After a while, Kara awoke from her fantasy.
She looked at Kevin again:
"Since you know...about Kal and me, you should also know...the mission I was entrusted with."
She briefly recalled Kara's background.
Kara was Superman's uncle's daughter; when Krypton was destroyed, Kara's family learned what Superman's father had done.
So, to protect their daughter, and to protect Kal-El, who possessed the Life Codex within him, Kara's parents put her into an escape pod to chase after Kal-El and protect him.
This was the setting in the TV series and games; the comic's setting was different, but since this was a cinematic universe, it should follow the TV series' setting now.
Moreover, Kevin also remembered that Kara had mentioned in the movie that her responsibility was to protect Superman.
"You're responsible for protecting Clark, I know, but...the Clark in this universe...Kal-El, he shouldn't have come to Earth."
"Then I can't help you even more. I need to find him and protect him."
"The universe is so vast, where will you look for him? And don't forget, your ship is already destroyed; you can't return to the universe anymore."
"Then I still won't help you."
Kara spoke very firmly, she whispered:
"What Zod wants to do has nothing to do with me, and I have no obligation to protect Earthlings.
"...As soon as I landed on Earth, I was captured and imprisoned by you Earthlings. For such a long time, they treated me like an experimental subject. Why should I necessarily help Earthlings?"
Unlike Kal-El's experience, Kara in this universe was captured and thrown into prison as soon as she landed, where she was subjected to daily blood tests and experiments.
And because she had no combat suit and hadn't been exposed to the sun, and Kara was just a little girl at the time, she was directly captured and used as an experimental subject.
This continued for over a decade.
If Batman and the others hadn't rescued her today, she would probably have spent her entire life in that dark underground.
With such an experience, it was somewhat unrealistic to expect her to save humanity.
In the movie, Kara decided to help Flash only after seeing humans being slaughtered by Zod, which softened her heart, but now with Kevin's Atlantis, Zod might not interact with humans.
Without the scene of Zod slaughtering humans, Kara might not necessarily help Kevin.
However, Kevin also had a solution:
"Then consider it payment."
"What?"
"I am not human. According to this world's terms, I am a member of the Atlantean nation. We live underwater and are completely different species from humans.
"And those who harmed you were humans, while those who saved you were Atlanteans. So, as payment for saving you, would you mind helping me, an Atlantean, a little?"
Humans were humans, and Atlanteans were Atlanteans.
In some sense, Atlanteans were even considered aliens to humans.
The group that captured Kara and made her an experimental subject was humanity, while the one who saved her was Kevin, an Atlantean.
Helping Kevin did not equate to helping humanity.
Kevin's sleight of hand in changing the concept indeed left Kara speechless.
And while Kara was still thinking of how to refuse Kevin, Kevin offered her an irresistible condition:
"Moreover, if you want to find Kal-El, you certainly can't do it alone, as you don't have a spaceship. But while you don't have one, someone else does."
"...Zod."
"Exactly. As long as you defeat Zod, his spaceship is yours to use. We won't stop you then; you can go wherever you want."
Kevin appealed to her emotions and reason.
Whether in terms of gratitude or practical benefit, Kevin found reasons for Kara to help him.
Kara gave a self-deprecating smile and met Kevin's gaze:
"It seems I have no other choice but to help you."
"Very good. It looks like we've at least reached a consensus on this matter."
After confirming that Kara would help him, Kevin stood up and said:
"Your body is very weak right now and not suitable for combat. So what you need to do now is eat a good meal and go out to bask in the sun before it sets.
"I think you've probably noticed that Earth's sunlight enhances your physical abilities, whether it's strength, speed, or anything else. In any case, more sun exposure can only be beneficial."
"Where are you going?"
Kara saw that Kevin intended to leave and instinctively asked.
Kevin calculated the time and told Kara:
"To meet Zod. The deadline he set for Earth is almost up."
Zod had given humanity one day to find the Kryptonian citizen 'sheltered' by Earth, and today was actually the day for humanity to give him an answer.
However, before this, Kevin had already had Mera contact the human government, asking them to fully entrust the matter to Kevin.
Kevin was the King of Atlantis and had promised humanity to meet the aliens on their behalf.
Humans were ecstatic and thus decisively handed over the task of negotiating with the aliens to Kevin.
But at the same time, they also put forward some not-so-unreasonable demands.
The first was that members of the human government must be present at the scene, and the second was that they wanted to broadcast the tripartite negotiation.
Perhaps from the perspective of the human world, a meeting of Atlantis, Kryptonians, and humans, three distinct races, was a highly historic event.
They might even think that the three parties wouldn't come to blows, after all, Zod seemed easy to talk to, and Kevin was a 'gentle' king.
They only wanted to gain sufficient benefits from it.
Kevin didn't stop them; if they wanted to send people to their deaths, that was their business.
