Chapter 15: Kneel Before Zod
Seeing Lana in her sexy and sleek red gown nearly took Clark's breath away. It reminded him how beautiful she was. He could not help but flashback to the high school days. They were madly in love, more than any high school couple there was. He could remember all the fun times they had: the picnics, the movies, and the dances. Her face was slightly more mature now, but she remained as beautiful as ever. Whether she was wearing her evening gown to get him jealous or not, he could not tell.
"Is there something wrong with your food?" Lana asked after taking a sip from her glass of wine.
"No, nothing's wrong, why?"
"Cause you haven't taken your eyes off of me since we got here."
Clark had not realized that he had been staring. He shook his head and quickly took a bite of his lunch. "Sorry. Just strolling through memory lane; remembering the good ol' days."
Now it was Lana's turn to stare at him, but not for the same reason; she refused to let her mind go back to the time when they separated. It was the one thought from the past that dominated over-all others. What was on her mind was something that she had been mulling over since their encounter at the Daily Planet. At first, she thought that she was going crazy, but now that she had another look at him, she knew it was not in her mind. "How old are you?"
"Lana, we graduated together!" Clark wanted to get off the subject quickly. Even just talking to her as Clark Kent, she was starting to put things together. As Superman, he did not age the same way as the people of earth. Based on his father's calculation, he could live through three generations of humans. When Lana reached eighty, he will look like he was in his mid thirties. This was another side effect of Earth's yellow sun. He did not even want to think about what his life will be like when Lois and others began to grow older, and he remained the same. He was contemplating giving himself streaks of white hair when the time came.
"Yeah, we did graduated together, and I know you weren't left behind in school; you were a straight eight student. So you should be around what… twenty-eight… twenty-nine?"
Technically, he was twenty-nine. His mind began to reel, trying to find the perfect excuse to throw her off the trail. His excuse would depend on what she was about to ask him.
"You still look like you're barely in your twenties. Other than your build, you have the face of a college kid?"
"I suppose I was blessed with a baby-face. Should I grow some facial hair to make me look older?"
"You put one facial hair on that handsome face of yours, and I will kill you!"
"So you think I'm handsome?" Clark smiled, turning the tables on her.
Lana looked down at her plate to try to hide her blushing face. She had no intentions of getting emotionally invested in Clark again, but there was something about him that made it very difficult. He always had a very likable personality. In her mind, he had been the perfect boyfriend; he was someone right out of those romantic flicks. He was handsome, honest, humble, strong, courteous, and a man with high values and integrity. That all changed, in her mind, when he abruptly ended their relationship without any warning.
Neither of them had the time to break the awkward silence when a giant explosion rocked the building and shattered the window. The sudden chaos threw both Clark and Lana to their feet as well as everyone inside the restaurant. Clark could hear, through his enhanced hearing, the petrified screams of the people out of the streets. Of all the times that the Intergang would choose to attack Metropolis; they had to choose this very moment.
He kept his frustration at bay as he turned towards Lana. "I'm sorry, Lana, but I've got to go."
"Clark, are you crazy! You're gonna get yourself killed going out there!" Without thinking, she reached out and grabbed him by the arm.
"I have to; it's my job," He replied. "Stay inside until the danger is over."
Clark snuck out of the restaurant by heading into the kitchen and through the back exit. Stepping into the filthy alleyway, he grabbed his button-down shirt and ripped it open until all the buttons were pulled off the shirt. Underneath his shirt was his Superman costume. The rest of his civilian clothing came off after he leaped into the air. When he was high enough so no one could see him, he twirled himself like a cyclone until they were properly removed.
He followed his ears to where the chaos was, ready for yet another round against some very obnoxious young kids. This time, he was determined to get some answers from them. He had to find out who the brain behind the Intergang was, and what their intentions were for Metropolis. As he got closer, he could see a small dust cloud hovering over the street. The buildings on the street had sustained massive damage, unlike anything he had seen before. The Intergang had really stepped up their attack this time.
Zipping through the dust cloud, he landed in the center of the street with such force, that the road cracked underneath his feet. With such a deadly attack, he felt it was time to start using intimidation; however, he was startled to see that there was only one person standing in front of him. "You are a little old to be in a gang."
The man grinned as he looked like a man who had just been given the keys to the world. "Son of Jor-El, I've been looking for you."
"Excuse me?" Hearing his father's Kryptonian name caught him completely by surprised. He then noticed that uniform he wore did not belong to any force seen on Earth . He was wearing a Kryptonian military uniform. This man was not part of the Intergang, he was Kryptonian. His first thought was Brainiac, but he was an android, not a human.
"So they call you Superman, yet you waste your time serving these pathetic life forms who are too weak to defend themselves."
"Who are you?"
"Of course you don't remember me; you were but a baby in your mother's arms when I last saw you. In a way, I am kind of like your godfather."
