Superman didn’t know that his name had already appeared in someone’s notebook.
For a long time to come, he would be regarded as a threat, a time bomb and would be closely watched.
Leaving aside those distant issues, a week had passed since Clark officially announced his identity.
With the fermentation over time, the heated discussions generated by various parties showed no sign of stopping but instead had a tendency to intensify.
Just like that, Clark lost his ordinary life as an ordinary high school student.
First, he got a phone call from his parents, who were still in Kansas.
Jonathan didn’t blame his son’s choice. He expressed his understanding and concern.
Because of the strange gazes of the people in town, the interview activities at the town hall, and even the governor’s personal visit …
Jonathan and Martha, an ordinary couple, felt that they were caught off guard and overwhelmed.
They didn’t want to live a better life by using the reputation of being Superman’s adoptive parents and becoming the centre of public attention.
Sadly, others apparently didn’t think so.
Those swarming reporters, the 24-hour waiting paparazzi …
They couldn’t find Superman, so they had to wait in his hometown in Kansas, trying to find some useful materials that could serve as exclusive news.
Superman’s childhood, his growing environment … As long as it was about Superman, everyone wanted to read it.
It was like a whole new way to gain wealth!
“Everything seems to be going in a bad direction.”
Clark’s gaze looked out through the floor-to-ceiling windows at the city beneath his feet.
For the first time, he understood that public opinion was incredibly powerful.
It was as if it was pervasive and permeated into everyone’s lives.
“No, this is a good start.”
Lex disagreed as he took a bottle of whisky from the wine cabinet.
First, he poured himself a cup and then handed Clark a cup.
The latter waved his hand and refused, reasoning that he wasn’t old enough to drink alcohol.
One has to say; this answer was very Superman-like.
Lex shook his head. In his opinion, Clark had such powerful strength, but he was extremely obedient to rules.
This was a truly baffling thing.
If it was himself …
Lex looked at Clark with a hint of envy in his eyes and quietly said, “Announcing your identity is bound to bring a certain amount of distress to your family; it’s something that can’t be avoided.”
“But we need to pay attention to it so that the pressure isn’t there. The key is the attitude of the government.”
Clark, with his arms folded over his chest, had just finished a meeting with the President at the White House 2 days earlier and had publicly shaken hands.
That photo was featured on the front page of the Daily Planet that day.
Besides going to the White House, participating in such frivolous political activities…
A general from the Pentagon had invited Superman many times.
As his older cousin told him, Clark didn’t just comply.
While showing a friendly attitude, he should also show off his fists and muscles to ensure that he would be listened to.
“As Uncle said, his intentions aren’t about making Superman a property of the government, but … to let you debut as an idol of Vought Enterprise.”
With an odd expression on his face, Lex uttered the later words.
When he heard Luke’s thoughts, his first thought was that he had misheard them.
“Will the military agree? I see that General Lane is very firm in his position, and he wants me to be a weapon for the United States.”
Clark frowned as if worried about it.
“What do you think?”
Lex asked with a smile.
“They can’t make me a fighter, a violent person, doing things that I don’t want to, just because I was born in America, right? That goes against morality and conscience.”
Clark, with a sense of justice in his heart, shook his head decisively and said so.
“Haha, I guess so. But I think you should worry about Uncle’s side of the negotiations. How could the federal government possibly give up ownership of Superman? Handing it over to a private corporation is whimsical.”
Lex narrowed his eyes. Although his intuition told him that Luke had a plan…
But after thinking about it for a long time, he couldn’t figure out how Vought Enterprise should convince the Pentagon and the White House.
The leverage they held in their hands was too little.
He was totally unqualified to sit at a table with the topmost people in the pyramid of power in this country.
The turning point of all that happened two weeks later.
In NORAD Joint Command.
The well-built black general strode into the command centre.
Just now, he received urgent news. An artificial satellite in near-moon orbit captured unusual images.
