Bang!
The Staff struck Icicle's arm, and a beam of light instantly burst forth.
"Crack!"
The ice covering his arm shattered instantly.
Icicle was also thrown backward by the energy.
"Beautiful!"
Courtney reached out and grasped the Cosmic Staff, the familiar feeling returning to her. The radiant light flowed into her body, and she felt her injuries were mostly healed.
Holding the Star Scepter, Courtney immediately flipped up and let the Star Scepter carry her out of the hospital room.
Although she desperately wanted to fight him, she thought about the potential harm to other patients if she fought in the hospital. So, she jumped out of the hospital window, preparing to fight him outside.
Icicle gritted his teeth and stood up, glancing at Courtney who had jumped out, and quickly pursued her.
On the hospital rooftop, Courtney, holding the Star Scepter, launched an energy attack at the charging Icicle.
But as the leader of the Injustice Society, Icicle was naturally no ordinary foe.
As Icicle released energy, a thick layer of ice rapidly spread across the ground, instantly freezing Courtney's feet!
Her body controlled, she panicked. The energy from the Star Scepter was deflected, and Icicle easily swatted it away.
Then Icicle unleashed a blast of freezing air, knocking the Star Scepter from her hand.
"Ugh!"
With her feet frozen, Courtney could only watch helplessly as her weapon slipped from her grasp.
Thud!
A gust of wind blew through, accompanied by a strong current of air.
Pat, piloting his robot, descended from the sky. The massive robot landed with a loud thud.
"Courtney, step back! Your injuries haven't healed yet."
Pat's voice came from inside.
"Now the Star Scepter is back in my hands, I can fight."
"No, you can't yet, Courtney. You can't even hold the Staff."
"I think you two can have a good discussion here. I can wait for you to come to a conclusion."
Icicle, emanating coldness, stared coldly at the two and said.
At the same time, he extended his palm, preparing to attack them.
But on the street below the rooftop, more and more people gathered, their noisy chatter even reaching the rooftop.
Icicle took a deep breath, and shook his head helplessly.
"Consider yourselves lucky this time."
Saying that, he took a few steps back, quickly disappearing into the darkness under the cover of night.
With Pat's help, Courtney broke free from the icy restraint, picked up the Staff, and wanted to pursue him.
But the Star Scepter in her hand suddenly became uncontrollable.
Although Courtney tried her best to hold onto the Staff, it still slipped from her grasp, and with a "whoosh," it transformed into a stream of light and flew into the distance.
Eric, standing in the air, grabbed the flying Star Scepter.
He was a bit annoyed.
He looked towards the departing Icicle, having tracked him all the way to his doorstep.
The crimson in his eyes flashed, ready to use Heat Vision to directly pierce the back of this guy's head for inquiring about him.
But when the other party pushed open the door and a high school student welcomed him inside, Eric changed his mind.
"Joey? Is that your son's name?"
Eric, observing everything with Super Vision, sneered, "As the boss of the Injustice Society, having a warm and beautiful family life, and still coming out to cause trouble, he's really quite dedicated."
His eyes, radiating heat and ready to unleash Heat Vision at any moment, aimed at the boy who was embracing Icicle.
With just a slight increase in power, he could pierce through both Icicle and his curly-haired son.
"Forget it."
Ultimately, Eric did not unleash Heat Vision.
If he solved the problem so simply, it would be much less fun.
Since the other party was the leader of the Injustice Society, he would use him to draw out all the members of the Injustice Society.
Although he didn't think much of these low-level guys, rather than keeping them as an eyesore, it would be better to crush them all!
"You're late, Dad."
Inside the room, Joey brought out the dinner he had made with his grandparents and said to Icicle, who had now removed his disguise (blue complexion).
"Mmhmm, I was delayed by some private matters, Joey. You didn't sneak any food, did you?"
Icicle smiled and ruffled his son's hair.
"Of course not."
Joey shrugged at his father.
"Good, if you snuck food, all the results of your persistent healthy weight loss efforts would disappear. Come here, give me a hug."
