Above the Ruins

The sky over Lower Manhattan reeked of burning.

Drones still circled overhead, their cameras trained on the massive crater below the Wayne Enterprises Building. Homelander's corpse lay inside it, his chest pierced through, blood pooling across the ground.

The live broadcast spread across the globe. Two billion people stared at their screens. The god who had been undefeated for thirty years was now nothing more than a shattered body.

Butcher stood at the edge of the crater, blood still dripping from his fists. He stared at the corpse for a long time without speaking. Hughie, Frenchie, and Mrs. M stood behind him in equally heavy silence.

Benjamin removed his foot from the corpse and stepped aside.

Queen Maeve and Starlight stood amid the ruins, watching the crowds surging toward them in the distance. Sirens blared from every direction, and National Guard convoys were closing in.

Butcher turned and looked at Chu Hang's clone.

"What now?"

His voice was calm, but his eyes were hollow. His revenge was complete, yet Becca would never come back.

He had waited thirty years for this day. Now that it had arrived, he had no idea what to do next.

Chu Hang's clone did not answer immediately. He looked up at the drones in the sky, at the cameras broadcasting this scene live. The entire world was watching.

Vought Corporation's stock had hit zero three minutes ago. The New York Stock Exchange had triggered its circuit breakers, but it was already too late.

Tens of billions of dollars had vanished. Investors were losing their minds, politicians were making calls, and the media had exploded.

Homelander was dead. Vought Corporation's myth had shattered. But the chaos was only beginning.

There were more than 1,700 registered superhumans worldwide, with 300 of them inside the United States.

Vought