The morning sun filtered through the kitchen windows as Todd came down the stairs, backpack slung over one shoulder.
His blonde hair was neatly slicked back, a habit he was starting to enjoy.
“Good morning, Mom,” he said casually.
Elena turned from the stove with a warm smile.
“Morning, dear. Eat your breakfast. I made sandwiches.”
Todd grabbed one and took a big bite, washing it down with a glass of cold milk.
The taste was oddly satisfying.
In the living room, the TV was playing the morning news.
The anchor’s voice was grave:
“In a shocking development, the Global Defense Agency has confirmed the deaths of several members of the Guardians of the Globe. Immortal, Red Rush, Martian Man, War Woman, Green Ghost, Aquarius, and Darkwing have all been found dead in their headquarters. Omni-Man was the only survivor and is currently recovering from severe injuries. The identity of the killer, or killers, remains unknown. The GDA has issued a statement urging the public to remain calm while the investigation continues…”
Todd paused mid-bite, eyes narrowing.
So it had already happened.
The Guardians massacre.
Omni-Man was “recovering.” The timeline was moving exactly as he expected.
He finished his breakfast quickly, grabbed his bag, and headed for the door.
“I’m going to school now, Mom.”
As soon as he was out of sight, Todd launched into the sky instead of heading toward school.
There was no point sitting in class when real work needed to be done.
He flew fast, cutting through the clouds as he headed out over the ocean.
His destination: an abandoned island he had read about while researching last night
Right now, he wanted to test his powers thoroughly.
He needed to understand exactly what kind of Homelander template he had received, was it from the comics, the series before the V-1 injection, or after?
Even after fighting the Flaxans, he still couldn’t gauge his true strength, it felt like he hadn’t even reached his full potential.
It was as if the deeper he synchronized, the stronger and more refined they became.
His power came from Homelander and he was undeniably powerful, but compared to other Superman-like heroes across different universes, he ranked quite low.
Not exactly the absolute weakest, but definitely near the bottom with perhaps only BrightBurn beneath him.
Technically, BrightBurn was strong too, but he was still just a child and his powers had not yet fully matured.
If they fought right now, BrightBurn would lose to Homelander, but given time to grow and develop, he would eventually surpass him.
In a way, BrightBurn was very similar to the Viltrumites: he was sent to Earth on purpose to conquer it, unlike Superman, who was sent here to survive.
His species acts much like predatory wasps, they trick other races into raising their young, so that when they grow up, they can take over and rule the planet.
The reason he draws this comparison is simple: even though BrightBurn was powerful by Earth’s standards, he was still incredibly weak compared to actual Viltrumites.
Even someone like Immortal could easily defeat him; Immortal was tough enough to take direct hits from Viltrumites and even make them bleed.
Todd realized just how vast that gap was if he somehow encountered a Viltrumite in his current state, he probably wouldn’t survive even ten seconds.
That cold truth was exactly why he needed this training session.
Every bit of practice helped raise his synchronization, and he needed every advantage he could get.
As most powers from The Boys were grounded, variations of strength, speed, durability, and energy projection.
Very few truly unique or broken abilities, and many were outright useless.
He couldn’t rely on the system alone.
He had to push his current template to its limit and find other ways to grow stronger.
As these thoughts ran through his head, Todd finally slowed down.
He looked down.
There it was, The Nomanisan Island.
The former hideout of Syndrome.
Since the villain’s defeat four years ago, the island had been abandoned.
According to everything he read online, the GDA had cleared out the most dangerous technology, but the island itself was left mostly untouched.
Todd descended slowly and landed in the central courtyard.
Overgrown vegetation covered old structures, broken robots, and the remnants of Syndrome’s once-impressive volcano lair.