Soren pressed his handprint against the wall at the entrance, and the massive doors opened.
The fierce Arctic blizzard immediately howled in, whipping his hair around.
Facing the snowstorm, he braced himself against the wall and looked up at the black aircraft approaching through the glaring white snow.
The snow mixed with ice particles pelted his face, covering his eyelashes with white flakes.
Yet, he stood resolutely at the door, waiting for the aircraft to land unsteadily through the storm.
The landing gear of the aircraft touched the ground, and the exhaust flames melted the surrounding snowflakes into steam.
Two figures jumped down from the aircraft: one in black combat armor with a flowing cape, and the other in a red bodysuit with a white hood and a golden lightning emblem on the chest.
—Soren furrowed his brow.
He opened his mouth to speak but was choked by the blizzard, forcing him to keep his lips tightly pressed until Batman and the red-suited figure arrived before him.
Batman handed him a sound wave suppressor to wear over his ear, which he quickly put on before leading them into the Fortress.
"Why is Billy with you? B?" As soon as the door closed, Soren asked urgently.
The tall and muscular adult male behind Batman was Shazam, transformed from Billy Batson after calling out "Shazam."
Shazam quickly raised his hands, looking guilty, and said, "It's not his fault; I followed him! I wanted to see what you were up to, and if I could help, even better."
Soren glanced at him and then at Batman.
"You shouldn't have gotten involved in this, Billy," Soren sighed.
Shazam shook his finger at him disapprovingly, "No, actually, I—"
He hesitated, looking uncomfortable, but finally swallowed hard and gave Soren a smile, "I also think Superman might be going too far now. Someone needs to stop him from continuing like this."
Neither Soren nor Batman said anything.
Soren led them to the sealed alloy door and explained to Batman, "I've checked every corner here, and this is the only door that won't open. The endurance booster we're looking for is likely inside. But I can't crack the electronic lock—B, Clark reset the password."
"I understand," Batman said in a gravelly voice.
They reached the electronic lock, and Batman pulled out the 178th-generation Bat-tool from his belt.
The slender device automatically attached to the electronic lock and began its analysis.
The device projected a hologram showing the current progress of the analysis: 1%.
...
In the United States.
Washington.
Clark had just teamed up with Diana to capture Kong Kenan.
He hadn't anticipated that Kon-Kan would break through his limits in their battle and successfully merging the forces of yin and yang.
Once Kon-Kan mastered the fusion of these forces, Clark needed more time to subdue him.
Diana used the Lasso of Truth to bind him.
They would imprison him in the Shell Prison and then figure out how to strip away the part of his powers that belonged to Superman.
He slowly descended into the ruins of the Justice League headquarters.
Only then did his gaze begin to survey the widespread devastation.
From the cracks and broken sections of the buildings, he could analyze who had caused this destruction, or more bluntly, who had injured Soren—
Clark looked at the collapsed walls but had a nagging feeling that he was overlooking something.
...
Suddenly, his gaze fixed on a specific spot,
"Superman!"
A soldier in black uniform stumbled out from the damaged main building.
He tripped over debris on the ground several times and staggered multiple steps before finally reaching Clark.
Clark reached out to steady his arm.
The soldier was unarmed.
He looked up at Clark and, right in front of him, removed his helmet.
—Under the helmet was a finely featured face.
He had a head of golden curls, with wide and long double eyelids at the corners of his eyes, giving his baby-blue eyes a naturally smiling look.
As he lifted his gaze to look up at Clark, it seemed to be filled with boundless fervent admiration.
"Superman…" He slightly parted his lips, calling Clark in a soft voice.
Clark looked down at him and let go of his arm.
"It's you."
"Yes, it's me. My name is Silus—you remember me!" Silus's expression brightened, and he fixed his gaze on Clark's face, "I've always admired you; you are our savior…"
But Clark suddenly tightened his grip around his neck.
"Why are you here?"
He lifted Silus off the ground and leaned in close to his ear, pressing him with a heavy, demanding tone.
Silus's face turned red as Clark tightened his grip around his neck, and tears gathered in his eyes.
His feet swung helplessly in the air, moving back and forth: "I—I volunteered… cough cough, cough—"
Clark was disturbed by the pain on Silus's face. His heart ached, and he quickly set Silus down.
He collapsed to the ground, clutching his neck and coughing a few times, but his eyes remained filled with fervent admiration as he looked up at Clark: "I volunteered to join the Regime Army. I wanted to be by your side—but, I saw them, I saw what happened before, when the Avengers arrived, the Angemon didn't resist Iron Man at all—"
Clark took a step forward, his black boot coming down beside Silus, and he leaned in to ask, "What are you talking about?"
"They're all deceiving you!" Silus suddenly shouted.
He lunged forward, trying to grab Clark's ankle, but Clark pulled his leg back with a dark expression.
"How did you see this?"
"I was hiding inside the building, they didn't notice me, so I saw everything… I've seen the Angemon fight before, and I can tell he wasn't really attacking Iron Man—he tore off his own wings! Iron Man even tried to save him… and he gave him something, it was small, like, like… I couldn't see clearly, but it looked a lot like a watch."
Clark's actions made a flash of disappointment cross Silus's face, but he soon looked directly at Clark again.
"You've been deceived, Superman."
…In response, there was the explosive sound of a sonic boom.