Marvel : New Son Rising

The number of heroes still active wasn't large, but it wasn't insignificant either. The main figures still carrying the torch were Superman, Wonder Woman, Black Canary (with her Green Lantern Ring), and the two Flashes, who were largely kept from direct action.

However, the other heroes still contributed significantly to the fight. Because of this, the Fortress of Solitude's lobby had been turned into a meeting room where the heroes gathered.

Everyone quietly formed a circle. In the middle were Superman and Talia al Ghul, who was in a heated argument with him.

Lex Luthor and Clark Kent arrived one after the other. As soon as he was there, Luthor seemed to forget Clark and headed straight for his team from LexCorp. Clark, on the other hand, was noticed by Hawkman.

"Clark, over here..."

Of all the heroes present, Hawkman was naturally the most grateful to Clark. Even though Clark's actions might have been instinctive at the time, he had saved Hawkman's life. If it weren't for Clark, Hawkman wouldn't be standing there, whole and healthy, right now.

"Hello, Hawkman. Um... what's happening?"

After greeting Hawkman, Clark looked toward the center, where Superman and Talia's argument continued.

Hawkman sighed. "What else could it be? Not everyone agrees with Superman's noble ideas."

At that moment, Talia's voice cut through the air. "Superman! It's time for you to put away your foolish compassion. The Earth is in this state, and you're still unwilling to kill those infected people. Sooner or later, you'll kill us all!"

Talia was the current leader of the League of Assassins and the mother of the current Batman, Damian Wayne. Her history with Batman was complex and wouldn't be detailed here. However, despite her love for Batman and giving birth to their son, Damian, she was born into the League of Assassins and found Batman's no-kill rule abhorrent.

After all, the League was an organization that believed in stopping violence through killing. To eliminate evil in Gotham City, they could even decide to destroy the city itself. This showed the kind of organization they were.

The League was now only a name, but that didn't mean Talia could accept a Superman who was even kinder and more merciful than Batman.

"We can't yet determine whether those infected can be saved. If it's possible, I'm willing to give them a chance."

Superman held to his same reason. Even though Cyborg, the source of the infection, had given up on researching an antidote, Superman still hoped that one day he could cure these infected people.

"Don't you think about us, the living? What you should be doing right now is flying into the sky and using your heat vision to eliminate all the infected, instead of being soft-hearted here. If you keep this up, sooner or later we'll all be infected, and then you'll be the culprit, a butcher!"

Talia's insults grew harsher, mainly because Superman truly had no intention of considering her proposal. Beside him, Superman's wife, Lois Lane, couldn't stand it anymore. Superman might ignore the insults, but she couldn't.

So Lois personally stepped forward and began to quarrel with Talia.

Thus began the argument between Superboy's father's wife and Batman's mother.

Damian watched this scene helplessly, knowing he couldn't stop his mother at all. She simply thought the same way, and from a realistic point of view, Talia's proposal wasn't wrong.

Young Jonathan Kent, on the other hand, was quite interested in watching the two mothers argue, seemingly finding the scene very exciting.

In the crowd, Hawkman, who had observed the entire exchange, waved at Clark, as if to say, "Look, this is how it is."

Since the virus outbreak and the confirmed death of Batman, such arguments had occurred many times. The last time was when Luthor proposed abandoning Earth and seeking refuge on other planets, which Superman also refused. And Luthor's words were definitely more unpleasant than Talia's.

Gradually, the quarrel subsided, and Superman clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention.

"In short, we still have hope. Humanity still has hope, so there's no need for us to give up on anyone. There must be a way to save everyone."

Superman's words put an end to everything. The focus now was still on resettling the survivors. The infected would not be killed unless absolutely necessary.

The heroes present were filled with hope when they saw Superman in the center, and they agreed to his proposal one by one.

Seeing that the matter was a foregone conclusion, Talia didn't say much, but only uttered one sentence to Superman at the end. "You're just like Batman, a saint, but also stubborn!"

To this, Superman responded with a simple sentence. "Thank you. I appreciate the compliment."

Talia was furious, but there was nothing she could do, and she could only leave.

Now, the superheroes had spread out. Shelters had been found, and they now needed to transfer millions of survivors from around the world to Paradise Island and Gotham Forest.

They were superheroes, but they weren't qualified managers. The massive workload brought by tens of millions of survivors would keep all the heroes very busy in the future.

Hawkman did the same. After saying goodbye to Clark, he left the Fortress of Solitude with Hawkgirl.

Just when Clark didn't know what to do, his shoulder was suddenly patted.

Turning around, Clark saw the familiar bald head.

"Mr. Luthor, what's wrong?"

Faced with Clark's question, Luthor didn't answer directly but instead asked another question. "How do you feel about Superman's current decision?"

Although Luthor hadn't stood with Clark during the discussion, he had been secretly observing him.

When Superman made his decision, Hawkman beside him expressed his agreement, but Clark didn't agree with Superman's approach of protecting the infected. Clark chose to accept it but didn't express his subjective agreement.

Clark was silent. He didn't know why Luthor asked this question. Most importantly, in the comics, Luthor was a villain, so Clark was naturally wary of him.

But what he didn't know was that Clark's silence was already a satisfactory answer for Luthor.

"You hesitated. It seems that deep down, you don't completely agree with Superman's decision."

Finding that his thoughts were seen through, Clark could only nod.

He also wanted to use his abilities to protect others, but Clark's efforts were different from Superman's. He didn't try to possess powerful abilities while hiding in human society for decades. Instead, after realizing he was a Kryptonian, he was sent to Paradise Island for training. He realized that although he had power, he was still weak.

In this situation, Clark had love in his heart, but he didn't love everyone indiscriminately like Superman did. So Clark actually had very complicated feelings about whether or not to show mercy to the infected.

And this was exactly the result Luthor wanted.

"I need your help."