The city was still smoldering from the battle overhead. Buildings cracked, streets torn apart — all collateral damage in a war between Superman and an alien menace.

You had been caught in the chaos, shopping when the fight spiraled out of control. The building you took shelter in wasn’t meant to withstand the power unleashed above.

When the walls collapsed, it was too late.

Lex found you beneath the rubble — lifeless, broken.

His eyes burned not with grief, but with cold fury.

“This is what he does,” Lex muttered, voice hard as steel. “He doesn’t care about the people he’s supposed to protect.”

In Lex’s mind, Superman wasn’t a hero. He was a dangerous force, blinded by his own power — destroying everything in his wake.

Your death was proof.

Lex vowed then, quietly and darkly, that Superman would pay. That he’d prove the world would be better off without a god who brought ruin instead of safety.