Chapter Summaries

Lucian ambushed Polarity and Andre in a sealed training room after Professor Brink left them alone with him. Polarity's attacks failed to pierce Lucian's Carbon Skin, and Lucian knocked him unconscious while Andre remained in a coma.

• Professor Brink brought Polarity and Andre into the training room, then left them inside as the alloy door locked.
• Lucian vanished with Andre, prompting Polarity to unleash metal spikes and an electromagnetic pulse.
• Polarity's rebar spears struck Lucian but could not penetrate his Carbon Skin.
• Lucian used his speed to strike Polarity in the neck and knock him unconscious.
• Lucian checked on Andre, who lay unconscious in the corner, and noted that Polarity's EMP had slowed his neural signals.

Lucian began copying Polarity’s Magnetic Manipulation while keeping him unconscious, as Shetty learned Cate was reducing her medication and planned to use Cate’s recovered mind reading to turn her against Lucian. The chapter ended with Lucian sneezing during the copy process, despite his enhanced physique.

• Lucian secured Polarity and Andre in an unmonitored training room, disabled its electronics, and began copying Polarity’s Magnetic Manipulation.
• Cate told Shetty that things were going well with Lucian and described how he had carried her on his back.
• Cate told Shetty she was taking her medication only once every three days, prompting Shetty to realize Cate’s suppressed abilities might be recovering.
• Shetty decided to let Cate spend time with Lucian, hoping Cate’s restored mind reading would reveal his supposed true feelings and drive her back to Shetty.
• Lucian sneezed while Magnetic Manipulation was 12.7% copied and wondered how his physique could let him catch a cold.

Lucian acquired and fused Robert and Andre’s magnetic abilities, erased their memories, and left Brink to cover up the damage. Meanwhile, the Boys found footage of a powerful Supe arriving in New York and met Susan to trade it for support, but Susan was killed in a sudden explosion after identifying a coup.

• Lucian copied Magnetic Manipulation from Robert and Andre, fused the abilities, and demonstrated his control over metal.
• Lucian erased Robert and Andre’s memories of the fight and told Brink to handle the wreckage and cover story.
• Hughie argued that the Boys should act against Vought, but Frenchie and Mother’s Milk urged the group to stay hidden.
• Frenchie found harbor footage of a Supe lifting a smuggling ship, and the Boys suspected the figure might be Kimiko’s brother.
• Mother’s Milk gave Susan the footage in exchange for help clearing the Boys’ names, and Susan concluded that the Compound V operation was a coup.
• Susan suddenly exploded in front of Hughie and the others, covering Hughie in blood and remains.

Lucian helped Cate realize that her medication suppressed her passive mind-reading and taught her to control the ability, drawing her closer to him. In New York, Butcher agreed to Mallory’s terms in exchange for help finding Becca: he would track down a Supe terrorist and identify Susan’s killer.

• After Susan burst apart at the drive-in, Mother's Milk recovered the flash drive and fled with Hughie, Frenchie, and Kimiko.
• Cate told Lucian that Shetty seemed anxious when she said she was reducing her medication, and Lucian helped her question what the medication suppressed.
• Cate recalled hearing people’s thoughts while locked away as a child, and Lucian taught her to close off the passive mind-reading in her mind.
• Cate embraced Lucian, believing he had gone to great lengths to help her, and her feelings shifted further toward him.
• Butcher called Mallory to ask for Becca’s location, and Mallory agreed to help if he found the Supe terrorist who had entered New York Harbor and named Susan’s killer.
• Butcher accepted Mallory’s conditions and agreed to find the stowaway before Vought did.

After the head-popping killer assassinated CIA deputy director Susan, the shaken Boys returned to their hideout, where Butcher reappeared. At a Vought fan event, Lucian prepared to perform his scripted public image, but Annie kissed him backstage and Ashley caught them.

• Hughie, Frenchie, Mother’s Milk, and Kimiko returned to their hideout after Susan’s assassination and feared Vought would frame them as terrorists.
• The Boys argued about fleeing and the danger of the unknown killer who could make heads explode from a distance.
• Butcher kicked open the basement door and announced that he had returned.
• Ashley coached Lucian on Vought’s fabricated biography and scripted answers before his fan event at the Javits Convention Center.
• Annie entered Lucian’s dressing room, kissed him, and Ashley caught them before quietly closing the door.

