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Chapter 420: Just a Head-on Confrontation
Clark gently patted his adoptive mother's shoulder and gave a faint smile.
This faint smile contained many emotions: comfort, helplessness, gratitude...
The two of them had depended on each other for ten years, diligently running a farm. Although it didn't make them a fortune, they were well-off. Besides, Clark was so capable that they never needed to hire any help.
But all of this seemed so pale and powerless before the Kryptonians, before General Zod.
General Zod had been the Supreme Commander during Krypton's most glorious era, waging war across the universe and crushing countless powerful enemies.
And that was without the enhancement of a yellow sun.
But now, General Zod had come to Earth, his eyes fixed on the Codex. That thing was inside his own body, impossible to remove.
"I am indeed the one they're looking for, but that Zod can't be trusted... Yet if I surrender to the authorities on Earth, maybe I can save the planet..." Clark frowned, avoiding Lois Lane's gaze.
He was at a loss; it was the first time this big guy had ever encountered such a situation.
Even in the battle in the Atlantic, he had only been in a fierce battle with Orm. There was no choice to be made—he just had to fight. Everything else could be dealt with afterward.
Lois Lane's captivating eyes, her azure pupils, stared intently at the big guy before her. "So what are you thinking?"
"I don't know," Clark said. "Zod certainly can't be trusted... but I'm not sure if I can trust the people of Earth either..."
The Son of Justice had to face the second momentous choice of his life, a choice that might even be a final farewell. He subconsciously glanced back at Martha; his adoptive mother's face was already streaked with tears.
Ten years ago, his adoptive father, Kent, caught in a storm, had resolutely used gestures and expressions to stop Clark from saving him, all to prevent Clark from revealing his unique abilities.
That time, Clark and Martha had watched in agony as Kent died in the storm.
Now, Clark had to make his second choice.
A choice from which there was no turning back.
"We can go find Kamar-Taj! We can go to the Himalayan Mountains; if we search long enough, we're bound to find it!" Martha said excitedly.
Clark shook his head bitterly.
And what if they did find it?
They were not unaware of that one's temper. The many sorcerers of Kamar-Taj would either remain silent, believing that Earth's people needed to resolve their own crises, or they would strike first and blow that spaceship out of the sky before anything else.
Kamar-Taj's existence was no longer a secret. Tony's miraculous rise from his awakening to becoming a Guardian had long been dug up and eagerly discussed by the people of Earth, jokingly dubbed by the masses as the classic version of an underdog success story.
Moreover, some third-rate sorcerers had been contacted and recruited by various factions, and through them, some of Kamar-Taj's legends and their great achievements had gradually become known to humans.
This was a small flaw exposed by Kamar-Taj's reveal—because humans knew there was a group of powerful beings protecting their planet from behind the scenes.
Perhaps this prevented humans from unleashing their full potential when facing a crisis? But Tony thought that was bullshit. People always died in every crisis, and no one wanted to die. Of course they would fight for their lives when faced with danger.
What's more, everyone on Earth knew that their Sorcerer Supreme had a bad temper and would never compromise when he could just fight instead.
The kind who always had to strike first, at that.
This personality undoubtedly made many people into Tony's admirers, but it also led a bunch of politicians to bash Tony at every opportunity. What on earth was the Ancient One thinking, passing the title of Sorcerer Supreme to him—to someone with such a brainless, head-on-confrontation kind of personality?!
Of course, the few who knew Tony better, especially those who had suffered at his hands, had always scoffed at such talk.
If anyone were to ask these few people their opinion of their Guardian, they would be sure to label him as "shameless," "insidious," and "cunning to the core."
It was true that Tony liked to strike first, but only on the premise that he had already thoroughly studied his opponent. He wasn't some brainless guy who only knew how to charge in head-on.
Otherwise, the previous Sorcerer Supreme would not have chosen him.
And this was the source of confidence for many of Earth's people.
Although we have a cunning, insidious, and violent-tempered current Sorcerer Supreme, we also have a reliable former one. Humans believed that if a world-ending event truly came, they would not just sit by and watch.
