Story [Superman]The Man of Steel(Book 2 of 3)--Updated 3/15/12

Chapter 18: Unstoppable

This could be the greatest day of Turpin?s career; the Intergang?s hangout had been discovered, though it was through very unconventional means. He had received a call from a very distressed Lois Lane saying that her sister had called her from the Intergang?s hideout. He moved heaven and hell to get that call traced and set up this sting operation with the MPD and S.W.A.T to take down these punk kids once and for all. He was driving his company car, leading the large convoy of squad cars, and armored vehicles. Helicopters with spotlights flew overhead, to join them in what could be Metropolis? proudest moment.

Sawyer was with him as always; she was not going to miss out on the city?s biggest crime bust in history. Unfortunately, they were stuck with Lois Lane, who would not take no for an answer. He understood what she had to be going through; her sister did something very dangerous and stupid. He could only hope that they could save her before it was too late.

As they arrived to the warehouse, they found themselves in the middle of a mass exodus out of the building. All the kids were running for their lives out of the warehouse. ?Damn, they?ve been tipped off.?

?Lucy!? Lois? thoughts already drifted towards the worst possible scenario. She had to have been discovered for the Intergang to have been tipped off.

Turpin threw his door open and charged after the closest kid. If this bust was going to be a bust, then he was going to make sure he at least captured one of them. Perhaps he could learn where the new hideout was going to be. ?Dan!? Sawyer yelled, getting out of the car to chase after to him. She had to make sure he refrained from doing anything foolish.

Dan chased after him, calling upon the strength of his former high school football days, and with a diving lunge, he tackled the kid to the ground. The kid continued to fight franticly to escape his custody. ?Lemme go! Lemme go! I don?t wanna die!?

?Stay still, punk! The only way you?re getting away from me is if the world is coming to an end!?

The entrance to the warehouse exploded, showering wood and debris all across the dirt road, and leaving a giant hole in its wake. Any officer or agents, who were out of their vehicles, had to hide behind them to avoid the flying splinters. A figure stepped out from the dust cloud that resulted from the explosion. An android, unlike anything anyone had ever seen, was standing there, staring at the surrounding patrol cars and armored trucks. A spotlight from one of the helicopters flying overhead shown down upon the android, giving all the officers a good look at what they were now up against.

?What the hell?? The punk kid, whom Turpin had tackled, took advantage of the diversion, and escaped from his grasp. Turpin's full attention was now on this strange-looking robot.

Lois stepped out of the car in complete shock at what she was seeing. ?What in the world?? She had no explanation, but something inside of her told her that this android was alien. After being around Superman for so long, she had acquired a sixth sense on these things.

All the agents and officers had their weapons pointing at the android, but on one knew whether they should open fire or offer the opportunity to surrender first. ?Why do I get the feeling we?re about to relive the gunfight at the O.K. Corral?? Turpin muttered to Sawyer.

?Funny, I was thinking that this is gonna be worse,? she responded.

Brainiac stared out at all of humans standing before him, and then up to the annoying propelling earth vehicle hovering over his head and shining a bright light down on him. It was time to put the fear into these earthlings, and make them realize how weak and feeble they are. He fired two yellow beams from his eye sockets up to the sky. They hit one of the helicopters, which erupted in a giant ball of fire.

Everyone on the ground covered their eyes from the explosion. As the burning wreckage fell back to the earth, the officers on the ground had to run from their positions, to avoid being crushed and burned to deat

Nice chap. I didn't expect a Braniac/Superman showdown so soon.

A new chapter coming soon before I go on vacation, I promise.

Thanks for all the nominations for this story and the Best ensenble award! I am deeply honored!

Sorry for the delay. This chapter is for last week and this week. I'm leaving for vacation, so I will try to have the next chapter a week from this Sunday. I'll see you when I get back. Again thanks for helping make this story winner of the Best Ensemble Cast at this years Fan Fiction Awards.

Chapter 19: A Change in Strategy

?What the hell were you two thinking? Do either of you realize how stupid your actions were?? Clark had never seen Lois this angry before, but under the circumstances, it was understandable.

Lucy and Jimmy looked at each other blankly. They were starting to understand how stupid it was, especially when they were nearly killed by a strange android. Neither anticipated such a turn of events, even though they should have. Only now, after everything that had happened, did they see how foolish their actions were.

?We just wanted to help.? Lucy replied, but her words even sounded hollow to herself.

?By getting yourselves killed? Lucy, do you realize what I would go through from Dad if he learned that I let you get killed on my watch?? Lois snapped. ?Do you realize that Dad didn?t want you here in Metropolis in the first place? It took a lot of arm twisting to convince him that I would keep you safe.?

That, Lucy did not know. Their father was hard-nosed and over protective, yes, but she did not know he tried to prevent her from coming to Metropolis. She should have known that he would have tried; sometimes, he could go well beyond over-protection into the realm of being controlling.

Clark stood there and watched as Lois scolded the two teenagers. A few times, he thought he was going to have to intervene because she was going to get too rough on them, but Lois always managed to stay behind that line, despite how angry she was. She showed remarkable restraint in disciplining her younger sister; a characteristic that was usually lacking during her fits of rage.