"How do you know my parents? What is your name?"
"I am your new master. I am Zod."
"Zod? General Zod?" Superman nearly stepped back at the news. Zod was his father's best friend who later tried to recruit him into his coup against the Kryptonian council. Jor-El had sent him to the Phantom Zone just before Krypton exploded. As far as he knew, it was impossible for anyone to escape this eternal prison. Somehow, Zod had found a way.
"You and my father were friends once, and out of respect for him, I am willing to overlook your transgressions for you to make a fresh start with me on Earth. This violence, however, must stop, now!"
"You can overlook my transgressions all you want, but I cannot overlook your father's. By Kryptonian law, you shall pay for his sins against me and my people."
It was as he feared: Zod was out of his mind. Jor-El had warned him that his hunger for power was turning him insane. There was going to be no reasoning with him. "Well then, it is a good thing that neither of us are on Krypton, any longer."
"Nevertheless, Son of Jor-el, you shall kneel before Zod!" With incredible speed, he ran until he was nothing more than a blur to the naked eye, right into Superman. The impact sent Metropolis' hero flying backwards for five blocks until he crashed, head on, with the front of a bus that was driving down the road. He found himself indented into the grill, and could only imagine the injuries inside of that base upon their collision.
The doors let out a hiss before it slid open, releasing everyone who was capable of escaping. Superman gently pushed himself off the front of the bus, being careful not to move the bus too much, in case there were still injured people inside. He could not afford the time to confirm it or not; Zod was the bigger priority here. He looked around at the startled people, not quite sure what was happening. These people had no idea of the threat that was only five blocks down the road, and quickly making its way here.
"Everyone! Please get out of your cars and take shelter! Now!"
The people all looked around each other with puzzled looks on their faces. None of them had any idea what he was talking about or why they should do what he said. That reason became evident immediately as Zod fell from the sky to land on his feet on top of the hood of car. The impact instantly crushed the person who was in the driver's seat as the roof completely caved in upon landing.
Superman heard the gory death of that poor soul in the car through his enhanced hearing, and it made him sick to his stomach. "You have left me no other choice, Zod."
He reached into a small hidden compartment in his yellow belt and got a small Kryptonian crystal fragment. He tossed it towards Zod and then used his heat beams to destroy it before it could bounce off of Zod's chest. In front of Zod, small blue bolts of lightning appeared in mid air, with no apparent source. In seconds, a portal had opened, which closely resembled a black hole.
Zod leaped off the hood of the car and away from the portal. "Not this time!" He grabbed a man who had been watching the events unfold, and threw him towards the portal.
"No!" Superman screamed. He had not anticipated such a move. He could not allow an innocent human to be sucked into the phantom zone. He jump and flew like a speeding bullet to intercept the man before he got pulled through the portal. He stretched out his arm and caught him as Superman and continued to fly until he was a safe distance from the portal.
He helped the man back onto his feet once he was safely back on the ground, and the man decided not to stick around after his ordeal. Superman, had to move quick, to close that portal before Zod tried another trick like that. He found a deserted car in the right lane. He raced to pick the car up off the ground and, with as much strength as he could, threw the car towards the portal.
The portal would not close until something had crossed the threshold. Superman hoped that the portal would shut itself down once the car passed through. The car flew through the black hole, and as he had hoped, the portal disintegrated into thin air.
"Did you really think you would be able to send me back to my prison that easily?" Zod said mockingly.
Refusing to give in to anger, he charged at the former Kryptonian general with super speed. In a blur, he grabbed Zod by his uniform and thrust him upward, high above Metropolis. He had to get him out of the city so no more innocent people would be hurt. Bending his knees, he jumped into the air like a rocket with both of his fists leading the way.
As Superman was about to catch up, Zod stopped his ascent into the sky. With reflexes that surprised even himself, he hovered backwards and timed his kick perfectly to be able to kick superman in the chest. The Man of Steel quickly found his course forcefully changed as was sent spiraling out-of-control into one of Metropolis taller towers. His body crashed through one side of the building and out the other. Screams of terrified people echoed through most of the fiftieth floor, leaping out the way of, what looked to them, a large red and blue canon ball.
Superman finally managed to correct himself and found himself in stare-down with Zod through the hole in the tower. "Come, Superman, and meet your fate head-on."
With a deadly serious look on his face, he stretched both firsts in front of him and flew at him like a missile.
"The same attack? How unoriginal."
Superman sped right back through the hole he had just made, and when he reached the other side of the tower, he brought both arms to his sides as his eyes began to glow red. That was when Zod realized that he was tricked, but it was too late to do anything about it. Superman unleashed two massive and powerful heat beams, which engulfed the upper half of Zod's body.
