The Mysterious Man

Watching Bruce pant from exhaustion, Aeo couldn't help teasing him. "I have to say, for a human, you're in pretty good shape."

"Tsk." Once he'd caught his breath, Bruce asked, "Don't you ever get tired?"

"No."

"..." All right, Bruce had gotten another clear reminder of just how absurdly powerful Kryptonians were. "As a human, I shouldn't compare myself to you. You people are a bunch of freaks!"

"Listen. You keep track of where their men are and scout the area. And I..." Bruce said as he put on his Bat-suit. "I'll go capture him!"

"What's this?" Aeo raised an eyebrow at the thing Bruce held out to him.

"A communicator. I need you to keep an eye on the situation around me. If you're willing..."

Aeo thought it over, then took it.

At that, even Bruce's stern face lifted slightly. He surveyed the Liu Group's 44-story building across the way through a high-powered telescope, then prepared to move.

Aeo couldn't help saying, "Actually, you don't have to go through all this trouble."

"..."

"I could just whoosh over there, knock him out with a bam, then whoosh back. You could do whatever you wanted with him. Why make things so complicated?"

"...No."

Batman shook his head. "This isn't about whether it's faster or slower. The world isn't ready to accept an alien yet! Listen, I brought you along because I want to know that, deep down, you still have at least a basic sense of morality, reverence, and humanity..."

"Not because I want to watch you take down someone who isn't even in the same league as you..."

Batman took out a device and used its targeting sight to launch it onto the building opposite.

"I don't want us to become enemies one day, Son of Krypton..."

With that, Batman leaped off the building.

"..." Aeo.

Whoosh—Batman spread his wings and glided high above the ground, like a ghost, thanks to his high-tech Bat-suit.

"Tell me, where's the nearest enemy?" Bruce's voice came through his earpiece.

Aeo smiled faintly. At a thought, his superpowers focused in his eyes. "Let's see."

Through Superman's vision, everything turned transparent. He could see the wings of a mosquito flapping as it flew thousands of meters away, as well as the organs and flowing blood of the human it was about to feed on. And with Super-hearing, every movement of everyone in Hong Kong, the Pearl of the Orient, was laid bare before Aeo. He even heard a dolphin a kilometer offshore. He couldn't understand why there was a dolphin in Hong Kong, which wasn't even a dolphin's habitat.

All in all, to the Child of Power with his abilities fully unleashed, the world was vivid and terrifying. Endless information flooded his mind, as if he were the god who ruled everything on earth!

Fortunately, even for Kryptonians, whose five senses were countless times stronger than those of humans on Earth, this state was a burden. That was why they rarely pushed their hearing and vision to the limit; it took a great deal of practice and training. For ten years, Aeo had kept learning and training his senses so he could control his abilities at will. Just as General Zod had once admonished him, "Having strength alone doesn't make you a warrior!" He still couldn't remain in this state for long, but he could manage it for a little while now...

With Aeo's help, his Superman abilities fully engaged, Batman made it into the building without a hitch.

"Who's there?" Several guards in the room were startled.

Batman didn't answer. He came at them with fists and kicks, blending cold weapons with technology, and soon had all the thugs down.

"Not bad. But you'd better hurry, Bruce," Aeo said, watching the show from across the way. "The building's security system has been triggered. A whole bunch of guards are heading your way."

"I came prepared." Bruce pressed a device in his hand, and the entire building lost power, plunging into pitch darkness.

"Well, I'll give you that—you're good. But the police have been alerted, too. Be careful, hehe."

"I don't need you to worry." Bruce opened the door and glanced down the hallway. "Just tell me how to get to Mr. Liu's room."

Aeo shrugged and told him the way. Then he even had time to look around at the scenery, which was truly awful.

"Huh?"

Aeo's eyes suddenly narrowed as he looked in a certain direction...

"What's wrong?"

"...Nothing." Aeo turned his gaze away, his mind racing. With a complicated look, he said, "Okay, you've got him. We should go, Bruce."

"...I'm coming."

Crash! A floor-to-ceiling window in the building across the way shattered. Batman appeared at the window with a short, middle-aged man.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

The middle-aged man's familiar voice came through the earpiece. Aeo was thoroughly annoyed. "We really should go! Bruce! By the way, how are you planning to get out?"

"I have a plan! Hey, if you don't want to die, you'd better tell them not to shoot..."

After threatening Mr. Liu's men, Batman checked the time. "About time..."

"About time for what... Huh, you brought a plane over? No, not the one you came in on... You're seriously planning to fly back on a private jet owned by Wayne Enterprises!"

Batman smiled faintly and pressed another button on his belt. Pop! A parasail sprang out and caught on the tail of a Gulfstream G550 flying past.

"We're going home, gentlemen."

Watching the two of them get picked up by the plane as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Aeo couldn't help smiling. The group of Liu's Chinese henchmen below were left gaping. "All right, rich people really do whatever they want. They even show off their wealth on a mission."

"Cut the chatter. Didn't you say we should leave? Hurry up and catch up."

Watching Batman and the plane make no effort to wait for him, Aeo gave an exasperated click of his tongue and rose into the air. "Didn't you say you didn't want me using my powers? Why... Hey, wait for me!"

Before leaving, Aeo looked back with a complicated expression.

Not long after the uninvited guest from across the Pacific Ocean had left, a burly figure appeared where Batman and Aeo had been.

"They're... gone?"

"Mm. This scent... It really is the scent of power that was here..."

"Who was it! Who could carry such immense power around with them..."

"Could it be..."

In the dim light, a gray-haired Westerner with his eyes covered in an unknown black substance appeared before the world.

But in the next instant, the mysterious man vanished from the rooftop of the high-rise, leaving behind only a declaration filled with desire and a beastlike hunger.

"I will find you, Child of Power!"