42: Breaking the world 3

Why now? That question came to his mind as he stumbled into his apartment, inside could be seen the typical clutter of a young, single man who often left things to the last minute.

“Why can’t disasters wait for the weekend when there’s no work?” He muttered as he tossed his old briefcase aside while using his other hand to unbutton his shirt.

‘I should have stuck with the idea of wearing it under my clothes,’ he scolded himself as he took off his pants and, with a quick movement, sent them flying through the air along with his shoes and socks.

Once he was completely naked, his figure stood in front of a mannequin covered by a dark cloth, which he pulled aside to reveal what he had come for in such a hurry.

A suit.

A super hero suit.

Or at least it would be when it was complete. As it was now, it could barely be called a crude attempt at a super suit. Hell, the cosplays people wore at comic conventions probably had a better finish… mostly.

In his defense, this was the first super suit he had made, so it was okay if it was a bit ugly, right?

Shaking his head to clear away those silly thoughts, Barry Allen stepped forward and began to hurriedly put on the suit. In a blurry movement, his naked body disappeared and was replaced by a figure completely dressed in red from head to toe, with a yellow lightning bolt stitched onto the chest.

Almost unconsciously, he placed both hands on his hips and posed like one of those classic comic book superheroes.

“It’s a bit tight…” He should have checked the measurements better.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes in concentration, a sound similar to the crackling of electricity coursed through his body until it reached his ears.

Was he really going to do this? He couldn’t help but wonder as doubt crept into him.

Sure, he had been doing “heroic” things, as he called them in his mind, ever since he discovered he had gained superpowers a few weeks ago after being struck by lightning one day when he left work late from the forensics department in Central City while a thunderstorm hit the city.

But those were small things, baby steps that helped him figure out how his newly gained superpower worked.

What was hitting the East Coast right now went beyond all of that; it was a true world-ending cataclysm, or at least it seemed like that from afar.

Did he really have the ability to help?

“Just run, Barry…” His chaotic thoughts stopped. Like a ghost from the past, his father’s voice reached his ears, sending a chill down his spine. His eyes snapped open as his growing determination dispelled all the doubts and hesitations that had been circling in his mind.

He knew what he had to do.

Yellow lightning flashed as he took his first step forward. Faster than anything alive on Earth, his body blurred into a fleeting streak that left only afterimages behind.

As the world slowed down around him, Barry clenched his fists, and a determined look formed on his face.

He was running, but this time it wasn’t to escape. No, this time, every step he took had a different purpose.

This time, he would do things right.

.

.

.

“This is Lois Lane, reporting live from the East Coast in New York. As you can see, the situation here is truly critical. In the last few minutes, a series of earthquakes followed by strong winds have violently shaken the region, triggering intense ocean agitation, causing floods not only in New York but also along other coastal cities, making-”

Jimmy Olsen was beginning to regret his career choice. The young cameraman gritted his teeth as the helicopter he was in shook violently again due to the strong winds that had been hitting the sky ever since the enormous cyclone of unknown origin began forming just a few minutes ago.

While most people were running to take shelter with their loved ones, here he was, along with his crazy co-worker and a helicopter driver with too many balls, flying over the coastal cities and reporting live on the entire situation for the Daily Planet’s channel.

Even though they had been explicitly told not to…

Again, how the hell had he let himself be convinced to do this?

“As far as we know, Washington D.C. has been the most affected city in–” Lois’ words were abruptly cut off when a powerful boom roared across the sky.

Jimmy almost felt his ears explode, and for a second, his vision went dark.

For a moment, he wondered if he had passed out. He didn’t know how long he had been dazed, but a slap to his face brought him back to reality in an instant.

“Focus the camera, Jimmy! Look at that!” Lois shouted as she pointed to the distant sky. There, in the distance, the cyclone that had been growing in size suddenly seemed to split from its center , as if something were cutting through it at high speed, heading toward the Atlantic Ocean.

Although confused and disoriented, Jimmy was still a professional, and without hesitation, he pointed the camera in that direction as fast as he could, trying to use the zoom to focus and see what was happening.