“Doctor, tell me what was found, a comet or an asteroid’s meteorite?”
The general, with a majestic face, stood in front of the command centre’s operating console.
He wondered what kind of astonishing discovery could have caused the chief researcher, in charge of monitoring outer space, to wake himself up in the middle of the night.
‘Maybe it’s another alien?’
The general named Swanwick jokingly thought.
Recently, the Pentagon had been busy discussing the existence of Superman.
An alien, a superhero, a boy from a farm in Kansas … That red cape carried too many labels.
“Comets don’t make orbital corrections, General.” The doctor shook his head and hesitantly said, “I hope you get to see this before some amateur finds out.”
General Swanwick narrowed his eyes and had a bad feeling.
The chief researcher of NORAD directly pulled up the satellite picture.
In the dark outer space, a vague outline appeared.
Judging from the appearance, it should be some kind of spacecraft.
“The spacecraft appears to have gone into orbital alignment with the moon, and it’s unclear why for now.”
When the chief researcher first discovered it, he realised that this significant news should immediately be reported to the Pentagon.
A spacecraft stayed in Earth’s lunar orbit. It was most likely a visit to Earth by alien life.
Or was it a signal for war?
“Did you guys try to communicate with the ship?”
General Swanwick held down the shocked feelings inside. Once this news was revealed, it would definitely cause turmoil and disturbance in the world.
Although it was said that as early as the beginning of the space race during the Cold War, various countries continued to launch unmanned satellites into outer space, trying to find the same existence of life in the vast, dark universe.
But when these unknown creatures really appeared in front of the public, people felt afraid and panicked.
Did unknown beings from beyond Earth come with good intentions?
Could humans on Earth live in peace with them?
These were all questions worth pondering.
“They haven’t responded yet.”
The doctor helplessly replied.
General Swanwick’s had a stony expression.
He needed to dial the encrypted White House line as soon as possible.
Inform the White House in Washington and the Pentagon of this amazing news, which could be described as explosive news.
At least before an amateur astronomer found out, the government should come up with a reasonable statement and discuss how to deal with the spacecraft that was staying in the lunar orbit.
‘I have a bad feeling about this. ‘
General Swanwick sighed.
As a professional soldier, if there were really unknown creatures in that ship, he didn’t think those guys came with friendship and goodwill.
Especially after Superman announced his identity, the whole world knew that there was an alien on the Earth.
Now, there was another spaceship.
‘Was there some connection between the two?’
With this in mind, General Swanwick’s heart grew heavier.
…
…
In the White House.
In a meeting room.
The Pentagon’s top brass gathered together.
They all received the horrifying news of an unidentified spacecraft in lunar orbit.
Even if the other party didn’t do anything, there was no response from it.
The unknown was always frightening.
“In fact, just two weeks ago, a small earthquake occurred at my military base in the Arctic.”
The grey-haired General Lane spoke in a deep voice.
“Someone took a video of a huge spaceship disappearing into the night sky and uploaded it on the Internet, causing a huge outcry.”
The President, who had hurried into the meeting room, rubbed his tightly furrowed brow and raised his voice to ask, “Why hasn’t anyone said anything about this? “
“That report has been on the White House desk for a long time. It’s just that at the time, Mr President, you were so busy taking pictures with Superman and being interviewed on TV. You probably forgot about it.”
General Lane replied with a straight face.
The straightforward words made the atmosphere of the meeting room turn awkward.
“Ahem, go on.”
The President cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment.
As the general election was approaching, he really spent too much energy on re-election and the general election, neglecting other issues.
“According to research data from the military base, the space ship hidden beneath the glacier had a long history of at least over 18,000 years. Based on the isotopic analysis of the surrounding ice.”
General Lane took a deep breath to calm his inner emotions and continued, “During that period, mankind hadn’t become the sole dominant force on this planet.”
‘18,000 years?!’
The President and his aides were silent.
‘Long before mankind gave birth to the bright civilisation of today, there were other beings who visited Earth?’
