Chương 84

Annie remained silent for some time. Then she spoke again.

"You haven't been paying much attention to me." Adam had kept his own thoughts inside for a long time. This time, he finally let them out.

"Annie, you know everything that has been happening to me. These last few months, I haven't had any time left for myself. The moment I finish one mission, they call me for another one." Some of those missions did not even need him. Victoria was sending Adam to handle minor work that others could have completed without him. It felt as if Victoria wanted to cut every connection he had by keeping him away from everyone.

Adam still could not fully understand what she wanted to achieve by burying him under so many missions.

"I've decided," she said.

"I'm going to become co-captain of the Seven." Adam did not say much. Annie rose from her seat.

"If you don't have anything else to say, then I'm leaving." Adam knew what would happen once she became co-captain. The little time they could still spend together would disappear as well. He did not say that to her. He was the one who had been too busy to give her enough time, so he did not feel that he had any right to complain about her decision. When Adam had first arrived in this world, he had liked Annie as a character. After being with her, that feeling had become a real emotional bond.

Adam knew that something happening to Annie, or being forced apart from her, would weigh on his mind and make every part of his life harder. For the first time, Adam understood how Superman must have felt. Superman saved people while also trying to hold on to a personal life.

'Hmm, maybe I never judged this part properly.' What Adam had said to Annie was not wrong. He truly had been given no time. Elsewhere, at a new location, several pieces of heavy machinery lay broken around a training ground. A blond man stood in the middle. His casual clothes fit tightly against him instead of hanging loose. Sweat was running from him. He jumped to one side before dropping into a roll. When he came up, he moved the other way. He kept shifting right and left while gunfire followed him.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Several men stood around the training ground with automatic rifles. They continued firing while he dodged the bullets. The blond man was Homelander. During the past few months, Homelander had come to this training ground whenever he found enough time. He had used his money and his authority inside Vought to have the facility developed for him.

The equipment used for normal training could not put any strain on him. Because of that, experts had been brought in to create different physical training sessions that could push him. The results were already visible. Homelander was moving much faster than before. He avoided another line of bullets before jumping backward. His eyes turned red, and he began firing his heat vision in brief bursts. Each burst lasted only a moment. One struck a bullet in the air.

Homelander turned toward the next bullet and fired again. Several bullets were stopped before they could reach him. He still failed to stop all of them. Homelander ground his teeth and drove his fist into the ground.

"Why is this happening?" For days, he had been trying to push his physical limits. That effort had forced him to understand the truth about his powers. His powers were not natural. Training was allowing Homelander to move faster than he could before. His muscles were also coming into better shape. His control over his heat vision had improved enough for him to fire those short bursts. His super strength also allowed him to create powerful wind whenever he blew. But the rest of his powers remained at the same point.

His body was becoming more synchronized with his abilities, and that improved his control. Those abilities still did not grow naturally, even though Homelander's physical condition continued to improve. Homelander now understood why. His abilities had been created forcefully. They were artificial, and natural physical growth was not enough to make all of them grow on their own. That knowledge frustrated him. Homelander waved at the shooters, ordering them to leave the training ground. They stopped firing and left.

He sat on a chair beside an iron table. He was still in his normal clothes and had not worn his Homelander suit for the session. His phone began ringing. Ashley's name was on it. Homelander ignored the call. A message arrived a moment later. Mr Edgar wants to meet you. Homelander needed time for himself, but once again, someone else was taking that time away from him. This had not bothered him much before. Now the pressure inside his mind kept growing.

Since the truth about Liberty had come out, every event had forced Homelander to give the same answer again. He hated repeating it in front of people. Vought was also trying to control everything he did more strictly than before. Even getting this training ground built had taken more effort than it should have. Homelander threw the phone onto the iron table. He placed a small box in front of himself and opened it. Inside was a blue bottle about the size of a test tube.

Homelander took it out and placed it on the table. He released a deep breath.

"To defeat him, I will go as far as I have to." He drew the blue liquid from the container. Then he ground his teeth and drove the needle into his leg. The liquid was Compound V. It entered Homelander's body, and his eyes immediately turned red again. He felt the change. His power rose suddenly, matching the amount of exercise he had done during the past few months. Homelander smiled. Still wearing his normal clothes, he launched himself upward and broke through the wall above him.

Elsewhere, Edgar was speaking to someone on the phone.

"Two days? No," Edgar said angrily.

"Stop him at any cost."