"Is Superman really dead?" After Robert left, Bruce Wayne stood frozen for a long time, struggling to process the news. The impact of it was overwhelming, and he couldn't immediately digest it.
After all, Bruce had prepared countless contingency plans for dealing with Clark and Robert, without ever being confident of their success. Yet in the short time he was imprisoned, a Skrull disguised as him, with Lex Luthor's help, managed to execute part of those plans, a fact Bruce found hard to accept.
His hesitation now stemmed from the fact that although he had prepared extensive plans, those plans were only meant to be activated if Robert or Clark lost control. Under normal circumstances, Bruce would never use them.
But if Clark or Robert did lose control, would Robert still spare him after seeing him like this?
Bruce realized that Robert had just saved his life. Without Robert's intervention, he would likely have been killed by the eight Skrulls disguised as him. Bruce didn't believe he could have defeated them all, nor did he think he could have escaped alive.
And even if he somehow managed to defeat those Skrulls, there were still many more in the base, and he would have had no chance of leaving the base alive.
So, in a sense, Bruce owed his life to Robert. If Robert had wanted him dead, he wouldn't have needed to act—just standing by would have been enough.
Bruce was also puzzled about the circumstances under which the Skrull impersonating him would have attacked Clark. And was Clark truly dead? Based on his earlier reasoning, if Clark had really died, Robert's demeanor wouldn't be what it was now.
After much internal debate, Bruce still couldn't find the answer. Shaking his head in resignation, he turned to the nearby cells and began releasing the important captives one by one.
If Bruce had been escaping on his own, he wouldn't have cared about the fates of these important figures. After all, informing the Avengers and Robert about the Skrulls' infiltration was the top priority.
But since the Skrulls had already been dealt with by Robert, rescuing these people gave Bruce an excuse, allowing him to avoid suspicion about how he had managed such a feat on his own.
Soon, after freeing everyone, Bruce successfully contacted Alfred and had him fly over to evacuate the captives.
As for Bruce, he planned to stay behind and investigate the Skrull base for anything that could assist him. Skrull technology was known to be advanced, and while Robert had taken the Skrull ship, he hadn't thoroughly searched the base.
Of course, Bruce wasn't the only one with this idea, but the others who had just been freed didn't have time to contact their own people, let alone compete with Bruce for control over the base's resources.
Meanwhile, Robert had Diana pilot the Skrull ship to the Avengers' base. After unloading the ship, he and Diana, along with Gravik, continued hunting down the remaining Skrulls, initiating their elimination plan.
Naturally, the Skrulls were aware of Robert's actions. In fact, they had known since the situation at S.H.I.E.L.D. began to deteriorate, as information had spread through various channels.
Initially, when Gravik began his actions, the Skrulls had planned to band together and flee Earth. But they hadn't expected Gravik to be defeated so quickly, forcing them into hiding.
Many Skrulls, fearing they had already drawn suspicion, no longer dared to disguise themselves as their previous targets. Instead, they sought new identities and vanished from sight.
While it was difficult for outsiders to identify Skrulls, they were all too familiar with each other. With Gravik, bound by the Lasso of Truth and no longer in control of his own fate, leading the way, Robert tracked down and killed the Skrulls one by one.
Despite their efforts, Robert was dissatisfied with the pace. The Skrulls had spread out so widely that Robert found himself running around the world, which was quite a hassle.
"Hmm? These Skrulls are hiding in a military base?" Robert encountered a slight complication during his Skrull hunt while in a desolate area.
The military base wasn't exactly hidden. Although it was located in the wilderness, its above-ground structures indicated that it was an official American military base, not some secret development site.
Still, the presence of such a base didn't mean it wasn't dangerous, especially since Robert could already sense a familiar supernatural power within it.
Just as Robert was preparing to enter the base with Diana and Gravik, a figure appeared before him.
"Saiyan! It's really you! What are you doing here?" Blanch, frowning, asked Robert, his eyes filled with both caution and a hint of fear. He paid no attention to Diana or the bound Gravik.
Blanch had sensed a powerful energy approaching the base and had grown nervous. Now, seeing Robert in person, his tension only increased, as Robert had easily defeated him once before.
That defeat happened when the Avengers had just started making a significant impact. Several government agencies had decided they could no longer sit idly by. Fearing that the Avengers' growing influence would overshadow their own, they chose to act. Taking advantage of Robert and Clark's absence, they attacked the Avengers, deploying their strongest assets.
