American comics: From Hogwarts to God on Earth

Chapter 309 The Origin of Fort Irwin Sanctuary

Chapter 309 The Origin of Fort Irwin Sanctuary

Rune quickly learned who the other party was—Starlight, who could emit light from her hands with extremely high intensity, even enough to blind superhumans. However, Starlight's greatest strength was not this superficial superpower; her greatest strength was her physical body, strong enough to withstand bullets and high-speed train collisions.

Many people might focus only on characters like Homelander, assuming that superpowered individuals in this world, while perhaps not on par with the Avengers, would at least be immune to bullets. However, the reality is quite the opposite. At least in the comics, the vast majority of superpowered individuals are unable to defend themselves against bullets. G-MEN, a sub-brand of Vought International, had hundreds of superpowered individuals, but they couldn't even withstand attacks from rifles, rockets, and flamethrowers, and were wiped out by a special forces unit.

The biggest reason why Starlight became one of the seven was probably not her apparent superpowers, but her incredibly strong physique.

Seeing Rune committing atrocities and even uttering arrogant words that he had only killed an inferior creature, Starlight naturally rushed up to attack him, only to be brutally overwhelmed by Rune's magic and knocked to the ground.

"Fck!" She grinned, staring intently at Rune. "Even if you break my bones, I can still blow your machine heads apart!"

Starlight clearly believed Rune was the Terminator, even though she didn't know who the dead person was.

Rune, however, didn't follow up on Starlight's words. Instead, he asked, "Where's Hughie?"

This question clearly puzzled Starlight, so she remained silent for a moment before asking, "Who is Hughie?"

"The man who came with me," Rune briefly described Hughie's appearance, then asked, "Didn't you see him?"

At this moment, Starlight sensed that something was wrong. If the humanoid creature in front of him was the Terminator, it probably wouldn't care so much about its friend.

Thinking this, Starlight said, "No, I've never seen him. Dealing with the issue of outsiders has always been handled by Storm, she—"

Upon hearing this, Rune immediately laughed. Letting a Naxxramas-worshipping racist handle the issue of migrant homeless people?

This couldn't be more foolish; he could easily imagine what kind of people were in this base now.

With a sigh, Rune shouted, "Hughie, fly here!"

A short while later, a humanoid object flew over, but it was just a corpse, clearly shot dead. Ironically, just moments before, it was Hughie who had managed to calm Rune down, hoping that he and Rune would abide by the rules of the shelter.

Although he had expected this, Rune still shook his head: "Look what you've all done, letting that bastard manage the outsiders, and this is the result. What could my companion have done wrong? He just wanted to go to New Hope City to see if it really was as legendary as it was, still maintaining its pre-war glory."

With that, Rune released the magic that suppressed the starlight, preparing to leave immediately after Hughie's burial. He and Hughie were merely strangers who had met by chance; although Hughie was one of the main characters in the TV series The Boys, their relationship was not close.

A crater appeared out of nowhere in the ground, just the right size for Hughie. Just as Rune was about to bury Hughie, Starlight suddenly interrupted his actions.

"Wait!" Starlight's eyes widened. "Your companion is dead? How could he be dead? Our shelter doesn't allow the killing of homeless people; at most, we let them leave at night—"

This is a desert, and letting homeless people leave during the day could directly lead to their death. Therefore, the shelter chooses to drive them away at night—the desert environment at night is, of course, also very harsh, but it is better than during the day.

"Isn't this obviously related to Storm?" Rune shook his head, then pushed the body down, closing Hughie's still confused and fearful eyes to give him a proper burial. "But I killed her too, so you don't need to be sad."

Starlight fell silent. So Storm was dead? Storm had always been an important member of this base. Her ability to manipulate the weather within a small area could provide the base with a certain amount of water—not much, and Storm herself was reluctant to do so, but it was still a portion of the water reserves. Starlight felt a strange mix of guilt and joy. She disliked Storm's behavior, very much so. Storm was too high-profile and looked down on ordinary people, always doing things her own way. She never imagined that one day she would anger other superpowered individuals and be killed by them.

"I will seek justice for your friend," Starlight said finally, "but you must also seek justice for us."

This made Rune raise an eyebrow. He hadn't expected that even after he had thoroughly humiliated her, she would still dare to say such a thing.

"Are you serious?"

Starlight hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "If it really is our fault, we are willing to offer you compensation."

That does have a bit of a heroic air about him. Rune looked at the starlight and couldn't help but nod. At least when facing this woman, he was willing to give her face and talk things out.

After briefly describing Storm's behavior, Rune even added, "If you check her room, you might find some Naxxramas."

With a complicated expression, Starlight summoned several of her trusted female subordinates and ordered them to check if Storm's room was as Rune had described. Meanwhile, Rune inquired about the shelter. After Starlight's explanation, Rune learned that an acquaintance resided there—Queen Maeve.

Queen Maeve is the second strongest member of the Seven, and one of the few good people in the group. She possesses a powerful physique that can withstand rifle fire, and her super strength is second only to Homelander. Her past experiences are similar to Starlight's; she also had a dream of becoming a hero. However, Homelander taught her a lesson, and she is more like Starlight who has lost her dream of becoming a hero.

The reason this shelter was established was because Vought Corporation deliberately filmed in this desert in order to strengthen cooperation with the military. In their spare time, they tried to win over the military officials in the vicinity by relying on Queen Maeve's charm. Starlight also expressed to his mother his desire to come here to meet Queen Maeve. Unexpectedly, they happened to encounter Judgment Day.

"Queen Maeve must be incredibly happy now, happier than ever before," Rune said with a smile after hearing Starlight's description. Queen Maeve, who could leave that hypocritical Seven and truly protect ordinary people like a hero, must be overjoyed.

Perhaps the Homelanders sent people to find Queen Maeve, but Queen Maeve simply refused to return.

"What?" Starlight asked疑惑地, unaware of the inside story of the Seven, and therefore not understanding Rune's meaning: "Why did you say she's happier than ever before?"

"You'll have to ask Queen Maeve yourself," Rune replied with a smile. "If she's unwilling to tell you, then forget it."

He could understand Queen Maeve's intentions. Her reluctance to tell Starlight the truth about the Seven was similar to Steve's reluctance to let Clark go out on patrol. It was all to protect the younger generation and ensure that they still had a heart to fight for ordinary people.