Icicle, after hugging his son, seemed to sense something and looked up through the window at the distant sky.
In the vast night, there was only darkness, with nothing unusual present.
Icicle shook his head and withdrew his gaze.
On the other side, Blue Valley Hospital rooftop.
Courtney looked at Pat in despair, "He took my Staff again!"
"I know, Courtney, but that person can control your Star Scepter at will, even you can't do anything about it."
Pat's voice, slightly distorted by electronic noise, came from inside the robot.
"I regretted it just now."
Courtney wanted to say that when Icicle questioned her just now, she should have directly told him the man's identity.
"Regret what?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Eric appeared in front of her.
Startled, Courtney immediately covered her mouth and glanced at the robot Pat was operating.
"I mean, what I meant was I should have directly knocked down that guy called Icicle!"
Although Eric looked like he was her age, after fighting Brainwave and the strange woman (Kara), she had come to see Eric as the person she absolutely could not provoke.
Although he snatched her Star Scepter, he had also saved her twice, so in a way, he was her savior twice over.
So, even though she resented Eric, she also felt some gratitude and admiration for him.
Such complex emotions, even she herself couldn't distinguish.
"You are no match for him, even if you have the Star Scepter."
Eric gave her a cold glance, "I can lend you the Star Scepter, Starlight."
"Ahem, actually, I'm Stargirl, but it doesn't matter. What did you just say? You're going to return the Star Scepter to me?"
Stargirl asked him, surprised.
"I need you to use the Star Scepter to find someone, Clark Kent, whom you met on the farm. As long as you find him, I will consider lending it to you for a longer period."
"Uh…"
Stargirl pondered for a moment, then looked up and said with determination, "I will definitely complete the mission."
Saying that, she glanced at her stepfather Pat, who was acting as a bystander, and cautiously asked Eric, "Can I make one more small request? Can you be my teacher? The Star Scepter acknowledging you shows that you're not as bad as you seem on the outside. Maybe you're a very gentle and just person, just covered in a layer of ice… Sorry, I'm rambling a bit. What I mean is, you understand how to use the Star Scepter better than I do, maybe you can teach me…"
"Courtney!"
Pat, standing by, finally couldn't stand his daughter's nonsense. He controlled the robot to bend down and whispered to her:
"Stop! I told you long ago not to read those messy romance novels! What did you read? Twilight?"
"Pat, if you think reading Wuthering Heights is more noble than reading Twilight, then I think our generation gap is widening!"
Eric watched the family drama between the stepfather and rebellious daughter, shook his head, and turned to leave.
Handing over the Star Scepter to the other party, besides using her to find Clark, was more for monitoring Courtney and them.
Once the Star Scepter was in Courtney's hands, the people of the Injustice Society would revolve around her.
Icicle was very likely to gather all the members of the Injustice Society.
The Star Scepter was the bait he used, and he could retrieve the Staff anytime he wanted; his authority over the Staff was far greater than Stargirl's.
As for whether the fish would bite, that depended on future developments.
Three days later.
Near an ATM in Metropolis National Bank.
Clark, wearing sunglasses, took them off before entering the ATM room, and used Heat Vision to destroy all the cameras.
With a series of "bangs," all the cameras were instantly destroyed.
After destroying the cameras, Clark walked to the ATM and punched it.
With a "crash," the ATM was smashed.
Exposed wires constantly sparked, and it completely stopped working.
Clark reached inside and took out the money.
Then, following the same method, he smashed the second ATM, took out the money, and put it into his prepared bag.
After taking all the money from the ATMs, he put on his sunglasses, left the ATM room, and walked towards a luxury car dealership.
Clark, carrying the money bag, quickly attracted the attention of the sales ladies after entering the dealership.
"How much is this car?"
Clark pointed to a silver convertible sports car in front of him and asked the saleswoman next to him.
"300,000, sir."
The saleswoman glanced at Clark's bulging backpack and replied to him with a smile.
"Mmhmm, not expensive."
