Chapter Summaries

Dilos gave Selene a spatial ring that could carry her matured dragon, then revealed that his apparent marriage proposal was a prank he had also played on Frank and Alice. Before leaving, he gave Selene two more rings with equipment and dragon food, and she reflected that she had chosen the right person to serve.

• Selene mistook Dilos's gift of a dragon-engraved ring for a marriage proposal, but Dilos explained that it was a spatial ring for carrying her dragon.
• Dilos showed Selene the newly hatched Karas and explained that the ring could store living creatures and release them elsewhere.
• Selene put on the ring and threatened to tell Dilos's queen that she had agreed to marry him, prompting him to admit he had played the same prank on Frank and Alice.
• Dilos said he was happy because he would soon be going home, apologized for frightening Selene, and left after tossing her another box.
• Selene opened the box and found two spatial rings containing equipment and food for dragons, along with a birthday note from Dilos.

Dilos returned to Smallville with Qin Jiayin and introduced her to Gabe, then invited her to meet someone he deeply respected. At Kent Farm, Clark trained with Blue Kryptonite and credited Dilos’s martial arts for strengthening him as he vowed not to be helpless against a powerful enemy again.

• Dilos brought Qin Jiayin to the Sullivan residence, where Gabe welcomed her and teased Dilos about finally bringing home a girlfriend.
• After Gabe left, Dilos flirted with Qin Jiayin and invited her to meet someone he respected while they explored Smallville.
• At Kent Farm, Martha and Jonathan left for Metropolis to celebrate their wedding anniversary and told Clark to watch the house.
• Clark finished training while wearing Blue Kryptonite, then deactivated it and felt his strength return.
• Clark reflected that Dilos’s martial arts had greatly increased his strength and vowed to face the next powerful enemy without helplessness.

Clark trained with Dilos to extract vital energy, using Blue Kryptonite to suppress his powers and temper his body, and his strength rose dramatically. Meanwhile, Dilos brought Qin Jiayin to visit the blind Cassandra at a nursing home, where she recognized him.

• Dilos taught Clark martial arts and vital-energy training, then used Blue Kryptonite to suppress Clark’s powers so he could sense and cultivate the energy.
• Clark discovered that suppressing his powers with Blue Kryptonite avoided Green Kryptonite’s harmful effects and helped him train safely.
• After several months of training, Clark’s strength increased from just over one hundred tons to more than eight hundred tons, though he still needed regular meals and limited training sessions.
• Clark recalled that he had reached the peak of Bright Mirror and considered entering a bodybuilding competition.
• Dilos took Qin Jiayin to a nursing home and greeted Cassandra, who recognized him despite being blind.

Dilos Sullivan reunited with Cassandra and learned that her failing foresight had become controllable after meeting him and Clark Kent, extending her life. Cassandra warned him of dangers and urged him to uncover Smallville’s secrets, watch places with dams across the United States, and stay one step ahead; she also reassured Qin Jiayin that she appeared in Dilos’s future.

• Cassandra told Dilos Sullivan that she could no longer foresee other people’s futures and could now see only brief glimpses of her own.
• Cassandra explained that meeting Dilos and Clark Kent had helped her gain control over her visions and likely saved her life three years earlier.
• Cassandra warned Dilos that his future held danger and that he would lose important people, then told him to seek out Smallville’s secrets, watch places with dams, and stay one step ahead.
• Dilos offered Cassandra ways to extend her life, but she refused and chose to enjoy her remaining time peacefully.
• Cassandra joined Dilos’s and Qin Jiayin’s hands, saying Qin Jiayin appeared in many fragments of Dilos’s future and teasing her about his popularity.
• Qin Jiayin said she believed Dilos was the greatest and best man in her heart after her father.

Dilos enjoyed a peaceful visit with Qin Jiayin in Smallville until Sam Lane and Lois arrived to discuss the Enhanced Armor. He offered Sam one hundred sets of Enhanced Armor Version 3.0 and nutrient potions for free in exchange for help with Mutant legislation.

