"Homelander! Homelander!"
"Oh God! Thank you!"
The police and the onlookers in the distance instantly erupted in thunderous cheers. Countless girls screamed through their tears, frantically raising their phones toward the imposing figure draped in the Stars and Stripes in midair.
Homelander took a deep breath of Manhattan's foul air and half closed his eyes, greedily savoring the tidal wave of adoration.
Yes, this was the feeling.
He loved the thrill of being needed, of being looked up to like a god.
It made even the disgusting blood that had stained his shoes earlier seem worthwhile.
"No, don't thank me."
He opened his azure eyes, just the right amount of sincerity glimmering in his gaze, and gave the police below a thumbs-up as he delivered the classic line the public absolutely adored:
"I just did what I had to do. But you... you are the real heroes."
"ROAR-!!!"
The crowd's frenzy reached its peak, the applause nearly lifting the rooftops off the block.
Homelander maintained his perfect smile, his gaze sweeping lazily and arrogantly over the flushed, fanatical faces below, as though inspecting the flock in his territory.
Yet just as he was enjoying this supreme glory, his eyes casually passing over the edge of the crowd at the street corner, the muscles in his face twitched ever so slightly.
Amid the colorful clothes and frantically waving arms, a figure dressed entirely in black stood out starkly.
That person neither cheered nor took pictures. He simply stood quietly in the shadows, his hands in his pockets.
Those eyes, as deep as an abyss, were looking up at him in midair with the hint of a smile.
Homelander's pupils abruptly contracted as he hovered in the air. In that instant, an icy hand seemed to clamp tightly around his heart, and