An Invulnerable Heart | Man of Steel

XIX. Haunted Hero

He triedhis best to return and fight back but Zod punched toward another building then another to punch him into the air. Hefelt the building windows hit his back harshly as he pushed himself back into position."There's only one way this ends, Kal... Either you die or I do." Zod added, bitterly.Zod lifted himself off the ground and bounced with full force onto the building. He rapidly pounced his way, breakingeverything in his path. 

Clark flew down, throwing another powerful punch, which sent Zod flying to another building.Clark then landed himself on top of the building – a construction site – and scanned the area for Zod. A loud grunt camefrom behind and Clark quickly turned around in time to see Zod throwing a piece of the construction equipment. Heused his heat-vision to disintegrate a part of the equipment just before it hit him. 

He flew backward, hitting a hard steelpiece of the construction and fell forward. Clark tried to recompose himself, gathering all the remaining strength in hisbody. "I was bred for this Kal. Trained my entire life to master my senses. Where did you train? On a farm!" Zod bellowed,leaning forward to the ground. A sudden crack was heard from behind followed by many. Zod's large pieces of armor that decorated him were now falling off of him. 

He broke off all the remaining armor left on him, revealing a simple black jump suit that wasunderneath it. Zod tilted his head backward and allowed the air around him to push him forward. Clark stood in shockat this new addition to Zod's growing power. He now had the ability to fly and Zod was ready to take the fight to thenext level.Clark threw himself toward Zod and landed a couple punches before Zod angrily shoved him away. 

Clark felt himselffly across the open sky, seeing a blurred black figure coming towards him. Zod tacked himself onto Clark, throwingpunches from every corner. Clark threw Zod off him and landed a powerful blow that sent him flying across the sky.Suddenly, Zod stopped punching back and decided to fly off as if he was escaping.Clark tried his best to follow the powerful and fast speed Zod was flying in. But Zod was nowhere in sight and Clarksearched frantically around him. 

The broken city was empty and Clark didn't find him anywhere. But as he turnedaround, Clark was suddenly thrown against another building once again. Clark found Zod flying toward him to landanother punch so instead; Clark grabbed the man and shoved him against the building glass. He continued to punchZod as he flew above but Zod landed a powerful blow on Clark and had him release his grip on him.

Clark felt a strong grip at the end of his cape, finding himself spiraling into many buildings. Clark tried to stophimself from flying even further as he came to small stop in the sky. He came in contact with Zod once again andblasted him toward the sky. Looks like they were going to take the fight up into space. Zod was sent flying backwardbefore he came to an abrupt stop by a space satellite.He then threw the strong, heavy satellite at Clark, hoping to land another blow with the satellite hit. 

Clark dodgedthe large satellite and found himself colliding with Zod again. The two dove downwards, tackling and punching eachother while being decorated with engulfing flames from their travel back down to Earth. The two colliding with a couplemore buildings before slamming into Metropolis' train station area. He heard screams all around him from civilians inthe train station. Clark held Zod in a headlock, his grip on him firm and tight. 

Zod was going to surrender and thiswould all be over.Clark struggled to hold Zod in his grasp, his eyes watching all the civilians leave the train station. Their screams andpanicked cries filling his ears."If you... love these people so much... you can mourn for them." Zod spoke, struggling due to Clark's strong grasp.He then forced Clark to lean backward before shooting power heat beams toward the stranded family before them. 

Clark's heart started to beat rapidly, hearing the family's panicked cries and their struggle to keep away from the powervision."Don't do this! Stop!" Clark painfully cried, fighting back tears. The family held themselves together defenseless toZod's power. Clark's heart pounded against his chest and his mind started to race with thoughts he couldn't control.The desperate cries of family echoed the room, swallowing Clark into an endless pit of guilt. 

"Stop!" Clark cried for one final time, hoping for Zod to change his way of heart.His heart sank as Zod replied with a firm and confident, yet terrifying answer. "Never."His heart continued to pound as the family's desperate cries almost became silent. They held themselves together,knowing this was the end of their lives. Clark's grip on Zod tightened and Clark couldn't help but do the unimaginable. 

He twisted Zod's neck, hearing a loud crack from the action and watched as Zod fell motionless onto the floor.What have I done?Clark looked down in an overflowing sense of guilt washed over him. Zod was the last of his kind and now... he hadno one left. Even though Zod was a monster and couldn't have been stopped, Clark felt remorseful for him. He felthimself fall onto his knees and let out a piercing cry of pain and guilt. 

Clark allowed the tears to fall from his eyes as heheard footsteps approach him.A familiar pair of comforting arms was wrapped around him and Eleanor's hazel eyes soon followed. She held hissorrowful face in her hands and allowed Clark to mourn into her arms. Eleanor held Clark in her comforting arms whilecontinuous thoughts about the event run through his head. All the guilt and pain that continued to build inside him.What have I done? 

A/N: 

Short update! Yes. Sorry for the overload on messedup words, phrases ... this action scene was hard to write. One more chapter... *sniff* I don't want to saygoodbye to these cuties. Should I do a sequel? Should the sequel be Batman V Superman? Comment below your thoughts and I'll see you in the next and final chapter.