Superman from the comics: Starting with the Black Robe

Chapter 405

Chapter 405 (Failed)

unimportant?

Superman's nonchalant attitude towards Project Insight made Captain America, who was risking his life to investigate, frown deeply: "We're talking about the privacy of billions of people worldwide, and the lives of millions!"

When the topic of privacy came up, Joey, who had just been thinking of violently scanning the entire globe, suddenly scratched his brow in embarrassment.

He couldn't tell Captain America about this; some things, if said aloud, would only create more estrangement and fear. Joey could only brush it off for now: "It's just three space carriers, I'll just take off their engines when I have some time."

The core technologies that enable the space carrier to take off, such as the cold nuclear fusion reactor and the anti-gravity engine drive system, were even provided by Stark Industries.

These three flying aircraft carriers are practically sitting ducks in the sky. This isn't some kind of curse, but rather Joey's observation based on experience after traversing several parallel universes.

Without a proper defense system, its only purpose in taking to the sky is to be shot down and turn into a giant fireball of air disaster.

Sometimes Joey couldn't help but marvel that there was no such thing as balance in the universe.

The gap between humans and other hominid species is even greater than the gap between humans and paramecia.

S.H.I.E.L.D. spent hundreds of billions of dollars, decades, and tens of thousands of people on a mega-project, just to launch those three space carriers so that they could adjudicate crimes around the clock and bring down judgments on potential criminals from the clouds.

This complex and fragile super system, which exhausted S.H.I.E.L.D.'s manpower and resources, could only perform a portion of Joey's Kryptonian abilities.

Everything that S.H.I.E.L.D. could do with Project Insight, Joey could easily do with a little focus, but what Joey could do far exceeded S.H.I.E.L.D.'s imagination.

Just as Joey was about to say a few more words to comfort Captain America, his ears twitched, and he turned to look in another direction: "What the hell is that?!"