Lois Lane recalled the information on Kamar-Taj and said, "We can't be sure of Kamar-Taj's stance, right? They might choose to remain silent, just as they took no action when dealing with Atlantis."
"No, they'll definitely intervene," Martha said stubbornly. "The conflict between humans and Atlantis was an internal Earth war. In the eyes of Kamar-Taj, it's no different from World War I or World War II. But this time, it's aliens. Just like how they eventually took action against the Chitauri."
Ultimately, she didn't want her son to go to his death.
"We could try to contact those robots. They are a team directly under the Sorcerer Supreme's command," Martha said.
Hearing this, on the other side of the farm, Agent Coulson took off his earpiece, his expression turning serious.
Through the infrared screen, he saw Clark occasionally turn his face in their direction and knew that his team had been exposed for some time.
"Time to move, gentlemen. We need to be the first to win over this alien," Agent Coulson said, putting down the file he had read through many times. It recorded everything about Clark's life from birth to the present, and it all looked very mundane.
Who would have thought that this ordinary farmer's son was actually an alien.
"Are we really going to hand him over to them?"
"That depends on the situation. We know too little about the enemy. We have to prepare for the worst," Agent Coulson said solemnly.
If it were the Chitauri, present-day Earth wouldn't be too afraid. After all, having defeated them once gave them some confidence. Moreover, after acquiring and developing a large number of energy weapons, Earth had become much stronger.
The fear was that their combat power would be off the charts. If every single one of them was on Clark's level...
Thinking of this, Agent Coulson felt a wave of anxiety.
An agent suddenly relayed a message to Agent Coulson: "Sir, we need to prepare for the worst right now."
Agent Coulson's expression changed slightly. He abruptly took the projector from the agent and looked at the displayed image.
The enormous Kryptonian spaceship had moved. A dense swarm of figures rushed out from within, looking down upon the Earth from the sky.
Not far from them, a large number of figures were also flying over at high speed. It was a group of gleaming steel behemoths. Menacing fighter jets roared through the air one after another, confronting the Kryptonians.
"Decepticons?" Agent Coulson was startled. "Could it be these guys can't resist making the first move?"
This really is Tony's style... What a headache.
(end of chapter)
Clark gently patted his adoptive mother's shoulder and gave a faint smile.
This faint smile contained many emotions: comfort, helplessness, gratitude...
The two of them had depended on each other for ten years, diligently running a farm. Although it didn't make them a fortune, they were well-off. Besides, Clark was so capable that they never needed to hire any help.
But all of this seemed so pale and powerless before the Kryptonians, before General Zod.
General Zod had been the Supreme Commander during Krypton's most glorious era, waging war across the universe and crushing countless powerful enemies.
And that was without the enhancement of a yellow sun.
But now, General Zod had come to Earth, his eyes fixed on the Codex. That thing was inside his own body, impossible to remove.
"I am indeed the one they're looking for, but that Zod can't be trusted... Yet if I surrender to the authorities on Earth, maybe I can save the planet..." Clark frowned, avoiding Lois Lane's gaze.
He was at a loss; it was the first time this big guy had ever encountered such a situation.
Even in the battle in the Atlantic, he had only been in a fierce battle with Orm. There was no choice to be made—he just had to fight. Everything else could be dealt with afterward.
Lois Lane's captivating eyes, her azure pupils, stared intently at the big guy before her. "So what are you thinking?"
"I don't know," Clark said. "Zod certainly can't be trusted... but I'm not sure if I can trust the people of Earth either..."
The Son of Justice had to face the second momentous choice of his life, a choice that might even be a final farewell. He subconsciously glanced back at Martha; his adoptive mother's face was already streaked with tears.
Ten years ago, his adoptive father, Kent, caught in a storm, had resolutely used gestures and expressions to stop Clark from saving him, all to prevent Clark from revealing his unique abilities.
That time, Clark and Martha had watched in agony as Kent died in the storm.
Now, Clark had to make his second choice.
A choice from which there was no turning back.
"We can go find Kamar-Taj! We can go to the Himalayan Mountains; if we search long enough, we're bound to find it!" Martha said excitedly.
Clark shook his head bitterly.
And what if they did find it?
