As Supergirl races to escape the Father Box eruption, she remembers back on the events of the last few weeks, and finally collapses. She is picked by "Zor-El", and then she goes over the remembrances she has had of him recently. He says she's not remembering things correctly and narrates the "true" story. Back in Argo City, things are looking good for Zor-El, as the Science Council is going to use his Sunstone research. But then the televised banishment of Jax-Ur to the Phantom Zone by Jor-El is broadcast, and Zor-El's family looks on in horror. The crowd approves, however. Zor-El disagrees with his brother's usage of the Zone. With more usage of the Zone by the council, Zor-El noticed a change in the people, especially in Argo City, with more crime, unemployment, and homelessness. A crowd attacks Zor-El and his family, and he defends them by stabbing one of them with a sunstone crystal, which suddenly means he can hear the phantoms; that the people have been infected by something from the Zone, as the attacker grows crystals and dies. Zor-El quarantines the family, and researches how to use the crystals to cure. He approaches his brother for help to close the Zone, but Jor-El has discovered that Krypton will blow up. They each discount the others theories, and part. Zor-El uses Kara as a subject, and inoculates her. Together, they use crystal-shooting rifles to destroy infected people. The family is arrested and tried, but a groundquake releases them. Jor-El gives Zor-El plans for a rocket to escape Krypton, and tells him that they plan to send baby Kal-El away. The phantoms infect Zor-El's wife, and Kara is forced to kill her. And Zor-El decides that he must send Kara away also, to pursue and kill the last Kryptonian, Kal-El, so that the phantoms will finally be destroyed.

Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).