Super Man

For a moment, both Kryptonians just stared at each other; Clark floating a few inches from the ground and Zod standing still. And then, as if an unseen signal was given, they attacked, Clark flying fast and Zod running, each step breaking the asphalt.

They clashed head on against each other, the impact so incredibly strong that the ground broke and the dust and ashes exploded outwards, making a grey sandstorm. Clark felt his entire body shake when he hit Zod, his muscles and bones straining with effort, but instead of stopping he flew even faster, lifting Zod from the street.

He had to take Zod away from the city, that was the only thing on his mind as he carried the general, away from all the people that were still there. SHIELD had evacuated those they could, but a lot of them were still there and Clark knew, from the fight he had in Smallville, that New York was going to suffer a lot of damage if they kept this up.

They smashed against one of the buildings in ruins, the walls crumbling, and before Clark could even think about continuing to fly Zod twisted himself like only a trained fighter could, escaping his grasp, and using his momentum he kicked him with both legs; Clark was sent flying in the same direction he was on, but this time without control, passing through the walls of the building he was in and crashing against another on the other side of the street.

The windows broke when his back collided against them, the ground cracking when he fell; Zod jumped through the same hole his body had made and landed in his front. Clark got up fast, preparing himself to fight, only to stop when Zod groaned, closing his eyes.

There was a red glow coming from them; Clark knew very well what that meant.

Still unaccustomed to his new powers, Zod couldn't keep his heat vision under control; the energy inside him built up to impossible levels and then it wanted to come out.

"AAAHHH!" Zod yelled, two red beams coming from his eyes.

Clark dodged to the side, the beams hitting the floor, walls and columns, as Zod turned his head desperately, his eyes burning with the amount of energy he was letting out. The building around them was no match for the heat and the concrete was simply cut, the beams effectively parting the building in two.

It all began to collapse.

With one last look, parts of the ceiling already falling down, Zod jumped out from the building; Clark, however, didn't follow. As fast as he could, he looked around, his x-ray vision activated, looking if there was anybody still inside. Luckily, SHIELD had taken his warnings seriously and that building was already empty; down on the street, however, just under where the whole thing was falling, there were a lot of people standing.

So instead of flying after Zod, Clark flew up, as fast as he could, his head and fists breaking all the floors as he went to the top. He destroyed the roof as he came out to the sky, looking down, seeing the building beginning to topple over the street; so he gathered all the energy he could muster and exploded down again, colliding against the collapsing building.

Clark hit the building like a missile, so fast and so strongly that the impact created shockwaves powerful enough to destroy concrete. He flew all the way down and then exploded upwards again, just as strongly, breaking everything still left standing.

The damage he made to the center of the building was so severe that the whole thing imploded, crashing down like a sand castle, losing its form as it disintegrated; and keeping the whole thing from falling down on top of all those people.

He rose from the falling building as if emerging from the depths of the sea, the crumbled concrete exploding like a wave as he passed through it, going to the sky; going after Zod.

Natasha had trouble believing her eyes.

Just as she landed after ejecting from the Quinjet, she released herself from the parachute of the ejected seat, looking around the destroyed city, witnessing the amount of devastation done by Black Zero and the World Engine.

The sight, however, held her interest for less than a second. She looked up almost immediately, seeing a huge Kryptonian ship arriving, firing upon the Helicarrier and making it fall over the city, continuing until it was just behind the Quinjet ready to shoot; only to be brought down by a flying Clark. She smiled, seeing him here, apparently unharmed, surprised at how fast he had flew to get there from the other side of the world.

The ship fell down with force, crushing every single building in its way, much like the Helicarrier did, the noise terrible even from where she was standing; but Natasha also wasn't looking at that anymore. No, her eyes were now fixed on the Quinjet, seeing Tony ejecting from it and, a few seconds later, the jet crashing against Black Zero.