Zod yelped in pain as the impact sent him flying backwards into a large light- up advertisement sign. Upon impact, the sign threw massive sparks in all directions. After a minute, when all power had gone out of the sign, the sparks came to an end. Before Zod had the chance to come to his senses, Superman was again on top of him, this time with his right around his throat, trying to keep him pinned to the torched sign.
Zod grabbed Superman's wrist and threw him away from him, allowing himself to hover away from the sign. If Superman liked things hot, then he was willing to oblige. Zod took a deep breath, reaching, deep down, into everything he had in his gut, and fired two heat beams of his own. Only, his heat beams were less than impressive than what Superman had just down. His heat beams did not even make Superman flinch.
"What? Impossible!"
"You are new to this planet. Your body has not soaked in nearly as much rays from the yellow sun as mine has; I have been here all my life. That means, Zod, that I am stronger than you."
"No!" Zod growled angrily. He lunged for Superman's throat but found himself quickly in a wrestling match as they slowly fell back towards the city.
A bright light formed in an alleyway, and stepping out of the light was three young punk kids ready to cause some mischief and mayhem. The time had come to make the Intergang's presence felt once again, but this time, they were the ones in for a surprise. As the three kids stepped out of the alleyway, they were taken back by the damage that they were already seeing.
"Whoa, dude, what happened here?"
"We didn't do dis, did we?" The female of the small group said.
"No, look!"
The three kids looked up the street to see a crowd of people gathering into the streets. Everyone one of them were looking up to the sky and shielded their eyes from the sun in the process. The three kids looked up to see Superman in some kind of wrestling match with another man as they fell towards the ground.
"Who's dis punk?"
"Dunno', but de udder guy is really dishin' it out on de Sups!"
The oldest of three kids pulled out his video phone and dialed a number. On the screen , the leader of the Intergang appeared, but he did not have a happy look on his face. "What? What are you doin' your job?" Bruno scowled.
"Some udder dude is doin' it for us."
Bruno's face softened upon hearing about this development. "What do you mean?"
"There's dis udder flyin' dude fightin' him as we speak."
"Interesting," Bruno replied. "There better not be a rival gang making its way into Metropolis, but then again, if they want to make our job easier, then why should I complain."
"What do we do?"
"While Superman is distracted, place the tracking beacon onto his cape, then return back."
"You godd'it!"
Superman got the upper hand over Zod just in time. He grabbed him by the neck and virtually body slammed him into the street so hard, the asphalt shattered upon impact.
Superman hovered the last few feet to touch safely unto the ground. "End this Zod. You are not strong enough to defeat me."
Zod snarled as he climbed back to his feet. "You will die by my hands. I shall have my justice."
He lunged at Superman and two of them were once again coming to blows. As they were, no one noticed one of the members of the Intergang sneaking in among the gathered crowd who had begun cheering for Superman. Without anyone noticing, she stealthily pointed a small futuristic looking pistol at Superman. She waited until she was certain that she had a clear shot.
Superman had Zod down on his hands and knees. He took advantage of the situation by grabbing his arm and spinning him around and around as fast as he dared. Superman was just shy of becoming nothing more than a blur to the eyes of everyone watching. Superman came stopped abruptly as he threw Zod through the window of a bridal shop.
The young punk kid had her clear shot, and she took it. Pulling the trigger, a very tiny tracking sensor shot from the tiny barrel and latched itself onto Superman's red cap. The device was so small, that it was easily mistaken for a piece of rubble from the fight. With her job done, she sneaked away in the same manner she sneaked in, and joined her friends, so they return to the hangout together.
"Come on out, Zod," Superman ordered, folding his arms in front of him.
No reply came from within the bridal shop. Some of the pedestrians in the area became curious about what had happened to Zod and walked closer to take a look inside. "Please don't!" Superman urged. He wished that these people would go hide instead of watching the fight. Being out here only made them a liability, but he also knew that humans had an undying curiosity. They could not resist watching a violent rumble between two super beings.
When everything remained quiet within the shop, he used his X-ray vision to look inside the shop. Through all the damage, he found no one inside. He did, however, found another freshly made, large hole at the back of the shop. Zod had found a way to retreat.
As soon as he thought it was safe, he took to the sky and flew as fast as he could out of Metropolis. Anger raged in his veins over his embarrassing loss to Jor-El's son. Brainiac had warned him what would happen if he rushed in to fight him, and the android was right. Zod had not yet gained the same level of power as Superman. If he continued to fight, then it would have only been a matter of time before Kal-El would have tossed him back into the Phantom Zone.
Perhaps it was time for a different strategy. He needed to become stronger and faster before even thinking about confronting Superman again. It was foolish of him to try to go after him without a full understanding of this planet and its resources. He had to submit to the understanding that until he understood this planet better, and allowed his body more time to gain more strength, that Superman had the full advantage.