Chapter 57: Daddy, I've Got You!

Homelander paced back and forth anxiously, muttering to himself, "I can do this. Because I am Homelander, the son of Peter Patrick. I can do anything if I want to."

Standing still, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Recall the feeling of your first flight. Forget the fear. Dad needs me now. I can do it."

With his eyes closed, Homelander failed to banish the distracting thoughts. Fear struck at his soul like a hundred-meter-high tsunami, overwhelming and crushing.

In addition, every part of his body seemed to endure powerful synaptic shocks, pressing down on every nerve ending in his being.

"Bang!"

Growing increasingly agitated, Homelander could not help but smash his fist fiercely into the ground.

Nearby, the Martian Manhunter panted heavily as he looked at the agitated Homelander and said to him,

"Trust me, John. If you want to save your father... if you cannot find peace of mind, it is impossible to do so. You have great potential. I knew that from the very first time we met."

"No, you don't understand me at all!"

Homelander roared at him, "Not at all!"

The Martian Manhunter struggled to prop up his upper body and said to him, "I understand you, because I... I also have this gift, John."

"This is not a gift."

Homelander now loathed his own incompetence more than anything.

"It is your gift."

The Martian Manhunter continued to guide Homelander. "In fact, it is... sometimes, to gain something, you must first lose it. Strength and wisdom are born of courage. If you are... afraid of loss, then act as if you have already lost everything, and courage is all that remains. Go on, John! Fly!"

Hearing the Martian Manhunter's words, something within Homelander's heart seemed to be touched.

Courage?!

He froze for a moment, repeating the word in his mind.

Suddenly, he could feel his lungs expanding, like a balloon being pumped from an oxygen tank.

A massive surge of breath was inhaled into his body as if swallowed by a whale.

Cold, bright, and powerful breathing!

The soil and debris all around him began to float, vibrating rhythmically with his respiration.

Sensing something, Homelander opened his eyes.

The next moment, he planted his feet firmly inward, gritted his teeth, and shot straight up into the sky.

"Boom!"

The air emitted a tearing sonic boom as Homelander instantly shattered the atmospheric barrier and soared into the heavens!

Raging gales roared in his ears, turbulent air currents brushed past his sides, and the dark clouds of the night grew larger and larger before his eyes.

Flying high in the sky, Homelander's heart was filled with indescribable shock!

The roaring noise of the turbulent air currents sounded like the sound sleeping at the heart of a tornado, or like plunging suddenly to the bottom of a rushing river at night.

Unable to dwell on the shock of flight, Homelander accelerated continuously during his ascent, piercing through the clouds and flying upward to the absolute limit of his ability.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The explosive sounds of breaking the sound barrier rang out incessantly. The air barrier was breached, and the piercing roars echoed across the night sky.

...

On the other side, Peter was grabbed by the shoulders and hauled into the sky by the Parasite. As the creature accelerated continuously, the two figures quickly broke through the cloud layer.

Having his life force drained, Peter endured the pain and fatigue in his body and threw a punch at his foe.

The Parasite caught his fist and scoffed mockingly, "Dad, I am unimaginably powerful right now. I can devour everything."

"Is that so? Take a look at this, you stupid son!"

Peter opened his clenched fist, and a piece of kryptonite the size of a ring appeared in his palm.

Having absorbed Clark's abilities and memories, the Parasite was horrified upon seeing the kryptonite in Peter's hand.

He well knew how kryptonite countered Clark's powers.

"You...!"

The Parasite's jaw dropped in shock.

He never expected that Peter would carry kryptonite on his person.

This was the very thing that restrained his "son"!

In that instant, he mentally slapped the label "scum" onto Peter.

If Peter knew what the creature was thinking, he would surely defend himself: I merely coated the surface of the kryptonite with a layer of lead and kept it as a common trinket; I absolutely had no intention of using it against my son.

"Bang!"

Peter slammed his kryptonite-wielding fist directly into the creature's chin.

Clinging to each other to avoid falling, Peter grabbed the monster's shoulder with one hand while attacking with the other.

Distracted and rattled by the kryptonite, the Parasite felt a deafening ring in his ears as his vision went black.

"Tell me, how does Dad's fist taste?"

Taunting his opponent, Peter seized an opening, muscles bulging in his right arm, gathered all his strength, and drove a punch straight toward the Parasite's head.

Driven to fury by the blows, the Parasite endured the agonizing pain of the strikes, let out a roar, grabbed Peter's arm, and hurled him violently toward the ground.

Unable to fly, Peter was subjected to a "geographic toss" straight down from the high altitude toward the earth.

Meanwhile, Homelander, flying high above, spotted his father's figure.

"Dad!"

Homelander transformed into a hyper-velocity meteor breaking through the air, executing a U-turn as he pursued Peter, who was plummeting rapidly toward the ground.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Through continuous acceleration, his flight speed had already exceeded the speed of sound, generating intense shockwaves.

Operating at full capacity, the front of Homelander's body formed a cone-shaped, glowing red shockwave resembling a speeding boat.

The shockwave battered the surrounding space, vibrating his eardrums.

Despite possessing a body of steel, he could still feel the oppressive weight of atmospheric pressure.

On either side of his eyes, wind whistled by amidst thunderous roars.

At this moment, Peter was arched backward, moving at high speed toward the upper atmosphere.

Endowed with super-durability, he had already braced himself into a protective posture for the impending impact.

To his surprise, accompanied by a sonic boom, a figure he could not even clearly see was charging toward him at extreme speed.

"Bang!"

Homelander slammed into him, wrapping his arms around him in a tight embrace.

The sheer kinetic impact was so violent that even with Peter's super-durability, he felt for a split second as though his bones were about to shatter.

"Dad, I've got you!"

Homelander cried out in excitement as he clutched Peter and continued flying downward.

For a moment, Peter forgot the pain in his body, his face frozen in utter astonishment.

The kid had actually learned how to fly!

"Yes, you did it, John."

Peter coughed, forcibly suppressing the urge to vomit blood, while silently complaining internally: If an ordinary person were caught by you like this, their body would have snapped into three pieces long ago...

Despite grumbling about Homelander's rough rescue, warmth and emotion swelled in his heart.

To save him, the boy had achieved what he previously could not.

He had trained Homelander countless times before, and every single attempt had ended in failure.

Yet in actual combat this time, driven by concern for his safety, Homelander had actually overcome his fear of heights.

"How did you overcome your fear, John?"

Peter asked him.

"No, Dad, I didn't. It's just that my courage finally outweighed my fear."