"Hah…"
Clark Kent let out a long, shaky breath.
His body, moments ago wracked with pain from the Kryptonite's radiation, finally began to recover.
The first thing he did after regaining his strength was rush over to check the townspeople Alex had "touched."
Every one of them was safe and unharmed.
Relief washed over him—
though it came with a deeper confusion.
> Why did Homelander go around touching them one by one?
What was he even doing?
He didn't have an answer.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on it.
Clark pushed the question aside and stepped up to the control panel.
After a quick inspection, he flipped several switches.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
Gas hissed out from the vents inside each glass cell—
and the reinforced pods began to unlock one after another.
Soon, the sleeping meteor freaks began to stir.
> "What's going on?"
"Where are we?"
"We're… free?"
Excited voices echoed through the underground lab.
They didn't know who had freed them or why,
but to see open air again after years in captivity—
that was enough to make them cheer.
BOOM!
A sonic crack split the air.
Clark Kent's figure blurred and vanished from the chamber.
At this point in time, he wasn't Superman yet—
just a young Clark Kent still bound by his father Jonathan's strict warning:
> "Never show your powers in front of others."
So unless absolutely necessary,
Clark always acted from the shadows.
Of course, he hadn't truly left.
He remained nearby, watching from a distance.
He had already called the police.
They'd arrive soon—
and when they did, the freed captives would finally be safe.
Only then would Clark leave for good.
---
Meanwhile, Alex was still inside the secret base.
He wasn't done yet.
There was still loot to collect—
and not just a little.
An entire storage room stacked floor-to-ceiling with Kryptonite awaited him.
He ignored the meteor freaks—now powerless after he'd absorbed their energy—
and flashed away.
In the next instant, he was standing in another lab.
Rows upon rows of crates filled with glowing green stones.
> "Now this is a haul," Alex grinned.
Without hesitation, he tore the reinforced containers open,
letting the eerie green light spill across the room.
Just as he was about to find something to carry it all with—
He froze.
A sharp sound sliced through the air.
BOOM!
The next second, a large man—somewhere in his forties, built like a tank—appeared out of thin air.
A blur, a shockwave, and then stillness.
Alex studied him with interest.
Even without using his powers, he could feel it—
a dense wave of cosmic energy radiating from the man's body.
The same type of energy he'd sensed from the meteor freaks…
but magnified many times over.
> "Well, aren't you interesting," Alex murmured.
This wasn't some ordinary subject.
This man was Ares—
the result of Lex Luthor's "Ares Project."
A synthetic superhuman built from countless experiments on meteor freak DNA—
an artificial meteor freak.
Unlike the others, though, Ares had no mind of his own.
Every movement, every breath, was remotely controlled—
by Lex Luthor himself.
---
At that very moment, inside Luthor Manor,
Lex sat at his desk, eyes gleaming with anticipation as he watched the feed.
On his monitor, he saw through Ares's eyes—
and the stranger standing before him.
The moment he laid eyes on Alex, his heartbeat quickened.
> "A new superhuman…" he whispered, almost reverently.
"It's been far too long."
Excitement burned behind his composed smile.
> "Ares, take him down," Lex ordered.
"Alive."
BOOM!
Ares moved instantly.
He blurred into motion,
turning into a streak of afterimages as he charged at Alex.
His speed—
almost equal to Clark Kent's.
Lex's research had paid off.
At this stage in the timeline, Ares's combat ability was monstrous—
easily on par with the early Superman.
Unfortunately for Lex,
he had no idea what kind of monster Alex really was.
THUD!
Alex didn't even bother dodging.
He simply tilted his shoulder forward—
and threw a lazy punch.
CRACK!
The sound of flesh and bone colliding echoed through the lab.
Ares's massive frame jolted violently—
then flew backward like a cannonball, smashing into the wall with thunderous force.
The ground cracked beneath him.
Crack—crack!
Bones shattered.
Ares's chest caved inward,
his ribs splintering as internal organs turned to pulp.
> "What—"
> "Impossible!"
Back in his mansion, Lex shot to his feet.
His expression twisted from disbelief to exhilaration.
> "He took down Ares… with one punch?"
Years of studying superhumans—
and he had never seen power like this.
Then, slowly, a grin spread across his face.
> "Perfect…" Lex murmured.
"An unexpected gift."
If he could capture a being like this—
the data, the breakthroughs, the sheer potential—
it would redefine human evolution itself.
---
KRA-KOOM!
The lab exploded in a spray of debris.
From within the wreckage, Ares rose again.
Crack—crack—crack!
The sound of tearing flesh filled the room.
The grotesque dent in his chest began to close,
muscle knitting itself back together at an impossible speed.
Within seconds, he stood fully healed—
as though Alex had never struck him at all.
> "Regeneration?" Alex blinked, impressed.
"Now that's new."
The man's healing ability was on par with Wolverine's—
maybe even better.
Combined with his speed, durability, and brute strength,
this "Ares" possessed at least three distinct powers.
Completely different from the meteor freaks Alex had faced so far.
> "Not bad, Lex," Alex muttered under his breath,
his eyes narrowing with a spark of excitement.
"Let's see what your little science project can really do."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For 60 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:
Patreon - Twilight_scribe1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~