Chapter Summaries

Chen Mo, disguised as A-Train, interrupted The Deep’s attempt to coerce Annie and violently stopped him. Annie left the conference room wary of The Deep, while Chen Mo considered how the altered events might affect his plans against Vought.

• At the Seven’s press conference, The Deep welcomed Annie and promised to guide her as she joined the team.
• The Deep locked Annie in a conference room and threatened her career unless she submitted to him.
• Chen Mo, wearing A-Train’s face, broke into the room and mocked The Deep before throwing him against a window and choking him.
• Chen Mo left after telling Annie that she had chosen a poor idol, and Annie’s admiration for The Deep collapsed.
• Annie refused The Deep’s demand for silence and walked out, while Chen Mo listened nearby and decided her new caution might help him against Vought.
• Chen Mo reflected that his intervention had changed the original story and that he could not keep using A-Train’s face much longer.

Chen Mo learned that Mia had been taken from an underground facility beneath a water plant and asked Allen to investigate local water plants. At Vought Tower, Chen Mo concealed his suspicions from Maeve and Homelander by pretending to be the same arrogant, frightened A-Train, while secretly planning to grow strong enough to devour Homelander.

• Mia told Chen Mo that people in white had brought her from a damp underground place beneath a water plant, where monsters fought while people watched.
• Chen Mo asked Allen to investigate every water plant in the area, then returned to Vought Tower to keep Vought from suspecting him.
• Annie told Chen Mo she had ignored PR's patrol route to rescue a girl from two attackers, and Chen Mo warned her about the danger of publicity.
• Maeve questioned Chen Mo about defending Annie and attacking The Deep, but he explained it as anger after his recent near-death experience.
• Homelander confronted Chen Mo and Maeve, tested Chen Mo's loyalty, and warned him not to cause trouble within The Seven.
• After Homelander left, Maeve praised Chen Mo's acting, while Chen Mo resolved to keep up the act as he prepared to grow stronger and eventually devour Homelander.

Chen Mo, disguised as A-Train, collected Compound V from Charlotte and encountered Billy Butcher in her apartment building. The next day, he faced Shockwave at the challenge race, confident he would win.

• Chen Mo mocked The Deep’s account of the plane crash and told Allen that Homelander had destroyed the plane with his laser eyes.
• Chen Mo went to Charlotte’s apartment, where he crossed paths with Billy Butcher in the hallway.
• Chen Mo persuaded Charlotte to give him several vials of Compound V by threatening to end their relationship.
• At the race venue, Shockwave declared that A-Train’s time had passed, while Chen Mo told Ashley that nobody got angry at an ant.

At a Vought event, Chen Mo raced as A-Train and crushed Shockwave’s record, then tried to announce his love for Charlotte. Ashley cut him off to announce a global challenge tour, leaving Charlotte heartbroken and Chen Mo free of the relationship without having to reject her himself.

• Annie endured Vought’s revealing new costume while Queen Maeve delivered scripted remarks supporting superhumans joining the military, and Homelander made a dramatic entrance.
• Nathan worried about Chen Mo before the race, but Chen Mo assured him he was ready to win.
• Shockwave taunted Chen Mo at the starting line, but Chen Mo raced past him and finished at 593 meters per second, setting a world record.
• Chen Mo began to declare his love for Charlotte, but Ashley took the microphone and announced A-Train’s global challenge tour instead.
• Charlotte broke down in tears as Chen Mo walked away, satisfied that Vought had ended the relationship for him.

After his record-breaking race, Chen Mo dealt with Vought’s control over his public image and Charlotte, then faced Maeve’s suspicions and Homelander’s questions about his sudden increase in speed. Homelander accepted Chen Mo’s flattering explanation, but Chen Mo was left wary of the danger around him.

