The Power Stone

Only then did Dru Zod remember what mattered. His face darkened. "You're right. This isn't the time to talk about that."

He pulled Zhou Xiao into the house, his expression more serious than ever. "Son, there were things I'd planned to tell you one by one after you officially succeeded me as Military Leader of the Fortier Empire, but..."

He looked sorrowfully at the sky, where layer upon layer of world-ending warships filled the heavens. Aeo noticed that alongside the Capital Legion, which the Kryptonian military had stationed in orbit around Krypton, there were also strange, bizarrely shaped ships that seemed to belong to some kind of creature—ships he had never seen before.

"Father, what is..."

"That's the Chitauri Empire's fleet, one of the Death Titan's minions!" General Zod gritted out.

Aeo stiffened. Chitauri? Wasn't that...

Zod interrupted his train of thought. "None of that matters now, son. What matters is that Krypton is facing its most severe challenge yet!" Zod's expression was grim. "Neither I nor the Council has figured out why the Capital Legion rebelled all at once, but there's one thing we can be certain of..."

His face turned murderous. "They've all rebelled, no doubt about it! I'd received a report earlier that something seemed off about the Legion, but the military investigated and found nothing! That's far too strange for such a vast space fleet! Now it seems the Death Titan's earlier disappearance must have been to lure the Empire's fleet on the Capital Star..."

Aeo blurted out, "The Mind Stone!"

Zod's eyes flashed. He seemed to have realized it too, and his expression grew even darker. "Exactly. I doubt anything but the Mind Stone could have lured the entire Legion over all at once!"

"Did you find it in the Empire's archives? The secret behind the Death Titan's power..." Even with destruction looming, Zod still felt genuine satisfaction and pride at his son's intelligence and precociousness. "The Empire had always thought that although the Death Titan's power was terrifying, he couldn't possibly have won over so many evil minions at once. Now it seems the Mind Stone was in the Death Titan's hands all along. No wonder..." Zod muttered to himself.

Aeo: "..."

He was no less shocked than Zod. He knew the Mind Stone was in Thanos's hands because, in his previous life, he had seen Loki use it to control Hawkeye in a movie. The scepter Dr. Erik Selvig had used came from Thanos, and the Mind Stone was hidden inside it. Then, in Avengers 2, it had even brought Vision into existence. But he had never imagined that even Zod knew about the Stones... Was there a scene like this in the story? Aeo was stunned.

Then he thought of something else: Thanos had probably vanished from everyone's sight earlier to set up his scheme against the Kryptonians. After all, the Kryptonian civilization was immensely powerful, and its people had extraordinary abilities. Even Thanos couldn't have overpowered the Empire all at once without adequate preparation. (This referred to Thanos before he obtained all six Infinity Stones.)

But...

Aeo looked at General Zod, whose expression was anxious, and asked in confusion, "Father, leaving everything else aside, why does Thanos want our Codex of Life? Surely he doesn't want to use it to create a Fortier Civilization? He has the Mind Stone. If he really wants the Empire to serve him, there's no need to go through all this trouble. He could just use it a few more times, like he did with the Capital Legion..."

Zod shook his head. "The Empire isn't so easy to control, even with the Mind Stone..." He unconsciously glanced at a small safe he had been holding.

"The Empire has ways to counter it..."

Huh?

But Zod gave him no chance to ask more. He glanced at the sky and finally spoke impatiently. "There's no time. Son, we can talk about the rest later. Right now..."

He opened the safe and took out something that left Aeo utterly stunned.

"Is this...the Codex of Life?" He stared blankly.

"Father! How do you have the Codex of Life? Isn't it kept in the Life Slot at the Empire's Genesis Vault, which no one can enter without signatures from the Council, the military, and the Science and Technology Institute? How could it be in your hands..." Aeo gaped at the golden, glowing humanoid skull.

Zod fell silent, then crushed it in his large hand!

"Father!" Aeo cried out. But then a streak of purple light seeped from General Zod's hand, and Aeo's jaw dropped. Zod seemed to be enduring something, while threads of purple light flickered across his hand.

Peeling away the gray bone-like material, Zod pointed with a sweaty brow at the glowing object. "The Codex of Life is only a disguise. The Power Stone is the true source of our Fortier power."

"The only reason Thanos wants the Codex of Life is that he knows it's actually the Power Stone!"

"..." Aeo's mind was reeling.

(I'll say it again: this isn't the comics or the movies. Everything is as the author writes it.)

Ignoring Aeo's crumbling inner world, Zod continued, "You can ask Eiffel about the details later. I've submitted a request to the Imperial Supreme Council—not the Council of Truth, but the Empire's highest authority, formed by the three branches—to let you take over as Krypton's Military Leader early. The Council approved it, so you can look things up through him later..."

Aeo glanced at Eiffel, who had remained silent. It looked like he was downloading some information.

"..."

Thinking he had understood, Zod continued, "In any case, son, there's no time! I know you have plenty of questions, but let me finish injecting this Gene Code into you first. Then wait for the Empire's counterattack to begin, and escape Krypton..."

He sadly stroked Aeo's still-childlike face. His tiger-like eyes brimmed with affection and indulgence as he swiftly plunged a syringe, like a test tube, into Aeo's carotid artery.

Although Aeo knew Zod wouldn't hurt him, the cold liquid entering his body still made him tense up on reflex.

"It's all right, it's all right..." Zod's eyes softened with boundless tenderness as he spoke gently to his son. "My son, this is just an injection to complete your Gene Code. It won't harm you. With it, you won't have to fear..." He mumbled a few words.

Aeo checked how he felt and realized there was nothing wrong with his body. Relieved, he asked, "What?"

"Nothing." Zod shook his head. Even now, there were still secrets he didn't want Aeo to know. "All right, son. Stay here, and when..." Zod forced a smile. "When the Empire's counterattack begins, take the chance to escape. Find somewhere quiet and suitable, and continue our civilization..."

"What about you?" Aeo asked with difficulty.

"..."