Battle Mongor

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A deafening boom rang through the entire underground complex. It was the sound of Jay being punched hard in the face by the alien tyrant and sent flying. His body shot across the room filled with the plants Mongor called "Black Benevolence," crashing through four walls—or maybe five, he had not counted clearly—then blasting straight through the maze-like passage he had spent so long winding through on the way in, before flying back into the sewers outside the facility.

The water in the underground sewers still rushed endlessly into the rapidly spinning turbines. Their blades whirled tirelessly until Jay burst through the wall directly opposite them, shooting into the running turbine like a bullet. The metal casing shattered as easily as paper. The razor-sharp blades snapped in half with a clang the instant they struck Jay's body, flung away amid long trails of white spray. The turbine let out a miserable shriek, then stopped amid splashing water and black smoke.

Jay climbed out of the current as icy, rushing groundwater washed over his burning cheek. He bared his teeth slightly. That one had actually hurt a little.

Another figure smashed through the wall in pursuit and landed heavily before him. Jay looked up just as Mongor's huge hand shot out and clamped around his throat, slamming him against the wreckage of the ruined turbine. Mongor's ugly face drew close, his crimson eyes seeming to burn. He grinned wickedly. "You know, kid, ever since you came to my turf and caused trouble that time, I've wanted to find you. Let me put it this way: I've got some unpleasant history with Kryptonians. After Kal-El died, I thought I had lost my chance for revenge. But then you appeared and gave me that chance again. You even wear his uniform, his symbol! So as far as you're concerned, you're my entertainment. And I won't let anyone take that entertainment away from me."

"Uh, that was pretty memorable. But you know what? I've got something I'd like to say to you too."

Mongor's eyes shifted. "What?"

"You talk too much."

The instant the words left his mouth, Jay drove a full-force uppercut into Mongor's jaw. Terrifying power surged from his fist like an endless river. Mongor shot upward like a rocket, blasting through layers of pipes and bursting out onto the surface. He rose dozens of meters before plummeting back down. His massive body landed squarely on the hood of an unfortunate sedan in the street. Every window shattered at once, and the roof caved in against the seats. The badly twisted car spun away, knocking over a fire hydrant at the roadside. A column of water shot into the sky.

Jay soared out through the hole Mongor had made and landed in the bustling district as well. The street instantly descended into complete chaos. Mongor's "arrival from the heavens" triggered a chain of traffic accidents, while the towering water column broke into countless droplets and rained down over the road.

The people of New York seemed not to have encountered this kind of godlike brawl in the streets for years. They had practically gotten used to a "normal" pace of life, but unfortunately, that record was finally broken today.

Ignoring the panicked crowd, Mongor rose to his feet and slowly approached, facing Jay from more than ten meters away. Water from the fire hydrant lashed over their bodies like a downpour, washing the road until it gleamed.

Mongor smiled faintly and rubbed his jaw. "Your punch has some power. I'll give you that. But compared to Superman? You're still far behind."

"That's true enough." Jay shrugged. "But against you? It's enough."

Mongor snorted. He hunched his enormous body, one hand pressed against the wet pavement, like a cheetah ready to pounce. With a thunderous roar, he sprang forward. The street beneath his heels cracked apart, and the flying dust seemed to form a ring of air as his body explosively accelerated.

Jay suddenly drew in a breath, thrust both fists forward, and accelerated toward Mongor as well. His crimson cape snapped behind him. The wind pressure created by his body's violent friction with the air sliced open the pavement like blades, leaving long cracks racing forward behind him.

This was a direct collision of power against power, with no room for tricks. The two blurs slammed together and shot forward, tearing through a gym at the end of the street and blasting across two city blocks with unstoppable force. They brutally smashed through every obstacle in their path, and the shockwave may even have overturned three or five unlucky cars.

Mongor crashed hard into the asphalt, leaving a massive crater shaped like his body. His head buzzed and his vision blurred. The moment his sight cleared, he saw the Kryptonian Kid soaring high overhead, framed by a sun blazing with dazzling golden light. Jay plunged down with overwhelming force, his fist aimed directly at Mongor's forehead.

