Lex stood with his hands on his hips and smiled, glancing at General Archie beside him, "Can't you control your Mr. John?"
"He just burned a hole through a laboratory that cost me tens of millions of dollars to build."
The corner of Archie's mouth lifted slightly, "We have a cooperative relationship with Mr. John, not a relationship of control."
Lex frowned and couldn't help reexamining that "plumber."
———
Inside the laboratory—
Alex took a tool that Lex handed to him.
It was made from kryptonite. A "blade" capable of causing the cells of Kryptonians to decay, allowing their outer tissue to be cut away.
Alex touched the sample with his finger. He knew LexCorp had larger and more complete pieces of kryptonite, but they had probably fallen into Batman's hands by now.
Then, holding the tool, Alex cut a piece of skin from one of the Kryptonian general's fingers.
He lifted the piece of skin with the general's fingerprint on it and smiled. Then he looked over the corpse's other hand.
On that hand, the skin from all five fingers was already gone.
"What are you trying to do?"
"Hm?"
"Conduct an experiment?"
Lex folded his arms across his chest and watched Alex.
Alex set the piece of skin down and smiled.
"What I want to do, you've probably already done."
Lex's expression changed, and he was about to say something.
Alex raised a finger to his lips and made a gesture for silence.
"No need to be nervous."
"I won't interfere with your actions."
"You can keep this corpse as well."
As he spoke, Alex had already cut the skin from the remaining fingers of the Kryptonian general.
Then he placed them into containers he had prepared earlier.
Finally he looked at Lex.
"Give it to me."
"The main control key to the Kryptonian ship."
"Don't tell me you didn't bring it with you."
Lex stared at Alex. After a moment, he took a small box from an inner pocket.
Alex took the box and opened it. Inside lay a master control key.
Alex smiled, "You'll find it in the ship."
Then he left.
He returned to Lex's office and said to General Archie, "Now we can go to the next attraction."
———
[Metropolis, Kryptonian Ship Docking Site]
Alex stood in front of the door to the ship's main control chamber. He hadn't allowed anyone to follow him. Aside from him, there wasn't a second person present.
"Alright."
"Everything went smoothly."
Alex took out the pieces of skin from the Kryptonian general's fingers and attached them one by one to his own fingers.
Looking at the door ahead, he smiled.
"Next, it's time to open the gate of knowledge."
This morning, when Alex saw that the event had no specific requirements, he came up with a plan.
The first step of the plan was to obtain Kryptonian technological knowledge.
He didn't know whether items from this universe could still function if taken back.
But knowledge imprinted in his own mind would definitely be able to return with him to the The Boys universe.
In the DC universe, Krypton was a high-level civilization. Their technology might not be reproducible, but if it could be studied and adapted, it would have an unparalleled impact on Earth's existing science and technology.
Of course, Alex wasn't noble enough to use Kryptonian technology for the benefit of the public.
His idea was to obtain Kryptonian technology, bring it back to the The Boys universe for research and reference, and eventually build a nation similar to Marvel's Wakanda.
A nation that belonged to him alone.
A super-civilization whose level of technology surpassed all other countries.
When he placed his hand on the door, it immediately opened, revealing a passage.
Alex walked to the end of the corridor and entered a room filled with liquid. There he saw the control console standing in front of him.
On the console was a "keyhole." Alex took out the master control key he got from Lex. As the key approached the console, an invisible force pulled it in, and it flew straight into the keyhole by itself.
Alex placed his hand on the console. The liquid below began to glow, and then a voice sounded in the room.
["Welcome."]
["Would you like to begin issuing commands?"]
Alex took a deep breath and smiled.
"I want to learn Krypton's knowledge. Teach me."
["No problem."]
———
[LexCorp]
"One Superman is already troublesome enough, and now another 'Mr. John' has appeared."
"How many superhumans are there in this world!"
Lex Luthor held his forehead in both hands.
"You still haven't found any information about that 'Mr. John'?"
In his office, more than a dozen information specialists were busy working.
A fat man wearing thick glasses shook his head.
"This person is like someone who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. There's not a single record of him."
"He doesn't have a credit card, medical insurance, or even a passport."
At that moment, a woman shouted.
"Look here, Mr. Lex."
She turned the computer screen toward Lex.
On the screen was a video clip. In the footage, a Caucasian man wearing a baseball cap shot golden beams from his eyes, slicing a truck in half.
"That's him!"
"Mr. John!"
Lex immediately recognized the man in the footage.
Then he saw "Mr. John" holding a woman tightly in his arms and flying into the sky.
"That woman… I feel like I've seen her somewhere."
Lex frowned slightly. Suddenly he remembered something and walked to his computer, opening a database.
This was a database he had specifically created to collect information about individuals around the world who might be superhuman.
One of the files was named by him, [Mysterious Woman].
He opened the file.
Inside was a photograph.
The photo had been taken eighteen months ago during the Kryptonian war in Metropolis.
After the battle, buildings had been reduced to ruins.
In one of those ruins, a woman walked out from behind a doorway filled with rubble.
The incident had even been reported in the Daily Planet.
The photo in Lex's computer was of that woman.
"Asian. Blind."
Lex looked up at another computer screen where "Mr. John" was holding the woman in his arms.
"The same person."
"Mr. John seems very nervous about this woman. That means this blind woman… is Mr. John's 'Martha'?"
———
Night fell.
Caitlin let out a soft sigh.
"Mr. John has been out all day. Isn't he coming back for dinner?"
At that moment, a familiar voice sounded.
"Who said that?"
"I don't go back on promises I make to you."
Caitlin stood up happily, "Mr. John, you're back! Where did you go?"
"Sorry. I needed to look up some information. I spent the whole day in the library."
Caitlin said sincerely, "So you really do know everything. It turns out you're such a diligent and studious person."
"Oh right. From now on, don't go out by yourself anymore."
"I'm worried the 'door' might open at any time."
"But it's strange. Before, it only took two or three hours for me to go home. This time, though, there's still no movement."
Because he had been flooded with too much knowledge that afternoon, Alex now felt dizzy.
He rubbed his temples and said, "Maybe it's because this time there are two people?"
"But that's fine. If we go back too early, we'll miss a good show."
Caitlin asked curiously,
"What good show?"
At that moment, thunder suddenly cracked outside the window, followed by rain beginning to fall.
Through the curtain of rain, in the distant sky above the city, Alex saw a symbol.
It was a bat.
The corner of Alex's mouth lifted.
"The bat's dance."
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