Diana clenched her fists, but she quickly held onto Barry. Now was not the time to vent her anger.
"So how are you going to send him back to Krypton?" Diana pointed out the issue sharply, "He's invincible on Earth. You can't lock him up with anything, so you can't send him back. This plan is just empty talk."
Lex sneered, seemingly to show off his wisdom. He began to speak boastfully: "Using violent means is definitely not going to work; I've already seen it. This guy has no weaknesses at all. Even Kryptonite, which could weaken him, can't really kill him. It's a pipe dream to think you can harm him on Earth."
"But, this guy has a huge brain capacity, yet it doesn't work very well. From what you've said about him going back to Krypton, you can see that. When people said the Kryptonians were extinct, he just believed it. What if he goes back and finds that they're not extinct, and such a technologically advanced civilization might just blow him away with one shot?"
Diana was stunned. She really hadn't thought about the problem from this angle. Right, Clark has never returned to Krypton. The extinction of the Kryptonians that he knows about is from some data from the spaceship on Earth. But this information might not be true.
Though it appears that the ones who left the data were his parents, what if his parents exaggerated the situation back then? For instance, the planet might indeed have disintegrated, but not completely extinct, there might still be some people left. If Clark recklessly returns, he might be in danger.
Even if we take a step back, what if such an advanced civilization has a few colony planets? The main planet disintegrated, and maybe the people on it didn't all escape, but there might still be garrisons on those planets. What if they came back?
This kind of high-tech civilization doesn't need many people to control battleships and weapons. Those phase cannons capable of piercing the atmosphere can be operated by a single person. Many are even auto-targeting, and would automatically attack all organisms within the area as soon as energy is restored. Superman can't say he wouldn't be affected by one shot.
In fact, the situation Luther described has already taken place. Wasn't Zod, the Krypton General who was exiled, one of those who returned from outside? Who knows how many such people are out there. If he goes back and runs into them, without the help of a Yellow Sun, he could be in real trouble.
Thinking this way, Diana felt a bit scared. Luckily, Clark returned safely.
After taunting him a bit, Lex said, "It shows that this guy isn't that smart. I just need to use a little trickery to deceive him back."
"Deceive him back?"
"Exactly, to make him go back, he needs an irresistible reason, and then make him go back voluntarily."
"What reason does he have to go back?" Diana asked.
"Why did he go back before?"
This question really stumped Diana. Actually, Diana wasn't clear why Clark had to go back at least once. It couldn't really have been just to take a breather, could it?
"Actually, I didn't know he'd gone back before," Lex shook his head and said, "But I think his reason must be different from what I imagine."
"What reason do you think?"
"His parents," Lex said, "To be precise, his biological parents. He's a very sentimental person. No matter how good he is to his adoptive mother, he might still want to meet his biological parents."
"You're not thinking…"
"I'll make that Kryptonian spaceship receive a message, pretending it's from his parents. The gist is that they narrowly escaped the extinction disaster, have returned home, and want to meet their son."
Diana couldn't help but step forward and punched Lex. This guy is really insidious. With such a plan, who could guarantee that Clark wouldn't be moved? After all, no matter what, they are his biological parents. Who wouldn't want to meet them?
And earlier, he already preconceived that the Kryptonian civilization was extinct, and there couldn't be any danger on this planet. Clark flies so fast that a round trip wouldn't take long, just like a normal person going home to visit their family. He's very likely to go.
"So how are you going to trap him?" Diana asked again. This is indeed the hardest part of the whole plan. After all, that's a very faraway place, it's probably hard to control remotely.
"That's why I need that spaceship," Luther said, "It is evident that the spaceship came from Krypton. If it could come here, it can go back. I just need to pilot the spaceship to Krypton once, and naturally, make a perfect prison."
Diana didn't know how to respond. Luther is unbelievably arrogant. He actually thinks that he, an ordinary person without superpowers, can pilot a spaceship of another civilization, go directly to their home, and then use super high-tech that humanity cannot touch to build a prison and trap Superman. It's simply wishful thinking.
"Aren't you afraid there are still people on Krypton?" Barry asked.
"I'm not a fool like that big guy; I have brains. The spaceship doesn't have to go directly to Krypton. I could stop in a nearby star system and send drones to check it out, couldn't I?"
"How can you be so sure you can use Krypton technology? You don't even know their language, right?" Barry asked again.
"Who said I don't know?" Lex squinted his eyes, looking like a fox. Suddenly, he spoke a string of words that no one understood.
"This is Kryptonian," Lex said, "Many materials on the spaceship that landed on Earth have this language. It's not very complicated. Once deciphered, it can be used for daily communication. I've already learned it."
Diana widened her eyes; now she was genuinely shocked. She gestured for a while and then said: "But even if you know the words, how do you know the pronunciation? You shouldn't know how to pronounce them."
