Chapter Summaries

Mark defeated -24 and Nolan’s armed group, then captured -23 and learned she was a clone from Trask Industries’ Biological Laboratory. -23 offered to lead Mark to the hidden laboratory if he could first remove the bombs implanted near the clones’ hearts.

• Mark’s attacks burned away -24’s flesh and destroyed him, while Luca fought -23 to a standstill and the Biological Force Field blocked Nolan’s gunfire.
• After -24 died, Nolan ordered a retreat, but Mark killed Nolan and the armed personnel with Heat Vision as -23 fled.
• Mark caught -23 and flew away with her, ordering Brian to collect and hide -24’s Adamantium skeleton before the police arrived.
• Mark interrogated -23, who identified herself as a Trask Industries Biological Laboratory clone sent to capture Targets No. 5 and No. 6.
• -23 refused to reveal the laboratory’s location because miniature bombs near the clones’ hearts threatened to kill them, but offered to guide Mark there if he removed the bombs.

Mark used Alice to disable the bomb chips controlling -23 and the other Mutants, freeing -23 to reveal Trask Industries' hidden biological laboratory. They broke into the facility, where -23 began attacking its guards.

• Mark ordered Alice to infiltrate Trask Industries' network and take control of the server that could detonate the bomb chips.
• Alice seized the server before it could activate -23's bomb and altered the logs to conceal the intrusion.
• -23 removed the bomb implanted near her heart and confirmed it no longer worked, then agreed to take Mark to Trask's laboratory.
• Mark followed -23 to a concealed cave in the Santa Monica Mountains and smashed through the laboratory's alloy entrance.
• Laboratory guards fired at Mark and -23, but Mark blocked the bullets while -23 charged the guards and cut them down with her Adamantium claws.

Mark and -23 freed the Mutant clones from Trask’s underground laboratory and prepared to expose the company’s crimes. The clones agreed to serve as witnesses, while -23 left the children behind and escaped with Mark to avoid arrest for the guards and workers she had killed.

• -23 killed the laboratory staff and guards as Mark had Alice review and destroy the cruel cloning research files while preserving evidence of Trask’s crimes.
• -23 reached the clone cells, freed the children and adults, and explained that Mark had disabled the chip bombs in their bodies.
• Mark proposed using the preserved evidence and the clones’ testimony to bring down Trask Industries, promising to contact the media if the government tried to hide the truth.
• The clones agreed to stay and testify, and Mark told -23 she could not remain because she had killed too many people.
• -23 reluctantly left the children behind after Mark promised she could visit them at an orphanage, then followed him out of the laboratory.

Mark brought Laura to Payne Manor and recruited her into the Payne Group after she chose a name and signed a contract. Meanwhile, reports exposed Trask Industries’ crimes, and Mark ordered Alice to find out what had happened to the rescued Mutant clones.

• Mark invited -23 to join the Payne Group, and she accepted before he flew her to Payne Manor and revealed his true appearance.
• Mark introduced -23 to Lina and Li Qianhuan, and Lina classified her as a Level 4 Mutant and confirmed that her nature leaned toward kindness.
• -23 chose the name Laura Kinney, signed the group contract, and officially joined the Payne Group.
• Mark reviewed the news exposing Trask’s cloning crimes and learned that the FBI and Congress had begun investigating the company.
• Mark ordered Alice to investigate where the police had taken the Mutant clones, and Alice infiltrated the Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters.

Mark learned that the cloned children were safe in witness protection, while Trask Industries faced ruin and Captain America broke box-office records. At a Virginia laboratory, Doctor Banner objected to a dangerous gamma experiment, but General Ross demanded that it proceed toward human trials.

• Mark reassured Laura that the cloned children were safe under police protection and in the witness protection program.
• Lawrence was arrested after a congressional hearing, and a federal court froze his assets and Trask Industries' accounts as evidence mounted against him.
• Captain America left theaters with $2.1 billion, boosting Payne Pictures as filming began on Windwalker and Heart Whisperer; Lina rejected one of five Mutants seeking work and hired the other four.
• Madame Gao reported Orson's seizure of the Dragon Bone Graveyard to The Hand's leaders, and Alexandra proposed leaking Orson's whereabouts to the Seven Cities of Heaven.
• Doctor Banner watched a gamma-ray experiment make a monkey aggressive and rapidly heal, warned against continuing, and heard General Ross demand that the project move to human trials.

