What's wrong with Superman's brother wanting to be Homelander?

Chapter 109 Lucas's Scheme

Courtney felt her consciousness rapidly fading away.

In a daze, she seemed to see her "biological father," Starman.

The other person looked at her seriously, their lips moving as if to say, "Don't be afraid, daughter, I will protect you."

"No, I can't die yet!"

"I must also shoulder my father's last wish, eradicate evil, fight the Injustice Society to the end, avenge them, and become a hero!"

A strong will to survive emanated from Courtney.

Perhaps it was sensing Courtney's will to survive.

The cosmic scepter, which had been emitting only a faint glow, suddenly burst forth with an incomparably intense golden light.

The intense golden light transformed into strands of golden radiance, converging around Courtney's body and instantly forming a golden protective shield that enveloped the girl, isolating her from the biting cold and suffocating feeling of the high altitude.

Courtney's consciousness was abruptly pulled back from the brink of dissipation.

She was breathing heavily, and the frost on her eyelashes melted rapidly under the golden light, while her bluish-purple lips quickly returned to their original color.

Refocusing my gaze, I saw Lucas's face, so close yet seemingly expressionless.

She's still as hot as ever, even more so than male models on TV, but now only Kourtney feels terrified.

She instinctively looked down at her feet. On the ground, the skyscrapers looked like ants, and the hills and mountains resembled small mounds of earth.

The disparity in her vision made her feel dizzy.

Coming to her senses, Courtney realized this again, swallowed hard, and asked incredulously, her face full of astonishment, "You—what kind of monster are you?"

How could an ordinary high school student possibly fly? And fly so high?

She still doesn't realize what happened; she was suddenly taken to an altitude of 10,000 meters above the clouds, where the chances of survival are slim.

Lucas couldn't be bothered with this woman.

He merely looked with interest at the scepter in the other person's hand.

He didn't know much about Starman's cosmic scepter.

All we know is that in the comic book setting, it is not a magical weapon, but a high-tech device based on the principle of star energy conversion.

Its operating logic is closer to that of some kind of extremely sophisticated instrument or equipment than to the mystical side.

But now it seems that his understanding was not comprehensive.

"This scepter should not belong to you."

Lucas spoke, his voice clearly reaching Courtney's ears.

Courtney froze, instinctively gripping the cosmic scepter in her hand.

But the next moment.

She only felt her palm suddenly empty as Lucas casually snatched the cosmic scepter she was clutching tightly from her hand.

The gilded staff shimmered with golden light, and perhaps sensing Lucas's predatory desire, it suddenly trembled with a series of mournful cries, trying desperately to escape.

But no matter what, they couldn't break free from Lucas's grasp.

Sensing the connection from the cosmic scepter, Courtney wanted to resist.

Lucas frowned slightly, and the next second, he released his grip on the girl's hand.

Courtney's eyes widened, her mouth reacting faster than her brain. She screamed and plummeted downwards like a kite with a broken string. The wind in her ears changed from a whistling sound to a sharp whistling sound. The clouds rose wildly in her vision, and the feeling of weightlessness, along with unprecedented terror, completely engulfed her.

The Star Staff was stolen, and he plummeted from the sky, his proud dream of heroism turning to dust in that instant.

Courtney was filled with extreme remorse.

Meanwhile, on a highway outside Smallville.

Night had fallen heavily, and the last rays of sunset were swallowed by darkness.

A silver-white mech is rapidly approaching.

The engine roared deep and guttural, like the bellow of a beast.

-

Inside the cockpit, Pat's face was ashen.

In front of the helmet visor, the screen continuously refreshes thermal imaging and energy tracking signals.

The screen shows a small red dot falling rapidly from a great height.

Just three seconds ago, the armor's high-altitude abnormal energy monitoring module captured the fleeting golden trail in the stratosphere, and the life signal that followed closely behind, hurtling toward the ground at freefall speed.

Pat quickly deduced that it was Courtney.

After arriving at a certain location.

The thrusters on the back of the armor ignited with a roar, and the silver-gray figure tore through the night, heading at full speed toward the rapidly falling black dot.

High in the sky, Courtney struggled frantically in her subconscious, tears just beginning to well up in her eyes were blown away by the gale.

Just when she thought she was about to turn into a bloody mess in the wheat field, a silver-gray streak of light shot up from below and steadily caught her in a warm and solid embrace.

