Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Homelander (3) (Bonus Chapter)
[Global Live Chat Feed]
@PatriotEagle_USA: I AM LITERALLY IN TEARS. Homelander lost everyone he loved and he’s still standing up there protecting us. We don’t deserve him. GOD BLESS HOMELANDER! 🦅🇺🇸😭
@VoughtNewsJunkie: Did anyone else get chills when Justice spoke? He has so much respect for Homelander. You can tell these guys aren’t in it for the fame. They genuinely want to serve.
@NYC_Survivor: I was on 5th avenue when they stopped that truck. Justice is even more majestic in person. We are so safe right now.
@SpeedFreak99: RIP A-Train, but ngl, Flash’s suit is an absolute 10/10. He looks so damn cool. The red and silver is fire. 🔥🔥🔥
@LightningRod_Liz: ELECTRO CAN RUIN MY LIFE. Look at those eyes! He’s so brooding. I’m literally shaking. ⚡️🥵❤️
@VoughtDefender: Notice how humble they are? Just three guys who want to serve their country and learn from Homelander. Vought found the holy grail of heroes.
@JusticeFanPage01: "We are just the hands, you are the mind." CHILLS. Literal chills. Homelander is going to train them to be unstoppable.
@TruthTeller_X: The military tried to destroy us, but they just made us stronger. The Seven will never fall! Homelander forever!
@LightningStrikesTwice: Everyone is talking about Flash, but Electro is giving me ultimate bad boy mysterious energy and I am HERE FOR IT. The glowing suit is sick. He looks like he could fry a tank with a look. ⚡️🖤
@MidwestMomma88: My heart broke seeing Homelander cry. He is a true American father figure. But seeing those three young, handsome boys standing by his side... it gives me so much hope for my children’s future. The light hasn’t gone out! 🙏✨
@HeroWatcher404: The tactical synergy is already insane. A telekinetic to hold the line, a speedster for rapid response and an electrokinetic for heavy AoE damage. Vought totally hit the jackpot finding these three.
@SupeScholar: Have to analyze the power scaling here. We saw Justice stop 20 tons of kinetic force dead in its tracks. If his TK is that strong passively, his upper limits must be insane. Flash clearly broke the sound barrier rescuing those people. Electro fried a commercial engine block without breaking a sweat. Homelander just acquired the strongest support squad in Vought history.
@JusticeSimp: Can we talk about how Julian (Justice) literally looks like a Disney prince brought to life? The silver cape is everything. I have already ordered the Funko Pop.
@ConspiracySmasher: To everyone saying the government is better than Vought: the government literally just tried to nuke our heroes. Homelander survived and immediately recruited three guys who save people for FREE. Vought > Pentagon. End of story.
@ElectroManiac: Elias (Electro) didn’t even smile once. He’s all business. He’s the new Black Noir but with lightning. #Badass.
Back on the stage, the cheers eventually began to subside, settling into a buzzing hum of excitement.
Homelander raised his hands again, calling for quiet. The crowd obeyed instantly.
"Justice, Flash and Electro represent the very best of a new generation," Homelander said, his voice ringing with authority. "But as you know, The Seven is not complete. We are still three members short."
A murmur rippled through the press corps. The journalists leaned forward, sensing the drop of a massive headline.
"In the past," Homelander continued, pacing slowly across the stage, owning every inch of the space, "the selection process for The Seven was conducted behind closed doors. But today, standing in the wake of such profound loss, I realized something."
He stopped, looking out over the millions of faces, both physical and digital.
"You are the ones we protect. You are the ones who put your faith in us. Why shouldn’t you have a say in who wears the gold?"
The crowd went dead silent, hanging on his every word.
"I spoke with Stan Edgar this morning," Homelander lied, expertly twisting Edgar’s initiative to frame himself as the benevolent orchestrator. "And we agreed. It is time for a change. It is time for democracy to enter the halls of Vought Tower."
He pointed to the massive digital screens behind him. The Vought logo was replaced by a gold and platinum title card that read: AMERICAN HERO.