Lois phone on her desk rang, but she was too busy to take the time to answer it. ?Clark, will you get that for me??

Clark nodded as he walked up to her desk and answered the call. ?Daily Planet, Lois Lane?s desk.?

?Mr. Kent?? Dan Turpin?s voice came over the receiver. ?Can I speak with Miss Lane??

Clark glanced over at Lois who continued to chew out the two teens. ?She is currently disposed at the moment. I?d be glad to pass on a message for you when she becomes available.?

?I don?t see why not. Tell her that I?ve managed to find the time to complete a background check on Miss Lana Lang, the new CEO of Lexcorp. Everything checks out. She seems to be an honest businesswoman.?

His first reaction was shock, which quickly turned to anger. Behind his back, Lois had Lieutenant Inspector Dan Tuprin of the MSCU do a background check on Lana? The more he thought about it, the more it ate at him. She had done nothing to warrant such suspicion from Lois. He was willing to testify of her legitimacy, but Lois was more interested in tearing down another Luthorcorp CEO, so she could have another award-winning story. ?I?ll see that she gets the message.?

Lois looked in his direction when he hung up on the phone, and the look on his face told her that it had been a mistake to have him answer the phone. ?We?ll talk about this later. Off with you two.?

Jimmy and Lucy walked off like scolded dogs with their tails between their legs, leaving the two of them alone. ?For a mild-mannered reporter, like you, to be angry, I know this can?t be good.?

?You know the history between Lana and me. Why did you have to have Dan Turpin do a criminal check on her??

?Oh, that?? She had almost forgotten about that; had she remembered, she would not have risked having Clark answer the phone. She had to assume that the news came back clean; if it hadn?t Clark would not be this upset about it. She had wished that something was found, so this awkward moment could have been avoided. ?It?s a funny story, I??

?You were upset about her taking the position of CEO of Lexcorp, which you?d fought hard to expose and shut down. I get it. What I find suspicious

Wow. You made Zod seem like the tragic hero he actually is. Reminds me a little of Magneto from the X-Men. This was excellent.

Yea, in this rendition of Zod, I wanted him be more of a misunderstood villain. He has good intentions, but goes about doing it the wrong way, which is only made more complicated with his desire to be almost worshiped.

Sorry about the long delay. Since coming form vacation, we've had a family medical emergency, leaving very little time to write. I promise to get back into a writting grove as soon as possible, but know that I have not lost interest or my flair for this trilogy. I will finish this story, and I will finish the final story of the trilogy. I will try to get back to a chapter a week as soon as I can.

On another note, I invested in a new grammer checker, which is a lot more detailed and helpful. Hopefully this will improve the quality of the story.

Chapter 20: Heartbreaking Decision

He had Superman on the verge of defeat, but his demise was only part of what Brainiac needed to accomplish; Lord Darkseid was coming to Earth regardless. He was going to do more than merely defeat him; he was going to tarnish his name in the mind of these people. They had to know that Superman was the one who brought the planet?s destruction. If his plan worked, Superman will hand the planet over to Darkseid out of his own free will. The people of Earth would, forever, remember the one who betrayed and sold them into slavery.

For this to happen, he had to understand this planet better, and find out where that central nerve was. Once he located it, all he had to do was squeeze, and everything would fall into place. This would be Superman?s greatest defeat, and Darkseid?s greatest victory.

He returned to what remained of his shuttle. He had dismantled most of it, earlier, to build the portal into the Phantom Zone. That portal served to save Zod from his prison, but as a result, it blew up after just one use. Enough of it survived, however, for him to use and search through Earth?s history and find the one bit of information to make this all happen.

* * * *

As Lois sat on the sidewalk bench, she could hardly recognized what she was becoming. She was sitting on a bench across the street from the restaurant, spying on Clark?s dinner with Lana. This type of behavior was beyond reprehensible, and she began to wonder how she sunk to this level?

When Clark left work to go on his dinner date with Lana, Lois would have sworn that another person took control of her body. Before she knew it, she followed him to this Chinese Buffet restaurant. Now, she was spying on Clark?s dinner from across the street. She had always mocked pathetic women who chased after men for fear of living a life of solitude. She had always claimed that she didn?t need a man to make her happy, but everything she was now doing was saying otherwise. She was acting like one of those lonely, desperate women, and it was making her sick.

As she sat at on the bench, she watched Clark converse with Lana, sitting at the table right in front of the window. She was not very good at lip reading, but reading faces was another matter all together. She could tell by the expressions on their faces that they were still in the middle of small talk. Clark was yet to push her for the truth, and Lois could tell that everything that she had warned him about, earlier, was still fresh on his mind. She had no doubt about the truth coming out on this date; what she was not sure about was the consequences that would follow.

* * * *

Once again, Lana Lang was breathtakingly beautiful. Dressed in a black gown that wrapped tightly around every curve of her body; obviously she dressed provocatively to draw his gaze. She was very much as beautiful as she was back in her high school years. Time had done nothing to alter her beauty.

