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*****
Three days later, Clark donned a sharp suit and slipped on a pair of Kryptonian glasses he had retrieved from his ship.
He waved a casual greeting to George, who was sprawled out on the bed in the next room, seemingly still asleep, and headed off to work. Yesterday, he had successfully interviewed for a reporter position at the Daily Planet; today was his first official day.
As for those glasses, they contained Kryptonian technology far beyond Earth's capabilities. They emitted a specialized magnetic field that subtly hypnotized anyone looking at him. To an ordinary person, Clark with glasses and Clark without them looked like two completely different people. Naturally, no one would ever suspect he was Superman.
George, on the other hand, required no such disguise. The black cat he inhabited was indistinguishable from any other stray. Since "Super-Cat" had saved the world, black cats had become the most popular pets in the city. In Clark's apartment building alone, over a dozen tenants had adopted them. As long as George didn't display god-like strength, he could stroll down the street without a second glance.
The Power of Hope
Once Clark left, George slowly opened his eyes. He hadn't been sleeping; he had been delving into the deep-seated power hidden within Kryptonian genetics.
Over the past few days, while Clark slept, George had discreetly sampled the DNA of the Codex within Clark's body. He had already successfully isolated and mastered the blue energy representing "Hope" from the Emotional Spectrum.
Eighteen months passed.
George lay on his bed, eyes closed. In reality, his powerful soul was tirelessly parsing the fundamental laws of this universe.
"In three more years, the preliminary analysis should be complete," George calculated.
At his current pace, even without access to the other six Cosmic Forces for reference, three years would be enough to understand the "source code" of the DC world. Once that was done, his odds against the Presence would skyrocket.
During these eighteen months, aside from occasionally helping Superman save people, George had remained inconspicuous. He didn't seek out other superheroes. Being too proactive might tip off the Presence. It was better to wait for Clark to naturally encounter them or wait for a true "coincidence."
An Ill-Timed Call
While George was deep in thought, the smartphone on the nightstand rang. He tapped the "Answer" button with a claw.
Usually, Superman handled disasters and crimes, but even the Man of Steel had moments when he was... occupied. Meetings, personal errands, or dates with Lois Lane sometimes took priority. In such cases, Clark would call George to fill in.
"George... there's a hijacked plane over Gotham City. Terrorists... I need you to handle it. I—I'm a bit tied up right now..."
Through his superhuman hearing, George caught another, much fainter sound in the background.
"Clark... Clark... slow down... too fast... too fast..."
George grinned, immediately understanding the situation. "Understood, I'll handle it. Work hard, Clark! It's been long enough—it's time for a 'Super-Boy'!"
The line went dead instantly, the silence on the other end confirming that George had hit the nail on the head. He chuckled, hung up, and leapt out of the window.
The Savior of Gotham
Soaring over Gotham, George's mental sweep quickly located the hijacked aircraft. With a flicker of intent, he used Teleportation to appear inside the cabin.
In the Saint Seiya universe, teleportation was a staple ability of Saints like Aries Mu. George could use it here with a "pure" Saint signature, avoiding suspicion.
"Damn! It's Super-Cat!"
The terrorists inside paled at the sight of the feline. They raised their rifles to fire, but before their fingers could even twitch a millimeter, George's light-speed paws were already in motion.
To the terrified passengers, it felt like a sudden gust of wind. In that heartbeat, every rifle in the cabin disintegrated into dust, and the terrorists were sent flying, coughing up blood and collapsing into unconsciousness.
"Don't get cocky, Super-Cat!" the lead terrorist spat, clutching his chest. "We've already destroyed the flight controls! Even if you kill us, we're taking this city with us! Gotham will burn!"
The hijackers were nihilists who had felt the weight of Gotham's darkness and intended to commit a suicide-bombing on the city scale. They hadn't just broken the controls; they had hidden high-yield explosives throughout the plane.
The passengers began to scream, but in the next second, they saw George holding a pile of discarded explosives in his paws.
"Meow?"
George exhaled softly. A pulse of Cosmo energy instantly reduced the bombs to fine powder.
The nature of Cosmo was strikingly similar to the Cosmic Forces of the DC world, albeit slightly less complex. This similarity was the primary reason George could analyze the laws of this world so quickly. He suspected that his finding the Saint Seiya world might have been another of Hongjun's calculations, providing him with the perfect "rosetta stone" for DC.
Seeing the plane was now less than a hundred meters from the Gotham skyline, George flickered out of the cabin and appeared underneath the fuselage.
Extending his tiny paws, he braced the massive aircraft. With a gentle display of strength, he guided the plummeting plane through the air and set it down perfectly level in a clearing on the outskirts of Gotham.
(End of Chapter)