On the beach.
Jason toyed with the Beretta pistol in his hand, the steel barrel spinning in a blur between his fingers.
Having just gained Superman strength, every cell in his body was screaming wildly, greedily absorbing the stellar radiation.
He gripped a rock about half his height with one hand, and with a sudden burst of force, the hard rock instantly turned into a fine powder that slipped through his fingers.
The extreme expansion of power brought about a highly active mind. Jason shook off the stone dust from his hands and his gaze fell directly on Kara.
"Actually, there's something I've never understood." Jason stopped what he was doing, pointing the gun downwards.
Kara was pulling at her tattered cloak, trying to cover the torn uniform on her shoulders.
Hearing the sound, she stopped what she was doing and looked over with a puzzled expression. The original Kryptonian's super hearing allowed her to clearly detect Jason's racing heart rate.
Jason raised his hand and pointed to the sky. " Clark Kent. A god among men. He could blow away a heavy truck with a sneeze and smash a meteorite to pieces with a punch. But Lois Lane is just an ordinary Earth woman; she can't even withstand the smallest caliber bullet."
Jason paused for a second before posing that fatal question, so characteristic of Red Hood.
"How did Lois survive while they were discussing the great matter of human reproduction?"
The sound of the waves crashing against the beach became unusually jarring.
The surrounding air froze instantly.
Damian's hand, which was wiping his katana, froze in mid-air, the blade reflecting his astonished face.
Cassandra tilted her head, seemingly deep in thought about the underlying physics and biological wonders.
Helena jerked her crossbow, sending a steel bolt grazing the sand and shooting into the sea, creating a splash.
Kara opened her mouth, uttering meaningless syllables from her throat.
She had no idea how to answer. This kind of restricted question was completely beyond her knowledge, not to mention that the person she was discussing it with was her righteous cousin.
"I know the answer to this one." Thor brushed the sand off his hands, breaking the silence.
He walked up to Jason, took the Beretta pistol, and with a clench of his fists, crushed the gun into a piece of scrap metal. "Powder absorption."
Jason stared, frozen in place, at his beloved gun that had been reduced to a lump of metal. "What does this mean?"
"Literal meaning." Thor tossed the metal lump into the sea and clapped his hands.
"Before each task, inhale two puffs of extremely pure Kryptonite powder. Use the Kryptonite radiation to forcibly suppress the active Krypton cells in your body to the level of an ordinary human. Block the absorption path of Sun, temporarily rendering the muscle fibers incapable of destruction. After it's all over, go to outer space to bask in the Sun and recharge."
Thor glanced at Kara and added, "It's only because Kryptonian Physiology. If an ordinary person did this, they'd be dead in bed by now."
Kara's knees buckled, and she collapsed onto the beach. Galatea, who was being held down in the sand by Damian, also suddenly raised her head.
At this moment, the original and the clone achieved an unprecedented level of understanding.
A single sentence flashed through their minds simultaneously.
You can actually play it like this?
Watchtower.
Wally had just taken a big bite of bacon pizza, his cheeks bulging, when he abruptly stopped chewing.
He whirled around, his shoulders shaking violently as he desperately tried to suppress his laughter, his face turning bright red.
John looked down at the Green Lantern Ring on his right hand, his fingers rubbing back and forth on the ring's surface, as if the ring had suddenly developed an extremely complex system malfunction that required his immediate full attention to troubleshoot.
J'onn took a step back, completely disappearing into the shadows of the control room, even reducing his breathing rate to a minimum.
Clark hovered in mid-air, his red cape billowing even without wind. He clenched his fist to his lips and coughed twice, trying to break the suffocating awkwardness.
"Ahem... well, it's mostly true." Clark's voice was barely audible.
Bruce didn't participate in the farce; his hands flew across the console, pulling up Superman's detailed medical records from the past five years.
Long-term intake of trace amounts of Kryptonite promotes the body's self-repair and enhances cell tolerance.
An extremely dangerous chain of logic quickly took shape in Bruce's mind.
Clark has developed some resistance to Kryptonite, which means that the suppressive effect of regular doses of Kryptonite weapons on Superman is decreasing year by year.
The charge of the Kryptonite weapon must be recalculated, and even a composite Kryptonite compound may need to be developed to ensure sufficient countermeasures in the event of Superman going out of control.
