AN: This is a one-shot and it does contain "Man of Steel" spoilers, so if you haven't seen it, DO NOT CONTINUE! This is my attempt at exploring a part of the movie's story with a bit of my own imagination and feelings thrown in. Enjoy, and as always, please review! If you like, I might add more one-shot chapters. We'll see. :) By the way, I do not own Superman. That would be DC. *tear*
EDIT: I needed to add just a little more detail and whatnot (my OCD), so I did modify it a little from what I first posted. Just giving you a head's up.
I tried to contain the man, tried to keep Zod from causing all this mayhem, and the fight just continued. When he shoved me into the column on the unfinished skyscraper, I took a knee. He tried to catch me with an I-beam, but I lasered through it, momentarily caught off-guard as he still managed to hit me with it.
"You've left me with nothing; I have no more people, Kal-el, and now we're the last of the Kryptonians. Doesn't stop me from trying to survive. I've adapted, over and over again. I was destined to be a warrior, always learning, always becoming better." His snarl and wicked grin met my gaze as he levitated. He'd finally realized how to fly.
This was not good.
He flew off with me hot on his trail. After exchanging blows and hits, and destroying more skyscrapers than I believed possible, I finally threw him into the glass ceiling of the local train station. I zoomed in, and got behind him, putting him into a headlock. His strength surprised me, even in that position. I should have been able to move him easily, but I couldn't. "Stop this!" I shouted through clenched teeth. I noticed that there were groups of people in a panic, all trying to move away, some frozen in complete fear. But of who? I silently pondered, my grip still tight on Zod. I couldn't move him, but he couldn't move me either. "We can make this place better! You can join me in helping this planet!" I then saw them. The family who was frozen. I almost couldn't believe it.
They were from my town, from Smallville. They must have come for the little girl, Mandy. She had been getting sick often, and the only help they could get was from Metropolis General Hospital. She was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease, affecting her growth and slowing her movement. It was part of the reason they couldn't move as fast as the others.
"Your adopted world, these humans; they don't deserve to live. You're a disgrace to our planet, to our ancestors! Watch them die," he finished, his eyes heating up and blazing a line of molten hot heat towards the groups in the train station. They scattered. The Thomsons were cut off from the rest, being backed into a corner by Zod's heat vision.
"NO!" I cried. I didn't want to be here. Zod, as evil as he may be, was my last link to my world, my planet—my parents. I couldn't kill him. I couldn't. I didn't want to be alone and I needed to know more. "Don't do this! Please, don't do this!" I begged him, almost crying. I was trying to move him, and couldn't. He was resisting me even as he continued to burn a path towards the Thomson family. They hadn't done anything to deserve this. I struggled with him. "Stop!" I begged again, Zod uncaring and unmoved. I couldn't take it. I couldn't let them die, not from coming here for their little girl's treatments. I shut my eyes as my hands did the impossible. A quick crack and it was over. I couldn't take it.
I sat there, looking at the man I had just killed, the lights leaving his eyes. I had done something I never imagined I would do, and it broke me. I saw the family, saw them looking at me in disbelief. I looked at my hands, the hands that had just committed murder. The murder of the last of my kin. I trembled and screamed, the scream echoing in the large space. The Thomsons didn't know what to do.
I heard footsteps and looked up, seeing Lois. My face contorted in grief. She came to me and I held onto her, crying. I was truly the last of my kind now, and would always be. I had killed the last link to my world, and I couldn't bear to think about the fact that my hands had done such a horrendous thing.
But then I felt two hands on my shoulders. I looked up, tears streaming down my face. I saw the Thomsons, and as soon as they could see me, the entire family hugged me. Lois stood by quietly as they surrounded me, knowing their intentions.
"Thank you," they whispered, their tears joining my own. "Thank you for what you've done." Mandy found her way into my arms and hugged me the tightest. I closed my eyes again, holding her tight as well. My chin rested on her hair. Now my tears ran for a different reason. I may have lost the last of my birth world, but I was now accepted in my adopted world for what I was. Superman.