[Vol. 3] Chapter 5: Hell’s Kitchen

Finn saw the anger in Superman’s eyes and asked, “Is the Joker targeting you?”

“I don’t know what the Joker’s objective is. The other day, a member of the Joker’s gang entered the Daily Planet’s offices under a false identity. He robbed the place and threatened everyone not to call the police. Then, to frighten the others, he smashed the floor-to-ceiling window and pushed Lois Lane out.

“It might have been an ordinary robbery, but all the evidence suggests the robber specifically targeted Lois Lane. The robbery was just a cover for pushing her off the building.”

Finn thought for a moment. “Did you catch the robber?”

“He lost his footing and fell from the building to his death, but the investigation concluded that it was probably suicide,” Superman said. “I suspect the Joker was behind it all, pulling the strings.”

“A lot of things don’t add up.”

Superman nodded. “I don’t understand. Why would a criminal from Gotham come after Lois Lane? She’s just an ordinary woman from Metropolis.”

“Maybe it has something to do with Lois Lane’s boyfriend,” Finn said meaningfully.

Lois Lane’s boyfriend was Clark Kent—or, more precisely, Superman himself.

After successfully rescuing Lois Lane, Superman had worried that fate could change at any moment, so he’d quickly confessed his feelings to her as Clark Kent. The two had naturally gotten together.

Superman coughed lightly and looked away. “But Lois Lane’s boyfriend, Clark, is just an ordinary reporter.”

Oh, come on. Keep pretending.

Finn was speechless. At least other superheroes wore hoods or masks. If all else failed, they wore a mask over their eyes.

Take Batman, for example. He covered the entire upper half of his face. Spider-Man went one step further and covered his whole head.

But whenever Clark Kent switched to his Superman identity, all he did was take off his nonprescription glasses, adjust his hair a little, and go out to fight crime.

How blind did the people around him have to be not to realize Superman’s true identity?

“Deep learning is developing rapidly these days, and image processing and facial-recognition technology are already widely used,” Finn said casually. “Superman, your real identity may already have been exposed by modern technology.”

Superman tensed, clearly unwilling to believe it. “No way. Is facial recognition really that good now?”

“Do you use an iPhone? You know about Face ID, right? It unlocks your phone using facial recognition. You should give it a try.”

“I’ve always used a Nokia.” Superman pulled out a Nokia 3310 that could have doubled as a brick. “And it’s a very old model. I don’t think it has facial recognition.”

Finn winked at him. “I seem to remember that newer Nokia phones have facial-recognition features too. Buy one and set it up while you’re in your civilian disguise, then see if it still recognizes you as Superman.”

“All right.” Superman felt a little embarrassed and worried. “If my civilian identity has already been exposed, what should I do? I’m worried that criminals might target my family and the people I love.”

“Keeping your identity hidden forever isn’t a solution. You can only reveal it openly and move the people you care about somewhere safe. Look at Iron Man—Tony Stark. Everyone knows he’s both Iron Man and the president of Stark Industries. Unlike a certain bat in Gotham City…”

Finn realized he couldn’t say any more, or Superman would start wondering how he knew so much insider information.

He patted Superman on the shoulder. “Actually, the best solution would be to make backups of your loved ones. Store their genes and consciousness. If they die, you can just recreate them.”

“Finn, you certainly have an unusual way of looking at things.” Superman looked stunned. He lowered his head and thought it over. “But… that might actually work. As a last resort, if the worst happened.”

Finn smiled faintly. “If you need that technology, come to me. I’ll give you a very reasonable price.”

“Hmm… I’ll come to you if I need it,” Superman said hesitantly.

Just then, he sensed a crime taking place in the distance. After saying goodbye to Finn, he immediately took off.

Finn had other plans in mind. He currently didn’t possess the technology to back up Superman’s family members and loved ones. He would have to call in experts from the Spacetime Destruction Bureau.

Backups of their genes and consciousness would then be stored at a Spacetime Destruction Bureau branch facility. If that branch were attacked, Superman would have no choice but to come to its aid.

Establishing a branch facility would require plenty of money and resources, as well as a hidden location away from prying eyes.

For starters, Finn would need several tons of vibranium and a few palladium reactors. Better yet, he could get his hands on a few really powerful weapons to back the place up—something like the Infinity Stones or Vulcan’s sword.

Metropolis was peaceful, and there was nothing left there to amuse Finn. After tallying up the assets he’d plundered in Earth-1, he found that he had only $2,900.

It was time to make money somewhere else.

At that moment, Finn had only one thing on his mind:

Money. Money. And more money!

If he couldn’t earn enough, he would have to pay for the Spacetime Destruction Bureau branch out of his own pocket.

Completing this mission would earn him 1,000 Contribution Points. Finn had no intention of working for free and throwing in all his own money to boot.

…

Early the next morning, Finn went to a pawnshop and cashed in the gold bars he had acquired in the wasteland world, receiving nearly $50,000.

He then bought a large-engine pickup truck, got onto the interstate, and drove across a sizable stretch of America to New York City.

New York was still prosperous and bursting with life. It had far more criminals and superheroes than Metropolis, making it the perfect place for Finn to fish in troubled waters and pan for gold.

Finn slowly pulled his pickup alongside a police officer standing guard.

Behind the officer was a police cruiser. Two heavily armed cops had a Black man pinned to the ground, while a third pressed his knee hard against the man’s neck.

“Get in the cruiser!” one of the officers pinning him down barked.

“Then get the fuck off me!” the Black man shouted.

“You refuse to get in the cruiser, so I can’t let you go!” The officer drove his knee harder into the man’s neck, putting even more pressure on it.

“Help! I can’t breathe!” the man pleaded desperately, but the officer showed no sign of easing up.

When the officer standing guard saw Finn’s pickup approaching, he immediately raised his M16 assault rifle.

“Stop! What are you doing?!”

Apparently, in an age when superheroes were everywhere, American law enforcement had upgraded its arsenal too.

Finn slowly rolled down his window and said expressionlessly, “Officer, how do I get to Hell’s Kitchen?”

“You’re going to Hell’s Kitchen?” The officer looked at Finn as if he were insane. He pointed ahead with his left hand. “Go down that way. Take the second intersection and turn right.”

“Thanks, officer.”

Finn tossed a grenade out through the window.

“Ah!” The officers and the Black man scattered in terror.

Several seconds later, the officers realized the grenade hadn’t exploded. Only then did they notice that the pin was still in it.

By that time, Finn had already driven away, and the Black man had fled.

No sane person went to Hell’s Kitchen. It was New York City’s dumping ground for every kind of crime and vice.

Hell’s Kitchen was notorious for its high crime rate and had produced countless criminals and underworld bosses. The Hand, Kingpin, and Purple Man were all infamous names in the criminal world.

Finn had come to Hell’s Kitchen this time to prey on the underworld and strip these criminals of all their ill-gotten wealth…

Ah, no. What he meant was—

He was here to fight crime, uphold justice, and confiscate the criminals’ ill-gotten gains for the public treasury!