Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Kimiko (Bonus Chapter)
Cryokinesis (Tier 1).
Electro shifted the elemental flow from radioactive suppression to thermal deletion.
The transition took less than a microsecond.
Homelander didn’t have time to process the sudden absence of heat.
The ambient temperature of Homelander’s newly humanized body plummeted to absolute zero.
A sharp crack echoed through the quiet training facility.
Homelander’s flesh turned a translucent white. The blood in his veins crystallized into jagged red lines beneath the surface of his skin.
The moisture in his eyes froze solid, turning his terrified gaze into frosted glass. The freezing process raced down his spine, across his chest and through his limbs, encasing his entire physical form in a state of perfectly arrested atomic motion.
Justice and Flash simultaneously released their grips on his wrists, stepping back from the frozen statue.
Homelander lay in the crater, perfectly preserved in a state of absolute zero.
Electro stood up. He looked down at the frozen face.
He pulled his right arm back.
Super Strength (Tier 1).
Electro drove his fist directly into the center of Homelander’s frozen face.
BOOM.
The impact carried the kinetic force of a meteor strike.
SHATTER.
Homelander exploded.
The entire body, head, torso, limbs and his uniform... shattered into millions of tiny shards of frozen red and white dust.
The kinetic shockwave of the punch blew the shimmering cloud of frozen debris outward, scattering it across the asphalt in a wide radius. The sound was like a massive glass chandelier dropping from a great height.
Silence rushed back into the Vought training facility.
Justice dusted off his knees.
Flash stretched his arms.
Electro simply stood over the sparkling dust.
"Well," Justice said, his voice mild. "That was dramatic."
Justice raised his hand, spreading his fingers wide.
Telekinesis (Tier 1).
He cast an invisible net over the entire intersection. Every single microscopic shard of frozen blood, bone, tissue and fabric was caught in the telekinetic web.
Justice closed his hand into a fist.
The millions of scattered shards flew backward, converging into the center of the air above the crater. They swirled and compressed, forming a tightly packed spherical ball of sparkling red and white dust, roughly the size of a basketball.
Justice reached out and tapped the floating sphere.
The sphere vanished instantly, deposited directly into the shared dimensional void of the System’s inventory.
There was no blood, no scorch marks, no body. The only evidence that a struggle had taken place was the broken wall of the simulated bank and the crater in the street.
Pop.
The sound of displaced air heralded a new arrival.
A fourth figure materialized in the center of the crater. It was another clone, wearing the dark clothing of the ghost persona.
Clone looked at the three heroes. He looked at the crater.
"I missed the fun, didn’t I?" new clone asked, crossing his arms.
"You’re late," Flash smiled. "We already took out the trash."
"Shame," clone sighed. He closed his eyes and concentrated.
Shapeshifting (Tier 1).
His jawline broadened. His dark hair shifted to an immaculate blonde. His clothing morphed, the dark fabric shifting and weaving until it formed a flawless replica of the blue suit, the golden eagles and the American flag cape.
He opened his bright blue eyes. He offered a market tested smile.
"How do I look?" Homelander clone asked, his voice a rich baritone, perfectly capturing the cadence of the dead god. "Do I look like an emotionally stunted man child with a superiority complex?"
Flash laughed out loud. "It’s uncanny. You even have the dead... dead eyes."
"Perfect," Justice agreed.
"I am the savior of America," Homelander clone intoned grandly, placing his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest. "I plan to laser at least one water cooler by the end of the day just to keep up appearances. I’ll see you boys back at the office."
Homelander clone bent his knees and launched himself into the sky, breaking the sound barrier with a massive boom, streaking back toward the skyline of Manhattan.
Justice, Flash and Electro watched him go.
"Alright," Justice said, turning to his brothers. "We have a press junket in two hours. Let’s get back to the Tower. Try to look heroic."
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
The three heroes vanished, leaving the simulated city completely empty.
[Aryan’s Perspective, Penthouse]
I was sitting at the formal dining table, a pair of wooden chopsticks resting lightly in my fingers.
Across from me, Kimiko was humming softly. The sound of her voice, a beautiful melody, was a constant presence in the apartment now.
She reached across the table with her own chopsticks, plucking a perfectly glazed piece of pork belly from the central serving dish and placing it carefully on top of my bowl of steaming white rice.
"Try this one," Kimiko said. "This is more tasty. I added extra ginger."
I smiled, picking up the pork and taking a bite. The flavor exploded on my tongue... rich, savory and perfectly caramelized, with a bright kick of ginger that cut through the fat.
