Caterpillar

Argo

Through the thick windows of the spaceship's cockpit, an enormous red star could be seen. It was Rao, a red supergiant. Supergiants were the largest type of stars that could be found in the Universe. The one saving grace for the planets orbiting it was that red stars were not as hot as yellow stars, let alone blue stars. Nevertheless, the intelligent lifeforms in the Rao System had still perished in the end.

As the Almeracian spaceship flew towards the area that Krypton used to orbit, they saw a very large number of asteroids glowing with a dark green light littering the space. Chunks of matter starting from sizes of several hundred feet to even tens of miles were all that remained of planet Krypton and its moons.

"When civilisations as powerful as Krypton are wiped out in a single day...it makes you realize how fragile and insignificant our lives are. That no matter what great accomplishments one has in life, in front of Nature we are nothing but specs of dust." Naruto said.

His facial expression could not be seen because of the mask he was wearing but his voice was subdued, melancholic.

"Have you been here before? I mean on Krypton." Superman who had been silent until then asked.

"Yes, roughly 4 decades ago, to get my reward for completing a bounty. It wasn't long before it blew up now that I think of it. It came out as a shock for many beings in the entire Galaxy when Krypton was destroyed."

Hearing him speak about his homeworld, Superman was listening with rapt attention.

"You may or may not know this but even today, dozens of years from Krypton's destruction, their technology and their relics still fetch a very high price on the legal and black markets alike. It goes to show how advanced they had been for their tech to have not become outdated even after all these years."

"Can't stop wondering though... how could a civilisation as technologically advanced as them die out in such a dumb way? You'd think they should have easily managed to detect that something was wrong with the planet's core and at least escape if not outright solve it. This whole situation smells fishy to me. And not just me; anyone with a working brain would think something else happened behind the scenes."

Superman clenched his fists at his words.

"You are right. Someone did orchestrate everything. My father was one of the leading scientists on Krypton and he had warned everyone that the planet was going to explode but nobody in the government wanted to believe him and the results of his research. Instead, they chose to listen to the corrupted AI that they had created - Brainiac. But, by the time they finally realized that Brainiac had been lying to them all along, it was too late. As far as I know, besides the criminals trapped in the Phantom Zone, I'm the last Kryptonian. My father sent me on a rocket, as a baby, to Earth, minutes before the collapse. A short video is all I have left of my parents' memory."

Due to his upbringing, Superman was a very kind and pure-hearted man. One that would not willingly hurt even a fly. However, if there was someone he wanted to destroy with every fibre of his being, that was Brainiac. The God of Evil, Darkseid was a close second too. Nevertheless, that was easier said than done.

"Naruto, I'm hungry." Kyuubi all of a sudden said.

And just like that, the solemn mood from before was completely broken. Naruto's voice sounded helpless when he spoke next:

"Seriously, Kurama, you ate 3 hours ago. Have some patience. You can see that there is nothing edible around..." but then his words trailed off and he turned his head towards Superman. Coincidentally, Kyuubi also turned his head and licked his whiskers as he looked at Superman with a hungry look in his eyes.