Having arrived early, he had time to think about his earlier conversation with Lois, as well with the conflicting emotions that he was feeling. The When Lana entered the restaurant, he nearly made a huge blunder, and called her Lois. As beautiful as she was, it was Lois? face that his soul was expecting to see every time a woman crossed his line of sight. Even the strange woman sitting on the bench across the street looked like Lois to him. With Lois always on his mind, there was no mistaking what was in his heart. As much as he wanted to rekindle

Chapter 21: Reconsideration

If he studied this planet?s geography correctly, he was now flying over Italy. This was Zod?s fourth ?country? that he was about to make his presence felt. He had gone from one country to the next demonstrating his power to the people. If he was to lead a united planet, they had to realize that they had no choice to submit to him. Destroying popular landmarks, killing a number of innocent civilians, and causing catastrophic damage would all get the attentions of the leaders of this planet. In the end, Superman joining his cause would finalize all of his hard work.

His first stop was in very populated, but militarily strong, country the people of Earth called China. The military was quick to reply when he attacked one of their mega-cities. He found them to be an arrogant group of people who, until his appearance, thought they were the superior people. They did come at him with promising aggression and impressive weapons, but they were still useless against a god-like figure as himself. To finish his message to the people of China, he attacked the long wall which they appeared to cherish. When Zod was done with it, half of it was in utter ruins.

From there, he flew a long distance to a much smaller country called Egypt. Their weapons were embarrassingly useless for the most part; they did conger up a few fighter jets. The death toll was very minimal in comparison to China. There were fewer people around the countries famous landmarks like the dirt pyramids and a strange dirt statue of a hybrid, which had the body of some type of crouching animal and the face of a human, missing his nose. Now, it was missing much more than just a nose.

His reign of terror went north-bound to a country called France. Here, the casualty rate increased once more. They put up a little more resistance than Egypt, but they failed utterly, none-the-less. Causing massive damage to their cities and a huge steel monument, they were no match again him.

That brought him to where he was now: a small country by the name of Italy. He could see that the news of his actions in the other countries had already preceded him there. Upon seeing him flying overhead, the people of Italy were running to take shelter. His job was nearing completion; when he finished here, he could return to Metropolis and give Kal-El a chance to join him.

Zod hovered down to the ground, landing in the heart of a round stone building that looked ancient. A portion of it was already in ruin; from what, Zod could only guess. It looked like it used to be some sort of sporting arena, based on the seating layout. Whatever it used to be, it did not matter to him; what did matter was all the visitors here that were about to be in harm?s way.

Since going on this journey, he had practiced his god-like abilities, and in the process, he had gotten stronger. The destruction he was capable of doing was growing rapidly. It was time, yet again, to exercise those abilities. He unleashed his full force behind his heat vision, which he aimed towards the sides of the ancient arena. The wall exploded, throwing large fragments of the ancient building in all directions.

The people ran, for their lives, away from the explosion and the pursuing carnage. For an unfortunate few, any attempt to escape was more than futile. As Zod continued to destroy this ancient building, the more frantic to escape they became.

The building proved to be sturdier than it appeared; he needed a better way to bring it down. He hovered upward a few feet as he crossed his arms in front of him. This move he discovered in China while exploring all of his capabilities. This trick he learned turned out to be perfect for causing massive damage in a short time. The weather was a factor on how deadly this maneuver was, and the current weather condition of Italy was ripe enough to make it utterly destructive.

He spun himself around rapidly, like a tornado. In seconds, a wind funnel formed around him, which slowly increased in size, and started to stretch up towards the clouds. It took little e

Good chapters. The tension mounting is leaving me wanting more.

Chapter 22: Revelations

Mercy Graves found an email in her inbox; it was from her source on the inside of Lexcorp. It was about time that things started to come together. She clicked message and opened it up on her Laptop screen. It was mostly an update on what?s been happening. Operation Dustcloud was nearing completion, but Miss Lang was starting to question the operation. Mercy knew General Lane well enough that he was not going to stop the operation no matter what Miss Lang did; she was a weakling, unworthy of her title.

Thanks to another source, she had found a way to make Operation Dustcloud a major failure; she was not about to let any harm come to Zod, the one man who can kill Superman. The plan that she had devised would not only stop Operation Dustcloud, but give the new Kryptonian more strength to stand up against Superman.

She was about to close the email until she noticed the attachment icon at the top of the message. She clicked on it to see a PDF file was attached to the email. Her source said that he had found notes hand written by Lex Luthor. He had found these notes hidden in the old top-story office and scanned them into the PDF file. He promised that he had not read the notes, but figured that she would want to take a look at them. She had no idea if he was telling the truth, but that was a matter for a later time.

She opened the PDF file and read through the notes. What she found in the notes was an answer to her prayers. It was the one piece of information that would prove her loyalty to the hostile Kryptonian. Somehow, Lex Luthor had discovered the secret identity of Superman, and it was the last person on Earth whom she thought it would be. Superman was none other than Lex?s former best friend, Clark Kent. With this information, Zod could not only draw Superman to him, but have the advantage over him in battle.

