With a hum, as soon as Lana Lang opened the gift box, a blue light enveloped her, and in the next moment, she vanished without a trace. The box fell to the floor, revealing a small blue cube—the Space Stone!
Yes, it was Lex Luthor who had taken the Space Stone right from under the Black Order's noses. He had quickly mastered its usage, something S.H.I.E.L.D. had struggled to do for a long time. Even though Luthor only grasped its most basic functions, and had no idea where those teleported by it ended up, he was certain that they wouldn't appear on Earth.
Luthor had conducted numerous experiments, attaching tracking devices to subjects before using the Space Stone to teleport them. Every time, the tracking signal was lost, indicating that they were either sent to some unknown space, another part of the universe, or even killed. To Lex Luthor, it didn't matter—as long as they were no longer on Earth.
This discovery of the Space Stone's potential led Lex Luthor to his next plan: successfully teleporting Lana Lang, who had been protecting the Kents, away from Earth.
"Lana?!" Martha Kent cried out in shock as she saw the blue light enveloping Lana, causing her to disappear. Jonathan Kent immediately jumped up from his chair, cautiously scanning the surroundings and moving toward the cabinet where his handgun was kept.
But before they could react, a hiss came from the box holding the Space Stone, releasing a gas that instantly knocked out both Martha and Jonathan.
After the Kents were unconscious, the front door swung open again, and the two salesmen from before entered, now wearing masks. Without a word, they picked up the unconscious Martha and Jonathan, carefully packed the Space Stone, and carried the couple to a waiting truck before quickly leaving the Kent farm.
By the time Clark was free and discovered his parents had been taken, the truck was long gone. Fortunately, the truck had no lead shielding, allowing Clark to trace it. If there had been lead, Clark wouldn't have known how Martha and Jonathan had disappeared.
Even though Clark knew they had been taken, he couldn't immediately rush to their rescue. Standing before him was the out-of-control Kryptonian monster, exuding the unmistakable presence of Krypton, along with an overwhelming sense of danger.
Most concerning was that the Kryptonian creature was wreaking havoc on everything around it. After sensing Clark's presence, it instinctively locked onto him, detecting his Kryptonian origins.
Clark had no choice but to deal with the monster first. If he didn't, the creature would continue its path of destruction, causing even greater casualties.
The Avengers were on their way, but it was clear the Kryptonian monster was beyond their capabilities. At best, they could only try to hold it off, and even that wasn't guaranteed.
Clark had no option but to entrust the rescue of his parents to Martian Manhunter and Kara, who was still in space and unable to return quickly. Martian Manhunter, however, was the best candidate for the mission given his proximity and abilities. As for Lana Lang, Clark had no time to search for her now and would have to wait until the current crisis was over.
Just as Clark finished notifying the Avengers, a deafening roar echoed in his ears. The sheer force of the sound caused nearby buildings to tremble violently, with many collapsing outright.
In an instant, Clark disappeared from where he stood and reappeared next to the Kryptonian monster, landing a punch on it in an attempt to knock it far away from populated areas, minimizing the human casualties and destruction.
To Clark's surprise, his punch only stopped the creature in its tracks, failing to send it flying. Instead, the monster's massive claw swiped Clark, sending him crashing through several buildings before landing heavily on the ground.
Clark looked dazed as he stared in the direction of the Kryptonian creature. He had expected the creature's size and weight to be substantial, given his experiences with the likes of Robert's giant ape form and King Kong, both larger than this monster. Clark had already put his full strength into that punch.
Yet despite his all-out effort, Clark couldn't even knock the creature away. He began to question whether he was still weakened by Kryptonite.
"How is this possible?!" The Avengers, witnessing Clark being thrown, were momentarily at a loss. Tony Stark quickly snapped out of it and shouted, "Wait! Adjust the battle strategy. Anyone with long-range capabilities, engage! Close-combat fighters, except for Hulk and Venom-Spidey, pull back and help evacuate civilians!"
From just one exchange between Clark and the Kryptonian monster, Tony realized that the creature was far beyond their ability to handle. The Avengers could only provide support and try to help Clark contain it.
With a "boom," the ground shook again as the Kryptonian monster leapt into the air, slamming its massive body down on Clark's position.
The resulting explosion sent shockwaves through the area, and the ground itself trembled violently. Everything within the impact zone was obliterated.
