[New York, a Rented Apartment]
"Maeve!"
After the explosion, Elena called out her friend's name while coughing.
Suddenly, a figure rushed out of the thick smoke. It was Maeve.
Aside from having some singed hair, she hadn't suffered much damage.
Maeve grabbed Elena and jumped out of the apartment.
Elena felt the wind rushing past her ears and screamed in fright. Suddenly, her whole body jolted, and they had already landed on the ground.
Maeve put her down and pointed toward the end of the street, "Run. Hurry, Elena."
But the jump just now, combined with the impact when they landed, was already too much for Elena. She leaned against a car and started vomiting, completely unable to run.
In the blink of an eye, Carnage and the other parasites also came down from the building.
Each of them used their own methods.
The "body" of Carnage covering his host transformed into a huge claw, allowing him to easily scrape his way down the wall and land on the ground.
Of the other two parasites, one had the space around it twisting and blurring as it slowly descended using an anti-gravity field; the other transformed into flames, roaring down to the ground before reforming.
The parasitic dog seemed able to change the structure of its body at will. It grew a pair of membranous wings and flapped them as it landed on Maeve's other side.
"You can't escape, superhero."
Carnage's eyes gave off an intimidating light as he pointed at Maeve.
The parasitic dog pounced first. It opened its mouth, and to give it a larger biting surface, the corners of its mouth kept splitting apart as rings of sharp teeth grew from inside.
It suddenly bit down on Maeve's right calf, but couldn't break through her skin.
Maeve grunted and kicked hard, sending the parasitic dog flying.
The mutated dog crashed into a Bentley, smashing and shifting the car as its alarm blared nonstop.
At the same time, the parasite capable of turning into flames raised both hands and blasted raging flames from them.
The other parasite wrapped Maeve in a layer of force field, creating an enclosed space around her.
The flames had nowhere to escape inside this space and could only slam around wildly before finally exploding violently.
But all the energy from the explosion was trapped inside the force-field space, so Maeve took the full force of the damage.
When the parasite released the force field, a column of fire shot into the sky. But at that moment, Maeve burst out of the flames and slammed a fist into the parasite using the force-field ability, crushing its chest and sending it flying with the punch.
But Carnage had already reached Maeve. He extended a hand and gently placed it against her chest. Suddenly, his five fingers stretched out violently, launching Maeve backward.
Maeve flew several hundred meters and crashed into a lamp post. Carnage's five fingers were still desperately digging into her chest, but they only tore through her suit and couldn't penetrate her body.
Maeve grabbed those fingers, swung them sideways, and sent Carnage crashing into a building.
Then Maeve picked up the lamp post behind her, pulled it out of the ground, and threw it like a javelin at the parasitic dog flying toward her.
Thud!
The copper pole pierced through the parasitic dog's body, carrying it away and pinning it to a building across the street.
Having just done all this, Maeve didn't even have time to catch her breath before she suddenly felt a heavy pressure descend on her body.
It was the parasite capable of manipulating force fields. It was pressing its palm downward, causing a force field to press down on her head and shoulders like a mountain.
The parasite released several more force fields in succession. Maeve's body immediately sank, and both her legs were already pressed into the road.
"Maeve."
Elena ran toward her.
"Don't come over."
Maeve called out with difficulty, "Leave me. Go."
Elena hesitated, but eventually nodded.
However, just as she was about to leave, a black line swept past her waist.
"No!"
Maeve screamed.
It turned out to be a scythe formed from Carnage's body, which cut Elena in half at the waist.
Seeing her friend instantly become a corpse, Maeve was consumed by rage. She suddenly pushed upward, breaking through the force field and bursting out like a cannonball.
The force field came crashing down, crushing the section of road and creating a hole.
Maeve came to her friend's side and lifted Elena's upper body, but her friend was already dead.
Elena's mouth was open, her eyes staring blankly at the sky, as if she couldn't believe she had died just like that.
"Did we get the wrong one?"
"Whatever, she's just food anyway."
