"Ah," he said with a slow nod. "Military, then?" He'd known a few military people. Knew the children of military men, too. They were a handful. But tough as nails. Also explained Lois' fight now, throw herself head first now, ask questions later mentality, but that was neither here nor there. Of course, in truth, she might just be the aggressive type. Might be unfair to make that kind of assumption, and he hoped he hadn't offended her if he had.
When she watched him with a vague patronizing grin, and an amused tone, he merely grinned in return. He followed her gaze to the uprooted tree and he, clearly, was not intimidated. "To be fair," he replied, "the tree can't fight back." Not that it'd have much of a chance. It certainly didn't have much of a chance against him and he'd fought living trees before. That, though, was a story for another day.
He thought about saying something witty. Or feign modesty. Instead, though, recognizing Carol was more of a woman of action and needing something to battle. "You said you fly, right?" he asked as he glanced about before giving her a solid uppercut -- the kind with enough force to launch her off the ground and into the sky. Sure, maybe it was a sucker punch. But he figured she wouldn't mind. It wasn't long before he was launching into the air.