“Is that a person?” The young cameraman blinked, confused, as what initially appeared to be a meteor moving at maximum speed through the sky suddenly decelerated unnaturally and abruptly, revealing a figure to the camera.

Upon hearing his muttering, Lois moved closer to his side with curiosity and pushed him aside a little so she could also see the scene.

There, floating casually among the winds and debris, a man who seemed to be wearing nothing but a tattered hospital gown was revealed.

“A super?” Lois murmured the term that had started to gain popularity in the media since Defiant appeared. Although the hero was the only publicly known one, there were still many rumors about “special” individuals around the world besides him, and people had begun to use the term “super” as a way to refer to all of them collectively.

Soon, both of them noticed how the man extended both arms, releasing a white electric light from his fists and roaring at the sky with clear rage, causing, in the next instant, an invisible shockwave to be unleashed from his body in all directions.

The helicopter shook violently when the shockwave reached them, and that wave extended for miles, even hitting the ground, making the entire East Coast begin to tremble once again.

“Oh shit!” Jimmy heard Lois exclaim as the helicopter started spinning, clearly out of control.

“Oh shit!” This time it was him who shouted as he tried to grab onto anything he could to avoid being thrown out.

They didn’t pay him enough for this!

.

.

.

Graviton roared, his powers causing all the debris in the sky to stir and the hurricane winds to increase their speed even more, making the city beneath his feet shake violently as if a tornado was beginning to strike it.

How was this possible? How did Defiant manage to get past his shields when he hadn't even come close before?

‘Did he get stronger?’

‘Or was he just playing with me?’ At that thought, his teeth clenched.

Wiping the blood that trickled from the corner of his mouth, he looked gravely into the distance. He could feel the hero quickly approaching, cutting through the debris he had thrown in his path to give himself a chance to orient.

‘I got too confident.’ The blow he had just taken and the pain it caused brought Graviton a shred of common sense.

‘But it doesn’t matter if he got stronger or not, my power is still superior!’ And with that, that shred of common sense almost vanished entirely.

Even so, what remained told him that he couldn’t keep fighting without any defense besides his gravitational shields. Stretching out both hands, he pulled the sturdiest metal from the debris in the sky, making it orbit around him.

Then, using the gravitational power he now commanded, he began compressing and molding the metal according to his will, finally covering his body from head to toe with it, giving himself a far more dignified outfit than just a tattered hospital gown.

With satisfaction, he raised his hand, quickly extending a gravitational barrier that blocked a powerful impact.

“This time, there won't be a lucky hit,” he said, looking at Defiant, who had appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye.

“Uh? Changed outfits? You know, this really won’t help you with public relations, right? You really look like a full-blown supervillain now,” Daniel said, noticing his new appearance.

Words that didn’t seem to sit well with Graviton.

“Supervillain?” he heard him growl “Don’t you get it, fool?! I am their salvation! I’m the only one who can lead them! Who can take humanity to its highest potential!” His hysterical shout echoed across the sky.

"Really? Because so far it looks like you want to destroy it completely," Daniel mocked as he pointed around him, toward all the destruction Graviton had caused in such a short time.

"Hmph! Every great change requires sacrifices, but that's not something someone like you can understand." Upon hearing him, Daniel shook his head. Why was he still talking to this lunatic?

He needed to end this before Graviton could cause any more damage.

His figure blurred, using more speed than he had shown before. His body moved, crossing the distance between them in an instant.

Despite being on high alert, Graviton barely managed to raise his shield in time to avoid Daniel's fist from hitting him in the face again.

"I told you, no more lucky hits!" the supervillain roared, unleashing his powers to pull thousands of pieces of debris toward them, creating a chaotic battlefield once again.

Daniel didn't even pay attention to the countless projectiles Graviton hurled at him to try to stop him. His body easily withstood all the impacts without flinching, and he attacked again. This time, his punch was faster, landing cleanly on his enemy's stomach and denting his newly acquired metallic outfit.