Doctor Banner volunteered to be the first human subject in the military’s gamma-ray experiment rather than let others be forced into it. After Banner received the Super-Soldier Serum and gamma irradiation, General Ross ordered Stern to increase the output, putting Banner’s life in danger.

• Doctor Banner objected to General Ross’s order to begin human trials, then volunteered to be the first test subject.
• General Ross accepted Banner’s offer, and Betty failed to persuade her father to reconsider.
• Betty had the Super-Soldier Serum injected into Banner, who recognized it as the military’s flawed version of the serum.
• Betty ordered the gamma rays fired, and Banner’s body began reacting as the radiation combined with the serum and his growing fury.
• Impatient after half an hour, General Ross secretly ordered Stern to increase the gamma-ray output, and Stern turned up the machine despite the danger to Banner.

Banner transformed into the Hulk during the gamma experiment and rampaged through the laboratory as General Ross tried to capture him. Betty calmed Banner and urged him to flee, and he escaped onto the Culver University campus as students and teachers panicked.

• General Ross watched Banner's gamma exposure and welcomed the transformation as the biological weapon he wanted.
• Banner became a towering green monster, smashed through the radiation chamber, and wrecked the laboratory.
• General Ross ordered soldiers to capture Banner with tranquilizers, then authorized lethal weapons when the darts failed.
• Banner shrugged off bullets, knocked soldiers aside, and shattered the glass separating him from General Ross.
• Betty pleaded with Banner not to hurt her father and urged him to leave the Federation, so Banner ran from the laboratory.
• Teachers and students at Culver University screamed and fled as Banner charged onto campus.

After Hulk appeared at Culver University, Mark and General Ross tracked Banner to Henry Port as Banner tried to flee to Mexico. Ross’s task force surrounded the harbor, leaving Banner trapped as Ross ordered him to surrender.

• Mark recognized Hulk in the broadcast footage and ordered Alice to track him.
• Alice followed Hulk toward Port Charles, then lost Banner after he changed back and evaded surveillance.
• Alice found Banner at Henry Port, and Mark flew there while General Ross mobilized his task force.
• Banner boarded a passenger ship bound for Mexico, but General Ross arranged a temporary harbor closure.
• Banner disembarked and tried to leave by taxi, but Ross’s armored vehicles and helicopters surrounded him.
• General Ross ordered Banner to surrender and return with the task force.

Banner tried to escape by sea, but tranquilizer rounds sent him underwater and triggered his transformation into Hulk. After Hulk destroyed much of General Ross’s force and escaped into the jungle, Mark intercepted him and began a head-on fight.

• Banner jumped into the sea to reach a motorboat, but General Ross ordered soldiers to shoot him with tranquilizer rounds, and Banner sank beneath the water.
• Hulk burst from the sea and fought off General Ross’s forces, wrecking armored vehicles and destroying a helicopter with a thrown fragment.
• General Ross refused to authorize a missile strike because he wanted to capture Hulk alive, but Hulk escaped into the jungle and the helicopters lost his trail.
• Mark, who had watched the battle from above, followed Hulk through the jungle and blocked his path.
• Mark taunted Hulk, then stood his ground and took Hulk’s punches and kicks without retreating.

Mark defeated Hulk and recruited Banner, offering to protect him from General Ross and the military in exchange for his work. He brought Banner to Payne Manor, revealed that he was only seven years old, and introduced him to Brandon, whom Banner already knew.

• Mark overpowered Hulk, struck the back of his neck, and knocked him unconscious, causing him to revert to Banner.
• Mark woke Banner, gave him clothes, and offered to hide and protect him from General Ross if Banner worked for him.
• Banner accepted Mark's offer, and Mark flew him to Payne Manor.
• Mark revealed his true age to Banner and brought him to the manor's laboratory to meet Brandon.
• Banner and Brandon recognized each other when Mark introduced them.

