Shetty: SOS

Buzz— After a brief commotion, A-Train finally took Kimiko and sped away. Qi Li didn't care about owing or being owed any favors. However, the reporters swarming the scene and the passionate crowd of onlookers who had gathered had inadvertently become Kimiko's most effective shield for the moment. Moreover, this was New York. As a member of the Super Seven and a representative of Vought, A-Train had far more legal standing to take custody of a superhuman criminal than Qi Li, who was officially just a Godkin University student. Even if Qi Li had refused, given the determination A-Train had displayed, the speedster would have grabbed Kimiko and bolted immediately, and Qi Li wouldn't have been able to catch him. It was safe to say that once Qi Li failed to kill Kimiko in that brief window, the outcome was sealed the moment A-Train arrived. As for how much Homelander was behind this... All Qi Li could say was that he needed to accelerate his growth in power. Furthermore, given his current standing, he had access to very few intelligence sources. He couldn't even brush against truly critical information. Just like this incident: why Homelander had sent A-Train after a Japanese woman was something he had no clue about. A-Train had only told him that much out of their prior acquaintance and because he had witnessed Qi Li's strength with his own eyes. Otherwise, as an internationally famous member of the Super Seven, why would A-Train bother explaining anything to an underclassman from college? Perhaps it was time for him to climb higher as well. "Let's go." Wrapping up his thoughts, Qi Li put the matter aside, slipped his arm around Kate's slender waist, and waved a final goodbye to the surrounding fans whose autographs he had already signed. Then, with a sonic boom, the two shot straight into the clouds, vanishing into the horizon in the blink of an eye. *** Elsewhere. A-Train didn't return to Vought Tower immediately. Instead, carrying Kimiko, he deftly took several turns and ducked into a secluded, deserted corner. Running through this city regularly, he was intimately familiar with the area. *Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud...* Within a single second, he slammed Kimiko's head against the wall dozens of times, knocking her completely awake, before anxiously interrogating her: "Speak! Did someone break you out? How many? What did they look like... Can't talk? Fuck! Then use your fingers to show me numbers! Draw it out for me! Won't draw? Then go die!" *Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud...* *** "Breaking news! Transoceanic Flight 37 has been hijacked by terrorists! The flight was bound for New York!" "Latest update! Transoceanic Flight 37 has crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. All passengers on board are presumed dead." "Debris from Transoceanic Flight 37 has begun washing ashore. Homelander stated that 'all of this could have been prevented.'" Inside the dorm room, Qi Li had just seen off Senior Sigrid, who had dropped by for a hookup, and welcomed back Maverick from his own escapade. Qi Li sat back down on the sofa, intending to catch up on some TV shows, only to see this shocking news broadcast on the television Maverick had bought. Watching the broadcast, Qi Li wondered what he would have done if he had been at the scene... Well, as much as he was a superhuman, physics still applied. On the ground, he could lift an airplane; in midair, however, he had no leverage. Even if he braced against the falling nose of the aircraft, the only likely outcome was that he would punch right through from the cockpit to the tail. The only viable way would have been to board the plane in time and eliminate the terrorists as swiftly as possible. Qi Li shook his head. The tragedy had already occurred. Doing as the locals did, he muttered, "May God welcome them into heaven." Just then, Homelander's face appeared on screen. He looked solemn, grief-stricken, and burdened as he spoke into the camera with a heavy voice: "They didn't have to die. In fact, we arrived just three minutes after the plane went down! Why?" Homelander stared directly into the lens, his tone filled with righteous fury as he pointed the finger straight at the system: "Because we are not part of the chain of command! If NORAD had notified us the moment the hijacking began—before scrambling their interceptor jets—we could have saved them! One hundred and twenty-three human lives... If! If they would just integrate us into the military defense system, something like this would never happen again! That is my solemn promise to every one of you..." "He really is a saint, isn't he?" Qi Li said with a shrug. "Yeah, sure is," Maverick replied listlessly. Qi Li paid it no mind, continuing to watch Homelander's masterful performance on screen. After this hijacking, the pushback in Congress against superhuman military contracts would undoubtedly soften significantly. In truth, Qi Li had zero interest in superhumans joining the military. Compared to the decadent, lavish lifestyle of a Hollywood star, he had no desire to go hunker down in trenches across the globe, helping America spread its brand of "democracy" and "freedom." As for why Homelander was so eager... Perhaps he just loved America that much? Qi Li curled his lip, turned off the television, and shifted his gaze to Maverick, who seemed off. Could he have exerted himself too much with Sloan? "No, I'm just worried," Maverick said, visibly troubled for once. "My dad hasn't contacted me in a long time. No matter how busy he gets, he never misses our father-son hangouts." Qi Li knew that despite Translucent's numerous bizarre habits and vices, he genuinely cared for his son. According to Maverick, aside from peeping into women's locker rooms, female dorms, corporate offices, and lesbian bars, Translucent spent the other half of his free time alone with his son, undisturbed by the outside world. Doing the math, Translucent hadn't sent a single message in over two weeks. No wonder Maverick was anxious. Hearing that, Qi Li felt a slight jolt in his chest. That wasn't a good sign. Could Translucent, one of the Super Seven, have mysteriously died somewhere? Was a change in the wind coming? While the thought crossed his mind, he kept his expression calm and asked, "What did Vought say?" "They said he's out on a classified mission," Maverick answered. "Well, there you have it. He's probably holed up abroad right now, fighting for the beacon of liberty." Even as Qi Li offered these comforting words, his mind raced. A classified mission? Who were they trying to fool? From everything Starlight had vented about the Super Seven, Vought would gladly split every member in two just to keep them generating revenue around the clock. Why would they let a high-value asset like Translucent—whose new blockbuster had just hit theaters—disappear for more than half a month? Nine times out of ten, Translucent had met with foul play! If that was the case, was there another vacancy on the Super Seven? Qi Li decided he needed to get in touch with his agent. He had originally intended to contact Dean Shetty as well, only to find that her phone wouldn't go through at all. Not only that, but over the next few days, there was no sign of Shetty on campus. Word was that she had taken a leave of absence for personal reasons, and not even Kate knew why. Until one day, Qi Li's phone suddenly chimed with a text message from Shetty. It was extremely brief, consisting of three letters recognized the world over: "SOS!"