If I Ain't Got You
The air was once hot and dry.
The Deep gazes at a massive mass of lava in mid-air, so large it could be Marseille, with tiny ice fragments beneath its feet.
It can be said that there is no way to retreat.
That fire-type Superman only knew how to yell like an idiot was just holding this huge lump of matter, three meters in diameter and extremely hot.
Then it rudely pointed at his handsome head.
Then, it was just thrown down so rudely.
The intense heat was extremely scorching, and as it crashed down, it was enveloped in a dazzling orange light, with waves of Heat Wave surging.
The subway station in the background further accentuates the dark and somber tone of the setting.
It aims to create a sense of total cataclysmic destruction.
"Damn... it's dead!"
Surprisingly, the expected intense heat in the Deep did not materialize.
Instead, a sudden resonance was amplified to its extreme.
"Buzz----!!"
Immediately afterwards, an invisible force field suddenly erupted with an extremely strong shockwave, which exploded abruptly from behind the damaged corner of the warehouse wall.
This impact, breaking free from inherent physical constraints, acted directly on all spirits, forcefully suppressing them with a powerful and domineering aura.
Transparent pressure, separated from the tentacles into extremely fine filaments, coiled into rings, enveloping all the Superman within the entire area except those in the Deep.
Subsequently, orders were strictly enforced.
The entire area fell into a deathly silence.
The Pyro, suspended in mid-air, maintained his ferocious expression.
His pupils contracted continuously, but his body remained motionless, like a frozen puppet.
As for the newly formed magma ball, it also lost its essence.
It oxidized and shattered in mid-air, turning into large amounts of smoking ash that all fell to the ground.
The thirty or so Superman and bounty hunters who had been shouting and charging forward in the warehouse were stopped in their tracks the moment they were about to charge.
Some people held weapons, some were bent over, their bodies frozen in place like zombies, unable to move even a finger.
"Holy crap... it really feels like a Japanese train..."
No... this is Cate's ability!
The Deep gasped for breath, then abruptly turned its head to look at the broken corner of the wall.
Sure enough, in that corner, Cate leaned against the wall, slumped helplessly to the ground.
Her condition was, to put it mildly, very poor.
Her pretty face was deathly pale, and blood was seeping from around her eyes and the corners of her lips, trickling down her jaw.
His thin shoulders were trembling, clearly indicating that he had exhausted himself to the extreme.
Through her skin, one could even clearly see veins that appeared faintly like indigo, and her figure was swaying precariously.
Cate, enduring the excruciating pain that felt like her brain was being torn apart, weakly gazed at the Deep.
"Quickly, I can't hold on any longer..."
Cate's mental state was already somewhat weak, and such a forced outburst could only maintain the "intimidation" of the entire audience for a short while.
Moreover, due to the depletion of her mental energy, the threads of her mental tentacles that were resisting her were breaking one by one.
"Well..."
Soon, Cate let out a painful groan, and her body began to convulse violently.
As her consciousness gradually faded, the Superman who had been forcibly rendered "stiff" began to loosen their grip.
The first to recover was one of the dwarf Superman who was holding a toilet plunger and could release deadly gas.
"That bitch is Mesmer! She's done for, kill her!!"
With that roar, more Superman broke free of control and charged forward, their stiff bodies twisting.
"Damn... how come my ultimate skill cooldown is so fast?!"
Seeing the Deep dared not delay any longer.
If they don't leave now, they'll both die here.
Thinking of this, he disregarded his injured back, grimaced, and sprinted towards Cate at top speed, stepping on the broken ice.
But just a moment before his fingers touched the hem of Cate's dress.
A strange tremor suddenly rushed over from a distance and struck him directly.
The Deep turned its head to look.
From the side and rear, a tall Superman grin.
Rings of transparent Quake erupted from his palm, refracting into the air and accompanied by a faint whistling sound, directly crashing into the Deep.
"You stinky fish who like dolphins, go to hell!"
"Hey sis, what's it to you if I like dolphins?"
The Deep grumbled, a sudden tightness in his chest.
But his focus was entirely on Cate, and he had no time to dodge.
"Boom!!"
The next second, a visible ripple of air struck the Deep with perfect precision.
The Supergirl possesses an ability similar to releasing sonic resonance.
One of the most significant characteristics of sound waves is their ability to penetrate the surface of matter and resonate with its interior at the same frequency.