Clark threw the bag onto the sports car, unzipped it, and showed the saleswoman the green US dollars he had just taken from the ATM.
The saleswoman hesitated slightly, then nodded and replied with a smile, "Of course, with pleasure."
The sports car sped down the road, arriving at a luxurious nightclub like lightning.
After getting out of the car with the beautiful woman, they walked towards the nightclub entrance.
The doorman, who was clearly familiar with Clark, immediately greeted him upon seeing him approach.
"Hey, Kal, cool new car."
"Is that so? You like it very much?"
"Of course, what man doesn't like a sports car?"
Clark smiled slightly and tossed the sports car key in his hand to the other party, "If you like it, it's yours. No need to return it."
The doorman, who received the key, was stunned for a moment, then fell into ecstasy.
After entering the brightly lit bar, Clark led the woman to the bar counter.
After ordering a whiskey on the rocks, he sat down and chatted with the beautiful lady.
"Kal, where are you from?"
The beautiful woman asked him while sipping her drink.
"A place I'm trying to forget."
Clark gulped down the whiskey and replied to the beautiful woman.
"Hmm, you sound like a man with a story, and I'm interested in men with stories. Would you like to tell me your stories? By the way, I also came from a place I'm trying to forget. It seems we are in the same boat."
The beautiful woman gently reached out and caressed Clark's chest.
"While I'm willing to tell my story, this is clearly not the right place right now…"
Clark smiled at her, took her hand that was touching his body, "But I can be wild with you here, with drinks and music, we can dance freely and forget these unhappy things."
"Is that so? I'm looking forward to it."
The beautiful woman smiled brightly.
The bartender at the counter was mixing cocktails, so the two stood in front of the bar and waited.
Clark, having nothing to do, picked up the Daily Planet that the bartender had placed nearby, wanting to see if there was any news about himself being wanted.
After all, he had robbed quite a few ATMs, and he wouldn't be surprised if the Metropolis police investigated him.
The front-page headline was about Lex Luthor's disappearance.
The report said that Lex Luthor was unfortunately in a plane crash while on his honeymoon with his new wife, and his whereabouts were currently unknown.
"Plane crash?"
Clark frowned.
After thinking for a while, he flipped to the second page, and unexpectedly saw a familiar face there—Eric!
It described how Eric's cthulhu book, after its release, gradually became known to the public from a niche genre, gradually leading a new trend of horror literature.
"I've read it too."
The beautiful woman glanced at the news report on the newspaper in Clark's hand.
"But I can't get used to that disgusting writing no matter what. I think…"
The beautiful woman shrugged and said to Clark, "Maybe the author of this book is a very disgusting guy."
Hearing the other party call his brother "disgusting," Clark grabbed the beautiful woman's wrist and said to her fiercely, "You'd better watch your tone!"
"Hey! You're hurting me!"
The beautiful woman, her wrist gripped, frowned and broke free from Clark's hand.
She glanced at Clark as if he were a lunatic, turned and left, muttering, "Bastard!" as she went.
"Wow, another one!"
The bartender, who was wiping glasses, saw Clark's companion leave and said to him with a smile, "You come here often, but no girl ever leaves with you. Are you a monk?"
"I'm not a monk, but why do something that's destined to have no outcome?"
Clark smiled, took out a "Franklin" and slapped it on the table as a tip for the bartender, then turned to leave.
But after thinking for a moment, he turned back and picked up the newspaper.
"Paul, this newspaper is mine."
"Whatever, if you like it, I'll order it for you every day."
The bartender raised his glass and replied to Clark in a good mood.
Clark, holding the newspaper, thought about the beautiful woman's evaluation of his brother.
Disgusting?
No!
He shook his head. Eric wasn't disgusting, but we both had the same Super Brain.
What we thought was far beyond what you ordinary people could imagine.
After leaving the bar, the sports car he had just bought had already been driven away by the doorman, and he had little money left.
Clark immediately turned his thoughts to how to solve tomorrow's spending problem.
Or…
Rob a bank tomorrow?
-------------------------------
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