Successfully subduing Faora made Thea very happy. This time, she didn't use magic. Laying out facts, reasoning with logic—persuading someone purely with her power of persuasion—brought a sense of accomplishment that was truly intoxicating.
Although Faora's desire to revive Krypton played a decisive role, and the deterrence of the Source Wall counted for a lot, it was the combination of these factors that ultimately allowed Thea to talk this Kryptonian lieutenant into defecting.
"It really wasn't easy!" Thea couldn't help but sigh. This Kryptonian lady could deal damage and soak it up; she was exactly the kind of force their little crew was missing. Next time they formed a party to fight, they finally had someone who could stand in the front and face-tank the boss...
Control skills were powerful, but a team full of controllers with no DPS or tanks was just too awkward. Now that they had found a warrior with infinite strength, the team's predicament was finally swept away.
Especially since her power-up method was safe and eco-friendly: just soak up some sun, and her strength would skyrocket. There was no easier leveling method in the entire universe.
As for whether Faora would break free from control once empowered, Thea wasn't too worried. Kryptonians could get stronger, but her own rate of growth wasn't slow either. Superman spent 33 years on Earth to get where he was today; Faora wouldn't catch up to Thea in just a year or so.
Plus, due to Kryptonian genetic programming, their personalities were relatively straightforward—straight shooters, essentially. Like Superman, Supergirl, or Zod, they were people whose words matched their actions, bordering on simple-minded. When it came to schemes and intrigue, a hundred Kryptonians couldn't outsmart a single Earthling.
Thea didn't stay near the Source Wall for too long. After recovering a bit of stamina, she took Faora and began the return journey.
After several twists and turns, when they finally saw the traces of a civilized planet again, Faora let out a sigh of relief. She had been terrified Thea would die of exhaustion. Now that she saw signs of intelligent life, she finally stopped worrying so much.
"What do you want to say?" Thea's stamina consumption was huge, and she needed to stop and rest every now and then. Seeing Faora hesitating to speak, she asked.
"The General's body... can you help me retrieve it?" Faora asked uncertainly.
"Don't worry, I already got it back," Thea said as she pulled General Zod's body out of her ring's pocket dimension.
General Zod was the most important person to Faora. Dying at the hands of Superman could be considered a Kryptonian civil war; it wouldn't cause too much backlash. But if his body were sliced up by Earthlings for research, Faora definitely wouldn't agree to it.
So, Thea had approached Secretary Swanwick early on to ask for the body.
Earth's scientists were more concerned with the spaceship and didn't care much about the corpse. Since Thea had a habit of burying alien corpses (like Abin Sur), the Secretary heard she only wanted a body and agreed after a brief thought.
Zod had his neck snapped by Superman, but there were no other wounds on his body. He lay quietly in the coffin, looking as if he were asleep. Faora gently stroked Zod's coffin, remaining silent for a long time.
"Where do you want to bury him?" Thea waited a while before asking.
"Do you know the original coordinates of Krypton?"
"I do!" Not only did Thea know, but she and Diana had even visited the site for a tour because it was such a famous location.
The two quickly arrived at the place where Krypton exploded. The original planet was long gone, replaced by countless planetary fragments and space junk drifting messily, indicating that a powerful civilization had once existed here.
"Thank you!" Faora found the largest planetary fragment and buried General Zod on this piece of their homeland. Only then did she turn back and thank Thea sincerely.
"What are you saying! We're partners now!"
With all loose ends tied up, Thea brought Faora back to Earth and found an uninhabited house in Star City.
"Take off your helmet!" Thea ordered.
Faora looked confused. She only understood that she needed to "sunbathe" after listening to Thea's explanation.
Although her face was full of incomprehension, she still took off her helmet.
"Urgh—!"
Upon her first contact with the direct rays of the yellow sun, the Kryptonian cells in Faora's body were activated by the sunlight. A massive flood of information rushed into her brain. Faora only let out one cry before fainting dead away.
I knew it would be like this!
From the reaction to first contact with sunlight, one could see that Faora's combat talent was far inferior to Zod's. Although Captain Zod was also dizzied by the light, his consciousness remained; he could still walk two steps while being supported. Faora just passed out directly... The gap was obvious.
Thea materialized some tables and chairs, placed her on them, and waited slowly for her to wake up.
It took a full two hours for Faora to slowly wake up, but her condition was a complete mess. Her eyes were unfocused, and her voice floated weakly.
Thea dragged her into a lead-lined room, and only then did Faora catch her breath.
"What happened to... me?" Faora asked weakly.
"You Kryptonians can enhance your strength by absorbing yellow sun radiation, and there's practically no upper limit. This is a unique talent in the entire universe..." Thea said with a hint of envy.
Faora didn't have the strength to argue with her at all. She shook her head, not wanting to speak.
Hm? She doesn't know?
Thea rubbed her chin and pondered repeatedly, finally realizing the sequence of events was wrong. She had kidnapped Faora directly; Faora hadn't seen the battle between Superman and Zod, so she didn't realize how strong Kryptonians could be.
This was easy to fix. Thea pulled the footage of the battle directly from the satellite and showed it to Faora.
When she saw Zod flying through the sky and burrowing through the earth, heat vision shooting from his eyes, Faora was stunned.
She turned back to look at Thea—the "person in the know"—hoping for further explanation.
Thea pointed at the screen. "This guy in blue tights and a red cape is the Kal-El you were looking for. You saw him before. He lived on Earth for 33 years. Earthlings call him Superman now because his abilities are simply too powerful!"
"And the one fighting him is General Zod. Before this, his situation was the same as yours is now. It was only after being directly irradiated by the yellow sun that he gained this earth-shattering power."
"See? This is the true strength of Kryptonians. As long as the yellow sun doesn't decay, this power of yours can increase without limit. Do you understand what this means?" Thea asked.
Faora shook her head numbly, indicating she didn't know.
"If there were a thousand, or even a hundred Kryptonian warriors like you! No other race in the universe would have a place to survive. Knowing this, do you still think Krypton's destruction was an accident?" Thea asked Faora solemnly.
"..."
Faora was speechless. In this short day, she had learned too many things she didn't know before. Her originally shrewd brain was now mush; she really didn't have much capacity left to think.