It was unlike anything she had ever seen. There was blue lightning for a moment, and then the singularity opened just as Clark's father said, pulling everything, making Black Zero fold from the inside, bending the entire thing until there was nothing left. She saw Tony falling fast, trying to control his speed, when the singularity closed, crashing on top of a building; she hoped he was okay.

And for a moment since the whole thing began there was silence.

That was when Clark and Zod crashed against a building.

She could only watch as they went through it, passing from one side to the other, and finally hitting another one; and then there was a pair of red beams, cutting the whole thing, hitting other buildings around. Natasha ran towards a collapsed building, using the fallen debris to climb, trying to get a better view of what was happening.

Clark flew towards the top of the building and then down again, making it collapse under its own weight; probably to try to keep it from falling on top of people, she imagined. Jumping, Natasha finally got to a point where she could have a clear look of the street where they were fighting, just in time to see Clark emerging again from under the debris, flying towards the direction she imagined Zod was.

It was like nothing could keep them down. There wasn't anything she or anyone could do. Bullets didn't harm them; bombs didn't harm them; falling skyscrapers didn't harm them. And the only weapon they had that could do anything had already been used, at least ensuring that Zod was the only Kryptonian enemy left.

The only thing Natasha could do now was trust Clark; and hope that Superman could save the world.

Zod kicked a fuel truck in his direction, the vehicle dragging the wheels on the street as it moved sideways. Clark jumped forward, holding the truck before it could topple, trying to keep it from exploding.

Only to be rewarded with a fist to the face, as Zod punched through the truck, making the whole thing blow up.

Clark and Zod were launched away, each to one side of the street, as the explosion swallowed everything. The building behind Clark took the brunt of it, the walls breaking, and the cars parked on the upper levels began to rain down on top of them.

Using the distraction, Zod dashed against him, punching his face and throwing him against the ground with unbelievably strength. Getting up quickly, Clark dodged another punch and tried to attack, only to be completely outmatched when Zod defended himself with a strange fighting style and counter-attacked with a fist in his gut.

His feet broke the asphalt as he slid back, trying to stop, his fingers digging the ground; and when he finally did, Zod's fist became a blur. Clark ducked at the last moment, the punch passing loudly over his head; and then he punched back, right at Zod's side.

Zod was thrown far away, hitting one of the many cars that were still falling, his body turning it into scrap. Not waiting for him to shake off the hit, Clark dashed and punched him again, bringing his fist all the way down on Zod's face, the hit so powerful that his head broke the street. Clark prepared himself to hit him again.

And then a car fell right on top of him.

The vehicle didn't hurt him, the metal bending on contact, but it was enough to stop his momentum; and enough for Zod to have time to get up and kick him in the chest. Clark was thrown back on the ground, losing his breath, and the instant he tried to get up he felt another punch in the face and then an uppercut so strong that it sent him flying up.

Clark saw the building passing fast as he flew, spinning, the wind howling on his ears; he reached and tried to hold himself on the walls, his hands breaking the concrete as he touched it, but it slowed him enough so he could stop in air, right on top of the building. He looked down, seeing Zod on the street.

"There is only one way this ends, Kal!" Zod yelled. "Either you die or I do!"

Would it really come to that? Was Zod so lost in fury that he would kill him and then destroy an entire world, just for the sake of revenge? Clark knew the answer to that, but he didn't want to believe in it. Because if he did, then there really was only one way to stop Zod.

He didn't think he was capable of doing such a thing.

Unaware of Clark's thoughts, Zod jumped on the building, using his hands and feet to boost himself up, the walls breaking under his strength as he climbed fast. Clark looked down, frowning; and flew against him with all his speed.

They met on the middle of the building, clashing against each other with such power that the shockwaves from the collision disintegrated the walls from the building, every single window exploding. Zod, incapable of flying, took the worse part of the impact, being tossed up, spinning, until he crashed against a building under construction on the other side of the street.

Clark, dizzy from the hit, managed to stop his fall and follow, as the pieces of the destroyed building rained down on the street.

