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 what happened to her former boss; she blamed him for his death, when the truth of the matter was that it was Metallo who had actually killed Luthor. Perhaps even that fact didn't matter to her; perhaps she acquired Lex's hate towards him anyway. Perhaps she was a secret lover?
Whatever the case, he did not appreciate having a personal friend be used against him. Did she know how much she meant to him? If so, did she know who he was? Somehow, he could not shake the sense that this whole big confrontation had been planned and Mercy had somehow been a major factor in this current development.
"Don't do it, Ms. Graves. Just put down your gun and..."
Her gun was tossed aside, but by the look on her face, the action was not done voluntarily. Before Mercy had the change to realize what was happening, some sort of invisible force aggressively pushed her backwards, away from Lana. "Hey—wha—?"
Lana was clearly stunned and confused; she had no idea if she should run for her life or not. Before she could even decide, her body began to elevate off the ground. Superman was just as startled by what he was seeing, but he had no doubt about what was happening. He turned to face Brainiac to see the three circles on his forehead glowing. Apparently, the android had more tricks that he had yet to reveal. The android was proving to be much more challenging than he anticipated; if there were still more abilities that he was holding back, then he doubted that he had any hope of winning this fight.
Lana was now hovering over his head as the android used his telekinesis to pull Lana towards him. Superman knew that he could not allow him to get his hands on her; he may never see her alive again. He was about to leap up and pull her down when Brainiac stopped him with his eye beams. It felt like an intense fire on his chest, where he was hit, and the impact sent him a few feet away. Those beams were deadly; each time, it felt like a little of his powers being drained from his body. His entire chest felt like it was being pricked by millions of tiny needles.
Fighting against the numbness and the pain, he went for one last attempt to save Lana, only to be brought down to his knees by another beam. He fought, again, against the pain, but it was starting to get noticeably harder. He looked up and found the motivation he needed to get back on his feet; the android had a firm grip around Lana's throat. He had her facing towards Superman, making sure he saw the horror in her eyes.
"No, wait!" His call was more of a plea than a threat. He feared what was in the mind of Brainiac; he had no idea how far the android was willing to go.
"You care too much for these weak, inferior insects. If it wasn't for that, you would have made an excellent leader for Lord Darkseid's armies."
"Don't do it!"
Lana let out a desperate cry as the android tightened his grip on her throat. Her face... moist with tears... scared out of her mind. Seeing her this terrified made him desperate to find a way to save her. He contemplated trying to use his heat ray vision to cut the arm off, but he did not know if he would be able to cut through that armor nor did he want to risk Brainiac using her as a shield. This was an attempt by the android to hurt him; he would not put it past him to force him to accidently kill her. It was a sinister trap, but one he was not going to fall for. Never the less, he had to do something or he may kill her out of spite.
"What will you do to spare the life of this one pathetic life form? Would you be willing to sacrifice yourself and serve the dark lord?" Superman had no answer. That was the one thing he could not do, and Brainiac knew it all too well. "Even if you agreed, the probability of deception by you is just too high to risk it."
Lana's body instantly stiffened, and her eyes bulged as she let out a breathless gasp. Brainiac released his hold on her, and she landed on her knees. Collapsing forward, he noticed a gaping hole in her back, with blood pouring out. With a gaping jaw, he looked up at Brainiac to see that his forefinger on his left hand had blood dripping on it. Somehow, he managed to turn his finger into some kind of knife.
Outraged, he zipped right at the android, and mustering all the strength he could, he threw a thunderous uppercut. This time, the android could not withstand the impact, and found himself flying down the road. Coming to an intersection, the traffic jam had caused a gas tanker to come to a halt in the middle of the intersection... right in the path of Brainiac. Upon collision, a cloud of flames erupted, causing a chain reaction of explosions of all the cars at the intersections.
Superman knew what he had done was unacceptable, even by his standards. He should have been more careful in putting innocent lives in danger, but all he could think about was what that android had done to Lana. Instead of going to put out the flames, he knelt down besides Lana, and gently rolled her onto her back.
Already, the blood was spreading out on the asphalt. Her face was ghostly white and the heat was quickly leaving her body. Quivering, her eyes looked up into his face. "I—I'm sorry, Clark, f—f—for everyth—th—thing. "
"Shhh! Keep your strength." It was the only thing he could think of saying. He know, as well as she did, that she was not going to survive, but there was no point letting her live her last few minutes in regret. If anything, he should be the one apologizing to her. If he handled things differently back in high school, this probably could have all been avoided.
It took Lois longer than she hoped to find a safe way back out onto the streets of Metropolis; the damage the city was taking in this confrontation was extensive. She felt the ground shake when she heard a deafening explosion. Flames were quickly spreading, making it even more difficult to get out. She found a way out at the back exit of one of the towers, but that brought her out onto the next street over. Trying to get back onto the other street was where all the challenge was. She had to walk several blocks down to find a way over, and then after which, she had to fight her way through panicked people and over large pieces of debris and car wreckage.
When she finally caught up to the action, she was not ready to see what she saw. She couldn't hold back her gasp when she found Lana lying in a pool of her own blood. Clark was kneeling beside her; she could only imagine what he was going through. She also feared what he might do in retaliation.
"I'm cold."
As Clark Kent, there was so many things he wanted to say; as Superman, he was at a loss as to what to do. The only other time he felt this useless was when his father died over ten years ago. There was nothing he could do to save his father, and now he was facing that very same scenario once more.
"I—I—I..." her final breath came abruptly as if her soul was aggressively ripped from her body. Her lifeless eyes were staring out into the abyss of blackness and her jaw was gaped open, showing the anguish she was in as she passed on.
He gently laid her head down on the ground. His face swelled up with tears and anger was boiling up inside of him. Lana deserved much better than this; her life had been taken from her much too early. He clenched his hands so tightly, that they shook. Like a volcano, the pressure inside of continued to build until he could hold it in no longer.
He unleashed a furious roar that caused the city to quake. People all over the city fell to their knees and covered their ears. Even the dogs were whining and running as far as they could from the terrifying noise. His voice carried beyond the city of Metropolis. The wildlife outside the city heard the roar and feared that an unknown predator was loose.
