"No, no, you're the real heroes."
Basking in their cheers and admiration, Homelander put on a humble act and flashed a sunny grin.
Click!
The tightly shut cabin door opened.
Inside, the last remaining Robber Leader held a gun to the pilot's head.
"Take it easy. Calm down."
Maeve tried to persuade him to put down the gun.
Bang!
But the agitated, vicious robber blew the pilot's head apart with a bang, then spun around and raised his gun at Maeve and Homelander.
Screech!
A blinding beam swept across him, effortlessly slicing his body in half at the waist and cutting through the control panel behind him as well.
The freezing high-altitude wind rushed in through the breach.
Homelander walked over coldly.
Maeve tried contacting air traffic control, but received no response. Turning back, she asked, "The signal's gone. Can you fly a plane?"
"Even if I could fly one, it's useless now."
He spread his hands, gesturing for Maeve to look at the mangled control panel.
"Oh, shit."
Maeve turned with an ugly expression. "Maybe you should fly outside and try to hold the plane up."
We had to do something. We had to save the people on this plane.
Homelander had just used precise heat vision to shoot through that robber's chest. Why had this blast been so powerful? But now wasn't the time to pursue that question.
"The plane's fragile shell can't withstand my force. I'd only punch straight through it like a nail. Don't think about that, Maeve."
Homelander shook his head and refused.
Boom!
The plane lost control and plunged downward. It suddenly jolted, flinging some passengers into the cabin ceiling before they crashed back down.
"Oh, what's happening?
Save us, Homelander."
"I don't want to die!"
The passengers, who had thought they were safe, began screaming and pleading in panic.
"Calm down, everyone. Everything's fine."
Homelander brought Maeve to the cabin door.
"If you take them back to the ground one by one..."
Maeve knew Homelander's nature. His expression had turned cold, and he clearly intended to abandon this place. But there were over two hundred lives at stake, and she asked anxiously.
"How?
Carry one in each hand and make over a hundred trips?"
"There's no time. Their weak bodies can't endure supersonic speed."
As he spoke, he opened the cabin door.
"Leave with me, Maeve."
"Even saving one would be enough."
Maeve pulled over two terrified little girls from the plane. "Take them with you."
"No. I said no!"
Homelander raised a finger and wagged it, his voice harsh and cold.
"Let them live, so they can tell the world we left over two hundred people behind to die?"
He had already planned to let everyone die in the crash and pin the blame on the Department of Defense for refusing to let superheroes join the national defense system.
Not one of these people could survive.
A terrified passenger staggered over and jumped out of the hatch early, hoping he might survive.
"Back off. All of you, back off."
Homelander's face twisted viciously as his furious roar echoed through the wind-lashed cabin. Red light ignited in his eyes, making him look like a monster ready to devour someone.
"Or I'll shoot you damn things dead with lasers right now!"
"Help! No!"
Seeing that demon-like figure, the passengers retreated in terror. They could not believe this was the Homelander they had praised moments ago.
"Take one more step closer, and you'll die right now!"
"Please, Maeve, don't leave us behind."
The passengers wept and begged Maeve, who looked heartbroken and worried. Their cries for help pierced her heart.
"Maeve, my daughter's favorite superhero is you. Save her!"
"Are you going to die with them, Maeve?"
A cold, merciless voice came from behind her.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Maeve struggled for a long time, looking at the passengers in anguish and apologizing again and again before Homelander dragged her out of the cabin.
Homelander and Maeve hovered in midair, coldly watching the plane plummet toward the distant sea.
But after the two of them left.
Boom~
A boom sounded from inside the cabin window as Ron appeared, his face cold.
"Dark Star, it's Dark Star!
Save us! You can teleport and transport people."
The passengers who had just been abandoned and were weeping in terror saw Ron appear among them. As though they had seen the last god who could save them, they swarmed toward him.
"Please, don't abandon us like Homelander and Maeve did."
Aside from using X-ray Vision and super-hearing to spy on Madelyn breastfeeding her child or check whether someone's heartbeat showed they were lying, Homelander almost never used those abilities.
Nearly a minute later, the plane slammed into the sea and exploded thunderously, breaking into fragments. Every passenger died.
On an uninhabited island.
Holding a phone, Ron stood with more than a dozen rescued children behind him.
He had only saved all the children on the plane. He had no obligation to save anyone, and as for the others...
"Adults aren't like children. They have minds of their own and won't be so obedient."
His face expressionless, he murmured inwardly.
Ron intended to use this incident to threaten and control Homelander, not truly drive him into a corner.
Because the matter was extremely important, and he feared the butterfly effect might prevent anyone from recording it, he had made a special trip here.
Even without physical evidence, he could still save a few witnesses.
Glancing at a little girl beside him whom Maeve had tried but failed to take away, Ron gazed at the distant sunset, his eyes deep.
"Now I have both witnesses and physical evidence."
These witnesses should still be useful for something else.
After settling the rescued children on the uninhabited island, he teleported away.
"There's still one more thing to do."
New York, Eighth Street subway station.
Amid the passing crowds, a group of three anxiously searched everywhere for something.
"Fuck, where the hell did she run off to?
Frenchie, didn't I tell you that the moment you saw her, you were supposed to spray her with knock-out halothane?"
The Butcher Butcher gritted his teeth and berated him furiously.
"I'm sorry, okay?
Isn't finding her the most important thing right now?"
Frenchie's eyes rapidly searched the crowd. He cared only about the girl who had just run away in front of him. She had been imprisoned and tortured, and because he sympathized with her, he could not bring himself to hurt her.
"Butcher, let's find her first."
Hughie, standing beside them, tried to persuade him.
As for Frenchie, the gangster The Butcher had described as ruthless, cold-blooded, and skilled at modifying weapons to deal with superhumans, Hughie truly could not see anything ruthless or cold-blooded about him.
Ever since seeing that disheveled girl behind the supermarket, Frenchie had looked as though he had lost his soul, like a lovesick puppy.
"I see her. She's over there."
Suddenly, Frenchie caught sight of a familiar figure. Overjoyed, he pointed in that direction.
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