Chapter Summaries

Lucian forced Vought's shareholders to accept bankruptcy restructuring and the creation of the Supe Affairs Bureau, offering a limited share of its earnings to those who helped establish the new order. He left them until the next morning to accept his terms, while the shareholders began calling for help and information.

• Edgar summoned Ashley to a board meeting where Lucian announced that Vought would be restructured into the Supe Affairs Bureau.
• When the shareholders protested and one demanded security, Lucian used Telekinesis to force them to their knees and silence them.
• Lucian offered shareholders a capped share of the bureau's earnings in exchange for resources and cooperation, while reserving the right to assess and revoke their shares.
• Lucian excluded investors tied to illicit industries, illegal experiments, or excessive bloodshed, and gave the shareholders until nine the next morning to accept his terms.
• Lucian left with Ashley and Edgar, while the shareholders began calling the Department of Defense and seeking information about the bureau and Pivot's backing.

After Lucian imposed his plans on Vought, shareholders scrambled to enlist the government, avoid confronting him, or profit from the coming Supe Affairs Bureau. That night, a military assault and the Cleaners squad attacked Lucian at Vought Tower, but he destroyed the helicopters and shrugged off the squad’s psychic attack as the remaining assassins faced him.

• Vought shareholders called government and military contacts, while European and Middle Eastern investors urged caution and planned to attend Lucian’s meeting.
• One shareholder learned that Homelander had lost to Lucian and that Soldier Boy was with him, then ordered the Cleaners squad to kill Lucian.
• Other investors plotted to acquire shares from those too frightened to attend the next day’s meeting.
• Lucian sensed approaching attackers, but restrained the grenades with telekinesis and sent them back at the assault force.
• Lucian used heat vision and magnetism to destroy four Apache helicopters, then seized an attacker and smashed him through several floors.
• The Cleaners squad hit Lucian with a psychic blast and rushed him, but he remained unaffected and prepared to face them.

Lucian defeated the Cleaners Squad and captured Bombsight, who demanded the return of Little Headliner and refused to reveal where he had hidden V1. After reading a surviving assassin’s memories, Lucian identified a Vought shareholder as the one behind the attack and flew toward the shareholder’s estate.

• Lucian used magnetic force to impale most of the Cleaners Squad with rebar, then killed the rock-armored brute and the metal-scaled assassin with Heat Vision.
• Bombsight burst back into the hallway and demanded that Lucian return Little Headliner, while Lucian offered to trade her for V1.
• Lucian fought Bombsight through the streets and buildings, restrained him, and locked him in a freezer filled with Novichok gas.
• Lucian read the lead assassin’s memories and recognized the Jewish shareholder from the board meeting as the person behind the Cleaners Squad attack.
• Lucian flew toward the shareholder’s estate on the outskirts of New York.

Lucian tracked a Vought shareholder to an Air Force base and destroyed the military forces sent against him. He left the base in ruins after killing the shareholder and the major general who had ordered the attack.

• Lucian learned from the manor’s butler that the Vought shareholder had fled to an Air Force base in Northern New York State.
• The major general reassured the shareholder that the base’s weapons could stop Lucian, then ordered air defenses to shoot him down.
• Lucian turned the missiles and bullets back on the base, destroyed its aircraft and armored forces, and used a soldier’s memories to locate the underground conference room.
• Lucian formed a towering metal-and-lightning tornado and swept it through the base.
• The major general tried to surrender the shareholder, but Lucian sent the tornado crashing into them and reduced the base to ruins.

After Lucian destroyed an American air base, Pentagon officials rejected a nuclear strike because they could not guarantee it would kill him and feared his retaliation. With Homelander absent and the military unable to act, global financial powers prepared to accommodate Lucian, leaving the world order beginning to shift around him.

• Secretary of the Army Hawk demanded a nuclear strike against Lucian, but the secretary of the Navy warned that Lucian's speed and metal control made the attack too risky.
• The president and the secretary of Defense refused to authorize a strike, and the Defense secretary ordered an officer to demand an answer from Vought about Homelander.
• Financial groups obtained satellite footage of the destroyed air base and recognized that the Pentagon had not retaliated.
• An elderly financier ordered his organization to gather cash and prepare to buy Lucian's favor or submit to him.
• Encrypted calls and massive transfers spread across global markets as financial powers responded to Lucian's destruction of the base.

