Pedestrians on the ground screamed and fled. Those farther away turned back to watch the building slowly collapse. Just as everyone cried out, "No!!!" a figure flew beneath the building and raised the half that was about to fall.
In people's eyes, he looked tiny compared to the massive Luthor Hotel. Yet this tiny figure lifted the building outright, steadily carried it, and set it down in the open space of the park next door.
Everyone was stunned by the sudden turn of events, unable to react for a moment. But there were always quick thinkers. The instant the building began to collapse, they had already pulled out their phones to take pictures. Not to mention that this was the heart of downtown Metropolis, one of its prime locations. There were cameras everywhere, as well as the headquarters of numerous newspapers. Many reporters had already rushed over with cameras in hand.
The moment Clark got out of the car, Lois had raised her camera. She captured the entire scene of Clark saving the building. But saving the building was clearly only the beginning. She kept her camera trained on the Luthor Hotel and, sure enough, saw several figures wrapped up from head to toe through the lens.
Half an hour earlier, aboard the Kryptonian ship. Zod frowned at the information on his tablet. His fingers tapped lightly against the table, as though he were considering something.
A female adjutant walked over and sat across from him. "What is it, General?"
"I'm thinking about something," Zod said. "This artifact is probably not as simple as it appears. If, just as the myths say, Kryptonians once visited Earth and were driven back—or even killed—by green gemstones, and those gemstones were embedded into some artifact, with that artifact safely stored in the British