"You saved us."
"I love You, Homelander, You are the greatest Hero in the World!"
"No, no, no, You who faced the vicious Terrorists without fear and held on until now—are the true Heroes!"
Listening to the cheers and applause in the cabin, Homelander's face showed a smug smile, his mouth almost reaching his ears, and he hypocritically praised the passengers in return.
Thinking of how Madelyn would thank him after saving this plane, how those idiots in The Seven would realize the importance of him as their Captain, and how that useless director, who only got his position through good birth, could only rage powerlessly, Homelander almost couldn't help but snort.
Just then, Maeve noticed something happening in the cockpit. Kicking open the metal door, she found another Terrorist holding a gun to the Captain's head, while the co-pilot in the adjacent seat had his throat slit.
"No... no, calm down!"
Maeve quickly tried to appease him.
There's still a Terrorist?
"Let Me handle it." Among the plane passengers, Homelander snorted and stepped forward.
Bang!
Seeing that his accomplices were all dead and Homelander was walking up with a displeased look, that Terrorist was cornered and immediately fired, shooting the Captain in the head, then immediately tried to shoot himself.
"You're courting death!"
Everyone watched helplessly, unable to save the person. Homelander's eyes shot out lasers in anger, and without thinking, he first bisected the Terrorist who was trying to kill himself.
Sizzle!
But the terrifyingly powerful laser also shot through the control panel behind the Terrorist at the same time, and the cold, fierce wind from high altitude poured into the plane through the gap.
Beep beep beep!
Amidst the piercing alarm sound, the plane lost balance and plummeted.
Maeve was startled.
Stimulated by the cold wind, the anger passed, and Homelander's expression froze on his face. Had he... caused trouble?
Looking at the fiery gap, a faint buzzing echoed in his ears, and he couldn't help but think of how he had confidently mocked Infinitoid before he came.
"Hello, hello, Control Center?" The Captain was dead, so Maeve tried to call the ground for guidance on how to save the plane.
"Do You know how to fly a plane?" But there was no response from the other side; the plane had lost contact with the ground. Maeve turned back and asked anxiously.
"Even if I did, it would be useless." Homelander pointed to the control panel that was already leaking air.
"What should we do now?"
Maeve was flustered and at a loss.
Although her personal life was decadent, like the prototype of Queen Maeve in Irish mythology, among The Seven, she was the only one who still had some conscience and was willing to sacrifice her life to save people.
Stumped by the question, Homelander quickly shrugged as if it was no big deal, wearing an expression that said 'You ask Me, who should I ask?'.
It was as if this plane, which could have been saved, plunging into the Atlantic Ocean and shattering into pieces was not his doing at all, but entirely due to objective factors beyond control.
"What's wrong with the control panel?"
Some people in the cabin craned their necks and saw what happened in the cockpit, their eyes wide with terror. Even those who couldn't see due to the angle could feel the violent turbulence of the air as the plane rapidly descended. They couldn't help but grip the armrests tightly, their faces pale and daring not to move.
"What happened? The plane seems to be falling!"
"No, no, I clearly saw the coastline! God, save us!"
"Homelander is here, he will save us, right? He definitely can!"
"Why did the plane suddenly start falling!"
At an altitude of ten thousand meters, the plane was heading straight for the ground. The countdown to death began. There was a wail and commotion in the cabin behind. A trace of stiffness flashed across Homelander's face.
These annoying ordinary people, always like this, screaming and making a fuss over a little thing, tormenting his ears. Can't they just be quiet for a while and die with dignity!
"You have to go out and hold up the out-of-control plane!" Amidst the strong wind, Maeve shouted.
"How can I hold it up? At the current speed of descent, I'll either flip it over or pierce straight through it." Homelander shook his head.
"Otherwise, let's send them back to the ground one by one." Maeve's mouth was dry, and she couldn't help but swallow as she suggested.
These are over a hundred lives!
"You can definitely do this."
"No, Maeve, are You kidding Me?" Homelander feigned a sneer. "You want Me to go back and forth hundreds of times, like a hardworking flying horse, sending them down one by one."
His expression was as if Maeve was saying some boring joke.