Steve Rogers raised his shield over his head, protecting two civilians from the falling debris, while he guided them away from the destroyed buildings.

After falling down from the Quinjet, being saved from certain death by one of Tony's suits, Steve tried to follow what was happening from the ground. It was hard to see clearly, since the buildings were in the way, but some things were impossible to miss.

Things like a Kryptonian ship appearing and dropping the Helicarrier from the sky, making the entire thing fall on top of New York; that same ship also being taken down, this time by Clark, who had apparently flown back from the other side of the world already; and the Quinjet crashing against Black Zero and opening the black hole, finally completing what they set out to do.

It was over. They did it. They had saved Earth from an invading alien force, again. At least that was what he had thought back then.

Until buildings began to drop again, until a pair of red beams split another building in half, until Clark collapsed that building, saving who knows how many lives in doing so, until an explosion made cars began to rain at the very street he was in... Until Clark and Zod clashed in together one more time, the impact devastating the walls of the skyscraper and tossing both Kryptonians to a building under construction.

Steve's eyes were wide open as he saw that fight, the pain of his wounded abdomen forgotten. It was so absurd, so extraordinary, that he was having issues believing it was real. If what humans did was called fighting, what Kryptonians did had to be renamed. Steve believed there was only one God, but the comparison wasn't any less valid because of it: what Clark and Zod were doing was as far from mortality as it could possibly be.

And when Gods battled, humans were the ones who died.

"It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."

Fury finally understood what Thor meant when he said that. Without giving any attention to the blood on his face, he kept staring at the monitors that were still working, watching as the Kryptonians battled.

The Helicarrier was grounded, incapable of doing anything since the Kryptonian ship shot them down. There was absolutely nothing they could do as they began to lose altitude, the immense aircraft breaking every building it hit in its way down. They had enough time to brace for impact, the crew trained to move fast, but even so the fall dealt them a tremendous hit and Fury was sure that if the Helicarrier didn't have top of the line technology they would have died.

Maria was only saved because of the Hulk; some part of the green giant recognized her as an ally and shielded her the best he could. She was hurt, they all were, but they were alive, even if out of commission now. Fury didn't know where the Hulk had ran off to, but right now he didn't really care.

No one there cared, he realized, as the satellites showed them the battle between Clark Kent and General Zod.

And seeing that Fury finally comprehended Thor's words. Earth was not ready for that kind of war. To fight battles that destroyed planets, to face warriors who had enough strength to level entire cities as consequence of their battle. But it was a moot point now; they had brought them here by playing with things they didn't understand and that was the consequence.

Humanity depended on Superman now; Fury could only pray, and he didn't really care to which god, that he could do it.

Clark broke the concrete floor with his head as he emerged on the building under construction. Immediately, he saw Zod jumping in his direction, a gigantic steel beam on his hands. Thinking fast, he unleashed his heat vision right where Zod was holding it; the steel melted between his fingers, the beam falling to the ground.

Adapting quickly to the loss of his weapon, Zod discarded it and, before Clark could react, punched him in the chin, tossing him back.

Clark fell down, dazed, his face hurting like never before.

"I was bred to be a warrior, Kal," Zod said, just watching him getting up. "Trained my entire life to master my senses. Where did you train?! On a farm?!"

Saying this, Zod took his hand close to ground; the little pieces of broken concrete began to vibrate. Roaring, the General ripped away his armor, piece by piece, the Kryptonian metal breaking under his fingers until he was left only with his black skinsuit and a glove.

And when he dropped his glove, it hovered; Zod had mastered his ability to fly.

Zod rose to the sky, his fists closed as he concentrated, his eyes filled with fury, as he floated a few meters from the floor. Clark felt himself fill with dread; Zod was becoming more powerful at every second. He hadn't lied about what he had just said; he was a warrior. He was the warrior from Krypton, made to be unbeatable. Clark stared at Zod's eyes and saw nothing but rage. The promise that he would kill every single human being was written on his face.

