The moment that the helicopter touched the roof of the building Irene unbuckled herself and was jumping onto the roof of The Daily Planet, Jimmy following closely behind.

They looked out towards the large Kryptonian ship at the heart of Metropolis. With every passing second the destruction grew greater. Every magnetic pulse that came from the ship expanded the death and destruction. With every passing second Earth became more like Krypton and the world's only hope was Clark Kent.

"Wow." Jimmy muttered breathlessly though it was more of him being absolutely terrified at the sight in front of them. The sight of the city in such a state almost brought tears to Irene's eyes, the knowledge of how many lives had already been lost already seemed to weigh heavily on her shoulders.

"Let's go." Irene urged knowing that every second that they stood here was dangerous. That thing's power was increasing and it's destruction over Metropolis was expanding, and she didn't even want to think of the Daily Planet possibly being part of that destruction.

Without a word the two of them ran down the emergency staircase. Pushing the door open they were met with an empty eleventh floor. No Perry White or Lois Lane in sight, only the sound of ringing telephones made the place feel a little less lonely.

"They evacuated." Jimmy said as they looked around the empty floor to make sure that no one had been left behind. There was no knowing how long ago they had all evacuated the building, but Irene was glad they had.

"Come on. We should get out of here too." Irene urged as she and Jimmy ran down the emergency staircase. The whole point of them returning to Metropolis was to ensure that they would be able to warn Perry and the others, because their conscience simply wouldn't allow them to remain in the safety of a military base as the people they cared about were in danger.

The second they stepped out of the building all their senses were overwhelmed. Screams and the crashing of collapsing buildings was deafening to the ears. Smoke instantly filled their lungs and burned their eyes. It felt so easy to get consumed by panic, but Irene pushed it aside knowing that they had to remain calm if they were going to make it out of this alive.

People ran in multiple directions, many of them clearly didn't know where to run to. Buildings were collapsing all around them and one wrong decision could have deadly consequences. Jimmy and Irene held onto each other's hands tightly in fear of being separated as they moved through the crowards feeling the vibrations under their feet as the Kryptonian ship's range continued to grow larger and closer.

"Wait." Jimmy called as he came to a sudden stop.

Irene expected some kind of emergency, but instead she turned around to find Jimmy taking multiple pictures of Zod's ship as it continued to destroy more of the city. She wanted to be surprised that Jimmy believed taking the pictures during a time like this was a good idea, but the truth was that she wasn't the slight bit surprised as she forcefully pulled his arm.

The panic and fear continued to overwhelm as people ran in multiple directions trying to get as far away from the ship's destruction as possible. Everyone was pushing each other in desperate attempts to get as far away from the path of destruction as possible. The endless screams and the sounds of crashing buildings all around them was like something out of a nightmare.

"Perry!"

The sound of the familiar name had Irene and Jimmy looking at each other as they looked in the direction of the desperate scream. At that moment another skyscraper collapsed only a couple of blocks away, the aftermath leaving a wave of dust to consume everybody.

Once the dust settled everyone once again began to run farther away from the heart of the city. Irene and Jimmy however ran towards the direction where they heard the scream, a scream that Irene was sure came from Cat Grant.

It felt like a pointless endeavor as they could very well not be able to find their peers at the Daily Planet and were just running towards the path of the World Engine's destruction.

Turning into what Irene was sure had once been an alleyway she caught sight of six familiar figures who were covered in dust and looking extremely worn as they attempted to lift a large piece of cement. There was no describing the relief Irene felt at the sight of her coworkers, a relief that only lasted for a single moment before meeting Lois Lane's worried eyes.

"Irene? Jimmy?" Perry questioned as he looked between the two of us with wide eyes. It was almost like he didn't expect to ever see them again, and considering the situation they all currently found themselves in the possibility of that having been the case was great.

