Ordinary

Silence...

With the appearance of the naked man, everyone near the Manhattan Stock Exchange fell into a tense, collective silence.

This silence held for over twenty seconds, until Heisenberg stirred with difficulty, finally breaking it.

Heisenberg raised his hand stiffly, like a walking corpse.

In an instant, over seventy rifles and twelve grenade launchers aimed at him.

Iron Man trained his palm repulsors on Heisenberg, light steadily building in his hands.

Black Widow's right glove crackled with brilliant arcs of electricity, dangerous yet beautiful.

As for Coulson...

He glanced at the pistol he'd raised and aimed, then gave a slight shrug.

Why did he always feel like this pose of his was pretty useless?

Ahem!

Coulson shook his head, tossing aside those stray thoughts, then spoke cautiously.

"Can you understand me? Who are you, where are you from, and what do you want?"

As his words fell, Heisenberg frowned. Wasn't this the three great questions of life?

Who am I, where do I come from, where am I going?

"I am Heisenberg, the 64th Supreme Elder of the Council of Krypton. I... ugh, ahhhh!!!"

Before he could finish speaking, he was cut off by an explosion of excruciating pain.

Sound—chaotic, deafening sound—burst directly into his mind!

It felt like tens of thousands of huskies howling madly in his ears.

Like hundreds of thousands of women chattering incessantly inside his skull.

Like a thousand nuclear bombs detonating in his nose and mouth!

The air—every wisp of it felt as sharp as a bayonet. Each breath took all his strength, yet no matter how much gas he inhaled, his lungs only felt drier and more parched.

And most importantly—

Radiation!

Heisenberg knew it was solar radiation, the unique yellow sun of Earth, beginning to naturally empower his Kryptonian cells.

But this empowerment was anything but gentle. His cells were like riverbeds dried up for centuries, and the solar radiation was a raging torrent.

The moment the radiation's waters moistened his body, they turned into a violent mudslide, rampaging through every corner of his being!

"I... ugh, ahh, goddammit, fucking hell ahhhh!!!"

He could no longer speak. With a thud, he collapsed face-first onto the asphalt, convulsing like a shrimp being boiled alive.

His agonized display instantly dispelled any hostility from the S.H.I.E.L.D. team.

Coulson sprinted to Heisenberg's side.

"Damn it, some elder from an alien planet seems to have landed on our Earth carrying some kind of disease. I really don't want him dying here."

As he spoke, Coulson issued orders to the others around him.

"Evacuate Manhattan completely. The target is suspected of carrying a lethal pathogen; contagion is not ruled out. Anyone with kids at home, and field agents under twenty-five, stay back. The rest of you, come with me to transport him to the division."

"Yes, sir!"

"Copy that!"

"I'm in!"

Three or four people stepped forward immediately, and within moments, Heisenberg was loaded into a Humvee and secured.

The Humvee roared away, leaving Iron Man standing there, staring blankly at his faceplate.

Watching the convoy disappear, Tony Stark felt nothing but exasperation.

"They sure work fast. Fine. J.A.R.V.I.S., notify Pepper to send over two units of the virus-testing equipment Stark Industries developed two years ago—the model that's already been discontinued. Also, emphasize to Pepper that she is absolutely not to set foot within half a mile of the Stock Exchange."

After a moment's thought, Tony added another instruction.

"Oh, and while you're at it, acquire two hundred thousand hazmat suits and a million face masks. Keep them on standby for New Yorkers."

"Understood, Mr. Stark."

J.A.R.V.I.S. sprang into action.

After that, Tony turned his gaze to the spot where Heisenberg had fallen. He seemed to notice something.

He walked over, bent down, and looked at the ground.

"This... was there a hole like this in the road before?"

Right where Heisenberg had collapsed, a strange depression sat in the middle of the asphalt.

The depression seemed to consist of three parts: two shallower indentations flanking a deeper one...

Tony reached out in confusion, probing the edge of the pit slightly.

"This is a main road in Manhattan. There's no way there'd be damage this obvious here. So, what exactly is this pit..."

Tony couldn't help but simulate the scene of Heisenberg falling in his mind, and after that, his expression soured immediately.

He shot to his feet, disgustedly backing away a dozen paces.

With a strange look, he glanced down at his own crotch, then back at the hole in the ground.

"What a fucking miracle, an absolute miracle. So damn enviable, goddamn it...!!!"

He said this, then flew off without looking back.

He needed to swap out his armor. This Mark II had to be scrapped—no way he was wearing a suit that had indirectly touched another guy's junk.

That was way too un-Tony!

About forty minutes later.

S.H.I.E.L.D. New York Branch.

Nick Fury studied Heisenberg through the bulletproof one-way glass in the wall, scrutinizing him constantly.

Beside the bed where Heisenberg lay, over a dozen medical experts were deep in discussion.

"Damn it, our current scanning devices can't seem to penetrate his skin to see his internal organs. His muscles are denser than the thickest metal!"

"This is unbelievable. The best scalpel I have can't even cut through a single strand of his hair!"

"Not just hair—I tried using a laser scalpel to sample his eyeball for analysis, but our laser couldn't even damage his lens!"

"What kind of life form is this? Even Thor, who came to Earth last time, didn't have a body this strong!"

"I suspect he could survive in space on his own, absolutely!"

"Don't talk too much. He's awake, just seems to be tormented by pain. Even if he might not understand our language, don't leak too much information to him. After all, he's—"

"After all, I'm an alien, right!"

Heisenberg suddenly spoke, as if waking from slumber, and opened his eyes.

Just moments ago, this body of his had been strapped to an examination table by S.H.I.E.L.D. If he weren't a Kryptonian, he'd probably already be scattered into fragmented organs laid out everywhere!