Trained on a farm or not, Clark would not allow him to do that; that was the promise written on his face.

Gathering all his power, Clark yelled and flew against Zod, hitting him with such strength that that they became a blur. They collided against the steel beams from the building, every one of them bending on contact as if made of paper, until they were in the sky again. Before Zod could react, Clark punched him with all his might, sending him back.

Zod reacted, hitting him too, and soon they were flying too fast to see. The Kryptonian general dashed in his direction, ready to attack, and Clark did the same thing Zod had done earlier; he turned his body and used Zod's momentum, kicking him with both legs and sending him flying. And before Zod could control his flight again, Clark was already on him.

He punched, the air vibrating, a thunder like sound in the sky; Zod groaned in pain and was sent back, but Clark was already punching him again and then a third time, the city becoming just a blur.

Realizing he was being overwhelmed, Zod flied away, so fast that Clark lost him. He followed, flying between the buildings, the cars filling the street down there. There was no sign of Zod, so he accelerated, everything passing fast, moving with such speed that he almost disappeared in the air.

The building's windows exploded when Zod appeared from them abruptly, grabbing Clark and throwing him against them. He tried to attack again, but Clark moved faster and got hold of him, flying against the windows and forcing Zod's face to hit them. The entire side of the building began to break, falling down, when Zod managed to turn; still holding him, Clark punched, as strongly as he could.

Zod held his fist, the shockwave from the impact destroying every single window still intact; and retaliated with another uppercut, sending Clark up.

Clark saw stars when the fist collided against him and before he could even understand what was happening, Zod grabbed his cape; and began spinning.

He couldn't even see what was happening anymore. The city became a blur of colors as Zod spun; and then he released his cape.

Clark went flying without control, faster than ever before. And being powerless to stop, he clashed against a building. And then against another. And another, and another, and another. He was bouncing nonstop, unable to stop, his body breaking everything on its path and he could only hope that those buildings were already empty.

A window crashed when he hit it and suddenly he was in the sky again; and Zod appeared from nowhere, exploding up, taking Clark with him.

Clint tried to move as best as he could with his broken leg, while following the two missiles colliding in the sky, the thunderous sound echoing in his skull.

He groaned in pain when he touched his face, a huge bruise taking most of it from being backhanded by Faora, but he didn't stop looking up. Colonel Rhodes, still wearing his War Machine suit, was by his side, also looking up.

"I can't believe this shit," he said, as Clark dragged Zod's face on the side of a building. "That's… I don't even have the words."

"You're telling me," he answered.

There was not a force in this world able to do anything against those aliens. That little fight they had against Faora? All they did was piss her off and delay her for a while. But nothing they used, anything, had any effect.

That Zod guy seemed worse. Way worse.

Unless Clint's eyes were mistaken, and he knew they weren't, he wasn't wearing a helmet anymore. Which meant he was breathing Earth's air now and not falling down in pain; somehow he had adapted to it and the only weakness they could identify was gone.

So right now, there was only one person in this planet that could do anything and Clint was watching that very person crashing against building after building, entering on one side and leaving through the other, without being able to stop.

Clint wasn't afraid of dying, but he was afraid for his family; and the only thing between Zod and the world, was Clark.

He hoped he was enough.

"Jarvis, I need eyes on them!" yelled Tony Stark to his artificial intelligence, while he tried to make a few critical repairs on the suit. "Link every satellite, every camera in this city, everything capable of recording that you can find."

The fall he took while trying to escape the singularity almost made him pass out; he was lucky his armor had protected him so effectively. But he had done it. He destroyed Black Zero, he even escaped alive! He closed his eyes a little, allowing himself to rest for a bit.

The sound of a building being smashed woke him up.

Zod wasn't on Black Zero. There was still one enemy to face and they were all unable to fight anymore. All of them, except Clark. And the fight he was witnessing was simply unbelievable.

