Flying. Free, exhilarating flying.
Heisenberg pierced through the clouds again and again, loving the sensation of drifting through a sea of white.
Swimming was a skill most humans could pick up, but compared to battling waves in the ocean, wasn't "swimming" through a cloud sea even more heroic?
Of course it was.
Otherwise, how could Heisenberg fly from night all the way into morning?
…
To be honest, Heisenberg had flown himself crazy. Even he was not sure how many laps around Earth he'd done.
When he said goodbye to Nick Fury on his own terms, the sky looked like it was only around eleven or twelve at night.
But when he finally hovered above New York again, the sun was already shining over the city.
Heisenberg floated at roughly 20,000 m20,000 m altitude, sprawled out like a giant "X," presenting his entire front to the sunlight.
"This… this warm, surging feeling…!"
Heisenberg froze.
It reminded him, absurdly, of the feeling back before he transmigrated, when he and his wife secretly used those little blue pills.
How to describe it?
Warm. And confidence overflowing from head to toe.
Haha.
Using that kind of comparison for what sunlight did to a Kryptonian was definitely a bit rude.
But that was exactly what it felt like.
Heisenberg could even clearly sense his strength rapidly swelling.
He didn't dare claim how big the increase was, but he was confident that the current him could beat two of the old him without issue.
He quietly lay there for more than two hours, enjoying the enhancement brought by the sun.
Only when he got restless did he flip over in the clouds and start thinking about where he should settle down.
Find a farm like Superman and quietly cosplay as an American farmer?
No. No. No.
That was not the life Heisenberg wanted.
When he had no power, he still chased enjoyment as much as he could.
When he made less than 5,0005,000 a month, he still had to drink a few times every month.
When his monthly income approached 10,00010,000, he started clubbing once in a while.
Later, as he earned more and more, he played harder and harder, but his desires inevitably rose with it.
Before becoming a Kryptonian, Heisenberg loved making money, because on an Earth without supernatural power, money was authority.
So now, with strength that didn't belong to the mortal world at all…
He was supposed to keep a low profile? Hide his name? Cower? Blend in?
Screw that.
Heisenberg turned and shot straight into the same room he had left earlier.
In other words, Nick Fury's private office at the S.H.I.E.L.D. New York Branch.
Boom!!!
Crash, crash!
The floor-to-ceiling window that had been installed less than two hours ago exploded on the spot. The renovation crew members fixing the floor inside nearly pissed themselves.
Under the gaze of countless workers, Heisenberg casually waved at them.
"Don't panic. Carry on. I'm only here for Nick Fury. I believe I had a small appointment with him before I left."
The moment he finished, everyone present nearly dropped to their knees.
You were way too terrifying.
This was imported blast-proof glass made in China, not some cheaply made domestic crystal product.
Glass that even an autocannon couldn't punch through, and you tore it like it was a thin film.
What are you, exactly?
A brief silence passed, then someone finally reacted.
A worker yanked out a gun and started firing at Heisenberg.
The little pistol spat out bullets like it was giving everything it had, but Heisenberg only frowned.
His clothes were damaged.
"Everyone, a moment of impulse can be forgiven," Heisenberg said, trying his best to keep his outward image "presentable." "But if you keep going, don't blame me for not warning you."
No one listened.
They only saw Heisenberg as an intruder. After all, with Fury locking down the information and burying it under layers of secrecy, nobody here had been told who Heisenberg was.
And the rain of bullets that followed was proof of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' excellent training.
Clink clink clink!
After the bullets struck Heisenberg, they ricocheted off in every direction, screaming through the air.
Heisenberg didn't move at all, but the agents started screaming one after another.
"My waist!"
"Damn it, watch the ricochets!"
"Stop shooting, he's not afraid of bullets!"
"This is a monster!"
"Who is he, ah, I've been hit!"
In just five seconds, more than three hundred bullets slammed into Heisenberg and sprayed wildly across the office.
More than six agents were injured by the ricochets.
The brief concentrated fire stopped quickly. Heisenberg still stood where he was, but the agents were already scattering and fleeing.
"This is Maintenance Team Four. Someone has breached the Triskelion!"
"The intruder is an enhanced individual, we need support!"
As reports flew out, Nick Fury, down in the basement watching Natasha's progress, broke into a cold sweat.
He immediately shut off the video feed from India and switched to the surveillance feed of his office.
At a glance, he saw Heisenberg's face.
"I am Nick Fury. Stop attacking. Everyone cease fire!"
Fury hurriedly issued the order to cease fire, wiped his sweat, and sprinted out of the underground control center.
Inside the office, Heisenberg's superhuman hearing caught Fury's command.
The agents were obedient enough. They lowered their guns and raised both hands toward Heisenberg to show they were no longer a threat.
As for Heisenberg…
"Now you know how to stop?" he mocked softly.
Then he abruptly lifted his foot. When his right foot came down, the office floor shattered completely.
Concrete and the blast-resistant metal reinforcement inside it all detonated into fragments in a single instant.
There was no longer a single safe spot to stand in the office.
Bang, clang, thud thud!
The agents dropped to the floor below like dumplings, crashing down in a messy chorus.
After they landed, sharp concrete chunks and even deadlier metal shards nearly turned them into bloody messes.
At least judging by the color soaking their clothes, they were already "bloody people."
Screams erupted.
"Help!"
"Damn it, get medics!"
"Hurry, they're hurt too badly!"