They were not unaware of that one's temper. The many sorcerers of Kamar-Taj would either remain silent, believing that Earth's people needed to resolve their own crises, or they would strike first and blow that spaceship out of the sky before anything else.
Kamar-Taj's existence was no longer a secret. Tony's miraculous rise from his awakening to becoming a Guardian had long been dug up and eagerly discussed by the people of Earth, jokingly dubbed by the masses as the classic version of an underdog success story.
Moreover, some third-rate sorcerers had been contacted and recruited by various factions, and through them, some of Kamar-Taj's legends and their great achievements had gradually become known to humans.
This was a small flaw exposed by Kamar-Taj's reveal—because humans knew there was a group of powerful beings protecting their planet from behind the scenes.
Perhaps this prevented humans from unleashing their full potential when facing a crisis? But Tony thought that was bullshit. People always died in every crisis, and no one wanted to die. Of course they would fight for their lives when faced with danger.
What's more, everyone on Earth knew that their Sorcerer Supreme had a bad temper and would never compromise when he could just fight instead.
The kind who always had to strike first, at that.
This personality undoubtedly made many people into Tony's admirers, but it also led a bunch of politicians to bash Tony at every opportunity. What on earth was the Ancient One thinking, passing the title of Sorcerer Supreme to him—to someone with such a brainless, head-on-confrontation kind of personality?!
Of course, the few who knew Tony better, especially those who had suffered at his hands, had always scoffed at such talk.
If anyone were to ask these few people their opinion of their Guardian, they would be sure to label him as "shameless," "insidious," and "cunning to the core."
It was true that Tony liked to strike first, but only on the premise that he had already thoroughly studied his opponent. He wasn't some brainless guy who only knew how to charge in head-on.
Otherwise, the previous Sorcerer Supreme would not have chosen him.
And this was the source of confidence for many of Earth's people.
Although we have a cunning, insidious, and violent-tempered current Sorcerer Supreme, we also have a reliable former one. Humans believed that if a world-ending event truly came, they would not just sit by and watch.
Lois Lane recalled the information on Kamar-Taj and said, "We can't be sure of Kamar-Taj's stance, right? They might choose to remain silent, just as they took no action when dealing with Atlantis."
"No, they'll definitely intervene," Martha said stubbornly. "The conflict between humans and Atlantis was an internal Earth war. In the eyes of Kamar-Taj, it's no different from World War I or World War II. But this time, it's aliens. Just like how they eventually took action against the Chitauri."
Ultimately, she didn't want her son to go to his death.
"We could try to contact those robots. They are a team directly under the Sorcerer Supreme's command," Martha said.
Hearing this, on the other side of the farm, Agent Coulson took off his earpiece, his expression turning serious.
Through the infrared screen, he saw Clark occasionally turn his face in their direction and knew that his team had been exposed for some time.
"Time to move, gentlemen. We need to be the first to win over this alien," Agent Coulson said, putting down the file he had read through many times. It recorded everything about Clark's life from birth to the present, and it all looked very mundane.
Who would have thought that this ordinary farmer's son was actually an alien.
"Are we really going to hand him over to them?"
"That depends on the situation. We know too little about the enemy. We have to prepare for the worst," Agent Coulson said solemnly.
If it were the Chitauri, present-day Earth wouldn't be too afraid. After all, having defeated them once gave them some confidence. Moreover, after acquiring and developing a large number of energy weapons, Earth had become much stronger.
The fear was that their combat power would be off the charts. If every single one of them was on Clark's level...
Thinking of this, Agent Coulson felt a wave of anxiety.
An agent suddenly relayed a message to Agent Coulson: "Sir, we need to prepare for the worst right now."
Agent Coulson's expression changed slightly. He abruptly took the projector from the agent and looked at the displayed image.
The enormous Kryptonian spaceship had moved. A dense swarm of figures rushed out from within, looking down upon the Earth from the sky.
Not far from them, a large number of figures were also flying over at high speed. It was a group of gleaming steel behemoths. Menacing fighter jets roared through the air one after another, confronting the Kryptonians.
"Decepticons?" Agent Coulson was startled. "Could it be these guys can't resist making the first move?"
This really is Tony's style... What a headache.
(end of chapter)
