Now that we've set up some foreshadowing in the previous chapters, things will get more interesting. Good luck and thanks for reading aha.

Chapter Four: Operation El

Maybe he wasn't meant to be a councilman. He couldn't even get a straight answer out of his prisoner. Three days and he was left with nothing useful but that seemed like a trivial thing to worry about right now.

After last night he wasn't sure that he wanted to come out of his room, let alone the house. He heard his parents arguing for hours after all of his mother's incriminating files were deleted from all devices. He didn't think his mother would put their family in such imminent danger but she did and that's why his father was so angry with her recently.

Kal understood everything now. He was living with a traitor of the Empire –his mother –and his father was trying to cover up the mess. He and his mother must be such a disappointment to the El family. The Emperor and his wife will have found out about this by now, Kal was sure of that. Their family was being watched constantly. There is no way Zod and Faora would've let this slip.

Rolling over onto his back, Kal gazed up at the ceiling, wishing this day was already over. Today was going to be the day. He was going to march right into the palace and demand answers from Diana. He couldn't allow her witty comebacks to distract him this time. He cannot be made a fool of again.

He forced himself to sit up and dragged his body out of bed to dress for the day. A wave of nausea hit him when he realized he'd have to actually come out of his room to make his way to the palace. He would have to sit across the table from his parents and act like nothing happened last night.

The images he came across in his mother's office were disturbing and he refused to believe it at first. Could Zod and Faora really be ruthless murderers? Were they all living under a tyrannical regime like Diana claimed? Did his father agree with his mother indirectly and that's why he erased the files? Could he be siding with Lara this whole time?

Kal stood in front of a full length mirror in a black suit and smoothed his hands down the slick material. With a swipe of his fingers, he combed through his short raven locks and took in a deep breath. His time in his room had come to an end.

He grabbed his black flowing cape on his way out and paused at the foot of the door. He pressed his ear against the door and listened to a cluster of footsteps running throughout his home. They were too heavy and loud to be Valora or Bru.

The door slid open and he walked towards the railing and peered down from the second floor. Over a dozen of Kryptonian soldiers invaded his home and were scurrying through the palace like insects. Kal's heart sank to his stomach and his eyes darted from left to right, watching the soldiers come in and out of every room in his home.

Commander Ursa stomped her way in and shouted, "bring Lara-El to me! Detain her but do not harm her!" she ordered her soldiers.

Kal backed away from the balustrade and turned to see his siblings standing in the middle of the hallway, watching the horror of soldiers rummaging through their home. He ran to them and grabbed them by their arms, escorting them away from the chaos.

"Kal, what's happening?" asked Bru. "Why –why's the army here? Is someone getting arrested?"

"I'm taking you back to your rooms." He urgently kept pulling his siblings through the hall until he lost grip of his sister. "Valora!"

She scurried down the hallway to the far balcony to follow the soldiers below. She rammed her body against the railing and gasped at Lara being manhandled by four soldiers.

"Mom!" she shouted, panic setting in. "Mother!" she ran along rails, keeping her eye on the soldiers. "Where are you taking her?" she asked the soldiers, tears welling in her eyes.

Kal grabbed her forcefully and scooped her into his arms. He cradled her head in his palm, trying to soothe her. Valora nestled her cheek against his chest and wailed. Kal turned away and bumped into his little brother.

"They took mother?" Bru asked, already knowing the answer, tears threatened to fall freely. "What did she do? Will the soldiers hurt her?"

Kal wore a lopsided smile. "She'll be alright," he reassured his brother.

"Are they going to take us too?"

Kal grabbed Bru's hand and ushered him into the next available room while holding his weeping sister. He set Valora down in a chair and knelt down to their level.

"Don't come out of this room until I say so," he said and both his siblings stared at him wide-eyed. "I promise nothing's going to happen to you two. Stay here."

He hurried down the stairs onto the first floor and stepped over the rubble of what the soldiers left. He found his father standing in the foyer of their large estate. The look on his face was heartbreaking. Kal had never seen his father look so defeated before in his life.

Jor hung his head in silence and heard his son approaching from behind.

"Father, what's going to happen to mother? They're not going to kill her, are they?" Kal exhaled heavily, finding it hard to breathe.

Jor brought his eyebrows together. "How long has your mother been harboring those files?" he said just above a whisper.

"I…don't know. The Emperor must've been watching her for months. Father," he huffed, "what are we going to do now?"

"Where are the twins?"

Kal blinked, disturbed by his father's calm behavior. "They're…upstairs. Valora is really upset."

Jor clenched his jaw and turned around, facing his son. "The council is going to send someone to question your mother. I need to get in touch with your uncle. She's going to need a lot of help if she's going to be released."