Carnage walked out of the building and toward Maeve.
The other parasites did the same, including the parasitic dog, which had already pulled its body out of the lamp post.
Maeve knelt on the ground, tears falling onto Elena's face like beads from a broken string.
She didn't even realize that she was already surrounded by parasites.
It wasn't until the parasitic dog pounced that she screamed and grabbed its jaws with both hands.
She suddenly pulled in opposite directions, tearing the vicious dog in half and allowing its warm blood and filthy entrails to splash all over her.
After throwing away the corpse, Maeve punched the head of the parasite controlling the force field, directly blowing its head apart.
However, this alone couldn't kill the "Shapeshifter."
It continued controlling the force field over Maeve's body, making it difficult for her to move.
Carnage walked up to Maeve and stared into her eyes, "I wonder if your eyes are as hard as your skin."
Then he raised his hand. One of his fingers slowly lengthened, its tip inching toward Maeve's eye.
Through the livestream, people all over the world could see this scene.
At this moment, the internet was filled with cries of despair.
[It's over, it's over. Queen Maeve is definitely going to die.]
[I can't believe Queen Maeve was the first one hunted. She's so pitiful.]
[Where's Homelander? Isn't he Queen Maeve's partner? Where is he?]
[That coward Homelander. Don't tell me he already found somewhere to hide.]
[Piece-of-shit Homelander. He's so afraid of dying, yet he calls himself a superhero.]
[Stop talking. Maeve is about to be executed. Humanity has no hope left.]
———
[New York, On the Scene]
Maeve had no idea what was happening online. All she knew was that death was grinning at her.
At that moment, she suddenly thought, 'Maybe this isn't so bad?'
Just then, a deep-red beam of light suddenly flashed across her field of vision.
Carnage's finger was cut into two.
Then the beam swept across, moving back and forth.
Carnage's body, along with the host he was parasitizing, was reduced to fragments scattered across the ground.
Only a pair of feet wearing shoes remained standing on the ground.
Maeve froze for a moment and looked incredulously toward where the beam had come from, "Homelander?"
However, when her gaze focused, what she saw was an eight- or nine-year-old boy.
Two points of red light were fading from the boy's eyes.
The boy held a popsicle in his hand and waved at Maeve.
Only then did Maeve realize that the little boy was floating in midair.
The internet exploded again.
[Fuck! Who is this? Is this a kid version of Homelander?]
[He really does look like Homelander. Look, he can fly, and he shoots laser beams from his eyes just like Homelander.]
[Could he be Homelander's son?]
[I don't care who he is. I hereby declare that this kid is my idol!]
[Look, who is that?]
On the screen, another tall woman walked down the street.
Her hair was messy, and she was blowing bubbles with gum. She raised a hand and made a squeezing motion as if crushing something.
The parasite controlling the force field suddenly exploded, spraying blood everywhere and dying completely.
[Fuck, another superhero!]
[But I can't remember who she is.]
[Who cares? She's awesome.]
[What's going on? Are the superheroes fighting back?]
[Yes! Except for that damn Homelander, who knows where the hell he is, all the other heroes have shown up. We're saved!]
Maeve's body relaxed and she fell to the ground. She looked at the woman walking toward her while chewing gum and couldn't help asking, "Who are you?"
At this moment, the parasite capable of turning into flames tried to escape, but suddenly a shadow rose from beneath his feet and wrapped around him.
Even after turning into flames, he couldn't escape. Only after the oxygen inside the shadow space had burned away did he return to his original form.
The mass of shadow then wrapped around him and sent him flying toward a stretch limousine that had just driven onto the street.
The car door opened, and Angelina stepped out in an evening dress.
She made a fist-clenching gesture toward the mass of shadow. The shadow twisted and spun, twisting the parasite inside into a spiral. Finally, its body burst apart into pieces.
She released her hand, and the shadow dispersed, causing the parasite's fragments to fall all over the ground.
Online, the emotions of the netizens instantly reached a peak.
[That's so damn cool. Who is this girl? I want to kneel at her feet!]
