The Kryptonian's Earthly Beginning

"Ordinary!!!"

Hearing Heisenberg's self-introduction, Nick Fury's shiny black forehead nearly broke out in a cold sweat.

Though Heisenberg's introduction was vague, Nick understood perfectly.

You were once the leader of another planet, a traitor and criminal who may have committed crimes or perhaps harbored hidden circumstances.

More importantly, you're an ancient lifeform who's survived over eighteen thousand years!

Keep in mind, the Captain America Nick had just dug up and thawed out had only been frozen for seventy years!

And you... you dare to call someone like that ordinary!

Not to mention your physique that makes men silent and women weep—even lasers can't harm a single hair on your head!

The alloy walls of a nuclear bunker, over thirty centimeters thick, can't even stop you from walking through them normally!

You call that ordinary, you...

Nick Fury clenched his fist.

You're the boss, whatever you say goes, you ordinary Kryptonian.

"I think I understand who you are. I'm Nick Fury. Though you already know my name, I still hope we can have a more formal introduction."

He said helplessly to Heisenberg, who gave a noncommittal nod.

"I'm... Heisenberg. Not pleased to meet you."

"Oh?" Nick Fury tilted his head, pulling off a disgustingly cute head-tilt.

Heisenberg quickly squeezed his eyes shut—too much, way too much!

"Don't overthink it. There's no way to explain my falling from the sky. Even if I said we were kin, you wouldn't believe me.

So, I'm from outer space.

Once, I was imprisoned by my betraying kin for over eighteen thousand years.

Now I've finally woken up, only to see a planet I've never laid eyes on and a bunch of alien creatures pointing fingers at me..."

As Heisenberg spoke, he stood up, walked over to Nick Fury, and patted him on the shoulder.

"We need to understand each other, buddy. To me, you're all just a bunch of annoying, pathetically weak, yet audacious alien natives who dared to treat me as a test subject, right!"

"Uh, actually, we Earthlings are pretty friendly."

"Same here, as long as no one messes with me!"

Heisenberg grudgingly agreed with Nick Fury, then walked over to the window on his own.

Through the massive floor-to-ceiling window, Heisenberg greedily gazed at the sky outside.

A moment later, he spread his arms wide, facing the glass.

"You know, Nick, your planet's gravity is at least forty to fifty times weaker than Krypton's. I think I can truly fly on your world. Do you believe that?"

"Well... flight is the eternal desire of every land-dwelling creature. Maybe you really can do it.

But for now, we'd better talk about your future first. Since you're new here, maybe you need to adapt to life on Earth before looking ahead to fl—"

"Stop. Rather than talk about the future, I prefer the present!"

Heisenberg cut Nick Fury off mid-sentence.

Nick Fury shot to his feet, but Heisenberg just turned back and smiled at him, saying, "Look, only sheep need to adapt to a grassland full of hunters. But me—a lion at the top of the food chain—I just need to enjoy this freedom after eighteen thousand years."

With that, Heisenberg waved a hand at Nick behind him.

"One last piece of advice: don't mess with me.

If I have the leisure, I'll come back to see you. I'm looking forward to your hospitality then. Later!"

BOOM!!!

Heisenberg's legs suddenly tensed, then he leaped out with force.

The moment he jumped, the floor of Nick Fury's office shattered completely.

And Heisenberg—his leap shot straight into the sky, reaching over two thousand meters in the blink of an eye.

Fierce, violent air currents battered Heisenberg's clothes.

Sure enough, he himself felt no impact from the airflow—after all, a Kryptonian's body is too strong, way too strong.

But the front of his shirt was torn apart by the raging wind around him.

The damage wasn't too severe, but a few buttons were lost from his otherwise fine clothes, making Heisenberg sigh in regret.

Only after truly reaching this sky and flying at over three times the speed of sound did Heisenberg realize—

He really did need a tight suit and a cape!

Back on origin Earth, when Heisenberg was still a mortal, he'd always thought Superman's tight long johns and big red bedsheet cape looked kind of ridiculous.

But now that he had power like Superman's...

When flying at high speed, the constant flapping of his clothes was indeed annoying as hell, and the damn collar kept slapping his face like a madman, over and over again.

And without a cape...

Just like in movies and TV shows, when Supergirl first debuted without a cape, she kept tripping.

Even though Heisenberg hadn't truly taken flight yet—he was just gliding through the air after a leap—

Even so, he was having some trouble controlling his direction.

Thinking this, Heisenberg began his descent from over twenty-six hundred meters.

He savored the thrill of free fall while carefully managing his landing point.

Though he had no intention of being a do-gooder like Superman, he wasn't evil enough to enjoy crushing people to death.

If he landed and killed too many civilians, he probably wouldn't have sweet dreams tonight.

He adjusted his trajectory, steering himself toward a prominent park in New York.

About a dozen seconds later, he slammed diagonally into a Roosevelt Statue.

Shattering it to pieces, he continued down to the ground. The violent impact lasted over three seconds, and the cracked fissures stretched more than seventeen meters.

Luckily, Manhattan had already been mostly evacuated by then.

Otherwise, he'd have killed at least twenty or thirty racists with that landing...

"Cough, cough—choking me!"

Heisenberg coughed as he picked himself up off the ground.

A fall of just over two thousand meters, and he felt almost no pain.

The only thing bothering him was the dust kicked up.

"I really need to learn to fly. If I keep doing this, who knows if Kryptonians can get pneumoconiosis..."