He was a bit pissed.

Opening his eyes, the scene before him was still blurry. What Heisenberg saw first wasn't humans, but over a dozen human skeletons.

His powerful vision let him see straight through all the disguises of these doctors.

So he took an extra glance at one doctor's rear end.

After all, the butt plug wedged between that doctor's cheeks was way too eye-catching...

The doctors didn't notice his gaze.

On the contrary, they were now stunned by Heisenberg's fluent English.

In the few seconds of their silence, Nick Fury outside the isolation room barked into his earpiece.

"Ask him about his condition! What disease is that? Is it contagious? Ask now!"

"Pfft!"

The moment Nick Fury finished, Heisenberg sat up straight.

"Don't insult me with infectious diseases!"

Heisenberg cursed as he raised his arm.

The specially reinforced ropes binding him to the bed snapped instantly. The sound of those metal-infused cords breaking made several doctors cover their ears.

And Heisenberg, looking at the countless knives and lasers layered around him, wanted to kill.

But in the end, he avoided the doctors and casually jumped off the bed.

The moment he landed, he seemed a bit weak in the legs. Stumbling, he quickly reached out and grabbed the examination equipment beside him.

Crash!!!

The instrument was dented over ten centimeters deep. In that dent, sparks flickered for a few seconds before the device went completely dark.

Staring at the broken machine, Heisenberg showed no remorse. He casually grabbed the sheet from the bed and wrapped it around his lower half.

Then he looked at the mirror that should have been opaque and walked straight toward Nick Fury on the other side of the one-way glass.

Nick Fury frowned deeply, sweat quietly beading on his forehead.

Luckily, Heisenberg stopped in front of the glass.

"You are... well, you didn't bring any business cards, but I seem to hear someone mentioning your name from over seven hundred meters away. You're the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, right?"

"I can hardly believe it!" Nick Fury exclaimed at Heisenberg's words.

"There's plenty you won't believe. For example, there's nothing you can do about me. Oh, and I don't really like chatting with you in this isolation room—it makes me feel like some rare creature on display."

As he spoke, Heisenberg kept walking forward.

As Heisenberg drew closer, Nick Fury and Hill immediately tensed and backed away.

Just as Heisenberg's forehead touched the glass, he stopped abruptly.

"You haven't backed off enough. Take another twenty steps, to that corner over there."

He warned them, and after a moment's thought, Nick Fury followed Heisenberg's instructions.

Twenty steps away, Nick Fury and Hill stood by the corner, nervously staring at Heisenberg's relatively handsome, ruggedly masculine face.

As for Heisenberg, he continued moving forward gently.

Without any visible exertion, he simply passed through the glass and wall.

The shattered blast-proof glass burst apart violently, the intense reaction sending fragments scouring a twenty-meter radius.

And Heisenberg, clutching the nearly crushed bedsheet in both hands, stood amid the rubble and raised a hand toward Nick Fury.

"You look like you have a lot to say, but first get me a set of clothes—something like that black trench coat you're wearing. Hurry."

"I can fulfill your request, but please don't make any rash moves. If you'd kindly move to my office, the clothes will be ready there," Nick Fury said cautiously.

"Hmm."

Heisenberg nodded, then followed Nick Fury all the way to his office.

Halfway there, Hill parted ways with the two.

By the time Heisenberg entered the office with Nick Fury, Hill was already there, holding a full set of black clothes, having waited for some time.

Heisenberg took the clothes, gave them a once-over, and nodded.

"Your taste isn't bad—better than my planet's, anyway. I've long been sick of our uniforms that haven't changed in over a hundred thousand years."

With that, he dressed in an instant.

His movements were so fast that he even stirred up a small storm in the office.

The gust forced Nick Fury to squint, and by the time he looked back at Heisenberg, the man was fully dressed, seated on what should have been Nick Fury's sofa.

"Sit. I haven't felt what it's like to sit in a long time. Ask what you want to ask."

Heisenberg gestured from the sofa, and his attitude sent a chill down Nick Fury's spine.

Domineering—that was the feeling Heisenberg gave Nick Fury, and the astonishing power he'd displayed earlier lent that dominance boundless conviction.

So Nick Fury, like a subordinate facing a superior, quietly sat across from Heisenberg.

After a brief silence, Nick Fury glanced at Hill and instructed.

"Please fetch some wine for me and this gentleman—the best kind."

"Yes."

Hill nodded and immediately left the room. She understood what Nick Fury meant.

To guard against Heisenberg in the office, S.H.I.E.L.D. needed to bring out their strongest asset.

The Hulk, far away in India.

And as Hill contacted Coulson and Black Widow to issue the order for the Hulk's recruitment...

Back in the office, Nick Fury asked softly.

"Before the wine arrives, allow me to ask presumptuously—what exactly is your identity?"

"Ha!"

Heisenberg laughed. Who am I?

Was I still the ordinary man of before, the one who was powerless and could only bow and scrape?

Now, he truly didn't want to put on airs anymore, especially when his Kryptonian strength made worrying about this so-called S.H.I.E.L.D. completely unnecessary.

So he spoke calmly.

"Who am I?

I am the 64th Chief Elder of the Council of ancient Krypton, the only leader in Kryptonian history branded a traitor by the people.

I am also a so-called criminal sealed and buried for over eighteen thousand years by temporal matter.

Even more so, a corpse in a grave struggling to rise, though I've missed my era.

Hatred, resentment—do you think my heart is filled with those boring emotions?

Don't worry.

I can probably sense your wariness of me.

But in truth, after setting aside everything I once had and lost...

Now, I'm just an ordinary Kryptonian."