Lucian and Annie appeared together at a Vought event, where he was introduced as Pivot and awarded a medal. As A-Train and Cate reacted bitterly to Lucian’s rise, Stan Edgar reviewed Lucian’s records and called on Stormfront to take the stage.

• Lucian made a dramatic entrance at the convention and delivered his prepared remarks about saving people as Pivot.
• Annie presented Lucian with a Vought Medal of Honor and embraced him as the audience cheered for the pair.
• A-Train watched the broadcast, resented being replaced by Pivot, and took out a vial of Compound V despite his dangerous heart condition.
• Cate watched the livestream from a mandatory class, grew jealous of Annie, and pressed her bare fingers against Annie’s image on the screen.
• Stan Edgar reviewed Lucian’s confidential records, concluded that Lucian’s motives must exceed fame and money, and called Stormfront to take the stage.

Lucian and Annie celebrated his public debut at a restaurant before paparazzi interrupted them, while Edgar recruited Stormfront to join The Seven and investigate Pivot. In the basement, Butcher returned to face the team’s anger, then revealed that Becca was alive and had a son with Homelander.

• Lucian took Annie to a Mexican restaurant, where they discussed his carefully crafted public persona and she told him she had believed in him.
• Diners recognized Pivot and Starlight, and Lucian shielded Annie from the cameras as their private evening ended.
• Edgar asked Stormfront to join The Seven, control Homelander, and investigate Pivot in exchange for access to Vought’s media platforms.
• Hughie confronted the returned Butcher over Susan’s death and accused him of abandoning the team.
• Butcher revealed that Becca was alive, Homelander was keeping her hidden, and they had a son.

Lucian admitted to Annie that he had pursued Cate for her ability but had grown attached to her, prompting Annie to confront her own place in his life. After Annie set rules for their relationship, Ashley arrived to drag them into damage control over paparazzi photos.

• Annie asked Lucian what they were to each other and confronted him about his close relationship with Cate at Godolkin University.
• Lucian admitted he had initially approached Cate to use her ability, but said he had grown attached and could not discard her.
• Annie asked whether Lucian had also approached her with an agenda; he explained that he had sought her favor and later used her to get Translucent fan-meet tickets, and she punched him.
• Ashley tracked Annie and Lucian to the park, saw Annie kiss him, and panicked over their apparent romance becoming a Vought scandal.
• Annie told Lucian he could touch her only when she gave permission, then Ashley rushed them away to prepare crisis statements and give an interview.

Lucian collected Sam from the Woods and began copying his abilities and drawing his blood, discovering that it could enhance other Supes but carried serious risks. As Lucian prepared to take another blood bag, Sam woke and called him a “Bad Puppet.”

• Ashley ended the press interview and separated Lucian and Annie, who exchanged a silent promise to keep watching each other.
• Lucian learned from Brink that Sam had been moved from Sage Grove Center to the Woods, then went to collect him.
• At the Woods, Lucian ordered the staff to subdue Sam and transfer him to underground laboratory three.
• Lucian examined Sam’s abilities and discovered his blood could permanently enhance other Supes while worsening Sam’s mental state and risking mania in recipients.
• Lucian began copying Sam’s super physique and collecting his blood, but Sam woke and called him a “Bad Puppet.”

Lucian harvested Sam’s blood to strengthen his physique, erased Sam’s memories, and arranged for him to be confined at the Woods. Mallory leaked evidence of Vought’s crimes, while Lucian returned to his dorm and woke Cate as Annie called with urgent news.

• Lucian used mind control to immobilize Sam, drew three bags of blood, and erased Sam’s memories of the procedure and himself.
• Lucian told Brink to have Sam returned to the Woods and locked in the lowest-level containment room.
• Mallory arranged to send evidence of Vought’s crimes to investigative reporters and Senate Judiciary Committee members, then launched the leak.
• Lucian hid the blood in his dorm room, where Cate had fallen asleep in his bed.
• Annie called Lucian, urgently asking whether he had seen the news, while Cate woke and cuddled up to him.

