1st January 2023

New York City, a vibrant melting pot of cultures, ideas, and dreams. Its iconic skyline, crowned by the majestic Empire State Building, sliced the heavens, a testament to the city's ceaseless aspiration and resilience. The city's streets pulsed with a rhythm unique to this urban heartland, where every corner teemed with life and every avenue told a story. Millions of people, packed into a metropolis so large and so expansive that it could qualify as its very own country. An engineering marvel, one of America's crown jewels, dubbed the "City of Dreams" by men who'd existed long before him.

In his honest opinion, John didn't think it was all that special. Big cities kind of blended together when you travelled around the world stamping down supervillains. Big buildings, lotsa skyscrapers, big whoop. Who cares?

However, he did have a certain fondness for the people living in this ever-growing urban mess. He secretly liked being an observer. Whenever he was bored, he would stare out of the window in The Seven's meeting room, using his X-Ray vision and super hearing to peer into the lives of New York's inhabitants.

John's father, Benjamin, would treat people like tools at best and slaves at worst. An egomaniac who walked all over people at his leisure, and a selfish asshole who would only fetch a cat out of a tree if it meant more money and fame. As John grew up, his dad would frequently kick him while he was down, bully him, beat him to near-death in their many, many training sessions. And though Benjamin would sometimes show empathy, smile and hug John when he was proud, cheer him on whenever he was learning how to use his powers, he would go right back to being that same ruthless drill sergeant. Cold, unfeeling, asserting his dominance over a 12 year old John whenever he could.

And it was all to burn one lesson into John's head; they were superior, so they needed to act like it. Take what you want, whenever you want, regardless of whatever or whoever may stand in your way.

So when John finally made his debut in New York as Homelander, he didn't think much about its inhabitants. He was a living god and they were nothing but a bunch of non-powered bottom feeders, who cared about them?

Then... He spent more time here. He got to know them.

Kiro would wake up, get ready for the day, and take his dog Cimmian out on a walk through Central Park. Janice regularly got into fights with her husband over the smallest of things. Malik frequently went out of his way to hang out with an old man who fed pigeons named Elijah, even if it meant he was late to work.

There was a word that described this feeling; sonder. Realising that everyone, from the beggar on the street to the supe flying through the air, had a life that was as complex as one's own. For normal people, sonder was nothing but an idle thought one would have. They briefly acknowledged that other people have lives, but the thought wouldn't go beyond that, because all they could ever do was speculate.

For John, sonder was an ever-present, day in day out process. He kept track of thousands, millions of people at a time with his superpowers. He observed, and observed, and observed.

And before he knew it, John had begun to care about them. 16 years of abuse from his disgruntled war veteran of a father, and all of it had washed away when John realised he had people to live for. People he was willing to die for.

From then on, he took his role as New York's protector seriously. With his enhanced senses, he would frequently listen in on people as they went about their day. Idle chit chat between construction workers during their breaks, conversations on the trains as people made their way to and from work. He jotted down mental notes in his head, figured out what the city needed to improve on, and he went to work.

John had been told by a number of people that if he didn't have powers, he probably would've gone into politics. So he utilised that untapped potential to its fullest. Whenever he wasn't fighting supervillains or helping out with disaster relief on the other side of the world, he used his charisma, wit and his charming smile to do whatever he could for New York. He gathered teams of supes to flush out and exterminate every rat they could find over the course of a year, he invested heavily into poorer communities to help reduce gang violence, he politicked his way into starting a number of infrastructure projects to improve standard of living across the entire city. And by the end of his seventh year as a superhero, John's efforts paid off. New York was as close to being a utopia as it was ever going to get. And it was all because of him.

...Well, that and a couple (actually a lot) of strings being pulled by the FBSA. Still, those spooks wouldn't have bothered if he hadn't asked them to help. Since he was their most powerful asset against the supervillain menace, they had to do whatever they could to appease him.

Nevertheless, John was proud of what he'd managed to accomplish. He found a home in New York, and if it came down to it, he would lay down his life to defend it.

At least... Whenever he was there...

John received the call from ROD whilst doing some disaster relief in Bangladesh. Informing him that a supervillain - an exceptionally powerful one - appeared in New York and was attacking the city. He shot through the skies at mach 11 speeds, arriving in New York an hour later. He stood there in the sky as his eyes shifted over the ruins of Times Square. The once great intersection was now replaced with a flat expanse of grey, riddled with smoking craters and jagged towers of concrete jutting out into the sky. Some of them half broken, others sporting large and small holes. He spotted the corpses of a dozen superheroes strewn around, evidence of a great battle that had just been wrapped up.

He immediately noticed that there were at least a hundred different voices he didn't hear anymore. Amir, Lina, Robert, Dennis, Stan. Them, and dozens of other innocent souls who he knew personally. Gone.

He wouldn't hear them cry, or laugh ever again. They weren't here anymore.

He blanked, and flew over to a nearby skyscraper as if on autopilot. Mutely standing on the roof and looking down at all the people

He stood there, doing the same thing he always did. Observing. Except this time, he didn't use his enhanced senses, he didn't use his X-Ray or his super hearing. He didn't want to hear his people screaming, he didn't want to hear his people grieving.

He stood there for a full hour in silence, watching a number of helicopters fly, a couple of supes as well. Probably to clear the rubble and help the injured. There wasn't any point cleaning up the aftermath, no one survived the attack; he'd checked. He barely registered what was happening, his vision unfocused and blurred. It was as if he were dreaming; unsure whether or not this was reality. He hoped it wasn't real, he hoped that this was all a bad dream, that he didn't fail the people he'd vowed to protect all those years ago.

"You gonna help?"

He turned around and saw Maggie wearing her superhero costume and an empathetic smile.

John stared at her blankly, then mutely turned back around to look at the city once more.

"No," he said, "I'm not."

Maggie sighed and approached John as he brooded in silence, stopping by his side.

"I'm sorry," she whispered sadly as she wrapped her hand around his.

John looked down at their intertwined fingers, and squeezed her hand incrementally. As if seeking an anchor to keep him grounded and aware.

"How'd you guys get her?" He asked tiredly.

"A no name supe delayed the woman long enough for Annie to arrive. Then he retreated."

"Really?" John asked, surprised. "What was he doing there in the first place?"

"We don't know, but the Overseers are already trying to track him down and recruit him. Make him an official superhero."

John continued to stare off into the distance as he spoke. "The next generation of heroes is looking pretty promising."

Maggie chuckled before continuing.

"Annie held her own for a bit before me, Reggie and a bunch of other heroes arrived and pushed the woman back. Annie landed a lucky shot and severed her arms off." Maggie whispered, resting her head on John's shoulder. "She couldn't use her powers after that, so we stopped the bleeding and chucked her in Bedford Hills where she'll await her trial."

John nodded.

Then, a sinister, threatening air began to suffocate the space around them as John visibly tensed up. His eyes glowed an ominous red, causing Maggie to grow increasingly worried.

"So the woman who caused this is still alive?" He asked, his voice low and menacing.

"John," Maggie muttered as she gripped his hand tighter, "don't."

She turned John around to look him in the eyes, his stone visage gone and replaced with a man on the verge of going ballistic...

And on the verge of breaking down...

"I can't hear them anymore." He whispered.

Maggie caressed his cheek with his thumb, wiping away fresh tears, and embraced him.