Xiao Han leaned against the edge of the villa's pool, his fingertips lightly tapping the rim of his glass. The red wine shimmered with an amber glow in the moonlight.
He closed his eyes, and his super hearing, like an invisible radar, spread out, the sounds of the world flooding his ears.
The wail of sirens on the streets of New York, the announcements on the Tokyo subway, the debates in the Houses of Parliament in London. The whispers of underground arms deals in Moscow... billions of sounds intertwined into a cacophonous torrent.
He precisely filtered this information, searching for valuable fragments.
"...Superman, I want a girlfriend..."
"...Hurry, Mark, I hope that Superman doesn't come tonight..."
"...Sir, tomorrow's parliament..."
Countless pieces of information filtered through Xiao Han's ears.
Suddenly, a faint voice caught his attention.
"If Superman really exists… please come save me…"
The voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz, yet it carried a heartbreaking despair.
Xiao Han snapped his eyes open, his super vision piercing through layers of obstacles and locking onto a Hydra Base deep in the mountains of Eastern Europe.
Inside a transparent, cylindrical glass enclosure, sat a Red-haired Girl.
She was around nineteen or twenty years old, with fair skin and red eyes that flickered with pain and hope.
Crimson energy, like a living thing, flowed around her, occasionally striking the glass enclosure and triggering shrill alarms from the external instruments.
He set down his wine glass and slowly stood up, water droplets sliding down the contours of his muscles, glistening in the moonlight.
He got dressed and picked up the watch beside him.
With a buzzing sound of nanomachines, the multi-function watch on Xiao Han's wrist instantly disassembled. Countless black particles, like living things, spread along his arm.
In less than a second, the dark armor covered his entire body, the golden S emblem on his chest faintly gleaming under the moonlight.
Xiao Han walked to the villa's terrace as the night wind brushed over the armor's surface.
He closed his eyes again, his super hearing accurately pinpointing the faint cry for help.
Somewhere in Eastern Europe, deep beneath the ground in the Hydra Base, a Red-haired Girl was whispering in despair.
"Found her."
He raised his right hand, and golden magical energy appeared on his fingertips.
With a fluid, circular motion, fine golden sparks appeared in the air, quickly expanding into a two-meter-wide portal.
Through the portal, a dimly lit laboratory and a red-haired girl suspended in a glass case were vaguely visible.
Xiao Han didn't hesitate, stepping through the portal.
The golden sparks slowly faded behind him, and the villa returned to silence, leaving only the water's gentle ripples in the pool, as if recounting everything that had just happened.
Half an hour earlier...
Eastern Europe...
Hydra Base...
Laboratory...
Wanda was curled up inside the glass enclosure, her hands clasped around her knees, her gaze fixed on the operating table in the center of the lab.
Lying there was a frail boy, no older than fifteen. His pale wrists were secured by metal shackles, and electrodes covered his bare chest.
His pupils were unfocused, and his lips trembled with fear, but he couldn't make a sound. The Hydra's nerve suppressants had robbed him of even the right to scream.
"Subject 47, X-Gene activation test, 9th attempt."
The researcher, wearing a gas mask, coldly recorded the data.
Another researcher held an injector filled with a shimmering, eerie green liquid. The drops from the needle gleamed under the surgical lamp.
"Serum concentration increased to 80%, adding new catalyst."
Wanda's nails dug deep into her palms. She had witnessed this type of experiment far too many times.
And failure meant death.
The needle pierced the boy's neck, and the serum was slowly injected. At first, nothing happened.
Then…
The boy's muscles suddenly spasmed, his back arched, and a hoarse whimper escaped his throat.
His skin began to flush, and veins writhed beneath it, as if countless snakes were moving within him.
"Vital signs are spiking! Heart rate 220!" A hint of excitement laced the researcher's voice.
The boy's bones made a sickening cracking sound, his arms twisted and deformed, his knuckles elongated, and his nails hardened into jet-black claws.
His pupils contracted into vertical slits like a beast's, and a low growl rumbled from his throat.
"Did it work?" someone whispered.