It seemed the floor below Fury's office was some kind of lab. Panicked researchers stammered as they began the first wave of emergency aid.
Meanwhile, Heisenberg floated calmly in midair, as if the chaos beneath him didn't exist at all.
About twenty seconds later, someone finally forced their nerves out of fear.
A maintenance worker with lighter injuries struggled to his feet, pointed at Heisenberg, and shouted with everything he had.
"We already stopped firing. Why would you still do this?"
"Why?" Heisenberg sneered back, then slowly drifted down.
"You're asking why I'd hurt you after you stopped firing?
Then why did you keep showing killing intent toward me after I introduced myself and even tolerated your first wave of attacks?
You fire when you want to fire, and you stop when you want to stop, but why does everything have to follow what you want?"
Smack!
Heisenberg slapped the man across the face, sending him sprawling to the ground.
He held back in the end. He did not slap the man's brains onto the researchers behind him.
"Your style is too domineering, and your guns are too dangerous," Heisenberg said coldly. "So I'm giving you a small lesson. Take it to heart."
"And like I told you, don't say I didn't warn you."
After finishing, Heisenberg floated toward the door with a gloomy air.
This was the kind of show of force he had chosen.
Yes, he was strong. Strong enough that Nick and the others clearly knew they shouldn't provoke him.
But that was still far from enough.
Superman was strong too, yet nobody truly feared Superman. Whether it was Luthor or some random American official, they all dared to run their mouths at him.
Heisenberg would never be like Superman.
No matter the reason, only by truly making them hurt, truly injuring them, could he build an image of someone moody, volatile, quick to maim, and unconcerned with human life.
Only then would he earn the respect of the weak, and the fear he was owed.
He sighed inwardly.
Pushing open the door and leaving the wrecked area, Heisenberg saw many agents assembling.
He moved through them like a warrior walking through an encirclement, passing two more similar labs.
Finally, he found a lounge, or at least a room with a few couches.
So he lay down comfortably on a couch, closed his eyes, and waited for Nick Fury to arrive.
Agents gathered around to watch him, or rather, to monitor him.
But when Hill arrived, all those agents quickly dispersed.
Hill sat down across from Heisenberg, lightly patted the couch armrest, and signaled that she was here.
Heisenberg snorted and opened his eyes.
"Let me see. Mm. Nick Fury is more than 60 m60 m underground right now. He's coming up, so we have five minutes."
"A bit short," he added. "But I'm honored to share these five minutes with a pretty woman like you."
"Heh." Hill pressed her lips together in a gentle smile. "Mr. Heisenberg, your flirtatious talk doesn't really match the way you just injured our agents."
"Fine, I'll explain," Heisenberg said. "My view of life is simple. If someone bares their teeth at me, I glare back. That's fair."
"But you know better than anyone that my men can't hurt you," Hill said.
"So I'm supposed to stand there and let them spray bullets at my face?" Heisenberg's expression darkened. "If you were being bitten by dozens of mosquitoes, would you just stand there and let it happen?"
No matter how beautiful the woman in front of him was, his bottom line would not budge.
If you don't want this world to hurt you, then before you get hurt, you have to hurt this world as much as you can.
He had to spread his claws and show his fangs.
Only when everyone was sure he wasn't someone to mess with would random nobodies stop daring to mess with him.
The neighboring DC universe had already provided more than enough examples.
Look at Superman. He does good deeds every day, enjoys worship from some people, then gets schemed against again and again by endless conspirators.
His lover and his mother are the two people he loves most.
And what happens?
They practically become professional kidnapping victims.
How innocent. How ridiculous.
Then look at Batman. Brutal methods, but he clings to a no-killing principle.
So his enemies keep crawling back, again and again, attacking him with new tricks, provoking him, hurting him.
Look again at who dares to provoke the Batman Who Laughs, the kind of Batman who kills freely.
Look again at who dares to glare at Injustice Superman. Nobody dares defy a single one of his orders.
If you sheath power inside a scabbard called kindness and mercy, nobody will fear the weapon that never shows its cold edge.
That was Heisenberg's survival philosophy for the future.
He didn't want to be a blade sealed away by "justice." He wanted to show the world the sharpest side.
He admitted that for the first twenty-eight years of his life, he was only a mortal. Maybe he couldn't become truly cruel, the kind of absolute evil like the Joker.
But if it was just killing…
He could.
And if the right amount of killing let him live more peacefully, if the right amount of brutality let him enjoy life better…
Then killing was something he would do without hesitation.
"Hill," Heisenberg said with a stern face. "This is my second warning to you. Anyone who points a gun at me will not end well. Believe me."
"But…" Hill seemed like she wanted to explain.
Heisenberg instantly stepped to her side and casually pinched her chin between his fingers.
"You want to say 'but'? Heh!"
Hill glared in anger, but unfortunately, when a beauty does that, it doesn't scare anyone.
"Don't question me, Earthling," Heisenberg said coldly. "You may have your rules, but I have my limits."
"They chose to raise guns at me. That was their choice."
"And making them pay a price is my response."
"Do you think that's still not enough because they're all still alive?"
"Then I can let them die. What do you say?"
Hill struggled, muffled sounds pushing from her throat.
Seeing that, Heisenberg released her and flicked her aside.
"Tsk. Interesting creatures. Self-centered and hypocritical," he said. "So shut it in front of me."
"Talking to you makes me thirsty. Go prepare me a drink."
/-\
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