"Ughr!" Graviton spat saliva as all the air in his lungs was forcibly expelled.

Even so, he didn’t give in. Where a blow of such magnitude would have crushed anyone else, he stood firm. His own fist glowed with white light as the space around him distorted.

Taking advantage of the short distance between them, Graviton struck Daniel directly in the face, causing his head to turn slightly to one side.

And as collateral damage, everything within a radius of hundreds of meters around them was displaced and crushed by the gravitational waves of the blow.

"Is that all?" Daniel couldn't help but mock. His head returned to its original position with only a thin red line of blood trickling from his lips.

Graviton opened his eyes in disbelief, but before he could react, Daniel's fist struck him in the face, causing his nose to crack and his body to fly backward once again.

'He's tougher than he looks,' Daniel couldn't help but think as he looked at his fist. Even without his gravitational shields, it seemed the power within his body increased his durability to some extent.

"Oh?" Daniel looked down when suddenly the sound of something resembling crackling electricity reached his ears.

Even with his superhuman sight, he could only catch a yellow streak racing through the streets beneath his feet.

"Flash?!" he couldn't help but let the name escape his lips in surprise.

He hadn't expected to see him now at all. Suddenly, some memories came back to him, making him realize he'd completely forgotten to stay alert to the thunderstorms over Central City.

He really wanted to go down and have a chat with him, but right now, his hands were full.

"I'll look for him later," he decided before something else caught his attention.

Cries for help—they had been echoing everywhere since it all began. At first, it was easy to ignore them because he knew Carol was there. Now that she had stayed behind, he could hardly resist the urge to run toward them, or at least he couldn't—until he noticed the speedster's arrival beneath his feet.

Flash didn't know it, but he'd greatly eased the burden on his shoulders.

Even so, there was still a small problem: not all the cries were coming from below.

Quickly, his eyes sharpened, searching through the cyclone of debris that covered the sky.

"A news helicopter?" It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for, and when he did, he couldn't help but put a hand to his face.

With a sigh, his body blurred, disappearing from his spot and going straight to rescue the very brave or very stupid reporters who had decided that flying through the sky in the middle of a cyclone the size of several cities was a good idea...

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Yes, the more he thought about it, the more stupid they seemed.

.

Lois Lane didn’t tend to regret anything, but this time she had to admit that maybe things had gotten a little out of hand.

“I hate you!!” she heard Jimmy shout as he clung tightly to his seat in the helicopter while the strong winds of the cyclone tossed the aircraft around the sky.

Lois felt like her entire lifetime’s worth of luck was running out in this moment. Not only was it a miracle that the helicopter hadn’t been hit and destroyed by all the other debris in the air, but the fact that none of the three passengers had been thrown to their deaths was also incredible.

Though that wouldn’t last much longer.

‘Lois Lane, rookie reporter, dead for disobeying her boss’s orders’—she was already imagining the headlines, though it probably wouldn’t even make a footnote with everything else going on.

‘Sorry, Jimmy,’ she silently apologized to her colleague while closing her eyes, ready to accept her imminent and fatal fate.

And she waited. And waited. It wasn’t until she realized that all the erratic movement had stopped that she opened her eyes in confusion.

Only to find herself staring into a pair of blue irises.

“Are you all okay?”

“Whta?” Her tongue twisted.

“Oh God, thank you!” Jimmy somehow managed to react better upon seeing Defiant holding the helicopter effortlessly while beginning to lower them to the ground, passing through the cyclone without any trouble.

When the sound of the ground clashing with the metal was heard, Lois clumsily crawled through the broken door of the helicopter, dusting off her clothes.

“Are we alive?” she couldn’t help but ask in astonishment as she looked up at the sky and the massive cyclone they’d been trapped in just moments before.

As for Jimmy, he did something rather embarrassing by falling to his knees start kissing the ground.

“Never! I will never leave you again!”

Lois decided to look away to preserve what little respect she still had for him.

