Aftermath

Chapter One

Final destination

Superman and Lois Lane sat on one of the benches in a train station in Metropolis quietly, not saying a word, trying to compose themselves.
Many thoughts and emotions running through their minds.

People in the train station station were muttering with fear, as they rushed out of the train station fearing for their lives.
Some lingered to get a view of the damaged station with fallen pillars and grit from broken bricks littering the floor.

But as soon as they saw the dejected Superman and Lois Lane sitting by General Zod's body, the few that remained left the train station quickly, not wanting to be involved in such a scene.

"What are you going to do with his body?" Lois Lane turned her head and asked Superman quietly, interrupting his troubled thoughts.

"I don't know yet." Superman replied with a similar tone.

Bury him? Burn him to ashes? Clark hadn't given it any thought yet.

So many events had happened during the past few days, he had barely had time to come to terms with his alien heritage, to deal with the invasion of Earth and take down the most powerful adversary he had ever faced.

It had seemed like an insurmountable task, but now that the present moment had arrived, that the Earth was saved. He could hardly believe it or even begin to think of future plans.

"I didn't want things to be this way. If I had just—" Superman shook his head to the side in frustration.

"There was nothing you could have done Clark! He was a lost cause..." Lois gesticulated to emphasize her point.

"My father believed that every person had the potential to be a force for good, but he was wrong." Superman said almost bitterly, frowning as he clenched his fist.

Lois placed a hand on his arm and said, "Nobody's perfect Clark."

"I killed a living being Lois!" Clark retorted and gestured to General Zod's body.

"Living beings..." Clark turned his head, seeing the survivors scrambling across the street and the rubble of the buildings he had destroyed, the smashed cars and the lives that had been lost in the process.

"But so did he! If you hadn't killed him, he would have killed millions more. You did the right thing." Lois insisted.

"Did I really Lois?" He stared at her coldly. Her gaze remained and Superman saw the kindness in her eyes, her absolute faith in him.

He had taken a leap of faith for the human race and now so had taken one for him. If she truly believed that he was a force for good, then he should believe it too.

"I know what I must do now." Superman announced.

Superman got up and walked over to General Zod. His eyes still wide open. Superman closed his eyes briefly from the sight.

It wasn't easy for him to see the dead body of another, let alone one he knew he had been directly responsible for.

Superman bent down and picked up General Zod's body in his arms and said to Lois, "I'll be back soon."

Superman took off swiftly, Lois Lane watched him fly in the sky until he was no longer visible in the horizon. She sighed quietly, her face filled with sadness, because she truly understood what Clark was feeling like at the moment.

If Superman had any chance of salvaging anything from the scout ship and to keep it as his only token of Krypton, then he needed to move it away from Metropolis, lest it be destroyed by the military, taken apart by scientists or disposed of in a landfill.

It would also serve the purpose of being a harsh reminder of what he had happened and what Superman must never allow to occur again.

After searching the city for a while, Superman found what he was looking for; a smoke trail and with it the Kryptonian scout ship.

Although still burning, heavily damaged and embedded in a building, the ship was still intact. Superman created an entry point my melting through the exterior of the ship with his heat vision. Once he had melted a hole sufficient in size he entered the gigantic Kryptonian scout ship.

He walked for a while, stepping over debris and watching where he stepped to avoid protruding metal, he coughed from all the smoke in the atmosphere.

He soon came upon the group of containment pods, containing the corpses of the Kryptonian travelers.

He had noticed that one of the pods had already been opened, so he walked over to it and placed General Zod's body in the empty pod.

Superman was about to close the lid of the pod and leave, but not before looking at the General one last time.

Superman looked at the General with a grim face, thinking of all the death, destruction and sorrow the General had caused.

But something in his conscience wasn't allowing him to retain this countenance, his face softened slightly. Lois' words, his father's beliefs, General Zod's belief that he was only performing his duty for the good of Krypton all led him to a conclusion.

Whether General Zod was a bad man or not, it was Superman's purpose to rise above the rest and do what was right; to honour the fallen no matter who they were.

Before he closed the pod, Superman placed his fingers on General Zod's eyelids and pulled them down, as a sign of respect to the last remaining member of his kind.

Superman closed the lid of the pod, sealing General Zod in it forever.

Superman than walked away from the pod and left the ship, he then lifted it up with all his strength grunting with exertion and flew with it back to the arctic. Where it would remain forevermore.

Superman then flew back to the ruins of Metropolis with a determined expression on his face, as fast as he could.

Thank you very much for reading my story, I hope you enjoyed it. Even if they are just a few words long, I always appreciate your reviews.

Big thanks to The Wayfaring Strangers and Rachel for helping me flesh out my story.