Chapter Summaries

After Clark Kent’s disastrous first meeting with Bruce Wayne, a furious Clark attacked the Kryptonian spacecraft over Metropolis and surrendered to the military. Diana suspected the invasion was connected to the missing snake tail, while Bruce watched Clark’s transport leave and recognized the rage in his gaze.

• Clark recalled receiving a Battleworld invitation, meeting Main Universe Superman, and being warned about General Zod and his future enemies.
• Clark and Bruce met before a Dungeon, argued over whether they would become allies, and left with a poor impression of each other.
• Clark cut down a helicopter’s rotor with Heat Vision, then carried the wreckage and surviving Kryptonians out of Earth’s atmosphere.
• Clark found a larger spacecraft in orbit, struck it with the wreckage, and warned its occupants to leave Earth or die.
• Clark returned to Metropolis and surrendered to assembled forces as Lex Luthor watched and Diana suspected the invasion was linked to the missing snake tail.
• Bruce watched Clark board the prison transport and recognized the fury in Clark’s backward glance.

Schiller explained to Lex Luthor that the stolen snake's tail was linked to an Egyptian legend and showed him an image of a squid-like object hidden in the artifact. As Lex arranged to see the full artifact, Diana devised a plan to make Luthor move it so she could confirm he possessed stolen property.

• A woman left Lex Luthor's office after failing to find out whether he had recovered the snake's tail, then recognized Schiller in the elevator and reported her success to an accomplice.
• Schiller told Lex that two groups had broken into his properties to steal the gem and recounted the Egyptian legend behind The Serpent of Phryne.
• Schiller showed Lex a photograph of a squid-like object concealed in the mural, and Lex demanded to see the complete artifact.
• Schiller quoted a price of one billion dollars and arranged for Lex to view the artifact at two that afternoon; Lex called someone after Schiller left.
• The woman and her hooded accomplice decided to capture Schiller and take both the artifact and his money, believing Lex wanted him dead.
• Diana realized the massive artifact would be difficult to move unnoticed and planned to create a disturbance that might force Lex to relocate it.

Diana pursued the Serpent's Tail and tried to rescue Schiller after Lex Luthor's agents kidnapped him, but she was arrested alongside them. Lex recognized Diana as a superhuman threat and secretly contacted the woman, who sent him a message naming Martha Kent in Smallville, Kansas.

• Lex Luthor waited for news at his manor as Diana staged an explosion nearby, then searched Luthor Corp for the Serpent's Tail.
• Diana realized Schiller might have been kidnapped, tracked him from the Luthor Hotel, and witnessed his Bentley being rammed before he was dragged away.
• Schiller told his captors that Lex had the most valuable gem, and Diana burst in just as police arrived and arrested everyone.
• Lex noticed Diana's superhuman strength and identified her as Diana Prince after receiving her dossier.
• Lex secretly messaged the woman, who replied with the name and location Martha Kent, Smallville, Kansas.

Schiller warned Batman that Lex Luthor’s men were heading to kidnap Martha Kent, prompting Batman to choose Clark’s future over stopping him. In custody beside Clark, Schiller revealed the danger to Clark and showed him a message naming Martha in Smallville, Kansas.

• Schiller told Batman that Lex Luthor’s men had left for Kansas to kidnap Martha Kent, and Batman decided Clark was the person he would save and support.
• Clark met Schiller in an adjacent cell and learned from a Black Officer that Schiller had orchestrated several schemes involving Lex Luthor, Diana Prince, and Egyptian artifacts.
• Schiller taunted the officer about the missing Serpent’s tail and called him Mr. Hunter before the officer left.
• Schiller explained that the terrorists who had kidnapped him were working for Lex Luthor and had been bailed out soon after their arrest.
• Schiller showed Clark a message about Martha Kent in Smallville, Kansas, and suggested she might be in danger.

Schiller revealed M'gann M'arzz's identity and argued that Clark Kent had to fully become himself, prompting M'gann to fear for Clark's family and friends. Clark found the Kent home wrecked, then attacked Lex Luthor, who struck him with the radioactive Serpent of Phryne gem.

