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The Bat-Squad was lying in wait outside Metropolis.
Barry Allen watched Homelander on the screen, trembling with excitement: "My god... he's so good at this! I can barely contain the urge to run"
Slade chuckled darkly.
"A perfect liar, but I like this liar."
Bruce watched the man who was challenging at the Kent Farm on the screen.
Listening to all that talk about alien modifications and deep-space battles, he strongly suspected it was all an improvised script.
But he didn't care.
"He did it," Bruce said softly. "He gave the World what it needed most. Now, it's our turn. Get ready!"
Notification! Gained special popularity value +8000! (From Harley Quinn)
Notification! Gained special popularity value +5000! (From Bruce Wayne)
Notification! Gained special popularity value +5000! (From Victor Stone)
Notification! Gained special popularity value +5000! (From Barry Allen)
Notification! Gained special popularity value +5! (From Jack Napier)
...Smallville, Kent Farm.
"Mr. Milk Candy! You were so cool just now!" Harley put down the camera, rushed over, and hugged Homelander around the waist, her hands subtly sliding lower. "I swear, I almost cried!"
"Not so fast, Little Pumpkin," Homelander said with a smile, patting her head. "The main event is just beginning."
As soon as he finished speaking.
A red-and-blue figure suddenly appeared, crashing down like a meteor and landing heavily in a clearing fifty meters in front of Homelander.
The earth shook violently, debris flew, and dust billowed.
BOOM——!!!
Only then did the deafening sonic boom finally catch up from the distance.
"Whoa! The big guy's here! The show's starting!" Harley excitedly picked up the camera, retreated a dozen meters, and adjusted the framing.
As the dust settled.
The figure that terrified the entire World was finally revealed.
Superman. Clark Kent. Kal-El.
He slowly straightened up, not assuming any combat stance. He just stood there quietly, hands hanging naturally at his sides, his red cape draped behind him.
"You said, you were going to bury who?" Clark slowly raised his head, a flash of red light in his eyes.
"You imitation. Do you think putting on this suit means you can replace me?"
Homelander wasn't in a hurry to fight. Seeing Superman in person for the first time was quite a novel experience.
And he had to admit, this corrupted Superman was indeed majestic and exuded overwhelming pressure.
But who was Homelander? His specialty was tearing apart people's pitiful self-esteem.
"Replace you? Heh..."
Homelander met Superman's gaze without fear, letting out a scornful sneer.
"You think too highly of yourself, Clark."
As he spoke, he began to pace slowly in front of Superman, his eyes full of mockery.
"Why would I want to replace a stray dog?"
"You're seeking death," Superman's eyes blazed with red light, and the surrounding air temperature instantly skyrocketed.
"Angry already?"
Homelander wasn't intimidated; instead, his smile widened. He spread his hands as if chatting with an old friend.
"To be honest, Clark. I'm disappointed in you."
"Look at what you've become. What are you doing? Playing lapdog to the murderer who killed your wife and child."
"SHUT UP!!" Superman roared. These words had precisely struck the rawest nerve in his heart.
"Why should I shut up? Am I wrong?"
Homelander gave Superman no chance to catch his breath, pressing forward step by step, his venomous tongue in full force.
"Darkseid burned a hole through Lois's body with a beam. He roasted your beloved, and your child who hadn't even seen the World yet, to a crisp right in front of you."
"And you? As a husband, as a father, what did you do?"
"You didn't avenge them. You didn't tear Darkseid's head off!"
"You chose to kneel"
Homelander pointed accusingly at Superman's chest, piercing his heart with every word.
"You used the Anti-Life Equation as an excuse! You think as long as your mind is washed, you don't have to face that heart-wrenching pain, right?"
"You transferred your pain onto this World!"
"You killed your friends. You destroyed the hometown you grew up in. You let hundreds of millions pay for your pathetic weakness!"
"You're a coward!" Homelander raised his voice, the word 'coward' echoing over the farm's ruins.
"If Lois could see the despicable sight of you now, playing dog to your enemy... heh." Homelander gave a cold smirk.
'...She'd probably think dying at Darkseid's hands was cleaner than living under your protection!'
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH————!!!"
This sentence completely detonated the agony and madness Superman had suppressed deep in his soul.
The thread of reason snapped.
"DIE!!!"
Two thick, crimson beams of Heat Vision erupted from his eyes, carrying boundless fury, aimed directly at Homelander's face.
"That's more like it!" Homelander had been waiting for this moment.
"Come on, impostor!"
His eyes lit up in turn, not yielding an inch.
ZZZZZZ—BOOM!!!
Two beams of Heat Vision collided violently in mid-air.
Red against red.
A massive shockwave of energy exploded, leveling the farm's broken walls and ruins.
Harley was sent flying by the blast, screaming, but she flipped nimbly in the air, landing steadily, her camera still rock-solid.
She hurriedly retreated another few hundred meters with the camera, readjusting the focus while shrieking excitedly:
"They're fighting! They're fighting! This footage will sell for a lot, a whole lot of money once it's edited!"
...On the wasteland outside Metropolis.
A modified Batplane was flying low, skimming the ground.
"Now!"
In the cockpit, Bruce Wayne watched the screen where the two Sun-bright energies were entangled, a sharp glint in his eyes.
"While Superman has lost his mind and his focus is entirely on Homelander."
"We retrieve the mother box!!"
Bruce pushed the control stick. The Batplane gained altitude, its engines spewing blue flames, its speed instantly skyrocketing.
In moments, it arrived over the LexCorp tower.
"Move."
At Batman's command.
"Copy."
The rear hatch of the aircraft opened.
A red streak of lightning shot out first.
Barry Allen sprinted between buildings. The Speed Force allowed him to ignore gravity, running directly up the vertical face of the skyscraper.
"Parademon patrol ahead!" Barry shouted over the comms.
"Leave it to me."
Deathstroke Slade leaped from the plane towards the tower's roof, drawing the alloy longsword from his back mid-air.
THWACK!
The moment he landed, he cleaved a Parademon clean in two.
Then he raised his assault rifle, unleashing a furious burst of fire, knocking down the Parademons swarming around him one by one.