We're Not Supermen from the Same Scientific Side

High above the clouds! A passenger jet cruised smoothly through them. It looked no different from any other plane, but beneath its calm exterior, fear and panic filled the cabin.

"Don't move..."

"If anyone so much as twitches, you'll regret it..."

The armed hijackers, clutching M16s, had taken control of the entire plane. One of them furrowed his brow, worry in his eyes, as though he was concerned about something.

"Homelander will come save us."

A little girl, perhaps seven or eight, whispered as she looked at one of the hijackers.

"No! He won't. No one can save you."

The hijacker heard her, glared viciously at her, and spoke in a low voice.

"Shh..."

The girl's mother quickly pulled her close and gently covered her mouth. She looked at the hijacker with a pleading expression.

"She's just a child..."

The young mother faced the hijacker and spoke softly.

The countless passengers around the mother and daughter watched their plight, but not one dared to step forward. Men and women, old and young, were all terrified.

"Even a child has to pay for what she says."

As he spoke, the hijacker pulled a knife from his pocket, seemingly intending to punish the girl for speaking out.

"Boom!"

Just as the hijacker was about to do something, the whole plane shuddered. The next moment, several cries rang out from first class.

"Hm!?"

The hijacker instinctively turned toward the passage leading to first class.

A tall, muscular man with blond hair, dressed in a blue bodysuit and draped in the Free Nation's flag, strode toward them.

"Shit!"

The hijacker stared at the man, eyes wide. The person approaching was none other than the man he feared most: Homelander.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk~"

"If I were you, I wouldn't play around with a prop like that in front of children."

Homelander looked at the hijacker with easygoing nonchalance. He seemed less like he'd come to rescue anyone and more like he was here to put on a show.

"Bzzzt..."

Homelander didn't give the hijacker a chance to speak. His eyes instantly glowed a fiery red.

"Ah~"

The knife in the hijacker's hand grew hotter and hotter until he had no choice but to drop it. He stared in pain at his reddened hand, burned as if by a branding iron, and grimaced.

"Die!"

While the hijacker was distracted by his injured hand, Queen Maeve stepped in front of him and punched him to the ground.

At the same time, Homelander easily took out the other hijackers.

"You're all safe now!"

After swiftly dispatching the hijackers, Homelander planted his hands on his hips and asked the passengers how they were. His calm, handsome, carefree demeanor and the confidence radiating from him instantly won over everyone aboard.

"Clap, clap, clap..."

"Homelander, you're my idol!"

"Nice work, Homelander!"

"Homelander! As long as you're here, evil can never run rampant!"

Thunderous applause filled the plane as hundreds of passengers praised Homelander at once!

"It's only what I'm supposed to do!"

"No need to praise me!"

"Like the flag behind me, I'll always protect you."

Homelander raised his left hand and waved to everyone.

"Homelander, I think there's still one of their accomplices in the cockpit..."

As Homelander basked in the crowd's cheers, Queen Maeve stood and came to his side. She leaned close to his ear and quietly told him that she'd just heard from the subdued hijackers that another accomplice was holding the pilot hostage in the cockpit.

"Okay..."

Homelander gave a slight nod.

"Seems there's another little mouse hiding somewhere. But don't worry, I'll drag him out."

Homelander straightened his chest and spoke softly to the passengers.

"We trust you, Homelander!"

The passengers shouted in response.

"Of course..."

Homelander smiled faintly, turned around, and left everyone with a dashing, confident view of his back.

"Bang!"

Homelander reached the cockpit door and smashed it with a clean, straightforward punch. Then he walked inside with a relaxed expression.

"What!?"

The hijacker in the cockpit watched Homelander charge in. His heart pounded wildly, stress hormones flooding his body as sweat poured down his forehead.

"Relax, relax."

Homelander smiled at the hijacker in the cockpit and tried to soothe him. Then his eyes began to glow red.

The devastating beams killed the hijacker in an instant, but they also obliterated the pilot behind him and the plane's control panel.

"What are you doing?"

Queen Maeve stared wide-eyed at Homelander, who had destroyed the hijacker, the pilot, and the control panel. She couldn't understand what he was doing.

"Heh..."

"I'm sorry, but they were standing too close together."

Homelander shrugged helplessly, but he looked completely unrepentant. It seemed as though he'd planned the whole thing.

"Maeve, we need to leave..."

Homelander walked up to Queen Maeve and spoke softly.

"You mean we should abandon the lives of the hundred-plus passengers on this plane?"

Queen Maeve gaped at him. She could hardly believe Homelander had sunk to this level of madness.

"Listen, it's not that I don't want to save them! I can't save them."

Homelander pointed at Queen Maeve's nose as he spoke.

"Can't save them!? Why?"

"You can fly outside and hold up the plane!"

Queen Maeve pointed out the window.