However, Kevin also had his own demands regarding this.
He set the negotiation location at the seaside.
...
Originally, the place where Kryptonians and humans were to negotiate was in a wilderness chosen by America.
In a wilderness with no cities nearby, if Krypton truly wanted to do something to humanity, they could immediately launch a long-range artillery strike.
But now with Atlantis, a nation more technologically advanced than humans, humans were naturally willing to comply with Kevin's request to set the negotiation location at the seaside.
The reason it was the seaside and not the sea surface was Zod's demand.
According to him, he respected the races on Earth and was willing to cooperate with them to some extent, but that didn't mean he had to comply with Earth's demands.
And negotiating by the sea was the limit of the sincerity Zod could show.
He would not allow humans to take advantage of him further.
Therefore, on the day of the negotiation, some Atlanteans represented by Kevin, the human military's army.
And a reporter who shouldn't have been there, gathered at a coastal edge far from the city.
"Hello, I am Vice Admiral Chris Marlow, representing humanity to handle this negotiation."
As soon as Kevin arrived, a white general from the human military approached and extended his hand to Kevin.
Kevin did not shake his hand but focused on his skin color, then looked past him at the other high-ranking generals behind him, before asking the Vice Admiral named Chris:
"You... only brought a few people?"
"The human army is on standby in the distance, I imagine you are aware of that."
Chris spoke politely with Kevin.
He clearly knew that Atlantean technology was far more advanced than land-based technology, so they should be able to easily detect the army on standby in the distance.
But Chris didn't know that Kevin wasn't asking about the army.
He was looking for someone.
Someone who had appeared in both "Superman: Man of Steel" and "Justice League" (Snyder Cut).
Martian Manhunter.
In the Snyder Cut version of Justice League, Martian Manhunter made an appearance; he was one of the generals who appeared in "Superman: Man of Steel" and was responsible for negotiating with Zod.
Martian Manhunter was a powerful 'alien.' If Kevin could get his help, he would feel more confident in dealing with Zod.
It was just a pity Kevin didn't see him here.
Presumably, in this universe, Martian Manhunter did not exist on Earth.
However, this was probably normal.
After all, Martian Manhunter didn't appear in "The Flash" either. If Martian Manhunter had truly been present then, he probably wouldn't have let Zod run wild on Earth.
Unable to find Martian Manhunter, Kevin found a random topic to change the subject, pointing to the distant camera and the female reporter, saying:
"You're quite leisurely, bringing irrelevant personnel here."
"...Members of Congress believe that contact with aliens and your esteemed race is a very meaningful thing, which is why a reporter was arranged to come."
Chris explained.
In fact, this was already the result of Congress reining itself in.
Otherwise, Kevin would have seen more than just one reporter and camera here.
"Meaningful?" Kevin said with a half-smile, "Indeed, quite meaningful."
The 'meaning' of allowing the humans of this world to see just how fragile they were.
Kevin didn't want to talk anymore, he looked up at the sky, waiting for Zod's ship to arrive.
But then the female reporter approached with her photographer.
At the same time, a subordinate's prompt came from Chris's side. Chris listened with his ear inclined and said to Kevin:
"...The reporter wants to interview you. What do you think...?"
"I'm not in the mood. Tell them to stay far away from here."
No sooner had Kevin finished speaking, and before Chris could reply, the female reporter spoke in a steady, clear voice:
"We...we just want to express our gratitude to you!"
Kevin turned to look at the female reporter, who continued:
"You are the Sea God, right? On land...many people want to thank you, thank you for saving them, so..."
"Now is not the time, Louise...Lane, Ms.?"
After glancing at the female reporter's ID badge, Kevin was about to end the conversation, but when he spoke the female reporter's name, he paused.
"Yes, is there a problem?"
Kevin's slight moment of distraction went unnoticed, but Louise still heard the confusion in Kevin's voice, as if he knew her.
Narrowing his eyes slightly as he observed Louise, Kevin shook his head:
"Nothing. And you should step back, Zod and his people are here."
Regardless of why Superman's girlfriend was here, it had nothing to do with Kevin.
While the few of them were talking, the Kryptonian ship had already approached from above, descending towards them.
Zod and his people arrived on time at the agreed location.
Next was negotiation time.
But the problem was, Supergirl hadn't arrived yet, and it was imaginable that Zod would be very angry later.
"Anyway, we're going to fight eventually, so why not strike directly... Forget it, I'll wait for him to make the first move."
Kevin had originally wanted the Atlantean fleet hidden underwater to catch the Kryptonians off guard.
But upon careful thought, this might lead the humans to blame Kevin for the Kryptonians' reason for destroying Earth, so Kevin abandoned this tempting idea.
After all, as the King of Atlantis, Kevin had to consider the underwater world to some extent.