* * * *
Lois could not come up with one good answer as to why she still felt the need to follow Clark around. After his dinner ended abruptly, she knew that the relationship between him and Lana was over. The way it ended and the way Clark was acting, there was no doubt about it. She was plagued with guilt for feeling a little relieved that it was over. She never did like Lana Lang in the first place.

She supposed that a part of her wanted to see if he was going to be alright. She followed him as he took a solitary walk through the park. After suffering such heart ache, he obviously wanted to walk out some of his frustration. She can see the stress he was under through his mannerisms as he walked.

As he walked through the park, he came to a water fountain. It was a three layer water fountain with a naked cherub at the very top. Clark stopped at the fountain where he sat down on the lip of the bottom level. Lois remained well hidden as she continued to watch over him. ?Lois, you are pathetic,? she whispered to herself.

She had come to the end of her insanity. She could just sit here and spy on him any longer; it made her feel dirty. Instead, she wanted to do something that was equally crazy; she wanted to go to him, confess, and console him. These games had to end. She had to stop lying to herself and face the truth; she was in love with him. She was in love with Clark Kent of Smallville.

She was at a lost at what to do first; she was completely out of her comfort zone. She had never fallen for anyone in her life; how to act was something she had never learned, especially being raised by a military father. She has always had men salivating around her, but even in high school, her desire to be the best reporter in the world came first. She never had time for romance.

As she fought with her conflicting emotions, she could sense Clark?s growing frustration in his body movement. The frustration boiled over and he pounded his fist on the stone lip of the fountain. The stone cracked and nearly shattered underneath his fist.

?What the?? Lois stumbled backwards, and tripped on her own feet. She found herself sitting the grass in shock. Did she just see what she thought s

Chapter 23: The Enemy?s Preparation

General Zod was back in America, pushing his way back towards Smallville. The quest to locate Kal-El had begun. Capturing his earthly mother would get his attention quick enough. Trying to find him any other way would prove futile; he actually hid among these weak willed people of Earth. He was embarrassed of his true nature. He wanted so much to live among these insects, that he was denying his true Kryptonian legacy.

He was now flying over a large field of corn husks when a loud, high pitched squeal nearly startled him out of the sky. Within the tone, a feminine voice made echoed through his ears. ?Zod... that is your name, isn?t it??

?Who is this?? Zod stopped flying and hovered in place. ?How dare you, an insignificant life form, address me in this manner!?

?I mean you no harm; on the contrary, I admire what you are trying to do. I, too, want to see Superman die for the crimes he?s committed against this planet.?

?You are a fool! I do not wish to kill my fellow Kryptonian. How dare you speak ill of someone of my own kind. I shall find you, and punish you for your insolence. I will not have any harm before Superman; he will bow before me and together, we will rule this planet.?

?I meant no offense towards your people, my lord. All I want is to serve you. I want to help you, no matter what your goals are.?

Zod was growing tired of this conversation. He had indulged this life form for longer than he should have. ?Show yourself, and I shall make your death as painless as possible. You have nothing of value to offer me that would persuade me to spare your life.?

?I beg for your indulgence for just a little longer, my lord,? the voice replied. ?I do have something of great value to offer you. I wish to present it to you in person.?

?Very well, I will hear what you have to offer, but if I am not impressed, I shall tear you limb from limb.?

?I am directly beneath you, at the very edge of this corn field.? The high squealing disappeared in his ears stopped and the voice disappeared. His patience was already thin, having been delayed in his quest. This Earth woman better have something of great value to give him for this distraction.

General Zod followed the directions down towards the end of this farm land. A woman dressed in black stood there, waiting. Just by the look of her, he could see that she was different from other women of this earth. She had a beauty that would drive, even a Kryptonian, wild. There was fear in her eyes; something that he did not fault her with, but there was something more there as well. Her eyes revealed treachery. She had a motive to what she was doing, and she needed his help for something. Even though he hated being used as a pawn for someone else?s amusement, he had to admire her audacity. There was something about this woman that he liked.

General Zod landed in front of her with his arms folded in front of him. Despite how much he liked her, he demanded respect. If there was no proper respect on her part, than everything else about her did not matter. ?You may address me, from this point on, as General Zod ... if you value your life.?

?General,? Mercy greeted him as she knelt down on one knee.

She had just scored some points in her favor for kneeling before him. ?For an Earth woman, you are very beautiful, but that will not spare you my wrath if you fail to give me something of value.?

?Understood, General,? she replied, standing on her feet again. ?You are looking for Superman ? I know how to get him to come to you.?

?You waist my time, woman. I already know how to get his attention.?

?I know everything about him; my former boss was a very intelligent man. Superman has a secret identity; he goes by the name Clark Kent. He works at the daily planet, and is in love with a woman named Lois Lane.?

?Interesting that you were able to find all this out, but I have already located his earth mother. If you truly knew everything about Kryptonian, you would know that we value family more than anything else,? General Zod repl

Nice couple chapters. The change of pace makes it interesting and keeps me back on my heels.