• Dilos spent several happy days in Smallville with Qin Jiayin, visiting family and former classmates.
• Sam Lane and Lois arrived at the Sullivan house with special forces stationed nearby, and Dilos invited them inside.
• Lois pulled Chloe aside to talk while Dilos asked Sam to discuss his business with him.
• Sam told Dilos that Ailin had demonstrated the Enhanced Armor to the president and several generals, and explained how Dilos's reputation had affected his own standing.
• Dilos offered Sam one hundred sets of Enhanced Armor Version 3.0 and a free supply of nutrient potions in return for help with Mutant legislation.

Lois questioned Chloe about Dilos’s changed appearance, his girlfriend, and whether he was a powerful Mutant. Chloe reassured her about Dilos’s character, while downstairs an encrypted message prompted Dilos to tell Sam Lane their cooperation would have to begin early.

• Lois asked Chloe how Dilos had become so handsome and learned that his girlfriend was real and that they might soon get engaged or married.
• Chloe teased Lois about having feelings for Dilos, and Lois admitted she found him attractive before insisting she was only curious.
• Lois asked whether Dilos was a dangerous Mutant, and Chloe confirmed his power while explaining that he had sent Lois away during the Smallville battle to protect her.
• Lois asked what Dilos and Sam Lane were discussing, but Chloe said she did not know and trusted that Dilos was not doing anything bad.
• Dilos received an encrypted message, and after Qin Jiayin saw it, he told Sam Lane their cooperation had to begin ahead of schedule.

Dilos responded to Nick's request and intervened in Tony Stark's aerial battle with Obadiah Stane, dismantling Obadiah's armor and saving Tony. He gave Tony an Arc Reactor and vanished, leaving Tony to land with Obadiah and resolve to strengthen his armor.

• Dilos changed into his special-operations suit and, after Nick sent him coordinates, used his teleportation and speed pendants to reach Tony Stark's battle.
• Dilos stopped Obadiah Stane's attack with one finger, then dismantled and melted Obadiah's armor in seconds.
• Dilos handed the shivering Obadiah to Tony Stark and gave Tony an intact Arc Reactor after recognizing his nearly depleted power supply.
• Dilos vanished, and Tony asked JARVIS how he had moved before safely guiding his armor down.
• Tony landed with Obadiah and complained about his frozen, runny-nosed former ally while deciding to upgrade his armor.

Dilos arrived in Gotham City and discovered that a thick, mind-affecting mist was driving the city’s residents into madness. He spotted a speeding train on course to hit Wayne Enterprises and vanished to intervene, while a news report about him startled Chloe and Lois back in Smallville.

• Lois questioned Chloe about what Dilos and her father had gone to do, but Chloe insisted on studying and sent Lois to watch TV.
• Lois shouted for Chloe, who leapt downstairs and asked whether someone had attacked them.
• Lois pointed out a news report showing Dilos, and Chloe recognized her cousin on the television.
• Dilos teleported to Gotham City and used his mental power to survey the mist-covered city and identify people who had not lost control.
• Dilos noticed a speeding train heading toward Wayne Enterprises, with a black-armored fighter battling masked men aboard, and vanished from his location.

Dilos stopped a microwave emitter from spreading a hallucinogenic drug through Gotham, then used an improved Super Anti-Toxin Serum to begin treating the city. After confirming the serum worked, he set out to release more doses at six locations around Gotham’s outskirts.

• Dilos incapacitated an attacker aboard the train, destroyed the microwave emitter, and realized the drug-filled mist was still spreading.
• Dilos stopped the train, disabled its other attackers, and returned to his laboratory on Isla Sorna to retrieve serum and the Canary Launcher.
• Dilos loaded the improved Super Anti-Toxin Serum into the launcher and released it over Gotham’s city center.
• Dilos sensed the serum stabilizing people nearby and left to release more antidote at six locations around the city.

Dilos used his telepathy to find Joker and the League of Assassins after neutralizing the poison threatening Gotham City. He took control of Joker’s men and made them cripple and kill Joker, then watched from the shadows as Joker died without learning who had orchestrated it.