Cate and Annie fought over Lucian during a furious phone call while Lucian read reports exposing Vought’s experiments and considered capturing Kenji to gain leverage over Vought and Butcher. He decided Annie could help him locate Kenji, and Cate ended the call still hurt that Lucian had not defended her.

• Cate noticed Annie’s call on Lucian’s phone, seized it, and traded insults with Annie over speakerphone.
• Lucian read news reports describing Vought’s human experiments, Compound V, and the murder of CIA Deputy Director Susan.
• Lucian concluded that the reports would not be enough to destroy Vought without living evidence that it had supplied Compound V to terrorists.
• Lucian considered capturing Kenji before Butcher’s team could reach him, gaining leverage over Vought, Butcher, and Mallory, and using Annie as an inside source.
• Annie hung up after Cate threatened her, and Cate glared at Lucian with tears in her eyes because he had not defended her.

Cate confronted Lucian over failing to help her, but he silenced her with kisses until she reconciled with him. At Vought Tower, Stormfront provoked Homelander by livestreaming their meeting, and he responded by coercing Ashley into spying on the company's leadership for him.

• Cate accused Lucian of not helping her, and he kissed her until her anger gave way to affection.
• Stormfront entered Homelander's lounge while livestreaming and announced that she was joining the Seven in Translucent's place.
• Homelander confronted Stormfront after she ended the stream, but she left without backing down.
• Homelander summoned Ashley and asked whether she had known about Stormfront's appointment; she denied knowing anything.
• Homelander promised Ashley a promotion, then ordered her to report company decisions and new Seven candidates directly to him.

Stormfront tested Homelander’s temper and privately planned to win him over, while Vought tried to contain the Compound V scandal with a public relations campaign. Lucian searched for a brilliant researcher to help develop a drug from Sam’s blood and identified the sidelined Sister Sage as a potential recruit.

• Stormfront livestreamed her encounter with Homelander, mocked Vought’s scripted heroes, and privately assessed Homelander’s weaknesses as she planned to make him a leader for her cause.
• Homelander, Queen Maeve, and Starlight appeared at a press conference, where Homelander presented himself as a victim of Compound V and vowed to protect the public.
• Stan Edgar blamed the illegal infant Compound V experiments on the dead Madelyn Stillwell and apologized for Vought’s inadequate oversight.
• Lucian dismissed Vought’s public relations effort as a way to stabilize the company and focused on finding a brilliant brain to analyze Compound V and develop V1 from Sam’s blood.
• Lucian opened Sister Sage’s file and learned that Vought had sidelined her, leaving her in a rundown Detroit apartment on a small hush-money payment.

Lucian abducted Sister Sage and used mind control to make her obey him. He arranged funding and equipment for a hidden laboratory near Lake Huron, where Sister Sage began preparations to extract an enhancement factor from Sam’s blood.

• Lucian reassured Cate, traveled to Detroit, and disguised himself before breaking into Sister Sage’s apartment.
• Lucian overpowered Sister Sage and used LV5 mind control to make her his obedient follower.
• Lucian called Brink to request fifty million dollars and high-end biological laboratory equipment.
• Sister Sage identified an abandoned Cold War-era underground facility near Lake Huron as a secure laboratory site.
• Lucian drove Sister Sage to the facility and assigned her to extract a stable drug from Sam’s blood samples.
• Lucian ordered Sister Sage to restore power, prepare a sterile lab, and scout ordinary assistants.

Lucian had Sister Sage analyze Sam’s blood and asked her how to soothe Annie after Cate’s insult, but her calculations failed to provide a solution. Stan Edgar then called Lucian and invited him to discuss joining Vought, leaving Lucian with a meeting scheduled for the next morning.

• Lucian brought Sam’s blood to Sister Sage for analysis and considered stealing Vought’s research and test subjects once he had the right equipment.
• After Hughie’s phone was switched off, Lucian decided to seek information about Kenji through Vought and considered asking Annie for help.
• Lucian asked Sister Sage how to soothe Annie, but her analysis produced no reliable strategy.
• Stan Edgar called Lucian, praised his performances at Godolkin, and invited him to meet at Vought Tower the next morning.

