Kara's sudden appearance made Herman think back to his recurring dreams.
"You betrayed my family! You betrayed her love for you!" In those dreams, Superman would always roar these words as he attacked him.
At first, Herman had assumed the dreams were nothing more than side effects of his powers, tied to his identity as a [Hidden Superpowered Being].
But with Kara unexpectedly showing up in the Marvel Universe, he couldn't stop himself from wondering if there was more to it. Could the "she" Superman mentioned in those dreams actually be Kara? Were those supposed side effects actually some kind of omen?
"I've already achieved uniqueness. There shouldn't be any so-called destined future. Different identities shouldn't have any connections either."
Herman was baffled. With the little information he had, there was no way to figure out what was truly going on.
"What are you thinking about?"
Kara had noticed the strange look on his face.
"Let me ask you this—how do you know this is Earth, and why can you speak its language?" Herman had noticed this oddity from the beginning.
By all logic, Kara's parents knew little about Earth—only that it was a planet lit by a Yellow Sun and inhabited by humans. And Kara had been so young when she left Krypton. There was no reason she should know so much about Earth.
Let alone speak its language so fluently.
The whole universe doesn't speak English. That was impossible.
To Herman, this was just as strange as Kara ending up in the Marvel Universe in the first place.
"Huh?"
Kara finally seemed to realize something was off. Her gaze turned uncertain. "Right... Why do I know this is Earth?"
Fragments of memory slipped through her mind like water she couldn't hold.
"In my memory... I do recall this language." She tried desperately to piece it together, but no matter how hard she thought, she couldn't figure out why.
It felt like she had forgotten something. Her expression grew uneasy, tinged with doubt. She wondered if this was some lingering side effect of spending over twenty years trapped in the Phantom Zone.
"Would you mind if I looked into your deeper memories?"
Herman's eyes flickered slightly as he asked the question. He rarely took the initiative to pry into someone's deepest thoughts.
After all, it was never a pleasant experience for the one being probed.
"Of course! I'm just as confused. I want to know too," Kara agreed without hesitation, nodding firmly.
"Alright."
Herman stepped closer and locked his gaze with hers.
This way, the memory scan would at least spare her some pain. As Kara's brows knitted slightly, Herman sifted through her deep memories.
But the answers he expected didn't appear. Most of Kara's memories were perfectly normal. Only the period when she had been trapped in the Phantom Zone was completely blank.
That much was understandable—she had been asleep, after all. But what stood out was that nowhere in her memories was there any information about Earth or its languages. She had never been exposed to them, and yet, somehow, she could speak Earth's tongue.
For a moment, Herman felt the mystery only deepen.
He scanned through her memories again, but still found no clue. Could it be that someone had erased or altered them?
No... that didn't seem right.
His eyes filled with suspicion and uncertainty.
"How is it?"
Kara asked first, her tone nervous, like a patient waiting for a doctor's diagnosis.
"Nothing serious. Most likely just memory implants from your parents," Herman told her with a gentle lie.
He knew that despite her cheerful appearance, Kara wasn't nearly as calm inside. Beneath her surface composure, the Kryptonian girl was filled with unease in this unfamiliar world. That calm exterior was only a mask.
Perhaps it came from the warrior training she had received back on Krypton.
Either way, having just delved into her thoughts and memories, Herman had no intention of adding to her anxiety.
"That makes sense. They're scientists, highly respected on our planet." Kara accepted Herman's explanation without a second thought.
On Krypton, technology was unimaginably advanced. Their civilization was thousands of years ahead of Earth, already capable of interstellar colonization. Yet, because of decisions made by the ruling elite, Krypton perished when disaster struck, and all Kryptonians born of that great civilization perished with it.
"Do you know how to help me find Kal? He arrived on Earth long before I did. By now, he must have become incredibly strong."
Kara had only basked in Earth's Yellow Sun for ten minutes and already felt her strength surging. She could hardly imagine how powerful a Kryptonian would be after absorbing solar energy for over twenty years. Maybe strong enough to lift a truck with ease?