"Fuck! I can't hold up a plane. It's not even scientific. Either the plane falls apart or I punch right through it."

Homelander cursed. He wasn't Magneto—how could he possibly hold up a plane?

"Then take everyone down to the ground one at a time!"

Queen Maeve pressed on.

"You want me to make a hundred and twenty-three trips? Don't fucking mess with me!"

Homelander ran a hand through his hair. He had an image to maintain.

"There's only one thing we can do now."

As he spoke, Homelander left the cockpit and headed for the exit.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

Queen Maeve rubbed her cheek with her palm, overwhelmed by pain. She was furious and heartbroken because she couldn't save the passengers on the plane.

"Homelander, are you going to save us?"

"Homelander, you're not going to abandon us, are you?"

"Homelander..."

The passengers all questioned Homelander as he stood by the plane's exit.

"Of course! I'm going to save you, of course. I won't abandon any of you..."

Homelander smiled at the passengers, then turned to look at Maeve.

"Maeve, hurry up. I hope you'll be sensible and not die alongside everyone on this plane."

Homelander no longer bothered to hide what he was doing. He spoke to Queen Maeve in a hoarse, almost cheerful voice.

"Homelander, don't leave me behind!"

"Homelander..."

Hearing his words, the passengers stood up and crowded toward him, begging him to save them.

"Fuck!"

"If any of you filthy bastards touch me or take one more step, I'll tear every last one of you bitches to pieces!"

Homelander's eyes glowed red as he faced the crowding passengers.

"Uh..."

The passengers saw his glowing eyes and all backed away.

"Maeve!"

Only after he'd frightened the passengers into retreating did Homelander turn back to Queen Maeve.

"Phew..."

Queen Maeve sighed helplessly, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Helpless and heartbroken, Queen Maeve finally went to Homelander's side.

"Wise choice."

Homelander smiled faintly, put an arm around Maeve, and carried her out the door.

"Homelander!!"

"Maeve!"

"Save us! Save us!!"

The passengers aboard the plane cried out in despair.

"Heh..."

Homelander smiled at the passengers' anguished cries.

Maeve lowered her head in pain...

However...

Just as Homelander had already thought of what to say and was about to burst out laughing, a dark shadow rose from beneath the clouds.

"WTF..."

Homelander stared at the shadow, eyes wide.

"Is that an island? An island flying in the sky?"

Homelander's mouth hung slightly open. He didn't know how to describe what he was seeing.

"God! Please, save us!"

"God! O great God!"

Meanwhile, inside the plane, the panicked passengers huddled together. They prayed, cried out, and begged for God to show a great miracle.

Yet even then, they couldn't stop fear and pessimism, despair and pain, from spreading through their hearts...

Until...

A rumble reached their ears. The next moment, the plane lurched, throwing passengers this way and that. Then, all at once, the plane steadied...

"What happened!?"

"Did God hear our prayers?"

The passengers were at a loss. In a panic, they peered out the windows at the scene outside.

In an instant, everyone looking out the windows was stunned...

"God! Have we landed!?"

One passenger asked in confusion.

"No! We're still in the air..."

"An island is holding us up and carrying us through the sky!"

An elderly man with graying hair stared at the clouds in the distance and spoke in disbelief.

Beneath the island carrying the plane through the sky, a man dressed all in white held it up with one hand.

"WTF!?"

Homelander stared, wide-eyed, at the man who was holding up an island with one hand and had caught a fast-flying plane on it.

"This is fucking impossible!"

Homelander cursed angrily.

"Stunned, huh?! We're not supermen from the same scientific side!"

The white-clad man, with one hand beneath the island and an air of heavenly divinity, smiled at Homelander.

"Motherfucker!"

Homelander was so furious his face turned green. He'd just abandoned everyone aboard the plane. If Free Man saved them now, how was he supposed to keep playing the superhero!?

Homelander cursed, his eyes glowing red. He was going to tear the entire plane apart!

"Calm down, Homelander! Look over there!"

Queen Maeve, in Homelander's arms, snapped at him and brought him to his senses. Beside the white-clad man who held up the island stood ten helicopters from various television stations. Reporters aboard them were filming and broadcasting frantically.

"Oh my God! Is that a god!?"

"Was that a messenger from Heaven?!"

"No! The one holding up the island right now is Free Man. He's the embodiment of the spirit of freedom!"

The reporters kept snapping pictures of the handsome man in white, capturing his dashing figure.

"Oh my God! I've spotted Homelander! Quick, let's turn the camera toward Homelander. We're about to get Homelander and Free Man in the same shot live..."

One of the reporters spotted Homelander and turned the camera toward him.

"F*ck!"

Homelander saw the camera pointed at him and forced an incredibly ugly smile. He waved to the viewers while quietly cursing under his breath.