Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child

Since they didn't have to go through the runaround, Yuriko and Zach's trip home should take half the time. They just needed to take the interstate rather than the out-of-the-way country roads. Her friend was disquieted and jumpy. He dropped his car keys the first time he tried to open the door, and fumbled the second time. It was only when he took a couple of minutes to breathe did he manage to open the door, but then, he kept trembling anyway.

"Want me to take over?" Yuriko asked. Zach's car was a sensible Corvette. Not as flashy as a sports car and not a muscle car. Something a well-off young professional would be proud of rather than what a celebrity would have.

"Yes, please." He jumped out of the driver's seat and handed the keys over. His fingers brushed against her knuckles; they were cold and clammy.

Yuriko smiled reassuringly at him, and he returned it after a moment. Inspire wiggled its way into his heart, eroding the fear that gripped him. She unlocked the passenger door with her kinesis to let him in. In truth, she could have opened the door with it to begin with, but opted not to, allowing him space to process.

She started up the car, listened to the pleasant hum of a well-tuned machine, shifted into reverse, and backed out of the parking slot. Zach's choice of vehicle had an automatic transmission, which was funny because she thought men loved going manual for the supposedly better control. She didn't really feel the difference owing to her physique, but she imagined driving a car in congested traffic while minding the clutch and the shift stick would get old fast.

Since Zach was still a bit put off, Yuriko used her smartphone to open a navigation app. The faster route was highlighted and if she followed speed limits, they would be in Neo Prism after a couple of hours.

Manoeuvring through the town took only ten minutes and then they were off to the interstate. Yuriko kept just within the speed limits and once they were cruising, she checked up on Zach.

"Any reason you're absolutely terrified of him?" she asked casually.

"Who isn't?" Zach retorted. "The Homelander's practically invulnerable, can fly, can pick up a ten-wheeler with a finger, and can punch a hole into a mountain. And he's a terrorist, even if he masks his rhetoric with ideology."

Yuriko hummed. "That doesn't explain everything. "

Zach's face morphed into different expressions: reluctance, anger, fear, loathing, and desperation. He didn't look like he wanted to share anything, and Yuriko didn't press him with her Mien. Her impression was that it was rather personal, so she let it be.

He remained silent for a little while, then said, in a small voice, "His antics caused the death of family."

"Your parents? Sibling?"

"No. Close cousins, and my aunt." He continued. "My uncle tried to sue. The Homelander has a public-facing identity, but his legal team easily countered the suit. Then, a few months later, my uncle disappeared. No signs, no ransom note, or anything. Still can't find his body. The legal defence? It wasn't a direct action by that farker, and it was caused by a riot. Which he didn't kick off, supposedly."

Yuriko nodded. "A gross injustice. Are you certain it is him?" She said in a neutral tone, but Zach looked offended anyway.

"Of course. It all adds up, and there are others who experienced the same."

"I see. I meant no disrespect, but I only wish to be certain." That there was nothing more concrete than his word was painful to hear, but she didn't want to act like a bumbling fool. Not anymore.

But then again, did she want to refrain from a challenging fight? How strong was Homelander, really? Would she be able to hold her own? Her incarnation body's Anima reach was always a tenth of her true body's, and right now, it was at fifty paces and change. It was also at three times the density, but that didn't really add as much as was apparent. It made fine manipulation and perception just a bit harder, and condensing into her aura armour wasn't all that much harder, or better. The higher density made using Boost and Recovery a bit harder initially, too, though she was used to it by now.

They drove in silence for a while, until Zach's nerves settled and he played some music on the car's player. The interstate wasn't that crowded. About half an hour passed. They were going through some hills when Yuriko felt something, or rather, someone, flit through her perception range. The Homelander alighted a couple of paces off the road—some three hundred paces away, on the lane she was driving on. His sharp gaze stared right at hers even through the tinted windshield. Perhaps his powers also included advanced senses.

Yuriko didn't stop, nor did she swerve off the lane. Her Anima perception spread to its fullness, and she knew that there were a couple of cars behind her on either side of her lane. If she abruptly shifted lanes, she was likely to hit the other cars if she did nothing else. Anyway, Homelander would pass just above the Corvette even if she didn't move. Not that she expected him to do nothing right after he tracked them down.

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So she kept driving, even as some of the vehicles ahead of them abruptly swerved or braked when they saw him. Homelander's lips twitched when she didn't do anything. Instead, he leaned over and flew directly at the corvette.

"Ahhh!"

Zach's scream was rather high-pitched and made her ears ring, but her strands of consciousness were focused on the upcoming confrontation. They were going at roughly eighty longstrides an hour, and the slightest twitch of the steering wheel could send the Corvette careening out of control. Well, if she didn't use her kinesis anyway.

