The Boeing passenger plane crashing into the terminal, the building collapsing, the armed hijacking, all of it had already driven the trapped passengers and staff into despair.
No one expected that at this moment, the obstruction would be cleared, and a figure with a Stars and Stripes cape fluttering would drift in.
At once, light lit up in people's numb eyes.
They reached up toward the sky, toward the figure flying over their heads. So excited that tears filled their eyes.
No one knew who shouted "Homelander" first.
Then—
"Homelander!"
"Homelander!"
One shout after another merged into a thunderous roar, as if it were about to tear the terminal ceiling apart.
Amid these cheers, Alex flew over the crowd and landed on the terminal floor.
He then turned around and pointed at the breach, "Leave now. There's military support outside to guide you."
Only then did people look toward the opening, and one after another, they ran toward it.
"Homelander, thank you!"
"Homelander, I'm your fan, a die-hard fan!"
"Homelander, I love you, my phone number is—"
They shouted as they left.
In their eyes, that tall figure slowly walked toward the Boeing aircraft.
At this moment, seeing the hostages escaping, an armed man roared and raised his rifle, about to fire.
Suddenly, a dagger flew out of the darkness and plunged into his neck.
Another armed man had just raised his pistol when blade light flashed from the darkness behind him.
Then came the sound of steel entering flesh along with a scream.
Immediately after, Black Noir flipped forward and landed in front of that one-armed gunman, his long blade held level.
The armed man froze, then his head rolled off his neck.
Inside the Boeing aircraft, Edi Orr shouted, "What's going on? Why has the enemy reached our doorstep and I didn't get any report!"
His subordinates looked at each other, unable to answer.
Outside, a loud voice rang out.
"Edi Orr."
"As long as you hand over 'Edi Orr' to me, you can all go home."
"Yes, I'm in a good mood today, so don't miss such a great opportunity."
Edi looked out through the cabin window.
The one speaking was none other than Homelander.
At the same time, he felt several gazes sweep across his face.
Edi's eyes flashed with ferocity as he looked at the others, "What, you really plan to hand me over?"
The fighters all shook their heads.
Seeing no response from inside the Boeing, Alex shrugged, nodded to Black Noir, and then contacted another teammate over the radio, "Deep, where are you?"
["I'm behind the plane, boss. I've spotted the senator's family."]
["Not good. The hijackers have guns pointed at the senator."]
Alex immediately used the scanning ability attached to his laser eyes, scanning the interior of the plane to see whether the one holding the gun to the senator was the event target, Edi Orr.
Earlier, he had opened a breach to give the trapped people a chance to escape, precisely to eliminate the possibility of Edi Orr blending into the crowd and leaving.
Now that Edi Orr was still inside the plane, if he personally escorted Senator Hope out, Alex wouldn't mind immediately rewarding him with a blast of "laser eyes."
If that could save Hope and his family, all the better.
If not, Alex didn't really care.
He hadn't come here to rescue the senator's family in the first place.
However, the scan results left him slightly disappointed.
The one holding the gun to the senator was just an ordinary hijacker.
Alex thought for a moment and said, "I'll cut the plane open. You and Black Noir go in and rescue them."
Deep froze. He was just about to say, "That's too risky," when he saw the middle section of the plane suddenly glow red.
Then with a flash of red light, the Boeing passenger plane split cleanly in two.
A sharp metallic screech rang out, the cut surfaces glowed red, sparks jumping. The fuselage shook violently.
The two hijackers holding the senator in business class, along with Hope himself, all lost their footing and fell to the floor.
Edi braced himself against a seatback, staring at the torn opening, grinding his teeth, "They're not planning to negotiate at all."
"Kill the senator!"
Before the hijackers could act, two figures suddenly flashed in through the breach in the fuselage.
One of them, wearing a green combat suit, shouted, "Deep is here!"
Black Noir was far more understated. The moment he entered, he threw two flying knives, sending them straight into the necks of the two figures beside the senator.
He then rolled low along the floor, his long blade rising and falling once, slitting the throats of the nearby hijackers who were raising their rifles.
In the blink of an eye, Black Noir had killed three people.
Deep looked a bit awkward, then let out a roar and tackled a hijacker, smashing him hard into a cabin window and shattering it.
Deep twisted his hands and snapped the man's neck, then pointed at the senator's daughter and said, "Don't be afraid, miss. Deep is coming to save you."
The words had barely left his mouth when his chest suddenly shook violently.
Rat-tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat!
A hijacker fired a burst from a light machine gun at Deep, forcing him to stagger back and collapse onto the floor.
That hijacker then pulled out a grenade, about to pull the pin, when two deep red beams shone into his eyes, bursting out the back of his head.
They swept past the top of Edi's head and vanished deep into the fuselage.
When the beams disappeared, two holes had opened in the hijacker's skull. The grenade hadn't even had time for the pin to be pulled before it fell to the floor along with the corpse.
The senator's daughter, the beautiful blonde, blue-eyed girl, saw the steel ceiling of the cabin violently torn open. Then Homelander, cape fluttering, descended with a smile.
She immediately cried out in excitement, "Look, Dad!"
"Homelander has come to save us!"
Edi saw Alex as well. The scarred man shouted, "Inject the 'Holy Blood'!"
He himself pulled out a syringe.
Inside the vial was a tube of dark red-black liquid.
Strands of white light drifted within it from time to time.
"Long live the Night Council!"
Edi shouted, plunging the syringe into his neck and pushing all of the liquid into his body.
The remaining seven fighters followed suit, injecting tube after tube of black blood into themselves.
Alex made a hand signal.
Black Noir immediately rushed forward, ignoring the hijackers and propping up Senator Hope.
His wrist flicked, his long blade flashing.
He opened a gap nearby, then jumped down through it.
Alex flew past Deep and said, "If you're not dead, finish these people."
Then with a whoosh, he flew down the central aisle, passed by the senator's daughter, and slammed straight toward his target, Edi Orr.
The wind howled.
Rita stood there blankly. Unable to understand why Homelander hadn't even looked at her.
'Is it because I am not pretty enough?'
At this moment, Deep on the ground clutched his chest and struggled to his feet.
Someone who could operate in the deep sea was no ordinary man.
His body density was far higher than that of normal people. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to dive into the depths of the ocean.
A mere light machine gun wasn't enough to kill him. But the pain was very real.
Deep let out a shout and lunged at the nearest hijacker, swinging his fist in a savage blow.
He punched the man's head into a twisted angle, and the hijacker staggered and slumped into a seat.
But the next instant, the man reached up, grabbed his own head, twisted it back into place, and stood up, rolling his neck.
Deep froze on the spot.