Not long after Eden left the tower, Machine Head hummed to himself and got back to work.
He wasn't a powerhouse, not by a long shot. But he had something just as useful—money. A lot of it. Enough to hire a whole parade of heavy hitters to fight on his behalf.
As for Eden? Back at the Kent Residence, he dove right back into the Simulation, squeezing every spare minute to get stronger.
A week flashed by.
"Whew."
Eden dropped out of his final pre–Battle Beast Simulation. This time it only took six hours to wipe Battle Beast, Thragg, the Rognarr, and an entire interstellar fleet off the board.
"It's ready. Time to start the hunt."
His eyes sharpened. The plan was in motion.
First step: pull his overpowered parents off the board.
Second: tie up the Guardians of the Globe—those lovable glass cannons—before they marched in front of Battle Beast and got themselves slaughtered.
The White House.
The President had just wrapped a marathon day and was about to sneak in a long weekend when—
"Boom!"
The wall of the Oval Office exploded inward. Two massive, blue-skinned brutes stomped through the plaster dust, grinning like they owned the place.
"Ha! Long time no see, Mister President."
"Jesus."
The President's eyes went saucer-wide. The Mauler Twins. Escaped. Again. And of course they were back at the White House, eager to "discuss policy."
"Mauler Twins! This is the end of the line!"
They were halfway through bagging the President when the roar of a jet engine cut across the sky. A black silhouette ghosted over the roof—Darkwing's jet, hovering right above their heads.
"Damn it," one Mauler snarled.
"You're not going anywhere!"
War Woman landed with a thunderous crack, hammer in hand, blocking their exit.
Behind the Twins, reinforcements finally arrived—Green Ghost phasing through the wall, Martian Man gliding in, The Immortal touching down like a meteor, Red Rush a flicker of crimson, and Aquarus sweeping in with a tide-swell.
Yeah. First-string Guardians of the Globe.
"Boom!"
Meanwhile, at that exact moment, the Lizard League—fresh off a humiliating beatdown by the Guardians—mustered an entire clutch of lizard-men and launched a surprise assault on the GDA's super-prison.
"Ahahaha!"
"Kneel!"
"Swear fealty and I'll let you rats out of this hellhole!"
Perched atop the prison roof, a cackling Doctor Lizard waved a staff like a senile game show host.
"Die, old man."
A pink comet blurred down from above—Atom Eve—whose flying kick sent Doctor Lizard tumbling off the fifth floor. He hit pavement with a leg-shattering crunch.
For all his big talk, Doctor Lizard's physique barely beat a civilian's. He'd built lizard-men; he hadn't rewritten himself to match.
"Cheerleader wannabe!" he howled from the ground, glaring up at Atom Eve.
"Light 'em up!"
Rex Splode dropped out of the sky in a bespoke combat rig Robot had put together, vector nozzles flaring. He unleashed a storm—explosive flechettes flared from both forearms, peppering the yard and blasting a few dozen lizard troopers off their feet.
"Ha ha ha!"
"This is incredible."
"That man's a genius—he knows my superpower better than I do."
Rex couldn't stop grinning. He'd never felt this loaded for bear.
"I need a real fight."
"A fight brutal enough to jump-start my powers."
Black Samson peeled off his armor on purpose and dove into a bare-knuckle brawl with a pack of lizard-men. Bone-on-bone. He was snarling, bloodied, loving every second.
He wanted the pressure. The edge of death. Just like Eden told him—push far enough and the power comes back.
"Keep pressing!"
"North and south gates are sealed. My duplicates have them covered."
Dupli-Kate radiated cool confidence. Per Eden's orders, she was running the battle like a chess match—her spare duplicate staged five hundred meters out to avoid splash damage, then she flooded the field with clones the second fists started flying.
"I finally get what he meant."
Shrinking Rae flickered through enemy ranks. This time, she didn't expand inside their bodies. She shrank herself, slipped in, and enlarged the javelin in her hands—a special alloy spear that pinned lizard-men like skewers on a grill.
If not for her power limits, Eden had floated a wild idea: miniaturize an aircraft carrier and carry it in her pocket.
"I'm gonna smash them!"
Monster Girl roared, hulking out into a green juggernaut and pulping a few skulls in rapid succession.
In the last week, Robot had finished a wrist device to counter the de-aging backlash from her transformations. With that safety net, she went all in—and on top of brute force, she'd started layering real combat technique onto the monster form.
Global Defense Agency.
"Robot, talk to me. How's the B-Team holding up?"
Cecil Stedman watched the feeds while Robot, on-site, gave the live read.
"They're operating like a seasoned unit," Robot reported. "By my estimate, the Guardians B-Team's overall capability now surpasses the A-Team's."
He couldn't hide the satisfaction. "That man is a genius. He isolates each Guardian's weak point like it's nothing."
"You really rate him, huh?"
"Absolutely," Robot said, genuine respect in his tone. "So far, he hasn't missed."
"Let's hope it stays that way," Cecil muttered—and nodded.
London.
"Tell that kid to pay me extra."
