Night settled over Redwood Forest. Lucian sat cross-legged on a bluestone rock, motionless, like a statue that had blended into the darkness.
After six long hours, the virtual progress bar before his eyes finally reached its last segment.
[Copy complete] [Superpower acquired: LV4. Heat vision]
Lucian slowly opened his eyes.
An unprecedented burning sensation gathered deep within his eyeballs, as though two miniature suns were igniting inside his skull. He could clearly feel an immense energy surging through the channels at the backs of his eyes, ready to burst forth at any moment.
This was heat vision.
One of Homelander's signature abilities.
Although it was only LV4, nowhere near Homelander's power to melt through an airplane with ease, it was undoubtedly a tremendous boost to his combat strength. It filled the gap in his weakest area: ranged attacks.
The four babies beside him were still sleeping soundly under deep hypnosis, breathing steadily, oblivious to the changes around them.
Without pausing, he immediately pressed his palm against another baby's forehead-the child who had awakened super speed.
[Starting copy. Estimated time: half an hour] [Superpower: LV3 super speed] [Copy progress: 1%...]
Half an hour was not long.
While he waited, Lucian took out his phone.
Reception in the forest was terrible, but he could just about load a few news alerts.
Sure enough, the crash of Flight 37 had completely taken over the headlines across major media outlets. In the video, Homelander stood before the scattered wreckage of the plane, delivering an impassioned speech with a sorrowful yet resolute expression.
He had not followed Madelyn's script by saving the people on the plane and winning enormous prestige for Vought and superheroes, thereby securing the lawmakers' votes and, together with the high-ranking officials Vought had already infiltrated, ensuring the plan to bring supes into the military succeeded.
On the contrary, he aimed his criticism directly at the current system.
"I came too late... If we'd received word a little sooner, if superheroes were allowed to join the military and participate in counterterrorism operations, a tragedy like today's could have been prevented."
"We have the power to protect everyone, but they tie our hands with bureaucratic red tape."
The speech was highly inflammatory.
He skillfully transformed the public's grief and fear into anger at the government's inaction.
Lucian watched the blond, blue-eyed man in the video, who looked like a true hero.
For Vought International, this was a failure, but for Homelander himself, it was a good move.
Homelander was no longer satisfied with being a superstar controlled by Vought International. He wanted greater power-real, unrestricted power.
This move had completely disrupted Madelyn's plans. Right now, Vought's vice president was probably raging in her office, with no time at all to spare for a few test subjects and vials of compound missing from a hospital.
Chaos was the best camouflage.
Thirty minutes passed quickly.
[Copy complete] [Superpower acquired: LV3. Super speed]
Lucian did not stop. He spent another five minutes copying and merging the LV2 body enhancement ability while he was at it. As for the final ability, which changed skin color through pigment deposits, he could not even be bothered to give it another glance.
He put his phone away, stood up, and stretched his somewhat stiff body.
It was time to test the power of his new toys.
He walked up to a boulder several dozen meters away, lifted his head, and fixed his gaze on its center.
The next second, a deep blue glow lit up his eyes.
Two blue beams shot from his eyes, landing precisely where he was looking.
Lucian moved his gaze steadily, controlling it as though painting with a brush. A few seconds later, he deactivated the ability.
A circle one meter in diameter had been cut into the boulder, its edges still bearing black scorch marks from the intense heat.
A night breeze blew past, and the cut section of stone crashed heavily to the ground with a dull thud.
Lucian nodded in satisfaction.
LV4 heat vision was even more powerful than he had imagined. And in many situations, this sort of precise cutting ability was more useful than sheer explosive destruction.
Next came super speed.
He took a deep breath and focused, sensing the newly born energy within him, eager to be unleashed.
He crouched slightly, then pushed off hard.
Whoosh!
The wind slashed across his cheeks like knives. He could even feel the air being compressed by his speeding body and hear its shriek as it tore apart.
In just a few seconds, he had covered nearly a kilometer, stopping before an unfamiliar patch of woodland. The immense momentum sent a wave of dead leaves and soil sweeping backward across the ground.
"Not bad." Lucian felt his slightly quickened heartbeat.
