"Dark Star, you are Dark Star, the newest member of The Seven, right?"
After the robbers were dealt with, Ron and Maeve came downstairs, followed by the rescued hostages. Ashley had arranged for cameras and lights to be ready, and they were immediately surrounded by flashing lights.
"Look here, was it you and Queen Maeve who dealt with the robbers upstairs?"
"How did you deal with them? What are your abilities? Can you demonstrate them for everyone?"
Reporters crowded around, asking questions one after another.
Ron glanced at them, took a step back, and said softly to Maeve, "I'll leave it to you. I can't be bothered with them."
Even comforting the hostages earlier, he had left it entirely to Maeve.
Deep red energy flames flickered around his body, and his muscular physique floated off the ground. In an instant, he soared into the sky above the city's tall buildings, leaving behind a conical sonic boom cloud with a bang, departing at supersonic speed like a deep red meteor.
"Oh, look, it's so cool! The new member of The Seven can fly.
Another hero who can fly in The Seven, after Homelander."
Ignored and left behind, the reporters were instead quite excited. They aimed their cameras at the sky, eagerly pressing their shutters.
"He can fly too."
Queen Maeve was left standing alone. She put her hands on her hips and looked up at the sky where Ron had disappeared, her eyes filled with deeper worry.
"The World seems to be getting more dangerous. This won't do!"
She secretly made a decision in her heart: she must figure out Ron's personality and abilities to confirm that he isn't another Homelander.
"After all, I don't have the ability to live on another Planet."
At the same time, on a rooftop a few blocks away.
"Impossible! How dare they, how dare they!"
Homelander stood with his hands behind his back, his gloves creaking and tearing as he clenched them. He didn't utter a word through gritted teeth, but his eyes were ferocious, and his heart roared with anger, almost to the point of losing control, feeling an urge to go on a killing spree.
"I should be the only one. How dare they try to create another 'me'?"
Through his X-ray vision, he had seen the entire process of Ron dealing with the robbers. He saw the Cyclops, he saw his powerful defense that surpassed a tank, and he saw his ability to easily break the sound barrier in flight.
Although a brief glimpse didn't reveal his upper limit, and his abilities were slightly different from his own, combined with Vought Corporation's attitude, it couldn't help but make him overthink.
"No, no, God cannot be replicated. He is, at most, a ridiculous counterfeit."
The arrogance in his heart gradually calmed him down.
He hadn't yet figured out if Ron could truly threaten him.
"I will find out!
If that's truly the case, regardless of whether your birth was your intention—for humans to attempt to approach God is, in itself, a blasphemy that must be purged!"
His cape fluttering, Homelander's expression was cold and emotionless as he turned and flew away. His powerful flight ability accelerated, instantly breaking the sound barrier, and he vanished into the horizon.
…
"Homelander Is No Longer The Only One, New Member Dark Star Appears!" "Red Meteor Streaks Across New York Sky!" "Silent Hero Flies Away After Rescuing Hostages."
A series of news headlines dominated the front pages of various New York newspapers.
The newspapers featured interviews with Queen Maeve and a host of grateful words from the wealthy and influential people rescued from the jewelry exhibition. Although the process was a bit terrifying, the fact that Ron saved them was undeniable.
Coupled with Vought Corporation's deliberate control, promotion, and amplification, even though Ron didn't say a single word in front of the media,
He instantly shot to fame, becoming a hot new superhero right after his debut. People in every street and alley were discussing him, comparing him to Homelander.
They compared their suits, their abilities, their appearances…
"Hey, man, his suit is so cool! I think his suit is the coolest in The Seven. When his poster comes out, I'm going to buy one to hang in my bedroom."
"Dark Star's flight style is very unique, enveloped in deep red, flame-like light. He flies like a meteor streaking across the sky, even breaking the sound barrier. I wonder if his flight speed is faster than Homelander's."
"He's so handsome, his whole person is like a sculpture of an ancient Greek God…"
"Actually, I've always felt Homelander's smile is a bit fake. Am I the only one who thinks that?"