• Dilos returned to Gotham City after using the remaining Super-Stiffness Serum, then expanded his telepathy across the city to locate the unpoisoned people he had marked earlier.
• Dilos identified Batman, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s support forces, James Gordon, Rachel Dawes, and Alfred among the unpoisoned, and recognized the League of Assassins and Joker’s men among the other targets.
• Dilos teleported near Joker and used his mental power to take control of Joker’s accomplices.
• Dilos spoke to Joker telepathically as Joker’s men turned their guns on him and shot him, first crippling him and then riddling his body with bullets.
• Dilos watched Joker die from the shadows and judged that the man deserved no chance at redemption.

Dilos failed to find Ra's al Ghul in Gotham and suspected the League leader had never arrived or had already fled. After coordinating with Nick Fury, Dilos subdued the League of Shadows fighters and took temporary command of the S.H.I.E.L.D. support forces to investigate the underground source of the poison mist.

• Dilos searched Gotham City, including underground areas, but could not find Ra's al Ghul and concluded he was likely absent.
• Dilos told Nick Fury that he had destroyed the microwave emitter but suspected something underground was still producing the poisoned water mist.
• Nick Fury agreed to send agents to investigate the underground source and gave Dilos a command code to direct the support forces.
• Dilos teleported to a battle between S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel and League of Shadows fighters, then incapacitated the Assassins with lightning.
• Dilos showed the leading S.H.I.E.L.D. agent his command code and ordered the support forces to infiltrate Gotham City's underground.

Batman and Lucius Fox assessed the continuing poison gas crisis in Gotham, and Bruce decided to seal the city's reservoirs. Dilos arrived and offered to handle the reservoirs while asking Batman to help S.H.I.E.L.D. locate the devices poisoning the waterways.

• Bruce Wayne rejected Fox's suggestion that the gas was made from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Super Anti-Toxin Serum and asked him to locate the source of the poison in Gotham's water pipes.
• Fox explained that Gotham's extensive underground pipeline network made it difficult to find the devices quickly, so Bruce decided to cut off the city's water supply by sealing its reservoirs.
• Bruce chose to take a Batjet to the reservoirs while worrying that criminals, including Joker, would exploit the chaos.
• Dilos appeared, introduced himself as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s technology consultant, and offered to seal the reservoirs himself.
• Dilos gave Bruce a phone with S.H.I.E.L.D. team contacts and asked him to share his map of Gotham's underground waterways; then Dilos levitated into the air.

Dilos shut down the reservoir spreading toxic mist through Gotham, while Bruce Wayne continued fighting criminals and searched for Ra's al Ghul. A helicopter team led by Jia Yin arrived with Dilos’s coordinates, and Jia Yin ordered them to use their own judgment—even to kill especially heinous criminals.

• Bruce Wayne contacted Lucius Fox, who sent sewer coordinates to S.H.I.E.L.D. agents responding across Gotham.
• Dilos teleported to the reservoir, incapacitated League of Assassins guards, and shut down the reservoir with Dante’s guidance.
• Bruce Wayne and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents noticed the toxic mist thinning as the reservoir’s water flow slowed.
• Bruce Wayne continued taking down criminals while Fox searched for Ra's al Ghul.
• Jia Yin directed Cecilia to take the helicopter team to Dilos’s coordinates and authorized them to kill especially heinous criminals.

Cecilia teleported Qin Jiayin’s team across Gotham City to punish criminals amid the chaos. Bruce Wayne fought thugs and tried to rescue an assaulted woman, but a beautiful woman with starlight-colored powers intervened and began a brutal punishment.

• Cecilia used her spatial movement ability to scatter the team across Gotham City, then teleported to her assigned area.
• Bruce Wayne defeated a group of thugs in an alley and glided above the streets to search for more criminals.
• Bruce spotted men assaulting a woman and threw Batarangs at them, but a starlight-colored barrier blocked the weapons.
• A beautiful woman appeared and restrained the assailants with starlight cords, then used bands of energy to silence them as she prepared to punish them.

Qin Jiayin avenged an assaulted woman, then joined the Superpowered Guard Team in stopping crimes across Gotham with Dante’s satellite support. The team embraced their role as heroes after a child asked if they had come to save his family.

