Diana had just come out of the restroom after washing her hands when she spotted Steve Rogers standing at the back of the theater.
She walked over to him with a smirk playing on her lips, and whispered in a low voice, "Hmm? No shield today, kid?"
Steve, who was over ninety years old and still being called a kid, found himself speechless for a moment.
After all, the princess of Themyscira standing next to him was already over four thousand years old.
"I brought it," Steve replied simply, lowering his head.
Diana smiled, turning her face towards the screen, the light and shadows from the movie flickering across her features, "It's not so bad to occasionally check out the world of the younger generation, right?"
"Maybe," Steve thought for a moment and smiled almost imperceptibly, "You're right."
"At least the ice cream here is pretty good today. You should try it," Diana said, glancing at him.
Steve replied, "Thanks, I'll give it a try."
Diana opened her mouth, as if about to say something else, but suddenly turned her head away.
Her eyebrows arched, and her sharp gaze shot towards the entrance.
Before she could take any further action, a scream rang out from outside the theater!
The two ageless heroes simultaneously rushed toward the door, and along with them, several undercover superheroes in the audience sprang into action as well.
Before the sound waves of that scream had even dispersed in the venue, Barry and Clark had already changed into their uniforms, instantly appearing at the source of the scream.
Right behind them, Steve, Diana, Peter, Hal, Jason, and finally Soren, all in their uniforms, rushed to the scene.
The scream came from a man wearing a green slug costume, and at his feet lay a male body, twisted into a grotesque and unnatural shape.
The head of this body had split open on both sides, with the skin of the face peeled back like a model being unwrapped.
Inside the skull, there was no blood, flesh, or brain—only a delicate and intricate miniature cockpit.
Huddled inside was a tiny alien creature, no bigger than a human baby's fist, trembling in fear and trying to avoid the gaze of the heroes.
This was the very same Arquillian alien that Clark and Soren had spotted earlier.
Meanwhile, the Chepalopid alien who had been speaking with him moments before had now fully revealed its inhuman features: its pupils had become vertical slits, surrounded by golden irises, and its mouth had turned translucent white as it nervously scanned the crowd, looking for an escape route.
"It's that thing! It opened this...this guy's head!" the Earthling in the green slug costume passionately accused the alien of the crime.
The Chepalopid immediately shot out an incredibly long tongue from its mouth, aiming for the man in the slug suit.
But in that instant, several superheroes moved at once—
Barry, gagging slightly, grabbed hold of its tongue, Clark slammed it to the ground, Steve pinned it down with his knee, and Diana wrapped her Lasso of Truth around its legs.
Hal Jordan, the ever-unbothered Green Lantern, used his ring to create a pair of glowing green handcuffs, securely binding the Cephalopid's fin-like hands.
Everyone couldn't help but gasp in shock!!
With so many superheroes taking action at once, could this bizarre creature be some kind of universe-level super-criminal?
People who lived their daily lives in constant hardship didn't even dare to rush forward for autographs.
Instead, they instinctively took a step back to avoid being caught up in the battle.
"…"
The superheroes exchanged glances, a bit lost for words.
The Cephalopids were among the weakest alien species on Earth in terms of combat ability, and the fact that it took all of them working together to subdue one might be the pinnacle moment of this Cephalopid's life.
Clark was the first to notice something was wrong.
He frowned and raised his hand, saying, "Hal, block its mouth—it's trying to commit suicide."
Cephalopids, when committing suicide, eject all their internal organs from their mouths.
If their mouths are blocked, they can be prevented from killing themselves.
Hal quickly used his Green Lantern ring to create a giant baseball bat and shoved it backwards into the Cephalopid's mouth.
The Cephalopid let out a muffled "Mmmmmm!"
It struggled helplessly, glaring with its lizard-like eyes as it futilely resisted.
Spider-Man was so disgusted that he gagged and immediately let go of the long tongue he had been holding.
Steve turned his head and asked the Arquillian alien, "Why did he open your cockpit?"
The tiny Arquillian alien seemed to struggle internally for a moment before opening its eyes and weakly speaking: "…%&@*&…%2%..."
"He means that this Cephalopid was trying to get information about the Mother Box from him."
...
In the S.H.I.E.L.D. lab, Sharon Stone, dressed in a blue lab coat and wearing clear protective goggles, reported to Steve, who had returned to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in New York from Philadelphia.
Steve sat in a chair, frowning deeply, idly holding a pen in his hand, "What about the Cephalopid? Has he revealed anything?"
"He's currently refusing to disclose any information to S.H.I.E.L.D. and keeps demanding to see the Chepalopid ambassador to Earth," Sharon Stone replied with a shake of her head.
Steve pondered as he gripped his pen, quickly jotting down several words on his notepad: "Arquillian," "Mother Box," "Cephalopid," "HYDRA"...
The lead he had received that day clearly indicated that HYDRA operatives were likely to appear at the Philadelphia seminar.
So how did this turn into an alien diplomatic incident, with a Cephalopid trying to kidnap an Arquillian?
Moreover, the Cephalopid wanted to learn the whereabouts of the Mother Box from the Arquillian.
What did it intend to do with the Mother Box?
Given the immense energy contained within the Mother Boxes, the one Soren—had uncovered during the Black Zero event years ago was, by unanimous decision, placed under the care of S.T.A.R. Labs for research, to explore whether the energy could be harnessed for human use.