Return Trip

Mongor, the current supreme ruler of Warworld, stood before the hangar door torn open by Jay, his face ashen as he pondered something. His aide held his breath, observing his superior's expression for a moment but unable to discern any emotional fluctuations from the face carved as if by a knife.

He mused inwardly for a bit, feeling that some matters still needed to be reported promptly. He then spoke softly, "The enemy has invaded the human research department and they've taken all the Earth prisoners. Some warriors who encountered the intruders reported that there were only two enemies, but they seemed to be Kryptonians. Because they..."

His words seemed to touch a sensitive chord within Mongor. His rigid face suddenly showed violent fluctuations, and his crimson eyes seemed ready to spew fire. The aide had never seen such an expression in his brutal monarch's eyes; what emanated from them could almost be described as twisted fanaticism.

The aide, startled, swallowed the rest of his words. Mongor pressed him in a deep voice, "What about them?"

The cold, heavy tone jolted him back to his senses. He quickly replied, "They bore Kal-El's insignia on their chests, that Kryptonian from Earth, known to Earthlings as 'Superman'."

Mongor took two steps closer, his burly frame eclipsing the deep red sunlight and casting the aide entirely in his shadow. He said, "Of course, I know who Kal-El is. I can never forget him in this lifetime. Where are those two Kryptonians now?"

The aide felt the pressure increase and instinctively lowered his head to avoid the terrifying gaze. "We... we've already dispatched a team to pursue them. We suspect their target might be the interstellar gate to Earth in the junkyard."

"Idiot! How can one team capture two Kryptonians!?" Mongor's face contorted with rage.

"Yes, yes, we'll send more personnel immediately..."

"Idiot! Will they even make it if they go now?" Mongor roared in anger. The poor aide was spattered with saliva and dared not reach up to wipe it away. He had only been in this position for two years and had no idea what kind of past grievances this monarch had with Kryptonians; hearing the name could make him so agitated.

Mongor pondered for a long time, then said, "Dispatch three more teams to pursue them, and shut down that interstellar gate simultaneously."

Upon hearing his command, the aide forgot his fear and looked up in surprise. "Shut it down...? But... but the process of shutting it down also requires a certain amount of operational time, and establishing a stable interstellar gate between Earth and Warworld consumed a vast amount of our energy and time. If we forcibly shut it down, the losses we'll incur..."

"I said, do as I say!" Mongor's voice rose eight octaves as he shouted, "No matter the cost, the Kryptonians must be brought back!"

The aide was again sprayed with saliva and lowered his head subserviently, his curiosity about the tyrant's history with Kryptonians growing even stronger. Mongor gazed at the dark red sky outside the window and said gravely, "Prepare the ship, I'm going personally."

Jay watched with satisfaction as the three spherical spacecraft pursued him. He accelerated and flew into the bustling city. Upon entering the densely populated civilian area, the firepower from the three aircraft did not cease. They continued to sweep towards Jay without interruption, but all their shots missed and hit the buildings in the city. Fires erupted in the city, and debris from buildings was blown everywhere, causing considerable chaos below.

Jay began to feel a slight shortness of breath in his chest, and his limbs felt a little numb. He had only been flying for a few minutes, whereas normally on Earth, he could fly for hours without even a pant.

This meant he had to finish this quickly.

He darted into a narrow gap between buildings, using his size advantage to weave through the tight spaces like a fish. The small size of the three spherical aircraft, which was usually an advantage compared to other flying objects, became a disadvantage here. They struggled to follow Jay through the complex terrain, their pilots having to maintain high speeds to keep him in sight while constantly maneuvering to avoid various obstacles.

Jay flew in extremely tricky paths, suddenly going high, low, left, and right, always choosing the most difficult routes. Finally, after one of his many sudden, unannounced turns, the last aircraft in the formation made an operational error and crashed headfirst into a cylindrical building with a gleaming crystalline exterior. As it burst out from the other side at super-high speed, it had already become a smoking, scorching fireball.

Four down, two left.

However, maintaining such high-speed flight and frequent maneuvering also exacerbated Jay's own physical exertion. The rays of the red star shone on him from the deep red sky, making every cell in his body feel exhausted. His limbs went weak, and his airborne form suddenly dropped, nearly sending him plummeting.

He quickly adjusted within half a second, but this brief moment became a fatal flaw in the intense pursuit. Four laser beams from the two aircraft struck his back almost simultaneously, making him grunt and fall with black smoke trailing behind him. He continued to fall with the inertia of high speed, like a burning passenger plane, crashing into an outdoor alien restaurant. He smashed through countless tables and chairs before finally coming to a halt.

Jay got up, panting, feeling a burning pain in his back. It was definitely a burn. But he should be grateful that his defense hadn't deteriorated too much, as those few lasers were enough to instantly melt most metals on Earth.

He felt a slight ringing in his ears; his super hearing seemed to have been completely incapacitated. The surrounding alien residents screamed in panic, quickly distancing themselves as if avoiding a plague. As he got up, he thought he saw the green seahorse that had previously smiled and waved at him among them. Kara had mentioned it was a female from some planet, he couldn't quite remember.

