Chapter 78
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Kimiko and Frenchie remained where Stormfront had been moments earlier. Adult Eleven still stood with them. None of them moved. They only watched one another.
Adult Eleven turned her attention toward Kimiko and Frenchie. Frenchie's body tightened, and Kimiko shifted into a defensive stance beside him. Adult Eleven had joined them at the last moment with only one explanation: Adam had sent her.
They trusted Adam. That did not mean they trusted her.
Mother's Milk was no longer with them. He had already followed Becca into the forest, leaving Frenchie and Kimiko alone with the escaped test subject.
For several seconds, Adult Eleven kept looking at them while they held their positions.
One of Adult Eleven's hands rose in a slow motion.
Frenchie became fully alert and prepared for an attack. Kimiko moved in front of Frenchie. She lowered her stance and stood between him and Adult Eleven.
Adult Eleven stopped when she saw their reaction. She opened her mouth and said, "My work here is finished."
The tension in Frenchie's shoulders eased. Kimiko remained in front of him, but she no longer looked ready to leap.
Adult Eleven gave them a small wave. Then she turned and started walking away.
Two red beams dropped from the sky.
They struck Adult Eleven around the waist before she could take another step. The heat tore through her. Both beams passed out through her chest.
She fell to the ground.
Frenchie and Kimiko had relaxed only a second earlier. Now every instinct in them screamed the same warning. They turned and looked up, already knowing who could have done it.
Homelander hung in the air above them.
He descended and landed directly in front of the two. Behind him, Adult Eleven lay without moving. Adult Eleven's eyes were empty now. No life remained in them.
Homelander looked from Kimiko to Frenchie. "You people have gotten pretty bold. So tell me, where is he?"
Kimiko attacked instead of answering.
She rushed at him, but Homelander's eyes lit up before she reached him. His heat vision struck her in the chest and burned a line down toward her stomach. Her attack stopped before she reached him. The force drove her backward and threw her onto the ground.
Farther inside the forest, Becca was running with Ryan. Mother's Milk followed close behind them. He held the gun as he ran.
Lightning came down from above.
Several bolts struck M.M. before he could turn. The charge threw him into a nearby tree, and his body hit the trunk before dropping to the ground. M.M. remained on the ground in pain after the charge ended.
Stormfront landed directly in Becca's path.
Before Becca could change direction, Stormfront grabbed her by the throat. She drove Becca against a tree and lifted her until her feet left the ground.
"How rude," Stormfront said. "You interrupted my lesson. Did you think you could run away from me?"
"Let go of my mother!"
Ryan stood to one side of them. A thick fallen branch lay near him. He picked it up with both hands and ran toward Stormfront.
Ryan swung the thick branch and struck Stormfront across the waist.
Stormfront turned away from Becca and stared at him. "Ryan, what are you doing?"
She raised one arm and backhanded him across the forehead. The blow sent him flying away from her.
The strike lifted Ryan from his feet. Three marks ran from the side of his eye toward his forehead as he flew backward and fell to the ground.
Becca could barely breathe inside Stormfront's grip. Even so, she tried to scream when she saw her son fall. Stormfront had struck him hard enough that Becca thought she had almost killed him.
Ryan lay where he had landed. Fear filled him first. Then anger rushed in behind it until he could no longer separate one from the other.
Homelander and Stormfront had tried to fill Ryan's mind with hatred. Until that moment, they had failed.
Now Ryan looked at Stormfront holding his mother, and the hatred finally came. It was stronger and more dangerous than either of them had managed to create.
Red light burst from Ryan's eyes.
The heat vision shot toward Stormfront's stomach. She saw it coming and released Becca's throat. She raised both hands in front of herself and tried to block the beam.
Ryan's heat vision tore through both of her raised hands.
The beam continued into her stomach and passed through her. It did not weaken after cutting through her defense.
Back where Adult Eleven had fallen, Kimiko lay injured after Homelander's attack. Frenchie remained where he was, staring at her in shock.
Homelander ignored him.
He started walking toward Kimiko as if Frenchie was not worth noticing. Homelander kept walking, and each step brought him closer to Kimiko.
Frenchie clenched his teeth and forced himself to move. "You fucking bastard!"
He charged at Homelander.
Homelander finally turned his head. "Fucking idiot. What do you think you can do to me?"
His eyes began glowing red with heat vision.
Frenchie kept running. Homelander fired heat vision at Frenchie before he could come close.
Frenchie understood what the beam meant. This could be the last moment of his life, but Kimiko was behind Homelander. He wanted to save her before Homelander could reach her, so he did not stop running.
His eyes closed while he kept running.
His fist drew back while he continued forward. Frenchie put all the strength he had into the punch he still meant to throw.
Homelander's heat vision crossed half the distance between them.
Another red beam came down from above.
It struck Homelander's heat vision in the middle. The two red beams pressed against each other for an instant. Then a circular blast spread from the exact point where they met.
Homelander's beam was canceled before it could reach Frenchie.
Realization appeared on Homelander's face. Frenchie understood it at the same moment, even while he was still charging forward.
The same name entered both their minds in that moment: Adam.