Lucian laid out the new Supe Affairs Bureau and stripped Vought of its control over Supe research and records, then offered powerful institutions limited earnings shares in exchange for resources and compliance. The meeting ended with capital representatives rushing to register their contributions as Neuman and Edgar recognized that Lucian had imposed a new order.

• Lucian declared that the assets of the parties behind the previous night's attack would be transferred to the Supe Affairs Bureau.
• Lucian announced Vought International's Chapter 11 reorganization and the transfer of its Supe-related assets and systems to a new institution.
• Lucian established the Supe Affairs Bureau as the permanent global authority for Supe registration, compliance, and control, and told Neuman to draft legislation granting it regulatory power.
• Lucian offered outside parties up to five percent of the bureau's earnings, capped each entity at 0.1 percent, and tied allocations to contributions rather than cash alone.
• Ashley began registering representatives as they offered bases, media networks, pharmaceutical supply chains, and other resources to the bureau.
• Neuman resolved to prove her usefulness under Lucian's new order, while Edgar concluded that the meeting marked its declaration.

Lucian established the Supe Affairs Bureau with sweeping federal powers and announced mandatory registration for all Supes. As he returned to the Detroit research facility to deal with Butcher and the others, Soldier Boy set out to claim the bureau’s law-enforcement position, while Homelander brooded over his defeat.

• Neuman told Lucian that Congress had unanimously passed the Supe Affairs Bureau Special Authorization Act and the president had signed it.
• Lucian unveiled the bureau in the former Vought Tower, appointed Brink, Stan Edgar, Sister Sage, Ashley, and Victoria Neuman to department leadership, and ordered all Supes to register within a month.
• Lucian returned to the Detroit research facility, where Butcher and the others were held separately and Bombsight remained in a cryogenic chamber.
• Soldier Boy watched the broadcast, decided the vacant law-enforcement chief position was made for him, and left to claim the job.
• Homelander watched Lucian’s press conference from a farm and wondered what he had done wrong, insisting that Lucian had attacked first.

Lucian released Butcher, Hughie, and Mother's Milk after explaining that Vought had fallen and the bureau now controlled Supes, then warned them not to cross him. He assigned Soldier Boy to capture Homelander and asked Annie and Cate to monitor the new agency before copying an ability from the final cryogenically frozen prisoner.

• Lucian removed Black Noir's mask and sent him to report to Neuman as a law enforcement officer tasked with apprehending unregistered Supes.
• Lucian released Hughie, Mother's Milk, and Butcher, explained the bureau's new authority, and offered them jobs or freedom.
• Lucian warned the three that he would kill their loved ones if they caused trouble or targeted Supes indiscriminately.
• Hughie and Mother's Milk led Butcher away before he could confront Lucian further.
• Lucian ordered Soldier Boy to bring Homelander back and told him not to use his Chest Beam.
• Lucian recruited Annie and Cate to watch the new agency, then began copying Super Physique from the last prisoner in a cryogenic pod.

Cate managed Lucian’s proposals while Annie and Maeve took in children harmed by Vought’s Compound V experiments. Soldier Boy fought Homelander and persuaded him to return, though Homelander was left panicking when Soldier Boy walked away.

• Cate reported Sister Sage’s proposal to rebuild Compound V and received Lucian’s approval, along with approval for the Logistics Department’s funding and Annie’s transport planes.
• Annie and Maeve rescued a boy chained in his basement and continued addressing the damage Vought had left behind.
• Black Noir brought in Supes who refused to register, while Homelander continued fleeing and changing hideouts.
• Soldier Boy confronted Homelander on a highway, and Homelander gained the upper hand by staying airborne and using Heat Vision.
• Soldier Boy revealed that Lucian would come after Homelander if he refused to return, and Homelander reluctantly agreed to go back.
• Soldier Boy walked away without taking him, leaving Homelander panicked and demanding to know what he meant.

After Soldier Boy brought Homelander to Lucian, Lucian confronted him about his desperate need for love and revealed that Soldier Boy was his father. Lucian planned to remove Homelander’s powers and make him live as an ordinary person, leaving Homelander frozen outside the laboratory.

• Lucian permanently fixed his level-six Super Physique ability and told Soldier Boy to bring Homelander to the research institute.
• On the way, Soldier Boy forced Homelander to sign an autograph for their rideshare driver.
• Lucian asked Homelander what he wanted most, and Homelander admitted that he wanted love.
• Lucian explained that Homelander had sought approval as a perfect hero while despising the people whose love he craved.
• When Homelander lamented that he had no family, Lucian told him Soldier Boy was his father.
• Lucian told Homelander to remove his suit so Soldier Boy could take away his powers, and urged him to live among ordinary people.

