"A brand new superhero is taking the world by storm!"

"Out of nowhere, a fresh face is trending at number one on Twitter!"

"Move over Homelander, there's a new blue Boy Scout in town!"

"The world is asking... Who is Superman?"

"Less than three hours ago, a brand new superhero blazed onto the scene, upsetting the balance of power in the world of superhuman heroics for the first time in around a decade. Unaffiliated with Vought, or any other major Superhero management agency, Superman is the enigma who's taken the internet by storm. Whenever there's trouble, it seems like Superman is there, faster than a speeding bullet. That wouldn't be of any major concern if not for the fact that he has no respect for international borders or treaties. Not two minutes after Superman assisted Homelander and Queen Maeve in the rescue of Oceanic Flight 37, he was in Russia, saving the crew of a Soyuz mission. Soon after, he intervened in a civil war in Biayla, where he singlehandedly destroyed the military hardware of both sides of the conflict. Not long after that, he saved a cargo ship in the Indian ocean. While many would appreciate his actions for their immediate results, he clearly isn't considering the long term ramifications of violating the borders of sovereign states and disregarding the United Nations. Is he trying to undermine the campaign to put superheroes in the military? We take a look after these messages."

Homelander stormed through Vought Tower quietly, but evidently not calmly. He'd stewed for far too long (Really, only a few hours), bouncing around the planet, seeking to be unseen, to hide his shame, to hide from Superman. Everywhere he went, it felt like he could see or hear him. Even if he couldn't, he replayed the sensation of trying to crush Kal-El's (If that really was his name) hand and only succeeding in damaging himself. Eventually, he returned to the tower, and marched from the ground floor up to Madelyn Stillwell's office. He took the stairs for once in his life. John never took the stairs at Vought tower. He either flew to the floor he wanted to go to, or took the elevator. Today, he took the stairs. All ninety-nine flights of them, right up to the top floor, where The Seven lived and worked, and where Madelyn's office was.

Homelander knocked on the door, then burst into the office, still seething.

"Madelyn, I thought you wanted me and Maeve on that plane!" John exclaimed. "What the hell was-" Homelander cut himself short when he saw a familiar, darker-skinned man in a tailored suit sitting in front of Madelyn's desk, facing the door. The man's hair was greying, and his face was lined, but that only lent him a certain amount of gravitas that seemed to threaten even the most powerful among The Seven, including Homelander. It was Stan Edgar.

"Ah, Homelander!" Edgar said as his face spread into a phony smile, one Homelander had seen and worn himself a million times. "Perfect timing. We have something we need to discuss."

John scoffed at Edgar. "Damn right we do. Who the hell was that guy, and why wasn't I told he was gonna be there?!"

Madelyn inhaled, looked up at Homelander, and spoke. "We don't know."

Homelander rolled his eyes, and his entire head. "Don't bullshit me, Madelyn!" He shouted. "Who the hell is this guy?"

Edgar shook his head. "She's telling the truth, as you should know." He said with a smug smile. "He's not one of ours."

John froze, then began to sputter with disbelieving rage. "How the fuck is that possible?" He asked, dismayed. "Everyone with powers is one of ours!"

Edgar stood, and buttoned his jacket. "Assuming you're correct, and Compound V hasn't been leaked into the open by a disgruntled employee, or-" Edgar flicked his eyes at Homelander quite deliberately. "Some man-child with a god complex, that means we're either looking at some unreported leak, or other unintentional exposure..."

"Or?" John asked, impatiently.

"Or even worse..." Edgar smiled a small, wicked smile. "What did he say to you? 'On my world it stands for hope.'"

Madelyn scoffed. "You don't think he's actually telling the truth, do you?"

Edgar turned to her with a flourish, and pulled out his phone, with a video queued up on the screen. A video of Superman fighting a monster with eight tentacles. "Madelyn, an indestructible man fell through what appeared to be a hole in reality into a bowling alley, accompanied by an octopus the size of a double-decker bus. I'm not ruling anything out at this point in time."

Edgar tucked his phone back into his pocket with a smug smile as he turned back to John.

"Alright, let's believe him." Homelander said, crossing his arms and pouting discontentedly. "He's making all of us look bad. What are you planning on doing about that?"

"Well," Edgar said, looking Homelander in the eye. "My first step is to collect every single solitary piece of footage we can find of this man, and run that against every face in every database on the planet. Then, you're going to go to your little 'Believe Expo' with the new girl, and pander to your base. Make them feel like they can still believe in you before anyone else. Stoke a few fears, but don't antagonize this 'Kal-El.' Then, if we haven't found anything out about him by then, you're going to find him."

Homelander shook his head and scoffed in response, his nose recoiling in disgust. "Me?" He asked incredulously.

Edgar nodded, and gingerly pulled Homelander's bruised hand away from his body.

"Yes, you!" He said as he removed the glove from John's hand, revealing the damage beneath. "If he's as strong as the bruises on your hand would imply, nobody else in the employ of Vought International is capable of standing up to him, assuming his intentions are hostile. Based on our calculations of his flight speed, you're also the only one who has a chance of tailing him in the air. Find out where Superman hangs his cape. Use those powers we gave you to prove you're still the strongest man in the world, or we might be forced to offer your position at Vought and with The Seven to Superman."

"You wouldn't dare." Homelander said, aghast.

"It wouldn't be the first time we've upgraded to a better model." Edgar said with a chuckle.


A tall, broad man with thick glasses and poor posture in an inconspicuous grey suit, topped off with an old-fashioned grey hat flashed a wallet at the police guarding the remains of the bowling alley, and they let him through without question. He looked around the ruined building, then appeared to spy something in the rubble. He walked over to what used to be a countertop, and picked through the ruins until he found the handle of a case. He pulled the case from the tangle of rubble with an almost unnatural ease, then tucked it under his arm. He nodded to the police as he left the building.

One of the policemen squinted at the case under the man's arm, and thought he could make out the words "'K' Sample 1 of 2." The man in the grey suit walked away into the night, never to be seen by the policemen again. Later, the officers would barely be able to remark on the man's appearance, what he'd done, or what he was after, only that a federal agent of some description had briefly poked around the scene and then left. One thing that stuck in their minds, however, was the fact that they heard a loud CRACK sound a while after he'd left, not unlike the sonic booms Homelander made when flying, only louder.