The next second…
Splat!
A bone-white spike burst from the boy's chest, piercing through flesh, and splattering blood across the sterile floor.
Finally, a heart-wrenching scream erupted from his throat.
"It's out of control! Contain him!"
Alarms blared, piercing the air. Soldiers raised their tasers, but it was already too late.
The boy's body seemed to be torn apart by an invisible force. His bones twisted outwards, muscles bulged, and his skin cracked inch by inch. His skull warped and deformed, his jaw splitting open to reveal horrifying fangs.
"Kill him! Quickly!"
High-voltage electricity struck the boy's back, but it only made him more ferocious.
He broke free from his restraints, one claw tearing apart the nearest soldier. Blood splattered onto the surgical lights, and the entire laboratory was stained crimson.
Wanda clutched her mouth tightly, the energy of Chaos Magic uncontrollably dancing at her fingertips.
She watched the boy, or rather, what was no longer human.
He lunged at the second researcher, sharp teeth crushing his throat.
"Activate incineration protocol!"
The nozzles on the ceiling opened, and white-hot flames poured down.
The boy howled in the flames, his skin charring and peeling, yet he still struggled.
His gaze suddenly met Wanda's, and in those eyes, a trace of human despair lingered.
"Save... me..."
His lips moved, silently pleading.
Then...
BOOM!
The laboratory's blast-proof door was forced open, and a heavily armed squad stormed in, their energy rifles blazing.
The boy's body was blasted to pieces, charred limbs scattered everywhere.
The flames died down, leaving only the acrid smell of burning and flashing alarm lights in the lab.
"Specimen 47, failure. Record: Uncontrollable mutation after X-Gene activation. Recommend lowering serum concentration and adjusting catalyst ratio."
The researcher's voice was as cold as if discussing a broken machine.
They didn't even glance at the charred remains, simply waving for the cleaning robots to come in and take care of it.
"Let's go, another wasted day," one of the researchers said to the other.
"The Baron said if we don't make progress tomorrow, we'll all be punished."
"God..."
Wanda's tears silently streamed down her face. The red light of Chaos Magic gathered in her palm, then flickered out.
She had seen too much of this, and the only thing she could do was protect herself.
Soon, everyone evacuated, leaving only two guards behind.
Under the cold, white lights, Wanda Maximoff curled up inside the glass enclosure, her slender fingers unconsciously tracing the floor.
Again, she had once again witnessed another test subject die in agony; it was a boy of only a dozen years old.
The two Hydra soldiers outside the glass enclosure leaned against the wall, idly chatting.
"Have you heard? There's news again recently." The tall soldier fiddled with the energy rifle in his hand.
"That Superman stopped a runaway truck in Tokyo with one hand last night, not even scratching the paint."
The short soldier sneered, "You read too many comics, right? Superman? At most, it's some kind of super-powered person, or a mutant."
"It's true!"
The tall soldier lowered his voice, waving his phone. "My friend's in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s logistics department. He said satellites caught him crossing the Pacific at incredible speed. They've already ordered all bases to level two alert, fearing this monster will come knocking."
Wanda's fingertips trembled slightly, the red glow of Chaos Magic flickering in her palm.
She held her breath, pressing her ear against the glass.
"If you ask me, they should secretly use the Tesseract to build an anti-Superman weapon," the short soldier kicked at the shackles at his feet.
"These mutant monsters are all…"
"Shut up!"
The tall soldier suddenly looked around the laboratory with a wary expression. "Do you want Baron Skrull to turn you into a reptile?"
The two of them fell silent, but Wanda's heart was pounding.
Superman?
Her gaze landed on her trembling hands, where scarlet energy flickered like tiny lightning bolts between her fingers.
"If there really is a Superman..." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"Please... hurry and save me..."
Then, she chuckled, shaking her head self-deprecatingly.
In this world, Superman was just a comic book character. How could he possibly appear to save her?
Just then, golden sparks crackled in the air.
A golden portal slowly opened.
Wanda snapped her head up.
A dark figure stood on the other side of the portal.
His eyes burned with the light of the sun.
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