And in doing so, she saw Defiant pulling the helicopter pilot out, who seemed to have passed out at some point.

The hero looked quite battered. His classic full-body suit had tears in several places, and his long cape was almost in shreds. It seemed like even he had been having a rough time through all this.

Lois remembered the super they had seen before their helicopter lost control, and drawing logical conclusions, she realized that this was actually a battle between Defiant and that man.

Her journalistic instincts tingled.

Without being able to help it, she started walking toward him, dozens of questions on the tip of her tongue.

"Defiant, can you—"

"Are you stupid?"

The interruption nearly made Lois stumble.

"What?!"

The hero looked at her with clear disapproval in his gaze, and the young reporter didn’t know why, but that suddenly irritated her.

"Forget it," Defiant shook his head. "Look, I don’t have much time. There’s a maniac I need to punch. I suggest you find shelter and stay away from danger, even if that’s hard for you." His last words seemed to carry a hint of sarcasm, which suddenly made Lois's face flush with indignation.

She readied herself to say something, but the hero didn’t seem to have any plans to continue chatting. And just like that, without giving her time to do anything else, Defiant began floating in the air before taking off at high speed.

"Hey! Wait, I—!" The reporter couldn’t even finish her sentence as Defiant disappeared into the distance in an instant.

Jimmy, who had witnessed the whole thing, stopped kissing the ground and approached the catatonic Lois, who had one hand stretched toward the sky.

"Come on, we better do what he said. I don’t think we have any luck left to burn after this." With that, the cameraman moved over to the still-unconscious pilot and began hoisting him over his shoulders.

"Did he call me stupid?" Lois muttered to herself, staring into the distance with clenched fists and a twitch in her eye.

.

Over the Atlantic Ocean.

Graviton clutched his broken nose, feeling the blood flow between his fingers. His bloodshot eyes glared toward the East Coast with intense hatred.

Stretching out his hand, the enormous cyclone that had formed over the skies began to forcefully converge in his direction, bringing with it all the debris the winds had torn from the ground.

“You're a hero, right? Then let's see if you can save them from this!” he shouted at Defiant, who was already rapidly approaching. To delay him, Graviton sent a repelling wave toward him while simultaneously increasing the gravity on the hero’s body once more.

These actions only slowed Defiant for a few seconds, but a few seconds were all Graviton needed.

With a sinister smile on his lips, he raised both hands, causing the cyclone to start compressing above his head. Then, he clenched his fists and, using monstrous gravitational power, made all the matter he had torn from the ground begin to compress, forming a colossal sphere that rose above the clouds.

Daniel watched this with a frown, and then his eyes widened in disbelief as he realized what Graviton was planning.

“Are you trying to destroy the entire East Coast?!” If something that massive fell from such a height, forget about destroying just one city—the disturbance it would create in the ocean could wipe out every city along the coast.

“This will be a demonstration! A message for the world to understand who their new master is! And that all resistance is futile!” Graviton exclaimed, a mocking smile appearing on his face.

“You can try to stop it, or you can step aside and watch millions die.” This was clearly a provocation. Daniel could see that Graviton was attempting to force him to focus on stopping the attack, diverting his attention.

The worst part was that Daniel knew he couldn’t ignore it. Graviton was right—he had to stop this, no matter the cost, or millions would die.

The sphere, now thousands of meters in the air, suddenly shuddered as its gravity increased thousands of times in an instant, causing it to plummet like a super-accelerated meteorite. Its surface ignited in flames due to the friction and weight.

Daniel gritted his teeth and, without hesitation, propelled himself toward the artificial meteor, ready to stop its fall at any cost.

Seeing this, Graviton laughed and, using his powers, guided the sphere toward the hero while simultaneously increasing its falling speed.

Like two opposing forces, hero and meteor collided in mid-air, creating an extremely powerful shockwave that rippled outward from the point of contact.

For a moment, there was a stalemate in movement, but then the meteor began advancing again, though now much slower than before.

'Oh, shit,' Daniel felt his arms crack. Gritting his teeth, he pushed even harder, using everything he had to slow the massive sphere’s descent, even as his muscles burned and his bones creaked.

