Metropolis

He was born Dru-Zod. The last in the line of the House of Zod, the most powerful military family in the history of Krypton. But none rose through the ranks as quickly as he, becoming the fiercest general ever known. He tried to take control of Krypton and make it the first in an empire that he wanted to spread throughout the known universe.

Now, Krypton was destroyed. But he was alive and on a planet where his power was increased beyond his wildest dreams. A planet that would become the start of his empire.

General Zod tossed Starfire away like a limp doll, the rest of the Outsiders lying at his feet.

"Pathetic," he said. "Is this the best Earth’s warriors have to offer? Is there no one on this planet to even challenge me?"

He gripped Nightwing by the hair and lifted the former Boy Wonder in the air. "They call you their leader? A human with no power to his name?"

"It takes more than power to lead," said Nightwing.

"This is true," said Zod. "You are of a strong will. Given time, you could rise through the ranks and become a true protégé of Zod."

"Already been a protégé once," said Nightwing. "Not interested in doing it again."

"Strong willed, even moronically so," said Zod. "Impressive, but your lack of intelligence will be your downfall. Who can truly stand up to the might of Zod?"

"There’s one who can."

The General dropped Nightwing and turned to face his newest opposition. A young man—a teenager—dressed in red and white stood there amidst the chaos. Zod was intrigued by the newest arrival.

"You?" he asked. "Don’t make me laugh, boy. What hope do you have against me?"

"None," said the boy. "But I know someone who can."

"Then bring him forth."

"If you insist," said the youth. He smiled as he spoke a single word. "SHAZAM!"

Arctic North

"How did you find me?" asked Lex Luthor. He pulled himself to his feet, standing before the Batman.

"Zod was trapped in the Phantom Zone and the only way Brainiac could free him was through the Fortress," he said. "Only two men on the planet could understand the technology to release him. A simple process of elimination makes you the sole offender."

"I didn’t know what he was planning," said Luthor. "Ra’s al Ghul and Brainiac, they told me they wanted the alien eliminated."

"They did, but in favor of something much worse," said the Batman. "Your worst fear come to life, Luthor. You thought things were bad when Clark was split from Superman? How do you think things are now?"

"So what do we do?" asked Luthor.

"We even the odds," said Batman. "Zod thinks Earth is an easy conquest. We have to show him that us mere mortals won’t give up so easily."

Luthor smiled. "Say it."

The Batman approached the central console, one of the few things still standing in the Fortress, ignoring Luthor.

"Come on," said Luthor, coming up behind the vigilante. "Say it."

The Batman turned to him. "We don’t have time for this."

"If you want my help, you have all the time in the world," said Luthor. He was unfazed by the Batman’s intimidation tactics. The Dark Knight hated what he was about to do, but he knew this was not a time for ego, and he would have to sacrifice his own arrogance to appease Luthor’s.

"You’re the most intelligent man on Earth," said the Batman. "I need your help."

Luthor’s grin widened. "There now. That wasn’t so hard, was it?"

The Batman turned away and focused on the console. Luthor sidled up to him and pushed him to the side.

"Move," he said. "I’ll handle the Kryptonian technology."

Metropolis

With that one word, a magical bolt of lightning flew from the heavens and struck Billy Batson, bathing him in an incandescent light. Once it faded, a strong, well-built man stood in his place, clad in a red, white and gold costume.

"The name’s Captain Marvel," he said.

"A Captain against a General?" asked Zod. "Do you truly think you are up to the challenge?"

"Only one way to find out," said Captain Marvel. With the speed of Mercury, he charged towards his adversary and delivered a blow powerful enough to stagger the Kryptonian.

Zod fell back into the air, but righted himself and hovered. In a blink of an eye, he charged back and executed a powerful uppercut, hurling Captain Marvel through a building.

The General gave no further quarter, not allowing the Captain a moment’s respite. He flew after his opponent, following through the building and grabbing Captain Marvel by the hair. Zod rocketed into the atmosphere, held Captain Marvel in the air, and executed another blow, one that sent the hero plummeting back to Earth like a rocket.