‘Is there any connection between the spacecraft in the Arctic glacier and the spacecraft in orbit?’
All kinds of problems had emerged.
“What about Superman? He’s an alien too …”
The President suddenly remembered the red cloak.
“Superman is in Kansas. I’m afraid he won’t be able to make it for a while.”
General Swanwick, who was responsible for monitoring Superman’s whereabouts by satellite, replied.
“Vought Enterprise seems to be hosting a homecoming event.”
When the President heard of Vought Enterprise, his face turned black, and he was a little gloomy. He disliked the young tycoon who claimed he wanted Superman to debut as an idol.
‘The powerful alien should be under the control of the federal government!’
‘Instead of giving it to someone or some private company.’
Of course, what the President meant, to put it bluntly, was that he wanted Superman to be a tool in his own hands.
“Can you find a way to communicate with that spacecraft?”
The President looked at the photos sent back by satellite on the table and softly asked.
“We tried, but we didn’t get any response.”
The administrator of NORAD shook his head.
“That spacecraft is just floating in outer space. Ten minutes ago, we used various means to send messages over, but unfortunately to no avail. All messages were ignored as if they didn’t notice of any one of them.”
“Can you shoot it down?”
The President had lost his patience and was already considering solving the problem by force.
“This is the worst solution. It’s best to implement it after establishing communication channels and confirming that the other party has hostile intent.”
General Lane thoughtfully said so.
No one was willing to use force until it was determined whether there was unknown life on the spaceship.
Who knew if such a move would trigger a so-called ‘intergalactic war.’
“So, what the hell can we do? Wait for that ship to come down, or get those damn aliens to respond voluntarily?”
The President, clearly annoyed, slapped the table and asked.
“This country has the largest intelligence agency in the world. Sixteen different departments supervise everything in this land, with the purpose of preventing any terrorist attacks from happening again! But right next to us lives an alien who can fly, who can lift up dozens or hundreds of tons of weight with his bare hands, and who can smash a tank with one punch!”
“And now, there’s a spaceship parked in front of our house! Instead, you guys are only telling me that this won’t work and that won’t work; I have to wait!”
The angry voice of the President echoed in the conference room.
Everyone there, from the Pentagon generals to the White House staff, as well as the top intelligence agencies, all kept silent.
“It’s an emergency …”
When the President was furious, an aide who was waiting outside suddenly rushed into the conference room.
He had a nervous look on his face as if something terrible had happened.
“Is the world coming to an end, Johnson?!”
The President’s face was grim, as his own staff had barged into the top-secret meeting room without permission.
If there weren’t a good reason, the other party’s political career would have to end there.
“I’m afraid so, Mr President.”
The young staffer gravely said.
–5 minutes ago, a video that made countless people panic swept the world.
Whether it was America or other countries.
The TVs and radios had failed.
Flashing snowflake dots distorted into blurred images and electronic signals covering the globe sent a declaration of a threat to the whole world. It was translated into different languages to every corner of the planet.
“I am General Zod, from a distant planet. I arrived here across the vast sea of stars because you hid one of my brethren, and now I demand that you hand him over. For some reason, he concealed his existence and tried to integrate into your society. He looks similar to you, but he is not one of you. If anyone knows about him, the fate of your planet is in your hands … Kal-El, do you hear me? You have 24 hours to consider or choose to let the whole planet suffer the consequences!”
People looked up at the sky.
Whether it was in a remote town or a bustling metropolis.
Everyone could see a giant spaceship hovering along the orbit like a satellite.
That threatening video, broadcasted around the world, was even more alarming than Superman’s announcement of his identity.
The news instantly spread and created an uncontrollable wave of public opinion around the world.
No one knew how the alien life claiming to be ‘General Zod’ forcibly occupied all the signals on Earth, translated them into different languages and announced them to the world.
Now, the President, who was far away in the White House, didn’t need to worry about how to conceal the news from the public.