With a whoosh, Joey vanished into thin air, leaving Captain America standing there bewildered.

~~~

Rewind to when Thunderbolt had just escaped. The base leader had just finished reporting to the higher-ups, unaware that annihilation awaited them.

To avoid any potential further exposure, Alexander Pierce has ordered their removal.

After all, in his eyes, the Super Soldier Serum Project, which replicates Captain America, has countless project teams. Among them are projects like "Infinite Formula" that can barely be considered successful, as well as countless failed projects that have invested countless manpower and resources but ultimately all went down the drain.

Since these failed projects have caused trouble, and given the current special circumstances, it's best to quickly sweep them into the trash heap.

What he didn't know was that S.H.I.E.L.D. had indeed created something far more remarkable than the "Insight Project" he had placed his hopes on, but neither S.H.I.E.L.D. nor Hydra itself knew anything about it.

Not only that, on the other hand, Thunderbolt, who was inexplicably kidnapped, is not the kind of person who doesn't hold grudges.

He had returned to their temporary lodging and found the stone golem Ben resting there, explaining the whole story to him.

"Really?" Upon hearing that Johnny had been inexplicably kidnapped by S.H.I.E.L.D. and nearly dissected for research, the Thing, who was reading the newspaper, scratched his head. "Are you sure it's not because you slept with someone you shouldn't have, causing them to want to pay a fortune to cut off your... *whoosh*?"

The Fantastic Four is a genuine family, and Johnny is the perpetually unruly brat in that family.

This was the first time the Stone Man had ever heard of Johnny getting into trouble while he himself was completely innocent.

"Stop asking so many questions!" Johnny had rushed back to call for reinforcements, not to listen to the Thing's lecture: "Are you going to help me or not?"

"Help!" The stone man stood up from the hotel sofa, his enormous size almost making him burst through the ceiling.

He folded the newspaper and cracked his knuckles: "I've never liked violence, but if I don't stretch my muscles now, I'll really get moss growing all over my body!"

"It's just going out and beating up some people, which is practically the only thing he's good at right now: 'Then we need to call on—'"

Although the Fantastic Four usually operate in groups, Johnny shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, no, let them enjoy their time together! It's just a regular illegal underground research facility; the two of us can definitely handle it!"

The so-called "world for two" was just a joke. Johnny the Human Torch knew perfectly well that his sister and brother-in-law's daily interactions were never the kind of lovey-dovey relationship.

His sister Susan was pregnant, and Reed was probably busy with his own things, so he decided not to disturb them: "Wait a minute, Ben, I'll send Reed a text message to let him know—OK, let's go—time for a beating!"

"~~~~," the Stone Man slapped his hand, knocking Johnny, who was putting on airs with his strained voice, to the ground. "Don't recite that cartoon line! What normal person talks like that in everyday life?!"

Regardless, the fact that half of the Fantastic Four were deployed was already a devastating blow to the unfortunate Hydra members at that base.

As the Stone Golem, led by the Human Torch, charged into the underground elevator and pried open the heavy steel door of the fortified structure, they just happened to arrive just as Hydra's "cleanup squad" entered the base.

The base's leader was still expressing his gratitude to the so-called support team, unaware that they were already prepared to strike, and he was only one step away from hell.

At this moment, the base's red alarm lights began to illuminate across the entire base.

With a loud bang, a three-meter-square boulder, accompanied by a wave of scorching flames, rolled into the interior of the base.

The cleanup team and the people in the original base were stunned. They could only grip their weapons tightly and start firing back.

"You little rascal, you're not telling the truth again, Johnny!"

The massive stone golem bore the brunt of the attack, absorbing most of the firepower. Judging from the density of the projectiles, he knew that Thunderfire was spouting nonsense again: "Their numbers are clearly two or three times greater than you said!"

"There weren't this many of them before!" Thunderbolt cried out, "These might be reinforcements sent after I ran away! Whatever, Ben, give them a good beating!"

"I knew I'd always have to do the dirty and tiring work when I'm with you!"

The stone man gritted his teeth and charged forward despite the dense barrage of fire.

It is simply called "Stone", but the thick layer of rock on its surface is not a substance that can be naturally formed on Earth.

This composite material shell, born from cosmic rays, makes him invincible amidst a hail of bullets; all the incoming bullets are less itchy to him than mosquito bites.

All he had to do was brave the barrage of fire and send slaps to these arrogant S.H.I.E.L.D. agents one by one: "The slapping contest is now officially underway!"

The Thunderfire hovering in mid-air above the base simply watched, occasionally throwing out two fireballs that exploded on the enemy's position, suppressing the enemy's firepower while also acting as a mood-setter.

There was no other way; his actions often resulted in temperatures exceeding a thousand degrees Celsius. If he couldn't control the heat, the entire scene inside the base would be impossible to broadcast.

In no time, everyone in the base was struck by the Stone Golem's massive granite hands, suffering concussions, eardrums, and multiple fractures. They lay curled up on the ground, writhing in pain, unable to lift their guns anymore.

As the final winners of this "slapping contest," the Stone Man and the Human Torch kicked aside the obstacle lying on the ground, and even used his palm print to unlock the computer inside the base: "Let's see what's hidden in this base? — Ah, so it's Hydra, no surprise!"

The Thing's fingers, almost as thick as an average person's forearm, tapped across the virtual keyboard with practiced agility, trying to understand the reasons why Hydra had targeted Johnny: "This base is practically a junkyard. Apart from the research they're currently conducting, it's full of data and leftover materials from abandoned projects. What they're researching—the Super Soldier Serum? Captain America?"

"Holy crap! Johnny, come quick!"

The Thing found a 1944 photo of Captain America on his computer. Annoyed by the Human Torch constantly flashing in front of him, he immediately noticed the common thread in the photo: "The Captain America in this universe looks exactly like you!"

But then, Johnny, having exited his Human Torch form, warily reignited his flames: "Can you smell that, Ben? There's a stench!"

The Stone Man took a deep breath and, reminded by Johnny, also caught the stench emanating from deep within the base, a smell almost like the stench of rotting, fermenting corpses.

If he weren't a stone man, he probably would have jumped out on the spot: "Damn it, it stinks so badly, who died in there?! Johnny, go check it out!"

"I don't want to go!"

If it were just a sudden stench, that would be one thing. But the direction from which the stench came from also carried a faint energy reaction, like a tremor and fear from the depths of one's soul, making Thunderbolt's scalp tingle: "If this were a scene from a third-rate horror movie, the main characters would have been killed on the spot because they inexplicably split up! Don't you think we should go together?"

"What are you doing, Johnny!" But the Thing was completely oblivious: "Of course you have to go there yourself! I'm being suffocated by the stench, and you're in your fire form, so you can't smell anything!"

Besides, you can fly!

If there's danger, Johnny can just run away. At the speed of the Human Torch, there are very few people on Earth who can catch up with him.

While the two were arguing, deep within the base, in a corner where "garbage was stored," amidst a pile of documents and equipment, untouched, inside a rectangular, opaque culture chamber shaped like a coffin, something that had been lying inside slowly lifted the lid.

The document slipped off the cover, revealing the words written on it:

(Failed)