Diana knew those spaceships were already out of energy; they couldn't have a voice system. So, even if you recognize the words, you wouldn't know how the letters are pronounced. It's like how many people today don't know how people from tribal times spoke, the words could be passed down, but the pronunciation is hard to know.
"This should be credited to Clark," Lex said, "He has spoken this language before, remember?"
Diana recalled and then understood. Back in Dr. Stone's laboratory, Clark had helped decode some things. He could speak Kryptonian.
"Did Dr. Stone tell you?" Diana asked.
"No, I checked the surveillance footage myself. It wasn't hard," Lex said, "Too bad Clark is illiterate, he didn't know how to translate technical terms, otherwise I could have learned more."
Diana sighed, she was truly speechless with someone like Luther, never tired of doing evil things. You could say he doesn't hate Superman, yet he would go as far as to learn an alien language just to fulfill his wicked plans; you could say he hates Superman, yet he learned a language from Superman.
Diana couldn't imagine how he replayed the footage of his enemy speaking while learning the language. Wouldn't he get nauseous?
This made Diana waver a bit for the first time. Luther seemed less like pure hatred and more like love turning into hate. Anyway, she couldn't do it, staring at the face of her enemy repeatedly and listening to their voice.
Thinking this way, Diana felt a bit strange looking at Luther. While it's understandable to have love turn into hate for someone as perfect as Superman, she still suggested seeing a doctor.
"I still don't get it," Barry said again. "Without the irradiation from the yellow sun, his power would decline over time. But when he went to Krypton, he was at full strength. Even if they have advanced technology, it would be difficult to trap Superman at his peak, wouldn't it?"
"So of course it can't be rushed," Lex said. "I will use his parents to keep delaying him. For example, they'll fall into deep crevices during the planet's repair, prompting Superman to search for them; or fabricate a mechanical rebellion, continuously exhausting his strength. This way he'll soon weaken and fall into my trap."
Diana hurriedly stopped Barry who was about to charge forward again. She sighed and said, "You're really rotten to the core."
"Thank you for the compliment, ma'am. Not as much as you guys though," Lex chuckled, "Creating a grand deception that fools all of mankind is more your forte."
"So you knew," Ron said, "Then you should also know, I can erase human memory."
Lex shook his head and said, "You can erase memories, but you cannot destroy wisdom. Even if you erase the truth I know, I would still discover it."
"Where's the flaw?"
"That nail which even Superman couldn't remove," Lex said, "That absolutely can't be made by the Mars people. Nor Kryptonians. Only Batman could have had a hand in it."
Diana paused again. This was a wholly new angle she hadn't considered before. She asked, "Why do you think so?"
"Because I know how strong Superman is," Lex said. "If there's something he couldn't remove, it was either made by me, or it was made by Batman. Not any civilization from other cosmos."
"Even Savage Wolf's civilization couldn't?"
"Not a chance," Lex paused and continued, "In fact, the success rates of my plan aren't particularly high either."
"...Why?" Ron was truly curious now. He had listened all along and felt the plan seemed quite feasible. If there were no unexpected events, it might really trap Superman. Of course, the Justice League would surely rescue him.
"You don't understand. The essence of Superman's strength isn't really the yellow sun but his belief that his superpower is about wishes coming true. As long as he wishes, he can certainly achieve it."
"This is also one of the greatest proofs that the nail was driven by Batman. Only those who understand Superman well would know this trait and then devise the corresponding plan. The brilliance of the nail-driving plan lies in making Superman choose not to pull the nail."
He spoke in circles, unable to be grasped immediately. Lex further explained, "The nail is buried too deep, affecting Earth, so Clark dares not pull it with force. The less he dares, the less likely he's able to pull it out. So the key to this plan actually is using Earth as leverage, restricting Superman's performance. This plan could only be made by someone thoroughly understanding Superman, not any Mars or Kryptonian."
Diana couldn't comment. All she could say was, it increasingly looked like love turning into hate. She meant both Luther and Batman—both were abnormal in their ways.
"My plan is the same. Even without the power of the yellow sun, as long as he wants to run, he should be able to escape."
"You know this but still want to go through?"
"Life lies in movement. And although it may not be completely successful, at least it can scare him and make him realize opposing a smart person like me is a grave mistake."
Diana was thoroughly speechless. This Luther definitely wasn't right. She needed to remind Clark to be cautious, who knew if he would execute this sinister plan someday, or more evil and twisted plans.
Now she believed assassination might not be Luther's doing. This straightforward, violent approach didn't fully reflect Luther's insidiousness. She could report back to Clark.
Diana picked up the phone, dialed, and then said, "Hello, Clark, it's me. Here's what..."
At that moment, Clark holding the phone was on the Krypton Main Ship in near-Earth orbit, checking a message from the distant mother planet:
"Carl Ai'er. I am your father. We have returned. Can you come back to Krypton? We have something very important to tell you."