and looked back at Lois, telling her, “Well, it’d rip the plane apart if she tried to push us that fast… but we can handle a little push.  The seat brackets are probably strong enough, if she speeds up gradually and keeps it subsonic.”

“Okay,” Kara agreed quickly.  She climbed off Lois’ lap, inspecting the seats for a place to grab them.

“Grab the front brackets at the floor – and wait until I say so before you start pushing,” Richard directed her.

Jason scooted around his sister and claimed her seat on his mother’s lap while Kara grabbed the seat brackets as Richard had instructed her, flattening herself on the floor of the plane.  “I’m ready,” she said eagerly.

“Okay, let’s start slowly,” Richard said anxiously.  He was suddenly pushed back into his seat as Kara accelerated the plane forward.



Luthor chortled with glee as he observed his prone nemesis.  Superman’s strength had eroded precipitously after planting the blade of Hagan’s spear in his back.  It wasn’t quite as spectacular as he had planned, without the shiv still attached to the shaft, but that hadn’t impaired Luthor’s delight in the results.  He and his men had continued working him over afterwards, and the cursed alien was no longer moving.

“Hold on a minute,” Luthor commanded.  Grant and Reilly obediently backed off, and Luthor squatted down beside the fallen Man of Steel.  “You haven’t died on us already, have you?” Luthor asked sarcastically.  “The fun was just getting started.”  He reached over and pressed against the broken shiv still in Superman’s back, provoking a sharp scream.

“Ah, good, you are still alive,” Luthor said with false delight.  “We wouldn’t want you to die before the grand finale.”  Superman’s only reply was a moan, and Luthor added, “But you will die.  And you’ll die knowing that everything and everyone you care about is about to be destroyed, too.  And you’ll know it’s your fault.  It never would have happened if you hadn’t come to this world.”

Superman weakly flailed his arms in front of him, clawing at the ground in a futile attempt to pull himself away from the madman.

Luthor looked up at Grant and Reilly and said, “I think we’re ready.  Get him on his feet.”

The two men each grabbed an arm and roughly pulled him up, dragging him to the edge before turning him around to face Luthor.  Superman remained limp between them, his head slumped against his chest.  “Oh, we can’t have that,” Luthor declared.  He lifted Superman’s head up by the hair and brutally slapped him.  “Try to stay awake a little while longer.  Your big moment’s almost here.”

Superman looked up at him with dull eyes and feebly asked, “What else do you want?”

“Just this,” Luthor replied, and he violently swung his fist into Superman’s face, knocking him back and momentarily freeing him from Grant and Reilly’s grasp before he plummeted over the edge of the precipice.  Luthor raised his hands above his head in victory and shouted, “The Twilight of the Gods has arrived!”

He lowered his arms and watched in joyful excitement as his enemy fell into the sea.  However, after watching Superman struggle in the waves for a moment, the victory celebration was cut short by the sound of jets flying nearby.  Luthor looked up, searching for the planes unsuccessfully and concluding that he would be a sitting duck if the military showed up before he recovered the missing crystals.  He abruptly cut short his observations and marched to the helicopter, harshly commanding, “Grant, pack up the camera, and make it quick.  We have unfinished business on the yacht.”

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