But what Alex didn't expect—
was that Ares's abilities went far beyond those three he'd already witnessed.
This wasn't just a thug with a few random powers—Ares moved with a precision and adaptability that suggested extensive conditioning and engineering.
There was calculation behind every twitch of muscle.
After all, this creature was Lex Luthor's meticulously crafted masterpiece—
a fusion of numerous meteor freak abilities, layered, stabilized, and amplified into one living weapon.
It was the culmination of years of expensive research, illegal experiments, and the kind of moral bankruptcy only Lex could call "vision."
Buzz.
The next moment, Ares—who'd been standing right in front of Alex—vanished.
Not with a blur, not with a shimmer—
but with a clean, seamless erasure, as though reality had simply deleted him.
> "Invisibility, huh?" Alex muttered.
"Another trick."
He didn't sound impressed.
But his gaze sharpened, ever so slightly—
he acknowledged the threat, even if only as an interesting puzzle.
This "super meteor freak" had indeed exceeded expectations.
His presence, his movement, his execution—this wasn't a sloppy mutation.
Someone had trained him. Crafted him.
He was valuable.
A specimen worth keeping.
(Alex almost didn't want to break him.)
---
> "Attack!"
From his office at Luthor Manor, Lex Luthor's command rang out sharp, clipped, and ice cold.
Whoosh!
Ares moved, striking again.
This time, there was no footstep, no gust of wind, no displacement of air.
He didn't just turn invisible—he removed his presence entirely.
To a normal opponent, this would have been terrifying.
Even Clark Kent would have needed to rely on instinct to track him.
Ares was effectively a living shadow.
But Alex was not normal.
He didn't need sound.
He didn't need light.
He didn't need any of the senses ordinary beings relied on.
He saw Ares anyway.
Zzzzz—!
Two beams of scorching heat vision burst from Alex's eyes,
cutting through the empty air and striking the exact spot where Ares had been.
BOOM!
Ares's invisible form was blasted backward, losing stealth mid-flight,
his chest now bearing two perfectly round, still-glowing burn holes.
Thud!
He slammed into the reinforced steel flooring hard enough to buckle it.
> "What?!"
"Impossible!"
Lex Luthor shot to his feet so fast his chair skidded backward and crashed against the wall.
His pupils constricted in disbelief, every calculation in his mind collapsing in real time.
Ares's invisibility—
the cornerstone of his combat strategy—
had been seen through instantly.
> "How… how did he do that?" Lex breathed.
"And his eyes—heat emission? Laser projection? No… that output—impossible!"
---
BOOM.
Alex vanished.
His acceleration cracked the air like a whip.
The next instant, he was directly in front of Ares.
His hand closed around Ares's throat with casual ease, as though picking up a toy.
He lifted him effortlessly.
Ares's massive, mutated muscles bulged, tendons straining,
his body trembling with desperate exertion—
But Alex's grip didn't waver.
Not even by a fraction.
> "Strength contest?" Alex said with a quiet, almost amused tone.
"You're out of your depth."
Up in his mansion, Lex's knuckles tightened painfully.
Ares—the apex of his engineered power—
was losing.
Badly.
Effortlessly.
---
> "Counterattack protocol! Full output!" Lex shouted.
Ares's body surged with reactionary instinct.
FWOOOM!
He ignited into a blazing inferno, turning into a humanoid firestorm.
The heat radiating off him made the floor beneath them glow orange and sag.
The temperature spiked high enough to melt industrial steel.
But Alex…
stood there.
His uniform didn't even smolder.
His hair didn't shift.
Not even his skin reddened.
He simply watched the flames roll over him like warm summer wind.
> "No…" Lex whispered, his voice cracking.
"That heat could vaporize metal…"
"And he's… unharmed?"
The fear in his voice was no longer subtle.
---
Ares's flames sputtered, flickered—then dimmed.
Alex had begun absorbing.
Ares's power—his raw cosmic energy—flowed out of him like water pouring down a slope.
The glow in his eyes faded. His strength collapsed inward.
His body shrank, his muscles deflating.
His stance wobbled.
Ares became empty.
A man-shaped shell.
Powerless.
Broken.
> "No… no, no, no!" Lex's roar shook the room.
"That's impossible! This defies every model—every theory—every—!"
His disbelief cracked into horror.
> "What did he do to him?!"
---
Back in the ruined lab, Ares blinked weakly.
The fire in his veins extinguished.
His memories muddled.
Confusion clouded his eyes.
> "Where… am I? Who… are you…?"
A fractured mind, stripped of purpose.
Alex glanced at him, indifferent.
> "Remote psychological leash. Figures."
His fist moved—
Thud.
Ares collapsed, unconscious.
Alex didn't spare him another look.
He turned toward the crates—
stacked with glittering Kryptonite crystals.
His expression curved with calm satisfaction.
> "Now that's what I came for."
---
Just as he finished loading them onto a truck,
his hearing picked up a distant wave of noise.
Engines. Radios. Sirens.
Police. Military. Local enforcement.
Dozens of vehicles forming a perimeter.
Alex sighed softly, almost bored.
> "Guess I overstayed my welcome."
He lifted his hand.
Telekinetic force enveloped the truck like an invisible hand.
BOOOOM—!
The vehicle blasted through the facility roof in an eruption of rubble and smoke.
Then—with a sharp, thunderous sonic boom—
Alex and his mountain of Kryptonite ascended into the night sky, vanishing into the stars
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