Thankfully, the Earth had already been reinforced by dimensional consciousness. Otherwise, this attack might have pierced through the planet itself, or at least caused massive destruction.
In the debris, Clark coughed a couple of times, grateful that he had stayed behind to face the creature. If he had gone to rescue his parents, the Avengers would likely have paid with their lives trying to stop the monster.
"Do we really have to fight this thing?" Venom, emerging from Peter Parker, spoke hesitantly, clearly scared. "That monster looks like something we can't handle…"
"A monster even scarier than Hulk! It's ugly and vicious!" Hulk shrank back as well, having developed a fear of large creatures ever since his encounter with King Kong.
Seeing that even Clark was struggling against the creature, Hulk was reluctant to engage.
"If you don't want to fight, then help evacuate civilians!" Tony ordered through the team's communication link. The Avengers were too occupied with rescuing civilians to provide much help to Clark anyway.
Even Batman, who had emerged from the building, was playing his role, working hard to rescue those affected by the destruction. He muttered to himself that things would be easier if General Ivan's mask hadn't been taken by the Avengers.
Just as everyone was busy, Clark, deep underground, unleashed his heat vision, blasting the Kryptonian monster out of the ground and sending it flying.
But before Clark could fully recover, he heard a roar, and then a beam of heat vision came his way from the creature.
Clark reacted quickly, countering with his own heat vision. The two beams clashed in mid-air, their energies crackling and colliding.
At this moment, Clark was certain: this monster was somehow related to Krypton. It had to be the handiwork of the mastermind who had been plotting against him all along.
As the beams collided, it became clear that the monster's heat vision was far more powerful than Clark's, either due to the size of the creature's eyes or its energy output. Clark was gradually being overwhelmed.
With a shout, Clark unleashed a surge of energy from his hand, breaking the monster's assault and sending it flying once more.
Clark had developed new ways to harness his energy. Although his techniques weren't as varied as Robert's, they were still effective. In fact, even Kara and the other Kryptonians hadn't figured out this ability yet.
Watching this, the Avengers couldn't help but feel a bit unsettled. Clark's move seemed a bit underhanded, but given the terrifying enemy, it was hard to blame him for fighting dirty.
With another "boom," Clark once again charged toward the Kryptonian monster. But just like before, in hand-to-hand combat, he couldn't gain the upper hand. In fact, the pressure was even greater than when their heat visions had clashed.
Clark realized that defeating the creature on his own was nearly impossible. His only option now was to lure it to an uninhabited area and wait for Robert to arrive so they could fuse and defeat the monster together.
Meanwhile, Martian Manhunter, having received the message from the Avengers, wasted no time and flew straight to where the Kents were being held. He had no more need to maintain his Skrull disguise.
Martian Manhunter knew how important the Kents were to Earth. They were the most critical connection for both Robert and Clark. If anything happened to them, there was no telling what Clark or Robert, especially the latter, would do. Robert, in particular, had fewer moral constraints.
Martian Manhunter flew quickly to the secret base where the salesmen had taken the Kents. From his vantage point, he saw the men place the Space Stone down and tie up Martha and Jonathan before taking a break.
Without bothering with the door, Martian Manhunter phased directly into the base, carefully reading the minds of the salesmen and taking control of their bodies as he moved to free the Kents.
However, the salesmen's memories revealed nothing about the mastermind or the plan. They were only instructed to deliver the Kents and the Space Stone to the base and await further orders.
"Damn it!" Martian Manhunter cursed to himself, disappointed at the lack of information. Nevertheless, he continued controlling the salesmen, working to free the Kents.
But just as he was about to untie them, the walls of the secret base suddenly caved in, causing Martian Manhunter to become instantly alert.
Before he could react, flames burst from the collapsed sections of the walls, engulfing the room. Martian Manhunter felt a wave of weakness wash over him, and he collapsed to the ground, unable to maintain his phased state.
"What the…?" The salesmen, suddenly regaining control of their bodies, panicked as they realized they were
untying the Kents. They quickly withdrew their hands.
"What are you doing? Kill the alien!" Lex Luthor's voice rang out, causing Martian Manhunter's body to tremble.
"Yes, boss!" The salesmen were clearly more than just ordinary salesmen. At Luthor's command, they pulled out weapons and opened fire. Energy bullets tore through Martian Manhunter's body before he could utter a single word, and he fell to the ground, dead.
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