The Daily Planet's basement archive smelled of old paper and ozone. Clark sat on a crate, shirt off, skin mottled with fading green veins. Lois knelt beside him, dabbing antiseptic on the dart wound in his shoulder. Hal stood guard at the door, ring dim, eyes scanning the shadows. Jimmy Olsen sat handcuffed to a pipe, head bowed, the data chip on the table between them like a loaded gun.
"Talk," Clark said, voice low. "All of it."
Jimmy swallowed. "Six months ago, Verdant took my sister, Sarah. She was interning at their Arctic lab—thought it was a dream job. Then the calls stopped. They sent me a video. She was… changed. Green eyes. Veins glowing. They said if I fed them intel on you, they'd let her live."
Lois's hand stilled. "And you believed them?"
"I was desperate." Jimmy's voice cracked. "They gave me the emitter. Told me to bring you in alive. Said the storm was just the opening act."
Hal's ring flared, projecting the chip's contents onto the wall. Files scrolled: NEXUS SUBJECT LOGS. Photos. Videos. Dozens of faces—some human, some not. All with glowing green eyes.
Clark's blood ran cold. "They're building an army."
"Not just an army," Jimmy whispered. "A replacement. For you."
The final file opened: SUBJECT 18 – NEXUS PRIME. A silhouette. Tall. Cape. S-shield. But the eyes… pure emerald.
Lois's breath hitched. "They're making another Superman."
Clark stood, pain forgotten. "We're going to Antarctica. Tonight."
The Fortress of Solitude's teleport bay hummed to life. Clark, in full black suit, stood before the crystalline console. Hal and Lois flanked him. Jimmy—freed, but under Hal's watch—carried a duffel of gear.
"Coordinates locked," Clark said. "Glacier base. Sub-level 9. That's where Sarah is."
Hal raised an eyebrow. "And Thorne?"
"Thorne's the bait. Nexus is the prize."
The portal flared. Cold hit them like a blade. They stepped through into a cavern of ice and steel—Verdant's Antarctic heart. Kryptonite veins pulsed in the walls, casting everything in sickly green. Alarms blared. Drones swarmed.
Clark moved first, fists shattering alloy. Hal's ring carved paths of green fire. Lois fired a flare gun—EMP rounds, courtesy of Jimmy's intel. Drones dropped.
They fought deeper. Labs. Cages. Subjects—some still human, some twisted beyond recognition. One reached for Clark, whispering in Kryptonian: "Kal-El… save us…"
He smashed the cage open. The subject collapsed, dead. Kryptonite overdose.
Lois's face hardened. "We're too late for some."
"Not for Sarah," Jimmy said, voice steel.
They reached Sub-level 9. A massive chamber. In the center: a pod. Inside, a girl—Sarah Olsen. Her eyes glowed. Veins pulsed. But she was alive.
Thorne stood beside it, smiling. "Welcome, Superman. You're just in time for the birth."
The pod hissed open. Sarah stepped out—taller, stronger, cape unfurling. Her S-shield glowed emerald.
"Sarah?" Jimmy whispered.
She turned. Her voice was wrong—layered, mechanical. "Designation: Nexus Prime. Objective: Eliminate original."
Thorne laughed. "You see, Clark? Kryptonite isn't a weakness. It's evolution."
Clark stepped forward. "Let her go."
"Or what?" Thorne sneered. "You're dying. Look at you."
Clark was dying. The radiation had spread. His hands shook. But he smiled.
"Because I'm not alone."
Hal's ring flared. Lois raised her recorder—live feed to the world. Jimmy grabbed a Kryptonite shard from a console and jammed it into the pod's power core.
The chamber exploded in green light.
Sarah screamed. The Nexus programming faltered. For a moment, her eyes cleared. "Jimmy?"
He ran to her. "I've got you."
Clark lunged at Thorne. The CEO drew a Kryptonite blade—too slow. Clark disarmed him, slamming him into the wall. "It's over."
Thorne spat blood. "You think this ends here? Nexus is in the ice. In the air. In you."
Clark looked at his glowing veins. Thorne was right.
But Lois stepped forward, recorder blazing. "The world's watching, Thorne. Every lab. Every subject. It's over."
Sarah collapsed into Jimmy's arms. The chamber shook—self-destruct sequence.
They ran.
The portal spat them back into the Fortress. Sarah was unconscious but breathing. Thorne was cuffed, silent. The live feed had gone viral—Verdant exposed.
But Clark knelt in the snow, hands glowing brighter. The radiation was winning.
Lois knelt beside him. "Clark?"
He looked up, eyes dim. "I need… the sun."
Hal's ring opened a portal to the Arctic. "Then let's get you home."
As they stepped through, Clark whispered, "Nexus isn't over. It's just beginning."