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"Breaking: The maniac who attacked the dinner party—his real identity has been revealed, and it's actually him..."
"Oscorp shut down by the government, multiple illegal activities exposed..."
"A 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes a certain island nation in Asia, over a million affected..."
The next morning, New York media was absolutely flooded with news about last night's banquet incident.
Once the Green Goblin's true identity was revealed as none other than Norman Osborn, CEO of Oscorp Industries, the fallout was immediate.
In less than a day, the once-mighty Oscorp completely collapsed overnight.
Shareholders scrambled to sell off their stocks at rock-bottom prices, but no one was foolish enough to buy them.
With the government officially stepping in and sealing off Oscorp, forcibly shutting it down, the whole mess finally came to a temporary halt.
But the ripple effects didn't stop there.
Now, even those who still doubted any connection between StarTech and Superman had no choice but to believe the "rumors" after this incident.
More importantly, everyone had witnessed Superman's fury with their own eyes.
And they realized—this isn't some sugar-coated comic book world. In the real world, Superman doesn't necessarily follow that laughable "no-kill" rule.
Because of that, those in power started treating anything related to Superman a lot more seriously.
In the Aleutian Islands, located in central Alaska, there was a volcano named Cleveland.
Today, it suddenly became extremely active.
Inside the volcano, magma churned violently like a pot of boiling oil.
Thick volcanic ash was the first to erupt from the crater.
It surged into the sky like a black tsunami, blocking out the sun like a massive storm cloud.
The intense pressure caused nearby mountains to begin crumbling, and the thick ash, mixed with falling rock, swept toward the nearby area like an avalanche.
"Oh no, it's erupting! Run, everybody!"
As the thick volcanic ash covered the sky, the residents of the closest town realized just how bad the situation was—and immediately started fleeing without hesitation.
But then…
A deafening roar, as if from the god of fire himself, echoed from the volcano.
Molten lava glowing red erupted from the crater.
The sky, once dark, was suddenly lit up in a fiery red glow.
In the face of nature's wrath—this spectacular doomsday-like scene—human beings felt incredibly small.
Everyone stopped running and just stared blankly at the burning sky.
They knew… it was too late to escape now.
"Look! What's that?"
"It's Superman! Thank God, he's here to save us!"
Just when everyone thought they were done for in this sudden volcanic eruption…
A figure streaked across the sky, heading straight toward the blazing volcano.
"Can he really do it?"
That question filled everyone's hearts.
Because against the fury of Mother Nature, humans seemed so powerless—even Superman.
"Please… you've got to make it…"
They wanted to believe in a miracle.
"Volcanic eruption? Pfft, that's nothing…"
Hovering above the crater, Peter didn't waste a second and unleashed his signature freeze breath straight into it.
Boosted by his power that was now hundreds of times stronger, Peter's freeze breath was more powerful than ever.
In just a blink, a shimmering mist of icy vapor engulfed the erupting volcano below.
Crack... Crack...
With an eerie series of crunching sounds, the scorching hot lava was instantly cooled—and frozen into a solid mass.
In under ten seconds, the volcano that had been spewing magma non-stop… was now a giant mountain of ice, completely frozen over.
"He did it! Superman did it!"
As the crowd cheered in excitement and Peter's system chimed in with a reward of massive points, he nodded in satisfaction and flew off into the sky.
Top floor of the temporary StarTech office building in New York.
A figure shot in through the air without even trying to hide.
Since most people already knew who he was, Peter figured, why bother pretending anymore?
"Yup, I'm the boss of this company. I'm coming clean!"
Peter landed inside the building and headed straight for the sealed-off lab without hesitation.
"Mr. Superman, you're here."
As Peter walked into the lab, Reed—who had been working on a special experiment—paused what he was doing and greeted him first.
"How's it going? Were the Pym Particles able to shrink the size of the portal at all?"
Peter gave him a nod in response and glanced curiously at the giant portal device sitting in the lab.
Earlier, Reed had pitched the idea of using Pym Particles to shrink the portal, which instantly reminded Peter of Rick's portal gun from that cartoon show.
So yeah, Peter was definitely on board with Reed exploring that kind of experiment.
Of course, only under his supervision.
Otherwise, he'd be terrified of opening the lab door one day… and being greeted by a horde of zombies.
"Superman, this experiment is way more complex than the artificial star. You can't just shrink a portal using normal methods," Reed said.
"As for your idea of turning it into a toy gun… well, that's probably just wishful thinking at this point…"
Reed looked conflicted. Clearly, he was hoping Peter would drop the whole "toy gun portal" idea.
"Ahem… I was just throwing that out there, you know?" Peter said awkwardly.
Suddenly, the lab door swung open again.
"Reed, quick! That cosmic storm is about to—uh, hello, Superman, sir!"
A big, bald guy ran in, looking pumped as he shouted at Reed—only to freeze mid-sentence when he saw Peter in the lab.
"Superman, this is my childhood best friend, Ben Grimm. He's joined the team now," Reed quickly introduced, noticing Peter's curious look.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Grimm."
"Superman, sir, just call me Ben. And thank you for giving us such an amazing opportunity…"
Ben looked genuinely excited.
"Alright, Ben. So, what were you saying about the cosmic storm just now?"
Peter smiled and asked, clearly intrigued.
"Uh… maybe I should explain," Reed chimed in.
"Superman, before you… 'recruited' me, the cosmic storm was the main focus of my research."
"I predicted that in a few months, a cosmic storm would pass through our solar system, very close to Earth."
"My goal was to study it up close—maybe even uncover secrets about the origin of humanity. But no one backed the idea… until I met you."
There was a hint of nostalgia and emotion on Reed's face.
Who would've thought that getting 'kidnapped' by Superman would actually give him the chance to pursue his dream project?
"So, Ben, what were you trying to say about the cosmic storm?" Peter asked again.
Ben glanced at Reed first, and after getting a nod, he spoke up without hesitation.
"Superman, based on our latest readings, the cosmic storm is already approaching the solar system. It might reach near-Earth orbit in less than a month!"
Reed's eyes lit up with excitement. He couldn't help but blurt out, "That means we'll be heading to space soon! We can observe the cosmic storm up close!"
"A spaceship? Just to observe it?"
"Think bigger!" Peter suddenly interrupted Reed, who was clearly hyped.
"Superman, sir… what do you mean?"
"I mean, what's the point of just floating around in a spaceship watching it go by?"
"Why don't we use this time to build a giant space station—and capture the cosmic storm when it gets here?"
Peter's bold, confident suggestion left Reed and Ben completely speechless.
"....."