◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews.
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones. or 500 Collections
◇ You can read 50 chapter ahead on P@treon of which 10 Chapters are free. if you're interested: patreon.com/Heroicverse
------------------------------------------------
It was a red and blue figure.
That's right, it was Anthony himself.
His back was to the gate, hands behind his back, seemingly admiring his own statue.
Pietro's heart skipped a beat.
"Calm down, Pietro, calm down," he told himself. "He doesn't know. No one knows."
"Just be natural, say hello, and then leave."
Pietro squeezed out a smile, preparing to call out, "Captain Anthony."
But at that moment, a biological, primal fear gripped his heart.
Don't say hello.
Don't go near him.
Run.
I have to run.
Pietro trusted his intuition; it had saved him countless times in Sokovia.
He didn't speak, but instead pretended not to see him. With a push of his toes, his body instantly entered a state of acceleration.
The effects of the T-VEX stock solution were still at their peak.
The surrounding World stood still once more.
The pigeons in the square were suspended in mid-air, their wings frozen in a flapping motion.
The smiles of the passersby were frozen on their faces.
The droplets from the fountain's Water were like a curtain of still crystal beads.
In this frozen World, Pietro was the only king.
Turning into a silver stream of light, he drew a massive arc, trying to circle around Anthony from the side and rear, heading straight for the end of the street.
"Just get around him..."
Pietro calculated the trajectory in his mind.
Fifty meters away from Anthony, he made a high-speed change in direction.
However.
At the very moment he thought he had safely zipped past.
Something terrifying happened.
In this World where everything was still.
That figure with his back turned... that head which should have been as still as a statue... turned slightly to the side.
Only about fifteen degrees.
But those fifteen degrees, in Pietro's eyes, were more terrifying than the earth splitting apart!
He moved?!
In this domain where time was frozen, he could actually move?!
Then, a scene that made Pietro's soul leave his body appeared.
Anthony's azure eyes were slowly turning... following Pietro's high-speed trajectory.
When Pietro ran to the left, the eyes turned to the left.
When Pietro changed direction to the right, the eyes followed to the right.
It was a gaze that saw through time.
"Ah—!!!"
Pietro's mind exploded.
He saw me.
He knows.
He's waiting for me.
"Run!!!"
Pietro no longer cared about disguises or detours.
His legs became a blurred phantom as he tried to escape that gaze, to escape that monster.
The Atlantic Ocean—he would run onto the Atlantic Ocean, use the sea surface as a runway, and run all the way to Europe in one go!
"Faster! Faster! Even faster!!"
Pietro felt like his heart was about to explode, but he didn't dare stop, or even look back.
One second.
He crossed the Brooklyn Bridge.
Ten seconds.
He passed the end of Long Island.
Thirty seconds.
The vast Atlantic Ocean appeared before him.
He didn't slow down, stepping directly onto the sea surface.
The immense surface tension between his soles and the Water made him feel as if he were on level ground, with the white waves he kicked up only exploding seconds later.
"Huff... huff..."
Pietro panted heavily. Even in a state of super-speed, this high-intensity sprint left him breathless.
But he felt slightly more at ease.
Around him was the endless deep blue sea, with only the whistling of the sea breeze.
"Did I lose him?"
Pietro slowed down slightly and glanced back.
It was empty behind him.
Only the horizon.
"Scared me to death... that guy is simply not human..."
"Um, are you talking about me?"
A gentle, somewhat curious voice abruptly sounded in his ear.
Pietro whipped his head around.
To his right, walking side-by-side with him.
Homelander was floating backward over the sea, maintaining the same speed as him.
He followed Pietro effortlessly, as if he were taking a stroll in the park.
Not even a hair was out of place.
"You..."
Pietro was so terrified his legs gave way, and he tumbled forward.
He skipped across the sea like a stone, tumbling dozens of times and kicking up countless splashes before finally sinking miserably into the Water.
"Glug glug..."
A few seconds later, a hand grabbed him by the back of the collar and lifted him out like a chick.
"Cough, cough, cough!!"
Pietro was tossed onto a lonely reef, spitting out mouthfuls of salty seawater.
He was soaked to the bone and shivering.
Not from the cold, but from despair.
Homelander hovered in the air, looking down at him.
The setting sun behind him cast a golden outline, making him look both divine and terrifying.
"You run quite fast, Pietro."
Homelander smiled and slowly descended, his boots stepping onto the slippery reef.
"Is this another new use for T-VEX stock solution? A maritime marathon?"
Homelander crouched down and reached into Pietro's arms to pull out a Lead box.
He opened it.
He glanced at the blue T-VEX stock solution inside.
"Is this the little snack you took behind my back?"
Homelander closed the box and tossed it in his hand.
Pietro rolled over and lay on his back on the reef, looking at the darkening sky as tears mixed with seawater flowed down his face.
"Just kill me," he closed his eyes, his voice raspy. "I betrayed Vought. I'm from HYDRA."
"Why?" Homelander asked, knowing the answer.
"For money? For power? Or do you feel Vought has mistreated you?"
"No! It's not that!"
Pietro jerked his head up, his eyes bloodshot.
"It's for Wanda!"
"She's the only family I have... I can't be without her..."
Pietro said as tears fell.
"Since it's for family, why didn't you say so earlier?"
In Homelander's voice, there was no anger; instead, it carried a kind of elder-like affection.
Pietro was stunned.
He opened his eyes and looked at Homelander in disbelief.
"You... you're not going to kill me?"
"Kill you?" Homelander laughed. "Because you made a mistake to save your sister?"
Homelander crouched down and sat beside Pietro.
"Pietro, Vought isn't just a company, and we aren't just a team."
"It's a family."
"From the moment you joined, you had more family than just Wanda."
"And in a family, going through Fire and Water for your kin isn't a sin; it's a virtue."
Homelander looked directly at Pietro, a hint of disappointment flashing in his "sincere" eyes.
"I'm very disappointed, Pietro. Not because you stole something, but because you didn't trust me."
"You ran into trouble, why didn't you tell me?"
"Did you think I would just watch your sister suffer and do nothing?"
"I..." Pietro choked up, "I thought..."
"Don't think."
Homelander stood up and threw the blue test tube back to Pietro.
Pietro caught it clumsily.
"This..." He was dumbfounded.
"Take it," Homelander said indifferently.
"What?!" Pietro doubted his ears.
"Since HYDRA wants it, then give it to them."
Homelander turned his back, looked into the distance, and said calmly.
"Take it and go to Sokovia."
"Give them the item and bring Wanda back."
"But... this is the stock solution!" Pietro said anxiously. "It's Vought's most precious asset..."
"No, Pietro. This isn't; you are!"
"Vought's most precious assets are only you all, and they always have been!"