"Released?" Kal stammered. "What does that mean? Are they throwing her in prison?" he raised his voice. "They can't do that!"

Jor grabbed his son by the shoulders. "Kal! She is going to be charged with treason! Don't you understand?" he cheeks tinged pink as the rage built up within. "I need to speak with my brother immediately. Maybe the twins can stay with Alura for awhile."

Kal stood, dumbfounded by what he just heard. His shoulder was bumped by his father passing by him. He gazed at the front door that was broken down by Ursa's brutes. He clenched his fists and tapered his eyes, allowing his anger to consume him the longer he waited in silence.

His family was already renowned in the Empire and now this was going to be talked about for ages. Kal marched straight for the exit.

Jor peered from behind a wall and grimaced. "Kal! Where do you think you're going?" he called out then ran to the exit. "Kal!"

Diana shuffled her feet around the floor, bored out of her mind. She peered over at the dent in the wall she made yesterday and sighed. Being confined to a small space without knowing what time of day it was could make anyone go insane. She thought she was very arrogant to think that she knew she wasn't going to stay here forever.

She knew her mother would come for her. She always did, right? Her mother was her backbone and Diana knew she could be unruly sometimes. If she had stayed behind during the coastal raids she probably wouldn't have been captured but as usual, she chose not to listen to her superior; her mother, her queen.

This was her fault and she owned up to that. After she was going to broken out of this place whether by force or discreetly, she was going to receive a lecture from mother. She could already hear the queen's voice ringing in her head. She shuddered at the thought of being yelled at for the millionth time.

Diana stood from the uncomfortable bed and wandered around the room in a small circle. She gazed down at the metal anklets and frowned. Kryptonians, she scoffed. The only way to sustain her sanity in this cell was to keep track of the amount of hours she remained awake and those when she fell asleep.

Kal should be here soon. She was ready for the questions and inwardly got a little bit of satisfaction of throwing Kal-El off track during the interrogation. Diana wondered if he was aware of it. He had a dense head, she thought, and started chuckling as her thoughts got the best of her.

While she kept circling around herself she heard shuffling, yelling, and cursing men from outside her cell. She waltzed over to peer out into the hall and Commander Ursa marched down the hall and opened a cell across the way. Diana arched her eyebrow and saw a few men throw a woman into the cell.

Ursa typed in a code and sealed the cell shut. She spoke to one of the soldiers, "tell Emperor Zod that I have Lara-El in our custody now."

"El…" Diana muttered.

The commander looked over her shoulder and her lip twitched. "What're you staring at, princess?"

"I was wondering when I was going to be interrogated since I love that so much," Diana winked, riling the short haired woman.

Ursa rolled her eyes and shooed her men out of the tight corridor. She gave the Amazon a look of discontent then went about her way, disappearing from the lower level and up the stairs.

Diana couldn't hide her smile and chewed on her bottom lip. There was nothing to do but irritate these Kryptonians and they made it far too easy to do so. Her attention went to her prison mate a few feet away and skewed her eyes to take a good look at her.

She rose to her toes and walked to the other end of her cell and saw Lara sitting on the floor, bound by her wrists and ankles. Lara had her head in between her knees, sobbing softly, unaware that a pair of eyes were on her.

"My name is Princess Diana," she called out.

Lara wiped her nose and brought her arms around her knees, bringing her legs close to her chest. She completely blocked everything out around her, including Diana.

The Amazon wrinkled her eyebrows and cocked her head at the weeping brunette. "Do you know a Kal-El?" she asked and Lara's head shot up. Diana's mouth parted upon seeing Lara's watery red eyes. "Oh…I heard the commander call you El. I just wondered if you're related to him."

Lara brushed her hair away from her face and sniveled. "He's my son."

This woman is Kal-El's mother? She must've done something horrible to be put in prison in her own empire. Suddenly, Diana felt bad for Kal. He was most likely worried sick over his mother or maybe he was just as cold as every other Kryptonian here and didn't care about his mother's well being.

"You possess a beauty that rivals my sisters back home," Diana said with a bright smile.

Lara wore a faint grin and wiped her eyes and tears from her wet cheeks. "You must hate us for doing this to you. Princess Diana, that's your name, yes?"

"Yes and your name is?"

"Lara," she laced her fingers together and her chin quivered then began to weep again.

Diana's eyes widened and sat down in front of the holographic door. She listened to Kal's mother sob and fell speechless. For all the talking she did with Kal-El, she had absolutely nothing to say to his mother. Curiously, she wanted to pry and ask why Lara was in here but being as that they were watched and listened to, she chose not to.

"Kal must be worried about you."