Chapter 24: The Trap is Set

Lana was at a lost about what to do. General Lane had refused to even consider her request to put operation Dust Cloud on hold. How could a man of his authority take such a risk with the lives of innocent people all over the world? He utterly dismissed the possibility, that there could be a danger in unleashing the Kryptonite dust; he was more interested in being the one who saved the country instead of someone else like Superman.

She had tried to contact S.T.A.R Labs to try to find out the truth, but any attempt to get a hold of Professor Hamilton had failed. She had no idea where else to go to find the information; after all, this was not something you could just google.

Leaning back in her chair, her mind was reeling trying to figure out the puzzle that was presented to her. When she took this job, she never imagined it being this hard. It felt like some unknown force was setting its will against her. Perhaps she was being paranoid, but having worked under a man like Lex Luthor would have that affect on a person. Somehow, a part of him still felt alive; she could almost swear that she felt his presence in this building.

Stuck in her mental block, her thoughts were interrupted by a musical five-note chime from her computer. On the monitor, a red circle with the number ?1? in the center appeared over the hyperlink to her email inbox. Grateful for the distraction, she clicked on her inbox and read the new email message.

It was from someone who went by the name ?M?-period-Graves. She had no idea who this person was, but the subject heading quickly grabbed her attention. It said:

IMPORTANT: Luthor?s missing secret file!

She had viewed many secret files that Lex had hidden in various formats and locations. It was some of those ?secret? files that directed her to Operation Dust Cloud. Of course, there were some files that needed to be erased or shredded, which came to no surprise to her. She felt it was her responsibility to read these files to help pave a way for a more honest Lexcorp. She had no desire to be caught off guard by anything Lex might have done in the past to bring repercussions against the corporation today.

She had no idea if this source was trustworthy or not, but she was willing to risk it. She opened the email, which had no text to it at all. She clicked on the attachment which had a .PDF extension. She opened the document and to find scanned images of hand written notes written in Lex Luthor?s handwriting.

It was a fascinating read, to say the least. It was a mixture of scientific notes and journal entries. She came upon a section solely focused on Clark. It quickly became apparent that since Clark came to Metropolis, Lex had become obsessed over him, and not in a flattering way, either. She thought he was best friends with Clark, but these types of journal entries showed that he wasn?t reciprocating that friendship.

She read this portion of the notes with great care. Something inside of her told her that this was what she needed to read. She could feel it in her gut, that their complex relationship would answer a great number of questions. She came to a page with two head-shot photos. One was of Clark Kent wearing a tan fedora hat. There was no mistaking that the second head shot was a close-up of Superman.

She had never seen Superman this close up before, but the moment she saw the two pictures side-by-side, her heart nearly stopped. At first, she thought her mind was playing tricks on her, but photo?s never lied. She knew Clark intimately enough to know, immediately, that he and Superman were the same person.

* * * *

Lois sat her desk, unable to concentrate on her work; she could not get Clark out of her mind. She was afraid of this; she had fallen in love, and like a school girl, she couldn?t concentrate on anything but. This was unprofessional, and for the first time... she didn?t care.

She was staring at a piece of paper, in her electronic typewriter that had only three words typed on it. A word had not been typed on it for over an hour. He

Nice chapter. I hope this leads to another showdown between Zod and Supes.

Chapter 25: Operation Dust Cloud

?You have another thing coming if you think I?m going to let you hurt her!? Perry White raged as he recklessly charged to stand between Lois and General Zod. It was a foolish act, he knew, but he could not just stand by and watch him kill her; he rather die.

Zod stopped him with the palm of his hand and pushed the old man back, sending him flying into a cubical wall, which collapsed upon impact. Perry remained motionless on the floor, but his chest continued its pattern of rising and lowering. He was still alive... for the moment. ?Chief!? Lois tried to run to his aid, only to find the Kryptonian general?s hand at her throat.

She gasped as he began to apply pressure on her throat. Zod was amazed how fragile these humans were. They were ever easier to injure and kill than he thought. ?So where is your savior, Earth woman? You are about to die, and there is no sign of him.?

?Go? to? hell!? she managed to get out of her mouth as he slowly increased the strength in his strangle hold on her.

Lucy?s face was drenched from her tears. She wanted to approach General Zod, but Jimmy was doing everything he could to hold her back and keep her safe. All she could do was plead for mercy. ?Please stop it!?

The General was having too much fun to stop. He had never actually tortured anyone before. Having always been on the front line of the war against the armies of Apokolypse, it was either kill or be killed; there was no time for slow kills. Neither was their time to contemplate on the death of his enemies. All he had to worry about making sure the enemy was dead and then move on to find another. This was the first time he got to watch the life slowly drain away from his victim, and it was scary how good it felt.

?Zod, care to take this outside?? A voice came from outside through the open window.

He looked outside the window to see Superman hovering in front of the window with his arms folded in front of him. He could read it in his face: he was not happy about his treatment towards his woman. With a grin on his face, he released his hold on Lois; as much as he enjoyed watching the life slip away from her eyes, but killing her would not get Superman?s obedience. ?Kal-El, you got my message. Good, let us talk, outside.?

