CHAPTER 24- THE METROPOLIS INCIDENT- (PART 2- Showdown)

The ship landed on the ground, a heavily armoured Kryptonian walking out of it. He looked at the armada of Tanks gathered around facing him, and a warrior clad in the uniform of the Green Lantern Corps. He pointed at him.

"...Give her to me."

The Lantern nodded and unbound Faora's shackles, allowing her to move towards the Kryptonian. He took her by her wrist, giving her a look of distaste, and shoved her roughly towards the ship. Scowling, she went inside, ready to accept her punishment for failing to capture Clark.

The enigma himself, was a considerable distance away. Half a mile, to be exact. He was perched on a rock formation and was looking at the meeting going on, the shuttle beside him.

The Kryptonian missionary pointed at the general. "Where is the boy?"

"He hasn't shown up yet, but we are working on it. Could you please, just please give us more time?"

"This planet will suffer the consequences."

The general frowned, and opened his mouth, about to give the command. Hal charged his ring and was about to blast the ship, when Clark whooshed in front of the chaos, wearing a sleek, blue visor which ran down till his jaw, covering his eyes and cheekbones. He hoped he looked unrecognizable enough. He didn't need Hal to recognize him.

The stupefied armada and Kryptonians gaped as Clark strode into the ship, his cape floating behind him as he looked long and hard at Faora and the armoured Alien. They grimaced at him, and locked the doors of the ship, leaving a dumbstruck military and Green Lantern to only be able to wonder what was happening.

Meanwhile, the President was watching every move, safely from the white house. Green Lantern is a human, he fights for humanity, to protect us. This boy, on the other hand, has done nothing to help us. How do we know he's not a threat? There is something wrong with his eyes…

He sipped his coffee as he expectantly waited for Zod's next move. If there was a threat, Asset Green could take care of it.

Clark looked back only for a second to see Hal nervously fidgeting, waiting to attack. Clark looked at him darkly, and as the door shut, he was glad that he hadn't jumped to attack. He wouldn't need Hal's help, but it wouldn't be ungratefully received. He turned towards the main console to see the armoured man take off his helmet, the gravity and air modifying to Krypton's. Immediately, Clark fell to his knees, vomiting blood on the floor. He had lived with that power for 5 months, and now he was going through withdrawal. Spasms went through his body as he fainted and woke again and again. Looking up, blurry eyed at Faora, he begged silently for help. She spat on him, muttering the words "You're weak, fool".

Vision fading with pain, he told himself that these people weren't worth saving. Last of their kind or not, they were elitists, believed themselves to be better. Krypton had its chance, they would not make Earth into their ideal of a perfect world, one in which Clark could imagine humanity being non-existent.

The ship docked onto the mothership, the world engine. Faora kicked him in the ribs, expecting him to get up. He pushed himself up, but could not stand completely. That was the position Zod found him in as he entered the deck…kneeling.

The Kryptonian General smiled as if he had some perverse inside joke with himself, and looked down at Clark. "Tut Tut Tut…so young, so foolish." Then, a sudden change came over him. Zod lifted him up and tossed him to the wall, denting it. "YOU. YOU took Krypton away from me. MY people. MY home. And now I will take yours." He let Clark drop down and kicked him aside. Turning to Faora, he snarled. "Activate the world engine."

Clark would've smiled, if he had the strength. Zod, so utterly predictable…did you not think Jor-El would've told me about this? He thought as blood dripped from his mouth. Hoisting himself into a sitting position, he leaned against the wall, and looked at the Kryptonians all vengefully staring at the two ships on the display going down to the planet's surface.

The first ship set down with a crashing finality in the Indian Ocean. Cmon, Hal…take that one out.

The second one floated over the most populated city in the world. Metropolis. Clark groaned. Innocent People are going to die.

Zod looked at Clark lying pathetically against the wall. "The blood of Kal-El. You dare use that symbol? I will crush the hope from you as I crushed your father's."

"You? You killed Jor-El?!"

"I would do it again if I had to. There is not a single day when it doesn't haunt me. But it was a decision I had to make. The council was WEAK and naïve…It is only because of their foolish banter we were not able to save Krypton."

"You are a monster, Zod… Krypton had its chance. Your people made your mistakes. But instead of bridging two peoples, you want to establish superiority and make the same mistakes again! Why not guide them to be something better!? WHY NOT TEACH THEM NOT TO MAKE MISTAKES?"