The hum of the thrusters drowned out the sound of the wind, and the vibrations from the armored chest cavity were steady and powerful.

Courtney struggled to open her eyes.

"----Who are you?"

"it's me."

A familiar voice came from inside the silver mech.

"Pat?" Courtney's eyes widened, her voice filled with surprise.

"You know Starman, and you've probably heard of his assistant. I'm that assistant, Stars and Stripes."

"You seem to be in trouble?"

"I lost the scepter my father left me, and I now know that Starman is my biological father."

97

Courtney's voice was trembling with tears.

"Father? Biological father?"

Upon hearing Courtney's words, Pat's lips twitched involuntarily in the cockpit.

To be honest, although he didn't know who Courtney's biological father was, he was certain that it couldn't possibly be the child of his old partner.

Having been his old buddy for so many years, he knows everything about Starman.

"Courtney, I need to make one thing clear to you: you absolutely cannot be Ted's child. He only had two sons. His eldest son died at the hands of the Injustice Society, and his younger son should be in an antique shop in London right now."

Pat said in a very serious tone.

Courtney paused for a moment, then shook her head firmly: "Pat, at this point, there's no point in hiding this anymore. I'm not a child."

If I'm not Starman's daughter, then why does the Cosmic Scepter resonate with me?!

This is also the most important reason why Courtney firmly believes that she is Starman's daughter.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure about this either. Although the Cosmic Scepter was made by Ted, the infinite cosmic energy gave the scepter a faint self-awareness, making it a magical entity."

It may think you are suitable to be its next owner, which is rare but not impossible.

This does absolutely not prove that you and Ted are related by blood.

Pat explained earnestly.

He believes that this kind of thing still needs to be explained clearly.

Otherwise, if a misunderstanding arises, his old friend might just crawl out of his coffin to find him.

Courtney still didn't believe it.

She firmly believed that she had seen the essence of the matter.

Seeing Courtney's expression, Pat's expression immediately became somewhat depressed. He felt that his stepdaughter's ability to imagine things was a bit too much.

No, he didn't lie to you.

Lucas slowly descended to the ground and looked at Stargirl, who was shaking her head like a rattle-drum.

The scepter in his hand had completely lost its ability to resist, and he was utterly obedient.

Although the Cosmic Scepter automatically chooses its master, if you are powerful enough, you can also suppress it directly.

"That's my scepter, give it back to me!" Courtney shouted immediately upon seeing the cosmic scepter in Lucas's hand.

"Listen, I won't allow you to hurt her."

Pat immediately maneuvered his mech to stand in front of Courtney, firmly shielding the arrogant and rebellious girl behind him.

The matte silver-white body is covered with red and white diagonal stripes, making it look like the American flag has been printed on it.

A circular green energy core protrudes from its chest, powered by nuclear energy, providing a continuous source of power for the entire mecha.

With its thick, heavy arms, nearly two-thirds of its height is perpendicular to the ground. Two giant cylindrical missile launchers are mounted on either side of its shoulder armor. As a heavy powered armor specially designed for war, this special tactical robot integrates a power enhancer. It not only has long-range attack firepower, but its forearms also contain serrated cutting wheels, flamethrowers, electric shock cables, and grappling hooks.

In addition, the fists have a split-launch function, which can detach from the arms to strike the target, and then automatically magnetically return to their original positions.

It can be described as having both offensive and defensive capabilities.

In some respects.

Even without the Stars and Stripes title, Pat Dugan was still a genius mechanic and engineer.

If Marvel's Tony Stark represents cutting-edge technology ahead of its time...

So Pat represents the pinnacle of engineering within the framework of real-world physics.

They are able to assemble, in a very short time, a device capable of fighting against superhumans using limited materials and old parts.

Who was the most powerful human engineer in DC?

Lucas doesn't remember.

But the Stars and Stripes will have a place.

At the very least, they are among the top-ranked.

"If this was because Courtney was unreasonable first, then I apologize to you. But if you dare to take a step forward, I'll blast you to smithereens."

Inside the cockpit, Pat threatened through the built-in loudspeaker.

However, his furrowed brows betrayed the seriousness that the original Stars and Stripes leader was trying so hard to hide.

He had never seen anyone fly freely in the sky without the aid of external forces.

He was completely unable to assess the opponent's true strength.

Furthermore, judging from the other party's expression, he didn't seem to take his gravity mech seriously.

in the corner.

