- Adam Strange: So, besides being the one who got away, why does Zod have such a chub for this moon?
- Val-El: Wegthor's a mining colony, home to a compound known as Stellarium. Zod is processing it into a warp field to fuel the interstellar fleet he has under construction.
- Adam Strange: No, he-he can... he can't be building his fleet yet. While I was gone, I saw other planets Zod had conquered. He's not ruling over their people, he's eradicating them. He's turning every planet he conquers into Krypton, terraforming to make them compatible with the physiology of Kryptonians. If Zod has his fleet, it may already be too late.
- Brainiac: I am detecting elevated cortisol levels, which can lead to an increase of thirst and more frequent urination. You need to pace yourself, Seg-El.
- Seg-El: So you now care about my well being?
- Brainiac: Inasmuch I require your assistance. Radiation from the sunstone caused some of my essential neuromorphic chips to deteriorate.
- Seg-El: Yeah, well, those chips must be completely fried if you think I'm helping you.
- Brainiac: This world was once a planet-wide technological marvel. And then my progenitors sought to elevate their consciousness by fusing it with artificial intelligence, and thus, I came into being. It took me 1.3 seconds to realize I could optimize my chances of survival by distributing myself throughout the galaxy. Regrettably, this necessitated the extinction of my race.
- Seg-El: Why are you telling me this?
- Brainiac: Because I know how desperate you are to return to Krypton. There are still remnants of Coluan technology buried here. With your help, I can repair myself and construct a ship.
- Seg-El: Yeah, yeah. And the minute I outlive my usefulness, you're gonna betray me.
- Brainiac: Well, of course, just as you will inevitably turn on me. But it only logical to put aside our differences until then. Assuming you are capable of rationality.
- Adam Strange: [seeing Brainiac's dead body] This is a masterpiece. I mean, you should probably sign that. It's gonna be worth something someday.
- Seg-El: No, Adam?
- Adam Strange: Yeah, surprise.
- Seg-El: No, Adam, you died. I watched you die. There was an explosion, how...
- Adam Strange: Saved by the Zeta-Beam.
- Seg-El: You know, I really, really thought I would never say these words...
- [hugs Adam]
- Seg-El: But, damn, am I really glad to see you, Earth-Man.
- Adam Strange: What the shit was that?
- Seg-El: I don't know. Brainiac said that this planet's meant to be uninhabited.
- Adam Strange: Was that before or after you turned his head into a canoe?
- Adam Strange: God, I really hate this planet.
- Jax-Ur: Careful. The walls have ears, and the darkness has eyes.
- Mama Zed: I spotted you during Zod's annoucement. I'm sorry for the rough handling, but better that than the Sagitari get a hold of you, eh?
- Adam Strange: Oh, please, I can handle a couple of Sagitari.
- Adam Strange: What's going on?
- Val-El: Well, if Brainiac escaped...
- Nyssa-Vex: Then maybe Seg did, too.
- Adam Strange: Hold on a second. Are you saying that... Seg is alive?
- Nyssa-Vex: Hello, Father. Six months I've been searching. I was almost ready to give up.
- Daron-Vex: How did you find me?
- Nyssa-Vex: You used to joke about how much you despised Bokos, which is why I never thought to look here. And then I received a tip earlier today. I still have some connections.
- Daron-Vex: I don't doubt it. You always were resourceful, Nyssa.
- Nyssa-Vex: I never understood why you hated this city, and then I found out that this is where you're from.
- Daron-Vex: Nobody knew that.
- [realizing]
- Daron-Vex: Jax-Ur.
- Nyssa-Vex: We've developed quite the bond while you've been bathing in shit. She told me everything. About how you grew up in this filth and then remade yourself in Kandor by binding with my mother and using her name to gain power. I know all about you, Father. And I know what you did to me. Why didn't you tell me?
- Daron-Vex: I had my reasons.
- Nyssa-Vex: It wasn't your decision to make. This is my life, and I need to know who I really am. Because unlike you, Father, I am not done living yet.
- Daron-Vex: You always were the better parts of her.
