"BOSS, I want to resign."
Natalie stood before Zod, holding a stack of documents she'd been helping Urd manage.
"Hmm?" Zod looked up sharply.
Seeing the Black Widow in front of him made him sit up, curious. "Why resign? Not enough pay? I'll double it."
Zod couldn't imagine letting Black Widow go—not because of her looks, as his tastes leaned toward Asian beauty, but because she was immensely capable. With her efficiency, she'd taken on the work of several assistants, making Zod's workload more manageable. He wasn't about to give up such an asset easily.
"BOSS, it's not the salary…" Black Widow hesitated. Since joining Blade Tech Industries, she'd finally afforded luxuries like designer bags and cosmetics. But she had barely started her real job for S.H.I.E.L.D., and with an urgent situation in Africa, Fury needed her to report back.
"You're sure? How about four times the pay?" Zod held up four fingers.
The Black Widow paused, uncertainty in her eyes. If she finished the mission in Africa quickly, could she come back to Blade Tech? Fury would surely reassign someone else, making it unrealistic to balance both jobs.
"Alright, six times." Zod upped his offer, unconcerned about expenses. With recent capital from Staf, he was flush with cash.
Black Widow took a deep breath, thinking about negotiating with Fury to let her continue at Blade Tech, then quickly left. Watching her go, Zod nodded in satisfaction. Money usually solved such issues, but he'd been prepared to do whatever it took.
With that settled, Zod returned to his work, signing documents with speed, then teleporting into space.
Elsewhere, Reed Richards had noticed discrepancies in the probe's data and wanted to halt the experiment. But Victor Von Doom refused to stop. Failure now would bankrupt him, and Reed's last-minute caution only made him angrier. Unfortunately, the decision was irrelevant as a cosmic radiation storm swept over them, flooding the station with energy.
"Game over!" Despair filled everyone's faces.
"Something's... strange," Zod muttered, floating beside the space station. He watched the radiation storm's cosmic fluctuations, knowing his atomic-level vision would let him observe the effects up close. The five aboard the station were undergoing rapid genetic changes—a process that would typically take humanity millions of years was occurring within seconds.
Zod absorbed the remaining radiation, his own cells briefly changing before returning to normal. He felt no new powers emerging, but the space station had taken significant damage. The crew inside were suffocating. He teleported them out, arriving just as Susan Storm regained consciousness. She saw Zod in his Dark Knight armor before blacking out again.
Susan awoke in the hospital.
"Sis! Did you know we were saved by the Dark Knight, Zod!" Her brother Johnny burst in, barely containing his excitement.
"The Dark Knight… Zod?" she repeated, confused. Johnny pulled out a news report, showing Zod's familiar black armor.
"It was him!" Susan remembered seeing him just before she'd blacked out. She recalled Zod from her research, though she hadn't followed his Dark Knight persona closely. Zod was a revolutionary, whose inventions would likely be remembered for generations. Her boyfriend Reed's life work paled in comparison to Zod's remarkable accomplishments.
Zod hadn't paid much attention to the Fantastic Four. He'd extracted their genetic data and moved on, bringing Doom—who was still unconscious—to his World Serpent Research Base. Set on a 3,000-acre Texas ranch, the base was heavily fortified underground, designed to support Zod's world-shaping ambitions.
When Doom finally awoke, he was alarmed to find himself in unfamiliar surroundings. He spotted Zodh standing nearby.
"Zod!" Doom exclaimed, incredulous.
"Hello, Doom. Not in the mood for conversation right now. As the villain, you should really just stay quiet."
Zod manipulated the magnetic field around Doom, stopping his atomic movements, freezing him in place. As Doom lost consciousness, Zod's eyes glowed with a chilling blue, and he unleashed a freezing ray at Doom, watching closely to see how the infamous genius would respond.