"Yes," Zod nodded, but he also laid out his own condition—the assassins had to help him solve his "undocumented status" problem.
The group of killers nodded in agreement. On their recommendation, Zod became the latest recruit of the Midnight Hotel, an underground network similar to the Continental Hotel from a movie Zod had once seen.
The rules at the Midnight Hotel were strict: no killing on the premises, or face worldwide assassination contracts. The hotel offered high-paying missions with two types of bounties.
The first option was direct payment in one of the four major currencies—U.S. dollars, British pounds, euros, or Chinese yuan. They also offered untraceable accounts for wire transfers.
The second option was payment in skull gold coins. One gold coin equaled $10,000, but these coins couldn't be exchanged anywhere except the Midnight Hotel itself. These coins could be used to pay for services like weapons, immigration issues, intelligence gathering, or even cleaning up after a mission.
This mysterious power of the Midnight Hotel drew countless killers, fostering both admiration and fear.
Even King-Pin's top enforcer, Bullseye, was discovered through the hotel before being recruited as a private bodyguard.
The five killers Zod met paid a hefty price in skull gold coins to secure him a legal identity. Now, he was officially a New Yorker. As for his English accent lacking the distinct New York flavor, Zod planned to learn it quickly.
Each Midnight Hotel assassin received a "black phone"—a device said to be ahead of all current phone technology, featuring anti-eavesdropping and anti-tracking measures. Zod examined his new black phone, which had a titanium alloy casing, was shockproof, waterproof, and even fireproof. He wasn't sure if it could withstand an EMP, though.
Zod soon fixated on a new mission: a $4 million bounty to take down Lawrence Peter, the boss of the Hellfire gang in California.
This job had already attracted attention from many assassins, but the Hellfire gang was formidable, even in California. Most killers were teaming up to take on the contract.
"Four million dollars," Zod mused.
He had equipped himself with several custom firearms from the arsenals of the five killers who helped him, though he knew that in the future, he could use his skull gold coins at the Midnight Hotel to order custom-made weapons. For now, these guns would suffice.
Thanks to his new legal identity, Zod could finally cross state lines with ease. Some U.S. states had surprisingly strict border controls, but Zod could now move freely.
The Hellfire gang's headquarters was a secured villa compound, bought out by the gang in a transaction that had likely been less than voluntary.
Lawrence Peter, the Hellfire gang's boss, was an aging man in his fifties but was still well-maintained, appearing almost youthful. His appearance was marred by a nasty scar—a triangular notch in his left ear, extending toward his cheek, the result of a near-fatal sniper shot that had grazed him. Lawrence had killed that sniper himself, filling the assassin with bullets.
Despite his confidence, Lawrence wasn't foolish. He knew a bounty had been placed on his head by the Midnight Hotel and immediately retreated to his heavily fortified villa. While he might have ignored the threat posed by an average assassin, he knew that the Midnight Hotel had a roster of deadly professionals, some as fearsome as Bullseye. One never knew when a psychotic killer might take the bait.
The villa's guards, all armed to the teeth and wearing bulletproof vests, were already on high alert.
Zod observed them from a distance, unimpressed. "Afraid to die, are we?" he muttered, noting that there were only about 20 guards. To another assassin, they might have been formidable, but Zod wasn't the average hitman.
Two pistols appeared in his hands. For now, Zod didn't want to reveal too much of his Kryptonian power, so he decided to rely on sheer marksmanship, a skill shared by many of the top-level heroes and villains in the world.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Four shots rang out in quick succession, and four guards crumpled to the ground, each one with a bullet hole through their head. The custom firearms Zod had taken from the killers' stash were remarkably powerful, and their accuracy was flawless.
The remaining guards panicked and retreated. Zod sprinted toward the villa with inhuman speed, leaping over the wall in one smooth motion and firing his pistols in midair.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
By the time Zod landed, every last guard was down.
Inside the villa, the alarm had been raised.
Zod calmly reloaded his pistols and entered. His reflexes were far superior to those of normal humans. He could outdraw anyone before they even had time to register his presence. Still, he kept a respectable distance, picking off guards with deadly precision.
"He's on the second floor!"
"He took out all fifty guards on the first floor!"
"This has to be a joke! It's been only three minutes!"
The Hellfire gang was in chaos. They had never expected someone to march in so boldly. Even Bullseye hadn't been this reckless in his prime.
After exhausting his own ammunition, Zod began picking up enemy weapons, dispatching guards with headshots, regardless of their body armor.
In desperation, the Hellfire gang outfitted their men with bulletproof helmets.
"That's excessive," Zod muttered, irritated by the lawlessness of California. Selling bulletproof vests was illegal, let alone helmets. But helmets or not, they couldn't save anyone from Zod's aim.
"Blow him up!" Lawrence screamed, overwhelmed by Zod's unstoppable advance. His men lobbed grenades, but as for using RPGs indoors? Even Lawrence knew better than to try that.
Zod kicked open a door, only to see a swarm of grenades flying toward him. He slammed the door shut and darted away, just as the explosives bounced back and detonated.
As the screams and explosions echoed through the villa, Zod calmly walked back. The door had been blown to pieces, and those who had survived the initial blast were writhing on the ground, disoriented. Zod methodically dispatched them with headshots as he walked by.
Lawrence, pale and terrified, could hardly believe what he had brought upon himself. Three hundred and fifty men, all taken down, and Zod was still advancing.
But Lawrence had one last defense: he locked himself behind a metal door nearly ten centimeters thick. However, even that couldn't save him for long.