The battle Clark had in Smallville was nothing compared to this; and they were already shocked about what had happened there. Without his helmet, Zod was now as strong as Clark and he had no more weak points. There wasn't an easy solution anymore. Now Clark had to fight with all he had.

Tony couldn't believe this was happening again. Earth was on the verge of being destroyed one more time. But last time, at least, they could fight. What could they do now, but hope Clark really was the Superman they needed?

Clark and Zod left the planet, fighting against each other's hold, spinning in space. He managed to get away from Zod and throw him; reaching his arms, Zod held on a nearby satellite, his hands destroying the metal.

And then he kicked the entire thing on Clark's direction.

He couldn't move out of the way in time, so he braced himself and held the satellite; right at the moment Zod flew to it, passing through the metal and colliding against him. The general grabbed Clark and pushed him down, to Earth.

Clark could feel the heat as they came into contact with the atmosphere, the pieces of the broken satellite around them, burning. Zod kept punching his face while they fell like a meteor back on the planet.

Twisting, Clark freed himself from his grasp, managing to grab Zod's neck and face; Zod yelled as Clark accelerated, the city appearing once again under them.

Jessica looked up, seeing what seemed to be a meteor shower in the sky; she was aware, of course, that it wasn't a meteor shower, but her friend. Her neighbor, that apparently was strong enough to fly out of the planet and come back, burning against the atmosphere, and still be alive.

The things she saw on that day would stay with her forever. Jessica couldn't comprehend how a guy as nice as Clark could do the things he did; how someone so powerful could exist and still be so normal.

She was strong, but what they were doing was on a completely different level. Jessica could lift a car; Clark and Zod were toppling buildings as if they were toys, flying faster than jets, cutting skyscrapers in half with laser eyes. Trish would say it was humbling; Jessica just thought it was scary as fuck.

But Clark was her friend, regardless.

So when she saw him entering atmosphere again, both aliens surrounded by fire, while they passed fast over the buildings, she looked at Trish.

"Go to the subway and stay there," she said, looking quickly at her sister, while trying to calculate where Clark would fall.

"But…"

"No 'but'!" she snapped. "Go and stay there, Trish."

And saying that, Jessica started to run towards the falling fire, running way faster than any normal human could.

They crashed through the glass ceiling, knocking down a statue when the base made of stone broke down. Fast as lightning, Clark tossed Zod down and flew against him, hitting him on the floor and beating his head against the ground until the marble broke.

Zod fought and groaned as Clark grabbed him in a chokehold, holding him down with all the strength he could muster. The Kryptonian general tried to get away, to free himself, using all his force to try to counter Clark's hold.

Clark didn't budge for a second.

But for how long? How long could Clark keep Zod immobilized? For how long his strength would last? How long until Zod managed to get away and fulfill his promise of genocide?

No help would come, he knew that. Not because there weren't people willing to help, but because they couldn't. They didn't have the strength to help. There wasn't a prison in this world capable of holding Zod, no cop to cuff him and take him away, no SHIELD agent to arrest him.

Zod stopped struggling for a second and looked at the people still there; Clark's breath hitched when he noticed what the general was thinking. With mad eyes, Zod tried to look at Clark as best as he could while being held down.

"If you love this people so much, you can mourn for them!" And fire came out of his eyes against a scared family.

Clark used all his strength to hold Zod's head, to prevent the red beams from hitting the family. The heat from his eyes began to crumble the wall behind them, breaking it little by little, as the family held each other, crying, trying to escape, to make themselves as small as possible.

Zod fought with everything he had as well, the beams moving slowly in their direction.

"Don't do this!" Clark yelled, desperate. "Stop!"

The family was crying, falling on the ground as they moved away from the energy beams, the father pushing his wife and children away while they begged for mercy.

"STOOOP!"

Zod didn't even hesitate.

"Never!"

The beams were inches away from the family, sparks flying away, the screaming more panicked than ever. Zod wouldn't stop. Not until every last one of them was dead, Clark finally accepted. Not until Earth was as devoid of life as Krypton.