• Ashley told Chen Mo his race had made him a lucrative new star, and he signed Vought’s endorsement contract after she blocked his planned declaration of love.
• Chen Mo soothed Charlotte with an excuse and a promise that they could leave New York together, though he privately dismissed the promise as a tactic.
• Chen Mo teased Annie in Vought Tower, and Maeve warned him to hide whatever had caused his record-breaking speed.
• Homelander confronted Chen Mo about running at 593 meters per second, and Chen Mo claimed fear and devotion to The Seven had pushed him beyond his limits.
• Homelander praised Chen Mo and left, while Maeve departed silently and Chen Mo looked down at his hands.

Chen Mo raided Vought’s underground laboratory, killed its guards and experimental superhumans, and absorbed their abilities. After collecting the remaining Compound V, he faced The Deep and Translucent as the two members of the Seven arrived to stop him.

• Chen Mo broke into the hidden laboratory and slaughtered the guards who tried to stop him.
• Chen Mo drank two vials of Compound V and defeated Sky Lord and Flame Demon, then absorbed their bodies and gained wings and energy blasts.
• Chen Mo vaporized the fat supervisor and packed the remaining Compound V into a backpack.
• The Deep and Translucent arrived, threatened Chen Mo, and attacked after he mocked them.
• Chen Mo spread his wings and formed energy spheres, preparing to test his new move on The Deep and Translucent.

Chen Mo killed Translucent, blasted The Deep, and fought Homelander in the ruins of an underground laboratory. After injuring Homelander and terrifying him into flight, Chen Mo took a backpack of Compound V samples and left.

• Chen Mo killed and consumed Translucent when he tried to attack from behind.
• The Deep surrendered, then ran, and Chen Mo blasted him into the ruins.
• Homelander arrived and attacked Chen Mo with Heat Vision, but Chen Mo blocked it and countered with an energy sphere.
• Chen Mo and Homelander fought in the sky, and Chen Mo eventually struck Homelander with a point-blank energy blast that made him bleed.
• Homelander fled in fear, and Chen Mo collected the Compound V samples before leaving the wrecked laboratory.

After Homelander returned injured from the battle with Chen Mo, Vought’s executives debated how to control the powerful mutant and ordered A-Train placed under surveillance. Meanwhile, Chen Mo celebrated his victory at Charlotte’s apartment, expecting Vought to make him an offer and planning to exploit the coming meeting.

• Homelander crashed into Madelyn’s office injured and terrified, and she comforted him while trying to learn what had happened.
• At a Vought meeting, Madelyn reported the destroyed laboratory and severe losses, while Edgar dismissed her plan to attack Chen Mo and proposed recruiting him to learn how he absorbed powers.
• Edgar ordered Vought to place A-Train under maximum surveillance because he might have concealed crucial information about Chen Mo.
• At the Female’s apartment, Chen Mo—wearing A-Train’s face—relaxed with Charlotte and celebrated his victory over Homelander.
• Chen Mo anticipated that Vought would offer him an enormous surprise and considered how to toy with its executives at their meeting.

Chen Mo returned to Vought Tower and taunted Ashley, Annie, and Homelander while Vought concealed the deaths and injuries from the water treatment plant attack. After Homelander ordered the incident kept secret, Chen Mo suspected Edgar had made a move.

• Chen Mo refused Ashley's endorsement deals and teased her about losing her hair.
• Chen Mo teased Annie in the hallway, then followed her into a tense meeting with the remaining members of the Seven.
• Homelander announced that Translucent had died and The Deep was critically injured after a supervillain attacked a water treatment plant.
• Chen Mo feigned grief and angered Homelander, who ordered everyone to conceal what had happened.
• After Homelander, Maeve, and Black Noir left, Annie warned Chen Mo that Homelander had nearly killed him, and Chen Mo suspected Edgar was behind the attack.

Chen Mo suspected Vought had sent him away from New York to test him, so he created an A-Train double and flew toward Flight 37 to save its passengers. He watched Homelander tear open the plane door, leaving the passengers exposed to the violent airflow.