Maeve looked at the man in front of her in shock. She couldn't understand how, after this guy caused such a disaster and over a hundred lives were about to pay for his mistake, he could act as if everything had nothing to do with him.
"No, this is nothing, as long as You can save..."
Maeve, who had a past relationship with Homelander and understood him deeply, stopped halfway through her sentence when she saw Homelander's cold and annoyed eyes glance back at the people in the cabin, as if he wished the plane would crash into the ocean immediately.
She despairingly opened her mouth and stopped speaking, finally realizing the reason why Homelander was unwilling to do so.
In the eyes of the World, Homelander was a Superhero who was perfect, almost saintly, unparalleled, and never made mistakes.
If any of the people here survived and spoke about what happened in the cockpit, it would ruin Homelander's flawless image.
How could he allow that?
"How can this be..." Although she had long known that Homelander didn't care about human lives at all, anger couldn't help but surge in Maeve's eyes as this tragedy, where over a hundred people would die, was about to happen.
"How dare You criticize others for playing the Superhero game in Super suits..."
Although she wasn't particularly fond of Infinitoid, who joined The Seven through privilege, wasn't what Homelander did even more ironic and malicious?
"I'm telling You, I'll do whatever I want." Maeve had just started, when Homelander, like a mischievous child who had caused trouble and was immediately angered by being criticized, pointed his finger at Maeve's nose.
"I am Homelander, the most powerful Superhero in the World. No one can do better than Me. Don't forget, if it weren't for Me, You and Infinitoid, The Deep, and the rest of those useless people would just be watching at Vought Tower."
He held up his hands, spouting nonsense, like a devil about to flare up. His terrifying aura scared Maeve back.
"If even I can't save this plane, no one else can. This damned plane is destined to crash!"
Homelander's personality was undoubtedly that of a giant baby, but the most terrifying thing was that he was a giant baby with the strongest power in the World. He could truly destroy a city like destroying building blocks once he lost control. When he was angry and approaching step by step, how could one not be afraid?
Maeve backed away, her face pale, and at the same time, she was completely despairing.
Homelander was right. If he didn't save this plane, no one else in the World had the ability to save it.
"Mommy, are we going to die?" A little girl buried her face in her mother's chest, her bow hairpin trembling with her sobs. The woman hugged her child tightly, her eyes tearful, her lips completely colorless.
A silver-haired old woman made the sign of the cross on her chest, while a young couple snuggled together, trembling and trying to kiss for the last time, promising to meet again in the next life.
In the steel cage, two Superheroes were arguing, completely ignoring them. Despair spread.
But, just then.
The plane, which had been bumpy and descending, seemed to be held up by something, and suddenly stabilized.
"Tell Me, Maeve, why are You holding on so tightly? Can't You just let this go!" Homelander, annoyed at being questioned, grabbed Maeve's wrist without realizing it, squeezing her wrist bone painfully.
But Maeve dodged the pain, turned her head, and looked through the window, only to find that the speed at which the plane was plunging towards the ground had begun to slow down.
Unimaginable, a miracle had appeared!
Maeve was stunned.
"Hey, Maeve, look at Me." Homelander was still emphasizing forcefully. "This damned plane is going to crash into the ground. We have to leave the scene immediately, understand!
No one can know that we came here and failed to rescue!"
"No need, haven't You noticed yet? The plane has stopped descending! Someone more worthy of the title of Superhero than You has come to save people!"
Maeve saw a figure with a White cape in front of the plane's nose. She pointed.
"What?"
"Impossible, the downward force of this plane is more than hundreds of tons, and even if it were Me..."
Homelander instinctively retorted, saying, then turned to look, his voice abruptly stopping.
Because he really saw a figure standing in front of the nose of the descending plane, stopping the plane's continuously accelerating descent.
A majestic black suit paired with cold White, a White cape fluttering behind, and an unbelievably young and handsome face.
"Infinitoid?
No, this is impossible!"
Homelander was stunned.
As he exclaimed, that figure's gaze passed through the glass and looked over, with a deep hint of mockery in his eyes.