• Clark escaped the military base after warning the Black Officer about the beings in low Earth orbit.
• Schiller debated the Black Officer about humanity's treatment of aliens, then identified him as M'gann M'arzz.
• Schiller told M'gann that Clark had never fully become Clark Kent and reminded him of his own transformation into John Jones.
• Clark found the Kent family home destroyed, unleashed a roar that swept through Smallville, and shot into the sky.
• Lex traced the Serpent of Phryne gem to Tutankhamun's tomb and brought it out to investigate its curse.
• Clark seized Lex and demanded to know where Martha was, but Lex grabbed the gem and struck Clark, causing him to collapse.

After Lex weakened Clark with green powder, Diana rescued him and learned that his mother had been kidnapped by Lex. Schiller treated Clark’s wounds, but Clark woke in agony and fell from the operating table, calling for his mother.

• Lex used an object that released green powder to injure Clark, who blasted red beams into space and crashed against a building.
• Clark dreamed of the lamb he had lost as a child and saw visions of his ruined home and Martha Kent’s name.
• Diana brought the wounded Clark to a safe room, where he told her Lex had kidnapped his mother.
• Diana called Schiller, who cleaned Clark’s wound and warned that green powder had entered his bloodstream.
• Clark fell from the operating table with blood and tears on his face, weakly calling for his mother.

Diana sheltered the injured Clark in her apartment, but his fear and rage over Martha’s kidnapping overwhelmed him when he discovered he could no longer fly. After Clark lost consciousness, he woke in an unfamiliar place with a Black Officer, who told him that he alone could save his mother by mastering his emotions and understanding himself.

• Diana brought the soaked, injured Clark to her apartment and hid him from the building’s security guard.
• The next morning, Clark discovered he could not fly and grew desperate to find Martha, whom Lex Luthor had kidnapped.
• Clark smashed a wall and shoved Diana when she tried to stop him from leaving, then lost consciousness as memories of a dead lamb overwhelmed him.
• Clark woke in an unfamiliar place and demanded that the Black Officer help rescue Martha.
• The Black Officer told Clark to control his anger, understand himself, and see the world clearly so he could save his mother.

Trapped on the ruined Kent farm, Clark reflected on how his anger had led him to make disastrous choices and tried to reason out where Lex Luthor had taken Martha. Jonathan Kent appeared and prompted Clark to look again at the farmhouse, where he recognized that the wreckage held clues he had missed.

• Clark discovered that invisible walls surrounded the farm and realized his anger had clouded his judgment and fueled his mistakes.
• Clark reasoned that Lex Luthor might have targeted Martha because he feared aliens and wanted to learn their weaknesses, but he could not determine where she had been taken.
• Jonathan Kent appeared in the living room, and memories of family breakfasts led Clark to notice that the spilled oatmeal did not account for the amount missing from the pot.
• Clark reconsidered the wrecked farmhouse and surrounding damage with a clearer mind, then Jonathan told him to look.

Clark realized the destruction at the Kent farm had been staged to provoke him and calmed himself in the military prison. He then tried to force the authorities to negotiate over the alien spacecraft threatening Earth, ending with him taking a scientist hostage to secure his release.

• Clark examined the damage at the Kent farm and concluded that the scene had been deliberately made to look catastrophic, with his mother’s untouched food pot as a key clue.
• Clark woke in the military prison, demanded to see the Black Officer, and learned that the guards did not recognize who he meant.
• Clark was escorted to an observation room and told the officer that a spacecraft in orbit could destroy Earth, while claiming he had a way to deal with it.
• Clark seized the scientist who entered the room and threatened to kill him unless the soldiers let him go.

Clark was released from military custody and learned from an expert that Krypton’s destruction may have stemmed from problems within its society. He agreed to help the expert reach the Arctic, then returned to Wayne Manor and embraced his mother, Martha.

• Washington ordered the military to release Clark, while politicians discussed obtaining a weapon they suspected Lex Luthor had used to injure him.
• The Black Officer flew Clark and the expert from the military base to Wayne Manor.
• The expert explained that the Arctic ship had once carried Kryptonian researchers and argued that Krypton’s destruction likely resulted from unresolved internal problems.
• Clark concluded that the Kryptonians’ plan to rebuild their civilization on Earth could doom both them and humanity, and the expert asked him to help free his research team and take them to the Arctic.
• The Black Officer offered to extract the team, and Clark suggested asking Diana to protect them from the Kryptonians.
• Clark arrived at Wayne Manor, punched Bruce, then recognized Martha and embraced her.

