Jump

After Homelander finished speaking, no one said a word. Only the medical equipment kept beeping steadily.

After a long moment, Starlight nodded.

Homelander smiled and raised his head, sweeping his gaze down over the entire office. His eyes were casual, with a hint of disdain-the confidence that came from absolute power.

Everyone his gaze passed over felt the arrogance in his bones.

He didn't see the people here as human!

"Homelander, you're joking, right?" Roger opened his mouth and barely managed an ugly smile.

Homelander didn't answer.

His eyes lit up as a good idea struck him, and he looked out at New York through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The sky was a clear blue without a single cloud. From this high up, the traffic on the distant streets looked like tiny ants, moving slowly along.

"What lovely weather," Homelander suddenly remarked.

The next second, two scarlet lights flared in his eyes. The beams sliced precisely across the entire floor-to-ceiling window, cutting through the bulletproof glass like butter.

Wind instantly roared into the office, sending papers flying everywhere. Several medical workers screamed and clung to the legs of a desk.

Roger's legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the floor.

He finally realized that Homelander had come to kill him. This superhero on the screen really could do whatever he wanted once he was off camera.

Homelander slowly turned back, still wearing a gentle smile:

"Get up."

Roger trembled all over. Driven by the fear in his heart, he braced himself against the desk and took more than ten seconds to stand steady.

Homelander extended a hand and pointed outside, his gesture lazy and casual:

"Jump."

Another casually delivered command, without a trace of emotion, yet a chill ran down the back of everyone in the office.

A young doctor was so nervous that he dropped the instrument in his hand, producing a piercing metallic clatter.

Homelander flicked his eyes toward him, and the doctor immediately lowered his head and held his breath.

"John!" Madelyn finally came to her senses. She forced down the pain in her eyes and struggled to remain composed.

"That's enough. It's just a misunderstanding. Stop scaring him."

Hearing that, Roger felt some of his unease dissipate. He knew a little about the relationship between Madelyn and Homelander.

But Homelander kept looking at Roger as though he hadn't heard her.

"I said, jump." He slowly took a few steps forward.

Roger's face was deathly pale. "I-my father worked with Vought for years. Now I'm the head of the advertising group... I can apologize. I can pay compensation."

Homelander's expression grew a little more serious. "Do you want me to cut you into pieces with my lasers, bit by bit?"

That single sentence left Roger speechless. Wind kept pouring through the broken window, making Homelander's cape snap.

For every step he took forward, Roger took one back, until there was nowhere left to retreat. His heels touched the broken window frame. Looking down, he saw a drop of hundreds of meters, the people below as tiny as sesame seeds.

Starlight stood by the door, unable to say a word. She finally truly understood why she was always afraid of Homelander for no apparent reason.

This man regarded life with a lofty contempt.

Madelyn drew a deep breath, realizing things had gotten out of control.

She hurried forward and stood between Homelander and Roger. "John, calm down. An investor falling to his death from Vought Tower would cause a massive PR crisis."

Homelander finally turned his gaze on her. "Madelyn, why haven't you left yet?"

The anger in his voice was hard to hide, yet his expression was as calm as a lake.

With two opposing emotions appearing in one person at the same time, surely anyone would think he was a lunatic.

Madelyn, however, was the exception. She struggled to give him a gentle smile. "Did Soldier Boy send you? Is he back?"

Homelander stared at her for a while. "I've changed my mind. You're not allowed to leave."

He shoved Madelyn aside and stopped looking at the woman who had been scheming behind his back.

Madelyn's heart went cold. She realized that the way Homelander looked at her had changed the moment she mentioned Soldier Boy.

The dependence and eagerness to please he had shown before visibly vanished, replaced by scrutiny, as though he were looking at a stranger.

Roger broke down completely. "Homelander, please. I-I can't die here."

His only answer was Homelander's twisted smile and an icy, "Jump. This is the last time."

"Oh, God! God, save me!" Roger babbled, his voice already taking on a sobbing edge.

"No, no, no." Homelander wagged a finger and shook his head. "There is no God. The only true god in this world is me."

Then a red glow rapidly spread across his irises.

Below Vought Tower, Stormfront took advantage of there being no one around to casually send a black man flying with an elbow strike. She was feeling thoroughly pleased with herself when she suddenly heard something cutting through the air overhead.

Over a century of combat experience had become instinct, and she reflexively stepped back.

Thud!

With a dull impact, a person landed on the ground, his body smashed into scattered pieces.

He struggled twice, then stopped moving.

"Fuck." Stormfront brushed back her loose hair and leaned closer for a look. She even caught a faint burnt smell.

She looked up. As a superhuman, her eyesight was better than an ordinary person's, and she immediately spotted a broken window on one floor of Vought Tower.

"Madelyn's office? What's going on?" Stormfront was bursting with curiosity.

Dark purple electricity flashed brilliantly as she shot into the sky in a blur, finally landing steadily inside the office.

The first things she saw were the trembling medical workers and Homelander, whose eyes still held a lingering red glow.

"Can someone tell me what happened?" Stormfront asked.

Naturally, no one spoke under these circumstances.

Stormfront pursed her lips, only then noticing Starlight.

Starlight instinctively clenched her fists, staring fearfully at that familiar figure, her chest heavy.

Though she was a superhuman too, she knew perfectly well that she was no different from Roger in Homelander's eyes.

It would be a lie to say she wasn't afraid to share a room with a deranged "god."

"Hey, baby, why did Homelander kill that man?"

Just then, Stormfront patted her shoulder and put an affectionate arm around her.

Starlight was a little uncomfortable. "Homelander killed Roger because his heart was black."

The wind was still strong, scattering Starlight's words.

Stormfront could barely hear her, catching only the words "because," "he," and "black."

Her eyes instantly widened.

The man who had fallen from the building was black!

An image immediately formed in her mind: Homelander had been in a bad mood and wanted to kill someone, and a black thing had happened to walk over...

Finally, a normal worldview!!!

Stormfront laughed heartily. Homelander, whom Soldier Boy himself had acknowledged as the strongest superhuman, shared her worldview!

"Ben, your son is pretty good."