Superman

Looking at the disaster scene as though a tornado had swept through it, Hill and Black Widow exchanged glances.

"What... happened here?"

"Miss Dawes." Natasha could not help asking the "hostage" standing alone at the scene. "What exactly happened? Are you all right?"

Rachel stared blankly at the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had come to rescue her and foolishly said, "I'm fine..."

Looking at the huge hole in the wall, the bullets and explosives scattered across the ground, and the kidnappers, Hill frowned. "What happened here, Miss Dawes?"

"We were sent by Batman to help you. We rushed over as soon as we got the message..."

Rachel looked at Hill and the others with a complicated expression. "I... I'm fine now. A superhero saved me..."

"A superhero?" Hill and Black Widow both stiffened.

"Who?"

"Iron Man?"

It was no wonder they had misunderstood. The immense destruction at the scene was not something an ordinary person could cause. For a standard tactical squad, it would take at least ten or twenty people to assemble the full range of hostage-rescue methods—demolitions, cover, assault, extraction, and so on. So they had both assumed Stark had saved Rachel. After all, among the publicly known superheroes, there were only him and Bruce Wayne at present.

"No, it wasn't him." Rachel shook her head, her expression inevitably taking on a touch of bewilderment and admiration. "He was an incredible person!"

"!"

Watching the hostage being taken away in a police car, Hill reported to Nick Fury through her wristwatch. "Sir, Event X has been discovered. A new superhero has appeared..."

"What?"

"You heard correctly. Agent Natasha and I are at the scene. We'll send you the footage..." Hill nodded at Black Widow.

Using an advanced device, Black Widow scanned the surrounding area. "Sir, this is the scene where Rachel Dawes was kidnapped..."

"Hiss." Even the head agent drew in a sharp breath.

"Understood. Come back first..." Nick Fury said with a grim expression.

"Yes, sir!"

"Watching" Black Widow, Hill, and the others leave from the rooftop of an apartment building over a thousand meters from the warehouse, the Kryptonian refugee—now Earth's wandering Mr. Hobo—blinked, temporarily shutting off both his super vision and x-ray vision.

"Looks like those troublesome people have their eyes on me now." Aeo rubbed his chin.

The Smart Terminal, reunited with its master, beeped. "Wasn't this caused by you, Master? I thought we would develop quietly until you were capable of interstellar travel..."

Aeo shook his head. "We can't wait that long, Efi."

Facing the darkest sky before dawn, Earth's only Fortier flew into the air. "Our enemies are about to arrive!"

Whoosh! The immense kinetic force of more than Mach 8 not only triggered a series of sonic booms in the sky, but also shattered the glass of the dense skyscrapers and vehicles in the modern city below, setting them humming without end.

"Sir!" The observer's cry rang out once more in that military department. "It's back!"

This time, besides the colonel from before, a general-level commander also said with a grave expression, "Can we get detailed footage?"

The operator frantically worked the controls, but his face remained pale. "Sorry, General. The target is too fast, and there seems to be a magnetic field surrounding it. The satellite can't capture his face. We can only barely make out a blurry silhouette..."

Looking at the indistinct object on the screen, the officers in this U.S. military base wore extremely ugly expressions.

"At any cost!" The general clenched his teeth so hard they nearly bled. "Get a picture of this guy!"

"Yes, sir!"

But...

"Sorry, sir, we lost him..."

"..." Watching the supernatural object rapidly vanish from the orbital satellite footage, one of the base's commanders, the colonel, said, "Sir, what do we do?"

The U.S. general with a single star on his shoulder gritted his teeth. "I'll report this truthfully to the White House..."

"..."

Wayne Manor's basement.

Bruce Wayne watched the video Nick Fury had handed him with an ugly expression.

"This is footage of the scene after it rescued Miss Dawes..." Nick Fury said. "What kind of monster do you think could cause this much destruction?"

"It? A monster?" Bruce's expression darkened further. "In your eyes, anything that isn't like you is a freak or a beast, isn't it? Then what am I?"

"Easy, easy!" Black Widow said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry as she tried to calm the two men. "Guys, we're on the same side, remember? What Director Nick means is, Bruce, who in Gotham City could have this kind of ability?"

Bruce's expression improved slightly. On another surveillance screen, he saw Rachel safely enter S.H.I.E.L.D.'s protection zone, and his tone softened. "No one in Gotham City has that kind of ability! Not even me..."

He transferred the video Nick Fury had given him onto the main display in the basement. "Look—here, here, and here. None of this could have been caused by a large-scale battle. Combined with Rachel's testimony, this is an existence whose physical ability, strength, and recovery far surpass those of a human on Earth..."

"Could it be a superpowered person?" Black Widow asked.

"Not sure." Bruce shook his head. "According to Rachel, he was impervious to blades and bullets, and incredibly strong. He probably specializes in physical enhancement. Even if he is superpowered, he should be a physical-type..."

"And according to the scene investigation, it seems he fell from the sky?" The master pointed at a spot in the footage—the very place where Aeo had landed earlier. "He can fly?"

Earth's technological development ten years later had indeed progressed far faster than Aeo had imagined. Before long, Nick Fury and the others had reconstructed footage of his battle.

"Truly astonishing strength..."

"Such incredible speed! To take down four robbers at once, he must have been extraordinarily fast..."

"More importantly, he can actually fly!"

"..."

Looking at the data on the screen, even Bruce Wayne could not help but marvel. "This is an incredibly powerful warrior! If he were an enemy..." He did not finish the thought, but the worry on his face said it all.

Just then, Hill walked in. "Sir, the military has discovered an unidentified individual. He entered Gotham City's airspace!"

Under Nick Fury's gaze, Agent Hill nodded. "That's right, it's the person we were discussing! He flew across half of Gotham City at over Mach 8 and landed at 2505 Second Avenue... Half an hour later, an object shot into the sky from near 2505 Second Avenue at no less than Mach 10..."

Nick Fury accepted another iPad from Agent Hill, his expression grim. "So, he was nearby the whole time? When our people arrived?"

"Yes, sir..."

"..." Staring at the blurry photograph previously taken by the military, Nick Fury's face was so dark it looked ready to drip water. He said with faint sarcasm, "Bruce Wayne, do you still think S.H.I.E.L.D.'s concerns are unnecessary?"

"Look, there's another dangerous one in the world. By the way, what's his name?" The head agent raised a brow.

"Superman, sir. That's what the military calls him..."

"..."