But their efforts only resulted in a tragic outcome…
Now he understood how to protect his companions with the least cost.
Upon hearing his voice, Clark's brow twitched ever so slightly.
A brief flash of blue x-ray vision swept over Soren, and for a moment, his expression softened before being quickly covered again by a heavy layer of ice.
"Once, your best friend was only me, Soren."
Clark spoke as if stating a fact unrelated to himself, his voice deep and flat.
Soren closed his eyes.
Scenes from the past began to appear: the Clark who smiled at him from the cornfield grew up slowly, faded slowly, and gradually disappeared like an illusion before his eyes.
"That was a long time ago," he whispered.
Clark replied calmly, "It was a long time ago. — Now, come, Soren. Come back to me."
"What about Kong Kenan? Did you kill him?" Soren asked, still unmoving, stubbornly continuing to question.
Clark's expression was unreadable, "Not yet."
— He said "not yet," not "no."
Soren took a deep breath, "I beg you, Clark. After all these years, I've never asked you for anything… I beg you, let my friends go."
Clark stared at him, his fists unconsciously tightening until the bones of his steel body creaked.
He had just fought a hard battle against Kong Kenan.
It wasn't an easy victory.
Yet all Soren asked about was Kong Kenan, without showing a shred of concern for him anymore.
Where had all those whispered conversations, that care and pure love, gone?
Back then, when Soren saw him tied to a cross by Whitney, he had been so anxious that he shed tears.
Clark almost blurted it out.
…They are your friends, but what about me?
You don't want me to hurt them, but when they hurt me, did your heart ache even once?
It's so unfair, Soren…
You're so unfair to me.
You say you love me, but all your former warmth is now given to others.
But in the end, he said nothing.
After a long silence, he finally spoke: "Come here."
"Soren, don't go!" Peter called out from behind him.
Soren shook his head lightly, then began to walk toward Superman step by step.
Clark's outstretched hand grew closer and closer.
Soren, almost instinctively, reached out, about to place his hand in Clark's—
"Clark Kent!"
A furious shout rang out from behind him, followed by a freezing wind from a fist, slicing past his ear.
Soren instinctively tilted his head to avoid the strike.
When he looked up again, he saw Whitney, clad in light-colored camouflage, landing a punch directly on Clark.
The force of the blow sent Clark stumbling back several steps, crashing into a massive tree behind him, which splintered from the impact, its trunk thick enough for two men to wrap their arms around.
In an instant, Clark grabbed Whitney's fist, turning his head to look at him, his eyes cold as ice.
Their positions were the same as they had been over a decade ago, when Whitney had slammed him into the school's chain-link fence.
But some things had long since changed.
"Do you think I'll still show you any mercy?" Clark asked coldly.
He had recognized Whitney the moment his X-ray vision pierced the plane's exterior and saw the pilot.
But he didn't care.
Not even a fraction of his attention was spared for him.
Who would care about an ant, even if that ant had once bitten at their heel?
Whitney sneered. "Kent, I've never been afraid of you. And now, you've become just as much of a bastard as I am."
Soren stood by, shocked by what he was witnessing, and immediately realized what Whitney had done—he had taken all the green pills!
The endurance enhancers could temporarily boost a person's strength to the point of rivaling the Hulk, but they also inflicted irreversible damage on the body.
Desperately, Soren summoned the Excalibur to his hand, trying to intervene between the two. "Whitney, don't!"
But by then, Clark and Whitney had already engaged in a fierce close-quarters battle.
Whitney, with years of military service under his belt, was just as skilled in combat as Clark.
A punch was about to land squarely on Clark's face, but Clark moved swiftly, effortlessly dodging it, letting Whitney's fist strike empty air.
The punch smashed into a nearby tree, shattering the trunk instantly into splinters.
Clark turned his head back toward Whitney, his eyes slowly glowing with a menacing red light.
"Look out!" Peter shouted, shooting webs to latch onto Whitney's back, trying to pull him away.
But no matter how hard he tugged, he couldn't move Whitney at all.
The heat vision roared like blazing red lasers, sweeping toward Whitney.
He rolled out of the way just in time, as Spider-Man shot out his web, but Clark's gaze shifted in an instant, and the heat vision intercepted the web mid-air, incinerating it to ashes.
Seizing the opportunity, Whitney hooked his arm around Clark's neck from behind, forcefully dragging him backward, shouting to Soren and Peter, "I'll hold him off! You two, get out of here!"
Clark reached up and grabbed Whitney's arm, his fingers slowly tightening.
In front of Soren, Clark crushed Whitney's forearm with brutal precision.
The shattered arm spattered blood everywhere, crimson droplets staining Clark's chest and jaw, creating a vivid pattern of red on his body.
Whitney let out a horrific scream but still refused to let go.
Summoning an enormous surge of strength, he used a military grappling technique to twist Clark's arm and slam him to the ground.
With one hand pinning Clark, Whitney, covered in blood, roared, "Clark Kent, you're a damn lunatic! How are you any different from the monster I used to be?!"
Soren flew forward, summoning a beam shield, positioning himself between Whitney and Clark.
"Get out of here!! What are you doing?! Leave!!"
The red glow of the heat vision shot toward the beam shield.
Soren raised it high, gritting his teeth to block the intense rays.