Skynet nodded and continued her report.
"Everything ran normally during the first week of your disappearance. Miss Jessica, Agent Skye, and Miss Nebula came by several times to ask where you were."
"As instructed, I told them you had gone to Asgard for special training."
"They believed you?"
"Yes, they accepted the explanation," Skynet replied.
"But things changed in the second week."
"The false claim you deliberately spread—that Black Steel was Homelander's weakness—began circulating wildly in the underworld. Then the rumor evolved into a claim that Homelander had been secretly assassinated with a Black Steel weapon."
Homelander gave a cold laugh.
"Those losers have some nerve."
"At first, everyone scoffed at the rumor," Skynet continued. "Your reputation for being invincible was too deeply ingrained. No one believed you could be killed."
"But as you continued to stay out of sight, people grew uneasy. Miss Jessica even came to me three times a day to check whether you had returned."
"By the third week of your disappearance, the rumor had spread beyond the underworld. It was all over the internet and even the newspapers on the street."
"I traced the source of the information. The Radiance Society was behind it all."
"At the time, I could not determine whether this was part of your larger plan. To avoid disrupting it, I took no forceful measures to stop the rumor."
Homelander nodded slightly. Skynet's judgment made sense.
When she was unsure of his intentions, doing nothing was the best course of action.
"Go on."
"Director Ashley had the public relations department issue denials," Skynet continued. "But because you never appeared in public, none of the statements were convincing. Public panic began to spread."
"Did Kaecilius and his rats finally make a move?" Homelander asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Yes." Skynet