With the tectonic structure of the entire Northern Hemisphere mapped out in Joey's mind, every weak point and stable section of the plates had been carefully considered.
For humanity, a disaster capable of tearing apart half the Eurasian Plate would be nothing short of divine wrath—unstoppable and catastrophic. But for Superman, stopping this earthquake was no more than a time-limited Lego construction task.
All Joey had to do was create cavities in weaker sections of the crust to absorb stress, apply opposing forces in stronger regions to stabilize the strata and counteract plate collisions, and then use his freeze breath to cool deeper geothermal magma, preventing potential volcanic eruptions.
After completing all this, Joey burst out of the ground, with Reverse-Flash emerging alongside him.
Unlike Joey, who had carved a narrow passage through the crust to move, a speedster like Reverse-Flash could vibrate his molecules at specific frequencies, allowing him to phase through most matter—including the Earth itself.
Looking utterly stunned, Reverse-Flash turned to Joey. Having mostly dealt with Barry Allen before, this was his first time witnessing the raw power of a Kryptonian up close.
"This is impossible! No—this isn't scientific!"
"It is scientific. Forces act on each other, and forces can cancel each other out. If anything isn't scientific, it's your Speed Force nonsense."
Joey had other problems to deal with. He simply turned and left, leaving Reverse-Flash standing there, questioning his entire existence.
Just as he had said before—it was nothing more than a simple Lego assembly.
---
Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen were preparing to catch a taxi out of Heathrow Airport in London.
"Jimmy, I'd bet Perry wants to tear us apart right now!"
Lois, whose phone had just reconnected to the network, looked at the tens of thousands of missed calls from her boss at the Daily Planet, editor-in-chief Perry White, with a frustrated expression.
Because of a delayed flight, she had missed the Amazon queen's withdrawal announcement. Then, due to the sudden Atlantean invasion, her plane—already over the English Channel—had to turn back to Berlin.
Once things stabilized, she took another delayed flight from Berlin to London, hoping to catch the tail end of a major story—but by then, everything was already over.
All weapons belonging to both royalists and parliamentarians had been confiscated—down to the last baseball bat.
Rather than deciding Britain's political future through what could only be described as street brawls masquerading as a 'civil war,' both sides ultimately chose to sit down and talk.
Aside from the occasional Amazon sighting around Buckingham Palace, the British Isles had largely returned to normal.
As a reporter who hadn't been fast enough, Lois had missed nearly every major headline.
But what no one knew was that Lois Lane had another identity. On the surface, she was a reporter for the Daily Planet—but behind the scenes, she was…
"Agent Lane!"
The metallic watch on her wrist suddenly transformed into a communicator, projecting Cyborg's mechanical head in front of her.
Lois quickly covered the projection, trying to move to a less crowded area. "Are you insane, Cyborg? You're going to expose me—"
Cyborg's voice blasted through the communicator, now much louder than before.
"This isn't the time for secrecy—run, Lois! Get somewhere safe! The earthquake is coming in less than a minute!"
Operating within cyberspace, Cyborg had immediately obtained Lex Luthor and Deathstroke's detection data. He didn't need calculations to realize the obvious—the quake would tear apart Western Europe, killing hundreds of millions.
He didn't know how to stop it—but he knew he had to do something.
For the first time, he broke his own rules, openly bypassing every firewall and turning every communication-capable device in Western Europe into his broadcast system—phones, TVs, airport screens, everything.
"An earthquake is imminent! Seek shelter immediately!!!"
"An earthquake is imminent! Seek shelter immediately!!!"
The warning echoed across every device in Western Europe.
It was Cyborg's final, desperate act. Even though he knew it would likely change nothing—in a near-magnitude-12 quake, survival would mostly come down to luck.
Without waiting for authorization from the President, Cyborg's main body launched from Detroit alongside hundreds of drone units, heading toward Western Europe.
He had already calculated it—compared to the lives that would be lost, the number he could save was negligible. And yet, that wasn't a reason to do nothing.
"It's Billy there? Yes, Billy Batson! What? He's taking a nap? Wake him up and get him on the line!"
As he flew, Cyborg reviewed the members of his Justice Society of America and realized that Shazam was probably the only one who could help in time.
And before shouting 'Shazam!' to transform, Shazam was just Billy Batson and five other children sharing the power—plus a magical tiger.
Cyborg had to admit that when he went to recruit Batman, he had been right when he said—this so-called superhero team was less like a force for world peace and more like a circus troupe.
In the distance, thunder crashed. A voice echoed through the clouds:
"Shazam!"
A bolt of lightning struck, and Shazam appeared, stopping directly in front of Cyborg.
His white cape fluttered as he came to a halt, his marble-like face showing a hint of concern.
"There's no need to go, Cyborg. I understand how you feel—but things over there aren't as bad as you think. Someone already dealt with the disaster."
Blessed by the power of six Greek gods, Shazam had sensed through Gaia, the Earth itself, that the catastrophe had already been neutralized.
If anything, Cyborg's massive broadcast might cause minor chaos and unintended harm.
But Shazam didn't blame him—no one could guarantee that good intentions wouldn't sometimes lead to bad outcomes.
Back in London, Lois Lane was briefly stunned upon hearing Cyborg's words—but she chose to believe him.
The rest of the airport crowd, however, treated the warnings on their screens and phones as nothing more than a curiosity.
"Some hacker prank again?"
"The airport's cybersecurity is terrible!"
Most people simply shrugged it off and went back to their phones—until the first tremor hit.
The airport's dome structure let out a strained hum, and the ground began to shake.
Only then did the official earthquake alert finally appear on everyone's devices:
[ Magnitude 4 earthquake detected. Please take cover immediately. ]