Zod flew after him again and just as Captain Marvel stood in the large crater, the warlord drove him further into the Earth, landing on the tracks of the Metropolis subway.

A train approached and Zod readied himself, grabbing it and forcing it to grind to a halt. He tore the first car loose, lifted it over his head, and slammed it down against Captain Marvel.

"A valiant effort, but ultimately worthless," said Zod. He turned away from the wreckage.

Powerful hands tore through the train and Captain Marvel hovered above the car. He rocketed back at Zod, grabbing hold of him. "SHAZAM!" he shouted, then sped away as the magical bolt of lightning struck Zod.

Steelworks

Steel stood before a large computer monitor, viewing the digital mask that served as Oracle’s face. The Cyborg was plugged into the system. The three were working hard to override Brainiac’s control of NORAD, but it seemed like a futile effort.

The Teen Titans stood in the next room, with Superboy pacing back and forth.

"Y’know, you’re making me dizzy," said Kid Flash.

"Don’t care," said Superboy. He looked up at a television monitor, showing the desolation that was now Metropolis and the Outsiders being attended to by paramedics.

"Argh!" he shouted, driving his fist through a table. "This is ridiculous!"

"Calm down, Kon," said Wonder Girl.

"Don’t even start with me, Cassie," said Superboy. "We should be out there!"

"Were you even watching?" asked Robin. "Zod defeated the Outsiders like they were nothing. If we went in, we’d probably end up the same way."

"So we still sit here on our asses, great," said Superboy.

"Captain Marvel’s in the game now, he stands a better chance than we do," said Robin.

"And where the hell did Batman run off to?" asked Superboy. "This is our great leader, and he’s nowhere to be found? I tell ya Rob, I have no idea why you put up with that guy."

"Batman knows what he’s doing," said Robin. "After seeing what happened to Nightwing and the others, I’m convinced he was right to keep us out of the game. They put a dent in Zod’s army, but now we have to focus on our front."

"Oh please, what can we do here?" asked Superboy. "You’re better with this tech stuff than the rest of us and they’re not even using you."

In the main room, Steel and Cyborg kept their efforts up and their lines of communication open with Oracle.

"The kids are restless," said Steel.

[I know, but there’s not much we can do,] said Oracle. [All satellite communications are down, every time I try to patch through, I just keep getting white noise.]

"Let Captain Marvel keep Zod distracted then," said Cyborg. "Hopefully Jade will be able to get the Justice League back in the game."

[The Bizarro army is spreading and the JSA are taking on a Bizarro squad with Solomon Grundy at the lead. The Doom Patrol and a team of JLA reservists are busy with the Floronic Man and the League of Assassins.]

"That means Ra’s is the only member of this Superman Revenge Squad not accounted for," said Steel. "The good money says he’s keeping Superman locked away."

"What about Brainiac? We haven’t heard anything from him," said Cyborg.

[He’s just focusing his efforts on keeping communications disrupted and the missiles trained on Washington. If anything, his lack of an appearance may mean we’re causing him some strain, so that’s cause for some relief.]

"Doesn’t feel like much," said Cyborg.

Arctic North

Luthor shook his head. "It’s no use," he said. "Jor-El’s artificial intelligence isn’t responding to anything. Zod must have ensured the Fortess’ systems were too badly damaged to activate any programs."

"There has to be something," said the Batman.

"There is, but we’ll have to find Superman," said Luthor. "This Fortress is essentially an extension of the House of El. And since the Fortress was able to reunite Kent with Superman, we can only assume there’s a way to locate him."

"Too many assumptions."

"It’s all we have to go on right now," said Luthor. "If we can locate Superman, the Fortress might have a way to restore him to full-power. We’re sure he’s still alive, Zod wouldn’t kill him yet."

"And why not?" asked the Batman.

"Arrogance," said Luthor. "You said Zod was imprisoned by Jor-El, right?"

The Batman nodded. "Which means to exact his revenge on his captor, he’d need the son of Jor-El to witness his success."