• Ashley told Chen Mo that Edgar had ordered him to provide ground support for the rescue of Flight 37.
• Chen Mo provoked Homelander by warning that New York might be attacked while he and Maeve were away, then agreed to go to the coast.
• Chen Mo concluded Vought was testing him, made an A-Train double at the radar base station, and flew toward the hijacked plane.
• Chen Mo hid in the clouds and watched Homelander tear open Flight 37's door, sucking a hijacker out into the sky.

Maeve and Homelander killed the hijackers in the passenger cabin and celebrated the passengers’ rescue, but Homelander destroyed the cockpit’s controls while killing the final hijacker. With the plane diving toward the sea, Homelander told Maeve their mission was already complete.

• Maeve entered the damaged cabin and killed a hijacker who fired at her.
• Homelander killed the surrendering hijacker with Heat Vision, shut the cabin door, and received the passengers’ cheers alongside Maeve.
• Maeve and Homelander opened the cockpit and found the captain dead, the copilot held at gunpoint, and the final hijacker threatening them.
• The hijacker shot the copilot, and Homelander killed him with Heat Vision that also destroyed the plane’s instruments and electronic controls.
• Maeve failed to control the diving plane and asked Homelander what they should do, but he said their mission was already complete.

Homelander abandoned the passengers aboard the failing airliner and fled with Maeve, while Chen Mo raced beneath the falling plane to catch it. The chapter ended as A-Train warned Homelander that the black-armored monster had appeared directly below him.

• Homelander refused Maeve's pleas to save the passengers, including two little girls, and threatened the passengers who tried to reach him.
• Homelander seized Maeve and flew away, leaving more than a hundred people aboard the plunging airliner.
• Homelander watched the plane fall toward the Atlantic and planned to conceal his actions with a public statement.
• Chen Mo dove through the clouds and positioned himself beneath the airliner to hold it up.
• A-Train warned Homelander over their communications channel that Chen Mo had appeared beneath the plane.

Chen Mo transformed a falling airliner into a flesh-and-blood dragon and carried its 123 passengers to safety. Homelander abandoned his plan to destroy the plane and retreated with Maeve as the passengers hailed Chen Mo as their savior.

• Chen Mo covered the airliner in Blacklight Virus tissue, replaced its wings with enormous biological wings, and stopped its fall.
• The passengers panicked at the dark red flesh surrounding the cabin until they realized Chen Mo was protecting and carrying them.
• A-Train alerted Homelander to Chen Mo, and Homelander considered attacking the plane to eliminate witnesses.
• Chen Mo taunted Homelander, who suppressed his anger and left with Maeve rather than risk fighting him.
• The passengers celebrated Chen Mo as an angel while he flew the airliner toward the coastline.

Chen Mo saved Flight 37 by carrying it to the coast in his Blacklight dragon form, leaving the survivors praising the Blood Angel while he slipped away. He returned to Vought Tower, where Ashley hurriedly told him that something major had happened.

• Chen Mo landed Flight 37 safely on the coast, and the passengers emerged unharmed, thanking the Blood Angel.
• Chen Mo left the runway unseen and absorbed his Blacklight double at the remote radar station, recovering its memories and confirming nothing unusual had happened there.
• Chen Mo reflected that Vought International's attempt to send A-Train away had backfired and imagined Homelander raging at Vought Tower.
• Chen Mo encountered Ashley outside the top-floor conference room, and she demanded to know where he had been before urgently calling him along.

After Homelander’s role in the plane disaster was exposed, he faced fury and criticism in a Vought conference room. When Annie challenged him, Homelander attacked her, leaving Chen Mo to decide whether to intervene.

• Chen Mo entered the wrecked conference room and mocked Homelander with suggestions for managing the scandal.
• Homelander suppressed his anger at Chen Mo because he was unsure what A-Train knew and feared the crimson angel might appear again.
• Annie stood up and demanded to know why Homelander had not tried to save the passengers and children.
• Homelander grabbed Annie by the throat, lifted her off the floor, and called himself a god while dismissing the passengers as expendable.
• Chen Mo watched Annie struggle for air and wondered whether to intervene.

