*Homelander's POV*
I walked away from the plane with a slight feeling of irritation, I hate it when people get insistent... they should just accept their deaths.
It doesn't matter. Let Ashley handle the press conference; we'll use the tragedy as leverage. I'll feign sadness and pain in front of the cameras for a bit.
The plane began to fall more rapidly. In any case, the Jets would have shot it down...
What is Maeve doing? She should have left the plane by now...
The only regret I have is that I can't use this to fix my reputation... It's been a while since I made such a mistake.
When I finally escaped that damned lab, my life changed completely. I went from living in a reinforced confinement cell to a luxurious penthouse.
At first, I loved the new comfort. All I had to do was stand in front of a crowd, smile, and say a few words, and everyone would get excited. It was a strange experience, but my focus was on the new life I could enjoy. I could see the sky and fly through it... no more underground facilities with zinc walls!
I did whatever I wanted. I realized the new dynamic: as long as I kept the crowds happy, I could have whatever I wanted. But soon, the benefit became secondary as I began to enjoy that strange feeling.
Being praised...
Being loved...
Being admired...
Why was this happening? Why did all the people who should be the same as me treat me this way? The reason is so simple it's boring.
Because I'm better! I'm stronger! Faster! Smarter! I'm superior to everyone else!
The people who shouted my name looked at me differently than the scientists. The people who admired me were different from those who always stayed with me, looking at me with fear.
But the people, my audience, my admirers... they don't fear me. They worship me! They shout my name! They need me!
The first time I felt it was worth working to keep that going. For a while, I tried to be the superhero everyone wanted, but unfortunately, it didn't work out...
My first mission was to stop a hostage situation. I did my best, but one of the hostages took an elderly man and pointed a gun at him. I moved at great speed, took the weapons away, and twisted the barrels so they couldn't fire. It wasn't a bad idea, and most thieves would have surrendered, but one didn't.
He picked up one of the useless guns from the floor and aimed it at the old man's head. According to him, if he fired, the gun would explode, and both he and the old man would be dead.
I felt lost for a moment. I had never encountered someone who didn't feel fear... no, not that the man wasn't terrified, but he risked everything to achieve his goal.
I used my heat vision, thinking he wouldn't hold a gun in white-hot heat, but the weapon detonated. It blew off the criminal's hand but also blew off half of the old man's head. A kidnapper called me a monster. Even the hostages looked at me with fear.
I remembered my days in the lab and how the scientists looked at me after surviving one of their tests that was supposed to kill me. They looked at me with fear. Did they expect me to die?
Why did it get so complicated?! Those bastards were just to be defeated like the common criminals they are!!
When I reacted, everyone was dead. There were pieces of people scattered everywhere... both hostages and criminals, my hands stained with blood.
That day I learned a few things...
Being a hero is difficult because humans are fragile... so fragile they can die even when I try to save them.
People don't fear me because they don't know my strength... once they know what I'm capable of, they'll see me as a monster...
The third thing... I really don't care if someone dies... how could I? Does a man feel pity for a dead ant left beneath his foot?
Despite everything, Vought didn't abandon me. They covered up my mistakes and hid the truth, so the public never knew I killed everyone.
Madelyn smiled and said that I was worth more than a dozen people, more than hundreds, even thousands of them. They don't value a single nail of mine, and I believe that too.
Madelyn and Edgar proposed a solution...
The best way to maintain people's admiration and appreciation is to make them think I saved them while risking not saving them. So we started to fake it... we began to create lies about feats that never happened.
Humans are so stupid!
No matter what we said, people believed it. They didn't care who was saved or how the victims were. They had no intention of investigating which thief was caught. The fact that there was a monster somewhere, and I stopped it, was all that mattered.
Gradually, it all became a show where I just had to act like a superhero, and people would love me.
That's why no one's life mattered, except mine. It didn't matter how many people died because of me or if I directly killed them. I just had to make sure that, in front of the cameras, I was the perfect hero... that was easy...
I snapped out of my thoughts and noticed Maeve floating beside me with vacant eyes. It seems she made the right decision.
Not that she had another option.
Maeve is an example, just like others who occasionally appear with silly ideas of saving people and being real superheroes. But they're foolish, naive, and don't understand how the real world works. That's why it's my duty to make them forget those ideas, whether by convincing them to be accomplices, showing them glory if they obey, or simply intimidating them, just like what would happen to Starlight.
Everything was easy...
Everything was simple...
But what is this?
For the past few days, nothing has gone as I wanted. For the past few days, I've felt a sense of unease whenever something deviates from my expectations.
A-Train, that bastard, hasn't shown up...
Translucent is dead for being useless and getting captured...
The Deep is in the hospital...
Black Noir... well, he's fine. It's nice to hear that not everyone is useless.
Now even Maeve, who should be my right hand, isn't doing what I want...