Lois also seemed surprised but carried less fear than the others. In fact it seemed that all of this was an inconvenience to her. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Forget that! Help us with this will you?" Lombard yelled as he handed Jimmy a metal pole, debris from one of the many buildings around them that had been caught in the destruction.

Without a second thought Irene picked up her own piece of scrap metal as all the remaining Daily Planet writers worked together trying to free Cat from the debris that had entrapped her. They all quickly realized that even with the added strength of Irene and Jimmy the large chunk of concrete that was blocking their path to Cat was much too heavy for the six of them.

"Oh no it's getting closer." Ron Troupe muttered as he looked back at the destructive pulses that were coming from the Kryptonian ship. It was only a matter of time before it reached and crushed them just as it did to everything in its path.

Tears began to flow from Cat's eyes and down her dirt covered cheeks as she shook her head in desperation. "You have to go! You should go!"

"We aren't leaving you behind Cat. We're staying right here." Perry assured her and it seemed that leaving was completely out of the question for him. It was something that Irene couldn't help but admire as she had never realized how much the Daily Planet's editor-in-chief really cared about his employees. "Isn't that right everybody?"

Everyone nodded in response but there were no attempts to hide the fear that everyone felt. The fact that it really did seem that they were all going to die together in such a horrific way was almost unbearable. After everything that Irene had gone through in the last couple of hours she did not expect this.

"No! Adam." Cat exclaimed as she desperately took a hold of Irene's hand, her grip was almost painful as she pulled her closer. The desperation in Cat's eyes was one that Irene would have never imagined seeing in the always perfectly collected Catherine Grant. "You have to take care of Adam."

"Adam?" Irene questioned thinking that Cat was beginning to speak nonsense, she didn't know an Adam and Cat had certainly never mentioned someone with that name before. "Who's Adam?"

Suddenly it felt as if the world had suddenly gone quiet.

The sound of crashing buildings and screams stopped. The quiet should have brought some peace, but in a city like Metropolis where everyone was always busy and cars were always honking in the middle of a traffic rush, the silence felt unbearable.

"It stopped." Perry whispered as they looked up at the sky to find the pulsing rays that were being released from the Kryptonian ship had stopped. However, the Kryptonian ship remained. The final part of the plan still needed to be carried out, but that was up to Colonel Hardy and Dr. Hamilton now.

Irene couldn't help but smile from relief knowing that Clark had stopped the World Engine and that he had to have survived the task. "He did it."

Ron let himself fall onto the ground in relief as he looked up at Irene. "Who did what?"

"Superman." She replied, the word leaving her lips as if the answer to Ron's question was obvious. Irene couldn't have been sure when that phrase had been formed in her mind, what she did know was that it fit Clark Kent perfectly.

"Superman." Perry repeated and he nodded his head in approval, a look that was familiar to all the Daily Planet workers. "We're printing that and getting it copyrighted. Irene you're going to cover today's story."

"Is now really the time Perry?" Lois scolded as she gestured at the destruction all around them. The last thing on their minds was getting back to The Planet, if The Planet hadn't gotten caught in the World Engine's destructive path, and writing down the day's traumatic events.

Even Irene, who would normally jump at the opportunity of writing what was undoubtedly going to be The Daily Planet's biggest story, couldn't even imagine herself sitting down behind a computer and writing about everything that had happened.

"We have to be the first ones to get this printed." Their editor-in-chief argued.

"Anybody remember me?" Cat questioned all the fear that was in her voice only moments before was now replaced with irritation. There was no doubt in Irene's mind that Cat would pretend as if only moments ago they weren't close to death or that she had lost her composure for those uncertain moments.

"Come on everyone all together." Perry ordered and they all immediately turned their attention back to Cat whose eyes were still bright with tears. With a new sense of determination they were all able to lift the concrete enough for Perry to be able to pull Cat out. "You alright Cat?"