Zod leaped towards the window and it shattered upon his impact. He flew outside the newly created hole where he came face-to-face with the younger Kryptonian. The two men stared at each other, waiting to see who would blink first. ?You wanted my attention, you have it.?

?It is a rare occasion when I am wrong, but I am an honorable man, and I am willing to admit that I?ve erred. I?ve allowed my personal feelings for your Father to get the best of me. You should know that I no longer seek to punish you for your father?s actions. We are the last of our kind; we should be working together in preparation for the armies of Apokolyps.?

Superman was surprise to hear him say that. He was expecting another brutal fight in a futile attempt to kill him. Last time, Zod could not be reasoned with; his thirst for revenge had turned him into a ravaging animal. Deep down in his gut, he knew that this rouge Kryptonian could not be trusted, but what was he trying to accomplish?

?What?s your game, Zod? You cannot possibly expect me to believe that you have had a change of heart this quickly??

?You shall refer to me as General Zod,? he said, clearly struggling to keep his anger in check. ?We both know that Darkseid is on his way here. Only together can we destroy him.?

?I agree; we should work together rather than against, but something tells me that your price is too high.?

General Zod spun around to face away Superman. They continued their discussion high above the ground. He could already sense the final outcome of this discussion would be. He could feel the son of Jor-El?s rejection. For his own sake, Kal-El had better give careful thought to this opportunity that was being presented to him. ?The only price is something that all systems must pay to survive in harsh and

Nice chapter. Pulling me in for more.

Thanks! Things are all falling in place now!

Sorry for the long delay. I just got myself a Kindle Fire, and I just can't put it down.

Chapter 26: Impossible Choice

The explosion was violent but satisfying. A gulf of flames reached surprisingly far up into the sky, releasing a green, misty cloud into the air. This was just the beginning, yet General Lane could not help but feel victorious. Soon the alien invaders will be dead, and the Earth will be free from any further danger. ?Well done, men! Everything worked perfectly.?

?Uh?sir,? One of his young soldiers spoke out. He had tried to warn him before, but the General was not willing to listen to him.

?What is it, cadet??

?I?m afraid we were not as successful as you would?ve liked.?

General Lane was ready to rip the young man to shreds for intruding on his celebration. If there was a problem, then he should have been made aware of the situation sooner. ?What do you mean, soldier??

The boy was afraid of the General and what he might do to him. For all he knew, he could find himself dishonorably discharged even though he had done nothing to warrant such a punishment. Rumors had run amuck among the cadets that General Lane was the hardest man to serve under. Fail him, and you could find yourself in mess hall for the rest of your military career. ?None of the other stock piles were ready to detonate.?

?What? Why not!?

?Sir, all the other stockpiles have mysteriously been sabotaged. ?

The general wanted to hit something at that moment. Why can?t these stupid politicians get it through their thick skulls? It wasn?t just the American politicians either. They views Superman as some sort of savior to be worshiped. No man should have that much power and influence.

So now, he was faced with the fact that only one stockpile was detonated. It would only cover half the United States, starting with Metropolis. At least half this nation would be protected from the chaos, making it a little easier for him to do his job. He still would have preferred for a complete success of this operation. ?So why wasn?t this one sabotaged unless...?

Somehow that rouge Kryptonian found out about his plans and sabotaged everything, but how? He wanted this stockpile to go off to use it against Superman. The blasted Kryptonian hijacked his weapon and made it his own; there was no way of undoing what had been done. There was no choice but leave the hostile alien for Superman to take care of, but that didn?t mean that there was nothing he could do about the alien android. ?If we can?t deal with this rouge alien, we can at least do something about that damn android when he shows up. I want the jets carrying our soft bombs ready to attack upon my command.?

* * * *

Lana shouldn?t have been surprised to see another holographic recording of Lex Luthor. These things have been popping up quite a bit as she discovered new hidden secrets throughout this office. Somehow, this recording had a different feel to it; the image was looking straight at her. There was no mistaking the agitation in his facial expressions.

?Well, Miss Lang, I can?t say enough how disappointed I am. I had such high hopes for you as my replacement as CEO of Lexcorp. You have violated that trust I had in you by going against the very principles I set for this corporation.?

?What principles?? She could not decide whether to take heed to this recording or not. There was no way he could terminate her employment from beyond the grave.

?You?ve given assistance to my enemy, Superman. In this corporation, that?s a violation of confidentiality, and is immediate grounds for termination.?

Was the image replying to her question, or was it part of the recording? Even more importantly, was the sinking feeling that she was not going to like what was about to happen. She shouldn?t have underestimated the ingenuity of Lex Luthor. Only he could find a way to run a corporation even after he had died.

The fire alarm system sounded throughout the entire tower. Now, she knew she was in trouble. The entire building was starting to evacuate by now, and she had

Cool chapter. I like seeing the contrast between Zod and Superman.

Sorry for the long break. The holidays were hectic. I'm just not getting back into the swing of things!

