The evil Starlight

"I've already sent A-Train and Stormfront to help you."

"A-Train will cover the ground with rescue air cushions. You and Stormfront just need to toss those stupid small fry out of the plane onto them."

Soldier Boy spoke one sentence after another.

Homelander slowed slightly in flight and looked down. A blue blur darted back and forth, and at some point, the ground had become covered in yellow "hope."

But what reassured Homelander most was what Soldier Boy had called him.

"John."

On the other end of the phone, Soldier Boy asked, "Are you listening?"

Homelander tugged at the corners of his mouth, the irritation inside him greatly easing.

He had thought Soldier Boy would call him useless and criticize him for failing to handle such a trivial matter. Instead, Soldier Boy had brought him a solution.

Not a single word of blame came his way. For the first time, Homelander felt a sense of security from someone else.

"I'm listening. I've already spotted A-Train, but some people might still die."

As he spoke, he tilted his head, pinning the phone between his ear and shoulder, and carried a passenger in each hand before tossing them toward the rescue air cushions.

Then Homelander repeated the process, throwing everyone he saw on the plane down.

More than a dozen passengers were thrown out of the plane. Everyone else aboard backed away in terror, thinking Homelander had gone insane.

"Ahhh! Help!"

The passengers thrown outside screamed like pigs being slaughtered. The world spun around them, and every second was agony.

Homelander thought for a moment, then realized something. His expression changed, and he shot toward the ground, losing his phone along the way and leaving Soldier Boy talking to thin air.

The passengers had been thrown from twenty thousand feet above the ground. The impact of hitting the ground at terminal velocity from that height was far too great for any rescue air cushion to save them.

So Homelander needed to give them a "helping hand" first, waiting forty meters above the ground before those dozen or so passengers hit the rescue air cushions.

After dozens of seconds of free fall, most of the despairing passengers had passed out, while some vomited violently.

Of course, a few were exceptionally gifted and suffered no discomfort at all. But their fear was greater than anyone else's, as they could only watch the rescue air cushions draw closer and closer.

With the Internet so developed these days, claims like "jumping into water from over fifty meters is no different from jumping onto concrete" had long since taken root in people's minds. They had fallen from nearly ten thousand meters.

In their despair, those still conscious felt someone hold them for an instant. Then their falling speed dropped dramatically, and they slammed into the rescue air cushions.

Although their whole bodies ached and a few ribs seemed to have broken, they were still alive.

The same thing happened to the others.

After saving them, Homelander was just about to fly back to the plane when applause rang out.

It was Stormfront.

She clapped. "I didn't expect you to actually have a brain."

Homelander wasted no words on her and spoke in a tone bordering on an order. "I'll throw people down. Catch them at forty meters, just like I did."

After saying that, he still felt uneasy. "Don't just yank them to a stop. Hold them and fly upward a little. Cancel out all the impact before letting go."

Stormfront curled her lips, offering no response, but her body complied as she looked up at the sky.

There was no helping it. Although she had no desire to take part in this stupid little rescue game, Soldier Boy had told her to do it.

Dark purple lightning flashed brightly. Stormfront dropped all her casualness and concentrated on waiting for Homelander to throw people down.

Homelander boarded the plane and threw everyone he saw out.

Not knowing what was happening, they frantically tried to evade him, causing considerable trouble.

"Get over here, you bitches, or I'll kill every last one of you with my Heat Vision."

Fortunately, Homelander was no good person. Under the threat of his heat vision, everything went smoothly again.

"What the fuck! What's going on?!"

"Why did the power suddenly go out?"

"I'm screwed! I haven't saved my file! Are those damned capitalists even cutting back on electricity?!"

Vought Tower suddenly lost all power, and cries of dismay rang out endlessly.

Inside the Seven's Meeting Room, the large screen had exploded, and electricity crackled.

The floor-to-ceiling windows, installed only days ago, had shattered again. The culprit was Starlight.

Provoked by Soldier Boy's words, she had been overwhelmed with guilt. In her urgency, she had unlocked the flight ability that came with Light Energy Manipulation ahead of time and rushed off to save people.

Soldier Boy lit a cigar and gently exhaled smoke. "Potential only comes out under pressure."

"Evil Starlight, still trying to hide her strength."

The corners of everyone else's eyes twitched, and they did not know what to say. Only The Deep rubbed the wound on his cheekbone, occasionally glancing at Private Angel.

As soon as Starlight arrived, she saw a mass of people falling from the sky, along with a tense-looking Stormfront.

Thick smoke billowed from the plane. On the verge of exploding, it was already plunging toward an abandoned wasteland outside the city, forcing Homelander to throw all the passengers out.

"This one, and this one too."

Homelander and Stormfront darted back and forth, clearly unable to be everywhere at once.

Even they could not catch everyone at such a low altitude.

"Homelander, prioritize saving people like us." Even now, Stormfront did not forget to promote Nazi ideology.

"Fuck you!"

Homelander answered her with nothing but curses. What the hell was wrong with this bitch?

"Oh, crap." Starlight was fairly smart and quickly realized how urgent the situation was.

People were about to die. Most of them were in imminent danger.

She extended her hands, her entire body turning into a blinding white-hot light source. Surging light energy flowed along her arms and covered the rescue air cushions, enveloping them.

Those whose falls had not been slowed in time landed on the rescue air cushions reinforced by Starlight. Not only did they survive, they were gently enveloped.

But one person had been thrown slightly off course and missed the rescue air cushions, slamming into the ground. In an instant, pieces lay scattered everywhere. Only their clothes remained intact, with half an ID card sticking out of a pocket.

It was all over.

People lay all over the rescue air cushions, their screams unending.

Starlight had pushed her potential too far and had already passed out.

Homelander let out a heavy breath, his hands on his hips, as police sirens droned in the distance.

He looked at A-Train. "Thanks."

A-Train smiled. Saving so many people had put him in a good mood too. His market value was bound to rise again.

"All the credit goes to Mr. Soldier Boy. He told us to do this."

At those words, the image of Soldier Boy's broad back surfaced in Homelander's mind, and he said proudly:

"Of course. He's my father."

He bent his knees slightly, turning his feet inward, wanting to get in front of Soldier Boy immediately and claim credit.

But the media vehicles arrived even faster than the police cars.

They raised their cameras and snapped away furiously, securing their headline material in advance. Those with ulterior motives aimed their cameras at the deceased.

Stormfront picked up Starlight and flew off without a word. The little girl in Queen Maeve's arms was in poor condition, so she carried her and ran toward the hospital.

Homelander hesitated, but stayed behind to face the media alongside A-Train.

"That's right. I've saved you once again." Homelander spread his arms as if offering an embrace.

He smiled extravagantly, exposing eight gleaming white teeth, and began an impassioned speech.

Meanwhile, at a newspaper office in New York.

The editor-in-chief gave excited orders. "Quick, quick, quick! The photos from our reporter on the scene are here."

"Write up the news immediately and post it on all our accounts at once."

"Here's another one. Put the dead person at the very top and condemn Homelander."

A storm targeting Homelander slowly took shape.