Mister Liu swore, then exploded into a dragon—vast wings unfurling over the Thames. His roar rattled windows. "Omni-Woman! Get out here! No one hits The Order and walks away without a bill."
"You finally showed yourself, Mister Liu."
Ten seconds earlier, Omni-Woman—Nolanne, fresh from a sun-soaked break in Hawaii and a quiet sweep for The Order's trail—cut across the globe and met the dragon in the clouds.
"You're writing your own obituary," she snapped, eyes hard.
"You forced my hand!"
Mister Liu vomited a river of dragonfire at her.
And Superman?
Eden's invincible dad was busy in another dimension, beating the tar out of a pack of Dimension Lords. Eden had timed all of this for the exact window Clark Kent wouldn't be home.
Meanwhile.
Machine Head's second safehouse, basement level.
Isotope checked the clock, then flicked open the ether. One by one, the mercs he'd bought appeared in the room.
Killcannon. Kursk. Furnace. Magmaniac. And—last—Battle Beast.
The hunt had its prey.
"Where's my opponent?"
"Don't tell me these grunts are it. They're not worth unsheathing my blade."
Battle Beast stood among the hired muscle, a white-furred lion bristling with impatience. His gaze swept past Killcannon, Kursk, and the rest, then settled—displeased—on Isotope. He hadn't come for money.
He'd come to this planet because the Coalition had whispered about a Viltrumite elite here. He'd called in favors, tapped local contacts, and arranged a hunt. If these locals couldn't deliver the fight he wanted… who could?
"Hey! Who are you calling grunts?" someone snapped.
Battle Beast didn't bother answering. Not to the weak.
A sharp whistle cut the air.
"He's here," Isotope said, calm and certain. "The man himself."
That shut the room up.
Boom.
Dust geysered through the open skylight as a figure dropped from above—black Battlesuit, boots punching a crater in the concrete. As the smoke thinned, Isotope blinked beside him and bowed, voice low. "You've arrived, sir."
"Mm."
The room finally got a look at the newcomer—and at the faint, unmistakable S shimmering on his chest.
"S—Superman?!"
For a beat, the villains just froze. Why would the world's marquee hero be here? And why did he look so damn familiar with Isotope?
Szzzz.
Before they could puzzle it out, scarlet Heat Vision carved the air—clean, ruthless lines. The beams punched through torsos like paper.
"Hell!"
"This wasn't the deal—!"
They tried to run. Too late. In seconds, the basement was quiet again.
Only Eden, Isotope, and Battle Beast remained.
"Uh…"
Even Isotope looked rattled. He'd spent days gathering these psychos—and Eden had just used them as target practice for Heat Vision?
"You can go," Eden said without looking back.
"Right." Isotope didn't argue. He blinked out of sight.
"You're Battle Beast?" Eden asked, meeting the lion's eyes.
"Boy, you've heard of me?"
Battle Beast didn't spare the fallen a glance. His heart was hammering, every cell singing. From the moment he'd seen Eden, he knew—this was the quarry he'd been chasing across the stars.
"Your face tells a whole mythology," Eden said, a chill little smile on his lips.
"Save the chatter." Battle Beast leaned in, voice a low growl. "You didn't come here to talk."
"We settle rank. And life or death," Eden said plainly.
"Perfect."
Boom.
Eden's fist—size of a piledriver—smashed into Battle Beast's jaw. The lion-man blurred backward, his hulking frame ripping a trench through steel. He plowed straight through Machine Head's million-dollar safehouse like it was drywall.
Global Defense Agency.
"Radius is cleared, right?" Cecil Stedman asked, eyes glued to the monitors.
He'd lost track of how many times he'd asked Donald Ferguson that today.
"Cleared," Donald confirmed.
Boom.
A blossom of fire rolled across the screens—half the service plaza went up like a matchbook. The gas station fireball ballooned a hundred meters high, bright enough to sting through the cameras.
"What the hell was that? Is the kid alive?" Cecil barked.
Fwoom.
Two figures rammed through the fire, shockwaves snuffing the flames as they rocketed into the sky.
On-screen, Eden—black-suited—had one hand clamped around Battle Beast's throat. The other pistoned into the lion's face, each blow blasting blood from his fanged mouth.
"God. I might've still lowballed the kid," Cecil muttered.
Several thousand meters up.
A passenger jet drifted along its flight path. A boy at the window stared at the blue and the cloudbanks, wide awake while the adults dozed. First time flying. He drank in the view, imagining himself as Superman, surfing the clouds.
"Huh?"
He blinked and shook his mom's shoulder. "Mom—pretty sure I just saw Superman beating up a giant cat."
"What?" She peered out the tiny window, saw nothing but sky, and sighed. "You've been watching too many cartoons."
Upper atmosphere.
"Battle Beast, rumor says you can't fly," Eden said, hauling him higher by the throat.
"Coward," Battle Beast rasped. "You're no warrior. Put us on the ground—fight me like a man!"
The insults cut off as the air thinned and the stars opened. In vacuum, his roar became silence.
Eden kept going.
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