Superman from the comics: Starting with the Black Robe

Chapter 14 Humans and Superhumans

How big is the gap between superpowered people and ordinary people?

If you could go through all of Walter's secret files, you would find plenty of real-life examples—or rather, examples of people who died a horrible death.

For example, the case Ashley is currently dealing with involves a train that recently went berserk for some unknown reason. While running at full speed, it crashed into a woman on the side of the road, killing her instantly. To say she was torn to pieces would be an understatement.

Except for his two hands, his entire body was literally smashed to pieces by the high-speed impact of the train engine, and his whole body was evenly spread across the entire road.

This girl, whose name we don't know, was standing on the curb talking to her boyfriend when she was hit and killed. This boyfriend was the most difficult one to deal with; he was the only one who hadn't signed a confidentiality agreement yet.

Oh, right—Aishili called out to her assistant:

"Remember to keep a close eye on this person. If things don't go well, add more money to prevent him from making a big fuss. Those greedy media outlets can't be dealt with by just 45,000 US dollars."

"What was his name again?"

The assistant took out his notebook and jotted down a few notes—

Hugh Campbell.

An ordinary employee at a New York computer store, his days consisted of nothing more than going to work, coming home, flirting with his girlfriend Robin, then going home to check what new movies or TV shows his beloved Vought superheroes had come up with, then going to sleep, repeating the same routine, living a peaceful life.

He lived like this for several years until his inner faith collapsed in an instant.

When the "fastest man in the world," Locomotive, smashed Robin into a bloody mess at lightning speed, he was still holding Robin's two remaining severed hands. He watched as the blood-covered Locomotive disappeared without a trace of remorse, as if all of this was a common occurrence for a "superhero" like him.

When he came to his senses, the Vought International lawyers were already sitting at the negotiating table, handing him a check—forty-five thousand US dollars. This was the value of one of the most important people in his life after being murdered by a so-called superhero.

Reason told Hughie that he should sign the confidentiality agreement and accept the check, which was read as "humanitarian compensation" but written as "hush money".

Fear and greed whispered in his ear: "[The other party is Vought International, which manages all the superheroes in the country. You saw what happened to Robin. If they can treat you the same way they treated Robin, $45,000 is not a small amount.]"

The image of Robin being smashed to pieces by the locomotive kept replaying in his mind. An endless rage burned through his heart and reason. Hughie would never sign such a confidentiality agreement. At this moment, Hughie only wanted to yell, grab the other man by the collar, and throw him out the window:

"No, I won't sign anything. Get out!"

The above are what Hughie himself really wanted to say, but what Hughie actually said was:

"Could you let me think about it first?"

As mentioned before, Hugh Campbell was an ordinary, very ordinary, cautious employee. He didn't have the courage or the resources to directly offend a behemoth like Vought Corporation.

But a behemoth like Walter will never sheathe its fangs just because an honest person gives in; it will only intensify its oppression until the oppressed party falls into complete silence.

News about Walter's apology was playing on a loop on TV, in newspapers, and in short videos. Locomotive was unintentional; he was just chasing the bank robbers, and Robin just happened to run into the middle of the road.

Hughie knew that the locomotive wasn't chasing any bank robbers at the time, and his girlfriend Robin hadn't run into the middle of the road either.

But his opinion was irrelevant, his views were ignored, and all public discourse was flooded by comments from countless self-media outlets and fan groups, who shouted that their train engine was innocent and that the person standing in the middle of the road was the one who was wrong.

Hughie spent the next few days in a daze, but he still went to get off work, came home, went to work, and was just an ordinary person who couldn't do anything.

"That's not necessarily true."

A burly man with a thick beard came to the door just before the end of the workday. He pulled something out of his pocket and showed Hughie what an FBI Warning looked like:

