Shattered Trust

Hulk then lunged at Superman, smashing his fist into Superman's temple, only for Superman to grab his wrist in retaliation.

Superman's heat vision fired directly at Hulk's face.

Though the heat vision couldn't penetrate Hulk's skin, Superman, undeterred, grabbed the Hulk and shot upward into the sky.

Moving at speeds faster than the second cosmic velocity, he flung the Hulk into space.

Hulk let out a furious roar, trying to strike back at Superman, but Superman delivered a series of rapid hooks, sending the green giant hurtling out of the solar system.

With Hulk dealt with, Superman returned to Earth in an instant.

At this time, the Anti-Superman armor was still undergoing repairs from a satellite supply pack.

Superman wasted no time, pressing his hand firmly against the chest of the armor, the vibranium shell creaking under the pressure.

Through the suit's visor, Superman glared coldly at Tony Stark inside. "What else do you have, Tony Stark? A single red solar gauntlet? A crippled Batman?"

"This time, I'm ripping out your reactor."

His massive hand, like the weight of a mountain, bore down on Stark's chest, while his heat vision sizzled against the armor's visor, heating it to dangerous levels.

Death crept closer and closer to Tony Stark.

Blood, black and red, dripped from his lips, but he still managed to speak to his AI butler.

"This Kryptonian bastard… is becoming… more of a bastard..."

"Sir! Sir!! Please hold on, I'm contacting Batman!"

Tony let out a weak, wheezing laugh. "You want him… to hobble over… with a cane… and fight Superman… cough, cough… to the death?"

He could barely breathe, the suffocating pressure overwhelming him, but he still struggled to operate the armor, now 91% damaged, trying to raise his hand to launch a missile at Superman.

But someone else struck Superman before he could.

A small rock, no more than two inches in diameter, flew from behind in a low arc and hit Superman on the back.

Superman froze.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned his head.

The one who "attacked" him with the rock was a small boy.

He hadn't evacuated with the others, hiding behind the door of a nearby house.

His hands trembled in fear as he stared at the godlike figure.

The boy had strikingly contrasting black-and-white eyes, dark skin, and short, fuzzy hair.

His limbs were thin and frail from hunger.

Yet, he dared to throw a stone at the strongest man on the planet.

His innocent yet terrified eyes, like the sharpest of caricatures, pierced through Superman's vision.

He spoke in a local dialect with shacking voice.

Superman, who could understand all languages on Earth, knew what he was saying.

In Albanian, the boy said, "Go away, Superman."

Superman looked at him and responded in Albanian, "I'm protecting you. Why should I go away?"

The boy stared back at him with stubborn eyes, keeping his mouth tightly shut, his bloated stomach resembling a small ball.

He didn't answer Superman's question but bent down to pick up another scattered stone, hurling it at Superman.

The stone struck Superman on the forehead and fell away.

Superman gazed at him, his heart turning to stone in an instant.

Silence enveloped the area.

A terrified cry of anguish finally broke through from the house behind the boy.

It was probably his mother, who could no longer bear such terror and had decided to risk her life.

She burst out of the house and swept the boy into her arms.

She cradled him horizontally, pressing her arms together in a gesture of supplication toward Superman, crying out in Albanian, "Sorry, sorry, Superman, I'm so sorry…"

Superman turned his gaze away, unwilling to look at her any longer.

His figure seemed to waver.

At the end of the street, Kong Kenan, whom he had defeated several blocks away, rose again from the horizon, staring at him as if facing a formidable enemy.

Behind him, Green Lantern Hal Jordan had already manifested a giant claw using his power ring, scooping up the nearly demolished anti-Superman armor and swiftly sending it into the sonic boom portal.

A black-haired young man in a red combat suit glared at him from above with a face full of hatred and resentment.

"Superman, if you have the guts, come and kill me."

Kong Kenan spoke with crisp enunciation in English, each word dripping with defiance.

"I will." Superman ascended into the sky, looking down at him.

They clashed again fiercely in Kong Kenan's yin space.

With the same powers, the same strength, and the same attack methods… Kong Kenan was a copy of Superman's powers from years ago.

He should be grateful he could still receive teachings and carve out this space, otherwise, their battle might have destroyed the entire Central Europe.

Predictably, he defeated Kong Kenan.

The black-haired youth was barely clinging to life under his hands, but as long as he wasn't dead, he could, like Superman, recover his strength from the yellow sun's rays.

Superman grabbed him by the hair and demanded, "Now, tell me, where is he?"

One of Kong Kenan's eyes was swollen and purple, and he looked at Superman with a disdainful smirk on his face. "Are you dreaming?"

Superman threw him out of the yin space and let Diana, who had arrived, bind him with the Lasso of Truth.

He flew high into the sky, looking down at the city that was in chaos because of their battle.

He heard the cries, shouts, curses, pleas, and prayers of the people…

They worried that his anger would destroy the city, imprison them all, and sever everyone's brain proteins.

Not a single person felt reassured by his presence.

Not a single person was grateful for what he had done.

They all hated him.

They hated him for being an alien tyrant, trapping Earth in his glass bottle.

They hated him for callously stripping criminals of their lives, without a shred of mercy or humanity.

They saw him as an outsider… as the demon who imposed their prison upon them.

Superman listened quietly to all of this.

Suddenly, from the most inconspicuous hidden spot, he heard the distinctive "beep beep" of electronic equipment.

He dove rapidly downward.

He landed in front of the recently deceased Whitney Fordman's body.

He bent down and pulled a GPS signal tracker from the pocket of the pilot's combat suit.

On the LCD screen, three red dots represented teammates, one of which was nearby—that was Kong Kenan bound by Diana—and the other two were located in the middle of the ocean northwest of Alaska.

"Are you here, Soren?"

Superman brushed the dust off the screen and whispered.