Her imagination could only go so far, but her mind raced with possibilities.
"Not everyone shows their differences. He may have hidden his identity, living an ordinary life like a regular person."
Herman answered half-seriously, half-jokingly. "But don't worry. Earth isn't that big. I'll help you find him."
Kara didn't suspect him of any ill intent.
"Mm-hmm!" She nodded. "If only my ship hadn't broken down... with its tracking system, I could've found him much faster."
Her voice carried a hint of frustration.
"Earth has plenty of scientists. Maybe someone here can repair your ship." Tony Stark's name flashed through Herman's mind. Could Earth's most brilliant inventor even begin to understand Kryptonian technology?
"Can we go down now? I'm worried someone might steal my ship." Kara glanced down at the clouds and cautiously asked Herman.
"Of course."
A circle of ravens swirled beneath their feet, carrying them back to the ground. Kara gasped again at the experience.
"Magic!"
She looked at Herman with undisguised envy. She was about to ask if she could learn such abilities herself, but something else immediately caught her eye.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
Her ship was now surrounded by agents.
Coulson had arrived at some point and was intently watching technicians tamper with the alien craft.
For S.H.I.E.L.D., passing up the chance to study alien technology was out of the question.
"You people! Doesn't Earth have property laws? Don't touch my ship!" Kara shouted angrily, watching as wires were plugged into the craft. Her heart ached, and she rushed forward, yanking the cables out.
"Young lady, you—"
The surrounding agents tried to act, but Herman's telekinesis froze them in place, locking them like statues.
Right now, Kara was no different from any ordinary human girl. A single bullet could easily take her life. Herman had no intention of letting these agents harm his future "ally."
"What did you do to them?"
Coulson's expression hardened. He couldn't tell what ability Herman had used—his mind flashed to Homelander from The Boys.
But even Homelander didn't have an immobilization ability like this.
"Just a little warning."
Herman's eyes were calm as he looked at Coulson. "Breaking into and tampering with someone else's belongings isn't exactly proper behavior."
His tone wasn't heavy, nor was his gaze sharp, yet Coulson still felt a crushing pressure bearing down on him.
His throat tightened instinctively. Not even when a mortar had locked onto him had he felt this kind of fear.
"You're right."
Coulson gave a strained smile, nodding quickly. He waved for the agents to pull back. Those not caught in Herman's power immediately turned and bolted—if even their leader was afraid of this man, how could they not be?
The Homelander.
Even the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't dare provoke such an existence.
"A wise choice."
Herman released the agents from his telekinetic hold. The moment they regained control of their bodies, they scrambled to retreat.
"About this girl..."
Coulson, receiving instructions through his earpiece, glanced at Kara standing by the small spacecraft. He hesitated before asking, "Is she someone you know? We need to be certain that she—and the civilization she comes from—pose no threat to Earth."
S.H.I.E.L.D. was already convinced Kara was an alien.
Herman figured their satellites must have picked up something. He also knew that the one truly asking wasn't Coulson at all, but Nick Fury—that paranoid bald man—using Coulson as his mouthpiece.
"Threat?"
Herman thought the Kree's existence must have rattled Fury badly.
"You don't need to worry about that. I can guarantee she's no threat... As for the civilization she once belonged to, it should already be gone." Herman's tone was light, but his answer was patient.
He knew full well that if he didn't spell it out, Nick Fury, with his paranoia and constant scheming, wouldn't get a wink of sleep tonight.
"A survivor?"
Coulson and Fury, listening through the earpiece, immediately caught Herman's meaning. Both exhaled slightly in relief. Accepting a single interstellar refugee wasn't a major problem for Earth—as long as it didn't risk sparking a clash between civilizations.
"Ask him how he knows. Did the girl tell him that?" Fury, of course, didn't fully trust Herman's words. Still, not wanting to provoke a conflict, he could only probe indirectly.
"No."