- Daron-Vex: I am truly and deeply sorry for all the pain I've caused you, Nyssa.
- Nyssa-Vex: I don't need apologies, I need answers, and I need them now. What happened that night my mother died? And why was I in that skimmer with her? How much is me? How much is the clone? Who was I before it all happened?
- Daron-Vex: I always knew this day would come. Eventually.
- Nyssa-Vex: You weren't after Daron at all, were you? You used him as bait to get to me. That tip, it was all you. He was gonna tell me everything I...
- Lyta-Zod: Whatever he was about to tell you, it would have been a lie. A very convincing lie, enough for you to let your guard down and then he would have betrayed you, like he always does. He's done enough damage to all of us. It's time to move on.
- Nyssa-Vex: On to what? Being another one of your political prisoners? Somatic reconditioning? Ah, Seg would be disgusted if he saw what you just did.
- Nyssa-Vex: Well, Seg isn't here, is he? And while you and your resistance tear down his legacy, we are busy honoring his sacrifice by securing Krypton's future.
- Nyssa-Vex: "We."
- Lyta-Zod: Yes, we. As in Dru-Zod and I.
- Nyssa-Vex: Take it from someone who's been in your position before, Lyta, there is never a "we" when it comes to power. There is only the last one standing.
- Seg-El: New jacket.
- Adam Strange: Yeah.
- Seg-El: Yeah, red. I think red's your color, man.
- Adam Strange: I like the beard.
- Seg-El: Adam, why'd you come back for me?
- [seeing his look]
- Seg-El: What happened? Adam, we fixed it, right? We fixed it. We won.
- Adam Strange: My entire planet's gone. Everyone I know, my family, my friends. And I believe that you're the only one that can make that right. I mean, it's kind of ironic, you know? I... first came to you to save your grandson, the Last Son of Krypton. God, I really fudged the bowl on that, didn't I? And now here I am, the last son of Earth.
- Seg-El: Adam, I am so sorry, I truly am. But I'm glad you came.
- Adam Strange: I am, too. Would've been here sooner, but I had to stop by Kandor first. It's, uh... it's a shitshow, Seg. I mean, Zod's taken control of the planet, he's trying to conquer the galaxy. Val's leading a rebellion against him.
- Seg-El: You were right. You were right about Dru-Zod. I should have listened to you.
- Adam Strange: Of course you should've. Everybody should've, but they... it's not all bad news, huh? Your other son seems kind of cool. You know, for a tiny, kind of boring infant.
- Lobo: You two little candy asses ain't felt nothing yet. Hi.
- Adam Strange: Hey, buddy. Just you back here, or is the rest of the Kiss Army over there behind the...
- Lobo: [shooting him with his plasma gun] Well, he's a talker, ain't he?
- [Seg moves to throw a punch]
- Lobo: [popping him in the face, knocking him backwards] Stay. Good boy.
- Adam Strange: I can feel like you, like... I can really feel you. It feels just like real old man skin.
- Val-El: Because I am real, not the hologram you knew from the Fortress. I'm back from the Phantom Zone.
- Adam Strange: Oh. That explains the really leathery skin and the old man smell.
- Val-El: Where have you been the last six months?
- Adam Strange: I went back... to the future. Only the world I went back to wasn't the world I left. On account of the same jackass running your planet, conquered mine. Oh, it gets better. Sometime after that, Brainiac decided to bottle my hometown.
- Val-El: Brainiac?
- Adam Strange: Yeah, him.
- Adam Strange: So you're telling me that there is an elevator that goes all the way from Krypton to Wegthor?
- Val-El: A Hypersonic Orbital Tether, yes. We've used it before to get our people up there, quite successful. Well, you will be joining us, won't you? After what you saw in the future, you should understand better than anyone. We have to stop Zod on Wegthor before it's too late. Well, you must understand...
- Adam Strange: God damn it, Val, of course I understand. I just happen to think that Seg is our best chance of defeating Zod.
- Val-El: I miss my grandson more than you will ever know, but there is simply no way of reaching him without my Phantom Projector.
- Adam Strange: What if I told you that I didn't need your Phantom Projector to find Seg?
