Zod slammed into a five-story apartment building on the border between the East End and the Diamond District like a shattered meteorite. The concrete structure crumpled down the middle as though made of paper, and the entire building collapsed, throwing dust more than a hundred feet into the air.
Three seconds later, Superman punched through the clouds like a cannonball, his cape snapping behind him. He hovered above the collapsed building, Heat Vision gathering in his eyes, but in the end, he hesitated.
Faint cries came from the rubble. There were people inside.
"Kal-El!"
Zod's furious roar came from deep within the ruins. "Why did you stop? For a few insects?"
A load-bearing wall in another neighboring building was ripped away, and Zod burst out, holding a man who was still struggling. He was a middle-aged office worker with a crooked tie, his briefcase lost somewhere. Zod's fingers clamped around his throat. The slightest squeeze would crush it.
"Put him down."
"Put him down?"
Zod laughed, a laugh steeped in blood. "Then what? Let you keep attacking me with the power Krypton gave you? Let you keep playing guardian to these primitive creatures?"
He surveyed his surroundings. The street was already in chaos. People screamed and fled, while cars crashed into one another like headless chickens. Sirens wailed from every direction, but no police officer dared approach. This battle had gone beyond anything they could comprehend.
"Look at them."
Zod raised his voice, letting it carry down the entire street. "Terrified, fragile, chaotic. This is the civilization you chose to protect? A species that can do nothing but trample one another in a crisis?"
Superman slowly descended, his feet settling onto the rubble-strewn street. "Not everyone is like that."
"Really?" Zod casually hurled the man at Superman. The instant Superman