Agent

Jay reviewed everything that had happened in the short time since he'd rushed into that temporal portal – the grimy metal pipes, the fierce and unfriendly aliens, and the monsters tens of meters tall that looked like a cross between an octopus and a jellyfish. And on this strange planet where he knew no one, the only one accompanying him through it all was a beautiful, blonde Kryptonian girl.

Hmm. It doesn't sound so bad when you put it that way.

After defeating the massive tentacled creature and walking for another five or six minutes, the seemingly endless passage finally revealed an exit. The passage ahead was sealed by a fan-shaped metal plate with leaf-like gaps. The light shining through the gaps indicated they had reached the end.

"I thought we were going to walk in here forever," Kara said joyfully, reaching out to try and pry open the metal plate, but Jay stopped her.

"Wait," he said.

The two waited for a few seconds behind the metal plate, and then a dark figure slammed into the exit. Surprisingly, the figure looked like a person – a real human, and a Black man at that. He was dressed in rags, his wrinkled jeans full of holes. His gaunt face was etched with panic as he frantically tried to force open the solid metal plate with his hands, all while constantly looking back. Jay felt certain he was being chased by something extremely vicious, and he seemed to want to escape into the passage Jay and Kara were in. Unfortunately, the iron plate was too strong for his strength.

A faint blue beam of light shot through the air with a "whoosh," striking the poor man in the back. He let out a pained cry and fell to the ground. A charred hole was burned through his tattered shirt, and faint black smoke rose from his scorched skin.

Kara almost cried out, "Ah!" as if the blow had landed on her. She instinctively wanted to break through the metal plate in front of them, but Jay held her back again.

The Black man lay on the ground, still managing to crawl a few inches forward. Jay could see the intense desire for survival in his eyes, an image that was deeply imprinted in his mind and wouldn't fade. But he seemed to have finally exhausted his strength, his last struggles proving futile. Several white aliens with guns surrounded him. They looked like the same species as the aliens Jay and Kara had encountered at the garbage station earlier.

The aliens pointed their guns at the Black man until an alien with a seemingly distinct aura walked out from among them. The others respectfully stepped aside. Jay thought this guy might be a minor leader.

The alien who looked like a leader spoke, saying in a deep voice, "Your attempts are meaningless, just a waste of energy. If you have so much excess energy to waste, you might as well save it for the arena; perhaps it will help you live a little longer."

The Black man stubbornly raised his head, glaring at the ugly creature with a defiant gaze, and uttered a rather vulgar curse in a low voice. The alien snorted, turned, and said something to his companions. One of the aliens in the group picked up the Black man with one hand and slung him over his shoulder, seemingly preparing to take him back.

Jay thought this was an excellent opportunity. This Black man had likely escaped from where Earth hostages were being held, and these aliens would probably take him back there. This meant that if they followed, the aliens would lead them to the other Earthlings who had been captured.

Perhaps he could find his father.

Unfortunately, his plan was foiled before it could even begin. Kara, having reached her limit, finally kicked the metal plate in front of them, sending it spinning like a frisbee and unexpectedly knocking an alien in the group to the ground. Almost simultaneously, she shot out, becoming a long blur as she plunged into the alien formation. Before the aliens could react to what had happened, two more figures were sent flying high into the air with screams, crashing heavily back to the ground.

Kara had lunged out before Jay could utter the first syllable to stop her. He could only sigh and jump out of the passage after her. He couldn't help but recall how comic fans always complained that Kryptonians didn't like to think, and it seemed that assessment was quite accurate.

And as he thought so irritably, he completely forgot that he himself had now become one of these "Kryptonians."

The alien leader let out a loud cry, perhaps ordering his teammates to focus their fire on these two intruders. Kara moved like a phantom, appearing before him and punching him squarely in his still O-shaped mouth, leaving him dizzy and falling backward. Another alien swiftly drew a blue laser sword, its blade leaving a long, scorching trail as it swung towards Kara's head. Kara dodged to the side and, without looking back, delivered a backward kick that sent him flying far away.

Jay blocked a descending laser sword with his arm, the searing pain clearly transmitted to his pain receptors. Gritting his teeth, Jay forcefully swept the laser sword away. In the instant the alien couldn't recover from the shock of his bare-handed block, Jay grabbed its head and violently slammed it against a sharp corner protruding from a box-like object nearby, instantly dazing the alien. Jay tilted his head slightly, catching a glimpse of two other aliens raising their guns to shoot him in the back. He turned and fired two beams of heat vision that swept across the guns in their hands. The two laser guns exploded, releasing two bursts of faint blue energy that violently knocked the two aliens to the ground.

Jay and Kara could only utilize about half of their abilities compared to when they were on Earth, but it was more than enough to deal with these alien grunts. The two quickly dealt with the aliens. The Black man was now leaning against the wall, breathing laboriously, seemingly hanging on by his last breath and on the verge of death.

Kara quickly knelt before him and said softly, "Hey, can you hear me?"

The Black man heavily opened his eyelids. His gaze fell first on the "S" on her chest. "You're… Supergirl?"

"Yes, that's me."

He laboriously shifted his gaze to Jay, the image on his retinas beginning to blur. "Is that Superman?"

Jay was taken aback, unsure how to answer.

"He is," Kara answered for him, which made Jay feel somewhat awkward. Even if it was to comfort this dying man, he felt suffocated by the title being applied to him.

The Black man grinned, revealing his white teeth, and a sunny smile appeared on his face – a smile that perhaps shouldn't be on the face of someone dying.

"I knew you would come back," he said. "You'll never abandon us."

Kara said softly, "It's okay now, you're going to be alright. We're here to save you, and I promise I'll take you back to Earth, okay?"

"Thank you," he said, smiling and shaking his head. "But… I think I'm done for. I know it very clearly in my heart, you don't need to comfort me. But there are many more people, more humans, being held by them. You need to go save them."

As he said this, his eyes filled with hatred, and he gritted his teeth. "They capture Earthlings, modify our bodies, turn us into all sorts of monsters, and then force us to fight in the arena for the entertainment of the spectators on this planet. Remember the riot at the Underground Mall in Metropolis not long ago? That wasn't an accident, as the official story claimed. It was an incident caused by a modified human escaping their control!"

Hearing his words, both of them couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines. Jay interrupted, "Wait, you're saying these aliens captured humans and modified them? Then why would a modified creature appear in Metropolis? Shouldn't he be on this planet?"

The Black man took several heavy breaths, seemingly using all his remaining strength to continue speaking. "There are humans collaborating with these aliens, and their influence is quite powerful. They provide these aliens with bases on Earth. I used to be an FBI agent. I noticed things I shouldn't have and investigated things I shouldn't have, which is why I ended up here…"

Jay and Kara exchanged a look: "Kairi Technology Creative."

The Black man's eyes grew distant, as if he was finally losing his grip. He used his last bit of strength to tightly grip Kara's cape and said, "Please, save the others. They are…"

He couldn't finish his sentence, but his eyes conveyed the most crucial information to them. His pupils dilated, and he finally stopped breathing. But before he died, his gaze was fixed directly on the largest building in the distance – a massive oval-shaped stadium, resembling a sports arena on Earth.

Kara gently laid his body flat on the ground and closed his eyes for him.

The two stood in silence for a while until Jay patted her shoulder and said, "Let's go. We still have living people to save."