"Hey, Starlight."
"I'm so sorry, but right now I'm talking with—"
Starlight had assumed it was another zealous fan coming over for an autograph, a photo, or some small talk.
Yet halfway through her sentence, she caught sight of the newcomer's face and stopped dead in her tracks.
"Y-You're Bronze? Wow!" Starlight gasped in surprise.
Qi Li stepped in front of Starlight—or more precisely, right beside Hughie—and greeted her, "I thought you'd recognize me right away. After all, we're old rivals, even if we never met in person."
Not only that, he had just avenged the humiliation she had suffered earlier.
Though an unexpected snag had allowed that slightly unhinged freak to get away in the end, preventing him from wiping them all out in one fell swoop, it honestly didn't affect him in the slightest.
The guy had zero evidence and couldn't touch a hair on his head.
Qi Li was merely in the habit of striving for perfection.
Hearing Qi Li say that, Starlight quickly explained, "Sorry! You aren't wearing your blue-and-gold battle suit, so I didn't recognize you right away. After all, you know how it is..."
With that, Starlight looked down at her own suit and gave Qi Li an understanding look.
When superheroes shed their suits and walked down the street, more often than not, no one recognized them.
Superman next door could certainly attest to that phenomenon.
Suddenly realizing she was still sitting, Starlight sprang to her feet and took the initiative to offer her hand.
"It's great to meet you, Bronze. And by the way, I watched your movie a while ago—it was really, really fantastic!"
When mentioning the movie, Starlight's eyes shone with genuine sincerity.
Unlike Henry, who had just been spouting a pack of lies, she had clearly actually watched Qi Li's film.
"Coming from you, Starlight, that means a lot," Qi Li replied with a smile, shaking her hand.
Letting go, he gave Hughie—who sat beside them with a frozen smile, listening to the two superheroes converse—a friendly pat on the shoulder, giving it two firm pats for good measure.
A shudder ran through Hughie's entire body.
From the instant he had recognized Qi Li, his heart had been hammering frantically.
Having witnessed with his own eyes how Bronze thoroughly pulverized Steel Soldier, he never could have dreamed the man from that night would now be standing right beside him—patting him on the shoulder, no less.
Not once, but twice!
Granted, when Butcher had declared back then that Bronze was an asshole too, Hughie had instinctively defended him.
However!
Having seen the repulsive true nature of his once-favorite superhero, A-Train, and having gone through the whole Translucent ordeal, Hughie was no longer so naive.
Unlike Annie—or rather, Starlight—Hughie felt no excitement at meeting Bronze up close for the first time. Instead, he was overcome with nervous dread, even though the man's attention was focused entirely on Annie.
At that moment, however, Qi Li turned his gaze to Hughie. "Is this... your boyfriend, Starlight? He seems pretty nervous."
Qi Li didn't have X-ray vision and couldn't see Hughie's heart pounding away, but one look at the guy's tense expression told him enough.
Judging by first impressions, Qi Li didn't take this meek-looking fellow for someone capable of anything significant.
The natural explanation was that he had a crush on Starlight, and faced with the arrival of a "rival," he felt bitter yet helpless.
Before Starlight could speak, Hughie scrambled to clarify: "No, no! Annie and I are just good friends."
"Annie?" Qi Li glanced at Starlight in surprise.
Starlight exchanged a look with Hughie, then nodded with a smile. "Yeah, Hughie and I are friends. We actually met before he knew I was Starlight."
"Well, that sounds like a wonderful start."
Qi Li suddenly thought this backstory of how the two met could be incorporated into his next movie.
For instance, shedding his superhero mantle and making the female lead fall deeply in love with him as an ordinary guy.
Only, where did that leave Anya?
Could he pull a *Transformers 3* and simply open the film by explaining they had already broken up?
No, that wouldn't do.
Anya had put in the hands-on effort to earn that leading-lady role. Qi Li couldn't break his word.
Or what if he took a different route and introduced a multiverse concept?
In the prime universe, he lived the glamorous life of a superhero and superstar with Anya as his girlfriend.
In the parallel universe, he was like Spider-Man, an anonymous masked hero relentlessly fighting crime, with an undetermined girlfriend.
Until one day, due to extraordinary circumstances, the two worlds collided. The two versions of himself crossed paths, and for some reason, each fighting for their respective worlds, they had no choice but to clash in an epic battle...
In an instant, creative inspiration flooded Qi Li's mind.
He had a hunch that as long as nothing went wrong, his second movie would be a massive box-office hit.
After all, while superhero movies in this world did see cinematic universe reboots from time to time, that was mostly because there were far too many terrible films, fierce competition among team members, and rapid cast turnover.
Introducing parallel worlds where two versions of the same protagonist battled on screen had never been done before.
As the first to take the plunge, Qi Li could already see all the signs of a smash hit.
On the other side, Hughie couldn't sit still any longer.
With both Starlight and Bronze standing, and Bronze looming right beside him, he was on pins and needles.
"Um... Annie, it was really great talking with you for so long... You two go ahead and chat. I've got something to take care of, so I've gotta run."
With that, Hughie stood up and offered his seat to Qi Li.
"Thanks."
Qi Li wasn't surprised. Committing the concepts in his mind to memory, he politely thanked Hughie.
Seeing this, Starlight exchanged a couple of parting words with Hughie without pressing him to stay.
Just as Hughie began to turn around, his back about to face Qi Li,
a burly arm shot out and hooked Hughie firmly around the shoulders, stopping him from turning.
Immediately afterward, a voice Hughie knew all too well rang out by his ear: "Oi, Hughie! Fancy seeing you here! Long time no see!"
Butcher had materialized out of nowhere, wrapping an arm around Hughie's shoulders and slapping him hard on the back. Then his hand slid down, swift as lightning, pulling the communicator from Hughie's back pocket—which would have been in plain sight once Hughie turned around—and slipping it into his own bulky coat pocket.
As he did so, he shot Hughie a meaningful look.
Hughie froze for a second before catching on. Looking at Butcher with an expression of pure, shocked recognition, his eyes went wide, and he stammered, "W-Wow! I didn't expect to see you here either!"
Butcher forced a tight smirk. "I never expected you'd be mates with the famous Starlight! Oh, and this gentleman here!"
"Bronze, I'm a loyal fan of yours. That showdown the other night was bloody brilliant! Fucking beat the shit out of that bastard Steel Soldier, that's what I'm talking about!"
Butcher's tone was intensely excited, yet tainted with a strange edge.
Finally, he looked at Qi Li and asked, "Bronze, could you give me an autograph?"
Chapter 46