From the ice fields of Siberia to the heart of the Sahara, from North America's barren deserts to deep-sea trenches.
The thunder of helicopters and the roar of heavy excavators shattered the silence at countless coordinates.
Yet several days of exhaustive searches brought back mostly ordinary space rocks and fragments of ice.
Not until late at night, Metropolis time, did unusual activity finally emerge deep within a pristine coniferous forest along the border of Maine in North America.
Shrouded in dense fog year-round and rarely visited, this place had been struck by a small meteor shower thirty years earlier, leaving a hidden crater that the long years and dense vegetation had subsequently buried completely.
"Beep, beep, beep... beep, beep, beep-!!!"
At the previously silent bottom of the crater, a high-precision military radiation detector suddenly blared an extremely shrill alarm.
The readings on its display shot up like mad, instantly exceeding the safety threshold.
"Sir! We've got a reading!"
A researcher in a heavy protective suit shouted excitedly, his voice trembling.
The mercenary captain's gaze sharpened. He immediately waved two miniature excavation robots forward to clear the thick soil covering the bottom of the crater.
As the mechanical arms carefully brushed aside the last layer of charred rock, a dim, eerie green glow abruptly pierced the darkness beneath the coniferous forest.
It was a piece of crystalline ore only about the size of a fist. It lay quietly embedded in the center of the meteorite's remains, its entire surface emitting a chilling green glow.
"This is it... green extraterrestrial ore with unknown radiation."
The captain drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressed his shock, and immediately took out a satellite phone with the highest level of encryption, dialing its sole number.
Metropolis, the top floor of Lex Tower.
Lex Luthor was standing