Mongor reacted quickly, rolling aside as Jay's heavy punch struck the ground almost grazing his shoulder. A horrifying impact spread outward in radiating cracks, resembling a gigantic spiderweb when viewed from above. Mongor dodged the blow, then spun and punched Jay across the face before he could pull back. For a brief instant, Jay felt his body slip out of his control again. Unluckily, he slammed into the fuel tank of a truck marked with an oil company logo. Sparks from the high-speed friction instantly ignited the full tank, and roaring flames swallowed him whole, surging into the sky like a snarling demon with claws bared.

Jay shook his head and walked out of the blazing inferno, leaving the rolling flames behind him. He suddenly felt that he had to look pretty cool right now, like the Terminator walking out of a fire without a scratch. Then he saw the astonishing devastation caused by their battle. It looked as if two fully armed armies had fought a war in the city.

Even he found the sight truly unbelievable. He had always known, in theory, what he was capable of, but he had never actually done this before—released his power without holding back. He had never seen so directly just how terrifying his own strength could be.

Maybe that would bring up a whole host of questions worth thinking about, but not today. At least not before that alien giant was down. Mongor launched another relentless attack, roaring hoarsely as he lifted a yellow bus in his hands. It was packed with terrified children and appeared to be a school bus.

He seemed to intend to use the school bus like an iron club and smash it into Jay. If he actually did that, even reinforced steel beams and bulletproof armor would not be able to keep those children safe. Jay had almost no time to think. Two thick crimson beams of Heat Vision burst instinctively from his eyes, striking Mongor squarely in the abdomen and blasting him far away.

Propelled by the fiery red laser beams, Mongor smashed through several streetlights before flying backward into a subway station. The school bus he had been holding suddenly dropped under the pull of gravity. Jay flashed beneath it in an instant and steadily caught the bus with both hands. The frightened children stared wide-eyed through the windows at this Superman-like big brother. Jay carefully lowered the vehicle to the ground and tore open the warped, jammed reinforced alloy door with one hand.

"All right, this is your stop, kids." Jay did his best to smile kindly. "Watch your step getting off."

A little girl in the front row opened her eyes wide and asked, "Are you Superman?"

"No, I'm not. Well, I am."

"Everyone says there aren't any Supermen anymore, but I always said that wasn't true." A little boy said, his face flushed red. "I always said Superman would definitely come back!"

If time allowed, Jay might have spent more time interacting with the children, just as Superman used to. But he did not have the time now. The ground in the distance exploded with a bang, and Mongor burst out from the flying bricks and dust once more, his feet stamping deep prints into the pavement.

He watched Jay fly down before him and snorted. "You've got more guts than I expected. But that only makes this more interesting."

"Face reality, Mongor," Jay said. "It's over. People will see the truth. Your puppet government is about to reach its end. If I were you, I'd spend my last few seconds in office buying a spaceship and getting out of here."

"Oh, really?" Mongor curled his lips into a confident smile. "I don't think so."

"What?"

Jay caught something strange in his eyes and vaguely sensed that something was wrong. He abruptly looked up and discovered that the sun, which had been hanging in the sky moments ago, had vanished without a trace. The blue sky suddenly darkened. He could see unusual particles spreading through the atmosphere in spiraling patterns, extending toward some center beyond it.

Very quickly, he noticed the source releasing those particles—the World Federal Government building. Like a black transmission tower, it continuously emitted some kind of special wave beyond the atmosphere.

"You finally noticed?" Mongor laughed.

Jay glared at him. "What did you do?"

"Remember when I said things reaching this point had never been part of my plan?" Mongor said with a smile. "Controlling your so-called world government remotely, using puppets to manipulate human society—the original plan was never supposed to be like this. I never expected it to be so easy. My more advanced plan had no use at all. But in case someone discovered everything one day—like now—I turned my original plan into an emergency contingency. And ten minutes before meeting you, I activated that contingency."

Through gritted teeth, Jay asked, "What exactly did you do?"

Mongor grinned, revealing a mouthful of gleaming white teeth.

"I created a large enough space tunnel and used your government building as a marker for precise navigation," he said. "I'm about to summon Warworld."