Martha Kent heard Jonathan's shout and hurried downstairs with a baseball bat in hand, but the moment she stepped outside, she saw Joey angrily berating her husband.
"Jonathan, what's going on out here?"
Jonathan's face was flushed red, but he didn't dare argue with Joey. After all, the young man was a superpowered being—he had just subdued everyone in the yard with barely any effort.
Joey looked into Jonathan's eyes, but didn't see the anger or stubbornness he had expected. He had genuinely hoped Jonathan would stand his ground and argue back.
But all he saw was wariness and fear. Joey's anger suddenly had nowhere to go. After all, this wasn't his parents—and this wasn't his world.
"Fuck!"
Joey finally stopped hovering and let himself drop to the ground, covering his face with one hand. "Fuck this world."
Martha Kent looked at the young man in the red cape before her and couldn't help but think—if she and Jonathan had really decided to adopt a child from the city back then, he might be about this age now.
"Don't be upset, child."
Martha gently stroked Joey's head with warmth in her eyes. "This world is terrible, but all of us are trying, aren't we? It will get better. Jonathan and I both believe that."
---
A massive army composed of all kinds of armored vehicles thundered across the vast African savanna. Whether inside the vehicles or perched atop them, they were filled with black-furred apes.
At the center of the formation, surrounded by them all, was a nearly two-meter-tall silverback gorilla. His name was Grodd—the greatest mind among gorillas.
His intellect was so powerful that he could easily manipulate and distort the will of most living beings, bending them to his command.
On the distant horizon, human forces appeared. Armed with advanced weapons once used to slaughter one another, they aimed at Grodd's vanguard.
But before they could fire, the battlefield took a bizarre turn. Under Grodd's influence, they began turning their guns on their own comrades in horror.
After a brief burst of chaos, Grodd's ape officers cheerfully ordered the rest to clean up the battlefield and capture the terrified survivors.
Grodd extended a hand, and one of his attendants immediately went among the prisoners. Amid terrified screams, it brought back a freshly severed human head.
Then, like cracking open a coconut, the attendant split the skull and presented the fresh brain matter to King Grodd.
Grodd believed that consuming brains allowed him to absorb the intelligence and strength of his victims.
On this land of Africa, humans killing animals, humans killing humans, and animals killing animals had always seemed like an eternal theme.
But since Grodd's awakening, there was only one theme left:
Apes killing animals.
Apes killing humans.
"Stop!"
Kara descended from the sky, landing in front of the convoy. The sheer impact of her landing scattered the ape army's formation.
The apes fired wildly at her without coordination, emptying their magazines and still pulling their triggers even after running out of bullets. When the smoke cleared, Kara stood at the center of the barrage—completely unharmed.
"Stand aside!"
Grodd roared, driving back his increasingly primitive followers as he lunged toward the invulnerable girl.
"Finally—a worthy opponent! I'll rip out your spine!"
Over the past two years, Grodd had been nearly unstoppable across Africa. These pitiful, insignificant humans had offered no real resistance, leaving him utterly bored.
He longed for a true challenge—not waves of corpses.
But in the next moment, Grodd realized just how wrong he was.
He could tell she had almost no combat training, yet even her panicked punches and kicks were absurdly fast.
And her small frame contained overwhelming strength. A single simple punch nearly knocked the breath out of him.
Grodd attempted to use his telepathic control to turn the tide, but her will burned like a raging inferno, leaving him no way in.
Facing power that could easily kill him, Grodd didn't hesitate to drop to his knees.
"Spare me!"
"You've killed so many —you must pay for your crimes!"
Kara said this, but upon hearing his plea, she still stopped her fist mid-strike.
"Why would you commit such atrocities?"
"Why?"
Grodd laughed at Supergirl's question.
"Because this is how survival works in Africa. Humans used to kill us—now we kill humans. There's no difference."
"If humans treated us this way, would you still be this outraged?"
"Admit it—you humans are hypocrites. You talk about unity, but in truth, you only care about your own kind. And you're always redefining who counts as your own."
"Aquaman and Wonder Woman's war in Europe has only affected hundreds of thousands, yet the global media already calls them worse than Hitler."
"Meanwhile, I've conquered half of Africa over the past two years with my forces—and hardly anyone even knows my name."
"The only difference is where the war happens—and the color of the victims' skin."
"This…"
For a moment, Supergirl was speechless.
Perfect opportunity!
Grodd suddenly unleashed his psychic power. His brainwaves invaded Kara's mind at the moment her guard dropped. Kryptonian minds were far stronger than ordinary humans', and their wills clashed fiercely within her consciousness.
"Ah!"
Kara clutched her head in pain as blood began to seep from her nose and ears. Seeing this, the surrounding apes swarmed forward, trying to tear her apart.
Buzz—
Several beams of heat vision swept across the battlefield, slicing apart every ape that dared approach Kara. A streak of red cut through the sky and appeared before Grodd.
"Guess what? I heard what you said just now—and I've got a perfect argument to refute you."
Joey, who had just tossed a few scumbags off to Mexico, spread his fingers and pressed his hand against Grodd's forehead. While Grodd's mind was still locked in conflict with Kara, Joey crushed the ape's skull.
Only then did he casually finish his sentence:
"But you don't deserve to hear it."