[You don't know her? She's CEO Angelina, the head of the Caydon Group. I never knew she was a superhero too.]
[Rich, beautiful, and has superpowers. This is a life with cheats enabled. Type 666 on the screen if you're jealous.]
[I heard she's Homelander's lover. I wonder if that's true.]
[No way. That's really a flower stuck in a pile of shit.]
While the internet was buzzing with discussion, Angelina looked toward the camera and calmly said, "Shapeshifters, my master says your game is interesting, so from this moment on, we're joining the game too."
"The difference is that we'll be hunting you and killing every last one of you."
"We also welcome the superheroes of New York, the Federation, and the entire world to join us."
"Let's show these extraterrestrial life-forms who don't know their own limits exactly who is hunting whom."
This caused an uproar.
Whether online or in the real world, people were all asking the same question: Who was her master?
But regardless, Angelina's appearance had undoubtedly lifted people's spirits and allowed them to see hope again.
———
[Central Region]
Inside a house, "Starlight" Annie watched Maeve and Angelina on the television.
She seemed to have made up her mind. Still dressed in civilian clothes, she walked into the bedroom. When she came back out, she had already changed into her yellow-and-white suit.
Seeing her daughter put her suit back on, Donna hurriedly said, "No, no, Annie. You don't have to go."
"Didn't you decide not to be a superhero anymore?"
"I did think that way, Mom."
Starlight hugged her mother, "But this is a global crisis. No one can stay out of it."
"And my friends are fighting. I can't stay here."
"Mom, I promise I'll come back."
"But..."
Donna tightly held her daughter's hand, "You stayed away from all this because you were afraid. Why do you want to go back?"
"I really am afraid."
Starlight smiled, "Really. My hands are still shaking."
"But some things have to be done even if you're afraid."
"Maybe my power is very weak, but I still want to do something for you and for everyone."
"At the very least, I can light a beam of light in the darkness."
After kissing her mother on the cheek, Starlight walked out of the house without hesitation.
———
However, not every superhero was like Starlight, willing to step forward and fight.
After all, for most superheroes, this was simply a job. Who would be willing to lose their life for work?
So when "Black Skeleton," parasitizing the Secretary of Defense, led thousands of parasites onto the streets of New York and toward Angelina and the others, there were only a handful of superheroes on the other side.
Even so, Angelina showed no fear.
She calmly glanced at Maeve, "Aren't you leaving?"
Maeve's eyes held only anger, "No. I'm not leaving until I've killed all these bastards."
She had decided to avenge her best friend.
Angelina smiled, took a long case from the car, and handed it to Maeve.
"Here, Master said it should suit you."
Maeve opened it. Inside was a long sword shining brilliantly.
She picked it up and tried swinging it, finding it very satisfactory.
At this moment, Black Skeleton led the army of parasites to occupy the street like an ocean, ready to drown Angelina and the others at any moment.
"Look, you humans are truly pathetic."
"Even when you're willing to step forward and set an example, you still can't get any support."
"You don't actually think three women and a child can deal with us, do you?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of a helicopter rang out. A helicopter flew over from the distance.
When it hovered above the battlefield, a figure descended from the sky and crashed onto a car.
Then Starlight jumped down. Her eyes lit up as electricity from the surrounding cars and buildings continuously flowed into her.
"Who says they don't have support?"
She walked over beside Maeve, "Good thing I made it."
Maeve smiled, "Aren't you still on leave?"
Starlight looked toward the parasites in the distance, "Yeah. My vacation is over."
Then several more cars drove down the street from the distance and came all the way to Angelina and the others.
The doors opened, and the Ice Princess, Electric Man, and Elemental Man stepped out of the cars.
"How are you, everyone?", Electric Man greeted them enthusiastically.
The Ice Princess was surrounded by cold air and walked forward reluctantly, "I hope the Federation isn't lying. But it probably isn't, right? After all, the president himself promised that if we win this battle, we'll each get a hundred million dollars, tax-free."
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