He cracked a dark joke to himself, then launched into the air again.

This time, he put more force into it, and the leap sent him straight into a cumulonimbus cloud.

The water vapor was pushed aside by the air current from his body as he burst through the cloud layer, reaching over eight thousand meters above the ground.

"Haha, this is insane! Being human is overrated—I'm done being human, haha!!!"

With Heisenberg's roar, he shot horizontally like an arrow for several hundred meters.

But he still hadn't mastered the knack of flying. After that horizontal burst, he began falling back to the ground again.

As he descended, he pursed his lips.

Facing away from the earth, he muttered softly toward the sky.

"Something's still missing. I can already feel no weight on my body, but flying... what's missing?"

He shook his head, shifted his posture to face the ground, then smiled carefreely.

"Whatever, I'll figure it out with more practice!"

Boom!!!

He neatly cratered a small six-meter-wide impact zone. This time, he landed on the outskirts of New York, and plenty of un-evacuated citizens caught it on camera.

But no one got a clear shot of his face, because the moment he hit the ground, he flipped up and shot through the clouds again.

"Let me fly! Haha, I knew it wasn't hard—it's not hard at all!"

This time, as Heisenberg leaped into the clouds at over three thousand meters, he instantly transformed into a speeding arrow.

He even triggered a violent sonic boom around him—the phenomenon of breaking the sound barrier.

"In the DC World, Zod managed free flight in just a few minutes, and I'm faster than him, haha!"

Heisenberg's joy and excitement were laid bare in his rambling words.

After decades as a mortal, becoming a Kryptonian in an instant—what a feeling!

"Awesome!!!"

Boom!!!

Heisenberg vanished in an instant. Even the satellites tracking him could no longer lock onto his position.

He was too fast!

At the top floor of Stark Tower in Manhattan, Tony Stark shut down his monitoring equipment in shock.

"What a freak. His jump height is at least thirty times that of the green monster, and his flight speed is over ten times faster than Thor!"

Shaking his head in disbelief, Tony slumped onto the sofa, took the whiskey J.A.R.V.I.S. had a robot bring him, and rubbed his forehead weakly.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.!"

He took a sip of his drink and spoke.

"Is my armor too far behind?"

"Mr. Stark, technology has always been a step-by-step process, and you're on the right path."

"Yeah, but the aliens' starting point is way too high. I'm on the path, and I can't even see their shadow!"

Tony sighed, then got up and headed to the lab.

The original plan for the Mark III had to be changed. He needed to further enhance the Mark IV against this Kryptonian who hadn't caused any real trouble yet.

After all, Tony wasn't one to wallow in self-pity. No setback could rob him of his drive to move forward.

If his armor wasn't up to par yet, then he'd keep strengthening it.

One day, he'd definitely use his own mind to crush the strongest enemies in the universe!

On the other side, inside S.H.I.E.L.D.

Agent Hill walked into the office carrying drinks.

"This... this is...!"

She froze, staring at the damage to the floor and the window.

Nick Fury stood up weakly, took a glass from the stunned Hill's hand.

He drank it dry, then set the glass down.

"This is the first lesson the Kryptonian taught us: don't try to guess what he's thinking."

Nick Fury pointed at the wreckage before him.

"With just one jump, my specially-made room that cost eighteen million couldn't hold up. I have no idea what I'm supposed to use to control him!"

With that, Nick Fury slumped back onto the sofa, then a glimmer of hope crossed his face.

He turned to Hill and asked.

"Do you think... our nuclear weapons would work on him?"

"Maybe yes, maybe no, but we can't use them lightly."

"Yeah, if we don't use them, maybe we're still holding the Sword of Damocles. But if we do use them and they don't work..." Nick frowned.

"If we use them and they don't work, then we're in big trouble!" Hill added tensely.

They were silent for a moment, then Nick Fury shook his head firmly.

"Hill, about the Hulk..."

"I've already assigned Agent Natasha to make contact. If she can't do it, probably no one can."

"Good. And about Professor Selvig..."

"I've instructed the research team to speed up utilization of the Cosmic Cube. We need more and stronger weapons."

"Right. As for our new consultant..."

"Tony has already reached out to us. He took all the data on the Kryptonian tentatively named Elder Heisenberg, and he's actively requested to start the Avengers Initiative as soon as possible."

"Alright, everything seems on track, but I... I still feel uneasy."

Nick closed his eyes, countless thoughts swirling in his mind.

A moment later, he opened them.

"Closely investigate Heisenberg's movements. We need to track his every step. Temporarily assign Agent Barbara to make contact with him. After the Hulk operation is done, Natasha will follow up on this mission too."

"Yes." Hill nodded crisply.

"And contact Thor's girlfriend. Find a way to communicate with Thor himself. I need to understand the Kryptonians' standing in the universe. I hope their criminal ending up on Earth doesn't lead that planet to take military action against ours!"

"Yes!"

Hill nodded again, but Nick Fury's unease didn't fade.

After thinking it over, he continued to Hill.

"One more thing: seal off all information about Heisenberg from every agency as much as possible. No organization besides us is allowed to contact Heisenberg. Don't let those idiots cause trouble for our diplomatic relations with Krypton!"

"Yes!"

Only then did Nick Fury's unease finally subside.

In his view, as long as Heisenberg only dealt with S.H.I.E.L.D., then S.H.I.E.L.D.—which he controlled—could maintain enough harmony and understanding with Heisenberg.

But...

Was S.H.I.E.L.D. really his S.H.I.E.L.D.?