The red glow in Homelander's eyes slowly faded.
"What are you doing here?"
Lucian hovered in midair, his gaze sweeping over him before turning to Butcher, who lay barely alive in the crater.
Homelander followed his gaze downward, and the confusion on his face quickly vanished.
When he looked up again, an unpleasant suspicion surfaced.
"You're with them?"
Lucian shook his head.
If he really were with them, he wouldn't have watched Butcher get beaten into this sorry state. It was just that the man couldn't die yet.
"Why don't you stop, Homelander?"
Lucian pointed at Butcher on the ground.
"In a couple of days, I'll bring him back to you exactly as he is."
Homelander's expression darkened.
"Are you giving me orders?"
"Call it a discussion."
Homelander straightened, the airflow lifting his half-cape. The smile slowly disappeared from his face, and red light welled up in his eyes again.
"I just gave him a fair duel. He lost, so he should die. And now you show up and tell me to stop?"
Great.
So much for talking it out.
Lucian hadn't expected a few words to persuade Homelander anyway.
His willingness to give Butcher a fair fight to the death was already a rare display of playing by the rules. Now, just as he was about to kill his archenemy himself, Lucian had butted in. Nobody would have been happy about that.
Especially not Homelander.
In his dictionary, backing down had always meant weakness.
Lucian landed on the ground and lowered the hands he'd held behind his back.
Homelander looked at Lucian, remembering the rose-red Heat Vision that had sliced through the ground earlier.
Flight.
Heat Vision.
"You think stealing a few powers from who knows where gives you the right to challenge my authority?"
"Stealing?"
Lucian chuckled.
That