He didn't seem surprised that the plane wasn't saved and the situation had even worsened, as if he had long expected Homelander to be so useless as to mess everything up.
Above the ground, a stadium by the sea was holding a baseball game. When it was a baseball player's turn to swing the bat, he, who was concentrating intently, was suddenly attracted by something in the sky.
A black dot, rapidly enlarging, was heading straight for the seaside stadium.
"Is that a bird?" The baseball player squinted his eyes in the bright sunlight, puzzled.
"No, that's a plane!"
His teammate beside him widened his eyes, not even noticing his baseball glove dropping to the ground.
The crowd in the stands was immersed in their ordinary daily lives. Families sat together, holding popcorn and watching the game. Teenagers held hot dogs, chasing and playing in the stands. Couples shared ice cream under the setting sun, until the shriek of the descending plane tore through the sky.
"A plane, a plane is crashing!"
Some spectators in the baseball stadium stood up in disbelief, staring blankly, while people next to them shouted, and the crowd stirred like a disturbed ant colony.
A boy wearing a Cubs hat clutched the wire fence tightly, his pupils reflecting the crashed plane, emitting black smoke and falling straight down.
Girls in cheerleader skirts huddled together, the event was too sudden, and the organizers were shocked and desperate.
Everyone's mind went blank.
"Look, someone caught the plane," someone suddenly pointed to the sky.
Visible to the naked eye, a figure streaked across the sky, soaring against the trajectory of gravity straight into the clouds.
The terrifying potential energy of a passenger plane carrying over a hundred people rapidly falling from tens of thousands of feet was all borne by one person's flesh and blood.
Human power against a natural disaster.
Boom!
The moment the two shadows, one large and one small, made contact, an Impact spread in mid-air. Under the transmission of the force, visible ripples spread across the plane's deformed fuselage to its tail.
The plane miraculously slowed its descent and did not disintegrate.
"Oh my god!"
Looking at that figure with the White cape, everyone's hearts were in their throats.
However, the plane was still descending. That hero's figure seemed to be struggling to counteract the plane's potential energy, carefully preventing the plane from crashing into the ground while also avoiding it breaking into several pieces due to a violent, rapid stop.
A strong wind swept through, overturning the home plate.
Just as the plane was only a few meters from the ground, and it seemed an explosion was imminent, some people instinctively crouched down and turned their backs in fear.
Creak!
With a sudden loss of power, a strong metallic deformation sound occurred, the nose of the plane was crushed, and the plane stopped!
In everyone's astonished gaze, that figure in the black suit used his shoulder to support the multi-ton fuselage, slowly leveling the plane.
The size comparison between the figure and the passenger plane was like an ant compared to a falling steel beam. This scene was extremely impactful.
The shock it brought was incredibly deep.
Escaping death, a scene like a miracle.
"God..." An old man took off his hat in disbelief and sighed, some even cried and knelt on the ground as if exhausted.
[Conquest Point +0.13]
[Conquest Point +86]
[Conquest Point +0.18]...
Russell placed the plane steadily in the center of the field. Sunlight penetrated the rolling thick smoke, casting a flowing golden light on the tall figure. His cape fluttered in the wind, like a god descended to the World.
"Who is he? He saved us!"
"God, if it weren't for him, who knows how many people in this stadium would have survived!"
"I know him, he's the new Superhero Infinitoid who appeared not long ago!" Someone pointed at the figure on the field and shouted.
"Infinitoid?"
"Infinitoid, Infinitoid!"
Among the crowd, the little boy wearing a baseball cap shouted with his father.
Tens of thousands of eyes in the entire stadium were excitedly fixed on the same figure. Tens of thousands of arms waved together, and tens of thousands of mouths shouted the name of the same hero. The tsunami-like roar shook the entire stadium, audible for miles.
[Conquest Point +0.14]
[Conquest Point +0.16]
[Conquest Point +0.12]...
Notifications of increasing Conquest Points flooded in like a waterfall.
Although most people here were ordinary, Russell, at a moment when everyone's lives hung in the balance, caught the crashed plane with god-like power right before their eyes, turning the tide and saving everyone in the entire stadium. The shock he brought strongly impacted their hearts.
