There is a specific horror in being killed by someone who doesn't hate you. That's exactly what the eight officers felt as they failed to follow his movement. Aldrich, still untrained in flying, attempted to fly toward the line of cars.
He left a crater in the ground. In a part of a second, he slammed into the first officer's waist, splitting him in half and blowing chunks of him everywhere before he flew into the air, throwing the half-body away and wiping the blood from his eyes.
The bullets were a waste of time, but they pulled the triggers anyway. It was the only thing left to do. You can't outrun a flying Supe, and begging doesn't work on something that doesn't value your life.
One officer lunged behind his cruiser door, trying to use the open door as a shield. Aldrich went through it. The metal buckled like tin foil as Aldrich's shoulder smashed the door into the man's chest. The momentum carried them both through the car, ripping both the officer and the car in half.
Supersonic stood frozen. If he used his power, the blast would flip the cars and shatter the eardrums of every cop in the intersection. But if he stayed quiet, he was just a witness to a cull.
The kid grabbed another officer by his shoulder and leg lifted him into the air and pulled.
"AHHHHHHHHHH"
RIPPPPPP
Alex realized then that "saving" them was no longer an option. Hurting them with his own shockwave was a mercy compared to what this thing was doing with its hands.
Seven men were down. The last officer was a woman, standing by the wreckage with her gun shaking in her hand. Thankfully the kid didn't even look at her. He didn't move toward her or try to hit her
Alex didn't hesitate again. He brought his palms together with every ounce of strength in his frame.
BOOM
The supersonic clap hit like a physical wall. The remaining police cruisers were blown backward, their windows exploding inward. The reamiming officer near the blast was tossed like ragdolls, her nose and ear leaking blood as the air was sucked out of the intersection.
Aldrich was forced back and had to cover his ears as his new super-hearing was sensitive, but besides being momentarily distracted, there was no other harm.
Seeing this, Supersonic was terrified and attempted to do it again. Before his palms closed down, Aldrich was already in the air, his fingers locking around Alex's wrists like iron bands. barely controling himslef to not brake supersonic in half.
CRACK.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Supersonic screamed in pain as his hands were bent in a very unnatural angle.
"You really do make a lot of noise, don't you?" Aldrich said as he brought his face close to Supersonic's face, his golden hair touching Supersonic's face.
"My hands... you broke my hands..." Alex wheezed.
"That's very observant of you," Aldrich said. He tightened his grip on the shattered bone, watching the Supe's eyes roll back. "Now, answer me before I break something else. What's your superpowers?"
"What?"
CRACK
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Say 'what' again one more time, I dare you."
"I... I clap my hands and make a shockwave."
"I know. I'm talking about your other superpowers."
"I'm... ahh... super strength and durability."
"Good."
With that, Aldrich pushed him to the ground, then picked him up by the leg and flew into the air. The violent take-off made Alex howl in pain as they flew away from the intersection and toward the sea.
Meanwhile, in Vought, Madelyn Stillwell was going through her worst days as Senior Vice President of Hero Management. Random rogue Supes were appearing in succession.
A C-list Supe, Great Wide Wonder, had died to a girl who appeared out of nowhere. While she had told Ashley it was no problem, it was, in fact, a huge problem.
No matter what kind of degenerate he was, he had merchandise, fans, and contracts. Now that he was a husk, all of that was crashing, and there was no trace of the girl or the spy.
It meant she could still be targeting Vought Supes at this very moment. Teams and Supes had been sent to quietly and secretly sweep the states.
Then there was the Deep. He had given his blood to a random Supe who could copy powers, which was a problem in its own right. But the real catastrophe would be if the Deep's copycat was the same one who got Homelander's blood.
Yes, Madelyn Stillwell hadn't believed Homelander for a second when he denied it. She knew him better than anyone, and she knew that look on his face. But what could she do other than what she always did? She had to clean up the shit they left behind.
The good news was that besides Wonder's death, there had been no major catastrophes. Stillwell tried to hold onto the best-case scenarios: that the cancer kid would simply die on his own, and the ghost girl had fallen with Wonder, breaking every bone in her body before sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
It was a comforting thought. But Stillwell knew better than to rely on hope. The world didn't work on "if" and it didn't work on "hope." It worked on results, and right now, the results were missing.