Marvel: Raising — Chapter 143 - The Homelander and The Boys Universe
[SHOCK! Ninja World's Unfilial Son, the Old Man Six Paths Sealed His Foolish Mother for a Thousand Years. Is This the Distortion of Human Nature, or the Collapse of Morality?]
[Princess Kaguya's Tearful Confession: "Hagoromo, Hamura, they kept shouting things like justice and bonds, and then stuffed me inside a planet."]
["Thank you, Mr. Guan. Thank you to the company, for giving me the chance to see the light of day again."]
["Before, I had no choice."]
["From now on, I want to be a star under the company. I'll do anything."]
......
[What, Exactly, Is the Relationship Between Zabuza and Haku?]
[This Has Captured the Attention of Multiversal Humanity.]
......
[Why Do Howls Erupt Night After Night in the NaruSasu Village?]
[Behind Those Piercing, Hoarse-Throated Cries of "Naruto" and "Sasuke", What Unspeakable Secrets Lie Hidden?]
......
[Tsunade Lost Again!]
[Jiraiya's Make-Out Paradise Hits Shelves, Sparking a New York Craze!]
......
[Spider-Man Peter Parker's Latest Solo Film, The Spider and the Samurai, Coming Soon. Stay Tuned!]
[Logan's Daughter, Laura, Officially Inherits the Name "Wolverine."]
[Professor X and Magneto Attended to Offer Congratulations. The Moment They Laid Eyes on Each Other, Some Ancient Ailment Flared Up. They Traded Barbs, Hurled Insults, Swore at Each Other at Length, and Then, Somewhere in the Middle of It All, Burst Out Laughing.]
[Professor X Said: "Flowers may bloom again, but a man never gets a second youth."]
[Magneto, for the Cameras: "A man remains a boy until his dying day."]
[Then Both Took Their Leave at the Same Time.]
......
[Stark New Energy Industries, Tony Stark Held His Daughter's Hundred-Day Celebration Today.]
[Numerous Superheroes Were Invited and Attended.]
Short videos everywhere.
Each one a world of its own.
And at the same time.
In the DC Universe that no one was paying attention to anymore, thoroughly Vought-ified, quietly written off.
John had made new progress.
After seizing control of numerous superheroes through the Anti-Life Equation, The Flash chief among them, John moved like a man who'd been poor so long the fear was permanently lodged in his bones. He couldn't afford to waste a single second. Couldn't afford to let some new deity come crawling out of whatever corner it'd been hiding in.
He drained Apokolips of its resources and its people. Built a supermassive cosmic treadmill.
Locked The Flash inside.
Made him run.
The Speed Force generated by Barry Allen's running was one of the DC Universe's most inconceivable miracles. It was the kind of power that made physics irrelevant all over again. The kind of power that could shake the Source Wall itself.
And compared to Gotham City, chaotic, disordered, tipping further toward the Dark Multiverse with every passing day, utterly beyond saving, this was already so much better.
Black Strange had received John's full support. His magic had come back. His head was clear.
Wanda's mental state had stabilized. Somewhat.
Two of them. Two flavors of dark magic. Two Darkholds.
Together they looked out across the multiverse.
Across an incomprehensible number of universes, the two of them ground away at the problem like users who'd forgotten their passwords, running the same search over and over, trying every combination of keywords they could think of.
Entertainment. Company. Azu.
Hard work pays off.
It didn't take long.
Black Strange and Wanda dug up The Boys universe and dropped it in front of John.
"..."
John nearly lost it.
His face twitched. Something complicated moved through his expression. "And you, my friends," he said quietly. "You... well. Hang in there."
He looked on the bright side. The Boys universe wasn't a bad option.
The power ceiling in that world was low. And that was putting it generously. Not even worth discussing the current version of himself, carrying Bizarro's power, the Anti-Life Equation, a cocktail of DC mutagens, the dark matter he'd absorbed from the people he'd eaten, every layer of the super-evolution stacked on top of the last.
Even the old Homelander would have ruled that world with one hand.
And now John had more than just strength. He'd grown in other ways too. He'd gotten better at people.
"That world — only we know it exists."
"It can store Superman's corpse. Various artifacts."
"It can hold Lois. The Flash's little sister."
"And."
"Compound V still works there."
"Increased physical strength, physics-defying powers, even for the two of you, that's worth something."
John said all of this while walking forward.
He crossed the world barrier. Stepped through the cosmic passage.
He was back in The Boys universe.
Same as before he left.
Madness. Chaos. Every surface saturated with it.
No Ashley. No Homelander to be found anywhere. A-Train had vanished from the Seven too.
Vought's walls were plastered with PR copy.
[Today, Vought International can confirm that The Homelander and A-Train will immediately be deployed overseas on assignment.]
[For their safety, and for the safety of the free world, all operational details must remain confidential. Let us wish them well, and may God especially bless them!]
......
[Recently, the mainstream media has once again sunk to a new low, fabricating fake polls claiming "The Seven" have very low approval ratings. Below is the real data, fact-checked by Vought News, showing America's steadfast support for the greatest superhero team in history.]
[Data: XXX.]
......
Every trending topic was drowning in comments.
"Fuck! They ran the same PR line about Translucent — secret mission overseas — and then he was dead 3 days later. Completely reasonable to suspect something happened to A-Train!"
"We're begging Translucent's tragedy not to repeat itself with A-Train!"
"No! Training A-Train hasn't even dropped yet!"
"You don't know? A-Train's movie got pulled from the schedule."
"Don't let Vought fool you. A-Train couldn't take the company's bullshit anymore and walked out ages ago!"
"Where are you getting that from?"
"Obvious bait. Another Starlight fan coming to drag our Homelander."
"Doesn't matter. Forever young, forever in love, forever tearing up over The Homelander. He is the real superhero."
"Wrong! Starlight is the true agent of justice!"
"You are so deep in the Starlight brainwash it's embarrassing. Everyone knows she's just a sad little nobody. The whole Seven workplace drama? She made it up for attention. She's desperate to stay relevant."
......
The explicit content's mostly been cut, and now some of the real-America material needs reworking too. Fun times.
Thanks for the gifts!
➤ Next: Homelander Slaughters the Boys' World