Although none of them were willing to say it the large cut down Cat's leg was concerning. Irene knew nothing about medicine but Cat was clearly losing a lot of blood, the cut looking deeper than any of them were comfortable with. What was worse was that she was sure that if Cat's wound didn't get treated quickly there was a risk that it could get infected.

Before Cat could reply a loud explosion rang through the air causing them all to look up. In that moment the large military plane that undoubtedly held the pod that Clark arrived in cracked into the Kryptonian ship. The effect was instant as an iridescent wormhole seemed to suck in the ship in a matter of seconds.

Zod and all of his soldiers had now returned to the Phantom Zone, something that should have been celebrated if it wasn't for the fact that everyone on the military aircraft had also been pulled into the unknown.

"We have to get out of here. They'll never find us here." Lois stated firmly as she helped Cat to her feet, Perry took Cat's other arm as they slowly began to walk out of the small corner that they had found themselves in.

As they slowly continued making their way around the rubble and broken glass they came to a sudden stop at the wider view before them. There were miles of absolutely nothing.

Where there had once been towering skyscrapers there was nothing. They only sign that there had ever been something there to begin with was rubble and concrete. There were other people trying to help each other around them, but there were also lifeless bodies of those who hadn't had enough time to escape.

After this Metropolis would never be the same again.

"I can't anymore." Cat said breathlessly as she practically let herself fall onto a large piece of concrete. Clearly she had been holding her pain for some time now but it had become unbearable and there was no knowing when help would be able to come to them. Especially when they weren't the only ones who needed help.

Some of the others also took a seat knowing that there was nothing else to do but wait for help or for Cat to regain enough energy to get moving again. Luckily they didn't have to run anymore, the threat was over. The Kryptonians were gone.

A sudden boom in the air caused everyone to stand on their feet, expecting another alien threat from the sky.

Instead they found Clark Kent standing before them in his red and blue suit. Only the others didn't know him as Clark Kent; they just saw him as the hero who just stopped a Kryptonian invasion that was meant to kill them all.

He had to have come here to help everyone who had been caught in the World Engine's destruction. Help that was desperately needed when so many blocks of the city had been completely obliterated. Right above where the Kryptotian ship had stood there was nothing but flat terrain.

Irene offered Clark a small smile, relieved that he was okay after having destroyed the World Engine above the Indian Ocean. Though it seemed like she had nothing to be worried about considering that there wasn't a single scratch on him.

Unconsciously Irene took a couple of steps forward until she was standing right in front of him. There were so many questions that she wanted to ask, but she felt at a loss of words. Maybe it was the disbelief she felt after all of the day's events, or maybe it was related to the fact that everytime he was in front of her it felt as if she couldn't think of anything else.

Before either of them could say anything a loud crash had the turning towards the source of the sound just in time to see a large piece of concrete get thrown aside.

The sight of General Zod caused Irene's heart to sink with the realization that he too hadn't been pulled into the Phantom Zone with the rest of the ship. Clark also seemed surprised as he instantly tensed.

"Look at this." Zod said as he held out his hand, clutching burnt rubble in his hands. His anger and hatred burning brightly in his eyes. Although they were what seemed like a mile away, Zod's voice was as clear as if he were standing right before them.

Clark flew to where Zod was standing, the realization that all of this was far from over began to dawn on Irene as she took a couple steps back towards Jimmy and the others.

"We could have built a new Krypton in this squalor, but you chose the humans over us. I exist only to protect Krypton, that is the sole purpose for which I was born. And every action I take, no matter how violent, or how cruel, is for the greater good of my people." Zod exclaimed, and in some twisted way Irene couldn't help but feel sympathy for the man. He was lost and in pain. In Krypton a child was born to perform only one task for the rest of their lives, that all changed when Clark or Kal-El was born. Because unlike all the other children of Krypton that were created from science, Clark was born out of the love of his parents. Parents who had great hopes for their son, that was something that Jor-El had made perfectly clear. "And now I have no people. My soul, that is what you have taken from me!"