The more fatal problem lies with Thor.
Just how pure was the Green Kryptonite that man casually created?
Galatea, as Cadmus's most perfect creation, possessed physical limits far exceeding those of Kryptonian, yet she was instantly stripped of all her power by a single Kryptonite.
If the Kryptonite created by Thor is enough to instantly paralyze Superman despite his resistance, then the Kryptonite reserves stockpiled in the Justice League's safe deposit box are simply a pile of useless stones with no deterrent effect.
Bruce pulled up the surveillance footage from the beach, his gaze fixed intently on Thor.
The tactical sand table was frantically being rehearsed in his mind, but time and again it led to a dead end of total annihilation.
Deep in an unnamed swamp in Louisiana.
The damp underground fortress was filled with the pungent smell of rotting seaweed.
The gorilla Grodd sat on a huge stone throne.
Thick, black fingers tapped the stone handrail repeatedly, producing a dull thud.
Tala leaned against his leg, toying with a military dagger in her hand, the blade reflecting the dim light.
Several extremely dangerous figures sat around the round table below.
The eerie green flames on the Atomic Skull's head flickered violently, illuminating his skeletal face, and the surrounding air distorted due to the intense heat.
The Giganta tugged at her collar in frustration, her enormous body looking out of place on the cramped chair.
The Killer Frost crossed his arms, and the surrounding air condensed into tiny ice crystals that rustled as they fell onto the stone table.
The Cheetah's sharp claws scraped against the stone table, leaving deep marks.
Bizarro stared blankly at the ceiling, muttering illogical syllables.
"So, what do we do now?" Atomic Skull slammed his hand on the stone table, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"The original plan was to break him out of prison, get Lex Luthor out, use his funds and technological network to integrate all resources, and activate the final contingency plan. But now that Lex Luthor guy is a pile of minced meat!"
Atomic Skull stood up, placing his hands on the table. "Are we still going to cause trouble for the Justice League?"
Grodd stopped tapping on the armrest, his massive body leaning slightly forward, and the oppressive aura of a apex predator instantly swept through the entire conference room.
"Looking for trouble?" Grodd sneered, revealing sharp fangs. "Didn't you see what happened to those lunatics in Gotham?"
Everyone around the round table fell silent.
Gotham's villains have been completely wiped out.
They weren't just arrested and imprisoned; they were completely erased from the physical realm, leaving not even a complete corpse behind.
The Justice League's bottom line is not to kill.
This is the fundamental reason why this group of supervillains dares to constantly provoke and test the waters.
At worst, he'll be Blackgate Penitentiary or Arkham Asylum, and then find a chance to escape in a few years.
But the man named Thor overturned the entire chessboard and smashed the table to pieces.
He casually crushed Lex Luthor and wiped out all the villains in Gotham.
The most terrifying thing is that he can casually grant six ordinary mortals the same destructive power as Kryptonian.
This is not even a contest on the same level.
These villains are scoundrels and madmen, but they are definitely not fools.
Anyone who rushes in at this moment is simply asking for trouble.
"Hide in hiding," Grodd gave the final order. "Sever all external communication. No one is to leave this fortress in the near future. Disobedience will be punished with death."
There was no rebuttal. There was no questioning.
This group of unruly thugs, faced with an absolutely powerful and utterly unscrupulous individual, tacitly chose to back down.
Everyone rose and disappeared into the various dark passages of the fortress.
Only Grodd and Tala remained in the meeting room.
Tala stood up, wrapped her arms around Grodd's thick neck, and pressed her body against his broad chest. "Darling, are we just going to hide like this? That's not like you."
Grodd wrapped his arms around Tala's slender waist and pulled her onto his lap.
The cards on Earth have been played out; Lex Luthor is dead, and the villainous forces have been reshuffled.
With the Justice League and the unfathomable Thor added to the mix, this game is hopeless; a new variable must be introduced.
"Our allies on Earth are all dead." Grodd's gaze swept over Tala's head, fixed on the darkness deep within the fortress. "But the universe is vast."
Grodd pressed a hidden switch beneath the armrest of his chair, and a multidimensional portal emitting a ghostly blue light suddenly unfolded behind the throne, instantly overturning the parchment drawings on the table amidst violent spatial turbulence.