Clark learned that Bruce had saved Martha from kidnappers, and Martha explained that the struggling Kent farm needed its insurance payout. At Wayne Manor, Clark examined the roots of his persistent anger, and Bruce connected it to helplessness.

• Bruce told Clark he had stopped kidnappers from taking Martha, while Martha explained her plan to claim insurance money to keep the farm afloat.
• Bruce offered to help Martha secure the insurance payout, and Clark broke down in tears before going upstairs to sleep.
• Clark dreamed of his father showing him a newborn lamb, then woke at Wayne Manor and saw a child-sized suit in a display case.
• Bruce told Clark that Martha had returned home and that he had installed cameras to protect her.
• Clark recounted moments from his past as he tried to understand his constant anger, and Bruce said helplessness bred anger that destroyed everything.

Clark understood that his anger came from helplessness and resolved to use his power to make the world better. After regaining his ability to fly, he learned from Bruce that the green crystal came from a fabricated artifact scam.

• Clark realized that his anger stemmed from confronting dangers and losses he could not control, and recognized Bruce’s warning as an attempt to prevent him from making an irreversible mistake.
• Clark remembered Damian Wayne and understood that Bruce had used the staged kidnapping of Martha to show him the consequences of losing control.
• Clark decided that his origins mattered less than making the world better, and his resolve restored his ability to fly.
• Clark asked Bruce about the green crystals that had injured him, and Bruce led him to the Batcave.
• Bruce revealed that the supposed Egyptian artifact called the Serpent of Phryne never existed and that Clark, Diana Prince, Lex Luthor, the military, and Congress had all been deceived.

Bruce explained how Schiller used a fake Egyptian relief and a manipulated kidnapping to make Lex Luthor and the military overestimate the gemstone’s ability to weaken Clark. Clark learned that Schiller had secretly injected gemstone powder into him, while Bruce concluded that the resulting deception gave Clark an advantage by steering his enemies toward relying on the gemstone.

• Clark spotted a spaceship matching the one he had destroyed in the fake relief and asked Bruce how it connected to Luthor and Diana Prince.
• Bruce explained that Schiller forged the relief and steered Luthor toward the gemstone by making him believe the artifact held alien information.
• Bruce revealed that Schiller had injected Clark with powdered gemstone, making his injuries and weakness far worse than Luthor’s attacks alone could have caused.
• Bruce reasoned that Schiller wanted Luthor and the military to believe the gemstone could fully defeat Clark, so they would depend on it instead of preparing other methods.
• Clark realized Schiller had expected Bruce to save Martha, Clark to seek Bruce’s help, and someone—likely the Black Officer—to point Clark toward Bruce.

Clark realized that Bruce and others had manipulated events around him, while Bruce warned that people were preparing to do something reckless. Lois, detained by officers, defended Clark and exposed how her captors had been set up to take the blame, leaving the older officer to consider what he wanted and how to protect his family.

• Clark reconsidered the dream and the Black Officer's conversation with Schiller, concluding that someone had tampered with his Super Brain and that Bruce understood the conspiracy better than he did.
• Bruce warned Clark that some people were preparing to do something stupid, but refused to say who they were.
• Lois called Clark after seeing his Wanted Poster and urged him to believe in himself; when the call ended, Clark realized she was in danger.
• Lois confronted the officers holding her, rejected their attempt to use her against Clark, and threatened to expose their conduct through her journalism and legal action.
• Lois explained that the older officer had been made a scapegoat by his superiors, then urged him to think of his family and asked what he wanted.

Clark found Lois under house arrest and learned that her investigation into an alleged ancient Egyptian artifact could help turn the military’s emerald weapon into a liability. The chapter ended with Clark realizing that the scheme aimed to make the Kryptonians believe humans had a weapon capable of harming them.

• Clark flew to Lois’s balcony, reunited with her, and learned she had persuaded her captors to place her under house arrest.
• Lois showed Clark an email claiming the British royal family had hidden an artifact called the Serpent of Phryne, whose pattern resembled the alien ship over Metropolis.
• Lois explained that publishing the alleged artifact scandal could pressure the royal family to exhibit the artifact and connect it to a legend about ancient Egyptians defeating aliens with an emerald.
• Lois revealed that the legend could expose the military’s emerald as a weapon against aliens and make the military accountable for withholding it.
• Clark realized Lois’s plan was ultimately meant to convince the Kryptonians that humans possessed a weapon capable of seriously harming them.