So he closed his eyes, the tears falling down his face, and made his choice.

Twisting Zod's neck with all his power, he broke it; Zod's body fell lifelessly on the ground, the red glow in his eyes fading.

Breathing hard, his heart beating so strongly that it hurt, Clark fell down on his knees, his eyes staring at nothing. For a moment, he couldn't do anything.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

He screamed from the depths of his soul, trying to make the pain go away, the sound echoing in the room. Why? Why did Zod force him to do this? To kill the last member of his race?

Clark felt so numb that he only noticed he wasn't alone in the room anymore when a hand touched his shoulder; he looked up to see Jessica by his side. Without even realizing what he was doing, he hugged her closer.

Neither of them said anything. There was no need.

"Is it really surprising that the most powerful man in the world should be a figure of controversy?"

Click.

"We as a population on this planet have been looking for a savior…"

Click.

"… we are talking about a being whose very existence challenges our own sense of priority in the universe."

Click.

"The Avengers are not telling us the truth!"

Click.

"This is our planet!"

Click.

"Human beings have a horrible track record of following people with great power…"

Click.

"Tragedy…"

Click.

"Terror…"

Click.

"… the fire department estimates Superman already saved 89 people buried under the collapsed buildings…"

Click.

"… he saved my boy!"

Click.

"… power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolute…"

Click.

"Chaos!"

Click.

"… Superman lifted the ambulance to the sky so my mother could get treatment on time!"

Click.

"… maybe he is just a guy trying to do the right thing!"

Click.

"He's out of control!"

Click.

"… the Avengers are helping the victims…"

Click.

"The number of casualties is staggering…"

Click.

"… worse than The Incident…"

Click.

"Superman saved us!"

Click.

"… they brought their warriors…"

Click.

"The world has been so caught up with what he can do that no one has asked what he should do."

Click.

"KAL-EL, KAL-EL, KAL-EL, KAL-EL, KAL-EL…"

Click.

Jessica tossed the remote far away, sighing. Three days of this shit on the TV. Every single channel talking about "Superman". Now, Jessica could understand that; she didn't like it, but she could understand the need to talk about it.

But the theories those people were creating? It was all a big pile of steaming shit. She had seen people asking for Clark to be brought in, she had seen people saying he was part of the invasion, she had seen people praying to him!

There were talks of making a church! People actually praying to her neighbor! She heard something about that when Thor appeared during The Incident, about some people going back to worship pagan gods, but this? What kind of fucked up world they were living in?

Without meaning to, Jessica looked at her door. She hadn't seen Clark since he killed Zod, three days ago. She tried to convince him to come home, but he just got up, still shocked as hell, and said he needed to help the people in the town. And that was what he was doing, all this time, without stopping a second to rest.

Cameras from all TV stations were pointed to the sky to catch any image of him, as Clark flew all around, lifting fallen debris, getting people to the hospital, opening blocked paths, safely breaking buildings about to fall… One of the channels had actually made a small panel where each life he saved was shown; last time she saw it, it already was on triple digits.

Jessica sighed again. Those people needed help, that was true. But so did Clark and right now, people around the world were only interested in what Clark could do for them, not the other way around.

In their eyes, he was Superman. Kal-El, the alien that had saved the world. The Man of Steel, unbeatable, a God in the flesh.

But he wasn't any of that. He was… Clark. Just a guy, trying to be a journalist, slightly stronger than the average person maybe, but still just a guy. Someone who was anything but invulnerable, even if he could survive getting shot.

And right now, to her absolute shame, Jessica was worried sick for him.

That was when she heard something passing through the thin walls of her apartment. Running, she was out of her apartment in a second. She picked the lock of Clark's apartment as fast as she could and got in, closing the door.

There, standing in the middle of the room, wearing that blue suit of his, was Clark. He looked tired as hell, dirty, full of dust on him... But he was smiling.