…
"That's great."
In the conference room, holding a newspaper, Starlight read the report about Ron's rescue, and then found the story about her and Black Noir busting the dock drug operation in an inconspicuous box at the bottom of the page.
She leaned back weakly in her seat, looking at Ron beside her.
"You didn't even bother with the media, but you got this kind of effect. Now everyone outside is discussing you.
I cooperated with Ashley's arranged people, posing in front of the captured gang members, and saying the lines they prepared.
It was like filming a movie, recorded several times before it passed and was sent to the media, and this is the result."
Life had to go on. After the blow, Starlight instinctively made the same decision Maeve had made back then.
While cooperating with Vought's 'marketing,' she continued to be her own superhero, using her influence to change others and her power to help people.
But despite her efforts to cooperate, the comparison with Ron was disheartening and perplexing.
"It's all just Vought's push."
Ron propped his head on his hand in his chair, glancing at the newspaper.
"Have you forgotten, there's another person in The Seven who never speaks?"
Ignoring the media isn't a problem. Not saying a word, or even not showing one's face, if capital wants to, through marketing tactics, it can make a person incredibly popular. It all depends on whether it's worth it.
"Right, and Black Noir."
Remembering how she tried to say hello to Black Noir last night, only for the person under that black hood to act like a statue and ignore everyone, Starlight wrinkled her nose.
She got up and sat on Ron's lap, intimately wrapping her arms around his neck. Her soft, delicate body pressed against his as she curiously brought up what Black Noir might look like.
"Invisible Man even showed his true face to the media.
But Black Noir never has. What do you think Black Noir's face under the mask looks like?"
Since that night on the mountaintop, their relationship had progressed rapidly as something broke between them.
"I think it should be a pockmarked face, the kind that would make a child cry if revealed."
He replied casually, drawing his gaze back from the newspaper.
All the newspapers, overtly and covertly, were subtly comparing him to Homelander.
"Is it a coincidence, or is Vought doing this on purpose?"
Ron sneered inwardly.
Are they testing his attitude towards Homelander, or… trying to create a rift and antagonism between him and Homelander?
"No one wants to be replaced, especially someone accustomed to being unique and supreme."
Although Homelander, who grew up in a laboratory without a family, showed great concern for Ryan in the original plot.
But Ryan had completely inherited his abilities. When he saw Ryan, it was like seeing his younger self.
He narrowed his eyes.
"If I didn't have my current abilities.
If Homelander saw me as ordinary and short-lived, he would probably only consider me a defective product who failed to inherit his God-like abilities, looking at me with disdain, only treating Ryan as his son."
"Furthermore, the most crucial point is that Ryan might be too young, too young for him to feel that Ryan is a threat."
He could fully unleash his paternal love on his still-innocent and young son, raise his son according to his own ideas, and gain a family member who would never betray him and always love him.
But he was different.
Why did he see Homelander like a stranger?
Because he had no interest in being someone else's son, and he also understood Homelander's personality.
Homelander's so-called tenderness, crocodile tears, only worked under certain conditions.
His birth and childhood were a pitiful tragedy. He did crave love, but the underlying nature of his heart had always been cold and ruthless.
Just like after Ryan chose to go with Butcher, Homelander considered it a betrayal, and from then on, he was no longer as concerned about Ryan's situation as before.
When his 'deeply loved' Stormfront died, he was heartbroken and furious for a long time due to his misfortunes, almost on the verge of losing control, ready to destroy everything.
But when he discovered that an accidental, cathartic speech actually led to an increase in followers, he was ecstatic and immediately stopped being self-destructive, instantly casting Stormfront aside and focusing entirely on how to further boost his popularity.
"Homelander pathologically craves love, craves attention, but no one is irreplaceable to him."
"He wants everyone to play house with him, to dutifully play the role of family and love him.
Once things go wrong, he will immediately turn hostile!"