"Starting next month, Vought International will launch a global broadcast event," Homelander announced, his voice rising to a triumphant crescendo. "We are inviting the fifty top performing heroes from across the nation to compete in a series of rigorous, transparent and spectacular trials. They will be tested on their strength, their courage and their moral fortitude."
The crowd began to cheer again, the sheer scale of the spectacle intoxicating them.
"But I will not be the one making the final choice," Homelander yelled over the rising roar, pointing dramatically out at the crowd. "YOU will! The entire world will be able to vote live through the Vought App. You will watch them strive. And YOU will choose the final three heroes who will stand beside me in The Seven!"
The plaza erupted.
"This is your team!" Homelander roared, raising his fist into the air. "We are American Heroes and we will never surrender!"
Justice, Flash and Electro raised their fists in unison, perfectly mirroring his pose.
The confetti cannons fired, raining red, white and blue paper over the screaming masses. The press corps scrambled, screaming into their microphones, broadcasting the dawn of a new era.
[Global Live Chat Feed]
@RealityJunkie: OH MY GOD. A superhero reality show where WE pick the winners?! This is the greatest day in television history. I’m downloading the app right now! 📱💥
@StarSpangledVoter: This is why Homelander is the GOAT. He doesn’t want corporate suits picking his team. He trusts the American people! DEMOCRACY WINS! 🇺🇸🗳️
@PopCultureQueen: I am going to be so obsessed with this. Fifty supes in a house competing for the ultimate prize? The drama is going to be INSANE. 🍿👀
@HeroWatcher_Dan: Homelander just changed the game. Giving the power to the people. Who do you guys think is gonna get an invite? Teenage Kix members?
@VoughtStockBro: The ad revenue on this broadcast is going to eclipse the Super Bowl. Vought stock is literally going to the moon. 📈🚀
@ElectroWife: As long as Electro is on my screen, I don’t care who else makes it! But I’m definitely voting!
@LocalSupe_Denver: BRB, packing my bags right now. I can shoot lasers out of my fingers and I’ve been doing local crime stopping for two years. This is my shot! #AmericanHero #NoticeMeHomelander
[Perspective: Aryan’s Clone]
While the world was mesmerized by the flashing lights and manufactured drama of ’American hero,’ my reality was defined by darkness and the smell of sun baked dust.
I stood on the flat covered roof of a three story concrete compound.
The air was oppressively hot, even in the dead of night, carrying the arid scent of the Syrian desert.
I was exactly 5,612 miles away from the plush leather chair in the Manhattan penthouse where my original consciousness resided.
From the penthouse, I had visualized a desolate rocky outcrop off the coast of Ireland.
Snap.
I was there, the freezing Atlantic wind howling around me for exactly one tenth of a second.
I visualized the ruins of a castle in the Greek countryside.
Snap.
The scent of olives and dry grass.
I visualized a remote mountain peak in Turkey.
Snap.
Six jumps. I had crossed the globe in less than a second, arriving without a drop of sweat or a single elevated heartbeat.
I wore the matte black tactical gear of the ghost.
I looked down at the compound below.
This was a heavily fortified stronghold belonging to the Shining Light Liberation Army... the same terrorist organization that had tortured Kimiko and radicalized her brother, Kenji.
But more importantly to my objective, it was a designated testing ground. They were trying to create their own ’Super Villains’ to combat Western influence.
They had succeeded in creating a handful of highly volatile and highly dangerous assets.
I activated my Tier 1 Enhanced Senses.
The concrete roof beneath my boots vanished from my perception as my vision shifted into the thermal and macroscopic spectrums. I peered down through the roof, down through the second floor, directly into the heart of the compound.
I counted thirty two standard human thermal signatures. Guards armed with AK 47s, scientists in makeshift labs and sleeping soldiers.
And then, deep in the subterranean level, shielded by thick layers of reinforced concrete and lead lining, were four heat signatures that burned with unnatural intensity. Their vascular systems glowed on my thermal radar, pumping blood laced with unstable mutagenic chemistry.
Four Supe terrorists.
PS: The novel is already completed on Patreon. If you want to read the whole story at once, there are 10 advance Chapters available. www.patreon. com/Drrajnovel
