Compared to their exhausted state…
Marcus brought Zod back to the Helicarrier without even breathing hard.
The whole way there, they kept talking.
But Clark and Kara looked completely drained and battered.
Marcus stepped forward and put a hand on each of their shoulders.
The [Horse Talisman] activated.
The dirt disappeared, injuries healed, and even their exhausted stamina recovered.
Only the solar energy inside their Kryptonian cells was unaffected.
It was not that Marcus could not restore it, but doing so would consume too much energy.
They could just recharge under the sun later.
“Thank you!” Clark said gratefully.
“I don’t know how you convinced Zod, but seriously, thank you so much!”
“Yeah, I really don’t know how to thank you!” Kara nodded repeatedly.
“That’s easy.” Marcus looked at Kara and joked, “You can just offer yourself to me.”
Kara was not angry.
Instead, she laughed.
“That might not be enough.
You’ll have to work harder.”
Meaning…
There was a chance!
Marcus did not continue the topic and turned to walk outside.
“Hey, where are you going?” Kara quickly asked.
“I was just…”
Did she think he was upset?
“I need to work a little harder.” Marcus waved his hand.
“Some idiot destroyed the World engine.
I’m going to fix it.”
Clark awkwardly touched his nose.
Ah…
He had been fully prepared to die together with the World engine.
Who would have thought…
“You should feel lucky.” Zod said coldly.
“If Marcus didn’t have a new habitable planet and the ability to repair the World engine, we absolutely would not have stopped today!”
Clark frowned slightly, and Kara also looked angry.
They were just about to argue…
When a voice came from outside the meeting room.
“That would have been your destruction!”
They turned around.
An old man with a wrinkled face walked in, with SHIELD Director Fury beside him.
“I am Alexander Pierce, Head of the World Security Council.” The old man stared at Zod and said, “We are not people you can bully.
If it really came to that, you invaders would die with us!”
Zod only smiled dismissively and did not respond.
What a joke.
If not for the traitor Clark, all instruments within the range of the World engine would have failed and become uncontrollable.
Even if every nuclear weapon on Earth exploded, at most it would trigger a nuclear winter and destroy Earth’s ecosystem.
Pierce stopped pushing the issue.
He sat in a lower seat and gave the main position to Fury.
“You host this meeting.
I’m only representing the World Security Council to ensure the fairness of this negotiation,” Pierce said.
Fury nodded and was about to speak…
“Wait until he repairs the World engine first,” Zod said bluntly.
“If he can’t repair it, then…”
Marcus happened to walk back in and interrupted him.
“Then what?” Marcus asked curiously.
“What are you going back on your words already?” Zod narrowed his eyes.
“Don’t tell me you need more time to repair it.
Stop trying to stall.”
“Huh?
Stall?
It’s already fixed.” Marcus looked speechless.
“I already told you, don’t use your tiny worldview to judge me.
You will just end up looking stupid.”
Zod: “…”
When he saw Pierce earlier, he probably had the same attitude, right?
He silently contacted his subordinates and received confirmation.
The room fell into complete silence.
Everyone present had personally seen how massive the World engine was.
Clark smashed it into multiple pieces, yet Marcus repaired it in such a short time?
Subtract the travel time…
He probably just went there, looked at it, and fixed it instantly.
Nobody could understand it.
After a while,
Zod finally relaxed a little and even showed a faint smile.
“We are willing to leave Earth unconditionally and relocate to the new planet to rebuild Krypton,” Zod said calmly.
However…
Things were not that simple.
“Impossible!” Fury said with a dark expression.
“In only six hours, the Kryptonians destroyed two cities on Earth, caused over forty million deaths, and killed at least seven superheroes!”
“And now you think you can just leave with a single sentence?”
“No chance.
Zod frowned and looked directly at Marcus.
That was not what they agreed on!
“Do you have memory loss or something?” Marcus spread his hands.
“Our deal was only an exchange of needs.
It never included war reparations.”
Zod thought about it…
That really was true.
Marcus exchanged a habitable planet for all Kryptonian technological knowledge…
Zod had simply assumed that counted as war compensation.
Even though, as a proud Kryptonian, compensating weak Earthlings sounded ridiculous.
But the problem was that the traitor Clark destroyed the World engine.
Otherwise,Earth’s technology would never have gotten close enough to stop it.
Zod no longer had the advantage.
And Marcus was also on Earth’s side.
He could not win, could not escape, and had been offered a planet even more suitable for Kryptonians than Earth…
“Fine…”
Forget it.
He would treat it as doing Marcus a favour.
Zod looked at Clark and Kara.
“We Kryptonians have protected Earth all these years…”
“Wait!” Clark interrupted.
“I may have Kryptonian blood, but I was born and raised on Earth.
What I do for Earth has nothing to do with Krypton!”
“Yeah!
Exactly!” Kara immediately agreed.
Zod’s eye twitched…
Were they really going all the way with this betrayal?
He glanced at Marcus.
If Marcus was not impossible to defeat, Zod would have wanted to clean house right here on the spot.
After a brief silence, Zod looked at Fury.
“So, what about your Earth?”
The problem was thrown back to Fury.
They could not keep fighting forever, right?