- Val-El: I would ask you to explain yourself.
- Adam Strange: My Zeta-Beam Device.
- Val-El: You do understand the Phantom Zone is outside space and time as we know it.
- Adam Strange: Exactly. Wait, you're saying that's bad?
- Val-El: I'm saying if you try and teleport into the Phantom Zone, your body would probably deconstructed at a molecular level and your atoms scattered throughout the galaxy. I'm sorry. It just won't work.
- Adam Strange: Well, not with an attitude like that, it won't. The meaning of this symbol that you wear change while I was away. You can't just give up on them.
- Val-El: I'm an El. We never give up.
- Adam Strange: And I'm a Strange, and we don't give up either. Not anymore, and you know why? Because of your grandson. Seg showed how powerful hope can be. Besides, you don't even know if he's still in the Phantom Zone, do you?
- Val-El: No. No, I don't. But the risk is...
- Adam Strange: Mine to worry about.
- General Zod: My fellow Kryptonians, six months ago, we came together to face the dawn of a new era. I stood before you, a man from the future, with a vision for the future to rebuild a Krypton unrecognizable in its perfection. I knew only unity and equality would heal our divisions and secure our future. And now I offer my gratitude.
- Adam Strange: [landing in an alley] Ooh. Oh, god damn it, right in the johnson.
- General Zod: Because while I may have led our efforts, it is by your own strength that today, Krypton is indeed unrecognizable. And perfection lies within our grasp. We are now ready to claim our rightful place amongst the stars and fulfill our duty of promoting Kryptonian exceptionalism as rulers of the galaxy. To those anarchic separatists on Wegthor, know that through the toil, courage, and sacrifices of true Kryptonians, we will crush your treacherous rebellion. And there has been no more noble a sacrifice than that of my father, Seg-El, who gave his life so that we may all see a better tomorrow.
- Adam Strange: I don't understand. You built the projector thingy for the Phantom Zone, but you can't get Seg out?
- Val-El: Zod destroyed my Projector. I tried to rebuild it, but then Zod seized the Fortress.
- Adam Strange: Wow, things really went sideways while I was gone, huh? That's all right. I'm back now. And I have a plan.
- [seeing their looks]
- Adam Strange: All right, I don't have a plan, but I could totally come up with one.
- Nyssa-Vex: That won't be necessary. We already have a plan. Wegthor.
- Adam Strange: [sotto to Jax-Ur] Is that the safe word?
- Jax-Ur: It's a moon. One of three orbiting Krypton, but the only one with a completely self-sufficient, fully sustainable colony; Krypton's only city-state not under Zod's rule, and the home of our resistance.
- Adam Strange: Surprised you guys have been able to pull a resistance together. From what I've seen, everybody seems to be digging the new Kandor.
- Nyssa-Vex: Because Zod freed the Rankless to distract the people from what was really going on.
- Val-El: After Brainiac was defeated, Zod quickly took control of Kandor's Sagitari and began annexing the other city-states. He conscripted anyone fit to serve and disappeared anyone who defied.
- Jax-Ur: But he's made enemies along the way, enemies we've been busy recruiting. But now that his forces are gaining ground every day, time's come for us to rejoin our allies on Wegthor.
- Raika: I already told you, I don't know where Doomsday is.
- Lyta-Zod: But your people must know something, must have seen something.
- Raika: [sobbing] I have no more people! When the creature broke from the containment chamber, he slaughtered most of us. The rest were rounded up by your son. Those who weren't conscripted to fight in his war... they were never seen again. Please. Please, I swear to you, I have no idea where Doomsday is.
- Lyta-Zod: It's okay. I believe you. And I want this to be over for you, I do. But there's one more thing. Jayna-Zod was last seen in the catacombs badly hurt. Her injuries were thought to be fatal, but her body has yet to be found.
- Raika: I don't know anything about that.
- Lyta-Zod: But you helped her and Seg-El once before, correct?
- Raika: I don't know anything.