Therefore, even the most solid thing can break down when it resonates with different frequencies of sound waves.
Therefore, at the instant of being hit.
The Deep felt as if his internal organs had been torn and displaced by a tremendous force, and a crisp crack came from his sternum.
The powerful impact sent him flying into the air.
Like a ball hit by a golf club, it crashed through a concrete wall and then slammed heavily into the ruins a dozen meters away.
"Well..."
The Deep simply collapsed onto the ground.
The Quake had a "thoughtful" intracranial resonance effect, making my head feel like it was being put into a high-speed blender.
In his eyes, everything around him became a distorted, overlapping illusion.
The last time he saw something like this was when he went to see a Van Gogh exhibition.
"Buzz-Buzz--"
At this moment, all that could be heard in the Deep's eardrums was an endless ringing.
He struggled, trying to put his hands on the ground, but his legs were like two pieces of soft mud, completely unresponsive.
"This is fucking over..."
The Deep has now gained free astigmatism; everything looks double.
He could only squint and watch helplessly as the woman walked toward the exhausted Cate.
Soon, the other thugs also broke free of their restraints and surrounded the two of them with sinister smiles.
"Hold..."
Even when facing the Torpedo, its "predecessor," The Deep has never felt such intense despair.
That's absolutely fucking bullshit...
He was about to reach the pinnacle of his life, but now he's about to be blasted by a mob of people who can't even pay their taxes?
The Deep gave a bitter laugh and closed his eyes in despair.
But it was at this very moment.
"Whoosh—!!"
From the depths of the dark, silent stairwell, a sharp, tearing sound suddenly erupted.
"Ten billion... it's mine now!"
In front of Cate, the woman sneered, preparing to raise her hand to unleash Quake.
But the instant the whistling sound appeared, she seemed to realize something, and her expression froze.
In a close-up of the pupil, a flash of cold, silvery light pierces through the shadows.
As the field of vision widens.
That was clearly a familiar longsword, the kind that often appeared in Vought's interviews.
Queen's Sword... Queen Maeve?
"Pfft--!"
With a cold glint, the incomparably sharp sword tip easily sliced through the air, piercing straight into her chest.
In an instant, the compressed slow motion was restored to its original quick reference.
The immense force of the sword lifted her entire body off the ground, turning her into a blur as she crashed into a concrete load-bearing wall more than ten meters away.
"Boom!!"
The massive concrete support column trembled violently, and spiderweb-like cracks spread wildly in all directions, scattering debris everywhere.
The woman was thus firmly pinned in mid-air, embedded three-tenths of an inch into the stone.
The sword hilt vibrated violently in the air, emitting a persistent humming sound with its resonance.
Immediately, blood gushed out wildly along the grooves carved into the sword, flowing down the blade.
The woman shook her head, as if trying to say something, but after her legs twitched a few times, she fell silent.
From that moment on, the entire venue fell into dead silence.
The Superman who were preparing to attack the Deep and Cate froze in place.
They turned around in horror and looked at the dark stairwell.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
A figure slowly emerged from the shadows.
The Deep opened its eyes, which were covered in blood.
"Mae... Maeve? Didn't you... elope?"
"Shut your stinking mouth if you don't want to die."
When Maeve saw the pig's face in the Deep, she suddenly realized something, and a hint of anger flashed across her face.
Today, she wore the uniform unique to " Queen Maeve ".
The silver-red breastplate clung tightly to her slender torso, her waistline was free of any excess fat, and her toned abs stretched from her ribs all the way down to her abdomen.
Her long, dark brown curly hair flowed freely, and her hawk-like eyes coldly swept over all the oddballs and deformities in the room.
Ha, what a rabble.
"She sent me... If you all die, we'll be held accountable sooner or later."
"Some people, some things... just have to be resolved."
Queen Maeve glanced at Cate and spoke slowly.
"So, I've come."
Thick, white, cold mist seeped out through the gaps in the metal.
With a humming sound, the heavy titanium alloy hibernation pod suddenly emitted a muffled thud.
"Hoo... Ugh!!"
Heavy, rough breathing escaped from the thick fog.
The Soldier Boy gripped the edge of the hatch tightly with one hand, his pale hand with bulging veins, and ice shards trembled down with each struggle.
Immediately afterwards, he stumbled out of the cabin.
The moment his feet touched the smooth floor tiles, his knees buckled, and he collapsed heavily to his knees.
