*Chapter 140: Daring to Use a Fire Control System on Me?*

The Second Battle of New York has concluded.

Despite the overwhelming presence of the Kryptonians, the damage this time was significantly less compared to the last invasion. The Chitauri had already ravaged New York once, so when Superman fought General Zod among the ruins, there weren’t many civilians left to harm—casualties likely only numbered in the double digits.

Some might ask, "Weren't there any construction workers clearing the debris?"

The reality is, the time for rescuing people had long passed. After the relief efforts ended, the grueling period of reconstruction began.

Rebuilding requires a lot of money. In a country where land is privately owned, it’s a significant burden for Manhattan’s beleaguered property owners to suddenly come up with billions of dollars to rebuild skyscrapers.

Moreover, there’s still disagreement over whether New York should even be rebuilt.

As a result, there were hardly any construction workers in the shattered remains of Manhattan.

"New York is too d4ngerous."

People often said this after the Battle of New York. The Kryptonian incident only deepened this perception.

But I digress.

After defeating Zod, Superman finally calmed down. He said goodbye to Tony and left.

He had to go.

Leaving aside his identity as Superman, Clark Kent is just a regular working staff. The loss of life and property in New York—he couldn’t repay it even if he sold all his organs.

Superman's only advantage is his secret identity.

When he transforms into Superman, he still looks the same to the outside world. A certain traveler might find it funny that Superman can fool the authorities just by wearing glasses, but when Atreus found himself in the real DC-Marvel crossover world, he finally understood why Superman could keep his identity a secret.

When Kryptonians unleash their full power, a wave of Kryptonian energy emanates from them, causing all optical cameras to distort. While people can still see the Kryptonians, they appear somewhat blurry.

Then...

General Swanwick was humming a tune, cruising down the road in his Humvee when a Predator drone suddenly plummeted from the sky, crashing into the road ahead.

The black general glanced upward and saw Superman descending from the sky.

"Dammit! That thing cost $12 million."

"It used to," Superman sneered. "I know you guys are trying to track me. If something serious happens, I’m willing to help—on the condition that I do it willingly."

The general snapped back, "How are we supposed to know if you'll be a threat to America?"

"Please, I grew up in Kansas. I consider myself an American. Maybe you could pass that along to the higher-ups at the White House."

Swanwick put his hands on his hips. "Do you think they'll listen if I tell them that?"

"I don’t know, but Kratos said he would help convince them," Superman replied. Then, like a cruise missile, he shot up into the sky, igniting a second stage of acceleration far from anyone, and disappeared with a whoosh.

The general suddenly had a bad feeling—Superman was too pure, too naïve. He’s the classic goody-two-shoes, the type who follows the rules and agrees with America’s universal values. The staff all felt that Superman was controllable. But Kratos? This mysterious Spartan knew America well and was clearly more cunning. That move where he saved the president had already put him in an unbeatable position.

Sure enough, while Swanwick was giving a secret briefing to Director Nick and a group of White House officials, suddenly a bald head barged in.

"Excuse me, General, could you please move aside?" The voice was rough but polite. However, the tone sent chills down the spine of everyone present.

Because the black figure in the third camera feed was actually a four-star general, physically located in Colorado Springs, deep within Cheyenne Mountain at NORAD!

That place is nearly a thousand meters underground, impervious to nuclear bombs and bunker busters, and is the most secure location in America.

Kratos managed to infiltrate it!?

The general was petrified, his body stiffly moving aside like a puppet.

A high-ranking White House official stammered, "Mr. Kratos, do you realize what this means? You’ve infiltrated NORAD!"

Kratos slammed his hand on the table, leaving a perfectly shaped handprint as if it had been deliberately laser-cut.

As the table cracked, every attendee’s heart sank.

"You dare use a Predator drone’s fire control system on me, and then ask what this means?" Kratos roared, almost scaring them to the point of wetting themselves.

Fun fact: According to international norms, locking onto another's aircraft with a fire control system is tantamount to an act of aggression.

The US Air Force had indeed gone too far. They didn’t expect someone’s carriage to have such advanced anti-reconnaissance measures, so they briefly locked onto Atreus with the fire control system while tracking him with the drone.

The Tragedy of Troy didn’t have anti-radar capabilities, but the Godslayer System did!

Atreus was so brazen because he wasn’t afraid of them going back on their word.

He rudely sat in the four-star general’s chair, then put his Spartan-styled boots on the table, the epitome of disrespect.

"I’m here today to give you idiots one final warning—stop messing around and trying my patience. I’m already one of the few on Mount Olympus willing to help you."

When he said this, the hearts of Director Nick and the others skipped a beat. This meant Kratos was acknowledging that he was indeed part of the legendary Greek pantheon.

This was a serious problem for the US government. Even though they believed in a God unrelated to the Greek pantheon, most Americans acknowledged Greece as one of the birthplaces of Western civilization.

If Kratos truly had this identity, it could trigger severe religious and cultural conflicts.

Kratos continued coldly, "No matter how reckless you Americans are, it won’t affect the realm of Olympus, just like a 50-megaton nuclear bomb couldn’t scratch me. But you must not provoke me—if you do, my servants will kill everyone on this list."

With that, a list appeared on the screen in front of each attendee.

When they looked, they were paralyzed with fear.

The list contained the names of every core member of America’s elite families (a certain filial son even added Bruce Wayne’s name to the list, and didn’t spare his own or Tony’s names either)!

The ignorant public often thinks the president and members of Congress are the top figures in the country, but they’re merely the puppets of the elite, acting as their representatives.

If Kratos sent people to kill them all, it would be akin to the destruction of the nation.

Simply put, no matter how many high-ranking officials and generals die, it wouldn’t stop the elites from trying to control superheroes in the name of the state. But if the blade fell on the elite families, they couldn’t tolerate it.

And yet Kratos, who had just casually infiltrated NORAD, left them with no safe place to hide.

(End of Chapter)