Free Web NovelChapter 40: Chapter 40: Homelander’s Arrival
Chapter 40: Homelander’s Arrival
The leader of the Supes sent by Vought International peeked out from behind the wreckage of the overturned pickup truck, pulling a silver-white metal canister from the side pocket of his tactical vest. The canister wasn’t large, slightly smaller than a can of beer, its surface printed with a line of small Russian text and a faded red skull-and-crossbones symbol. free𝑤ebnovel.com
Edgar had acquired this through special channels and had someone modify it—the original Novichok required close-range pressure contact to take effect, but the weapons experts under Edgar had added a spray mechanism to the canister body. It acted like a smoke grenade; it just needed to be tossed near Soldier Boy.
The leader clicked down the release button on top of the canister. Then he threw it, the canister tracing an arc through the air, landing precisely on the ground less than a meter in front of Benjamin’s feet.
The moment it hit the ground, the canister popped open a built-in diffusion device, and pale blue smoke bubbled out from the vents around the canister body, slowly spreading along the ground. Novichok itself is colorless and odorless. However, when manufacturing this batch of the modified version, a blue coloring agent had been intentionally added to the toxin, purely so the users could see the expansion radius of the toxic mist and avoid accidentally inhaling it themselves.
The layer of pale blue smoke gave off an eerie fluorescence under the afternoon sunlight. It looked like a toxic mist that shouldn’t exist in this world...
"Direct hit!" The Supe leader clenched his fist, his voice filled with the ecstasy of surviving a disaster. "He can’t run now! Just one breath of Novichok..."
The words caught in his throat.
Benjamin glanced down at the smoking metal canister on the ground, the expression on his face completely unshifting. Then he bent down, reached out, and picked up the canister of Novichok.
Benjamin clamped his fingers around both sides of the canister, aimed the nozzle directly at his own mouth, and under the dumbfounded stares of everyone present, took a massive drag. The blue smoke was sucked into his lungs mouthful by mouthful, the liquid level of the toxin inside the canister dropping at a visible pace...
"W-what the hell are you doing?!" Mindstorm screamed.
Benjamin casually tossed the empty metal canister onto the ground. He wiped the residual blue droplets from the corner of his mouth with his thumb, then casually wiped the toxin on his hand against his suit.
"Novichok," his voice wasn’t loud, but every single person present heard it crystal clear. "A fourth-generation binary nerve agent secretly developed by the Soviet Union, meaning ’newcomer’ in Russian. What the fuck do you think you can achieve with it?"
Taking in this scene, every single Supe felt their scalp go completely numb. Mindstorm crouched behind the broken maple tree, his lips trembling violently. Perhaps because the torture and experiments in the Soviet Union had failed to kill him... it had instead caused some kind of change in his body that they couldn’t comprehend.
Maybe it was tolerance, maybe the receptor structure of Compound V in his body had been rewritten, or maybe those forty years of repeated exposure had made Novichok as harmless to him as water. What kind of monster had the Russians created? Edgar had secured the nerve agent, thinking he held a trump card in his hand. In Soldier Boy’s eyes, this card wasn’t even worth a piece of scrap paper...
"Everyone!" Mindstorm bolted up from behind the broken maple tree. "Run! Get the fuck out of here!" Spitting out his words, he turned around and charged backward first.
However, very quickly, Mindstorm ground to a halt. Because someone was blocking his retreat.
A red cape billowed gently in the wind at the edge of the maple forest. Homelander paced forward slowly with his hands behind his back, his boots making a rustling crunch against the fallen leaves. Those terrifying blue eyes flared with a dangerous red glow, the red light slowly swirling around the edges of his irises like a lit fuse.
Mindstorm’s legs went completely weak. "Homelander..." Mindstorm’s lips trembled as he managed to force out the name.
Behind him, the Vought International Supes who hadn’t managed to flee in time also froze dead in their tracks. Then, every single one of them caught sight of the figure walking over with his hands behind his back. Someone’s gun slipped from their hand onto the ground; someone else slumped straight onto the dirt.
The Supe leader who had tossed the Novichok canister stood at the very front. He understood exactly what was happening better than anyone. Homelander had flown all the way from New York; he was here to save his father. And moments ago, they had actually attempted to knock his father out cold with Novichok...
The leader parted his lips, hoarsely trying to explain, "Homelander, we were just following orders... it was Edgar... Edgar made us—"
Homelander didn’t even look at him. His gaze swept over everyone, locking straight onto the figure in the deep green suit in the center of the maple forest.
Benjamin was still standing, his shield gripped in his left hand, the emptied Novichok metal canister resting by his feet. He bore absolutely zero wounds, though his suit was splattered with a heavy amount of blood—none of it his own.
Taking in this scene, Homelander was completely put at ease. He murmured to himself, "My father was sold out by you bastards once, and I wasn’t there that time... But this time, I am." freёwebnovel.com
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A/N: Want to know what happens next? You can read up to 20 Chapters ahead on my p@tr~on:
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