Lara's eyes averted to the princess and she inhaled sharply. "This is my fault. I allowed for this to…to happen to me. I should have never collected those files." She cursed and slammed her fist on the ground.

"Shh," Diana put a finger to her mouth and pointed at the camera in the corner of the hall. "They're listening to us."

"Let them listen." Lara spat venomously and folded her arms. "Because of my actions I've left my children alone."

So, Kal-El has siblings. That's interesting and good to know. Diana kept face and smiled meekly at the woman across from her. Their icy blue eyes met and Lara composed herself, wiping the tears away once more and crawled to the front of the cell, sitting on her heels.

"I'm sorry, I keep talking about my problems and here you are, imprisoned in a foreign place, far away from your home."

Diana put up a hand. "You have a right to be upset, Lara. I can't imagine being imprisoned by my own people. Whatever you did must've been worth it."

"I don't think it matters anymore."

Diana decided to lighten the mood. "Your son is a horrible interrogator. He couldn't get a straight answer out of me."

Lara raised her eyebrow. "He told me that you didn't exactly make his job very easy." She noticed the rosiness of the Amazon's cheeks. "And now I see why he was so flustered."

"Why's that?" Diana innocently asked.

"Perhaps he could've done his job if you were not-so-pleasing to the eyes," the Kryptonian hinted and flashed a sly smile at the doe-eyed princess.

He marched into the palace and was gawked at his entire journey across the city. Word of his home invasion had already circled around and the citizens were gossiping about his mother. He heard several of them making snide comments as he weaved in and out of the crowded streets. Each time he heard his mother's name in vain he wanted to retaliate, but he couldn't.

Reputation. He had a reputation to uphold but now he was more focused on freeing his mother from prison. He ran up the steps and entered the palace, bypassing the guards who stood by. They didn't bother to stop him which he thought odd.

With haste, he made it to the entrance to the lower level of the palace. Commander Ursa kept guard with her soldiers standing in a row. It was as if she was expecting him to come here. Ursa stepped forward, facing the heated young El.

"Leave the palace, Kal-El."

His chest heaved and sweat poured down his forehead. "I want to see my mother."

Ursa snickered and twirled the baton in her hand. "Leave before I force you, Kal. I would hate to scar that gorgeous face of yours."

"You can't keep her in there!" he tried to brush by her and several soldiers circled around him.

She jabbed him in the chest with the end of her baton. She rested her finger on the button on the side of the weapon and Kal looked down at the blue light illuminating at the sharp end of her weapon. She took a step forward and he followed the dance, taking a step back.

"I've warned you, Kal. Don't be stupid," she pressed the button on the baton and the loud hissing crackling noise startled Kal and he flinched. "It'd be wise of you to leave now before you and I both do something we'll regret."

"Just let me see her, Ursa. I won't do anything but talk to her." he begged.

She snarled and thrust the weapon towards his chest, threatening to zap his flesh. Kal, growing impatient, he grabbed the baton and whacked her chin with it and then the soldiers immediately surrounded him. He took a zap to his back and another to his leg. He collapsed to his knees and dropped the baton, landing on all fours, surrendering.

Ursa rubbed her jaw and snatched her weapon that landed by her boot and stalked over to the young El. She raised the weapon above her head, ready to strike him to the shoulder.

"Commander!" Zod's voice boomed through the hallway.

She hesitated and lowered the weapon and took a step away from Kal. She waved her hand to the soldiers to stand down. She and the others bowed their heads at the Emperor who slowly made his way across the room.

Kal lifted his eyes and rose to his feet, struggling to stand. The stinging in his spine lingered and now that he was met face to face with Zod, he found it hard to greet him under the circumstances.

"Kal-El," he sneered. "I know you wish to see your mother. She's a very loving woman," he brushed his hand along Kal's shoulder. "But she's been dabbling with sensitive information and that, I cannot allow."

Out of character, Kal retorted, "what has my mother done that has made you so scared?" he arched a brow. "That is why you arrested her, isn't it? You're afraid of her."

Zod closed the space between them and met eye level with the son of El. "I'd choose your words wisely, Kal-El," he whispered. "I'll make sure your family is well taken care of."

"And my mother? What will happen to her?"

"She will be exposed for the traitor that she is." Zod smiled maliciously. "Go home, Kal, unless you want to be put in prison with your mother…" he subtly threatened and trailed away with elite guards following him.

Kal's jaw locked and he met Ursa's gaze from afar. She looked ready to imprison him regardless if he attacked or not. He eyed the doors that led to the prison below and questioned if it was worth it to be brutally attacked again or to go home like the Emperor advised. Heeding Zod's words, he backed away slowly and saw a twitch of a smile from Ursa's lips as he drifted further away.

