Malrick sat in silence on the edge of a meteor crater.
The sunlight heated the barren lunar surface to over a hundred degrees Celsius. Sitting there felt like soaking in boiling water.
He calmed himself and projected his consciousness into his inner world. This vast realm—a dimension belonging only to him—now spanned one hundred million kilometers in diameter. Above the inner world's continent, immense cosmic power gathered and swirled around Malrick's light. The "Clone" gestation ability activated again: disassembling his radiant core, reading genetic data, beginning the process of gestation.
His main body's genetic potency surged a thousand-fold. This time, the gestation of the third clone proceeded without impediment. As dawn's pale light bathed Kent Farm on Earth, activity inside Malrick's inner world finally ceased. An oval, golden-light egg floated in midair. Within it, the Clone slowly advanced in its formation.
His inner world's feedback reached him: gestation time remaining, one hundred years.
"One hundred years until I can fully transform into pure energy," Malrick mused. "It's long… but I'll use the Time Stone to accelerate it once I return."
He rose from the crater's rim and flew toward Earth.
Back at Kent Farm, Lois was already preparing breakfast. Tony lay asleep upstairs, cocooned in dreams.
"Hi! You're up so early! How did you sleep last night?" Lois asked, surprised to see Malrick arrive.
"Pretty well. My brother Tony here slept deeply, too," Malrick replied, glancing upward via X-ray vision to where Tony lay curled with a pillow.
"Did you rest?" Lois turned to him.
"I'm used to letting my mind rest in sunlight, so I often spend nights in space," Malrick said with a soft smile.
He hadn't truly slept in a long time. Even if his physical body slumbered, his consciousness—spanning his blood sea and his Black Light Clone—remained alert. Sleep now held little meaning.
Lois smiled back. "Then I should be glad Clark doesn't sleep under the sun." She paused, watching him stir. "He's a deep sleeper in the morning. If it weren't for us rotating breakfast duty, he'd never wake for it."
"Oh, Lois, why do I hear you talking ill of me first thing?" Clark emerged, rubbing his head.
Lois raised an eyebrow, leaned back against the counter, and cast him a playful glance. "My Clark—my handsome husband, my love, my steadfast knight—how could I speak ill of you?"
"Really?" Clark stood halfway down the stairs, clad in fitted gray pajamas. He held his hands in his pockets and gave her an affectionate smile.
"Of course!" She took two steps closer and placed a fingertip lightly against his chest. "Besides, you look particularly handsome today."
Clark's eyes never left hers. Their faces drew closer still.
"Cough—cough—cough!" Malrick cleared his throat, several sharp coughs drawing attention.
He felt the air around them turn syrupy with affection—too saccharine. If they kissed now, he'd drown in sentiment.
The couple glanced at him but continued their flirtatious exchange. Clark finally turned toward Malrick, greeting him. "Good morning, Malrick. Didn't expect you to rise so early. Do you always start work at dawn where you come from?"
"No, just like you, I get up early to whisper sweet things to my girlfriend," Malrick teased.
"Haha? I thought that would be Tony's habit. In the comics, he's even more romantic than Bruce," Clark laughed.
"You're not wrong," Malrick admitted.
---
Malrick's timing was impeccable. About ten minutes after Lois finished setting breakfast, Jarvis delivered a wake-up call to Tony. Jordan and Jonathan came down shortly afterward. They all shared a warm meal.
Soon after, Tony departed for John's warehouse to talk about the Mark Armor's next version, while Malrick was escorted by Clark to America's Department of Defense headquarters. Clark's father-in-law served as a general there, overseeing all matters concerning Superman.
Inside, Clark handed Malrick several cubic meters of various types of Kryptonite—red, blue, black—as well as vials of Clark's own blood.
"You might need this for genetic research," Clark said, offering test tubes. "This was drawn last year during an injury I sustained. You can use it as reference material."
He added a caution: "But be careful—don't let it leak. The consequences would be serious."
Malrick thought of Wolf Superman's youth, likely afflicted by a clone-Superman threat some time ago. For a hero like Clark, even fragments of his body must be handled with respect.
"I'm surprised you trust the DOD with your own blood," Malrick said.
Clark forced a strained smile. "Actually, I came today to destroy that stock entirely. Before Ally destroyed the world, I'd already quarreled with the Department of Defense."
"I see," Malrick nodded in understanding. In the second season of Superman & Lois, Superman clashed with DOD leadership—and that leader later died by Allie's hand.
"Let's go. We're heading home to Smallville now."
---
Two days passed in a blur. Tony had planned to spend a week collaborating with John, believing that a new Anti-Superman Armor would demand painstaking development. Yet within hours, he absorbed all of John's Mark Armor knowledge. The remaining time was spent fabricating the new suit.
Today, he unveiled his creation. It retained the classic gold and red color scheme, with the familiar chest arc reactor, now encircled by eight smaller oval energy cores. Each core housed a fragment of x-kryptonite. The suit's frame and outer shell also integrated Kryptonite, with a layer of x-kryptonite plating on the exterior. Because Kryptonite couldn't yet form nanomaterials, the design returned to modular component assembly.
That morning, in the clearing beside the Kent Farm warehouse, Tony raised his hand. The suit's individual modules flew out, merging smartly onto him.
Clark's two children gasped. With the final click into place, Tony spread his arms to display his armor.
"This is my Mark 17, the Anti-Superman Armor!" he announced. The metallic suit glinted under sunlight and looked spectacular.
---