Joy and celebration belonged to ordinary people.
But to Hydra, and even to the high-ranking officials worldwide, Superman walking away unscathed from a nuclear explosion with a yield totaling tens of millions of tons felt like a brutal blow.
Even humanity's ultimate weapon couldn't harm him.
Superman could now act however he pleased on Earth.
Now, the only things they could think of to restrain him were intangible concepts like morality and emotion.
The live broadcast on the internet had ended.
But the satellite footage from various countries was still capturing the scene.
They watched from above as Superman floated on the edge between Earth and space, and a heavy feeling settled over them all.
At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Pierce's face was darker than ever.
While others worried about the future, he feared he might not have one.
"Where on earth did this Superman even come from?!"
"He must die today! Fire! Keep firing at him!"
"Launch the nukes from the other two carriers at him as well!"
Pierce yelled hysterically, "I don't believe he can survive more than one blast—he's definitely just putting on a show, already at his limit!"
At that moment, Superman's figure on the screen started to move.
He looked down at the Earth below, as if searching for something.
Suddenly, he twisted midair, diving into the atmosphere like a meteor!
"What is he doing? Track him! Get the satellite feed on him!" Pierce shouted urgently.
Lyon flew deliberately slow, giving the satellites a chance to keep up with his speed.
Finally, he stopped midair above Hydra's base in Poland.
Below lay a dense forest, with no one around for miles.
From the satellite feed, Pierce immediately recognized that it was one of his bases.
"Poland base... Madam Hydra is in there right now. Damn it, does this Superman actually intend to wipe us all out?!"
He could only grit his teeth.
Meanwhile, inside Hydra's Poland base, Madam Hydra's face turned ashen as she looked at the figure floating outside.
"That fool Pierce... always more harm than good!"
"Hurry! Try to communicate with Superman. Tell him not to act rashly. Everything can be negotiated; we can surrender!"
Madam Hydra knew the situation was beyond salvage and that surrender was now their only option.
Besides, if she could establish a connection with Superman, perhaps Hydra's defeat wouldn't even be a bad thing.
She was supremely confident in her own allure.
There was no man in this world who could remain indifferent under her influence.
But before her orders could be relayed, Superman had already moved outside the base.
Every satellite monitoring the scene captured this moment.
Leaders around the world all stood up, holding their breath.
On screen, Superman pulled his right arm back, taking a stance as if to launch a powerful punch.
—Though, calling it a "powerful punch" wasn't quite accurate.
It looked as though he had merely flexed his bicep slightly before preparing to strike.
Just as everyone anticipated, Superman pulled back his arm and immediately delivered the punch.
In a flash, he seemed to teleport to the front of Hydra's base, and an unfathomable punch struck the ground.
Boom!
A shockwave, comparable to a nuclear explosion, erupted.
Satellites captured the impact of that punch.
The ground crumbled to dust, as if struck by a descending meteor.
Tremendous force surged into the earth's crust, shattering and tearing through its layers.
From the point of impact, 100 meters, 1,000 meters, tens of thousands of meters of land fractured, sank, and erupted.
The next second, a cloud of dust erupted through the air.
Invisible shockwaves peeled the earth layer by layer in widening circles.
Hydra's base, fragile as a paper shell before the force, was shredded to pieces without resistance.
This all took place in an instant.
By the time people in front of countless screens blinked, the satellite images showed dust and debris filling the air, with almost zero visibility.
The swirling dust, as calculated by computers, covered a radius of over ten kilometers.
"The shockwave from that punch alone was more terrifying than a mid-sized hydrogen bomb..." someone said, tongue dry with shock.
"Not just that — I've calculated it! His peak speed reached over 100 miles per second after he appeared. That punch just now was only 11 miles per second — he wasn't even using his full strength! If he went all out, it would be like another Tunguska explosion!"
"What's the difference between this and a god?" even the scientists muttered in awe.
"Earth now belongs to him…" someone whispered, dumbfounded.
Unmatched defenses, strength to shatter mountains, seas, and near-teleportational speed.
Nothing in this world could restrain him!
Suddenly, a fierce wind blew across the screen.
The storm cleared the dust away.
Finally, everyone could see.
The wind was from Superman. He floated at the edge of a bottomless pit.
Centered on him, a five-kilometer radius of land had sunk from half a meter to dozens of meters.
Everywhere were massive rocks and layers of earth upheaved from below.
This looked exactly like a real meteor crashing from outer space onto Earth.
They couldn't think of any other word to describe this scene besides "walking catastrophe."
Leaders around the world stared at the screen showing Superman.
He floated in the air with his cape billowing, gazing down at the former location of the Hydra base.
Only a field of shattered rubble and stone remained.
As for the Hydra members inside the base, not even a trace of dust was left.
Killing a chicken with an ox cleaver? No, it's like using anti-aircraft artillery on a mosquito!
The leaders wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads, even thinking, It was just Hydra—was all this really necessary?
An unprecedented shock and a creeping fear enveloped them.
On screen, Superman crossed his arms, nodding in satisfaction with the power of his punch.
This remote Hydra base, isolated and deserted, was perfect for showcasing strength and exerting power.
Surely, his goal of intimidating the world had been achieved.
Then, his figure suddenly vanished from all satellite feeds.
…
At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
Pierce slumped back into his chair.
"This world's gone mad. He really is Superman, and we don't have kryptonite."
He sat rigidly, his vacant eyes staring at the screen.
It was all over.
Just an hour ago, his chest swelled with ambition, dreaming of leading Hydra to ride the waves on the world stage.
But the Superman he'd once dismissed as nothing more than a clown suddenly appeared and slapped him out of his dreams.
Hydra was finished, and so was he, Pierce realized.
Yet he refused to accept it.
The muscles on Pierce's face, coarse like old tree bark, clenched tightly.
Stumbling to his feet, he connected to the command rooms of the two remaining sky carriers.
"Fire! Target San Francisco and Sokovia! Launch all hydrogen bombs—detonate them in both cities!!"
Pierce had completely lost his grip on reason.
Having placed everything on the line only to lose it all, the mindset of a desperate gambler took over.
"Alexander Pierce! Are you insane? That's millions of lives!" one of the world's representatives shouted in anger.
"Insane? Yes, we're all insane," Pierce sneered. "And that Superman—he's the biggest madman of all!"
"Doesn't he want to be a savior, a Superman? I'll let him! I'll personally push him onto the throne of godhood."
"That is—if he can save these two cities. If not... hah, hahahaha!"
In the empty conference room, Pierce started laughing.
It was a laugh almost like sobbing, growing louder and echoing throughout the room.
The representatives tied up in the corner could only hear Pierce's maniacal laughter.
He was truly broken.
When Nick Fury had defeated him in the past, he hadn't lost his mind—he knew his rival well enough to accept the loss.
But now everything felt inexplicably absurd.
Hydra's exposure had been inexplicable, the sky carriers were inexplicably broadcasted, and then a Superman had appeared, equally inexplicable and overwhelmingly powerful.
Pierce couldn't find anyone to blame for targeting Hydra.
It was as if some invisible, mighty hand above was orchestrating everything.
It felt like the entire world was targeting Hydra, ensuring their every move led to failure.
Pierce was unraveling.
Since he was destined to lose, he would rather take down that Superman who had finally shattered him!
If this were the DC universe, he might have transformed right there into the Joker's successor.
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