Suddenly Zod attacked Clark throwing him down in a single quick movement. Irene heard as some of her coworkers gasped, more out of fear than surprise.

"I'm going to make them suffer, Kal, these humans you adopted. I will take them all from you, one by one." Zod's voice echoed for what seemed like miles as he looked down at Clark. "Starting with her."

Suddenly Zod came charging at her, Irene didn't have much time to react as she suddenly felt as Perry and Jimmy pulled her back. Luckily for the three of them Clark had come between them and Zod at the last second punching Zod.

The force from the impact not only caused Zod to get thrown what looked like halfway across Metropolis but also caused all of the Daily Planet employees to fall back into the debris of their city. A fact that made it painfully clear just how powerful both Clark and Zood were.

Clark took one single moment to look back at Irene before he flew off after Zod. The uncertainty in his eyes left a hollow feeling in Irene's chest, it was almost like he wasn't certain he would be able to win this. After all Zod was the highest ranking protector of Krypton and Clark and only just learned the full range of his abilities.

"Oh he's beautiful." Cat said breathlessly unable to look away from the spot where Clark had stood moments ago.

Lombard looked at Cat in disbelief whether it stemmed from jealousy or the fact that the comment felt inappropriate in a time like this, Irene couldn't be sure. What she did know was that it seems that Steve Lombard was beginning to crack from the stress of the situation."Really Cat?"

"Just making an observation."

"Do you think you can walk Cat?" Irene questioned knowing that it would be best if they found some distance from this place. She had no doubt in her mind that Clark would defeat Zod, but she also knew that they couldn't just sit waiting for help that wouldn't be coming anytime soon.

"I can carry you Cat." Lombard offered.

Cat looked absolutely repulsed as she immediately shook her head. "No way in hell Lombard."

"Irene what are the chances that your alien friend will win this?" Perry asked seeing the need to change the subject before Cat and Steve could break out into a fight.

Irene thought about the question for a moment, not because she doubted Clark but because she couldn't help but worry. Zod was a warrior and a ruthless killer, two things that Clark was not. Yet, she couldn't see the possibility of simply Zod giving up. He was too devoted to his cause. "I would like to think they're pretty high."

"You don't sound too convinced." Ron countered quickly.

"He was able to get rid of the giant thing in the sky that did all of this." Irene reminded him not intending for her tone to be as sharp as it was. "What do you think his chances are in stopping just one of them?"

Lois crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. "She's got a point."

"I think we should just stay here until help comes." Jimmy offered as he began to look through all the pictures that he had taken. "You know that whole stay where you are if you're lost."

Ronald pushed his shattered glasses higher up his nose as he looked at the destruction around us with uncertainty. "But we're not lost."

"Do we have any idea what we're doing? Or what is happening?" Jimmy countered his exhaustion beginning to show. The tense set of his shoulders was enough to tell Irene that he was seconds away from snapping, personally Irene was surprised that she was able to keep herself together throughout all of this.

Ron seemed to overthink the question for a moment as he scrunched his eyebrows together once again trying to push his glasses higher up his nose. "No."

"Then we're lost." Jimmy replied dryly.

Everyone erupted in arguments trying to figure out what the best course of action was. Irene watched silently both from exhaustion and the worry burning in the back of her mind. The sound of crashing could still be heard as the battle between Clark and Zod continued. There was no knowing how long their battle would continue, or how many more casualties there would be. Irene wished she could know what was happening but like everyone else the only thing she should do was wait and hope Clark would be able to defeat General Zod.

A/N: I have to say that out of all the fics that I've written this is my favorite. I really have just fallen in love with Irene's character but maybe that's just because in an ironic way she's the character that is most like me. So I feel like I basically write myself into a story, which is something that I try to avoid. Anyway, so excited for the final chapters because although they won't feature action they will continue to set up what's to come for Book Two and build up our friends at the Daily Planet. Because I have to say that I absolutely loved to write about their bickering throughout this big fight.