A knock came from outside the Villa.
Jansen opened the door, ready to sign for the package.
But he found a man in a blue suit, wearing a cape with the Stars and Stripes, smiling brightly at him, yet with a playful glint in his eyes, as if looking at a trapped mouse.
(Everyone involved in this incident will have their memories erased later.)
"Home… Homelander."
Jansen recoiled in fear. A character from television had stepped into reality, but this was no wonderful thing; it was a nightmare.
He kept his composure, his smile stiff as he spoke.
"Does this delivery company have some kind of promotion?
I can't believe I get to meet Homelander."
Ignoring his attempts to cover up, Homelander placed a hand on his shoulder, closed the door, and led him back into the Villa to sit down.
"You might not know this, but we at Vought are a company that often focuses on public safety, and we have a specialized crime investigation department."
He looked around casually, as if in his own home, then sized him up with disdain.
"Oxygen tanks, gas masks, welding and cutting equipment—all the things you ordered, plus the fact that you're a supe.
It makes one wonder if you're planning to dig a tunnel from the sewer to infiltrate a bank and cut open safes."
"How could that be?"
His ability needed time to activate, Jansen argued, not daring to act rashly.
Homelander didn't care about that; he hadn't come for such a reason. Otherwise, Black Noir would have handled a bank robbery.
"You know, it's hard for people to live in modern society without leaving a trace. What's interesting is that we checked globally, and you haven't had a single record in recent years, as if you vanished from this Earth."
Homelander stared at him with an impassive face and sharp eyes, putting immense pressure on Jansen.
"Can you tell me what's going on?"
"This… this."
Unable to defend himself, his biggest secret discovered, cold sweat streamed down his forehead. Jansen gritted his teeth and activated his ability, a mysterious blue glow emanating from his body.
Whoosh!
The next second, Homelander vanished from his spot, his speed far exceeding that of an ordinary person as he knocked Jansen unconscious with a chop to the neck.
"Too slow."
Jansen had contemptuously believed that in a struggle with Batman, he would surely win, at least remaining undefeated with his abilities.
But he hadn't expected that he no longer had a chance to leave this World.
When Jansen woke up again, he was in a special prison inside Vought, horrified to find the chair he was tightly bound to was welded to the entire steel floor.
A Vought internal psychic, after touching his limbs and sifting through his memories, knew that his ability couldn't teleport with large objects.
"A person who can travel to parallel Worlds, interesting…"
Through the one-way glass, Homelander watched him with narrowed eyes and hands clasped behind his back. A brand new World was so enticing to explore.
But he still hesitated: "Let's wait until Ron returns."
…
"Is it a hallucination?"
Ron's powerful psychic ability swept through, but he found nothing.
"No, it can't be a hallucination."
He turned his head, pretending he hadn't noticed anything, but deep down, he didn't believe his psychic perception had failed.
But who on Earth could evade his psychic perception at this moment…
"Homelander's mental ability isn't bad to begin with, and combined with Charles's ability level when he was young, my psychic ability is now almost on par with Charles in his prime."
"That was close, so close, I almost got caught."
Galactus patted her chest. She had been too engrossed watching Ron, her emotions stirred, and she forgot to rein in her fluctuations.
"Every cell in him tells me how delicious he is. I really can't hold back much longer."
A new person had appeared on Earth who could provide her with immense life energy.
Aside from the 'little guy' still unborn in the Earth's core, he was almost one of the most powerful individuals on this Planet.
"But… but I can't."
She forcibly restrained herself, merely watching.
…
Standing his ground, Ron withstood all of Wakanda's weapons, and with his unimaginable speed, even the most stubborn tribal leaders of Wakanda had to admit that Ron had the power to conquer and subjugate their nation alone.
Following ancient tradition, Ron's coronation ceremony was swiftly completed.
A massive projection hung in the sky.
