After Clark returned home, he became noticeably distracted. His thoughts seemed completely occupied by Emily.
Jovian naturally noticed Clark's absentminded behavior, but he remained perfectly calm because Emily had been sent there by him.
Over the following days, Clark went out to meet Emily every night, and their relationship developed at an astonishing pace.
As they learned more about each other, they also discovered one another's ages.
Emily was twenty-one. She had just graduated from college and was interning at a Kent Group subsidiary. Clark had never expected the woman he liked to be one of Jovian's employees, but he still did not reveal his identity. He did not want Emily to love him simply because his last name was Kent and he was the younger brother of the great Jovian Kent.
In truth, Emily had known Clark's identity from the beginning. She simply concealed that knowledge extremely well.
Both of them were hiding their secrets, and thus began a love story built upon countless lies.
Jovian remained silent about the entire affair. He simply found it amusing.
In fact, Jovian had been carefully recording Clark's behavior all along. He wanted to discover what circumstances might persuade Clark to abandon his dream of becoming a hero without turning him into a villain, allowing him to live as the most ordinary of ordinary men.
To accomplish that, Jovian decided to begin with love.
Love could transform a hero into an ordinary husband.
As it turned out, Jovian was right.
Clark followed the path Jovian had designed for him. He graduated from school, enrolled at a prestigious university, and eventually became a successful attorney.
Not long afterward, Clark confessed his true identity to Emily. He told her that he was the younger brother of the great Jovian Kent and one of the board members of the Kent Group.
Emily acted shocked. She pretended to be furious and accused Clark of deceiving her.
In the end, however, all her anger vanished beneath Clark's heartfelt confession, a passionate kiss, a bouquet of flowers, and a diamond ring.
Clark and Emily were married.
Several more years passed, and they had three children together.
Everything appeared perfect.
Time continued to pass.
Before long, a spacecraft locked onto Earth.
"Is Jor-El's son on that planet?"
Inside the warship, a tall, muscular man with short black hair sat in the command chair.
He had waited a very long time to find Kal-El, the son of his old friend Jor-El.
He knew his foolish old friend had placed Krypton's hope, the Codex, within the body of his own son.
"General, our tracking data confirms that he is on that planet!"
Rows of warriors in black armor stood beneath the commander. They were soldiers from Krypton, waiting to descend upon that distant world, conquer it, and recreate their glorious home planet.
"Excellent. Proceed at full speed."
The warship accelerated continuously before becoming a streak of light racing toward Earth.
Inside Kent Tower, Jovian sensed something.
He raised his head and gazed into the sky. His vision seemed to cross an immeasurable distance before locking onto the warship traveling through space at sub-light speed.
"Earth is about to face the catastrophe destined for it."
Jovian smiled and waited patiently.
Boom!
The instant the Kryptonian ship broke through the clouds and entered Earth's atmosphere, every communications network across the planet went down.
"People of Earth, surrender Kal-El. If you refuse, we will launch an assault upon your entire planet!"
The aliens had no interest in wasting time negotiating with humanity.
They were invincible Kryptonians, while Earth appeared incomparably weak in their eyes.
"Who is Kal-El?"
While the Kryptonians waited for the people of Earth to obediently hand Kal-El over, humanity was discussing one critically important question.
Who the hell was Kal-El?
"Does anyone know who Kal-El is?"
That question became the most heavily discussed topic in the world.
"You know, I have a cat named Kal-El. I don't understand why these aliens want my cat so badly. Can't they just buy one of their own?"
A blogger published a post that he clearly considered hilarious.
"This is an extremely serious matter..."
"My grandfather was actually named Kal-El. Unfortunately, he was worked to death in a factory. My God, damn exploitative institutions and systemic injustice!"
The person posting the message was a self-proclaimed social activist. He had robbed a small restaurant that very morning and was now fishing for sympathy online.
"That's so tragic. This is why I always say that people shouldn't sell things they don't like!"
The reply came from an obvious troll with the username DefinitelyNotATroll.
Before long, the internet had descended into complete chaos.
The real world, however, remained surprisingly orderly.
Most people did not appear particularly worried about the aliens attacking because Earth had the great Jovian.
For the past ten years, Jovian had devoted himself to collaborating with Zack Snyder and producing more than a dozen dark, gritty superhero film franchises. On-screen, he had defeated hundreds upon hundreds of evil aliens.
The public had grown accustomed to this sort of thing.
Some conspiracy theorists even claimed that the entire alien invasion was merely a promotional campaign for the latest installment in Jovian's superhero franchise and warned everyone not to fall for it.
Second after second passed.
Still, no one delivered the so-called Kal-El to the Kryptonians.
General Zod was becoming furious.
"What the hell is going on?"
General Zod glared at his subordinates and demanded an explanation.
"General, the people of Earth are currently asking the same question."
"They want to know who Kal-El is."
"It appears we overlooked something important."
One of the Kryptonians who had accompanied Zod frowned as he explained his conclusion.
"We know Kal-El's identity, but these foolish humans apparently do not."
"Alternatively, Kal-El may have concealed his identity on Earth and adopted a different name."
"Shit! Why did no one mention something so important before?"
General Zod was furious.
"Uh..."
Because you never asked.
Zod's subordinate desperately wanted to say those words, but managed to restrain himself.
He knew General Zod would slap him across the room if he answered that way.
"Use the supercomputer to calculate Kal-El's present appearance, then broadcast the image across this damned primitive planet!"
