*Chapter 130: All-Star Lineup in Action (First Update)*

“Aliens again!”

The key issue is that the Americans can’t do much about them. That mysterious alien spaceship had already thrown NASA for a loop by simply entering the Moon’s synchronous orbit.

With current space technology, launching a lunar ship isn’t something that can be done on a whim.

In the end, if these aliens turn out to be invincible, it’ll likely fall on the superhumans to deal with them.

At that moment, countless members of Congress wanted to applaud President Ellis.

Thanks to the Extraordinary Individuals Rating Act, a remarkable law, it became easy to distinguish between good and evil heroes. Since the law was enacted, New York had seen the spectacle of two Spider-Men simultaneously scoring points.

These two high-mobility heroes had stopped who knows how many opportunistic crimes, including several incidents where police couldn’t handle robbers using Chitauri laser guns—all dealt with by the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Now, with the crisis looming, it’s clear it’s time for the superheroes to step up.

Within ten minutes, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and James all received the alert.

Director Nick Fury was a bit frustrated. At this crucial moment, two of the Avengers’ heavy hitters were missing!

Thor had returned to Asgard, and Hulk, well, Banner had run into a little “incident.”

While vacationing in South America, Banner had a sudden episode and turned into the Hulk, then inexplicably got swept into the Amazon River... and was carried away... carried away... carried away...

That region in South America doesn’t even have much surveillance.

This wasn’t the first time Hulk had gone missing.

It was a real headache.

To make matters worse, they had too little intelligence on General Zod, making it impossible to judge the situation accurately. At this point, Nick’s head was practically overheating, like a CPU running at full capacity.

The charity auction couldn’t go on, and Tony Stark’s departure left many of the wealthy guests in a panic. Staying gathered in one place during such a time was like waiting to be rounded up. People couldn’t help but recall when Loki had once kidnapped a group of rich people in Germany and made them all kneel.

Soon, these well-dressed gentlemen and ladies flooded towards the exits.

The host awkwardly announced that the auction would be temporarily suspended. Luckily, it was nearly finished, so they wouldn’t lose much.

Meanwhile, Tony and Pepper were evacuating—not by car, but by flying together in two Iron Man suits. One suit headed back to Stark Industries, while the other flew toward a military base.

“Tony, this time…” Pepper was a bit nervous.

“It’s no big deal, at least Kratos is there.”

“That’s true,” Pepper sighed in relief. “Take care.”

“I will.” At some point, Tony had developed an unshakable trust in Atreus .

Thor, Hulk, Kratos— as long as at least one of them was still around, they could still fight. Besides, the woman by Kratos' side, Wonder Woman, was probably no slouch either. After all, she had a solo kill against a Leviathan during the New York battle.

She just wasn’t as famous as those three, for now.

Tony muttered to himself, “If we add Batman and those guys with the planes... we should be fine. I’m starting to understand why Nick is bald.”

If Tony had to deal with a bunch of agents whose real identities were unknown and who may or may not answer in a crisis, he’d be annoyed too.

Sure enough, just as Tony was heading to S.H.I.E.L.D., the ever-suffering Agent Hill was lighting the Bat-Signal next to the Gotham Police Department.

Fortunately, it didn’t take half a minute before she heard Batman’s deliberately gravelly voice.

“If necessary, I’ll step in.” Batman paused, then added, for the first time stepping beyond his usual limits, “If I’m not mistaken, Kratos will come too.”

Both Agent Maria Hill and Director Nick Fury felt reassured at that moment.

They couldn’t help but wonder, what exactly was the relationship between Batman and that wild Kratos?

This sparked some interesting speculation.

Meanwhile, Atreus , sitting in his Rolls-Royce, could barely contain his laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Wonder Woman’s eyes gleamed as she lounged comfortably on the leather sofa, her perfect curves on display.

“Nothing. I was just wondering if General Zod would back down on the spot when he realizes he’s up against an ‘All-Star lineup’ and say, ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to speak so loudly.’” Atreus mischievously speculated.

“You know who the enemy is?”

“I have a rough idea.” With that, Atreus used his secure phone to send a text to Superman.

Clark Kent was a bit puzzled as he read the message on his phone:

“Dear Mr. Clark Kent, I swear I didn’t sell you out. However, since General Zod from Krypton is here, I think it’s best if you handle this personal grudge yourself. Of course, to prevent too much damage to Earth, we don’t mind helping you deal with Zod’s minions. Since we all call Earth home, we’re practically family, aren’t we? According to the Extraordinary Individuals Rating Act, your score is pretty high on the whitelist, so the military probably won’t give you too much trouble.”

After reading the text, Clark, who had once felt lonely and lost, felt a wave of warmth surge through him.

Who was he?

A cosmic orphan who had lost his home.

If it weren’t for his adoptive parents raising him and teaching him how to be human, or for Lois loving him, he wouldn’t be the Clark Kent he was today.

He had once felt incredibly alone, burdened by his overwhelming power.

But today, he truly felt a sense of connection.

He didn’t know who this mysterious person was, but it was clear they were one of the superheroes from the Battle of New York.

Someone who, like him, possessed extraordinary powers not of this world and cared deeply about Earth and humanity.

“Thank you, mysterious stranger. Although I don’t know who you are, I appreciate your kindness,” Clark said, his eyes shining with resolve as he removed his disguise glasses.

“Clark? Who was that?” His adoptive mother, Martha, asked curiously.

“A friend I’ve never met!” Clark’s eyes were glowing.

“That’s wonderful. I hope he’s a true friend.” Martha was hearing, for the first time, about Clark having a real friend—not just a colleague from his fake identity.

Humans and Kryptonians were different, after all.

No matter how close he got to people who didn’t know his true identity, it always felt like acting. Only those with similar backgrounds could avoid that painful distance.

Though Clark knew General Zod couldn’t be trusted, this time, he decided to trust the mysterious stranger.

He donned his Superman suit once more and hovered above the gates of a military base.

Sure enough, fate had taken an unexpected turn.

(End of this chapter)