Clark watched the British royal family announce a public exhibition of “The Serpent of Phryne” and suspected it was Schiller’s genuine mural, while he stayed home recovering from the gemstone’s effects. Schiller warned Lex Luthor that the military was closing in on his gemstone, and Lex’s fractured toe left Luthor Tower vulnerable to a search.

• Clark compared the British Museum’s photographs of “The Serpent of Phryne” with online images and suspected Schiller had arranged for the genuine mural to appear in Britain.
• Clark remained in his apartment to recover, since the Wanted Poster was still active but no one was pursuing him.
• Schiller told Lex that he had found another buyer and warned him to deal with the military’s demand for his gemstone.
• Lex realized the mural’s continued display in Metropolis would bring another gemstone into the country and weaken his bargaining position with the military.
• Lex broke his right big toe by kicking his desk, and his secretary called an ambulance.
• Lex feared the military would search Luthor Tower while he was hospitalized and could not defend his property.

Clark investigated the military’s removal of the green gems from Luthor Tower and discovered Lex Luthor was hospitalized after breaking his toe in a fit of anger. Confronting Luthor, Clark recognized how helplessness had driven them both toward rage, then left without taking revenge.

• Clark went to Luthor Tower to report on its search and saw people in protective suits load a crate of green gems onto a military truck.
• Clark followed Luthor’s assistant to Metropolis Hospital and found that Luthor had broken his right big toe by kicking his desk in anger.
• Clark entered Luthor’s room and mocked him by reading the medical record aloud before warning him about kidnapping his mother.
• Luthor raged at Clark, and Clark saw fear and helplessness beneath his anger.
• Clark understood that Luthor’s inability to control him had fueled his fury, then flew away without settling their score.

Diana and the expert examined Kryptonian equipment from the Arctic ship, then escaped when armed aliens arrived. After Diana warned Clark, he arranged to be taken into military custody to use the press and public opinion against the approaching threat.

• Diana and the expert inspected a Kryptonian air sample and radiation-testing device, planning to take them back for study.
• Armed aliens entered the ship, so Diana flew the expert back to the base with the equipment.
• Diana called Clark to warn him that the aliens had reached the Arctic and might soon descend to the surface.
• Clark decided to avoid a reckless fight and called Lois to arrange help from the military officer she had contacted.
• Clark appeared in Superman’s uniform at the military base in handcuffs, expecting a disturbance outside.

Clark watched the military repel three alien invaders with weapons made from emerald powder, then realized the same kind of gem was about to arrive in Metropolis on an artifact from the British Museum. He left the base and joined Bruce at Wayne Manor to watch the growing crisis from a device Bruce had placed in orbit.

• Clark broke free of his handcuffs, left his cell, and carried several wounded soldiers to safety during the attack on the military base.
• Clark observed special forces use emerald-powder weapons to incapacitate two aliens, while the third rescued them and escaped in a ship.
• A military officer learned that the British Museum’s shipment, including the Serpent of Phryne and its matching gem, was approaching Metropolis, and Clark realized the artifact could spark a struggle over the weapon’s source.
• Clark slipped away from the base, then changed course after Bruce asked him to take a small device into low Earth orbit.
• Clark placed Bruce’s device in orbit and returned to Wayne Manor, where Bruce was watching its projected screen.

Clark struggled to make coffee at Wayne Manor while Bruce analyzed footage of the Kryptonian starship. Clark discovered he could understand Kryptonian, and Zod found that two soldiers exposed to green powder had developed extraordinary strength.

• Clark searched Wayne Manor’s kitchen for scissors, struggled to operate Bruce’s coffee maker, and brought Bruce a cup of coffee.
• Bruce and Clark watched footage of General Zod reprimanding his soldiers aboard the starship, and Clark realized he could understand their speech.
• Clark told Bruce that he could understand Kryptonian despite never having learned it, and Bruce suggested the ability was encoded in his genes.
• A Kryptonian soldier accidentally smashed a table and bent a metal spear, while a woman accidentally fired a laser near Zod.
• Zod reviewed the soldiers’ armor recordings and confirmed that both soldiers who had changed had come into contact with green powder.