Upon hearing Pat's words, Courtney's expression froze, and a warm feeling suddenly flowed through her heart.

What flashed through her mind like a revolving lantern wasn't the glory of becoming the second-generation Starman, but rather the image of Pat clumsily helping her assemble her desk on the day of the move, his hands covered in grease yet smiling as he handed her the roasted ribs, and how he clearly noticed her secretly making a copy of the key...

Yet, they chose to remain silent and tolerant.

She pouted, feeling like crying.

"I hate it when people threaten me."

Lucas said coldly.

He slightly bent his knees, and with a whoosh, he shot out like a meteor.

Pat's eyes widened in horror. Even with the help of the mech's radar, he couldn't see the opponent's trajectory and could only detect a faint afterimage.

At the same time, the mech arrived late, finally detected the danger, and began frantically sounding the alarm.

But it was too late.

Lucas had already reached the top of the right shoulder armor of the mech and punched it.

The mech's right arm snapped off instantly, sending various parts and metal pieces flying everywhere. The internal motors emitted a piercing overload alarm, and with a burst of sparks, it was completely destroyed.

Immediately afterwards, he kicked the back of the mech.

The mech's massive body flew forward hundreds of meters like a puppet with broken strings, crashing heavily into a protruding rock and becoming completely destroyed. Pat struggled to climb out, looking utterly disheveled.

The mecha's technology is good, but its weaknesses are too obvious when facing a superhuman like Lucas. It is too bulky and the materials are too rudimentary.

Lucas withdrew his gaze, walked step by step towards Courtney, grabbed her by the neck, and lifted the girl up.

Without the protection of the Cosmic Scepter, the opponent was nothing more than a weakling, not even as good as the Penguin Gang's henchmen.

Courtney's face immediately turned bright red.

"Listen, if you're so eager to know about your origins, I can tell you."

Your biological father is Sam Curtis, a selfish, despicable, abandoning-his-family, idle gambler, like a worm crawling in the mud.

And you, from beginning to end, are nothing more than a descendant of a reptile, with the inherent baseness of rotten mud in your bones. You think you can become the second Starman? No, you're just a clumsy clown, an imitator, stupid to the core.

Lucas said, word by word.

"No, no, that's not it—"

Courtney's eyes widened, her eyes red-rimmed, and she shook her head frantically.

Lucas didn't speak, but instead looked at the girl's snow-white neck.

He doesn't even need to exert any force to crush the opponent's C1 atlas and C2 axis into powder.

"Lucas, no—"

Just then.

Clark rushed over.

He shook his head at Lucas with a devout expression.

Lucas pondered for two seconds, then casually tossed Courtney away.

The reason they didn't kill him wasn't entirely because of Clark.

He would certainly consider Clark's opinion, but if he was determined to kill someone, no one could stop him.

However, he had other plans.

:

farm.

farmhouse.

The second floor.

The brothers' room.

Clark scratched his head, walked up to Lucas, and said with utmost sincerity, "Lucas, thank you—"

"Why are you thanking me?" Lucas said without looking up.

"Thank you for choosing to stop and not letting the light in your heart go out."

Lucas shook his head expressionlessly, offering no explanation.

After dinner.

Lucas left the farm and then shot into the sky like a shooting star.

Soon, an entrance sign with the Blue Valley Town sign came into his view on the highway.

A two-story house near the suburbs.

It seems there has just been a heated argument here.

The atmosphere in the living room was tense.

"child----"

Seeing Courtney with tears streaming down her face, Pat patted her on the shoulder, unsure how to comfort his stepdaughter.

He didn't know about the other person's biological father before, and Barbara had never told him either, but when he heard Lucas say it, he felt that the other person might not be lying.

Because whenever he asked Barbara about this, she would always dodge the question and refuse to talk about it further.

Clearly, Courtney's biological father was not someone to be missed, at least not to Barbara.

Now, after a heated argument, Barbara has finally told Courtney the truth.

"Why didn't you tell me all this in the first place?" Courtney demanded loudly.

"Because I know better than anyone what kind of person Sam Curtis is."

He abandoned us years ago and has ignored us for years. To me, that man was never a "lost father," but a piece of trash who deeply hurt my mother and me.

If I were to tell you directly, "This is your father," it would be tantamount to me actively pushing you towards someone who is destined to disappoint you.

"I'd rather you continue to believe your father is a good man than witness his selfishness and depravity firsthand," Barbara sighed.