"We, as a species on this planet, have always been searching for a savior. Ninety percent of people believe in some form of divine power."
"Every religion believes in a savior figure—but when that savior actually comes to our world, we demand that he follow our rules?"
"We must understand that this is a paradigm shift. We have to think beyond politics!"
"In this world, every individual action is a political action!"
"The most powerful person in the world is, by definition, a controversial person!"
…
This situation?
Alex couldn't help but pause slightly.
He wouldn't have known if he hadn't listened—but once he did, he discovered that the entire DC world was now filled with doubts about Superman.
This was completely different from back when Superman had just defeated General Zod and was universally praised and worshiped as a hero.
It had only been a little over two years at most, yet public opinion had already undergone such a dramatic shift.
Major news outlets and radio stations openly featured officials questioning Superman.
Across the world, protests and demonstrations against him were breaking out.
Of course—
Superman still had plenty of supporters as well.
They were locked in fierce debates with the opposition, and in many places, those arguments had even escalated into physical clashes.
Still, the sheer number of people opposing Superman was something Alex hadn't expected at all.
But the situation felt extremely familiar.
So familiar that Alex couldn't help but wonder—
Was the Batman v Superman storyline about to begin?
If that was the case, could it trigger some kind of mission?
Alex's eyes lit up slightly at the thought.
With that in mind, he deliberately tuned in to Batman-related chatter as well.
"Goddamn it, Alfred—he has the power to wipe out the entire human race. He's just like the Homelander!"
"Even if I believe there's only a one-percent chance that he's our enemy, we must treat that possibility as an absolute certainty!"
"We have to eliminate him!"
And sure enough—
Alex heard Batman's stance loud and clear.
It was worth mentioning here—
Because of Alex's earlier interference, Superman's battle with Zod hadn't caused catastrophic damage to the city. The fight had ended quickly.
Even so—
Batman and Superman had still ended up on opposite sides, with tensions escalating to the brink of open conflict.
There was only one reason for that.
Lex Luthor's manipulation behind the scenes.
With Lex Luthor's methods, Batman's initial impression of Superman didn't really matter.
Even if the two had been close friends, Lex would still have found a way to turn them against each other.
That much was trivial for him.
"So… is the Batman–Superman showdown really about to start?"
Pulling his thoughts back, a playful smile crept onto Alex's face.
If that was the case, there might really be something to look forward to.
An event like Batman vs. Superman had a high chance of triggering a mission.
And on top of that—
He'd get to watch a great show.
Not bad at all.
After a brief moment of thought, Alex made his decision.
He didn't rush to visit Superman.
Given the current situation, Superman was probably overwhelmed and in no mood for reunions anyway.
Instead, Alex found a high-end apartment and temporarily settled in.
Over the next two days—
He treated it as a sightseeing trip in Metropolis: eating, drinking, relaxing, enjoying himself.
It was actually quite a novel experience.
Of course—
Throughout this entire time, Alex kept a close eye on the movements of Batman, Superman, and Lex Luthor, the key players.
And just as Alex had expected—
Under Lex Luthor's schemes and provocations, the conflict between Batman and Superman had reached an explosive level.
Boom!
On a dark, windy night—
Superman descended from the sky and blocked Batman's Batmobile.
"The next time someone calls you—don't answer."
Superman ripped the Batmobile door off with one hand and issued this stern warning from above.
"Tell me," Batman shot back,
"Do you bleed?"
"This really is a classic scene."
Alex watched with great interest.
After that—
Lex Luthor decided the tension still wasn't high enough.
So he added more fuel to the fire.
He directly had Superman's mother, Martha Kent, kidnapped.
Alex didn't interfere with this either.
With him around, there was no chance Martha would actually be harmed—at most, she'd suffer a fright.
If Alex wanted to, he could rescue her instantly at any moment.
Before the duel between Superman and Batman reached its conclusion, Martha was never truly in danger.
"Where is she?!"
When Superman saw the photo of his kidnapped mother, he roared at Lex Luthor in fury.
His eyes glowed with blinding light, killing intent bursting forth—he looked ready to blast Luthor's head apart with heat vision.
"I don't know!"
"And I won't let them tell me!"
But Lex was well prepared and utterly fearless as he answered Superman.
Superman knew Lex wasn't lying.
Lex was smart. When dealing with someone whose power so vastly surpassed his own, he would never leave behind such a massive weakness.
Even killing Lex wouldn't reveal Martha's location.
As much as he hated to admit it, Superman had to accept the truth—
Today, Lex Luthor had him completely under control.
If he wanted to save Martha, he had no choice but to play along.
Once he accepted that reality, the light in Superman's eyes slowly dimmed.
"If you kill me, Martha dies."
"If you fly away from here, Martha dies."
"But if you bring me the bat's head…"
"Martha lives."
Lex calmly laid out his demand.
Superman hadn't expected all of Lex's elaborate scheming to boil down to one goal—
Forcing him to kill Batman.
But at this point, what other choice did he have?
He could only go find Batman.
Even so, kind-hearted Superman never intended to actually kill him.
He planned to talk things through and come up with a solution together.
But Batman came in with full killing intent and launched a ferocious assault right from the start.
Worse still—
During the fight, Superman seemed to contract a mysterious disease called "If I explain the truth, I'll die."
From beginning to end, he spoke only in vague phrases like "You don't understand" and "There's no time," stopping himself mid-sentence every time, refusing to explain even one crucial detail.
It wasn't until Batman jammed a kryptonite spear right into Superman's face—just seconds away from killing him—
That Superman finally forced out a single sentence through clenched teeth:
"You're letting him… kill Martha."
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