"A Kryptonian?"
Superman's superhuman senses told him that the man before him had suddenly begun emitting a magnetic field identical to his own. Yet only seconds earlier, this visitor who had emerged from the sphere of light had given off the readings of an ordinary Earthling.
His superbrain went to work for the first time in a long while. For a moment, Superman considered whether the stranger might be a Kryptonian-human hybrid from the future, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
The man clearly looked as though he had only just acquired his powers. Though he quickly adapted and suppressed the heat vision that had almost fired from his eyes, the sounds of the entire planet flooding into his ears immediately tortured him until his veins bulged.
"Did you steal my genes?"
Even Superman, who habitually assumed every stranger he met was a good person, grew serious. He had to determine the man's intentions as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the planet beneath their feet could never withstand a "Superman" who did whatever he pleased.
Brad had no intention of concealing his origins. He converted the genes copied from Superman into data and saved them in the solid-state storage structure inside his brain, then returned to his ordinary human form and descended to the ground.
He rubbed his ears, nursing a headache. That brief burst of noise had almost sent the genes he had just copied out of control.
"I wouldn't call it stealing. You can think of it as my superpower. I can copy any genes I see."
"If you find that offensive, I apologize. But it was an instinctive reaction when I noticed you using your powers to examine me."
Brad shook his head violently. That relentless cacophony was still echoing inside his skull.
"I came here as a