New York, Adirondack Park, below the cavern laboratory.
The afterglow of the setting sun cast streaks of light through the glass into a dilapidated RV parked on the mountainside.
Anand stood by the bed changing into worn clothes, while Neisha lay on the bed sleeping peacefully.
Wade entered carrying two large bags of food and daily necessities, pushing the door open: "You're awake. How do you feel?"
Anand looked up, seeing that familiar face with deformed features, and felt slightly more at ease: "What about the others on the plane?"
"You are the only survivors." Wade didn't bother to explain. He pulled a brand-new smartphone from his pocket and tossed it over. "See for yourself. No contacting anyone... if you expose your location, you're dead."
Anand picked up the phone, intending to call his family, but stopped immediately upon hearing that.
He opened the browser and searched for news about the plane crash on the internet.
In a recorded Vought News broadcast, a headline in large letters caught his eye: "Flight 37 Hijacked: No Survivors Found."
A news reporter stood on the shore, microphone in hand: "A large amount of luggage debris has been found at the scene, continuously washing ashore... Experts speculate that there is no possibility of survival for any passengers on board."
In the background, Queen Maeve stared blankly at the sea, saying nothing.
Homelander looked at the camera and whispered in a deep voice: "They weren't necessarily doomed back then."
The camera zoomed in as the host extended a microphone: "Homelander and Queen Maeve have just arrived. We invite them to comment on this matter."
With tears in his eyes, Homelander said through gritted teeth: "We arrived here just three minutes after the plane went down. Why? Because we have no communication link with the Air Defense Command's system."
"If we had received the message in advance, we could have saved them directly—all one hundred and twenty-five passengers..."
Homelander choked up, tears streaming down his face as he continued: "If we were integrated into the military defense system, this kind of thing would absolutely never happen again. I solemnly promise you all!"
"Right, Maeve?"
Maeve looked around while wiping away tears and nodded.
Voices rose one after another off-camera, echoing Homelander's words: "We hear you loud and clear!" "Homelander, we believe in you!"
Amidst loud shouts of "God Bless America" and "Homelander," the footage cut off.
Anand put down the phone and threw a few punches into the air: "That damn hypocrite! He clearly watched them die without helping, he clearly..."
Seeing him become increasingly agitated, Wade pulled him out of the RV.
"That damn executioner!" Anand growled as his anger erupted outside the vehicle. "That video. Where's my phone... post that video from my phone on the internet!"
"Let the whole world see his ugly face! Let everyone know exactly what kind of monster he is!"
Wade let him vent, his expression calm: "You don't need to worry about that. I've put away the phone with the evidence."
"Remember what I said. First, once Vought Corporation finds out you're alive, they won't send a compensation and legal team; they'll send Supes to silence you."
"Second, stay here to lay low for a while. I'll ensure your safety."
"Third, if you contact the outside world now, it's suicide, and you'll also involve Shetty."
"Shetty... You're a Supe, right? Are you her student or a colleague?" Anand's body jolted, and he handed the phone back. "Can you help us contact her? She must think something happened to us!"
"I told you, communicating here will expose your location... You don't want to gamble the lives of your wife and daughter on Vought Corporation's mercy and efficiency, do you?" Wade took the phone and met Anand's eyes. "I'll go meet her later. Don't worry."
Anand sat dejectedly on a large rock, holding his head and sighing: "I... I understand. Safety first."
Wade looked at the boundless cliff hundreds of meters below and asked casually: "Tell me some secrets about your wife that others don't know, so I can use them as a code with her."
"Wife? No, no, she's my first wife; we've been divorced for several years." Anand looked up at the dusky sky, memories flooding back, as he began gesturing and rambling... A few hours later, at the Big Sausage Motel in the New York suburbs.
A red car pulled up to the entrance. Shetty, dressed in a suit, stepped out looking hurried.
She scrutinized her phone the whole way, following the instructions of a mysterious encrypted message to Room 215 at the end of the second floor.
Shetty twisted the doorknob without hesitation. Holding a small pistol, she hissed at the ugly young man sitting cross-legged on the bed: "Where are they? If you dare toy with me..."
Wade slid a tablet across the floor: "Don't be in a hurry. Look at this first."
Shetty kept her gun raised, warily picking up the tablet.
The bottom right corner of the screen displayed the current date and time.
On the screen was a clear real-time surveillance feed: Anand was in a simple, narrow kitchen frying eggs. Neisha sat at the dining table, swinging her legs and complaining about something.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment.
Shetty's breath hitched, her pupils dilated, and her hand trembled as she touched the screen.
"A real-time feed... what does that prove?" After a long silence, she raised the pistol angrily. "A composite image? Deepfake? This technology is entirely capable of that. Give me evidence that can't be forged... otherwise, you'll pay for wasting my time!"
While Shetty was shouting, Wade snatched the gun away, his fingers flying as he disassembled it into parts.
He removed the bullets one by one, scanning her body: "You have a three-centimeter birthmark on your hip and a C-section scar on your stomach; on your first date with Anand, he gave you an out-of-print copy of 'Selected Poems of W.B. Yeats'."
Shetty was struck as if by lightning, completely stunned... These were extremely private matters that no outsider could possibly know.
Her tears burst forth like a broken dam, and she began to sob with a suppressed voice: "What... what do you want?"
Wade picked up her briefcase and began rummaging through it: "Take off your clothes."
Shetty's body stiffened. Humiliation and struggle flashed in her eyes as her hands trembled, undoing buttons one by one. Coat, skirt... all her clothes slid to the floor as she prepared for the expected ordeal.
Wade didn't even look at her, focusing only on using a hanger to poke and check the clothes.
After leaving Shetty hanging for a few minutes, he pulled a set of loose clothing from under the bed and threw it over: "Good thing you were honest. If you dared to bring a tracker or a listening device, humph..."
A rustling sound of dressing followed as Shetty sobbed: "Wh-whatever you want... hic, as long as I can do it..."
"Don't speak too soon." Wade picked up the tablet, tapped it a few times, and handed it back. "Look, your ex-husband filmed this. Quite professional, huh!"
Shetty opened the video file and started playing it.
The tragic scene inside the plane, Homelander's cold threats, the terrifying sight of the Heat Vision sweeping across... scene after scene hammered her nerves, her face turning from pale to ashen.
As the Dean of Godolkin, she knew the destructive power of Supes better than anyone, and she was even better at judging the authenticity of this footage.
The few minutes of footage soon ended, and the room fell into a deathly silence.
Wade took the tablet and crushed it with his hand: "They almost died for good on that plane... I nearly worked myself to death to save them."
"Homelander and those insane Supes truly deserve to die!" Shetty looked at the young Supe with deformed features, her eyes narrowing. "Tell me your plan. What do I need to do... to get Neisha and Anand back?"
Wade looked at this woman who had quickly shifted her mindset and knew he had found a truly reliable ally.
"You don't need to worry about their safety... Whether they remain safe in the future depends on whether we can cooperate seamlessly."
"I want Vought to pay the price they deserve." Wade turned around and smiled, extending his hand. "And you?"
"Blood for blood." Shetty gripped his hand tightly, the hatred in her eyes unmistakable as she spoke each word deliberately. "But I must see them with my own eyes... Anand and Neisha!"
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