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*****
The terrifying explosion brought the entire Capitol Building crashing down, but because George had activated the Crystal Wall in time, every single person inside was shielded. When the dust finally settled, not a single soul had been harmed.
Of course, they were all frightened out of their wits.
In truth, George could have easily used the Crystal Wall to encase Luthor's chair alone, containing the blast within a few cubic feet. That would have been far easier than shielding every individual across the entire building.
However, the dramatic effect would have been far less significant.
George wanted everyone to see the explosion. He wanted the world to know that there was a conspiracy targeting Superman and himself. He wanted the congressmen and women to realize that without him and Superman, they would currently be nothing more than scattered remains amidst the rubble of the Capitol.
"Hahaha, it's done!"
Watching the Capitol collapse on his monitors, Lex Luthor let out a manic, hysterical laugh.
"This world doesn't need a God. It doesn't need deities. If they exist, I will personally kill them."
He was certain that after this, the entire world would believe Superman and his cat had murdered the members of Congress. Humanity would finally recognize the danger Superman posed and stand in opposition to him. Then, he could use the "Dark Knight" of Gotham to deal with the Man of Steel once and for all.
For years, Luthor had been collecting data on "Metahumans."
It wasn't just the Dark Knight who terrified the criminals of Gotham, or this god-like Superman and his cat. He knew of others: the woman who had lived since World War I, the young man who moved like a bolt of lightning, the mechanical lifeform resurrected by alien technology, and the man from the depths of the ocean.
Once the Dark Knight, Superman, and the Super Cat were dealt with, he intended to systematically eliminate the rest.
"How is this possible?!"
A few seconds later, his laughter stopped abruptly. He watched the monitors as Superman and his cat emerged from the settling ruins, leading every single congressperson and staff member out—completely unharmed.
Clearly, the duo had used an incomprehensible power to save everyone in the blast. This meant Luthor's plan to frame Superman had utterly backfired. Not only had he failed to make Superman a villain, but he would now be a wanted man.
"F*ck!"
Enraged, Luthor slammed his fist onto his desk. He didn't waste a moment before initiating Plan B. Though he believed his primary plans were perfect, his genius-level intellect always demanded a contingency.
As one of the world's wealthiest men, his network was vast. He immediately contacted his "friends" in the government, using massive bribes to convince them to delay any subsequent investigations. Simultaneously, he dispatched his company's top-tier legal team to use the law as a shield.
Rules were meant to bind the poor; when you were rich enough, you could make black look like white. Even if the congresswoman knew he was behind the blast, did she have the hard evidence required to arrest him?
Finally, he gave the order to his mercenaries monitoring Superman's girlfriend, Lois Lane, and his mother, Martha Kent.
If I want to kill a God, Luthor thought, I must use his weaknesses.
"If you are a God, then I shall create a Demon capable of killing God!"
After giving his orders, Luthor took a private jet to his most secret laboratory.
Previously, under the guise of the "Kryptonian Threat" theory, he had obtained the body of a Kryptonian soldier from the military. While General Zod and most of the soldiers had been banished or sealed, the military had collected several bodies of those killed during the initial invasion.
Now, using the Kryptonian knowledge he had extracted from the scout ship, he intended to modify one of those corpses. He would create a Kryptonian cyborg specifically designed to kill Superman and George.
If Batman couldn't solve the problem with the Kryptonite he had "stolen," then this monstrosity would finish the job.
Following the Zod incident, Luthor's team had discovered a peculiar stone beneath the Kryptonian World Engine destroyed by Superman in the Indian Ocean. This stone was a byproduct of the terraforming process. He named it "Kryptonite."
Research proved that as long as Kryptonite was near a Kryptonian body, the otherwise indestructible flesh became as weak as a human's. Understanding that this was the "Achilles' heel" for Superman and George, he had manipulated Batman's hostility toward Superman while "accidentally" leaking information that allowed the Dark Knight to steal a large cache of the stones.
At the same time, Bruce Wayne—Batman—was watching the news of the rescue. He felt a deep sense of internal conflict.
He didn't agree with the way Superman and the cat operated. Even if they were saving lives, they solved every problem with raw violence, acting entirely on their own whims without any oversight or order. To Bruce, this was a Sword of Damocles hanging over humanity's head. If the man and the cat ever changed their minds, it would be the end of the world. He believed danger had to be nipped in the bud.
That was why he had hacked LexCorp, stolen the Kryptonite data, and moved to forge weapons that could kill them.
He had planned to lure them into a trap and end it. But their willingness to participate in a legal hearing made him hesitate. It suggested they didn't entirely disregard human order or law. Moreover, seeing them save everyone in the explosion made him suspect that the recent events were a setup aimed at Superman.
"Perhaps... I should call for a meeting to talk first before making a final decision," Bruce mused.
He decided he needed to confirm his suspicions face-to-face. Of course, the meeting would still take place within one of his prepared traps. If anything felt off, he would strike with everything he had.
Back at the Capitol, the congresswoman who had looked death in the face took a deep, shaky breath. She looked at Superman and whispered:
"It was Lex Luthor. This was all his conspiracy. The incident in the Middle East, this explosion... it's all him."
She told Superman everything she knew and began using her authority to issue an arrest warrant. However, without direct evidence and having to follow legal protocols, she knew it could take months to actually put Luthor behind bars.
(End of Chapter)