Bang! Bang! Bang!
Explosions echoed through the sky like endless thunder, shaking the entire city as if the heavens themselves were collapsing. The shockwaves rolled across Gotham City, shattering glass, tearing debris from buildings, and sending it spiraling through the air.
For a moment, many citizens believed a storm was breaking overhead.
Adrian moved through the sky at extreme Mach speed, his body reduced to a streak of light invisible to the naked eye. He did not fly in a straight path. Instead, he twisted through the air in unpredictable arcs, spirals, and figure-eight patterns, as if rewriting the sky itself with motion.
Any Parademon that came into contact with that light was instantly erased, reduced to ash before it could even register what had happened.
Behind him, the remnants of destroyed Parademons drifted downward like black snow. What remained of their bodies scattered across the city in a silent, falling rain of soot and dust.
Gotham had become a storm of ash.
Adrian did not slow down.
He had already marked Earth as his territory.
And anything invading it was something to be eliminated.
Without hesitation, he accelerated again, the sonic boom trailing behind him as he shot out of Gotham toward Metropolis.
Below, the aftermath settled into silence.
In Gotham, Cyborg stood frozen, processing the data streaming through his systems as ash rained down around him.
Selina Kyle reached out, letting a fragment of blackened debris fall into her palm.
"He…" she murmured, staring upward at the falling ash. "He really did it."
Nearby, Black Canary exhaled sharply, eyes tracking the distant sky where the last of the explosions had vanished.
"What was that supposed to be?"
Even she, experienced in combat, had not expected complete annihilation in seconds.
Cyborg checked his readouts, silent for a moment before speaking.
"It's complicated. But Homelander just removed an entire threat wave in one pass."
Black Canary clenched her fist, still watching the ash drift down.
"Don't expect me to thank him. Not after what he's done to Oliver."
A voice cut in.
Deathstroke stood with his arms folded.
"You're missing the point. This isn't just destruction. It's influence. Every action he takes reinforces his position."
Black Canary frowned. "What does that even mean?"
"It means," Deathstroke replied, turning away, "he just made the world more dependent on him."
He started walking.
"My contract here is done. Call it even."
"You're leaving?" Cyborg asked.
"I work for profit, not attachment," Deathstroke said simply. "And there's nothing left here worth staying for."
No one stopped him.
Selina watched him go, then adjusted her gear.
"I'm done here too," she said casually, glancing back once. "Don't die without me, superheroes."
She turned and walked away.
She had originally intended to go to Metropolis.
To check on Adrian.
But seeing him turn destruction into spectacle, she decided there was no urgency. He was not someone who needed rescuing.
Metropolis, meanwhile, had suffered the same fate.
In the skies above the city, Wonder Woman moved through the battlefield, her blade stained as she cut down the remaining Parademons. Around her, civilians were evacuating from damaged aircraft, emergency slides deployed as smoke filled the air.
Then it happened.
The remaining Parademons in the sky detonated all at once.
A chain of explosions turned the entire swarm into burning fragments.
Cheers erupted from the survivors below.
"We're alive!"
"They're gone!"
"Homelander did it!"
"Superman saved us earlier, but Homelander ended it!"
The city erupted in chaotic relief.
Wonder Woman exhaled slowly, placing a hand on her hip as she looked up at the fading explosions.
"He really did it…"
There was no doubt in her voice.
Pride followed immediately after.
Not in the battle.
In Adrian.
Meanwhile, two reporters hidden near the wreckage, Lois Lane and Jimmy, were scrambling to recover footage.
"Tell me you got that," Lois demanded, gripping a bent microphone.
"I got it," Jimmy replied quickly, holding up the camera. "I got everything from the beginning to the end."
"Then stop talking and check again!"
Inside LexCorp headquarters, Lex Luthor watched the footage in silence alongside Grayson.
"He's done it," Lex said finally.
"Who?"
"Homelander."
Lex leaned back, eyes narrowing.
"He didn't just win. He established dominance. That's what people will remember."
Grayson frowned. "He saved lives, didn't he?"
"Saving lives isn't what defines him in their eyes," Lex replied. "Perception does."
In another city, Barry Allen ran across the continent at increasing speed, tracking anomalies.
Then he saw it.
A streak of black light passed overhead.
He stopped instantly.
His eyes widened.
"That's Adrian…"
The realization hit him as he watched the aftermath of destruction bloom across another city in seconds.
"Incredible…"
Back in Metropolis, Courtney stood in the center of the ruined battlefield, unwilling to move.
"We should go," someone said.
But she didn't answer immediately.
Her attention drifted to her hands.
Her weapon was gone.
And something inside her felt unfinished.
Then a voice spoke behind her.
"Hey, your favorite superhero is here."
She turned.
A figure surrounded by crackling pink lightning stood behind her, striking a theatrical pose.
"I'm late, aren't I?"
Courtney blinked.
"What… are you?"
"I'm Thunderbolt Sprite," the figure replied proudly. "And I was instructed to make my entrance more impressive."
From behind him, Mike appeared awkwardly.
"Uh… that's my friend."
Courtney's expression hardened instantly.
"You took my things again."
"I was trying to help," Mike muttered.
"By risking everything again?" she snapped. "You never think about what happens after."
She turned away.
"I'm telling Pat."
And she walked off.
Mike stood there alone.
Later.
The entire world had already learned what happened.
The alien invasion had been erased.
And Adrian's name spread across every screen, every broadcast, every conversation.
A savior once again.
In a Metropolis high-rise office, Adrian sat at his desk while his assistant Hanna stood beside him.
On the table was a small cake.
"For your birthday," Hanna said softly.
Adrian looked at it briefly.
Then at her.
Finally, he spoke.
"Hanna, do you understand what I see?"
She hesitated.
He continued.
"What you see as normal, I see differently. Completely differently."
His tone was steady, not emotional, just factual.
"And yet you still stand here."
Hanna didn't respond.
She had no answer at all.