Jessica smiled too; her friend was back.

Natasha looked around the Avengers Tower's kitchen; one of many. Usually, she didn't stay there, she had her own apartments in New York, but the last few days were anything but usual and the team wanted to stay close to help.

A great portion of New York was in ruins. The damage made by Black Zero and then the battle was horrifying. There wasn't an exact number yet, but thousands of people had died, much more were injured and a lot of people were missing. She didn't know the true dimension of the damage yet. The city would need billions of dollars to be reconstructed. There were people without homes, some completely destroyed, some still not safe to return to. Families broken forever.

Zod might not have destroyed Earth, as he intended, but he had harmed it very seriously.

Without Clark… Well, Without Clark none of them would be there. But supposing they did manage to defeat Zod without him; the number of dead people would be 10 times worse, she had no doubt. Not only because of what Clark did to avoid casualties during his fight against Zod, but because of what he did later.

Three days. Three entire days without stopping once, all that after fighting two battles against Kryptonians and destroying the World Engine. Clark had effectively stayed on New York since then, helping, finding people buried, lifting buildings, flying with the injured to the hospitals…

The things he did, well… Superman was a very fitting name indeed.

"Is he still at it?" asked Tony, entering the room, Steve and Bruce with him, looking at the TV.

Natasha didn't need to look at him to know about who he was asking.

"He was flying over the city carrying an ambulance a few minutes ago," she answered. "I don't know now."

"The guy needs a rest," Tony said, filling his mug with coffee. He sighed. "We all do."

That was true. All of them, even Clint with his broken leg, were helping in any way they could during all those days. But none of them had the stamina Clark had; he didn't even sleep or eat during all this time.

And of course they couldn't help in the way he did. Tony used the backup suits he had to help and Steve was a super-soldier, but none of them could lift entire toppled buildings, see through the rubble to find buried people, fly to the hospitals carrying vehicles and medicine…

Still, being there already helped. They were the famous Avengers. People saw them and gained hope; something they needed very badly right now.

"He is doing what he can," said Steve, eating a sandwich fast, no doubt so he could return and help more.

Tony sniggered.

"Well, we can't all be 'Supermen', can we?" he said. "But seriously, three days? That's amazing."

Pepper entered the kitchen.

"Tony, I organized the fundraiser," she said, walking to him and placing her hand on his shoulder. "A lot of people want to help."

"That's wonderful!" Steve exclaimed.

"It's not going to be nearly close enough," Tony replied, cutting his happiness short. "Parts of the city simply… don't exist anymore. The money to fix all that… We are going to need a lot of help."

Tony suddenly looked older; older and very tired. The battle, the losses, had taken its toll. No one said anything, they just stayed in silence.

"We'll fix it, somehow," said Bruce and Natasha was surprised to see optimism coming from him; she wondered if Hulk helping so much and even saving Maria's life had anything to do with that.

Before they continue the conversation, however, there was a loud noise outside the tower, followed by a bright light. All of them got up fast, ready to fight, only to stop when they actually saw what was happening through the window. They relaxed, seeing the rainbow colors.

It was the Bifrost; Thor was finally here.

Martha stood on Clark's side, looking at Jonathan's tombstone. Jonathan Kent was buried in a very beautiful place, with emerald green grass and trees everywhere. It was peaceful.

"He always believed you were meant for greater things," she said, holding Clark's hand," and that when the day came, your shoulders would be able to bear the weight."

Clark looked at his father's name written on the rock; he sighed.

"Yeah, I just wish he could've been here to see it finally happen."

Martha smiled, remembering the days when Clark was still a little boy, running around with a red cloth on his back as a cape, the dog running by his side. Remembering how Jonathan would watch him as he fixed the car's engine, seeing Clark pretending to be a superhero; as if he wasn't just seeing a kid playing, but something more.

"He saw it, Clark," she said after a minute. "Believe me."

And now the whole world was seeing it as well.