Chapter 27: Brainiac Strikes Again

The earth woman?s plan surprisingly worked well. Kal-El had left to rescue a pathetic human, allowing him to acquire the power he needed to rule this planet. She had orchestrated things to where the earthlings would have to shoot yellow-sun energy to save themselves, but they didn?t realize that it would only hasten their demise.

The second he flew into the yellow beam, his skin began to tingle. The burning Kryptonite dust, up above him, did not concern him, not when he could feel his strength increase. He could feel his muscles expanding. His body was expanding in height and mass. A fire of energy flowed through his veins at a much greater capacity he ever thought possible. Soon, the entire planet will kneel before his new found power.

* * * *

There was one minute remaining of her life; it was hardly time enough to get anything settled or make peace with herself. She wasn?t ready to have her life end so quickly; there was so much she wanted to do with her life, but now, will never get to. Her life would go incomplete. Life was cruel.

As the timer was now counting down the seconds, she could do nothing but fall to her knees in surrender to the cold, hard reality. Like a frightened, abandoned child, she wept. There would be no family grieving for her; the only family she had died nearly half a year ago. They were here, visiting Metropolis, when they were killed in the chaos with Metallo. She wished she knew where that monstrosity came from, or who in their right mind would make something so evil.

As the final seconds were counting down, she stopped looking at the timer all together. She waited for the darkness to hit her with vengeance. She had exhausted all options, and searched the entire office. There was no escaping this prison; Lex made sure of that.

Through her frantic sobs, she heard a loud crash in one of the floors above her. At first, she thought it was the building collapsing upon itself, which she thought would have been overkill for the likes of Lex Luthor. With twenty seconds left on the clock, she was certain that wasn?t what was happening. The crashing continued to grow louder, as something was going through all the levels towards her office. The ceiling tiles fell to the ground and Superman came crashing through the ceiling.

She jumped to her feet before the thought to do so even entered her mind. He did hear her cries for help after all. This was her first time seeing Superman?s warm and caring face up close, and all her suspicions were correct; Clark Kent was Superman. Having known him since high school, she knew him well enough that no changes in his posture or his looks could hide his identity from her.

There was no time to dwell it; the timer was down to ten seconds. Of all the things she could have said , she could only think of three words to say. ?You heard me!?

She ran into his arms, more than ready to leave this forsaken office. Gently holding her to him, he shot up through the hole he had just made on the way in. Just as he took off, the office erupted in flames. Lana pressed her face into his chest, afraid to look in either direction. Below them, the flames were racing to catch up to them. Add that to the nerves she felt from flying without any form of protection, other than Clark?s arms, and she was a nervous wreck.

They flew up the hole, through several levels of the tower, racing against the flames. Flying as fast as he dared, Superman finally zipped out of the rooftop of Lexcorp tower as the flames briefly puffed out of the hole.

Gaining the courage to open her eyes, she took a quick look at their surroundings. She could see the rooftops of dozens Metropolis? medium sized buildings. They were flying level to the taller skyscrapers. Farther down, the cars, driving down the streets, looked like ants marching in formation. It was a surreal, but terrifying, view of the mega city. She squealed, pressing h

Nice battle. I don't know what to expect now, and that is a great thing.

Chapter 28: Kryptonian World War

Turpin was happy to hear that the upper levels of Lexcorp building had exploded; perhaps this time, the corporation would stay close. The only bad thing about this news was the possibility of hundreds of innocent people might have been injured in the catastrophe. Of course the great news about Lexcorp had to be a double-edged sword; it was just his luck.

Pushing his 2010-Chevrolet-Cavalier, company car as hard as he could, he abrasively drove towards Lexcorp. Sawyer was holding on to anything she could find; never had she been so scared of being a passenger in Dan Turpin?s car. ?Jesus Dan, I?d like to get there alive, if it?s not too much to ask!?

Turpin grumbled underneath his breath. His attention was fully on trying to find a way through the traffic to get to the tower. It was taking every ounce of restraint he had to keep himself from going on a swearing fit; the darn people of Metropolis needed to learn how to drive. His aggressive driving nearly caused him to rear end a small, two-door coup as the traffic came to an abrupt halt. ?Aw, what the hell!?

Sawyer?a nails nearly ripped through the leather on the door handle. She was glad that the horror had come to an end, at least for a minute or two. ?What?s the matter Dan, the sidewalk?s not to your liking??

?Yeah, I?m in a grumpy mood, today, and what of it?? he huffed. ?We?ve still got a fire burning in the sky after some strange yellow beam shot up from the ground... we?ve got the explosion at Lexcorp?Luthorcorp?whatever it?s called now. It?s enough to ruin anyone?s day. What else can possibly go wrong today??

?Uh, Dan, I think things just got worse,? Captain Sawyer said cautiously, as she opened her door.

?What now?? Turpin ventured to open his door and step out of the car, seeing that the traffic was not going anywhere. Down the street, it sounded like the echoes of thunder snapping. After one of the crackling of ?thunder? a red and blue streak raced across the sky, towards their direction. The blur hit a steal beam of at the construction site besides them. Superman was caught in the indentation of the steel girder, trying to come to his senses.

