Dante Fisher: The more the world changes, the more it stays the same. It may sound a bit cliché but it's the truth. The question is that do you go along with it or stay in your ways while others adapt to the changes made, unaware that you're damaging yourself and the people closest to you? There are things you're proud of and things that you regret. Did I love my parents enough? Did I fulfill their wishes? It's easy to be a cynic and give into your temptations rather than to remain an optimist in this day and age, given the current state the world is in. My advice to anyone is that don't let fear or other's opinions affect your decisions because at the end of your day those decisions are yours and yours alone.

XXXX

15 years ago.

Virginia.

Dante was hiding under the bed in his room when his mother Eva burst through the door, frantically looking for her son. The heat of the fire surrounding the house turned his room by several degrees highlighting the severity of the situation they were in. They were under attack.

"Dante! Where are you!" Eva shouted looking around the room. Dante crawled out and met up with her mother who was more than relieved to see her son alive. "Thank Heaven."

"What's going on, mother!" Dante asked her wanting to know right away.

Eva shook her head. "No time. I need you to hide in the closet! Now!" She grabbed her son by the arm dragging her to the closet.

"I need to find your father! Whatever you do, you do not leave the closet!" Eva told him. "I know this is hard but you must listen to me! Be a good boy! alright!"

Eva sighed caressing his cheek with her fingers. "If I don't return, I want you to go and live with your father. Have a beautiful life. Be good to him ok?" Dante nodded unsure what to say as Faith closed the door to the closet but not before kissing her son on the forehead and headed down stairs. "Ben! Where are you, Ben!"

XXXX

Washington D.C.

White House

Situation Room

President Dalton burst through the doors with the Secretary of the State Andrew Marsh. Everyone in the situation room stood up in respect of the commander in chief.

"At ease." the President said and everyone resumed their seats while POTUS looked at the satellite photos of an alien ship. A real life UFO in the full color. "What am I looking at, Dr Hamilton? Comet? Asteroid?"

"Comets don't make course corrections, Mr President." Dr. Emil Hamilton said factually as he adjusted his glasses. "The photo was taken by one of our satellites just 20 minutes ago. The ship appears to have inserted into a lunar synchronous orbit, though we don't have any idea why."

That didn't sit well with Dalton as he continued to stare at satellite photos of the alien craft. He had a feeling that whoever is at the helm, is looking to make a dramatic entrance.

XXXX

Virginia.

The McCord Farm.

"Babe, have you seen my IPad? I've been looking all over the house and just can't seem to find it." Henry asked his wife of 23 years as he was frantically looking all over for it in the master bedroom of the family house.

Giving up in frustration, he turned around and left the bedroom to find her hopefully at the kitchen but that wasn't the case as he found her staring into the tv screen with a look of shock at the living room. And soon he too sported a look of amazement as he saw news coverage of sightings of an Alien Ship. "Is this a joke?"

"I wish it was, Henry." Elizabeth admitted not taking her eyes off. "It's on every news channel since it broke out. It even cut into the football game."

"My God."

Elizabeth couldn't help but agree. "You got that right."

During the McCords's moment of grasping the notion that Aliens are real, the power in their House went out, surprising the couple and left them in complete dark. The mood had shifted into something uncomfortable. Then the television screen turned static with words in bold letters appearing.

"You are not alone. You Are not Alone. You Are not Alone."

"It's coming through the rss feeds." Elizabeth noted before looking down at her cellphone in her hand that was receiving the same message as the television. "It's on my phone too."

The former marine checked his phone too and saw the transmission. "And mine."

And then what appeared to be a man wearing a mask spoke. "My name is General Zod. I come from a world far from yours." The masked alien introduced himself. "I have journeyed across an ocean of stars to reach you. For some time, your world has sheltered one of my citizens. I request that you return this individual to my custody. For reasons unknown, he has chosen to keep his existence a secret from you. He will have made efforts to blend in. He will look like you, but he is not one of you."