Lucian reunited Bombsight with Little Headliner and offered him a life together without powers instead of keeping V1. Soldier Boy stripped Bombsight and Homelander of their abilities, and Lucian left Soldier Boy with the revelation that Homelander was his son.

• Bombsight reunited with Little Headliner, and Lucian offered to let them go if Bombsight handed over V1.
• Little Headliner told Bombsight she did not need V1 and urged him to follow his heart; Bombsight accepted Lucian's offer to lose his powers and live with her.
• Lucian ordered Soldier Boy to use his Chest Beam on Bombsight and Homelander, stripping both men of their powers.
• Bombsight joyfully embraced Little Headliner, while Homelander collapsed in distress after discovering he was powerless.
• Lucian flew away with Bombsight and Little Headliner, telling Soldier Boy that Homelander was his son.

Soldier Boy confronted Homelander after taking away his powers, then brought him to report to the Supe Affairs Bureau and offered to teach him. Meanwhile, Lucian secured V1 for Sister Sage to study, approved care for Vought’s victims, and ordered a plan for schools for young Supes before heading to Godolkin University with Cate.

• Homelander tearfully told Soldier Boy he had wanted a family, but Soldier Boy nearly struck him before ordering him to get up and come report to the Bureau.
• Lucian gave Sister Sage the V1 sample and instructed her to develop a stable, reproducible version using Vought’s records.
• Lucian approved doubled funding and dedicated care facilities for victims of Vought’s Compound V experiments.
• At Cate’s request, Lucian called Neuman and ordered a proposal for Supe schools, with enrollment for children who could not control their powers and prosecution for guardians who concealed them.
• Lucian took Cate with him to Godolkin University to meet its new president.

Lucian and Cate found the real Godolkin, copied his telepathy, and put him into a safeguarded sleep before walking through campus with his body. At the Supe Affairs Bureau, Soldier Boy took charge of law enforcement while Homelander was assigned to care for abused young Supes, where one boy recognized him.

• Lucian and Cate went to the Emissary's office, where Lucian knocked him unconscious and identified him as Godolkin's puppet.
• Lucian followed Godolkin's psychic surveillance to his hidden basement, disabled the equipment with an electromagnetic pulse, and found Godolkin's burned body in a hyperbaric chamber.
• Lucian copied Godolkin's telepathy, and he and Cate used mind control to keep Godolkin asleep and prevent him from possessing anyone.
• Lucian and Cate walked across Godolkin University with Godolkin's floating body while Lucian searched student files for more abilities to copy.
• Soldier Boy took the position of head of the Law Enforcement Department, and Neuman told Homelander to collect and care for abused underage Supes.
• Homelander entered the shelter and a blond boy recognized him and pulled off his mask.

Lucian obtained Reality Shift from Hughie’s newly awakened father and brought him to the Bureau’s laboratory for observation. The first generation of the Bureau’s Supe drug safely enhanced all one hundred volunteers, and Lucian ordered Sister Sage to continue testing and develop a version that could reliably awaken other superpowers.

• Lucian used Teleportation to reach Hughie’s father in the hospital and injected him with original Compound V.
• Lucian detected Reality Shift LV5 in Hughie’s father and began copying the ability before transporting him and Hughie to the Bureau’s laboratory.
• Sister Sage told Lucian that the Bureau had reproduced V1 and developed a first-generation drug designed to avoid mutations and uncontrolled abilities.
• Lucian and the Bureau tested the drug on one hundred volunteers, all of whom survived and gained stable physical enhancements.
• Lucian ordered Sister Sage to run further tests and develop a next-generation drug capable of reliably awakening other superpowers.

Lucian used his blood manipulation to heal the Supe care facility’s patients and recruited Hughie into the Supe Affairs Bureau. He then injected V1 into Annie and Cate, strengthening their abilities, and Cate asked whether he was planning to leave.

• Lucian gathered the care facility’s patients and used his blood manipulation to repair their bodies, restoring limbs and healing severe conditions.
• Lucian told the recovered patients to report to the Supe Affairs Bureau after medical observation, and many eagerly agreed to work for him.
• Hughie asked to join the bureau, and Lucian sent him to Neuman to receive a position.
• Lucian injected V1 into Annie and Cate, strengthening Annie’s light manipulation and Cate’s mind control and physical abilities.
• Cate noticed Lucian had enhanced them both and asked if he was leaving.