Despite all the strength he had gained, it seemed he was still far from invincible.

'I should’ve trained more,' he couldn’t help but reprimand himself a little. While he had done some training, the truth was he hadn’t put as much effort into it as he could have. There were, of course, plenty of reasons for that—besides the little time he’d had with everything going on—but still, it didn’t fully excuse him.

For the first time in a long while, he felt sweat beginning to cover his entire body as his heart pounded from the colossal effort.

"But even if it’s hard, I can still stop it!" And as if his thoughts manifested into reality, the meteor began to visibly slow down.

“Huh?” Graviton’s laughter stopped as he noticed what was happening. Frowning, he stretched both hands toward Daniel, white light starting to glow all over his body.

“How stubborn! Don’t you realize that resisting is useless?! Nothing can beat me!”

To his exclamation, a different voice responded.

“Clearly, you haven’t met me yet!”

Suddenly, Graviton’s vision was engulfed by a blue light.

“What?!”

Soaring through the sky, an enormous repulsor blast struck the supervillain head-on before he could react, sending his body flying uncontrollably through the air.

Daniel suddenly felt the immense weight he’d been carrying disappear. A smile bloomed on his face as he didn’t hesitate and put all his strength in one of his legs and as if it were a ball he kicked the huge sphere making it shudder and fly straight into the space.

"Eh, I’d give it a 7 out of 10 I've seen better throws," at the voice Daniel snorted and turned to see Tony flying towards him in his armor.

"I'm glad to see you finally decided to join the fun."

"Hey, I never miss a party, though this one seems a bit too messy even for me," Tony said, eyeing Daniel from head to toe. It was surprising for him to see Daniel in his current state. Although Daniel’s injuries had already healed, it was still obvious to anyone looking that he hadn’t been having an easy time.

Before they could continue their little chat, Graviton’s enraged roar interrupted them. Tony quickly looked up, analyzing their opponent.

"This guy’s pumping out energy like a black hole!"

"And he hits like one. His powers are varied, but in short, he can manipulate the gravity of anything without even touching it, and he’s tough enough to take my hits directly. He’s tricky to deal with, but I think I have an idea to beat him..."

Daniel considered everything he had learned about Graviton so far.

His powers were incredibly destructive and lethal, but there was something about them that became obvious to him—they could be interrupted. He didn’t know exactly why, but if he was taken by surprise, it seemed like his concentration wavered, and the effect of his powers on objects disappeared until he could get them back in his sights.

Although it wasn’t a weakness that would guarantee them absolute victory, it was still something useful, and Daniel quickly communicated this to Tony.

"I see, then the strategy is simple. We just need to keep him from concentrating," Tony finished for him, easily grasping the general idea.

If it had been possible, Daniel would’ve preferred something more than just a "simple" strategy, but their enemy obviously wasn’t going to wait around while they figured out how to defeat him.

Flying toward them at full speed, Graviton was approaching with what seemed to be dozens of massive rocks pulled from the ocean floor.

"Then let’s get started!" With that said, Daniel and Tony rushed forward without hesitation.

Like comets soaring through the sky, the three of them rose above the clouds and soon collided, stirring the winds.

Tony dodged the massive rocks Graviton used as projectiles and fired his repulsor rays, which were bent and forcibly diverted by an invisible gravitational field.

"Fool! Even light bends before me!" Distorting space, Graviton caused the repulsor rays to curve back, sending them directly at Tony.

"Oh Fuck me!" Dodging his own attack, Tony boosted his thrusters, accelerating his body faster than before in an attempt to ram into Graviton. But it was futile, as an invisible gravitational barrier blocked his path, making his body bounce off as if he had collided with an impenetrable wall.

Then the villain stretched his hand toward Tony and began to squeeze. Tony's armor creaked, and alarms blared loudly inside his suit.

'This guy wants to crush me like a soda can!' Even his energy shields couldn't protect him from an attack like this, and if he were fighting alone, Tony would have been more worried.