"That's right, better get going," Jay muttered to the panicked crowd. "You guys won't want to stick around, because things might get a little ugly from here on out."

The buzzing hum of the spherical aircraft's engines reached his ears again—it didn't require any super senses, as their piercing sound could be heard from several blocks away. One of the aircraft seemed to have temporarily outdistanced its companions. Its twin cannons fired intensely, and its engines at full throttle, it dived towards Jay. Dense laser fire formed two long blue curtains in front of Jay, the ground trailing two streams of dazzling fire, pointing directly at Jay's position.

Jay casually picked up a broken half of an electronic advertising board nearby. It depicted a grinning upper body image of the ruler Mongor, the image constantly flickering.

He strode forward, gripping the alien advertising board tightly. The moment the aircraft, frantically spitting fire, flew over his head, he swung it with all his might in a standard baseball swing. The electronic screen exploded upon impact with the cockpit, and the cockpit's windshield was instantly covered with a dense, spiderweb-like pattern of cracks. It flew backward like a home-run baseball, following a precise trajectory, hitting its accelerating companion directly. The last two aircraft disintegrated into a shower of shattered parts and sparks in a spectacular burst of flames.

Completing the final swing, Jay finally breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't help but recall the suffocating exhaustion of long-distance running in his previous life. The feeling was truly unforgettable, as he hadn't broken a sweat in six years.

He forced himself to support his exhausted body and wobbled into the air again. He couldn't stop here, as he had a promise to keep and people waiting for him. Even if only to meet their expectations, he had to pull himself together.

Kara successfully piloted her ship through the interstellar gate before it closed, but as their ship entered the tunnel with its turbulent currents, the tunnel itself had already begun to lose stability. The energy-constructed space gradually disintegrated, breaking apart outside the windshield. Large amounts of corrosive energy violently scraped against the hull, like strong currents that made the ship vibrate incessantly. Parts and metal fragments continuously detached from the hull into the rapid turbulence, and everyone could hear the dying groans of the ship beneath their feet.

The raging energy was like countless thorny whips, causing the windshield to be covered in cracks, almost completely obscuring the pilot's vision. But the light of the exit finally shone through the cracks. Kara gripped the control stick tightly and shouted, "Everyone, hold on tight!"

The violent jolting reached its peak the moment the ship burst out of the chaotic tunnel. The bottom of the ship made forceful contact with the ground, sliding at high speed and dragging a long trail of dazzling sparks. The left wing of the ship had already disappeared somewhere in the turbulence, and now the right wing also broke under the strain during a long slide. The ship spun and crashed into a wall, coming to a halt. The defunct engine churned out choking smoke.

Kara took a few deep breaths, finding it somewhat unbelievable that she had actually done it.

"Alright, the interstellar journey back is now complete. Please passengers check your belongings, um... disembark in an orderly fashion."

As she said this, she pressed the button to open the cabin door, only to find that the door seemed to be jammed from the impact. She had to personally go to the tail of the ship and tear off a piece of the two cabin doors. To her surprise, what awaited her outside the cabin was a full circle of gun barrels pointed at her head.

A dense crowd of soldiers in black combat suits, all wearing black helmets and goggles, surrounded the cabin. Their posture, pointing their guns at the door, suggested they were waiting for some heinous alien monster.

"Put your guns down," Huntress strode out from the formation and approached Kara. "They are not enemies."

She appeared to be the commander here. The soldiers obediently lowered their weapons in unison and stepped aside. Kara frowned slightly, "Helena. Didn't you go to work for the government? What are you doing here?"

It was clear they were not strangers. Helena shrugged, "As you can see, I'm working. We received news of an unexpected situation at Kairi Technology Creative, so I brought my people to investigate."

She signaled her subordinates to quickly rescue the people who had escaped by ship. After scanning the area, she couldn't help but frown slightly, "I heard one more guy was with you. He didn't come back?"

Kara's gaze shifted to the crackling purple tunnel. "He'll catch up soon."

"But the readings from this device have reached critical levels. It has completely lost stability and will disappear soon," Helena frowned. "If he doesn't catch up within the next thirty seconds, he won't have a chance."

Kara's eyebrow twitched, a moment of apparent tension. But soon, her gaze returned to the rotating vortex with renewed determination.

"He promised," she said. "He'll be back. I believe it."

Her trust was ultimately proven worthwhile. With less than a second left on the thirty-second countdown, as the disintegrating tunnel spun and contracted, a red and blue blur shot out like a bullet piercing space, trailing purple lightning from the collapsing space behind it. Jay landed with a somewhat clumsy roll, his back slamming against the wreckage of the defunct ship.

Jay rubbed his disoriented head, kneeling on the ground and gasping for breath, feeling as if the last bit of air in his lungs had been squeezed out by the recent sprint. When he lifted his eyelids and saw Huntress and Supergirl appearing on either side of him, he rubbed his eyes in bewilderment.

"Hi there, ladies," he said. "Am I hallucinating?"