"You dare tell me what to do?! You who is but a child? Filthy, Pathetic HUMAN!"

With that last word, Zod kicked Clark through the wall, into the void of space. He was knocked unconscious with the blow, but he felt…calm. His eyes fluttered open seconds later and he felt a surge of strength as he floated towards the Sun. The rays tickled his face as he saw the ship descending down to Metropolis, the gravity beams now started. Distracted, he was almost hit by a satellite the size of a car. He grabbed on to it quickly and held down on it. Here goes nothing.

He pushed down as hard as he could, bending the metal as he pushed off from it, blasting towards Earth. He let gravity work for him as he guided himself towards the field which had the baby shuttle. He was reaching insane speeds…the lack of atmosphere didn't allow any sonic booms, but he was sure that once he breached the exosphere, there would be one. He yelled out in exuberance as he rocketed past the darkness, entering the light. The suit was holding up, and it felt exhilarating, to say the least. He wasn't quite flying yet, more like falling with style, but he put his arms forwards and punched through the air, creating a sonic boom. He whooped in excitement as he soared past the mountains and neared the field. Then, things went literally downhill from there. He landed with a gigantic THUD, almost like a bomb going off. Coughing and groaning, he dusted off his suit and rushed to the shuttle.

Hoisting it up, he ran towards Metropolis. The exposure to direct sunlight had given him a large power boost, and he was running faster than ever. He ran right into the city and threw the shuttle directly at the engine. The gravity beams stopped and the ship was torn apart from the inside, but not before 2 Kryptonians jumped out from it. They were not wearing any armour and as they fell, Clark could see the effects of the Sun begin to take effect. He hoped that since they were full Kryptonians, they wouldn't get a bigger power boost, but he thought wrong, as when Zod touched the ground, he lost control of his heat vision. The red beams were insanely powerful, much more than Clark's had ever been.

He hid behind buildings, wanting to avoid a direct fight. The second world engine was still active, and he couldn't lose to Zod while it was. The General and Faora were meanwhile melting or destroying everything in sight, almost maniacally. The government sent in Jets, and Faora jumped onto them and ripped the pilots out of their seats, wringing their necks. Clark could only watch in silent agony.

COME ON….HAL!

INDIAN OCEAN-

Hal touched the communicator on his ear. "Are you sure this will work, Batman?"

"Isolate the gravity field and disable the reactor. Once you have done that, Return to Metropolis, Zod and another Kryptonian are on a rampage."

Hal grumbled as he neared the gigantic machine. Focusing, he built a force field which enveloped the surroundings, to prevent tsunamis when it was destroyed. This focused the gravity field into on particular area. Once he was inside the field, Batman guided him through the process. Hal battled with the defence system, a cloud of Nanites that were easily dispatched of.

"Now, Lantern! Remove the core reactor!" Batman barked in his ear. Hal sneered as he ripped apart the ship, the explosion contained within the force field.

THEMISCYRA-

Diana woke with a start, panting. She had had a nightmare. There was an explosion…people screaming and dying on the streets…Panic everywhere. Diana had been in her outfit, trying to help people, but they were scared of her. There was fire raining down from the skies, two gigantic machines spewing energy in tandem across the Earth, an epic clash between a man in red and blue and a man in silver armour. She didn't know what to think of it. Was that a vision, or a premonition? She thought nothing of it and lied back down, trying to sleep, her thoughts laced with bittersweet memories of kissing Hal…

METROPOLIS-

Clark felt the tandem collapse, and he silently thanked Hal and Bruce. I should've known Bruce knew something. And of course he had. Batman had been the one to contact Hal when he was fighting meta's in Central City. Of course he knew that Clark would need help. Oh you insufferable egotist. You work alone yourself but you know when other people need help. Bruce Wayne, you bastard. Clark was grinning as he swooshed out of his hiding place, and moving as fast as he could, took Faora and Zod head on, gripping them by their necks and rushing out of the city, yelling with power.

Smashing their heads on a road marker which said- METROPOLIS- 15 MILES, he tossed them aside and stood tall, cape flying behind him in the wind, looking like a true Superman.

A/N- Oh this gonna be some epic battle next chapterrrr :D