"FBI Agent Billy Butcher."

~~~~

When Butcher first saw the poor fellow in front of him, he looked directly into Hughie's eyes and saw the raging anger hidden beneath the man's calm gaze. It was exactly like his own back then. He knew he had found the right person.

With just a little push, Butcher could turn this man into a tool for his own purposes, using him as a bullet aimed at Vought Corporation.

Where are you taking me?

Hughie didn't believe Butcher's claim that he was an FBI agent, but another force compelled him to follow Butcher to a place he had never known before.

"Just come with me, I'll show you around and broaden your horizons."

Butcher knew of an underground bar that only accepted superhuman scum and their buddies, and he obtained his ticket through nonviolent non-cooperation.

He wanted to make Hughie embark on this irreversible path.

This place is less of a bar and more of an underground impart. Hughie, who was half-pushed and half-pulled there, was like someone who had been stabbed in the butt with a knife – his eyes were wide open.

For example, Ant-Man, who can freely change size, is demonstrating how a mouse can drive an elephant; on the other side, there is a pair of flying super partners demonstrating what it means to fly like an elephant [a type of plant].

What shocked Hughie even more was a familiar face, a rubber man who was quite famous throughout the country. He was a devout Christian who ran a large congregation.

But this guy, who constantly repeats "all TXLs should go to hell" in the media, is currently using his flexible body to make connections with two or three young men around him.

Butcher reached out and lifted Hughie's slightly open chin:

"There's something even more exciting waiting for you."

In a video clip retrieved from the surveillance room, the train driver was seen sitting in a bar booth boasting to one of his cronies:

"You know what? When I passed through that girl's body, I accidentally swallowed one of her teeth. To be honest, it was a bit disgusting, hahaha..."

The two then burst into laughter, as if they were discussing accidentally stepping on a cockroach.

They were still laughing—the laughter and words irritated Hughie's nerves, and anger boiled over in his head. He had never felt such pain and humiliation.

After worshipping these "superheroes" as fictional idols for so many years, Hughie has entered the real "superhero" world for the first time.

"I need you to do something for me: I need you to accept that confidentiality agreement... Please let me finish..."

Butcher felt the time was right, so he pulled the grim-faced Hughie to a secluded corner:

"You accept the agreement, but with one additional condition—go to Water Tower and have the locomotive apologize to you in person."

He handed Hughie the thing that had been prepared beforehand, which looked like a small, round black plastic piece:

"This is a bugging device. You need to take this opportunity to stick it inside the Water Tower, as close to those superhuman bastards as possible."

"What? No! No way! I'm not James Bond."

In an instant, Hughie considered what would happen if he were found out about this. His anger was instantly extinguished by fear. He knew he wasn't cut out for this.

Yes, just go back. Think about what happened to Luo Bin. If you go against the Vought Corporation, you'll end up like her, with no trace left.

"What did you just say?"

Hughie felt like there were more than just him and Butcher in this corner.

"I didn't say anything."

Butcher was somewhat puzzled, but he could still see that Hughie was beginning to back down. However, this was understandable; not everyone had the courage to go against the Vought Corporation.

He reached out and retrieved the listening devices, preparing to leave.

"etc."

Hughie's hand pressed against the bugging device:

"Tell me exactly what to do."

~~~~

What is the purpose of superheroes?

After spending the night floating in bed with Storm Clara, Joey had a deep and simple discussion about the principles of superhero flight. He couldn't sleep all night and kept thinking about it when he got up early this morning to go to Water Tower.

In the animated comics, movies, and TV series I watched in my past life, the goal of superheroes was mostly to save the world, or at the very least, to help their neighbors.

While some superheroes may not have pure motives for doing these things, it is undeniable that all superhero actions possess a natural, purely altruistic nature based on social moral norms.

This meant that most of the conflicts between superheroes were ideological clashes or personal vendettas, unlike what we see now...

Struggle for interests.

Joey had imagined many times what it would be like for the Justice League to meet—perhaps discussing world peace, or how much blame Batman should bear. But he never imagined anyone would be discussing money at this meeting.

Yes, it just happened so naturally.

At the morning meeting, the transparent man, whose only feature was his clothes, was the first to make a move, demanding that Homelander immediately put pressure on Vought International to have the legal department send legal letters to each pirated merchandise and resource related to the "Super Seven" IP. After all, 4% of the IP's revenue belongs to the heroes themselves, and piracy is tantamount to robbing them of money.

Then the train driver, who arrived in a wheelchair, became unhappy upon hearing the 4% percentage. Clearly, his African American identity prevented him from negotiating such a high percentage. Next, Queen Maeve, who still had tequila with her hand during work hours, added fuel to the fire while drinking heavily.

The "Batman" in black, dressed exactly like the character from "Detective Conan," remained silent, pretending to be an expert. On the other side, the "Aquaman" Deep Sea, though silent for a while, looked somewhat shifty and didn't seem like a gentleman.

To be honest, Joey was fine for the first sixteen years after he came to this world, but everything became very strange after that raven appeared.

Joey rarely had this thought before, because he felt that thinking like this all the time could easily lead to an existential crisis.

But now I have to think this way—could I have traveled into some kind of superhero universe produced by San Fernando Valley?

"Everyone, everyone! Stop! Can you please not show such a mercenary side to the newcomers right from the start?"

Homelander, seated at the head of the table, raised his hand to stop the pointless argument, his face as righteous and awe-inspiring as the Superman Joey remembered from his past life:

"I'm not trying to criticize you guys for making money, but the main job of superheroes is to save people, and that's the only thing I want to hear in this work meeting today."

Currently, it seems that Homelander is the only normal person in this superhero team?