• Qin Jiayin healed and clothed the unconscious woman while Batman brought clothes and agreed to take her to a hospital.
• Qin Jiayin told Bruce Wayne she was a Mutant vigilante, then left to stop nearby crimes and warned him the woman might need medicine to prevent pregnancy.
• Dante used the Sky Eye Satellite to locate criminals and relay their positions to the team members across Gotham.
• Qin Jiayin and the team rapidly subdued criminals, rescued victims, and helped assaulted police officers throughout the city.
• A child asked Smith Joestar if he was the hero who had come to save his family, and the team members answered together that they were the Superpowered Guard Team.

Dilios suspected that the attacks on Gotham, Iron Man, and Norman Osborn were a coordinated feint, possibly intended to distract S.H.I.E.L.D. while the League of Assassins pursued a larger plan. The chapter ended when Nick Fury learned that Werewolf King Lucian had gone missing.

• Dilios searched all of Gotham City with telepathy but could not find Ra's al Ghul.
• Dilios connected the major attacks and disappearances to a possible League of Assassins conspiracy and worried they might be developing biological weapons.
• Dilios called Nick Fury and asked whether S.H.I.E.L.D. had detected other suspicious activity.
• Nick Fury said S.H.I.E.L.D. had investigated its departments and secured Oscorp but had found nothing beyond the known incidents.
• A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent interrupted the call to report that Werewolf King Lucian was missing.

After Werewolf King Lucian escaped S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, Nick Fury ordered a search and suspected an internal breach, while Dilos declined to help. Watching events from Gotham, Dilos reflected on S.H.I.E.L.D. and society’s failures and resolved that he and his allies would pursue a better future despite the trouble ahead.

• Phil Coulson reported that Werewolf King Lucian had gone missing from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.
• Nick Fury ordered Coulson and Agent Hand to search for Lucian, authorized lethal force if necessary, and told Hill to investigate S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel and their connections.
• Nick Fury tried to reach Dilos for help, but found that Dilos’s phone was switched off, and he resolved to accelerate efforts to crack Dilos’s enhancement armor.
• Dilos observed the situation from above Gotham City and judged that Lucian could not infect people on a massive scale in a short time.
• Dilos reflected on his distrust of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the failures of society, then resolved to face the difficulties of pursuing a better future with Lex and their allies.

Dilos used the wind-control pendant to sweep the poisonous fog from Gotham City and condense it into a huge spiral cloud before making it disappear. The chapter left the people of Gotham staring at a person floating above the city.

• Dilos activated the wind-control pendant and sensed its unusual connection to the air around him.
• Dilos enhanced his mind and the pendant with true essence, sending an invisible ripple across Gotham City.
• Bruce Wayne sensed the ripple but continued toward a crime scene, while the Superpowered Guard Team recognized Dilos's power.
• Dilos drew the poisonous fog from across Gotham into the sky, clearing Gotham City and forming a massive spiral cloud above it.
• The spiral cloud vanished, and people in the city spotted a person floating overhead.

As a costumed figure descended over Gotham City, people debated whether he and the Mutant rescuers were helping them or staging the crisis. A youthful voice challenged a man who accused Mutants of causing the attack, leaving the crowd to hear the confrontation continue.

• People in the crowd spotted a person flying and feared he was a Mutant.
• A middle-aged white man recognized the figure’s outfit as similar to John’s and said the Mutant had saved him.
• A girl and several injured police officers backed him up, and more people acknowledged that Mutants had rescued them.
• A bearded man claimed Mutants had staged the disaster to make themselves look like heroes.
• A youthful voice replied that Mutants with such power would target the White House rather than Gotham City.

Dilos landed among Gotham City survivors and reassured them that the poisonous fog had been dispersed, the criminals subdued, and rescue operations nearly complete. The crowd relaxed and began questioning their assumptions about mutants just as several black-clad figures raced across nearby rooftops and landed in view.

• Dilos landed before the crowd and challenged the stubbled man's suspicion that mutants were behind a conspiracy.
• Dilos explained that he had dispersed the poisonous fog and that his companions, with Batman's help, had rescued people and turned the perpetrators over to police.
• Dilos pointed out that the bridge had been lowered and police reinforcements had arrived, assuring the crowd that the danger was over.
• The stubbled man shrank back when Dilos looked at him, while the crowd and police visibly relaxed.
• Several black-clad figures raced across nearby buildings and landed within the crowd's sight.