I looked at the woman, dazed as the plane fell. In her eyes, I saw the same look she had when she killed a civilian for the first time... I know her well. She'll probably fall into alcoholism again. It's a shame after how hard it was for her to quit... but it was necessary.
We're not heroes, Maeve. You don't need useless emotions... just do what I say, and everyone will love us... they'll love us forever...
Starlight, now that I think about it, the little bitch escaped with the villain...
Maeve started to complain, but when she tried to attack me, I felt like tearing her head off... Fine, Maeve, due to our years as partners, I'll forgive you this once.
I shouted to Maeve the reality of the world, she was stunned for a moment, she knew how much she had done and it was not the first time she had let civilians die.
Just as I was about to mock her, I heard something with my super hearing and looked into the distance. It was someone flying at great speed, even faster than Great Wonder.
What?!
He passed by me. I recognized him immediately, I could never forget him. My eyes turned bloodshot.
IT'S HIM!! It's this BASTARD's fault that everything has gone to hell!!
The burn on my hand started to burn intensely. DAMNIT!!
WHO IS HE?!
Madelyn said she was investigating, but I can't control my rage! I wanted to chase him, but I stood still when I saw what he was doing.
That guy is trying to... save the plane?!
IMPOSSIBLE!!
He can't do that!!!
Contradicting my own thoughts, the guy tried to lift the plane. It should have been impossible!
The plane stopped falling so steeply and corrected its direction, even seeming to slow down.
"NOOOOOO!!"
If that plane doesn't crash the ground, the consequences will be serious!
HOW DARE YOU TRY TO TAKE EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE FROM ME!!
*End of POV*
Homelander was furious; to him, people's admiration was everything. In a burst of rage, Homelander charged after the plane.
"I WON'T LET YOU TAKE EVERYTHING FROM ME!! I WON'T LET YOU!! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!"
...
Allen felt a terrible murderous intent aimed at him, but at that moment, he was preoccupied. If he used too much force, he could break the plane, but if he used too little, he wouldn't be able to prevent it from crashing into the sea.
"Don't break!!" Allen shouted, unleashing more of his energy around the plane. This could have resulted in a catastrophe due to the nature of Allen's power. He wouldn't have dared to do this before, but now he trusted that he could succeed. He had to, there were no second chances.
"Let's go!!"
With one final burst of energy, the plane was surrounded by a thin golden layer, and the metal creaking stopped. Allen saw that the cracks in the plane also ceased.
"Hahaha," Allen laughed. "This was worse than an extreme sport."
At this moment, Allen had the power to destroy a dozen of these planes without a problem, but it was already difficult just saving one. Of course, this could have been avoided if Allen had arrived earlier. If he had, he could have, as Rick suggested, adjusted to the plane's speed and brought it down to the sea slowly, perhaps not even needing to reinforce the structure with his power. He could have also evacuated the passengers slowly and taken them to the sea. Unfortunately, he didn't have that time and had to adapt.
The people inside the plane were in shock. Then they looked out the windows and saw that it was no longer falling; in fact, the plane was slowly gaining altitude.
"Well, I told you it would be turbulent," the people heard Allen's voice. "If someone vomited on another person, don't be a jerk... and give them a tissue."
"WE'RE SAVED!"
"THANK YOU!!"
"Who is he?!"
"I don't know, I've never seen him before!!"
"Wait... it can't be, that face and that hair... isn't he the new villain?!"
"WHAT?!"
Allen's appearance was very distinctive, and some passengers recognized him, but it didn't make sense. He was the villain who attacked the Tower of the Seven.
"HE'S NOT A VILLAIN!"
The girl shouted angrily, with tears in her eyes. People looked at her and remembered Homelander. Even if he couldn't save them, he had nearly killed them before leaving, and that had no excuse.
"Brother, can you hear me?"
The girl spoke, trying to communicate with Allen.
"Honey, I don't think that person has time for that," said her mother, holding onto her daughter.
"What's wrong?" Allen's voice reached the girl. "I don't lend money to a girl on the first date..."
FBI: Watch out for jokes...
"I don't want that! Hahaha... Thank you, brother..."
Allen didn't respond immediately. "Don't worry, you've been a brave girl. For now, take care of your mother."
"Yes!~" The girl nodded happily but then tilted her head. "Brother, what's your name?"
Allen blinked twice before smiling slightly. "I am..."
Gwen – The Amazing Spandex Man!
MJ – Casanova Clown hehe
Felicia – Hangover Hero hahaha
Natasha – Drunkster or Sir Snooze-a-Lot
Diana – Misfit Prince
Emma Frost – Heartbreaker Hero ;)
Nikky – Captain Snafu (Sounds cute~)
Rogue – Charm Chump heh
Ruby – Flirt King...
Maria Hill – Captain Caffeine
Ivy – Swoon Star
Harleen – The Jinx...
Raven – Raven lover... no, wait!