"Precisely," said Luthor. "It’s what I would do."

"I never thought I would be glad for your outlook on the world, Luthor."

Luthor looked at the Batman and raised an eyebrow. "Is that the infamous Dark Knight praising the greatest criminal mind of our time?"

"Don’t push it," said the Batman.

Luthor’s hands went to work on the crystals. Various crystals lit up as his fingers danced about. He paid attention to the Kryptonian symbols as they appeared before his field of vision.

"You know Kryptonian?" asked the Batman.

"I made sure to study the language any chance I got," said Luthor. "I’ve had a lot of time to study my souvenir from my last visit."

"I had a feeling you didn’t leave empty-handed," said the Batman. Luthor smiled.

"You know me too well," he said. "And I think we may have something."

A crystal rose from the central console. It wasn’t clear like the others. Rather, this one was a bright red. Luthor took it and held it between his fingers.

"We have what we need," he said. "Let’s go bag an alien."

The General staggered from the lightning bolt, and it was at that moment he understood what he needed to do. He feigned weakness and Captain Marvel fell for the bait. The hero gripped Zod again and once more shouted the magic word: "SHAZAM!"

This time, the General dropped his act and gripped Captain Marvel by the throat. The lightning struck once more and when the light faded, Zod was weakened, but Captain Marvel was replaced by Billy Batson. Zod smiled beneath the helmet and threw the teenager against the wall of the tunnel, knocking him unconscious.

General Zod flew from the tunnel, bursting through the streets of Metropolis and flying above the clouds. From this angle, he scanned the Earth with his telescopic vision as he flew and soon he flew across the Atlantic Ocean.

He moved across the planet, dismantling any weapons he encountered, wresting the weapons of man from their own hands and distorting them into worthless chunks of scrap metal.

Elsewhere

[…this is the scene in Iraq, where both insurgency and coalition forces have been deprived of weapons…]

[…civil war in Africa brought to a standstill as Zod…]

[..a standoff on the border of North and South Korea came to an end…]

A young woman with long, blonde hair watched the chaos unfold on a television screen, surrounded by other onlookers. She had memories of a reality which no longer existed, but she recognized the name of the man they said to be the source of the chaos.

"Zod…"

Steelworks

Kid Flash raced into the room, screeching to a halt. "Wevegotamajorproblemrightnowandwecouldreallyusesomehelpwiththisbecausethingshavejustgottenreallyeffeduparoundherean—"

"Bart, slow down," said Cyborg. "We can’t understand a word you’re saying.

Kid Flash calmed himself and took a deep breath. "It’s Kon. He got fed up with waiting and…"

"...and what?" asked Steel.

"He… well, he left," said Kid Flash. "We couldn’t stop him."

Cyborg and Steel exchanged looks of concern.

"Do you think…?" Bart began, but stopped.

"That he’s going after Zod?" asked Cyborg.

"No… we figured that," said Kid Flash. "What I mean is… well… can someone else tell Batman? Like… someone who’s kinda… y’know… not me?"

Washington, D.C.

General Zod tore into the Oval Office and hovered before the President and his cabinet. He dropped several crumpled automatic weapons over the Presidential seal.

"Your weapons are useless, your heroes have been defeated," he said. "I will bring peace to this planet and use it as the beginnings of an empire. Under my rule, you will enjoy prosperity—but only if you surrender now."

No one offered any words.

"I grow impatient," said Zod. "There is no one on this planet left to challenge me. Will you not stop until your destruction is guaranteed? Not even a descendant of the House of El could stand up to my great might."

"I wouldn’t be too sure of that."

Zod looked up and saw a young woman hovering above the White House. What attracted his attention was the shield on her chest.

"As long as someone from the House of El still stands, you haven’t won," said Supergirl.

"I defeated one already, another poses no challenge," said Zod. He hovered to face Supergirl.

"How about two, then?"

Zod looked over his shoulder as another bearing that same symbol arrived on the scene.

"Whaddaya say, Zoddy?" asked Superboy with a cocky grin. "Ready to rumble?"