Lucian told Annie and Cate that he planned to travel to other worlds, but would wait until his system charge reached 200% so he could make a safe round trip. After reassuring them and asking them to protect his world while he was gone, he resolved to strengthen himself and prepare the Bureau as his base before crossing over.

• Lucian saw that his system charge had reached 101% and told Cate and Annie he intended to visit another world.
• Cate asked to go with him, but Lucian refused until he had explored the unknown destination and confirmed it was safe.
• Lucian promised he would return and asked Annie and Cate to oversee the Supe Affairs Bureau and its people during his absence.
• Annie and Cate made Lucian promise to contact them when he returned, then spent the night with him.
• Lucian decided to wait for 200% charge, copy and fuse more abilities, and turn his world into a secure base before exploring the other universes.

Lucian finalized preparations to leave his world, entrusting the Supe Affairs Bureau to his allies and saying goodbye to Annie and Cate. He activated the System’s world-travel function, and the chamber was left empty.

• Lucian inspected the second-generation Compound V trials and learned that the awakened abilities were mostly weak, while Sister Sage said further improvements could take ten or twenty years.
• Lucian reviewed how his allies had moved on: Butcher lived with Becca, Ryan attended the Supe school, Kimiko and Frenchie settled in Marseille, Marvin reconciled with his wife, and Hughie became an office director.
• Lucian gathered the bureau’s core members, assigned responsibilities to Sister Sage, Annie, Soldier Boy, Black Noir, and Maeve, and announced that he was leaving.
• Annie and Cate asked Lucian to stay or take them with him, but he reassured them and promised to return safely.
• Lucian reviewed his enhanced abilities, activated Reality Shift, and ordered the System to initiate world travel; he vanished from the underground chamber.

Lucian arrived during the Battle of New York, destroyed a Leviathan, and discovered that his system could absorb energy from the Space Stone. As he waited beside the Tesseract, Natasha approached him on the rooftop, unaware that his constant radiation could harm her.

• Lucian appeared in New York, destroyed a Leviathan with black Heat Vision, and used telekinesis to divert its falling body from the city.
• Lucian recognized the Battle of New York and noticed that his system was reacting to the Space Stone in the Tesseract.
• Lucian teleported to Stark Tower and began absorbing spatial energy from the Tesseract's barrier without touching it.
• Steve organized the Avengers against the Chitauri, while S.H.I.E.L.D. failed to identify Lucian and Fury warned the team not to let him take the Tesseract.
• Natasha reached the rooftop to speak with Lucian, who recognized her and advised her to keep her distance because of his radiation.

Lucian protected civilians by wiping out large groups of Chitauri, then completed his system’s energy absorption from the Tesseract and set out to take the Mind Stone Scepter. Loki attacked him, but Lucian caught him and hurled him through Stark Tower toward the main hall.

• Natasha questioned Lucian about his origins and abilities, but he told her to be quiet.
• Lucian saw civilians in danger and unleashed black beams that annihilated hundreds of Chitauri while sparing the fleeing crowds.
• Lucian killed two Leviathans approaching Stark Tower and completed the system’s spatial energy absorption, triggering a 24-hour upgrade.
• Lucian tested the system’s storage function, then decided to take the Mind Stone Scepter before Hydra agents could claim it.
• Loki fired at Lucian near the Tesseract, but Lucian seized him by the neck and threw him through Stark Tower toward the main hall.

Lucian defeated Loki in the main hall, took his daggers and the Mind Stone Scepter, and left him battered and buried in the floor. The system remained stuck on an upgrade notice, but Lucian decided he could manage without it.

• Lucian caught Loki's fall and planted him headfirst into the floor, then turned his attention to the Mind Stone Scepter.
• Loki used a magical duplicate to attack Lucian from behind, but Lucian dodged and punched the real Loki through the ceiling.
• Lucian took Loki's dagger, examined its energy-conducting properties, and stored it with the scepter in System Space.
• Loki fell back into the hall, and Lucian shook two more daggers from him and stored those as well.
• Lucian repeatedly slammed Loki into the floor until he lost consciousness, then left him buried headfirst and compared him unfavorably to Homelander.