Boeing really was something else.
It was just a company name, yet it instantly destroyed every last bit of doubt and conspiracy thinking Ian had. Looking across the world, there were probably not many companies with that kind of brand power.
Its reputation had already become so deeply ingrained that even superheroes treated it like a fact of life. Even with Ian's breadth of experience, he could not help feeling impressed. For the sake of superhero performance reviews, this company had truly gone all out.
Rumble! Rumble!
The right engine of the Boeing 747 blasted out a tongue of flame more than thirty feet long, while shards of metal scattered through the air like fireworks. Inside the cabin, the desperate screams of the passengers nearly drowned out the plane's warning alarms.
"Hold on!"
Kara accelerated.
Her flight path changed sharply.
Riding on her back, Ian quickly tightened his grip around her neck. The two of them dived down like a silver meteor, reaching the underside of the plane just as it was about to slam into the open fields below.
The fuselage was tilted at a dangerous angle. Through the windows, terrified faces could be seen pressed against the glass. Kara adjusted her angle, flew directly beneath the plane, and raised both hands to support the belly of the aircraft.
Whoosh!
Kara's bioelectric aura wrapped around the three-hundred-ton steel giant like an invisible membrane, little by little changing the angle of the plane's nose along its downward path.
She was clearly very experienced at saving this model of aircraft. Holding up the plane while carrying Ian on her back, she carefully corrected its posture and finally brought it down safely onto the ground.
Boom!
Kara's feet sank deep into the asphalt, cracks spreading out from where she stood like a spiderweb. Yet none of that force was transferred into the aircraft, and not a single passenger inside was thrown from their seat.
It was probably the kind of scene most physicists would spend their entire lives failing to explain.
"Tch. So this is what Homelander dreams he looks like."
Ian clicked his tongue in envy. As the evacuation slides inflated and unfolded, the shaken passengers began stumbling and crawling out of the plane in waves.
The crisis had been resolved.
In an excellent mood, Kara planted her hands on her hips and caught her breath.
At some point, her clothes had already changed into her battle suit.
Instant costume change.
A required course for many superheroes.
"It's Supergirl!" A little boy in a baseball cap was the first to recognize Kara. He excitedly tugged at his mother's hand. "Mom, Supergirl saved us!"
"Oh my God, thank you, thank you for sending your messenger to save us." An elderly Christian dropped to his knees, crossing himself repeatedly in gratitude to his faith.
"I swear I'll never complain about my mom's cooking again. If I get to stay alive, I'll eat anything!" A young woman in her twenties burst into tears after surviving the disaster.
A weak ripple of laughter passed through the crowd.
At that moment, among the passengers, a woman with dark red hair and a beige trench coat finally steadied herself. Compared with all the others who were busy being grateful and relieved, her instincts as a reporter drove her to seize this firsthand story.
"My name is Iris West, and I'm a reporter with the Central City Citizen. Supergirl, thank you so much for helping us. If not for you, we all might have..."
Reporter Iris held up her phone while recording, her voice full of emotion. But she could not quite bring herself to finish that thought, perhaps because even considering it left her shaken.
"No need to thank me, Ms. West. This is my job, isn't it? As long as everyone's safe, that's what matters."
Kara's response was perfectly official. She had plenty of experience handling this kind of interview.
"This is very close to Metropolis. Are you helping Superman out temporarily? I've heard he's had some kind of problem. Could you clarify that for the public, or deny it?"
Iris clearly knew what kind of story she wanted. Ever since yesterday's plane crash, there had been more and more discussion in both Metropolis and online about why Superman had failed.
"As for that, I think whatever response he gives personally later on will be more convincing than anything I could say."
At Iris's question, Kara's heart tightened sharply.
On the surface, though, she stayed perfectly composed and delivered an impeccable answer. She was no beginner. Kara had undergone training for media interviews too.
"Thank you."
