With complicated feelings, Bruce Wayne returned to his bedroom.
"Who's there?!" Batman asked warily.
After a pause, a figure stepped out of the darkness. "It's me, Batman." Bruce kept his body tense, his peripheral vision scanning everything nearby that might pose a threat. "Who are you...!"
Batman stared in surprise at the fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy emerging from the shadows. "You..."
Aeo shook his head, then walked over to the sofa in the understated yet luxurious bedroom and sat down.
"Relax, Bruce Wayne." He smiled faintly. "I'm not your enemy."
"!"
"It's you!" Batman finally realized who had come. Shock and surprise filled his voice. "That Superman?"
"Superman?" Aeo rolled the familiar yet unfamiliar word around in his mind, then gave a bitter smile. "No. I'm just an outsider, a refugee from war..."
Batman was dumbfounded. "What?!"
"You heard me." At last, Aeo began putting into motion the plan he had spent ten years preparing. "Listen, Bruce Wayne. I mean no harm to you or this planet. But if you look at different forms of life with malice and hatred, then you'll gain an enemy too—a powerful one!"
"I come from a planet called Krypton. My name is Aeo Zod..."
Bruce Wayne was one of the most exceptional humans on Earth, as well as a superhero. After his initial shock, he gradually let go of the darkest suspicions in his heart and listened thoughtfully as the seemingly young boy with an astonishing past recounted his long story.
"...My planet was invaded by outsiders. After putting up a futile resistance, it was destroyed. Because my father was a high-ranking member of the Empire, he had prepared a spaceship in advance. I was ejected into space and drifted through the universe until, ten years ago, the ship's computer found Earth, a planet suitable for life... I've spent the past ten years wandering around the United States... Our people aren't much different from humans in appearance... It's just that."
At last, the unexpected visitor got to the point.
"We're stronger!"
Meeting Batman's steely gaze, Aeo Zod said meaningfully, "That strength is encoded in our genes. As time passes, we grow stronger and stronger. Our strength, stamina, and ability to recover are all many times greater than those of humans..."
"Like vampires?"
At the boy's startled look, Bruce said caustically, "Weren't those your words? You get stronger as time passes! Doesn't that sound a lot like the immortal monsters from legend, vampires? They both get more monstrous with age..."
Aeo's brow twitched. Right, he'd forgotten that the old man was also a tsundere billionaire. He had all the usual rich-kid flaws, too. He just had more self-control than that guy Stark, and was better at keeping his desires in check...
"Don't tell me you're like those bloodsucking monsters, too, and afraid of sunlight or something..."
"Quite the opposite!" Since Bruce couldn't sit quietly and hear him out, Aeo saw no reason to be polite. He shot back, "The sun is the source of our power! By the light of the sun, we grow stronger every moment!"
Sure enough, Bruce was stunned by yet another revelation. They could absorb the sun's power...
"Why are you telling me all this?" Bruce's face darkened.
Seeing that he'd made his point, Aeo eased up. "Listen, Bruce Wayne. I've been hiding among you for the past ten years. When have you ever heard of me—or anything like what I've done? I'm telling you this because I know you're a living, breathing person with power of your own. You can understand what it's like to be powerful. As long as you don't try to take anything from me or steal from me, I won't interfere in your affairs!"
The boy's words softened Batman's expression somewhat. He thought about what had happened over the past ten years, but couldn't recall any similar incidents anywhere in the world. So he replied in a calmer tone, "Then why did you finally step in this time? Why did you kill the Joker?"
"This time, I knew that if I chose to ignore what was happening, many of you might die. That's why I acted..." Aeo answered seriously. "As for the Joker, he's the most dangerous and terrifying human I've ever met. He corrupts and invades people's minds, teaching them to fall and driving them mad. There's not a single benefit to letting him live!"
"So we should thank you?" Bruce couldn't help being caustic. "No matter what, murder is always something to condemn where we come from!"
"Don't be naive." Aeo wasn't about to back down, either. "Bruce Wayne! Even without me, your world is still full of killing, war, and death. Those things don't differ based on species. You and your people are inherently chaotic and contradictory creatures! You have love and hatred, light and darkness..."
"Don't blame everything on me being an alien. Countless examples from history prove that you're the real experts when it comes to killing your own kind!"
Batman fell silent again. The alien's words were so brutally frank that he couldn't find anything to say in reply.
"Listen, Bruce Wayne. Maybe my existence really is a source of unease for you and your kind. But you choose your own enemies. As long as you leave me alone, I won't go on a killing spree or destroy countries or anything. That's the stuff of novels, comics, and movies. In the real world, we're not so savage or ambitious. At heart, I'm just an orphan of war—a poor, unfortunate soul..."
A little sugar, a little salt—that was the approach Aeo had come up with over the past ten years. After all, he knew what humans were like, in both his past and present lives. It was impossible to be completely hostile toward the Federation or S.H.I.E.L.D. They were the rightful masters of this world, and had more claim to it than Aeo did. They were the ones who had the right to declare sovereignty.
Besides, why get hung up on one little Earth when he'd been reborn as a Kryptonian? The universe was vast and full of excitement. How boring to be stuck on one planet! As for why he'd chosen Batman, it was because Aeo knew that of all the known superheroes, Batman was the most principled and strong-willed. If he could earn Batman's trust, it would be much easier to establish himself on Earth. That was why Aeo had chosen this moment to step in and save Rachel Dawes, Batman's unrequited love, making him owe Aeo a tremendous favor. It would make the conversation much easier afterward.
And now, after Aeo had made himself sound so "pitiful," Bruce felt a little embarrassed. Whatever else one could say, this Kryptonian was willing to talk. Compared to the alien civilizations in movies that were always threatening to destroy Earth, he was much friendlier. For ten years, he'd wandered the Federation without abusing his abilities (though that was debatable), and he'd maintained a certain moral code. That was no small feat, especially since he was still so young...
Yes, Aeo's age was another reason the old man's attitude had softened. He'd arrived on Earth ten years ago, which meant he'd been only five or six at the time... All right, even if he was an alien, the kid was pretty pitiful. His home had been destroyed, both his parents were dead... and he was the last Kryptonian in the universe...
Right, this guy was lying through his teeth! Although Krypton had indeed suffered a massive upheaval, the Fortier hadn't been wiped out. They'd escaped and drifted through the universe for a long time before finding Earth, a place where they could survive...
As he thought it over, Bruce Wayne's attitude softened. "You... might be able to stay, as long as you..."
Before you continue