Kara – The Dapper Dork
Barbara – The Jester Juggernaut :)
Starfire – The Comedic Crusader Lmao
Donna – The Mighty Mirth Maker!~ hahahaha
Emma Watson – Captain Chuckles, I'm sorry hehe
Megan – The Womanizer!
Artemis (Goddess) – Professor Prankster Heh~
Artemis (Bana-Mighdall) – The Flamboyant Don Juan hahaha
Hestia – The Love Lame :/
Athena – Slim Trouble :3
Aphrodite – The Witty Whirlwin~
Hippolyta – Cupid Creep...
Antiope – The Flirt Fool haha
Tearju – Grumpy White hehe
Gil-chan – Flirt Blight...
Carol – Lover Loser...
Harley – Harley's Daddy!
...
The chat was flooded with troll, random, and ridiculous superhero names solely aimed at annoying Allen.
"Everyone's a bunch of assholes!!"
Fortunately, Allen had incognito mode activated, and no one on the plane heard him curse except for his chat, of course.
Allen gasped and calmed down, glancing at the comments. What frustrated him the most was that many of the names sounded great, but their meanings were utter nonsense.
"I'm Allen, little one..."
"Ehhh, brother, don't you have a superhero name? That's sad..." The girl lowered her head as if it were something very serious.
"No... I'm not a superhero, to begin with... Hm!?" Allen glanced over his shoulder to see a furious meteorite approaching, with incandescent eyes and bulging veins. The world's most powerful superhero was coming closer. Homelander looked furious!!
"I WON'T LET YOU!!"
Without hesitation, Homelander fired his heat vision, so intense it seemed to burn the very atmosphere.
"DON'T YOU DARE FUCK ME!!"
Allen frowned and directed one of his hands towards Homelander while holding the plane with the other.
"You're irritating..."
Allen shot a burst of energy, and the two attacks collided, creating a shockwave that shook the plane.
Homelander blasted through the explosion and charged at Allen.
"Artoria, take my place..."
Artoria held the plane. Due to her connection with Allen, the shield she had created around the plane didn't disappear when she was replaced by one of her dolls.
Allen met Homelander's charge with a kick to the face, making him stagger back. Homelander was blinded by rage, feeling that everything he had might be taken away, which made him act irrationally.
That Homelander didn't escape when he felt pain!!.
Homelander had never practiced or fought in his life, but he knew how to hit, kick, and hurt, and his super senses helped him.
Homelander threw a hook punch, which Allen deflected, but Homelander attacked repeatedly. He was like a wild beast.
For Homelander, who considered himself the ultimate predator, the peak of all living beings, and even compared himself to a god, the existence of someone who could not only match him but potentially surpass him was too unreal and drove him into a murderous frenzy.
Homelander activated his heat vision at full power again. Allen dodged, but Homelander followed him with his gaze.
"AAAHHHHHGG DIEEEE!!!"
Homelander seemed on the verge of exploding as the veins on his forehead bulged and his face turned red with fury.
Punches...
Kicks...
Charges...
A monster with immense strength that was like a walking catastrophe...
"Hey."
Allen stopped Homelander's punch, using his head to strike Allen's forehead. A drop of blood fell from Allen's forehead.
Homelander saw his opponent bleed and grinned savagely.
His eyes met Allen's, expecting to see fear, desperation, or even anger from being the first to bleed. However, what he saw was nothing...
Allen's gaze remained calm from start to finish. No, there was an emotion... one that Homelander had never experienced before. Of course, no one in their right mind would dare look at a monster capable of splitting them in half in an instant like that.
It was pity, pity for something regrettable, but also disgust.
"I once gave a guy a chance to redeem himself... he nearly destroyed my world in return..."
"Urgh!!"
Homelander looked down as Allen's fist sunk into his stomach, knocking the air out of him.
Allen brought his face close to Homelander's ear and spoke coldly, "I don't want anything complicated, so I'm just going to hit you..."
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!"
Homelander shouted and struck Allen. Allen blocked the punch but was pushed back.
"Same goes for me!"
Allen surrounded himself with energy and increased his speed. He charged at Homelander, and both of them plunged into the sea in a massive explosion.
'I had it all!' Homelander could endure not breathing even in space for long periods, but now, as he sank into the sea, he felt a lack of air.
...
Allen considered continuing the fight but felt a chill from where the plane had been.
Allen came out of the sea and saw 2B being sent flying by someone.
The king had a serious look, she couldn't move at this moment, and even if she could, she had no intention of doing so. After all, her master had given her a task, and she would fulfill it, even if it meant dying.
The black-clad figure was about to attack Artoria.
"BLACK NOIR!!" Allen was infuriated to see this and accelerated, ignoring everything. The sea parted as a furious Allen headed towards Black Noir...
Towards the twisted clone of Homelander!
===
A/N: The Amazing Spandex Man! 🍷🗿
Hahaha It made me laugh because it's a parody to the amazing spiderman said by Gwen and the best part is that Allen hates Spandex hahaha.
My new patreon is: Patreon.com/_Aizen