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Chapter 416 — Next Target: Superman
🕑 Added 2025-10-30 15:42:29 +0000 UTC> “So it was you!”
Doctor Poison’s voice cracked through the smoky air, shrill with fury and dawning comprehension.
In that split second, her mind pieced the puzzle together—the annihilated fighter fleet, the collapsing sky, the thunderous shockwaves that had torn her formation apart. Every sign pointed to one impossible conclusion.
Her eyes, dark and feverish with hatred, locked onto the man floating effortlessly before her.
Alex.
The so-called Homelander.
Her lips twisted into a tight, bitter sneer.
> “It was you all along…” she hissed, voice trembling between rage and awe.
The air seemed to grow colder around them. Flames from the wrecked aircraft flickered behind her, casting her scarred face in sharp relief.
There was no longer any doubt. The one who had wiped out her entire fleet in the blink of an eye—the one whose strength defied reason—could only be him.
No wonder Silver Swan and Cyborg Girl had both fallen so easily.
No wonder every plan she’d built with such painstaking care had unraveled the moment he appeared.
Dozens of jets, destroyed in a single heartbeat—if she hadn’t seen the smoking wreckage herself, she would never have believed it.
Her grin stretched wide, manic, the expression of someone already standing at the edge of madness.
> “Homelander,” she rasped, her voice trembling with exhilaration, “I used to fear you. I used to wake up in the night thinking of you. But now…” Her pupils dilated as she raised a trembling hand toward him. “Now you’re the one who should be afraid of me.”
Alex tilted his head slightly, an amused smile touching his lips.
> “Is that so?”
Zzzzz—
Twin beams of molten crimson erupted from his eyes, streaking across the battlefield like divine punishment.
The air itself screamed as his heat vision cut through it.
But before the burning rays could reach their target, a dark blur flashed between them.
Medusa—her body still bleeding from her earlier wounds—moved with serpentine speed, abandoning Diana and hurling herself at Alex.
Her blade sang through the air with a shrill metallic wail.
Alex didn’t even look her way.
Still focusing on Doctor Poison, he swung his fist once—almost casually.
BOOM!
The impact cracked the earth.
Medusa’s body shot backward like a cannonball, crashing into the ground hard enough to crater it. Shards of marble and soil rained down like hail.
SPLAT!
At the same instant, Doctor Poison’s head burst apart under the force of the heat vision—vanishing in a crimson mist.
She didn’t even have time to scream.
> “Homelander?”
The stunned voice came from behind him.
Diana had finally shaken free of the lingering hypnosis, clarity returning to her eyes.
Her gaze fixed on Alex, shock giving way to anger.
> “So it’s true… you are one of the Crime Syndicate!”
Her voice carried across the battlefield, fierce and accusatory.
She’d suspected it once before, back in Gotham. But she’d dismissed the thought, convincing herself there was no proof.
Now—watching him obliterate Doctor Poison without hesitation—it seemed undeniable.
> “Princess! He killed Doctor Poison!”
A wounded Amazon, leaning weakly on her spear, cried out in explanation.
Diana blinked, momentarily thrown off balance. Her eyes darted toward the corpse lying near Alex.
He had… killed Doctor Poison?
For a long moment, her mind refused to reconcile the contradictions.
This man—the same one who had fought her again and again, who had stolen from Themyscira’s sacred vault—was now the one who had saved them?
It made no sense.
Before she could find words, a scream of pure anguish ripped through the air.
> “You killed her! YOU KILLED HER!”
Medusa’s howl carried across the battlefield, shaking the ground itself.
Dragging herself from the crater, she glared at Alex with murderous hatred. Her serpents hissed violently, venom dripping onto the cracked stone.
> “I’ll kill you!”
With a shriek, she charged, her sword flashing with a sickly green aura.
Diana’s heart lurched.
> “Homelander! Don’t look into her eyes—she’ll turn you to stone!”
Her warning rang out, but Alex was already ahead of her.
He’d noticed the petrified warriors strewn around the field—their faces twisted in eternal terror.
Without hesitation, he closed his eyes.
Medusa saw the gesture and smiled, cruel satisfaction curling her lips.
Perfect.
He’d blinded himself.
> “Die, fool!”
Her blade whistled toward his heart—
BOOM!
—but Alex was gone.
He reappeared before her in a blur of speed, fist already driving forward.
THUD!
The blow lifted her off the ground, sending her hurtling across the battlefield like a comet.
Then came the relentless barrage—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Each strike was faster, heavier, more merciless than the last. Dust clouds erupted with every impact as Alex pummeled her through the air, through stone, through steel, reducing the landscape to chaos.
Medusa could barely comprehend it.
> “H-How is this possible?!”
He wasn’t even looking at her—his eyes were still shut!
Yet every hit landed with precision, guided by sheer instinct and power beyond measure.
If this was him blind… what kind of monster would he be if he ever opened his eyes?
> “So this… this is Homelander’s true strength…”
Diana whispered in disbelief, her voice almost reverent.
Around her, the surviving Amazons stared, stunned into silence. Their weapons hung limp in their hands.
BOOM!
Alex appeared before Medusa one final time, his hand closing around her throat.
> “Homelander—be careful!”
Diana’s warning came too late.
HISSSSSS!
The serpents crowning Medusa’s head struck out, their fangs flashing.
But Alex’s telekinetic field flared like an invisible explosion.
POP! POP! POP!
Each snake head burst apart mid-air, fragments scattering like ash.
> “Wh-What are you?!”
Medusa’s voice broke, half rage, half terror.
Her mind shrieked for escape, but there was nowhere left to run.
> “Look into my eyes!” she screamed, forcing her psychic power outward, desperate to seize his mind.
But her power washed over him like waves breaking against stone.
He didn’t even flinch.
BOOM!
Alex slammed her into the ground, face-first, the shockwave shattering nearby statues.
Then, with calm finality, he raised a hand.
Zzzzz—
Two beams of heat vision erupted, carving through the smoke.
Medusa’s head fell silently to the dirt.
Dead.
Diana exhaled shakily, shoulders dropping as the tension bled from her body.
It was over.
The nightmare that had consumed Themyscira was finally finished.
> “Homelander…” she said softly, stepping closer. “I don’t know why you’re here, but you saved Themyscira—you saved all of us.”
Alex glanced at her, his expression unreadable.
> “Let’s hope you still think that after you find out what I’ve done.”
And before she could respond, his form blurred—
—and he was gone, vanishing into the sky with a sonic boom that left only swirling dust in his wake.
> “???”
Diana stood frozen, her hair whipped by the fading wind, confusion and awe warring in her eyes.
---
A moment later—
BOOM!
Alex reappeared in Gotham, the city’s night lights flickering against his suit.
He landed in front of Catwoman, who stood atop a rooftop with her whip coiled loosely at her side, eyes widening at his sudden appearance.
This time, Alex wasn’t here to fight—or to take.
He’d come to say goodbye.
The Themyscira incident was finished. His business there complete.
There was nothing left to keep him in Gotham.
He turned his gaze eastward, toward the dark stretch of horizon that led out of the city, and his thoughts sharpened into focus.
His next destination was already decided.
Smallville.
That’s right—
Alex’s next target… was Superman.
Or rather—
Clark Kent.