Henry and Elizabeth shared an unease look before turning their attention back to tv. Not only have they found out that Aliens do exist but one has been living amongst them?! The tension was palpable.

"To those of you who may know of his current location: the fate of your planet rests in your hands." Zod said."To Kal-El, I say this: surrender within twenty-four hours, or watch this world suffer the consequences."

Elizabeth gasped as the lights came back on after the chilling message was received, startling the couple.

XXXX

Metropolis

Where were you when the World as you knew it changed? It's a simple but yet profound question. Stephanie McCord can detest to that. She was in Metropolis visiting an old high school friend who was attending Metro U for the summer when the Black Zero Event took place. Everything went to hell that day.

"Alright, everyone, we're leaving. Evacaute the building now!"

Seconds after the announcement was made, Stephanie or Stevie did not waste any time to leave the building as they went to the emergency exits of the apartment building into the streets crowed with a group of terrified Metropolis citizens that was trying to get away from the outer world beam of death that was hoisting cars, people up in the air before crushing them like paper by using the gravity to its advantage in the middle of Metropolis square, shaking the ground. In the ensuring chaos, her phone was buzzing with the calls from her family that was trying to contact her to see if she was alright but the screams from the people that tried to get away from the beam as well as fight planes crashing into office buildings papered over it. She ran like she was on a 10 mile marathon from the abyss that was threatening to consume them all.

Despite not wanting to, she glanced over her shoulder and saw a young woman not older than Stevie was trying to get away from the beam but she couldn't as she found herself levitating high in the air with a wide eyed expression that can only spell fear before being slammed into the ground even before she could utter a scream.

Stevie didn't have the time to mourn the young woman's death as she was too occupied of saving her own.

XXXX

"This way, let's go! Let's go!"

Dante now as an adult was in the midst of the world changing event. He was passing by Metropolis when the news about alien life forms broke out and everything went to shit from there. Right now he was trying to get a small group of adolescent children along with a field trip leader to the subway tunnels. Their bus was destroyed when the shitstorm began.

XXXX

Stevie didn't know where she went, all that mattered was getting to safety and before she knew it, she was at the sub way station. She took a moment to regain her breath. She inhaled and exhaled multiple times to keep her heart from beating out of her chest. boy, that was one helluva cardio workout.

Stevie hastily checked her phone and saw 17 missed calls, most of them were from her parents a few from her little brother and her sister. She dialed the only number that she could make.

"Dad!"

The worried and frantic voice of her father Henry McCord came through. "Stevie! Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine, Dad." Stevie assured that she wasn't harmed. Physically at least. She jumped slightly when the ground shook.

There was a sigh of relief on the other side."Thank God. your mother and I saw the news and we thought the worst."

"I'm at the subway station away from the epicenter. It's a complete chaos out here." She told him, seeing a family taking shelter near the stairs as the shaking stopped all of sudden. "I guess I should've taken that trip to Europe."

"Well, stay where you are, alright? Whatever happens, do not leave the station. Your mom and I are trying to book a flight to Metropolis and..."

The Glass rooftop window was destroyed as two powerful beings burst through it and into the concrete wall. It was General Zod stripped of his body armor and Superman clashing with each other. Startled by the unexpected fight, Stevie dropped the phone to floor as she was trying to get away from the action. She'd seen the footage of how destructive a Kryptonian can be a few hours earlier on tv so there was no way she'd would be caught in the crossfire.

XXXX

This is where you are probably at your most safest! Now be good to your teacher and everything will be fine." Dante instructed. The children nodded obediently. "Now, I'm gonna check if the coast is clear. I'll be right back."

"Now what do you say to the young man?" Teacher said.

"Thank you, Mr. Dante." The children thanked him.

Acknowledging the gratitude with a nod, Dante ran back up the stairs and into the open streets where he saw first hand the devastation the Kryptonian invasion had caused to the City of Tomorrow. Jesus Christ, this looks like Bagdad on Steroids. Seeing that the beam had dissipated and the ship was gone, it was safe to say that the world had not been destroyed. But one thing was for sure, things will never be the same.