"Incredible," I said, chewing slowly. "You are actively trying to ruin all other food for me. I can never eat at a restaurant again."
Kimiko beamed, her eyes crinkling with pleasure. She picked up a piece of steamed broccoli and popped it into her own mouth, watching me eat.
[Boss! The eagle has landed. And by landed, I mean he was violently reduced to a snow cone and swept up like party glitter.]
The blue interface flared in my peripheral vision.
[PLUNDER QUEUE: PROCESSING...]
[Supe Neutralized: Homelander (John). Tier 1.]
[Powers Detected: Super Strength, Super Defence, Super Speed, Flight, Heat Vision, Super Senses, Regeneration.]
[Choose Option: Retain or Convert?]
I kept my physical expression entirely relaxed, offering Kimiko a warm smile as I reached for my tea, while I scanned the list of his abilities.
I already possessed Tier 1 iterations of his Strength, Defence, Speed, Flight, Senses and Regeneration. But there was one power on that list that was entirely unique to his genetic code.
’Retain Heat Vision,’ I commanded the System silently. ’Convert the rest.’
[Ooh, the laser eyes! A classic! Processing...]
[Converting ’Super Strength (Tier 1)’, ’Super Defence (Tier 1)’, ’Super Speed (Tier 1)’, ’Flight (Tier 1)’, ’Super Senses (Tier 1)’ and ’Regeneration (Tier 1)’...]
[Conversion Complete. 6 Powers x 5,000 XP = +30,000 XP.]
[Power ’Heat Vision (Tier 1)’ successfully integrated.]
A sudden warmth pooled directly behind my eyes, resting gently against my optic nerves. It felt incredibly dense, like two microscopic suns waiting behind my eyelids.
I could feel the potential energy, the sheer thermal kinetic force, begging to be unleashed. I could feel the absolute control over the output... from a warming gaze to a beam that could slice a commercial airliner in half.
I blinked, pushing the thermal energy down, locking it away.
[HARVEST COMPLETE][PREVIOUS BALANCE: 94,600 XP]
[HOMELANDER CONVERSIONS: +30,000 XP]
[SUPE TERRORIST CONVERSIONS: +6,500 XP]
[CURRENT TOTAL XP: 131,100 XP]
I dismissed the interface.
"Aryan?" Kimiko asked, her voice pulling me back to the present. "You are smiling. Did you solve a logistics problem?"
I chuckled softly, setting my tea down. "Something like that. A major supply chain issue has been permanently resolved."
"Good," she nodded, accepting the answer. She picked up a particularly perfectly glazed piece of pork belly with her chopsticks.
She leaned across the table, extending her arm, holding the piece of meat directly in front of my mouth.
I leaned forward, opening my mouth and took the bite directly from her chopsticks. My lips brushed lightly against the smooth wood of the utensils.
"Delicious," I murmured, maintaining eye contact.
She didn’t pull her hand back immediately. Her gaze dropped from my eyes to my lips, a faint flush creeping up her neck, coloring her cheeks. The playful atmosphere in the room shifted, the air growing heavier, charged with a quiet electricity.
I reached up and gently took her wrist, guiding her hand down to rest on the table. Her skin was warm and incredibly soft.
"You are very good to me, Kimiko," I said softly in Japanese.
She looked at our joined hands, then up into my eyes.
"You gave me my voice," she whispered, her fingers curling to grip my hand tightly. "You gave me my brother. You gave me... this." She gestured around the quiet penthouse.
"You deserve this," I said, leaning closer across the table, the scent of her vanilla shampoo mixing with the spices of the food.
I reached out with my free hand, gently brushing a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear. The touch made her breath hitch slightly. I let my fingers trace the line of her jaw, my thumb resting lightly against her cheek.
She leaned into the touch, her eyes fluttering shut for a brief second.
She opened her eyes, her gaze intense. She leaned forward, closing the distance over the table, her lips parting slightly.
I met her halfway. The kiss was slow and tasted faintly of sweet soy and ginger.
I pulled back slightly. I could hear the fluttering beat of her heart.
"The food is getting cold," I whispered, a smile playing on my lips.
She let out a soft laugh, her breath warm against my mouth. "Let it," she murmured.
She pulled me back in.
PS: We need only 63 more Power Stones for the bonus Chapter.
PS: The novel is already completed on Patreon. If you want to read the whole story at once, there are 2 advance Chapters available. www.patreon. com/Drrajnove