The hearts of all the rescued people trembled deeply with excitement. The feeling of gratitude was stronger than ever before, and some people almost couldn't help but want to prostrate themselves.
"As the saying goes, hearing is not as good as seeing, and seeing is not as good as experiencing."
In just a short while, several thousand Conquest Points were credited, and the number was still soaring at an astonishing speed. Russell's mouth curved into a smile. He flew onto the plane and tore open the heavy cabin door with his bare hands.
The figure entering against the light seemed to be shrouded in a layer of holy light. This sacred scene first left all the passengers in the plane cabin in stunned silence, unwilling to break the sanctity, and then, after someone shouted first, everyone cheered.
"Hurray, You saved us, Infinitoid!"
"You are a hero, the greatest hero in the World!"
"Were You sent by God? Hero!"
Someone's voice trembled with excitement, reaching out involuntarily as if seeing a divine being.
"Are You all okay?"
Russell walked through the cabin, his gentle words comforting every passenger, as grateful hands brushed against him.
"Infinitoid, You saved them.
How did You do it?"
In the cockpit, Maeve's face still showed shock, her emotions unable to calm down for a long time, and she stepped forward with deep admiration.
"Even Homelander was helpless against the falling plane."
At this moment, her words were a genuine, instinctive outpouring of emotion.
But upon hearing this, in the cockpit, Homelander's face flushed as if he had been slapped, looking even more displeased, staring intently at Russell.
At the cockpit door, Russell smiled, as if he didn't care about the World's most powerful superhuman who looked like he could eat people, while waving back to the enthusiastic passengers.
"Just a kind of bio-field."
Allen, as a genetically engineered super-soldier created by the Unopa people to protect their Planet against the Viltrumite, his abilities considered not only combat but also rescue.
Even the Viltrumite didn't have a powerful bio-field, but Allen did.
As long as the bio-field enveloped the entire plane, without fear of damage, a mere impact of hundreds or thousands of tons was insignificant.
Russell deliberately acted cautiously, making it seem like he was in great danger, just to better stir people's hearts.
Including the timing of his appearance, which was intentionally just right.
"Infinitoid, Infinitoid..."
He had just contemptuously mocked this guy.
"Fake, it's all fake."
But now, the sound like a mountain tsunami from outside the plane, passing through the plane cabin wall, felt like repeated, loud slaps on his face. Homelander's expression was extremely unpleasant. He, who was skilled at performing in front of crowds, was too familiar with this scene.
He could tell at a glance that Russell was currently the center of attention, like the most dazzling star on stage, every move meticulously designed.
It was just that Russell was far more brilliant than him. This Superhero plane rescue operation, watched by the World, shone brightly, and was perfect, a scene he couldn't even dream of.
"You're not a real hero at all!"
He immediately couldn't suppress the jealousy and indignation in his heart, rushing over and pointing his finger directly at Russell's chest.
"Oh? I, who saved everyone, am not a hero? Is it You then?
You, who didn't save a single person, and instead messed up the plane like a clumsy fool who can't accomplish anything but only cause trouble?"
Russell's gaze was like looking at a well-known Joker, just lightly retorting.
"What did You say!" Being so nakedly ridiculed and humiliated, how could Homelander bear it? Dangerous red light immediately lit up in his eyes.
If it were anyone else seeing Homelander like this, they would have been scared stiff or even peed their pants. Even Maeve would feel shocked and scared facing a Homelander so angry he was about to lose control.
Just like even though Homelander's anger wasn't directed at her at this moment, she still felt tense and suffocated.
"Impatient?"
But Russell seemed to ignore it. For some reason, although it was a shorter sentence, the mockery in it suddenly intensified a hundredfold.
This sentence completely ignited Homelander's rage!
A vein throbbed on Homelander's forehead, but his face suddenly became only cold. His chin lifted slightly, and the dangerous red light in his eyes seemed ready to burst out at any moment.
"Don't..."
Maeve's expression changed, and she quickly reached out to stop him. She was all too familiar with this, it was a sign that Homelander was burning with rage and about to kill.
...