XXXX

Lady Luck was not on her side apparently as Stevie found herself lifted off the ground with ease by Zod who had her full attention with a hand clamped firmly on her throat.

Stevie let out a weak squeak as she tried to wiggle out of the grip Zod had on her neck, but it was like trying to get out of a bear claw.

"If you love these people so much, you can mourn for them." Zod spat.

Stevie was filled with horror as his eyes turned red. She shut her own eyes bracing herself for the inevitable. But Superman acted fast as he charged and tackled Zod who released Stevie but not without the heat vision grazing her right leg. She shrieked falling to the ground. That stung.
"Don't do this!" Superman grunted as Zod's heat vision was nearing Stevie, tearing who was scrambling away from the heat vision. "Stop!"

Memories of previous birthday celebrations with her family, her first kiss and her high school graduation with her family came into her mind. She wasn't supposed to go out like this! She was too young to die! She found herself back against the wall, petrified of her seemingly premature death.

"STOP!" Superman shouted desperately, slowly and surely realizing what he was going to do but didn't want to.

"Never." Zod grunted, the heat vision edging ever closer to incinerating the young woman.

Letting out a cry of rage, The Man of Steel took a hold of the General's head and twisted it to the side with a resounding snap. Zod's lifeless body collapsing to the floor with a thud echoing in the station, his red eyes fading to normal blue eyes.

Staring wide eyed at the scene, Stevie couldn't believe what had just taken place. Superman had killed someone of his own species to save her life. Somehow managing to regain her nerve, she limped towards Superman, cautiously of course like a zoo keeper approaching a wounded animal as he dropped to his knees breathing heavily as the reality of his actions started to sink in. He was truly the last Kryptonian.

He let out a cry of despair as his tears began to spill down his cheeks. Sensing that he was in dismay, Stevie wrapped her arms around his chiseled body in a heartfelt hug as a way to express her gratitude and helping him ease his pain.

"It's ok. It's ok." Stevie said into his ear, comforting the Man of Steel in his moment of grief. Superman was surprised by the gesture but he didn't reject it. Both of them were completely unaware of a photographer, hiding in the background taking a photo of him and her immortalizing the solemn moment.

XXXX

A week Later

Virginia

McCord Family Farm.

In the aftermath of the Kryptonian Invasion, Stevie checked herself into a nearby hospital and stayed the night over at the observation deck after passing all the physical and mental tests while waiting for her family to pick her up. After being crushed by a group hug from her family that were relieved to see her in one piece, her doctor told her parents that she could go home with the condition that she remains with her family for a few weeks. They were more than happy to agree to it.

"Stevie? You alright?"

The woman in question froze when she was asked that question in kitchen of the family home by her father. Was she ok? Not by any means, no. She shook her head in response after a brief consideration. It's been a week since Black Zero occurred and Stevie had been tight lipped about it. Pretty much refusing to give any detail about what happened there.

"Wanna talk about it?" Henry inquired.

Again a quick shake of her head.

"You don't have to." Henry reassured her, not wanting her to feel pressured. He had first hand experience of what PSTD was like when he came back from his service in Iraq so he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. "Your mom and I cancelled our classes and took the first available flight to Metropolis. We... thought the worse when we lost the signal. Did you lose your phone?"

Stevie didn't answer as she relieved the traumatic moments in Metropolis. Henry sensing her distress, took her in for a hug, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Come here."

XXXX

Stevie was outside the family farm, looking up to the sky as she witnesses the stars shining brightly while briefly wondering about the universe. Were there more Kryptonians out there hiding or was there even worse? The possibilities were endless now there's been concrete evidence of other lifeforms out there. The thoughts continued to haunt her as she continued to look up to the sky.She didn't know how she'd survive but one thing was for sure, things will never be the same.