Ron received the sacred anointing from the priest, a silver necklace made of Vibranium panther teeth. Everyone in the entire nation, from priests and tribal chiefs to ordinary citizens, bowed in reverence, showing their new King the highest respect.
At night, in the brightly lit city center, atop a towering skyscraper.
In a room where every detail exuded nobility, the light was bright and soft, almost like daytime.
Ron overlooked the nation that now belonged to him.
"Aren't you going to show yourself?"
Silence.
There was no answer.
"You've been watching me all day.
At first, you hid quite well, but later…"
"A delicious and tempting meal placed before someone who can't eat it will naturally make them hungrier and hungrier, leading to weakness."
Galactus, in a purple long dress, materialized from the void accompanied by cosmic energy, like a deity descending to the mortal World. Her toes lightly touched the ground as she slowly landed.
Being a true deity, she rubbed her stomach and complained in response.
"I initially thought you were someone else."
Slowly turning around, his pupils contracted. He scrutinized Galactus with some surprise, his gaze lingering on her highly distinctive helmet for a moment before he softly said,
"But then I found your psychic fluctuations to be more—lively."
He had initially thought it was the Ancient One observing him, coming to find him after glimpsing a future altered by his influence. But the psychic presence he later detected had no trace of calm or indifference, nor was it particularly steady, which made him dismiss that idea.
"I bet what you want to say isn't that at all."
Galactus's clear eyes seemed to see through some little secret as she narrowed them.
"If you're hungry, why hold back?"
Ron asked with a light laugh, looking at the daughter of the famous Galactus in the Universe.
Galactus, daughter of Galactus, one of the five supreme cosmic entities, was a sub-divine cosmic entity.
"I love this beautiful Planet, and I love the creatures on this Planet. I have a strict diet that prohibits eating local species, and humans are one of them."
She looked at Ron, secretly sizing him up.
"Even if… eating you could provide me with hundreds of billions of calories, I would still endure."
"If you weren't drooling while saying that, I might be more convinced."
Ron said with a slight tease, knowing that this divine maiden loved Earth and would indeed not harm humans.
In fact, in the comics, she often helped Earth resolve crises from aliens and the Universe.
What she meant by 'eating' was actually absorbing life energy.
Grrr…
"You've ruined me."
Her stomach rumbled twice, and Galactus suddenly pouted, clutching her stomach as she complained.
"Because I made you hungrier?" Ron raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't seem to be my fault."
"I was already very hungry, and seeing you made me even hungrier.
Thanks to you, I have to leave Earth for a while."
Though she knew it wasn't Ron's fault, Galactus still felt miserable. As a sub-divine cosmic entity, she was always hungry.
She had to temporarily leave this beautiful Planet to replenish life energy on other Planets.
"Good luck."
He didn't ask why.
Galactus, as the daughter of Galactus, was tormented by constant hunger, just like Galactus himself. She was driven by a terrifying hunger that could drive ordinary people insane, constantly seeking life energy to devour, like an insatiable black hole, otherwise she would become delirious from hunger and her power would weaken—severely weaken!
The 'invincible' Galactus, one of the five supreme cosmic entities, was often defeated by some third-tier cosmic figures for this very reason.
"Oh, a little reminder from Gali.
This is a primary place of worship for a certain deity."
Before her figure vanished into the void, Galactus, who called herself Gali, gave a playful wink and a kind reminder.
In her eyes, Ron hadn't been scared by her 'strange' words, nor had he asked too many questions; he was an interesting person.
"She's not here right now, and you're not one of her followers. Trying to rule the people of this land will probably lead to trouble."
After saying that, she disappeared, leaving Earth for other Planets.
"Panther God Bast…"
Ron's face was expressionless.
He had known that Wakanda's Panther God truly existed, one of the Outer Gods of the Universe, but having arrived on Earth relatively early, she was considered one of Earth's ancient deities, having had many divine names and changed many identities.
However, he didn't pay much attention.
"The current me might not be a match for Odin, but dealing with a Panther God is no problem."