Lucian accepted Edgar’s invitation to Vought Tower and discovered that Edgar had two enhanced Black Noirs guarding him. Edgar explained that Homelander was an unstable threat to Vought, but Lucian asked how that concerned him.

• Lucian told Sister Sage to continue analyzing the blood and find reliable assistants while he went to meet Edgar.
• Lucian left Cate in their dormitory and went to Vought Tower, where Ashley escorted him to Edgar’s office.
• Lucian sensed two people hiding in the lounge and revealed that he could use Heat Vision.
• Two Black Noirs rushed out, but Edgar stopped them with a gesture, and Lucian concluded that Vought had developed powerful reserves.
• Edgar said Lucian’s multiple childhood Compound V injections could explain his abilities and described Homelander as a failed product who might become uncontrollable.
• Lucian listened to Edgar’s account of Homelander’s threat and asked what it had to do with him.

Edgar recruited Lucian into the Seven and gave him Temp V research in exchange for assessing Homelander and following orders when needed. After Lucian toured his new apartment and the Seven’s conference room, Annie and Homelander confronted him.

• Edgar offered Lucian a place in the Seven and tasked him with assessing Homelander and acting on Edgar’s orders when necessary.
• Lucian negotiated for authority, money, and Compound V research, and Edgar gave him the latest Temp V research instead of Vought’s permanent Compound V data.
• A Black Noir revealed Heat Vision by firing near Lucian’s shoe, and Lucian left Edgar’s office with the USB drive.
• Ashley showed Lucian his luxurious apartment and the Seven’s conference room, but Lucian said he preferred living outside the tower.
• Annie saw Lucian at the conference room and coldly asked what he was doing there, then Homelander appeared and said Lucian looked familiar.

Lucian faced Homelander in the corridor, answered his questions, and left with Annie after provoking him about Edgar. At the elevators, Stormfront insulted Lucian, who grabbed her by the throat as Annie prepared to attack; Homelander watched without intervening.

• Homelander recognized Lucian and questioned him about his recruitment and powers, learning that speed was his main ability.
• Annie stepped between Homelander and Lucian, but Lucian took her wrist and led her away.
• Homelander stopped Lucian to ask what he thought of Edgar, and Lucian said he disliked having an ordinary person as their boss.
• Lucian and Annie left with Ashley following behind, and Lucian reassured Annie that Homelander was nice.
• Stormfront stepped out of an elevator, insulted Lucian, and was cut off when he grabbed her throat and lifted her off the floor.
• Annie gathered light energy to attack Stormfront while Homelander watched and Ashley crouched down.

Lucian stopped Stormfront from attacking Annie, while Homelander intervened and ordered them to stand down. As Lucian and Annie left together, the System revealed Stormfront’s copyable abilities, including immortality.

• Lucian choked Stormfront and endured her plasma lightning while the System detected her abilities.
• Homelander forced Lucian to release Stormfront, then stopped her from attacking Lucian and Annie again.
• Homelander told The Seven to act like a united team and called a meeting for the next day.
• Ashley fled, while Lucian and Annie entered the elevator; Annie leaned against Lucian and he put an arm around her.
• Lucian examined the System’s list of Stormfront’s abilities, including LV6 immortality, and faced a choice.

Lucian took Annie away from Vought’s demands for a day, and she decided to return to Des Moines to confront her mother about the lie behind her powers. They drove west in a Mustang, leaving Annie singing and laughing as the road stretched toward Iowa.

• Lucian left Vought with Annie and took her to lunch and the plaza by St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
• Annie told Lucian she wanted to go home to Des Moines and see her mother, Donna, to face the truth about Compound V.
• Lucian bought a black 1969 Ford Mustang with cash and drove Annie out of New York.
• Annie sang along to Britney Spears on the highway, then urged Lucian to drive faster.
• Lucian floored the accelerator and sent the Mustang speeding toward Des Moines.