But he wasn’t fighting alone.

With Graviton's focus on the billionaire, Daniel seized the opportunity, closing the distance between him and Graviton in an instant. Before the villain could react, Daniel grabbed the arm that had been stretched toward Tony and, without hesitation, applied all the pressure he could.

Crack!!! The crunch echoed through the sky, followed shortly by a muffled scream.

Graviton stared in disbelief at his now broken arm. The pain overwhelmed him, leaving him disoriented for a moment—a moment neither hero wasted.

Feeling the crushing force on him vanish, Tony fired his thrusters at full power and closed the distance between him and Graviton. His metal-covered fist collided squarely with the stunned villain’s face.

Daniel didn’t stay idle either, and soon both of them began raining an uncountable number of blows on Graviton, making him bounce between them, unable to defend himself.

Blood splattered, and his compressed metal suit shattered in pieces. Graviton felt his teeth loosen, and even saw one fly out of his mouth.

"Enough!!" He tried to push them away, unleashing all the power in his body uncontrollably, causing a blinding white electric light to surround them.

Tony was sent flying into the ocean, sinking beneath its waters, while Daniel crossed his arms in front of him, trying to withstand the gravitational wave pushing him back.

He could feel his bones creaking and the taste of blood filling his mouth. Without thinking, he swallowed and used his core to regenerate, restoring his energy in an instant.

Slowly but surely, he began advancing despite Graviton continuously unleashing energy that repelled everything around him.

With every inch he gained, the force hammering his body increased, causing his insides to churn. The pain was so intense that he felt he might pass out at any moment, but he forced himself to keep moving. He saw Graviton’s body starting to crack, with more and more gravitational energy pouring out in increasingly intense waves.

The entire planet began to tremble.

Daniel stretched out his hand, watching as the flesh at the tips of his fingers peeled away as he got closer to his objetive, He could even see the white of his bones for a moment, starting to splinter into tiny fragments.

Until his core activated and began to regenerate his wounds at great speed once again. The bone, flesh, and skin were replaced by new, stronger, and more resilient cells than before, allowing him to continue moving forward with increasing ease.

"This is impossible! Nothing can be this strong!" Graviton shouted, fear now clear in his voice for the first time since the battle had begun.

In his desperation, he regained control of his powers and stretched out the only arm that still worked, focusing all his effort in front of him to keep Daniel away.

For a moment, it seemed to work, until a blinding blue light struck him directly from the back.

"Don’t forget about me!" Tony shouted in triumph as his surprise attack hit its mark with absolute success.

"Argh!" Feeling the impact of a repulsor ray powered by four arc reactors, Graviton shuddered and lost his focus, causing the gravitational waves that had been stopping Daniel's advance to disappear.

Noticing this, Daniel didn’t hesitate and made his final move.

As the repulsor ray propelled Graviton towards him, Daniel charged at full speed, focusing all his strength into his right arm. He delivered a powerful and devastating blow, encountering almost no resistance as his fist penetrated Graviton's chest up to the elbow.

Graviton’s eyes widened, completely bloodshot, as he looked down in disbelief at the arm now piercing his torso. For a brief but eternal moment, his world was engulfed in absolute silence.

This couldn’t be real… His mind tried to deny it, and in a final effort, he tried to summon his powers, to cling to the force he had been accumulating inside him for ten years. But it was futile, as he only felt that the energy, which had once seemed infinite, was now draining away, leaking from his body like liquid seeping through the cracks of a broken bottle.

“I’m sorry, but you’re too dangerous.”

Hearing Defiant’s whisper, Graviton looked up to meet a pair of cold, emotionless eyes.

‘That look… it’s not at all the look a hero should have.’ As that last thought crossed his mind he couldn't stop a hollow, bitter laugh from escaping his lips.

Then the repulsor ray enveloped them both.

BOOM!

The powerful blue energy ray streaked across the sky, splitting the clouds hundreds of kilometers away.

