chapter 11: the calm before the storm

**** third-person P.O.V.

kar-el turned to walk toward the center as he spoke to kara that followed him, " why don't we spar today? it's been some time since we tested your training progress. choose of your of choice so we can begin the spar."

Kara nodded as she walked to the other side of the stage and picked up a halberd from the rack and returned to stand opposite of kar-el.

"a fine choice of weapon, the range of a spear, and strength of a juvenile battleax." he praised as he spun his spear and got into a stance like a mentis ready to pounce.

Both weapons had equal attack range but there was a fundamental difference between the working of both weapons. A spear would be lighter than a halberd with allowed it to strike faster than a halberd but while halberd was slower, it had more power to its every attack.

both kara and kar-el started to circle while looking for an opening in the other person, after moving two-three steps sideways kar-el finally made the first by thrusting his spear toward kara's stomach but kara diverted its trajectory with her halberd as she took a step back calmly to maintain the distance between the two. kara made eye contact with kar-el and he gave her a smirk in return.

kara gave a battle cry as spun her weapon toward the right flank of kar-el so that the ax part of it got directed towards him, kar-el calmly looked at the incoming danger and put his spear horizontally between its path which stopped the weapon in between its route.

"you lost, kara" kar-el spoke to kara as they remained at a standstill.

"lost? how? I don't see any weapon pointing towards my vitals?" kara asked calmly in return.

" it is essential to make sure while wielding a halberd that you could always bring it back towards you and it doesn't get stuck otherwise you either lose your weapon or your life," kar-el spoke like he was teaching kara a lesson as he sharply pulled his spear toward him which was still in contract with the halberd. after a point, the middle body of the horizontal spear got stuck on the battleax of the vertical halberd, because of the force that kar-el was exerting in pulling the spear towards him, kara and her halberd both got pulled towards him too as she didn't release the weapon on time. As kara came hauling toward him, kar-el calmly changed his spear's position from horizontal to vertical so that the sharp end of it got pointed toward the neck of kara.

Both remained still in their positions for a few seconds until kar-el brought his spear back and took a step back so kara could relax.

" you think about what you could have done to get out of that situation and then we will restart the spar " kar-el told kara as he distanced himself a little bit from her and began performing kata.

**** A month before destruction

" It's now or never, jor-el " kar-el spoke as he turned to face jor-el who was looking at his son.

"You don't have to worry about the A.I. in genesis chamber founding out about our crime of stealing the krypton genesis codex. Serena is more than capable of fooling it into believing that the replica that we have prepared is the real codex for at least a year.", he showed jor-el the replica of the codex that he made to fool the A.I., it was made from his D.N.A that also hosted a real codex so it would be enough to make sure that no one found about what they would be doing now.

" Serena had been keeping checks on general Zod because of my suspicions and he is preparing for a coup that will take place in a week from now on, we can't be on the back foot now. while we could wait for the coop to happen and make use of the unrest to steal the codex, it would be riskier that way because you would be fighting against rebels and the council to obtain the codex." he turned toward Lara as he kept speaking his thoughts to convinced both of them and zor and laura that were joined through an online network.

" you are right ", jor-el finally spoke as he turned toward his cousin. he looked at all that was present one way or another and continued," I will steal the codex tomorrow while kar-el will divert the attention of Prime A.I. from me and zor-el will divert the attention of the military guild by showing a test experiment to them. We must stay two steps ahead of Zod as he had more than enough manpower to crush us if we fight him head-on, we are scientists, not warriors. we fight with the mind, not our bodies."

kar-el nodded at jor-el before turning toward the hologram of zor-el," it's time for kara to know about what we are planning. I believe she should spend time with you both as much she can. I will tell you a few hours before the coup will begin so that you can come to the destined location with your daughter. " zor-el and laura ended the projection after nodding to kar-el and wishing jor-el luck for tomorrow.

"you leave tonight to the outskirts of the capital with Lara and Kal-el, I would be coming after taking the codex." jor-el spoke to kar-el as he hugged his love and then kissed his child on the forehead which made Kal-el giggle at him.

"very well, now if you don't mind I would like to eat something because I'm starving and it has been some time since I ate Lara's cooking." kar-el said to jor-el as he looked at his nephew gently. Lara smiled and motioned kar-el to follow her toward the dining room.

****

" make sure that my nephew is comfortable, Lara. You could inform me if there is some problem during the ride," kar-el told Lara as he started operating the glider craft to take flight. Lara looked at her husband that was watching the craft getting ready to fly as she half-heartedly nodded. jor-el nodded toward kar-el and Lara one last time.

the glider slowly rose from the ground as kar-el operated it and then flew towards the outskirts of the capital. their destination is kar-el's lab that he got last year from the council to do some private experiments but it would be used to escape from this planet.

" I still haven't given Kal-el his birth present. I'm thinking of giving him something special, I would need your help for it to be made Lara," kar-el spoke as he navigate the route while Lara tended to her child.

" what do I need to do? " Lara asked as she sang a lullaby to her child.

"I would need a personality blueprint of you as a raw material for it to be made" kar-el requested from her to which she just nodded to give her consent.

While they were talking, the destination arrived. Serena operated the roof of the building to open up so that kar-el could land the craft.