Mark recruited Banner and Brandon to develop Payne Group’s satellite program, then founded Payne Aerospace Company and advanced his powers and film-effects business. After three months, he skipped grades into middle school at age eight, and Rosalie celebrated with a gathering at the manor.

• Mark asked Banner to lead Payne Group’s satellite project and assigned Brandon to assist him.
• Mark established Payne Aerospace Company, appointed Freeman Alda as its president, and tasked him with permits, supplies, and hiring.
• Over three months, Mark raised Heat Vision and Super Breath to Level 13, while Alice completed post-production on two films and Mark opened a special-effects studio.
• Mark told Rosalie he would skip grades again and passed the advancement exam into the middle school division.
• Rosalie held a gathering at the manor to celebrate Mark entering middle school, and the guests praised his achievement.

Mark secured approval for Payne Aerospace’s satellite launches while Payne Pictures promoted two films that portrayed Mutants as heroes and drew strong audiences. The satellite factory began operations, leaving Mark with a capacity of eight miniature satellites per day and plans to raise production to ten.

• Banner told Mark that the Aviation Administration had approved Payne Aerospace’s satellite launch application and that the production line would soon be ready.
• Mark learned that Banner expected mass production to begin the following month, and he said he could handle launching the satellites himself.
• Stark Industries promoted Windwalker and Heart Whisperer, while influential people hostile to Mutants criticized the films.
• Windwalker and Heart Whisperer premiered in successive months with strong opening-day box office results, and viewers sympathized with their protagonists.
• Mark concluded that the films could help Brian and Ivy face less public rejection if their Mutant identities were exposed.
• Banner told Mark the satellite factory could begin operations, producing eight miniature satellites per day and potentially increasing to ten.

Mark deployed one hundred mini-satellites in low Earth orbit, establishing a surveillance and communications network controlled by Alice. Three months later, a rocket assembly-line factory was complete, and Mark’s Biological Force Field had reached level 13.

• Mark carried one hundred mini-satellites into low Earth orbit and distributed them above the equator, exhausting much of his stored Solar Energy.
• Banner and Brandon connected the satellites to Payne Aerospace Company’s ground station, and the Federation Aviation Administration detected the satellites but found that Payne Aerospace had filed the required paperwork.
• Mark ordered Alice to take control of the satellites and display the network’s coverage, which allowed him to monitor areas within two thousand kilometers of the equator.
• Mark tested the receiver’s range in space and found that he could maintain a ground connection from up to one thousand kilometers away.
• Three months later, Banner and Brandon completed a rocket manufacturing factory, while Mark’s Biological Force Field reached level 13 and enabled him to fly faster than one thousand kilometers per hour and lift nearly ten tons.

After Lawrence received a life sentence and Laura arranged for her adult Mutant companions to join the Payne Group, Mark expanded his satellite network and grew stronger over the next year. When the Aviation Administration halted Payne Aerospace’s satellite launches, Mark contacted Coulson as Superman for help.

• Mark told Laura that Lawrence had received a thousand-year sentence and that the adult Mutant clones had gained Federation identification.
• Laura asked Mark to let her adult companions join the Payne Group, and he agreed.
• Over the next year, Payne Aerospace launched more than a thousand satellites while Mark’s powers reached level 14.
• The Aviation Administration suspended Payne Aerospace’s satellite launch authorization, and Mark told Banner to continue building the space station.
• Mark called Coulson as Superman to seek help influencing the Aviation Administration.

Mark asked S.H.I.E.L.D. to lift restrictions on Payne Aviation, agreeing to rescue two agents in Budapest in return. He arrived in Budapest and watched Natasha and Barton prepare to assassinate Dreykov, who appeared to greet his daughter Antonia.

