Daily Planet, dawn. Lois arrives to find a package from Perry White. Priority overnight, from Nairobi to Kansas, even. That must've cost a pretty penny. Inside there's a plane ticket for her. "You never give up, do you, Perry?" She makes a sad face and goes over to Clark's computer. She searches his files for any references to the Blur and pulls up beaucoups de folders. Most of them are news articles, some are surveillance snapshots. There's one picture of Zod standing in a crowd. Lois sighs.

Metropolis General. An old woman sits in the hallway, her face obscured by a babushka, her gnarled hands knitting a beige sweater. Nearby, Two-Face Tess is lying in a hospital room, her bed surrounded by a clear plastic screen. She sees Clark standing by the foot of her bed and stammers out an apology for tracking Corben to the Fortress. She was only trying to protect Clark, she says. Clark shows her the Book of Rao, saying he can't use it now even if he wanted to, because Zod smushed the console. Tess reveals the location of a heretofore unseen new console that she rescued from the rubble of the demolished solar towers. How very lucky! She tells him she moved the console to his "crow's nest above the city." "Clark, this is my last chance to atone for my sins," she says. "You are the only one who can save us, and you've run out of time." Every word she speaks is shaky and pained. "The war has already begun," she tells him.

Montage time! The Kandorians decide to go sightseeing around Earth, except instead of picking up souvenirs, they decide to set stuff on fire. The Great Wall of China is in flames... somehow. Maybe the anonymous, black-clad Kandorian standing atop the blazing fort brought gasoline with him. He's also burned Zod's "Z" symbol into a section of the wall. The Acropolis of Athens is similarly ablaze. Vala uses her heat vision to blast Zod's symbol into the Great Pyramids. Basqat does his part by branding the Washington Monument. You've disfigured America's most phallic monument! You're going to have to pay now. He sneers with satisfaction at his handiwork.