Yet the instant Clark's senses touched Lynn's body, he staggered.
Through his super vision, the figure standing before him was no human body. It was the source of a miniature universe, collapsing without end even as it poured forth new laws.
An endless torrent of higher-dimensional information and the searing heat of the Primordial Fire stabbed through Clark's optic nerves and into his brain. The pain drove the man with the Body of Steel half a step back. He grunted, and two thin streams of blood spilled from his eyes.
"Clark."
Lynn's voice cut short the Kryptonian's scrutiny.
"A free tip: force lower-dimensional hardware to decode higher-dimensional data, and you might burn out the motherboard. I'm not covering the medical bills."
Clark quickly lowered his head and wiped the blood from the corners of his eyes. His voice was strained. "...I'm sorry, Dr. Lynn."
The man who had once watched over Metropolis like a god now stood with his head bowed. Only reverence and restraint remained in his voice.
Lynn paid no attention to Clark's lapse.
He pulled off his medical gloves and tossed them into a tiny rift that appeared beside him. They vanished into nothingness.
His gaze passed over the faces of the superheroes lining both sides of the street, each of them famous across Earth.
No matter how defiant they usually were, everyone his gaze touched instinctively stiffened and looked away.
It was not the wariness they felt before an enemy. It was the instinctive tremor of living beings facing an unknown, indescribable master who stood above the laws of the universe.
"Have you settled the bill, employees?"
Lynn took off his glasses, pulled a velvet cloth from his pocket, and slowly polished the lenses.
He did not raise his voice, yet every word reached every ear.