"Damn it... hiss..."
The Soldier Boy knelt on the ground, clutching his head, feeling as if a rusty axe was being swung and smashed down inside his brain.
It was excruciating pain that went straight to the nerves.
"..."
He groaned, clenched his fist, and slammed it hard against his temple, his vision filled with crimson and a jumble of noise.
"Where... am I?"
His mind seemed to be filled with many fragmented pieces, but when he tried to recall them, he couldn't piece together a complete memory.
The flashing neon lights of New York streets, the damp, cold air, and the repeated cracking of bones, all enveloped in the smell of rust, create a painful physical sensation.
Besides these, he remembers nothing else.
"Slow down, darling, your body has only just thawed."
Just then, a familiar and gentle voice suddenly rang out in the empty room.
The Soldier Boy shook his throbbing, dizzy head, and struggled to lift it, looking in the direction of the sound.
The luxurious Crystal chandelier illuminated the entire room.
This is not a dark and damp underground laboratory at all, but a luxurious office.
A slightly plump woman stood in front of the desk.
The Soldier Boy stared at that face, his pupils contracting sharply.
He searched deep within his chaotic mind for the woman's name, and after a long while, he finally managed to squeeze out a few hoarse syllables from his parched throat:
"You are Clara...? Where... where am I?"
Storm, in her high heels, gracefully walked around the mahogany desk.
"You've returned to where you belong, Ben."
She looked at him, her voice carrying a comforting tenderness.
"Don't you remember? You had an accident in the Soviet Union back then and were secretly imprisoned by those damn bastards for a long time."
Over the years, I have used all available resources, withstood pressure from all sides, and fought for it for many years...
I finally rescued you from that cold Hell.
The Soldier Boy closed his eyes and pounded his head hard, which felt like it was about to explode.
Thump! Thump!
A dull, heavy impact echoed.
The more he was struck, the more rampant the excruciating pain became, as if countless ants were frantically gnawing at his brain.
Something's not right...
He opened his eyes and looked at Clara again.
Seeing this familiar yet unfamiliar woman, he felt no warmth in his heart.
Instead, a strange and inexplicable sense of unfamiliarity and disgust crept up his spine.
"Hold..."
The Soldier Boy cursed inwardly.
He rubbed his throbbing temples, forcibly suppressing this inexplicable aversion.
He didn't think too much about it.
He assumed it was some kind of aftereffect, or a disorder caused by the Soviet Union injecting too many drugs into his brain.
" Clara... I feel like there are so many things I can't remember... I think I've been here before."
"Oh, so what do you remember?"
"Hiss... Damn it, I really can't remember."
"Ben, it's okay..."
Upon hearing this, Storm's tentative smile suddenly blossomed, becoming even brighter.
It seems she really has amnesia...
Thinking it over, she stopped and stood a step away from him.
Then he gently opened his arms:
"I know, I've always known. It's alright now... Come here, do you remember our promise?"
"A hug."
Looking into the open embrace, the Soldier Boy straightened his hunched back.
Then, clutching his head which was throbbing with excruciating pain, he moved forward step by step.
Despite his unsteady steps, he eventually collapsed into Storm's arms.
However.
The instant his cheek touched her chest.
An extremely strange and intensely strong odor suddenly entered his nostrils.
"Hold!!"
As if electrocuted, he instinctively unleashed a terrifying burst of brute force, violently shoving the Storm away from his arms.
"Smack!"
Clara was pushed back several steps by the sudden force.
The high heels scraped across the floor with a harsh screech, nearly causing her to lose her balance.
The Soldier Boy stumbled backward and bumped into the cold, floor-to-ceiling glass.
He covered his mouth and nose tightly with his hands, veins bulging on his forehead, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at Storm.
"Wait, this smell... Did you fucking give birth? Why do you smell so disgustingly like human milk?!"
What the hell did you do behind my back?
Despite the Soldier Boy's rage, Storm maintained her smile, showing no sign of anger whatsoever.
She slowly raised her head and straightened the wrinkled front of her shirt.
Then, she tilted her head slightly, her deep eyes looking at the Soldier Boy:
"You can understand it that way, darling."
She took a small step forward.
"I adopted one..."
Storm's smile widened, and an unusual flush appeared on her face.
"... our child."
(The next John won't stray from the main storyline. The previous chapters are a group portrait callback, enriching the character details. The final battle at the White House is coming.)