In that battle, the government forces succeeded, yet they also failed.
They succeeded in overpowering the Avengers, defeating one member after another, including Kara, who was bested by Blanch.
But their ultimate goal wasn't achieved because Robert intervened. In an instant, he wiped out Blanch, the strongest of the government's forces, who had completely dominated Kara. If not for the Martian Manhunter pleading on his behalf, Blanch would have died.
So, even though Blanch had made significant progress in recent years, he still had no confidence in facing Robert, especially given the intelligence reports indicating that Robert's power had grown even more terrifying.
"Are you the only one here? What about the others with similar energy signatures? Are they not coming out?" Robert raised an eyebrow, smiling as he asked Blanch.
"What? How do you know? Can you sense them?" Blanch's pupils shrank as his body tensed, preparing for a confrontation with Robert.
Blanch's genes had already been provided to other agencies, but that didn't mean his own military faction had stopped experimenting with his DNA.
Blanch's abilities had emerged by accident and were almost impossible to replicate. However, that didn't mean his genetic material couldn't be copied. With advances in cloning technology, this military faction had created multiple clones of Blanch, though these clones lacked the stability of the original.
Blanch's powers didn't come from his own species but from a mysterious antimatter energy source from a place that might not even exist. Despite his cooperation, the researchers had yet to create a fully functional Blanch clone.
"I'm not really interested in your business. I'm not here for you. I'm here to eliminate a threat to Earth," Robert said, shaking his head, showing little interest in Blanch or the clones.
Blanch had grown stronger, but he was no longer on par with Kara. Moreover, his combat skills weren't impressive enough to catch Robert's attention, despite his military ties.
Besides, Robert was focused on eliminating the Skrulls and had no time to waste on Blanch or the base's leadership.
With a swift motion, Robert, Diana, and Gravik vanished, teleporting into the military base.
"What? Where did they go? This is bad!" Blanch muttered in shock, immediately flying into the base.
Inside, Robert calmly observed a group of high-ranking generals and researchers. "Quite a gathering here. You guys doing well, huh? Haven't you heard the news, or are you planning to fight to the death?"
"Kill them!" General Kelly barked, and the researchers immediately released the unstable Blanch clones.
Energy weapons fired first, with soldiers shooting at Robert in coordinated attacks. The weapons had been upgraded with energy technology, making them far more powerful than standard military arms, even rivaling Skrull weapons.
This was Blanch's doing. Though the source of his powers—the antimatter energy from the Negative Zone—remained unexplored, the base had managed to harness some of that energy, using it to enhance their weapons.
But before the researchers could use it directly, they had to weaken the energy, as even a small leak could reduce the base to rubble.
"Wait! Don't fire!" Blanch, returning just in time, shouted as he saw the soldiers aiming at Robert. But it was too late.
The soldiers, following General Kelly's orders, didn't stop until their energy weapons were fully discharged.
"Second wave! And the clone troops! What are you waiting for?" General Kelly shouted, frowning. He wasn't confident that their attacks could kill Robert, but he hoped they would at least eliminate Gravik, ensuring no further Skrull exposure.
"The boss told us to wait, so we're waiting!" The Blanch clones, confused, glanced at General Kelly, then at Blanch, who was anxiously watching. Even though the clones had been trained, they still felt a kinship with Blanch, who was, after all, their genetic origin.
"Your energy weapons are interesting, even more advanced than the Skrulls' tech. Tony would probably love them," Robert remarked as the dust settled, revealing him, Diana, and Gravik unharmed. The energy barrier around them hadn't faltered. The gap between Robert and his opponents was too vast; even if Blanch himself attacked, he wouldn't have been able to break Robert's barrier.
"Damn it! Keep firing!" General Kelly, seeing Gravik unharmed, shouted again, his eyes narrowing in frustration.
With a hum, an invisible force surged through the base, causing the soldiers to drop their weapons and sit down obediently.
If this had been before
, Robert would have killed all the soldiers without hesitation, but with Earth's population dwindling, he considered it a waste to kill them. All he needed to do was deal with the disguised Kelly and his accomplices.
In an instant, Kelly, the other generals, and several researchers were lifted into the air, floating toward Robert.
"Wait! Saiyan! Don't do anything rash!" Blanch, who had just been pleading with Kelly not to attack Robert, was now desperately trying to stop Robert from retaliating, overwhelmed by the situation.
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