Chapter 6: The Estranged Brothers

"Mr. Spike, what shall we do next? Are we reporting this to the board?"

Inside the car speeding along the rugged road outside the farm, a subordinate asked the hook-nosed man.

Spike, with a grim expression on his face, shook his head and replied, "No. That would make the board think we are incompetent, unable to handle even a minor task like this."

"Then what should we do?" The subordinate asked, looking crestfallen. "Continue negotiating with him? Perhaps he refuses to sell the farm because he is dissatisfied with our terms."

"Negotiate? I won't negotiate with a man as greedy as him." Sitting in the back seat, watching the scenery blur past the window, he said coldly, "He has no right to negotiate now."

"The weakest, sickest wolves in a pack have no right to demand that the pack leader share more food with them. That is not the way things work. If I yield to his conditions, I will lose his respect."

He spoke with dissatisfaction, "He is a man who keeps inching forward; if I make the slightest concession, he might just climb all over me. I am not his father."

Just as he compared Peter to a sick wolf in the pack, he suddenly noticed a flash of red light in the distance.

"What is that?"

A surprised Spike immediately turned his head toward the front of the vehicle.

"Red leaves? Quite pretty, actually." He said to the others, crossing his legs.

But soon, to his astonishment, the red light in the distance grew larger and larger.

"Hum!"

A red laser beam slammed toward the moving car. It was like a ray of death, carrying a sense of utter destruction.

The red laser narrowly missed the car, striking the trees by the roadside and instantly piercing through their trunks. This was no red leaf; it was a lethal, high-impact beam!

"Shit!"

Realizing he was under attack, a terrified Spike roared, "Dammit, turn around! Turn around!"

The panicked driver immediately slammed on the brakes.

"Screech!"

The speeding car emitted a piercing sound. Because it was moving too fast, the car accidentally clipped a roadside stump with a loud "bang." Losing control, the vehicle plunged directly into a deep ditch by the road.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The car tumbled continuously until it finally landed heavily at the bottom of the ravine. Spike, tumbling inside the car, felt his head, back, and arms sustain one impact after another. The intense pain nearly caused him to black out.

When the car finally stopped rolling, a deathly silence fell over the surroundings.

...

Groans began to echo from within the car. He opened his eyes and wiped his head, feeling something sticky. The pungent, metallic scent made him realize it was his own blood. Enduring the needle-like pain radiating throughout his body, he lifted his head slightly to look at the others. Everyone else in the car was conscious; they seemed to be in no serious danger.

"Cough, cough..."

After coughing a few times, he said with great difficulty, "Call... call for an ambulance!"

Rolling over, he breathed heavily and reached for his clothes on the back seat. His phone was inside, which he could use to call for help.

Suddenly!

His gaze fell upon the road, where a child was standing. The figure was somewhat blurred in the night, but a pair of glowing crimson eyes stood out vividly.

He couldn't help but shiver.

...

The red light in Homelander's eyes faded, and he turned around. A smile appeared on his lips—a smile Peter would have found very familiar in his past life.

But the next second, the smile froze. He looked in shock to see Clark standing before him.

"John!"

Clark glanced at the car below, then back at Homelander. "Did... did you do this?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I need to go home." Homelander played dumb and started walking forward.

Clark grabbed his clothes. "I saw it just now! You were actually able to shoot something like a laser from your eyes!" He found it hard to believe that his best friend could be like a superhero.

"No, I didn't!"

Peter had told him not to reveal his superpowers to outsiders. He respected his father deeply—otherwise, he wouldn't have caused these thugs to crash their car just to vent his father's frustration.

"You shouldn't have done that." Although Clark envied Homelander's abilities, he felt that what he did was wrong. At this time, Clark's Kryptonian powers had not yet awakened; he believed he was just an ordinary human.

"What?" Homelander looked at him indignantly. "I was punishing the Dark Lord, Clark."

"He wanted to take away my family's farm and threatened Dad. No one is allowed to treat Dad like that!"

Clark's face flushed red. "But you shouldn't hurt others. Godfather said that harming another person's life is wrong."

"Punishing a bad person isn't the same as hurting others." Homelander was angry that Clark wouldn't take his side. "They wanted to hurt Dad—is that right, then?"

"But they hadn't done it yet. This is dangerous." Clark continued to insist on his perspective. Though he was young, the character traits instilled in him by Jonathan and Martha were already beginning to show.

"That's because he isn't your father," Homelander said angrily. "Because your father is Jonathan!"

Clark looked at him in shock. "No, Godfather is my father, too."

"You aren't. You don't love him at all, that's why you don't care if someone tries to hurt him." Homelander said, his tone agitated. "You're in my house, eating, sleeping—Dad even plays games and draws with you, and kicks the soccer ball around with you!"

The more he spoke, the more wronged he felt, like a child starved for affection. It felt as if Clark was the real son, and he was the one who had been picked up off the street. Even though Peter spent time drawing and playing soccer with him, he believed Peter spent much more time with Clark.

"I hate you, Clark, because Dad cares about you more, and because you stole him away!" Homelander blurted out his true inner thoughts.

This stunned Clark, who had never noticed how sensitive Homelander was!

"But you aren't on his side. You're even thinking of helping the people who want to hurt him." Homelander felt that both he and his father had been betrayed.

With that, he shoved Clark hard, pushing him to the ground, and walked away without looking back.

After walking a short distance, he suddenly felt a pang of regret. He secretly looked back and found Clark still lying on the ground. He wanted to go back and help him up, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"It's his fault anyway, why should I help him?" Homelander muttered to himself on the road.

"I did nothing wrong. This is Clark's own fault." Although he said this, he soon became dejected.