Jor sent a brief message to his brother which took hours to receive a response. He chose to send a letter through the system instead of calling because he knew that his family was more under the radar than he thought. He didn't like the response from his brother.

He needed people, his family, to vouch for Lara and his brother said underhandedly, that he didn't want to be involved. Everyone was so fearful of Zod and Faora but they never voiced their opinions. Lara was the only person who had the gall to oppose the Empire. She tried her best to hide it but under this regime, there are no secrets.

Jor sat in his wife's office and gawked at the destruction the soldiers caused. All of the devices, tablets and systems were destroyed in a matter of minutes. It took only a few minutes for the soldiers to raid his home and obliterate everything. He was lucky that none of his children were harmed in the process.

As he sat, rubbing his chin pensively, he turned at a small figure standing in the doorway. He uncrossed his legs and smiled, extending his arms. Valora, teary eyed and riddled with exhaustion, cautiously walked towards him.

He grabbed Valora by the waist and gently set her on his lap. He swiveled in the chair so they wouldn't have to look at the horrible mess displayed.

"I've arranged for you and Bru to stay with Alura and Zor."

Valora gasped. "Nooo," she whined. "I don't want to stay with Aunt Alura. I want to stay here!"

"You can't," he said, disappointing her further. "I'm sorry," he kissed her temple. "You like spending time with Kara, don't you? You two will have a great time together."

She continued to sulk and nestled her face in his chest. "I want to stay," she said in a muffled voice with her face pressed into the fabric of his suit.

Kal barged into the office and was about to give his father a piece of his mind but when he saw Valora sitting in his father's lap he let his guard down. Jor turned and allowed his daughter to slide off his lap. She ran to Kal and wrapped her lanky arms around his legs.

"Did you go see mother? Is she alright? What will they do to her?" she asked, gazing up at her brother.

Kal crookedly smiled. "I really need to talk to father alone."

"But Kal…"

"Please?"

Valora's shoulders drooped in defeat and she sauntered away. "I guess I'll go tell Bru that we're leaving soon," she muttered and exited the room, her feet sliding against the cold floors.

Now that he was alone with his father all of his hot blood had seeped out of his body. The desire to yell at Jor was gone since he laid eyes on his sister. She reminded him a lot of his mother especially her kindness. They also shared the same eyes and mouth. It was probably why Kal would always do anything Valora asked of him. He could never say no to her much like he couldn't say no to his mother.

Jor rose from the chair to face his son. He expected an argument to ensue but found his son dosing off, looking out into the open absentmindedly.

"I don't think erasing the files would've saved mother from imprisonment," Kal spoke softly. "I tried to go see her," he lifted his eyes to stare at Jor. "Ursa wouldn't let me through."

"That isn't surprising." Jor crossed his arms over his chest. "You shouldn't have gone to the palace, Kal."

"What was I supposed to do? They came into our home and took her! They took her, father!"

"I know!" Jor yelled and then simmered down. "I know. I tried to warn her, Kal. I warned her several times. She didn't listen to me."

Kal wagged his head. "What did uncle Zor have to say?"

"He…doesn't want to help speak for your mother."

Kal scoffed and mocked his father with a laugh. "Diana was right."

Jor furrowed his eyebrows. "The Amazon? What does she have to do with this?"

"She said we live in a tyrannical empire and she was right. The people are too afraid of Zod and Faora. Did you even look at the files mother kept? They murdered thousands of people!"

"Kal!" he rushed forward and put a hand over his son's mouth. "Don't speak too loudly. We are being listened to and watched."

He slapped his father's hand away. "They've been listening this whole time!" he hissed. "What difference does it make now?" he whispered and took a quick glance around the room. This place was bugged for sure. He knew it.

"Zod is afraid of mother. That's the only reason he locked her away. She knows all of his secrets and you're a fool if you think he's going to let mother out alive."

Jor felt his breath catch in his throat. "Don't say things like that, Kal."

"Now I know why you two argued so much. How long has mother been stealing confidential files?" he scanned his father's eyes and saw a lot of guilt hidden beneath the blue marbles. "I see. She finally got caught. She wasn't careful enough."

Kal abruptly ended the one-sided conversation and walked to the exit.

"Where are you off to now?" Jor asked warily.

"I'm going to contact the Queen of the Amazons."

"W-what? Why would you do that?"

"We need evidence, father. We need evidence of Zod and Faora murdering people. The public doesn't know anything but mother knew. They're going to kill her."

Jor wavered and he stretched his arm out and grabbed Kal by the arm. "What makes you think the Amazon Queen is going to listen to you, let alone help you?"

"Her daughter is being held prisoner here. She'll listen," Kal smiled.