Reporter Iris was white Iris, so she had a decent sense of boundaries and did not keep pressing her rescuer. After glancing at the other passengers, she smoothly shifted to another topic.
"I noticed that just now, you seemed to be transporting a criminal?"
Reporter Iris had already drafted the skeleton of her article in her head. Now she just needed to clarify the details of Supergirl's day-to-day life as a vigilante.
Readers loved this kind of thing, just like celebrity fans loved peeking into their idols' private lives.
"Transporting a criminal?"
Kara, who had still been distracted by the idea that something might really be wrong with Superman, was visibly taken aback by Iris's follow-up question.
Hiss!
As if something had suddenly occurred to her, the scatterbrained Kryptonian spun around and looked to her side.
Only then did she realize Ian, whom she had set down while changing costumes, was gone. Panic rising, she immediately looked behind her.
There he was.
At some point, Ian had already jumped off Kara's back. Right now he was being surrounded by a few particularly bold passengers who were taking paid photos with him. Even worse, the brat had pulled a translucent flesh-colored stocking over his head.
It even had holes poked through the eyes and mouth.
He looked exactly like a seasoned career criminal.
Kara felt her temples pounding. She hurried over to Ian, ignored the passengers praising him, grabbed him in a fluster, and shot straight into the sky.
It was as if she was terrified that one second later,
Ian would create even more chaos.
The other passengers still had not reacted.
Click click click!
Reporter Iris had already pulled out her camera and was shooting nonstop at the sky, working the shutter so hard it felt like it might catch fire. Every one of those exclusive photos could be turned into money.
Whoosh!
Right then,
a streak of lightning suddenly raced in from the distance, triggering gasps and panic from several passengers. A man clad in red-and-gold armor stopped in front of them.
His face was covered by a metal mask, leaving only a not particularly large mouth visible.
"The Flash! It's the Flash!"
A passenger cried out in excitement and pulled out a phone. One young woman in particular had already been livestreaming. She had been disappointed after Supergirl left.
She had not expected to catch another superhero on camera.
"Oh my God, friends, look! It's the Flash! I'm seriously so lucky today!"
She clearly hoped the stream would help her gain followers, but the audience did not seem especially grateful.
The comments were full of messages telling her to stop slacking off and get back to the kind of content they were actually there for.
"Is everyone... okay?"
The Flash looked around, though his gaze remained locked on his childhood friend. To avoid revealing who he was, he still tried to act a little casual.
"The Flash! You're in Metropolis too?"
It was obvious Iris had still not gotten a proper reveal from her boyfriend Barry Allen yet. She immediately swung her camera toward him and began hammering the shutter again to earn herself some more money.
"Uh..."
Barry Allen really wanted to explain that he had rushed here because he received Iris's "goodbye" call and had broken away from a battle to get here. But with so many people around, there was no way he could expose himself just because of his emotions.
"Yes, right, of course. You know how it is. Superheroes get together from time to time. I was just in the middle of..."
Barry talked a lot, but while he was trying to bluff his way through it,
"Hiss..."
A severe wave of weakness suddenly crashed over him.
His words cut off immediately.
He dropped to one knee on the spot.
"What's wrong?"
Iris rushed over and helped steady the Flash. Even if she did not know his true identity, she and the Flash had long been familiar with each other.
The BMW Mini she had bought this year had been helped along quite a bit by this old friend of hers.
"It's nothing... just..."
Feeling the weakness spreading through his body,
Barry had originally intended to brush it off. But when he realized even his Speed Force was weakening, panic flashed through him. He hurriedly removed part of the armor covering his arm.
"Savitar... what did he do to me?"
There, on Barry Allen's arm, was a vicious wound.
A wound he had received in a recent battle.
Now it was glowing with a cold blue light.
And if Superman had been there to see it, he would have recognized that wound instantly.
Aside from the difference in color,
it was the exact same shape as the wound on Superman's arm.
(End of Chapter)
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