Most people felt sympathy when they saw the weak being beaten.
But when the victim was an alien invader like Zod, those watching the broadcast felt nothing but satisfaction.
They wished they could roll up their sleeves and hit him themselves.
Of everyone watching, Starlight went through the greatest emotional shift.
She had feelings for Ryan that she could not explain.
She had hated Ryan because of what happened at the Seven Tower. But as time passed, she found that her hatred had begun to thaw.
What remained was a tangle of emotions she could not make sense of. Yet earlier, when Ryan had disappeared...
She had not blamed him for fleeing in the face of Zod and leaving everyone behind. To her own surprise, she had felt the opposite.
She had felt relieved.
Thank goodness Ryan escaped without getting hurt.
That was what Starlight had thought.
But the thought had barely lasted before she saw Ryan return to the city.
When he came back, she wanted to yell at him. He knew how dangerous it was here, and he still came back!
Then Ryan beat Zod so badly that his own mother would not have recognized him, leaving Starlight gaping behind her hand.
Ryan never stopped surprising her.
Before that, everything had seemed hopeless. Zod had left New York shrouded in smoke from collapsed buildings, as though the end of the world were near.
Homelander, who was supposed to protect everyone, had protected no one.
Everyone had thought they were done for. Then Ryan had descended out of nowhere.
Now, watching Ryan stand in the sunlight on the broadcast, Starlight remembered a line of poetry she had read: "You are the dawn's dew, come down to earth."
On the broadcast, Ryan was finishing his assault. He gripped Zod by