Everyone gasped as they began to climb out of their cars and star up at the stunned hero. Turpin looked down the street to see another person, like Superman, flying in their direction. This was the alien that Superman had manhandled several days ago. It would appear that, somehow, he was able to turn the tide. His eyes were drawn down, and everything became clear. The same android?Brainiac if he remembered correctly?was marching towards them, using some kind of energy to toss the cars out of his way. The alien and the android were working together. ?Damn!?

He exchanged looks with Sawyer, and without trading words, they knew what they needed to do. ?Let?s move it, everyone! Clear out!?

* * * *

The last hit caused him to see stars. Stuck in the indentation he made in the steel beam, he was still trying to shake the confusion. Not only did Zod?s power increased, he was now fighting alongside of Brainiac. The odds did not look good. Superman knew that there would be consequences to pay for not stopping Zod when he had the chance, and now it was time to pay the debt.

Zod hovered in front of him with a smug look on his face. He grabbed him by the throat and pulled him out of the steel beam. ?Now, the power is at its rightful place: in my hands.? He unleashed his heat beams from his eyes, at full force, pushing the Man of Steel all the way down into the cement foundation.

Brainac finished the attack by releasing an invisible pulse from the palm of his right hand. All ten stories worth of steel began to groan until the stress caused all the steel beams to collapse. One of the beams pierced the side of the tower next door and began to rip tear through the glass and cement. There were more than a handful of unlucky people on that level who had no chance to prepare or save themselves. Without prejudice, the beam cleared everything, in its path, out of the way and swept them r

The Force.Net forums are making the move in the next few weeks. These forums may be down for a few weeks, so I hope you'll still be around when it returns. I will try to have another have chapter up before then.

Sounds good.

Chapter 29: Consequences

General Lane sat in the passenger hold of the military chopper. Now that it was safe to fly over Metropolis with the burning Kryptonite dust now settling, he was free to check out the explosions he had been hearing. It was just as he feared, Superman was doing battle with one of the two menaces, and?as luck would have it?the battle was with the android.

Wearing a headset , that served as a radio and a sound reducer, he pulled the microphone down to his mouth. ?Where are my soft bombs??

The dispatcher on the other line had a quick response to his inquiry. ?The jets should arrive over Metropolis in five minutes.?

?Ten minutes? There may be nothing left of the city in ten minutes!? Either the city could be lost, or Superman would have taken care of the android, which was just as bad. He was determined to prove that the world did not need Superman to keep itself safe. He was going to establish to the citizens of the United States that their government can handle anything that nature could throw their way. Destroying the android would go a long way to restoring the people?s confidence.

* * * *

Having broken free from the girder, Superman tried throwing it into Brainiac, but the android had deflected it. So the battle raged on. Using his super speed, he ran like a blur, hoping his speed would catch him off guard. He should have remembered that he was fighting the super-computer of all super-computers. No doubt he calculated his trajectory, despite moving at the speed of light; when he was close enough to throw a punch towards his chest, Brainiac met his fist with a metallic fist of his own. The impact sent a tiny shockwave that shattered all the glass of car windows and cracked the first floor windows of all the towers in the vicinity.

He tried to sneaking in a side punch with his other hand, but the Kryptonian android had anticipated it, and swatted the punch away. Brainiac would not give him another free shot; he fired his eye beams straight into his face, temporarily blinding him.

Seeing white spots dancing before his eyes, Superman had no way to see or prevent a metallic hand reaching out for his neck. It was only when he felt the smooth, cold hand around his neck that he knew what was about to happen. Thousands of volts went coursing through his neck; the pain was so intense, that it forced him down onto one knee.

Superman hoped that Brainiac was not programmed with pain receptors, because what he was about to do would be ethically questionable to his own, personal standards. If this was any other sentient life form, this would not be an option for him. He grabbed hold of the android?s wrist with both hands and squeezed. It was harder than he anticipated crushing his wrist. What kind of material was he made out of anyway?

The metal slowly began to crumple under the pressure. The android had no choice but to let go before his hand was completely destroyed. He allowed Brainiac to pull his wrist back; he had something else in mind for him. Leaping onto his feet, he began to bombard his metal chest with a series of quick, but powerful, jabs. The android again stood firm, but this time, his punches were actually bruising the metal frame.

Despite the minor dents that he was putting on him, his posture suggested that he saw him as nothing more than an annoying insect that needed to be squashed. As such, he swung his arm with speed he failed to anticipate, which caused him to stumble backwards, away from the android.

He quickly corrected himself and was prepared to come at Brainiac with another series of jabs, until the sound of a soft click, which he instantly recognized; it was the cocking of a gun. He looked to his right to see Lana with a gun up against her head. Surprising him even more was to see who it was that had her at gun point: Mercy Graves.

?If you want her to live, Superman, you will bow before the General.?

General? She had worked for Lex Luthor for who knows how many years, and now she had aligned herself with Zod? She had to be doing it in revenge for wh