This was a welfare orphanage funded by the government. Dozens of orphans of different ages lived here. The oldest were thirteen or fourteen, and the youngest were still in swaddling clothes.
The smallest baby was in a caregiver's arms. Whether from fright or hunger, the infant cried loudly without stopping.
"Shut up!"
A bald man walked over and pointed a gun at the caregiver, "Make him shut up, or I'll shoot all of you!"
The young female caregiver's legs went weak with fear. At that moment, a woman in her early thirties, tall, wearing black stockings like an office worker, said, "Give him to me."
She took the baby, checked him skillfully, and said, "He's hungry. If you want him to stop crying, you'll have to let me get him something to eat."
The bald man shouted, "No way!"
"Don't babies just drink milk?"
"There are so many of you here. Doesn't anyone have milk?"
"Damn it! It's so noisy!"
"Go to hell, you little brat!"
He raised his rifle and aimed at the baby.
"Stop!"
The woman in black stockings quickly shielded the baby with her own body. At that moment, two golden beams suddenly shot down from above the activity room.
They entered through the bald man's head, burst out from below his body, and struck the ground.
The beams flashed and disappeared.
Two finger-sized holes appeared in the floor. The bald man swayed twice, eyes wide, and collapsed.
At the same time, two more beams descended from above and finished off the other kidnapper.
Then people saw a figure slowly descending outside the activity room. Flowing golden hair reflected the afternoon sunlight, like a blazing flame.
The black battle suit was deep in color, outlined by a rim of light under the sun, giving an inexplicable sense of reassurance.
Even though it was only a back view, everyone inside the activity room knew what had happened. Some seven- or eight-year-old children even clapped excitedly.
"Homelander!"
"Homelander came to save us!"
Hearing the voices from inside, Alex glanced back, gave a bright smile, and made a gesture for silence before walking toward the front yard.
In the front yard, the criminals holding their ground on the first floor of the office building had no idea what had happened behind them. Only when a sniper on the rooftop saw Alex strolling out did he shout into his radio.
"Homelander!"
"It's Homelander! I see him. He's coming from the activity room."
"I've lost contact with George and the others. Damn it, I said we shouldn't let just the two of them guard the hostages!"
The sniper was yelling when suddenly his vision went bright, as if a sun had fallen before his eyes. The pain made him scream.
But before he could finish, he lost consciousness. Two golden beams from Alex had pierced through his head.
Alex then scanned the office building again and saw the kidnappers rushing over. He wore a smile, yet beams of Heat Vision shot from his eyes.
With the support of "Absolute Hit," each beam precisely pierced the bodies of the kidnappers inside the building.
Just then, several grenades were thrown out from the building.
Alex laughed. He did not try to stop them. With his hands on his hips, he even turned back and gave the people in the activity room a victory sign.
However, when the grenades landed near him, they did not explode. Instead, they released large amounts of gas.
In an instant, Alex's figure was swallowed by thick smoke.
Soon after, he flew out of the smoke and rose into the air.
Looking down from above, he chuckled.
"No way. You're not actually planning to defeat me with tear gas or something, are you?"
"Have your boss come out. I don't have time to play hide and seek."
As soon as he finished speaking, Alex suddenly wobbled.
Then his body dropped straight down.
Just before hitting the ground, he managed to regain control, hovering less than ten centimeters above it.
"What's going on?"
Alex froze, then landed on the ground.
All of a sudden, it felt as if he had lost his ability to fly.
He frowned and fired Heat Vision at the building again. His eyes quickly lit up, but like a light bulb running out of power, they dimmed just as fast.
He could not use Heat Vision.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
Alex's shoulder jerked as he was hit by a sniper round.
The bullet flattened and fell to the ground. It still could not injure him, but he felt a trace of pain.
This was something he had never encountered since crossing over into this world.
He could feel it. His abilities seemed to be fading. Like Superman facing kryptonite, he was growing weaker.
'Unbelievable.'
"Haha, what's wrong?"
"The mighty, all-powerful Homelander, why the long face now?"
"Come on, use your laser eyes on me."
"Or can't your eyes shoot lasers anymore?"
A man swaggered out of the office building. Wearing a gas mask, he laughed wildly at Alex.
"Quick, film this."
"What's coming next will be exciting. The savior, the arrogant Homelander, will be trampled under my feet, by me, Lizard!"
Seeing the self-proclaimed "Lizard" wearing a gas mask, Alex glanced back at the still-rising smoke and suddenly understood. There was something wrong with the smoke.
Alex looked at Lizard, "What is that smoke?"
"Where did you get that stuff?"
Lizard burst into laughter, "Why would I tell you? Take your questions to hell. Open fire!"
Alex immediately retreated into the smoke.
The remaining kidnappers raised their rifles, aimed at the smoke, and fired. Streams of bullets shot into it, churning the thick cloud.
Outside the orphanage, the police surrounding the entrance heard the intense gunfire inside and looked at each other, unsure what was happening.
Farther away, media reporters had already received word. One said to the camera, "Everyone, Homelander has arrived at the orphanage and is currently engaged with the criminals. We believe the situation will be resolved soon."
After more than ten seconds, the gunfire inside finally stopped. From outside, however, thick smoke billowed from the orphanage, obscuring everything. No one could see what was happening inside.
Inside the orphanage, after calling for a ceasefire, Lizard narrowed his eyes and studied the smoke outside the building.
"He should be dead, right? Homelander."
"Their superpower suppressant really works. With this stuff, we won't have to fear those damn superheroes anymore."
As he was speaking, suddenly, a figure burst out of the smoke.
Homelander!
Though he had lost abilities like flight, he crashed into the office building in a single charge and lunged forward.
He knocked Lizard to the ground and began punching him left and right, leaving him dazed.
Just as Homelander pinned Lizard down, in Lizard's eyes, a figure suddenly appeared behind Homelander.
Then a streak of black light flashed across the back of Homelander's neck.
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