Ten minutes later, the halo on the marked door flickered, the scratches vanished, and the entire wall looked brand-new.
Supergirl stepped forward to turn the doorknob, but Russell raised a hand and stopped her.
"What is it?"
Russell pointed to the side. "Wait a little longer. There's another marked door. I want to wait until both marks disappear, then pick one to enter."
Supergirl nodded. Russell's reasoning made some sense. They had too few clues at hand, so they needed to consider more possibilities before they could sort out their thoughts.
The two waited where they were. Another ten minutes later, the second marked door reset.
Supergirl glanced at Russell, but he shook his head and decided to keep waiting, wanting to see whether the marked doors would appear again.
Ten minutes later, the door beneath their feet reset, but it was not one of the previously marked doors.
After two hours, twelve doors had reset in total, each facing a different direction. Yet the two doors Russell had marked never appeared even once.
"Let's go. Once we're done with the next world, we can come back and look for more possibilities."
Upholding the gentlemanly principle of ladies first... Russell gestured for Supergirl to choose among the six doors. Before leaving, he draped the black robe over himself.
"Russell, what are you doing?" Supergirl asked in confusion. Had he become addicted to covering his face?
"Appropriately concealing my identity can sometimes have unexpected effects when we run into other Reincarnators. For example... I can pretend to be their teammate."
He could not tell her the truth, so Russell casually made up an excuse and stepped through the light curtain beyond the door with Supergirl.
New York, America's largest city and port.
Russell and Supergirl appeared in eastern Queens. The