With the abilities secured, it was time to deal with the problem at hand.
Back where he had started, he looked at the four babies still sleeping on the ground and felt a headache coming on.
He could not just keep leaving them in the forest.
He stood up and activated the thermonuclear engine within him, rising into the air. His gaze swept an area several kilometers around him, and soon he spotted a lone abandoned cabin on the shaded side of a stretch of hills.
It looked like a ranger's cabin from many years ago.
A dozen seconds later, he landed in front of the cabin with the "bundle" on his back.
A thick layer of dust covered the interior, but it was still fairly intact. He found a worn mattress, beat the dust out of it, then carefully laid the four babies side by side on top.
"You'll have to put up with this for now," he muttered to himself, looking at their soft little faces.
Once everything was settled, he went outside, found a spot with slightly better reception, and called Hughie.
The phone rang a few times before the call connected, and Hughie's voice came through with a trace of anxiety and unease.
"Lucian? Is that you? Are you okay? Where are you now?"
"Hey, bro." Lucian made his voice sound a little tired. "What are you up to?"
"I... I'm watching the base." Hughie sounded a little down. "Butcher... they went out on a mission and haven't come back yet. What about you? Did your mission... go well?"
Lucian understood.
It seemed Butcher and the others had already set out to capture Kimiko.
At this point, Hughie really did not have much of a presence on the team. He could not help with important missions, and he had no special abilities, so he could only stay behind.
"I'm fine." Lucian lowered his voice, creating an impression of exhausted relief after a narrow escape. "The plan was risky. I barely made it out alive, but I succeeded. I got Compound V."
"Compound V?" Hughie froze for a moment on the other end, then caught on. "You mean... those 'power pills' A-Train used? That stimulant for supes?"
Just as expected.
Hughie had not been in contact with Starlight, so naturally he had never had the chance to copy the files on her phone and follow the trail. The Boys' understanding of Compound V was still at the most basic stage: a drug for supes.
"No, Hughie. You've got it completely wrong." Lucian's tone turned utterly serious. "It's not a stimulant, and it's not a drug. What it does is ten thousand times more terrifying than we imagined."
"What do you mean?" His grave tone made Hughie nervous.
Lucian fell silent for a moment, then said, enunciating every word, "Its main effect is to give an ordinary person superpowers. Every single one of Vought's superheroes was made with it!"
A deathly silence fell on the other end of the line.
Lucian could imagine the shocked expression on Hughie's face right now. This discovery was enough to overturn his understanding of the entire world.
More than ten seconds passed before Hughie's trembling voice sounded again. "Are... are you telling the truth? Ordinary people... can become supes too?"
"Absolutely."
"Oh my God..." Hughie murmured, clearly still digesting the explosive revelation.
"Listen, Hughie." Lucian interrupted his shock. "When Butcher gets back, bring him to the address I send you. Remember, just the two of you. Things are complicated right now. Apart from you two, I can't trust anyone."
On the other end, Hughie's mind was still reeling from the enormous impact of the information. But he clearly heard Lucian's final instructions.
Just the two of you.
I can't trust anyone.
Those words struck him like an electric current.
Hughie agreed without the slightest hesitation.
Without having established contact with Starlight, he increasingly felt like a burden to the team. Fighting was beyond him; on infiltration missions, he held them back. Most of the time, he could only stay at the base, unable to do anything. And now, Lucian had entrusted him with such an important task, a secret that could change everything.
It was the feeling of being needed, of being trusted.
For the first time, it made him feel his own worth.
"I... I understand!" Hughie's breathing quickened, but his voice was unusually firm. "I'll wait for Butcher to get back, and then... we'll head straight over! Just the two of us!"
"Oh, and tell me where you're hiding now. Calls are still too easy to tap, after all. If necessary, I'll come straight to the base to meet you."
"Okay, okay. We're at..." Hughie replied.
After hanging up, Lucian looked at the coordinates sent to his phone, his gaze growing deep.
Although I still need you out there causing trouble to draw Vought's attention, all of you are about to be exposed, so for now, you're no longer worth too much of my energy. From here on, I'll just keep in touch with Hughie alone.
Before you continue