The first few moments after that encounter with Homelander were a blur. His eyes, those chilling, icy blue eyes, had a way of making you feel like you were nothing more than an insect under a magnifying glass. Yet somehow, the strange, burning sensation inside me—a surge of power I couldn't explain—made me feel more alive than I had in years.
I stood there, in the heart of Metropolis, trying to process what had just happened. The weight of the situation was beginning to sink in: I was no longer some random person. I was someone with power—real power, power that could rival the gods.
The man before me, Homelander, was no ordinary person. I had seen him in the news, in comics, even in the twisted documentaries about The Seven. He was their leader. Their god. And now, he had acknowledged me.
"You'll fit right in," he had said, his voice a low, predatory hum, as though I was just another piece in a game I didn't understand yet.
It wasn't until he left, soaring into the sky with that effortless grace, that I truly felt the weight of his words. He had left me standing there, in the middle of a bustling Metropolis, feeling like a small child holding a loaded gun. I had the power now. But with it came the responsibility. The question was, what would I do with it?
I flexed my fingers, feeling the raw energy running through me. I could feel it—hot, electric, dangerous. The kind of power that could tear through walls, burn down cities, and destroy anyone who dared stand in my way.
I looked around. People were going about their business, completely oblivious to the fact that two beings with god-like powers had just stood in their midst. The city was alive with noise—the honking of cars, the distant chatter of pedestrians, the hum of drones in the sky. It was overwhelming.
And I wanted to control it all.
But first, I needed to understand what this power was. I wasn't born with it. I had never been someone special in my old life. I had been a fan, a spectator, always watching from the sidelines. Now, I was in the game. And the rules were different here.
I closed my eyes, concentrating. The surge of energy within me was wild, unpredictable, but there was something oddly familiar about it. The feeling reminded me of the stories I had read about Homelander, about the kind of powers he had. Heat vision. Super strength. Near invulnerability. All of it… it was inside me, somehow. But I wasn't just a copy of him. I could feel that. There was something more. Something that went deeper than just mimicking another's abilities.
I raised my hand slowly, palm facing the sky, and concentrated. There was a flicker of heat, and then a powerful beam of energy shot from my eyes, cutting through the air in a straight line. The heat was intense, but not uncontrolled. It was precision. Perfect, unerring precision, like it had always been a part of me.
I couldn't help but smile as I watched the beam dissipate into the sky.
That's how it feels.
It felt natural.
But there was no time to revel in the moment. A new thought started creeping into my mind. The realization of just how far I could go with this power. It was a heady feeling, but it was also terrifying. I didn't know the full extent of what I could do. What if I lost control? What if I became like him—a man who saw himself as a god among insects?
"Get it together," I muttered under my breath. "You can't go down that road."
But the temptation was strong.
As if on cue, the ground shook beneath me. A sudden explosion in the distance caught my attention, followed by a series of sharp cracks. Gunshots? No. It was much worse.
A plume of smoke rose high into the air from a building several blocks away, and I could hear the distinct sounds of chaos—screams, sirens, and something far more terrifying. Something primal. Something dangerous.
Without thinking, I took to the sky.
I could feel the wind rush past me as I flew upward, faster than I'd ever moved before. The sensation was incredible—like I was born for this. Born to dominate the sky. It wasn't just flight; it was control. I wasn't just moving through the air; I was commanding it.
I reached the source of the explosion in seconds, coming to a halt above a destroyed skyscraper. The building was partially collapsed, a large hole blown through the side, with pieces of rubble scattering across the street below. A group of armed men stood near the entrance, firing weapons at anyone who got too close.
The Inner Circle, I realized. The criminal syndicate that had been terrorizing Metropolis for years. I'd read about them in the papers, in the news, but they were just another part of the world I used to watch from the sidelines. They didn't seem so untouchable now.
I felt my stomach churn with anger. These were the kinds of people I had read about. People who took advantage of the weak, who threatened the peace, who took lives for their own gain.
And I had the power to stop them.
I dove down, landing with a thunderous crack on the pavement in front of the gunmen. The ground around me cratered, dust and debris swirling as the shockwave from my impact rippled outward.
The criminals froze, their guns pointing toward me. Their hands trembled.
"W-What the hell?" one of them stammered, eyes wide. "Who the hell are you?"
I stood tall, looking down at them with cold, calculating eyes. The power within me was an inferno, and I had every intention of unleashing it.
"The question," I said slowly, feeling the heat rising in my chest, "is not who I am. It's who you are and what you're about to face."
One of the men pulled a trigger, firing a rapid burst of bullets directly at me. I didn't even flinch. The bullets hit my chest and fell harmlessly to the ground, bouncing off my skin as if they were little more than pebbles.
The men stared in shock.
"That's impossible," one of them said, his voice cracking.
I reached forward, grabbing the barrel of the man's gun with my bare hand, twisting it until it snapped in half like a twig.
"You're not even worthy of a proper response," I said, my voice dark, low, and full of the power coursing through me. "But you're going to wish you had never crossed paths with me."
Before they could react, I used my heat vision again, but this time, I was precise. I burned the guns in their hands into molten metal before they could fire another shot. The heat from my gaze melted the steel as if it were butter.
The men screamed, dropping their weapons and falling to their knees. They were no longer the dominant force in this situation. I was.
"You're going to leave now," I said coldly, my voice almost a whisper, "and you're going to forget this ever happened. Do we have an understanding?"
They nodded furiously, too terrified to do anything else.
I turned away, watching them scurry off like cockroaches, and felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
That felt too easy.
But as I flew back into the sky, leaving the destruction behind, a thought gnawed at me. This was only the beginning. And if I was going to make my mark in this world, I had to remember one thing:
Power was everything. And in a world like this, you either had it… or you were nothing.
I was going to make sure I had it. All of it.