• Coulson agreed to help Mark with Payne Aviation after requesting that Superman rescue two agents in Budapest.
• Mark gave Coulson his phone number, transformed into Superman, and flew to Budapest while Alice blocked S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attempt to track him.
• Banner told Mark that the Aviation Administration had lifted the restrictions on Payne Aerospace.
• Superman used his hearing to locate Natasha and Barton watching Dreykov's apartment building from a rooftop.
• Natasha waited for Dreykov to appear so she could confirm he was inside before detonating the bombs she had planted.
• Dreykov came out to greet his daughter Antonia as she returned from school.

Mark rescued Antonia from the collapsing apartment building after Natasha detonated explosives to kill Dreykov. On the rooftop, Antonia recognized Natasha and suspected she had caused the explosion.

• Mark found Natasha and Barton watching Dreykov and Antonia from a rooftop, while Barton urged Natasha not to act before she was ready.
• Natasha decided she had to join S.H.I.E.L.D. and detonated the explosives planted around the apartment building.
• As the building collapsed, Dreykov abandoned Antonia and fled toward an underground passage.
• Mark rushed into the collapsing building, saved Antonia from falling debris, and carried her to safety.
• Mark brought Antonia to the rooftop, where Barton recognized him as the Superman sent by S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Antonia recognized Natasha and asked whether she had caused the explosion.

Mark evacuated Natasha and Barton from Budapest, then spent the next six months strengthening his powers and working with S.H.I.E.L.D. The chapter left him responding to Coulson’s urgent request to save passengers aboard a hijacked plane that was rapidly descending.

• Natasha questioned why she had killed Antonia’s father, while Antonia rejected Natasha and watched Mark fly away with Natasha and Barton.
• Mark carried Natasha and Barton beyond Budapest, where Barton explained S.H.I.E.L.D.’s knowledge of Mark and Natasha wondered whether he was truly righteous.
• Mark and S.H.I.E.L.D. strengthened their cooperation, exchanging help with the Payne Group’s difficulties and dangerous missions.
• Over six months, Mark raised Super Physique and Biological Force Field to level 15, gaining immense strength and supersonic flight.
• Coulson told Mark that terrorists had hijacked a passenger plane with more than 200 people aboard and asked him to rescue them as it descended.

Mark raced to stop a hijacked Boeing 737 from crashing into the White House and arrived just before impact. He lifted the plane’s nose with his Biological Force Field, steering it over the building and into a climb.

• Coulson alerted Mark to a hijacked passenger jet, and Mark flew toward its location over the Pacific.
• Owen informed President Bush that the Boeing 737 was headed for the White House, and Bush ordered maximum security while directing forces to protect the passengers.
• The terrorists killed the captain after he tried to change course, then continued their fanatic hymn as the plane approached the White House.
• Mark appeared beneath the plane, and onlookers in the plaza recognized him as Superman.
• Mark pushed up against the fuselage with his Biological Force Field, lifting the plane’s nose and sending it over the White House roof into a climb.

Mark saved the hijacked plane from crashing into the White House, took control of the cockpit, and contacted air traffic control for an emergency landing at Reagan Airport. He killed the remaining terrorists and reassured the passengers that they were safe.

• Mark held the plane aloft and guided it back into steady flight as the passengers realized they had survived.
• Mark broke into the cockpit, knocked out the two terrorists there, and took the pilot's seat.
• Mark upgraded Super Brain, learned to fly from the flight manual, and requested an emergency landing at Reagan Airport.
• The terrorists rushed the cockpit after their accomplices failed to respond, and Mark killed them with Heat Vision.
• Mark told the stunned passengers they were safe as the plane prepared to land.

Mark saved the passengers aboard a Boeing 737 and prevented terrorists from destroying the White House, making Superman’s existence public. After public attention surged, Coulson visited Mark at Payne Manor to invite him to S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy.

• Mark landed the Boeing 737 at Reagan Airport, then flew away before police and reporters could question him.
• Witness videos and news coverage spread Superman’s identity and rescue around the country, sparking excitement and disbelief.
• People in Los Angeles celebrated Superman, while people elsewhere debated whether he was real or an imitator.
• Rosalie told Mark that a S.H.I.E.L.D. representative had come to Payne Manor, and Mark returned from space to meet him.
• Coulson greeted Mark and asked whether he would join S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy after his advancement exam.