Chen Mo watched Edgar and Madelyn stop Homelander from killing Starlight, then saw Vought fabricate a cover story for the Flight 37 scandal. Edgar later uncovered evidence that the person posing as A-Train was an impostor, leaving Chen Mo’s identity exposed to Vought’s suspicion.

• Chen Mo warned Homelander that killing Starlight would worsen the headlines, while Edgar and Madelyn persuaded Homelander to release her.
• Maeve helped the injured Starlight as Edgar ordered Ashley to invent a biological-weapons cover story and suppress the Flight 37 reports.
• Edgar ordered everyone, especially Chen Mo, not to speak to the media, and Chen Mo noticed Edgar’s growing suspicion as he left.
• Edgar reviewed reports on A-Train and watched warehouse footage showing a wounded young man healing and producing black flesh from his arm.
• Edgar noted that the man in the footage looked nothing like A-Train.

Edgar used a supposed Sage Grove Center transfer to test whether Chen Mo was really A-Train, while Chen Mo decided the high-risk superhumans could feed the Blacklight Virus. Butcher also set out to find Flight 37 survivors and challenge Vought’s cover-up.

• Edgar reviewed footage of Chen Mo’s healing and living black flesh, then arranged for transfer details to reach him as a test.
• Vought’s news questioned the Flight 37 survivors’ memories and portrayed Homelander as a hero, while Chen Mo dismissed the propaganda and noticed the Sage Grove alert.
• Chen Mo suspected Edgar had planted the transfer information but found the chance to consume the patients too tempting to ignore.
• Butcher ordered Mother’s Milk to check the survivor list and said they would speak with the victims.
• At nine twenty, Chen Mo kept A-Train’s face, saw the Sage Grove alert again, and drove off toward the transfer.

Chen Mo ambushed Vought’s convoy and discovered that one of the imprisoned men had been tortured for his connection to Mia. After killing the man and absorbing his telekinesis, Chen Mo received a call from Edgar.

• Chen Mo attacked the convoy, tore open the transport van, and killed two of its superpowered captives.
• The emaciated captive used telekinesis against Chen Mo and spoke about finding Mia, prompting Chen Mo to kill him and absorb his power.
• Chen Mo recovered the man’s memories of Vought torturing him and using him as a control subject linked to Mia.
• Chen Mo destroyed an armored vehicle, cleaned up the scene, and answered Edgar’s encrypted call.

Chen Mo rejected Edgar’s offer to cooperate with Vought after learning how the company had abused Mia’s father, and Edgar sent a force of superhumans to confront him. The chapter ended with Chen Mo facing Homelander and the others, ready to fight and calling them a buffet.

• Edgar offered Chen Mo resources and hunting targets in exchange for helping Vought eliminate unstable assets.
• Chen Mo refused to work with Vought and condemned its experiments on Mia’s father.
• Edgar ended the negotiation and illuminated the wasteland with searchlights as Vought’s forces arrived.
• Homelander, Stormfront, Black Noir, and other superhumans surrounded Chen Mo.
• Chen Mo crushed the phone, stepped out of his car, and prepared to face the assembled superhumans.

Chen Mo fought Homelander and Vought’s assembled Supes on the old highway, matching Homelander’s strength and enduring attacks from Stormfront, Black Noir, and Lamplighter. After emerging from Lamplighter’s fire in heavier Blacklight armor, Chen Mo unleashed his virus and declared that they were all too weak.

• Chen Mo and Homelander exchanged blows in midair, and neither could overpower the other.
• Chen Mo dodged Homelander’s Heat Vision, wounded him with a sonic blade, and kicked him through an armored vehicle.
• Stormfront attacked Chen Mo with electricity, while Black Noir stabbed him from behind; Chen Mo resisted both and struck Black Noir into a concrete barrier.
• Lamplighter engulfed Chen Mo in a sea of fire as Stormfront and Homelander cut off his escape, but Chen Mo walked out protected by regenerating armor.
• Chen Mo spread tentacles across the highway to seize several superhuman soldiers, then expanded his Blacklight armor and challenged the assembled Supes.