That meant Fury could not demand excessive “war compensation” either.
Marcus yawned.
He was not very interested in the rest of the negotiations.
He used Psychokinesis to pat Kara, then turned and walked away.
Kara hesitated slightly…
But still followed him out.
On the deck,
The two ignored the strong wind and walked around casually.
“I didn’t expect that we only met yesterday.” Kara sighed emotionally.
“And you only arrived on Earth the day before yesterday.
It’s like fate sent you here to save me.”
“So, does that mean the date we agreed on yesterday is happening now?” Marcus joked.
Kara blinked, then instantly made up her mind.
She jumped and flew into the sky.
Marcus subconsciously looked up and saw a flash of red…
Safety shorts.
“Damn the guy who invented safety shorts!”
He immediately flew after her.
“If you can catch me, then I’ll let you…
hehe!”
When Marcus heard that, there was no way he would hold back.
He instantly accelerated at full speed.
Kara was also flying with all her strength, but she had already been slower than Marcus from the start.
After the battle, her solar energy reserves were nearly empty.
The distance between them visibly shrank.
Until…
Marcus caught Kara in his arms midair.
Before he could do anything else…
Kara already launched a clumsy but aggressive attack.
At that moment, Marcus only had one thought left in his head…
Air combat?
This was seriously exciting!
…
It had to be said,
The Kryptonian bloodline was really intense!
Marcus, who could easily handle Darcy and Sharon before, was almost completely drained by Kara.
He was not tired even during the war between Earth and Krypton, but every time afterward, he almost collapsed here!
Fortunately,
Marcus had the [Horse Talisman], so he could restore his stamina anytime.
And with the [Snake Talisman], he did not have to worry about being seen.
He could go all out without concern.
Day turned into night, and night into day again before the two finally returned, completely satisfied.
By then,
The final negotiations between Zod and Fury had ended.
The Kryptonians claimed the war started due to a misunderstanding, and agreed to compensate Earth for its losses with:
“Light Energy Weapon Technology,”
“Kryptonian Flight Device Technology,”
…
And eighteen other pieces of advanced technology.
Zod also promised that if Earth ever needed help in the future, Krypton would assist unconditionally.
Meanwhile, Earth would provide…
Enough supplies for ten thousand people to survive for one year, and allow Zod’s spaceship to recharge using the Sun free of charge.
Basically…
Earth got all this almost for free.
Mainly because,
Besides Earth itself, there was nothing else the Kryptonians wanted.
After hearing this, Marcus could not help sighing…
“I thought you’d at least demand Zod’s Dna as compensation,” Marcus said directly.
Fury looked helpless.
“You think I don’t want to?” Fury sighed.
“But Zod is the current leader of Krypton.
Going after him would basically mean declaring war.”
“Then how are you going to explain this to the civilians?” Marcus asked.
“There was a superhero who defeated the leader of the invading aliens and forced them to stop the invasion and retreat.” Fury looked at Marcus.
“That superhero can be you.
It will help you a lot in the future…
especially with expanding your group.”
“Hmm…
so this isn’t free?”
“One collectible.”
Marcus seriously considered it…
SHIELD already owed him so many favours.
Reducing it by one collectible was not a big deal.
Besides, SHIELD did not really have many things worth his attention.
And the reputation of being a “saviour”…
Just look at Darcy.
For girls like her, the effect was huge!
Even for women who were not fangirls, it would at least increase their favourability.
Turning a relationship from “stranger” to “good impression,” combined with his looks and abilities, would massively lower the difficulty of picking up girls.
This deal was worth it!
“Fine, one collectible then.” Marcus nodded.
“Looks like you’ve already prepared it?”
“Of course!” Fury stood up.
“Let’s go.
It’s next door.”
The two left the office and entered the room beside it.
The first collectible was very familiar to him, the Obelisk (The Diviner)!
Thousands of years ago,
The Kree used it to transform humans into the weapon known as the Inhumans.
The Terrigen Crystal hidden inside was a necessary catalyst for Inhuman awakening.
It was a pretty good collectible.
The second collectible was more ordinary, a “Disguise and Invisibility Device.”
Just by covering the face, it could transform someone into any appearance.
Of course,
It only changed appearance.
Body shape still depended on the user.
Still, not bad.
But this third collectible…
A USB drive?
Marcus looked at Fury suspiciously.
What was this supposed to be?
“This was handed over to us by Zod.
Eighteen Kryptonian technologies!” Fury said seriously.
“They’re all packaged inside for you.
Consider it one Precious-grade collectible, plus the favor I promised you.
How about it?”
Marcus: “…”
Marcus still needed to expand his group, so he was not lacking in advanced technology anyway.
But…
Fury definitely did not know about Marcus’s real deal with Zod.
Eventually, all Kryptonian technology would belong to Marcus anyway.
What use were these scraps?
“Forget it, I don’t really care about this.” Marcus curled his lip.
“Give me something more valuable.”
Fury was not surprised.
Or rather…
This had been a test from the beginning, to see how advanced Marcus’s civilization really was!
Now it seemed…
Fury pulled out an empty tube from his pocket.
There was only a thin layer of liquid left at the bottom.
Marcus looked genuinely surprised!
They were even willing to take this out?
…
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