*Chapter 132: A Backup Plan (Part 3)*

Black Widow calmly analyzed the situation: "Earth is considered a territory by several powerful factions from mythologies like Asgard. Since Thor, the God of Thunder, and Loki, the God of Lies and Trickery, have appeared before us, we can pretty much confirm the existence of Odin. At the same time, seeing Kratos driving the flying chariot from Greek mythology suggests that Zeus, the King of Olympus, might also exist. Who knows, they might start fighting each other before we even need to get involved."

Superman, with a blank expression, replied, "Oh, using Earth as a battlefield, huh?"

Every man in the room felt a sudden ache in their groin.

If you aliens want to fight on your own planets, go ahead. But don’t you dare make my home your battleground.

Destruction is far easier than construction.

There's no way the American leadership would risk another major city being destroyed just to shelter a not-so-familiar Superman.

At that moment, Agent Hill brought in coffee. Superman, observing the silent crowd, calmly added sugar, expertly stirred his coffee with a spoon, took a sip, and then wiped his mouth with a napkin. He then quietly looked at Nick.

The one-eyed Black director offered a remarkably insightful perspective: "Mr. Superman, your assumption is based on the idea that the enemy only wants you. If you are willing to side with Earthlings, and if their goal is actually to conquer the entire Earth, handing you over would mean giving up one of our strongest assets to the enemy."

Superman was suddenly stunned.

The Kent couple raised him and taught him to be a good person, a compassionate one. Having grown up with this education and spending most of his time living as Clark Kent, Superman never considered that General Zod could be so shameless.

This is the biggest difference in mindset between the virtuous and the villainous.

"So, what should I do?" Superman, without realizing it, effectively handed over control of the situation to Nick.

Director Nick felt a bit like laughing. If only all the members of the Avengers were this simple-minded, his job would be much easier.

In the Avengers, members like Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Captain America are sharp enough to uncover S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret weapon projects without breaking a sweat. Or they are as powerful as Thor, who doesn't need to pay him any attention at all. Not to mention, there are two wild cards like Batman and Kratos, who remain distant from the Avengers.

Director Nick carefully suggested, "We could make an agreement. For example, you wear a secret signal transmitter. If anything happens, you alert us, or if things are quiet for too long, or if the enemy shows hostility towards Earth, we will deploy extraordinary beings to rescue you. In fact, there are many contingency plans we could make."

Indeed, with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s involvement in this combined world, the American military was much more prepared.

What the American upper echelons covet most is Kryptonian spacecraft technology.

Earth's space technology has long stagnated; conventionally powered spacecraft still haven't ventured beyond the solar system.

After the Chitauri invasion, every government on Earth wanted to reverse-engineer Chitauri technology. On top of that, capturing a Kryptonian ship would be a fantastic bonus.

They have to approach this step-by-step. Nick had no intention of directly antagonizing the top-ranked superhuman on the extraordinary beings' list.

In reality, the negotiations between both parties went smoothly. After Superman picked up his girl, Lois, and still couldn't figure out what General Zod wanted, he ultimately decided to go.

Superman and Nick agreed: as long as Zod's forces didn't attack Earth, and if Superman didn't return within 24 hours, they could consider sending extraordinary beings for a covert rescue mission.

This task was assigned to Tony Stark. After the last battle in New York, Tony developed a space-capable Iron Man suit. As long as the enemy's ship remained in geosynchronous orbit above Earth, his new Iron Man suit could reach it.

However, Tony still felt uncertain and made a secret phone call using a private communication channel.

"Hey! What do you think about this mess?"

On the other end, a voice from a certain time traveler replied, "Doesn't matter. Let Superman go back. He'll probably have some kind of adventure. We just need to be ready to fight."

"You'll come, too, right?"

"Of course."

"By the way, are you even human?"

 Atreus replied, "I'll give you a chance to rephrase that."

"Uh, no, I mean, you're just ridiculously strong..."

 Atreus rolled his eyes on the other end, "Then should I say your brain is so brilliant that it should be dissected for research?"

"Alright, I confirm you are human. Ugh, every extraordinary being seems to have some unique opportunities. If you don't want to say, I won't ask. Does that work for you? Anyway, from what I've seen, your dad seems like an ordinary person, so you probably mutated or something."

"Hmph!"

Although he scoffed on the surface, Atreus couldn't help but mentally retort: Even my so-called 'mortal' wild dad was bitten by a bat! I just don't get it. Why didn't Bruce Wayne's bat get sick and die?

"Ugh, I almost thought I'd have to use the same way to talk to you as I do with Thor."

"You're disgusting!"

Tony ended the call, feeling a bit relieved. At least Atreus , that bastard, seemed more human than Superman.

From Atreus 's perspective, what happened next was just history unfolding.

Superman, along with Lois, was taken away by General Zod's female lieutenant, Faora-Ul.

At that moment, there was a division within the U.S. military over whether to allow a human to be taken away by Kryptonians. Nick almost gave the order to take action, but Tony intervened, "Let her go."

Admittedly, this behavior was very unlike Tony.

Nick held back because he, along with the other Avengers, saw Tony sneakily slip a shiny gold object into Lois Lane's palm.

The angle was perfect—just enough to avoid Faora-Ul's notice.

She should have noticed it, but her arrogance kept her focused solely on Superman. Only her own kind was worth her attention.

Undoubtedly, the behavior of Zod's subordinates was quite infuriating, but it was a different story since humanity had a backup plan.

As expected, after bringing Superman and Lois to the Kryptonian ship in geosynchronous orbit, General Zod began preaching, trying to convince Kal-El to join his cause for the revival of their race.

Honestly, General Zod's approach was more like that of a certain failed Austrian art student who started World War II on Earth—someone with a zeal for racial expansion. If his rebellion on Krypton had succeeded back then, Krypton wouldn't have been destroyed. After all, the Kryptonian council at the time was quite corrupt, and their self-destructive actions led to the doom of their entire race.

(End of Chapter)