- Lyta-Zod: It's been six months, and we are still no closer to locating Doomsday. Yet we continue pouring our resources into the search, when we should be bringing the Wegthor conflict to a close.
- General Zod: We barely survived Brainiac, and we don't know what other planetary-scale disasters lay in our future. We must get off this planet, begin seeding others. It's the only way to ensure the survival of our people. With Doomsday under our control, should a world reject our offer of annexation, we simply deploy the creature. Our adversary would capitulate or face total annihilation. Either way, we secure our victory without the loss of a single Kryptonian life.
- Lyta-Zod: Then you prioritize Doomsday, and let me handle the resistance. Latest intel suggest Val-El, Jax-Ur, and Nyssa-Vex are done recruiting. Apparently, they're in Kandor as we speak.
- General Zod: [she activates a hologram] What's this?
- Lyta-Zod: My mission proposal to smoke them out from wherever they're hiding.
- General Zod: Are you really sure this is where you want your focus to be?
- Lyta-Zod: Why wouldn't I?
- General Zod: They were your allies once.
- Lyta-Zod: And that's how I know this will work.
- Seg-El: Where am I?
- Brainiac: Colu, my homeworld.
- Seg-El: You. It was never my grandfather in the Phantom Zone, was it? It was you.
- Brainiac: A necessary subterfuge. While you were barely clinging to your sanity in there, I utilized the time to find a way out. I would have left you there, but I needed that Sunstone of yours. Assuming the form of someone you trust implicitly was the simplest way to ensure your cooperation.
- Seg-El: It was all a play.
- Brainiac: Come now. You didn't really think it would be that easy, did you?
- Seg-El: What about Lyta? What I saw with her and General Zod, was that you, too?
- Brainiac: Your vision of the future, I'm afraid that had nothing to do with me. Although I am grateful you saw it. Your emotions clouded your rational thought, making it that much easier to manipulate you.
- Seg-El: You son of a...
- [Brainiac clenches his fist, and Seg's throat is constricted]
- Brainiac: I suggest you abandon your urge to exact revenge. You are already severely dehydrated and malnourished. If you are to survive, you will need what precious energy you still possess. If I am to survive... you must be preserved, Seg-El.
- General Zod: They look so delicate outside of the creche. So helpless, fragile. Yet bursting with life.
- Nyssa-Vex: Give me back my son.
- General Zod: Nothing would make me happier. However, there is something I need from you first.
- Nyssa-Vex: What?
- General Zod: It is time for this resistance to end. Val is my great-grandfather, my blood. We should be together, not fighting each other. And I need you to convince him of this.
- Nyssa-Vex: And if I refuse?
- General Zod: That would break my heart, because I believe there is nothing more sacred than the bond between mother and child. But if that is your resolve, then you leave me no choice. I will raise young Cor-Vex myself, and be to him the father I never had, in honor of Seg.
- Nyssa-Vex: You're just like my father.
- General Zod: Get some rest. Perhaps you'll reconsider in the morning.
- Adam Strange: That's weird. Huh.
- Seg-El: What... what's weird?
- Adam Strange: Uh, the magnetic field on this planet seems to be messing with the settings. We should probably get to higher ground.
- Seg-El: What, "we should probably get to higher..."? That's what we're gonna do?
- Adam Strange: Hey, give me a break. It works fine for one person. It'll work for two.
- Seg-El: No, see, this is what screwed everything up in the first place. You show up half-cocked, you don't have a plan...
- Adam Strange: Hey, first of all, I am fully cocked. And secondly... I don't have a second thing yet, just... just give me a minute.
- Seg-El: Well, I could...
- Adam Strange: [they hear something howl] Uh... do you think that we should, you know, stick around for...
- [seeing Seg has fled]
- Adam Strange: God damn it.
- Lobo: Name's Lobo.
- [imitating a cheering crowd]
- Lobo: Please, stop, you're making me blush. Couple of questions: first question, who are you two shit-birds, and second question, what are you doing on this shithole of a planet?
- [kicking the unconscious Seg]
- Lobo: Frag. Probably should have asked you that first.
- [laughs]
- Lobo: I said, I probably should... you can't hear me.