Chapter 16: Zod s Aftermath

With Zod gone into hiding, things were getting back to normal. This gave Superman time to get answers that he needed. He had been expecting Brainiac to come looking for him, not General Zod. There was only one who could possibly have the answers.

He traveled nearly half the globe to reach his fortress. Entering the massive ice-crystal structure, he climbed a massive set of stairs up to the control platform. The moment his foot stepped onto it, a holographic image of Jor-El appeared directly in front of him. "I sense that something unexpected has happed. Tell me, my son."

"I was told that escape from the Phantom Zone was impossible. I was confronted with General Zod, today. "

"When I created the portal into the Phantom Zone, It was to be used for two purposes. It could be used , not only, toimprison the worst of the worst criminals, but as a means to save lives. In the Phantom Zone, death does not exist. Sending the injured and dying there would prolong their lives long enough so their lives could be spared. However, as time went on, it became used, merely, for imprisonment. Releasing a prisoner from the Phantom Zone was always meant to be possible, but the technology to do so has never gone past the theory stage. If Zod has escaped from his imprisonment, then it had to be done by someone on the outside, and someone with great intelligence and knowledge of all internal Kryptonian databases."

"Brainiac," Superman said. The solution was so simple, he could not believe that he had overlooked it. "Brainiac is here on Earth."

"Brainiac is capable of accomplishing such a task," Jor-El confirmed.

This was not good news. If Brainiac released Zod from the Phantom Zone, then it stood to reason that they were probably working together towards his demise. That could be very bad for him; tackling two sources that could potentially want to destroy this planet could be more than he could handle alone. However, based on how Zod was acting today, something told him that their alliance was not completely solid. Zod was more interested in revenge for what his father had done to him, and anyone with that kind of mindset was usually very unstable. If Superman had to guess, he would guess that Brainiac had released him in hopes of controlling him to do his bidding, but instead, Zod became reckless and came after him earlier than intended.

One thing was for certain, that Brainic had come in that meteorite shower in Smallville. What he was currently doing, was the big question. He had to find him before the android accomplished whatever goal he had. Superman leapt to the sky and flew out of the fortress through openings between crystals at the top of the structure.

After his presence had left the fortress, the holographic image of Jor-El vanished and the lights all dimmed. The fortress had powered itself down, but the silence did not last very long. A bright light flashed inside and a boom tube formed on one of the steps near the display of Metallo's head. Walking out from the tunnel of light, Bruno was instantly greeted with a blast of frigid cold temperatures.

Rubbing his arms in a futile effort to keep warm, he pressed on to his ultimate prize. The final piece to the puzzle of Superman's demise was now his. Now, he had everything he needed to rebuild Metallo and to rid the world of Superman. With Superman gone, the criminal underworld would once again have a strangle hold on Metropolis.

General Lane was told that he needed to see what was on the news by a young soldier. He hated surprises, so he demanded to be told. Yet, after he had heard the news, he needed to hear it for himself. Finding a portable television, he turned on to MNN news channel and saw it for himself. The replays were showing Metropolis being attacked by someone who had similar abilities to Superman. His worst fears had been realized.

Another alien of the same origins as Superman had come to Earth. Even thought it appeared that Superman had dealt with him, this proved that there are hostile aliens out there, and Superman was responsible for bringing them here. Any reservations he might have had, in doing something to kill Superman, was now gone. If there was one hostile alien at there, then there had to be more. The time for indecision was over. He had to do something to save the the citizens of this country before all was lost.

General Lane turned to the soldier who had given him this disturbing news. "Get me the Department of Defense. As of now, Operation Dustcloud is officially a go."

Mercy Graves had been keeping herself very busy as of late. She wanted to find a powerful man, who shared her hatred for Superman, to offer her services, but she was not going to depend on her impressive resume under Lexcorp. Thanks to some hacker friends whom she still had from her days working under Lex, she had gained a vast amount of top secret knowledge of everything that was going on in Lexcorp and throughout Metropolis.

There were a few things of interest that she dug up. S.T.A.R Lab's experimental solar power generator was one of them. She had the hacker download everything he can about the science behind it, and she handed that information to a former Lexcorp scientist whom Lex had trusted. With any luck, he would be able to discover a way to use it against Superman.

She also learned about the Miss Lang's work with General Lane to create a way to saturate this planet with Kryptonite dust. She had liked everything about this plan, and almost admired Miss Lang for coming up with such an ingenious plan. However, what she was seeing now on MNN news was changing her mind. Another alien just like Superman had come to Earth, and this man clearly had a strong hatred for Superman. He was the man she had to find and offer her services, which now meant that this Kryptonite dust cloud plan had to be put to an end.

Mercy was no fool; if this new Kryptonian was an unstable as he appeared, simply saving his life would not guarantee that he would not kill her on the spot. If she could offer him a way to kill Superman, then, just maybe, he would accept her and perhaps even more. She had to make sure that her friends come through for her, even if they needed some incentives to do it.

Clark sat at his desk, and looked at the clock. There was still an hour of the workday left after everything he had been through. When you're Superman, time tended to slow to a crawl. He could travel across the world, and save Metropolis all in a matter of a few hours. In the next hour, he could type up and hand in a piece for tomorrows edition of the Daily Planet.

"There you are?" Lois said, slamming her hand down on his desk. "Where've you been?"

"I was at lunch with Lana when we were caught in the middle of Superman's huge fight."

"What?" Lois was beside herself. If what he said was true, then she just missed out on not just another front-page story, but a chance to see and talk to Superman. "Where was I when this happened? Who was he fighting?"

Clark had to be careful with what he said. Revealing too much would expose himself, but revealing too little would alienate her. Funny, he was virtually invincible, yet he was still afraid of the wrath of Lois Lane. When it came to journalism, Lois had a very tough time telling friend from foe. To her, all journalists were her enemies. "He had the same powers as Superman. I—I think he was Kryptonian."

"Another Kryptonian?" She never imagined that there could someone else like Superman out there. He had told her that he was the last Kryptonian. She could only imagine his surprise when he discovered that there was another. It was sad that this new Kryptonian had to be evil.

A sudden thought came rushing back into her brain, causing her to lose composure. She remembered the Kryptonite weapon that Lana and her father were developing. If her father had learned of this attack, then she had no doubt that he was going to move forward with it, killing Superman in the process. As much as she did not want to hurt Clark, she no longer had a choice; she had to tell him everything that Lana had been doing. "Clark, there's something I need to tell you."

Clark's Blackberry rang inside of his pocket. "Hold on," he said as he pulled it out of his pocket.

Answering the call, Lois waited patiently for the call to end. Unfortunately, for her, she was not going to be afforded the time to tell him. He hung up on the call and shot up to his feet. The look in his face told her that something bad had happened. "I have to go; my mother's in the hospital."