A/N: Sorry for not updating this yesterday.
I was studying for my exams, then boom—I fell asleep and woke up today.
***
Jack stared at the aliens that filled the streets of New York.
They had pasty, beige-colored skin with pitch-black, three-fingered hands and three-toed feet.
The tops of their heads were transparent, revealing their brains, and their single green eyes remained unblinking.
At their transparent stomachs, tentacles squirmed eerily—Dnaliens.
Jack inhaled and exhaled multiple times, his fists clenching and bones cracking.
‘I can’t fuck up like last time…’ Jack had seen the news and knew the estimated casualties were huge—something that might happen here too if he did nothing.
Think of it as liberating the ones being controlled!
Voom!
A laser beam descended brutally, piercing through a Dnalien and killing it.
Suppressing the urge to vomit, Jack descended to the ground like a meteor, then grabbed the nearest Dnalien, throwing it at another before using his ice breath to freeze them together.
Mucus from a nearby Dnalien flew through the air toward Jack, only to be met with his searing lasers that melted it and continued their trajectory, burning through the Dnalien.
“Help… Help…”
Because of his unsuppressed hearing, Jack heard a cry for help not far away—weak and hopeful.
Swoosh!
He vanished from where he stood, appearing in front of a boulder.
Using one hand to lift it, he turned to the woman and child huddled together and put on a heroic smile.
“I’ll get you out,” Jack said as he casually flung the boulder aside, held the woman by the waist and the child by the collar, before blasting into the sky toward the sound of blaring police sirens.
Dropping the mother and child at the police-filled area, he took off, moving toward the Dnaliens.
He wasn’t the only one doing the saving.
Atom Eve pointed at two Dnaliens, two pink beams erupting from the tips of her fingers, piercing through their bodies.
Homelander, hovering in the sky, kept firing lasers that burned through the Dnaliens, though his eyes always went to Jack, who kept wiping out the aliens.
‘This is liberating them!
Boom!
He stomped on the ground, causing it to cave in as numerous medium-sized stones bounced up.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Jack didn’t suppress his speed any longer, moving so fast he created afterimages.
He kept throwing each Dnalien one of the stones that hovered beside him, each stone precisely piercing through the head of the aliens.
Throwing the last stone, Jack turned and stretched his open hand forward, stopping an energy beam before a red beam erupted from his eyes.
It’s for the bigger picture.
I can’t be a coward now!
Jack thought, his eyes hardening with resolve as he went on with his killing.
The Dnaliens who had invaded New York were slowly but surely getting exterminated.
Though their numbers were large, their combat power against the current superheroes was inferior.
Homelander’s lasers never stopped, sometimes dropping to the floor to kill with his bare hands.
Queen Maeve kept punching and ripping the Dnaliens apart.
A-Train kept running through them, and Atom Eve—together with the other three from the Teen Team, who had arrived—also kept killing.
Twenty minutes later, the superheroes finally stopped.
Their eyes scanned the now-destroyed district of New York, filled with corpses of both humans and aliens.
“Thank God those things are finally dead,” Rex Splode said as he sat on a boulder behind him, running a hand through his hair.
“Seriously, if I have to blow up one more alien, my hands are gonna fall off.”
“Man, screw this,” A-Train panted heavily, leaning on his knees.
“My heart is literally pounding out of my chest right now. If Vought expects me to do that again without a bonus, they’re crazy.”
Suddenly, from the distance, a cacophony of voices arose.
Numerous New York inhabitants rushed toward them, their voices spreading through the air.
“Seven! Teen Team! Superboy!”
Though the police tried to restrain the masses, their efforts proved futile, and among the civilians were them—reporters.
Like athletes on steroids, they ran, surpassing both the police and the masses, reaching the heroes’ side with microphones thrust forward.
“Rex Splode, tell us! What did you feel as you fought those aliens?!”
“Queen Maeve! How strong were these aliens, really?!”
“Robot, why did you and the other members of the Teen Team arrive late?! An earlier arrival would have meant fewer casualties! What is your response?!”
The reporters overwhelmed not only the Seven and the Teen Team but also Jack.
They asked about his superpower, whether he planned to join any organization or team, and many more questions that left Jack—the socially anxious kid—nervous.
“Ah… ah… ah…” Jack raised his hand, trying to tell the reporters to stop, but more microphones were practically shoved in his face.
With no other option, Jack chose the best action currently in his repertoire—retreat.
“I need to go!” he said and blasted upward, leaving behind a wind that ruffled the clothes and hair of the reporters.
Homelander, who had been all smiles, froze for a second as he noticed the departing Superboy before returning the smile to the reporters.
“I’m sorry, folks. They need me out there. You guys are the true heroes—stay safe!”
Leaving those lines, he shot upward into the sky.
***
“Ah, I really fucked up,” Jack muttered as he drifted through the clouds.
“A superhero must have the seven essentials, and posing for the camera is one of them!”
Just as Jack kept sighing, he froze—alarms blaring in his head—and his enhanced hearing picked up something.
Without thinking twice, he lowered himself just in time for a red laser beam to zoom over his head.
Turning back, he saw Homelander with hands on both hips and cape swaying in the wind.
“Kiddo… look at you. Quite the outfit,” Homelander said with a smile, but it immediately dropped as he spoke in a cold tone:
“You think you’re special because you have the same powers I have, huh? You think because you can fly and shoot lasers from your eyes, you get to stand in my sky? Oh, buddy, no. You’re nothing—just a mere ant. A parasite soaking up my sunlight. And I’m going to squash you into a bloody mess.”
***
A chapter will be dropped today…or not depending if I have time and mental strength after the exam.
Wish me luck!:-)