A deafening explosion followed by intense shockwaves struck the Atlantic Ocean for a moment before everything fell back into calm.

Inside his armor, Tony saw his HUD flashing erratically due to the lack of energy; he had put almost everything he had into that final attack, leaving him nearly drained.

‘That should have done something, right?’ was a direct hit of course it should have done something.

Still, he couldn't help but have some doubts as he watched the massive cloud of black smoke created by the previous explosion.

But soon, his doubts were dispelled when a figure staggered out of the smoke.

Daniel had almost completely lost his suit; in fact, he would be almost naked if not for the few parts of his lower section that still helped him cover his modesty in some mysterious way.

But apart from that and the few dirt stains covering him, he didn't seem very injured.

Tony soon flew toward him.

“And the bad guy?” At his question, Daniel stretched out his hand and opened his fist, black ash scattering into the wind.

“Oh.” Seeing this, Tony fell silent for a moment.

“Just to be clear, I don’t have any weird fetish involving turning people into ashes.” This was already the second one; if there were a third, Tony felt that his reputation might somehow be tarnished.

Daniel sighed, shaking his head with a smile on his face. Then he shook his hand vigorously to get rid of the last remnants of graviton before feeling the fatigue hit his body. Of course, he could eliminate it using the core, but his mind also felt exhausted. Now that the fight was over, he thought it didn't matter if he let his body feel somewhat tired as well.

Of course, he knew there was still a lot of work to do. After all, he needed to start damage control and see how much destruction this disaster had caused.

‘Looks like I won't have free time anytime soon.’

“Just out of curiosity, have you considered starting to venture into the post-disaster reconstruction industry?”

At the question, Tony seemed thoughtful for a second.

“You know, now that you mention it, maybe this is a good time to start thinking about it.”

First his company in Malibu, and now the entire East Coast—at this rate, Tony thought he'd end up having to rebuild all of the United States at some point.

Should he run for president when that happened?

Shaking his head, he dismissed those strange thoughts.

“Come on, New York isn’t far. There’s a shawarma restaurant with good reviews I’ve been wanting to visit for a while... I hope it’s still in one piece.”

“We can go eat later, we still need to go and hel—” Daniel didn’t finish his words, frowning as he focused his hearing in the direction of New York.

Even though his hearing wasn’t as sharp as Carol’s, Daniel had trained it to recognize specific sounds with the help of his near-perfect memory.

Earlier, he hadn’t been paying much attention to his hearing since he needed to focus on Graviton, but now that the problem was resolved, he focused again, allowing him to pick up a familiar voice in the distance.

A familiar voice that was screaming for help!

His eyes shot open as his figure vanished in a blur of speed toward Rikers Island.

Seeing him leave so abruptly, Tony blinked in confusion.

“Is that a yes or a no?!” he shouted into the air without receiving an answer.

"...You cross the whole country to save his ass, and what do you get in return? Abandoned in the middle of the ocean, that’s what!" Tony grumbled under his breath as he started flying toward New York on his own.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Note:

Almost six thousand words!

I must confess that writing this last part was quite challenging. I’ve never written such a long fight before, and many times I hesitated about how to continue, constantly debating with myself over what to add or leave out, worrying about things becoming too heavy or repetitive, and how to approach certain aspects.

In short, it was a total challenge! It didn’t help that Franklin Hall’s character, while strong in terms of power, lacks a lot in the sense of "personality." I always like to delve into characters, which I think everyone has noticed over these 40+ chapters. But with this particular character, I didn’t want to go too deep—not completely. I wanted him to be more of a walking disaster with simple and straightforward motivations.

Ironically, that made him harder for me to write.

Anyway, just because this mini-arc is over doesn’t mean everything is resolved. There’s still a lot to see and topics to address—things that will be important and interesting to read.

See you in the next chapter, and please leave your comments and opinions! Criticism helps me know where I can improve.

At the same time, if you notice any mistakes, don’t hesitate to point them out so I can correct them.

Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter (and several more chapters) of this story on P)atreon ( p)atreon com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D