Herman didn't need Coulson to repeat the question. His hearing easily picked up the words coming through the earpiece. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s gear was top-grade, but Herman's hearing was simply monstrous.
If he wanted, he could even hear the sound of women showering in the next block. Don't ask how he knew there were so many young women living there.
That was a secret...
"You...!"
Coulson was stunned. The fact that Herman could pick up his transmission from this distance was downright terrifying—his hearing wasn't human.
"I can read minds. Didn't you know that?" Herman teased lightly, his tone playful.
Coulson's chest tightened.
So it was true.
This man really could read minds.
"This... I really don't know."
Coulson gave a dry laugh and stepped back a few paces, uneasy and unsure if the jamming device on him was even working. He suspected Herman's mind-reading ability, like the immobilization technique earlier, was just another power Herman hadn't shown in the TV series.
A hidden trump card?
Coulson couldn't help but think Nick Fury had been absolutely right—his order to avoid provoking Herman at all costs was a stroke of genius.
"Mind reading, huh."
On the other end of the earpiece, Nick Fury nodded thoughtfully.
Compared to Kara's words, he naturally put more trust in the information Herman had pried from her mind. After all, who could say how much weight an alien's claims carried? That seemingly fragile girl could just as easily be a cunning spy.
"You mean to take in an alien girl?" Fury's voice came through Coulson's earpiece as he spoke directly with Herman.
Of course, he wanted both the alien girl and her ship. But judging by Herman's stance, he knew the odds of acquiring the spacecraft were slim.
And sure enough—
"I suppose you could say I share a rather peculiar bond with her family. That makes me responsible for her safety."
Herman's answer was firm.
Trading blows with Superman in his dreams... that counted as a bond, right?
In any case, Herman would never let Kara fall into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands. Who knew if HYDRA agents hiding in the shadows might dissect her?
Even organ harvesting would be cruel enough.
"I see... I'll have her identification papers delivered to you before noon tomorrow. I trust you'll make sure she poses no threat to Earth." Fury's grave voice carried through the earpiece.
Coulson almost wanted to just take the earpiece off and hand it to Herman. With the Director himself speaking to this "Homelander," he felt like a third wheel.
"No problem."
Herman nodded without hesitation.
"Good. I'll be in touch."
Coulson received Fury's order to retreat. He and his agents all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"Until next time."
Herman watched Coulson lead his men away. Fury hadn't pressed him on why he had ties to an alien.
Which made sense—Fury himself had alien friends of his own.
...
"They didn't make your ship worse, did they?" After sending off the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Herman walked back to the small spacecraft.
The vessel really was tiny, about the size of a large dolphin. Kara was fiddling with something on the panel, the symbols completely incomprehensible to Herman.
Even though he had skimmed her memories, that didn't mean he had learned Kryptonian script—most of it he'd only glanced through like watching a film.
"Thanks for chasing those guys off. My ship isn't exactly fine—it's just broken beyond repair."
Kara gave the little craft a frustrated tap, then forced a smile at Herman.
She likely already guessed who those agents were—the equivalent of Krypton's high council's enforcers.
Krypton had a highly advanced civilization and a well-developed legal system, which naturally gave rise to rigid hierarchies and the enforcers of the elite.
And truthfully, Krypton's enforcers were hardly beloved among its people.
If an alien had appeared on Krypton, Kara knew all too well what those enforcers would have done—dragged them straight to a Kryptonian lab.
Precisely because of this, she felt deeply grateful for Herman's help.
She thought, even if she hadn't managed to find her cousin on Earth, she should at least be thankful that the first person she'd met was a good man.
A good man who could sway Earth's enforcers... Not being carted off by humans for dissection was, in her eyes, a small blessing.
"Take this as a thank-you gift."
Feeling that words alone weren't enough, Kara thought for a moment, then turned to her ship's storage compartment. From inside, she retrieved a ring engraved with the [S] emblem.
"I think you'll like it."
She tossed the ring toward Herman, who stood a short distance away.