General Zod still intended to use Earth's population to locate Kal-El.
The Kryptonians had too few personnel. Personally searching an entire planet would consume far too much time and offer little benefit.
Since a faster and more efficient method was available, Zod had no intention of choosing the slower one.
Soon, an image of Kal-El was broadcast across the entire world.
There was only one problem.
No one recognized the man in the picture.
No one except...
"This picture..."
Clark, now the father of three children, frowned as he looked at the image.
He had recognized himself at first glance.
However, he had worn glasses for years, so he was confident that very few people would connect him to the image. More importantly, he could not understand why the aliens were looking for him.
He was only an ordinary man.
He had not been a superhero in years.
Clark did not think much more about it. Jovian would resolve everything anyway.
"Clark, this man..."
As the woman who had shared Clark's bed for all those years, Emily naturally recognized the person in the image. She approached her husband and questioned him about it.
"It's nothing."
"The aliens probably made a mistake. Besides, no matter what happens, Jovian will handle it. This has nothing to do with me."
Clark casually reassured his wife.
"Really? That's a relief."
Emily sighed in relief.
She had honestly been afraid that the situation might involve her husband.
As the years passed, Emily had realized that she could no longer imagine living without Clark. What had begun as an assignment had changed completely.
She had fallen in love with the square-jawed man standing before her.
"Don't worry."
Clark gently embraced Emily and spoke in a soothing voice.
Time continued to pass.
Unfortunately for General Zod, no one contacted him.
Many people had already forgotten about the entire incident.
"This is outrageous!"
"The inhabitants of a primitive planet dare to ignore us?"
General Zod's fury finally became the signal for the Kryptonians to begin their assault on Earth.
"General, a humanoid high-energy object is approaching us at extreme speed. Estimated arrival in three seconds!"
Just as Zod prepared to order the attack, the ship's sensors detected an intense energy signature rapidly closing in.
"What?"
General Zod froze.
He had never expected such a being to exist on this remote planet.
"Evade!"
General Zod frowned, but before he could finish giving the order, a deafening crash shook the vessel.
Something smashed directly through the hull.
"Hello, General."
A tall man stood inside the new opening and smiled at General Zod in greeting.
"Are you Kal-El?"
General Zod studied the newcomer from head to toe.
The man looked nothing like the image their calculations had produced. They appeared to be completely different people.
For a moment, even Zod was uncertain.
However, he could not imagine any species other than Kryptonians capable of flying at such tremendous speed.
Jor-El had clearly hidden advanced combat equipment for his son as well.
"Of course not."
The tall man casually walked toward General Zod.
"I'll give you one opportunity to survive. Pledge your loyalty to me immediately."
The man stared coldly at General Zod.
"Hahahaha!"
General Zod burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha!"
His soldiers laughed alongside him.
They believed this backwater Kryptonian had completely lost his mind.
"Boy, do you know who I am?"
General Zod stepped toward the man and challenged him.
The tall man merely chuckled before throwing a punch at General Zod.
Boom!
General Zod instantly disappeared from the ship.
The terrifying force behind the man's fist launched Zod through the hull. The Kryptonian general became a meteor, tearing through the vessel and plummeting toward the ground below.
"What?"
Everyone inside the ship froze.
"Do the rest of you know who I am?"
The man looked at the stunned Kryptonians.
"My name is Jovian, and I am your god."
The man was naturally Jovian.
A crimson light suddenly blazed within his eyes. The tremendous heat distorted the surrounding air before his scorching heat vision swept across the spacecraft and sliced the entire vessel in half.
Boom!
Explosions erupted throughout the interior.
The ship broke apart and plunged into the atmosphere, burning, exploding, and roaring as it fell.
The Kryptonians inside naturally entered free fall, plummeting toward the surface of Earth.
"Welcome to my planet."
Jovian hovered in the sky, watching the Kryptonians fall toward Earth with a faint smile on his lips.
Boom!
At the same time, a series of explosions shook the ground as the Kryptonians crashed into a sandy basin.
They stared around in confusion.
None of them understood how they had suddenly fallen from the sky.
Their armor had been shattered and rendered useless. They removed the ruined equipment, exposing their bodies directly to the sunlight.
The instant the yellow sunlight touched them, the genetic restraints within their bodies were released.
"What is this...?"
The newly empowered Kryptonians staggered like intoxicated men. They repeatedly attempted to stand, only to collapse again and again.
"Aliens..."
"What the hell..."
"What's happening?"
Countless voices blended together like a chaotic symphony and echoed through their minds.
The Kryptonians became dizzy and disoriented, unable to control their bodies or process the overwhelming information assaulting their senses.
"We've been enhanced..."
Only a small number of Kryptonians quickly gained control of their bodies.
General Zod was naturally among them.
Boom!
Just as General Zod prepared to rally his soldiers, a deafening impact came from above.
Jovian landed directly in front of him.
"How does it feel, General?"
Jovian clasped his hands behind his back and walked toward Zod.
"What is happening on this planet? This sun..."
General Zod stared at Jovian.
"That's right. This planet's sun has strengthened us."
"It gives us incredible power, makes us invulnerable, and turns every one of us into a superman."
Jovian nodded as he answered.
"Hahaha..."
"If that's true, then allowing us to land here was your greatest mistake."
General Zod laughed. He believed victory was already his.
Jovian slowly shook his head.
"You know nothing about power."
Jovian drove his fist into General Zod's face.
Boom!
General Zod was sent flying once again.
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