Superman from the comics: Starting with the Black Robe

Chapter 9 This World Needs Heroes

Was anyone in the house just now?

Storm changed out of her waitress uniform and into a lighter black knee-length dress. She pushed open the door, swaying her skirt gently, her high heels clicking on the floor, before handing Joey a stack of documents.

Joey took the documents. They were clearly secondhand documents, scanned and copied; much of the date and location information had been altered. However, the yellowed paper still indicated that these documents were quite old. He carefully perused the documents, casually replying to Storm:

"No one, Lady Storm, only a demon tried to tempt me."

Storm giggled, clutching her chest. "Just call me Clara~ Joey, are you flirting with me?"

"Absolutely not, ma'am."

Joey skimmed through the entire document, quickly and meticulously reading it. Unlike the documents he had previously browsed on his tablet, these paper documents, while containing much empty talk, did indeed contain a significant amount of substance. However, that was all; the content was still far removed from the true magical world.

"I borrowed this from an old friend who used to be my biggest idol. For a while, he was quite fond of studying these mysterious things."

Clara, the Storm Girl, noticed that the pile of historical materials she had acquired was significantly attracting Joey.

"Storm...Ms. Clara," Joey changed his form of address under Storm's gaze, "Could you take me to visit your old friend?"

"I'm afraid that won't work," Storm had been waiting for Joey to ask this question. "He died a long time ago, shooting himself in the head."

"I'm so sorry, please accept my condolences." The original owner's unfortunate experience only strengthened Joey's determination to obtain these complete documents.

"Studying these things is indeed somewhat dangerous—what did he do in his life? Some kind of fortune teller or magician?"

"No, no, no, he was just a painter who was somewhat well-known locally. His suicide had little to do with these studies; it was just because his career had encountered a minor setback."

Storm already had a plan in mind on how to get closer to Joey: "Although this was his hobby, he did collect a lot of information back then. If you like, I can find some people to go through his belongings again, but you have to agree to one condition first."

Joey didn't object to this exchange; he needed to speed things up to get a glimpse of the true nature of the magical world in order to achieve some of his goals:

"As long as it doesn't break the law or cross moral boundaries, Ms. Clara, anything is fine. I can even pluck any star from the sky for you."

"Hahaha! Even for me, that's a bit too old-fashioned, little man."

Clara, the Storm Girl, chuckled, her cheeks flushed, her eyes curving into crescents, and a few crow's feet appearing at the corners of her eyes, adding a unique charm—she simply took Joey's words as another compliment from a man to a beautiful woman like herself.

"Compared to the stars in the sky, we should have loftier pursuits, such as the world needing a hero."

Storm reached out and gently stroked Joey's chest, then looked up at Joey's face, which resembled an ancient Greek sculpture, her dreamy eyes seeming to gaze upon a perfect creation:

"A superhero like you, you came into this world with a mission. People, corporations, governments, they are all corrupt and decadent, they need a leader, a role model, a hero to make them better, more... pure."

"Isn't Homelander and the Seven enough for this world?"

Joey's question wasn't actually a question; he already had a rough answer in his mind.

If his previous indifference prevented him from noticing the anomalies of the superhero groups in this world, then after meeting two of the Seven, he couldn't help but become suspicious, especially since the Seven seemed to belong to Vought International, whose CEO was Stan Edgar.

In different universes, Uncle Fried Chicken's face can be a drug dealer disguised as KFC, a ruthless and insane warlord on a Central American island nation, or a notorious sector governor in the Star Empire. Based on preconceived notions, Joey felt that there would be no exceptions in this universe. This Vought Corporation must be up to something!

"The Seven are not bad; they all live up to their profession. Homelander is good; he is both patriotic and innocent, but he has reached his limit and is too stubborn."

But you're different from them. You're still a young and promising talent. Join us, become a hero, and I can make you even more perfect, like a god.

After Storm finished speaking, she looked up at Joey. Noticing the hesitation in his expression, she gently moved her hand down from his chest and wrapped her arms around him. Her face slowly rubbed against Joey's chest, while her other hand lightly stroked his back. She was a head shorter than Joey, allowing him just the right amount of fragrance from her hair.

"I remember you just said you'd do anything for me, really 'any' thing?"

"As I just said, I will not do anything illegal, ma'am."

As someone who has gone through two adolescences and whose age adds up to over forty years, Joey is naturally able to resist such sugar-coated bullets that are easy to see through: "Legally speaking, having something happen with a minor is a federal felony."

"I didn't ask you to do anything illegal. The one who broke the law was me, not you, right?"

One major downside of being reborn is that you will enter puberty again when the time comes. During this period, teenagers are energetic and vibrant, often driven by hormones to do things against their will and make absolutely wrong judgments.

For example, right now, Joey thinks that what Clara said makes a lot of sense.

~~~~

"Hello everyone, producers! I'm Starlight, a superhero trainee who's been training for twelve and a half years!"

How many steps are there to becoming a superhero?

First, you need to discover your talents, then it's about image building, persona creation, participating in talent shows, media exposure, brand endorsements, stage performances...

Of course, there is also a small portion of content about chivalry and doing good deeds, but the ultimate purpose is to serve the above-mentioned types of things.

Anne January is a "superhero" from Iowa. She was born with the ability to control electricity, possesses superhuman strength, and can fly. After more than a decade of rigorous training, coupled with this little bit of talent, she finally stood on the stage of "Good Heroes," the highest level of talent show.

If she wins this draft, she can succeed the retiring "Lamplighter" and rise to the top of the nation's most powerful and famous superhero organization, the "Seven," becoming a "real" superhero.

Starlight is serious about this—not just about the attitude towards talent shows, but also about the attitude towards superheroes. She's not referring to the parts under the spotlight, not the singing, dancing, or rapping parts.

It's the real "superhero" part, the part that carries hope, fights evil, saves the world, and truly does good deeds.

Like a puppet, she participated in talent shows for so many years, witnessing and experiencing countless sordid things: drugs, discrimination, exploitation... She even saw many people who, in order to become superheroes in the public eye, did not hesitate to share a bed with those powerful figures behind the scenes.

But these things did not erase her essence, nor did they completely kill the little hero dream hidden deep in her heart.

But once she joins the Seven, she believes everything will change. With the world's most powerful superhero team, she can finally break free from her puppet-like situation and be her true self again.

A hero needed by the world.