Homelander reached down, hand open in an effort to catch and slow them down. Yuriko's Anima formed a small barrier, angled to deflect his palm away. At the same time, she swerved to the opposite side, then used her kinesis for an added jolt.

The look of surprise on his face made her chuckle even as she felt her Anima buckle from his strength. She didn't have the full measure, but a casual act was enough to tell her that he was at least two or three times stronger than her incarnation body's strength. How much she could match up if she used boost, or if she dedicated her entire Anima to empowering her physique, she didn't know, but she suspected it would be a poor match.

The thrill caused her grin to widen even farther. The car evaded his touch, and they even managed to drive past him. But he reacted quickly enough, turning in midair before he was past the car. He reached to grab the chassis, but while he was fast, he wasn't faster than she was when it came to using her Anima. Another shield formed, but she didn't make this one slick to deflect his grasp. Rather, she altered its property so that the kinetic impact would funnel into the car. Once it did, she nudged it along with a well-timed push against the ground. The car bounced off the road and flipped over its neighbour. She adjusted the trajectories such that they landed wheels down on the opposite side of the vehicle; they flipped over and she cushioned the landing to avoid damage to the axles and wheels. Then, she floored the accelerator and the Corvette jumped ahead. She added to their acceleration with continuous bursts to push them along. A couple of seconds later, they were two car lengths ahead of the Homelander, and the man's eyes were still trying to track their movement. So…telescopic vision but poorer, or rather, normal dynamic vision? Seemed unlikely, but perhaps her antics had surprised him.

It didn't take much longer before he revved up to chase them. Even with her kinesis, the car wasn't faster than the flier. In about five seconds, he was less than five paces away.

They were essentially trapped in the interstate, and the nearest exit was about five longstrides away. There were lay-bys along the shoulders, of course, but that would mean alighting from the car and facing the man directly. She could probably fight him off, but she was unsure of being able to defeat him. He supposedly had invulnerable skin, and she wasn't certain Invisible Edge could cut through it. At least now, without tuning it properly. One of her strands of consciousness was doing that now whenever the Homelander entered her sphere of perception.

The flying man reached for the rear bumper in an obvious attempt to grab it. She giggled madly amidst Zach's frightened screams even as she solidified another barrier that limited itself to the width of Homelander's fingers. Again, she set it up to take advantage of the force he'd use to catch, and shunted it to add to the corvette's speed.

Did the Homelander have better control of his body, or was he simply a brute? Repeating the same action again and again yielded the same result, didn't it? The corvette squirted ahead every time the Homelander managed to come close, like a slippery seed or a greased pig. She could see his impassive face, but was there a smidgen of frustration there? What were his powers other than invulnerability, strength, and flight? Did he have a ranged attack or something?

After a few minutes of futilely trying to grab the rear bumper, he pulled back and then flew above them. Then, he rammed down mercilessly, his aim straight at the centre of the car. Yuriko giggled and angled shields to deflect and harness his kinetic energy, but he stopped short of hitting the barrier and then shot his hands wide to grab the roof. He did it in such a way that he couldn't strike the car and would capture it instead.

Yuriko jinked the car to the right, avoiding a collision with a truck by using her kinesis to bounce off it and add the momentum to the evasion. She broadened the shield and prevented Homelander from actually touching the roof, and he reflexively applied force, which she deflected to the rear, allowing the little bit that bled over to advance the car. He kept pace, however, and continued to attempt to grab, though he mixed it with strikes too. He was scowling in annoyance now.

There was an exit a mere five hundred paces away, and while the car chase and evasive manoeuvres were amusing, she felt that Homelander wanted to say something, and that he wouldn't stop unless he got to say it. She could leave Zach behind and fly, probably as fast or faster than he could, but she wasn't about to abandon a friend and colleague.

The interstate became a bridge over a valley that would probably take half a minute to cross if she followed the speed limit. As it were, ten seconds would be enough. However, Homelander grew tired of their game and tore the road out from under them.

Yuriko tried to slam down with her Anima, but in a direct contest of strength, and owing to the fact that the concrete shattered rather than staying all in one piece, she failed. Homelander flipped the road section the Corvette was on. Yuriko revved the engine and applied kinesis against the slab, followed by a couple of manoeuvring bursts to keep them on the bridge. Tires squealed as a car behind them swerved out of the way, only to sideswipe another vehicle. Thankfully, most of the other cars slowed to avoid getting caught up in the melee several minutes ago.

The Corvette landed back on the bridge and she was about to speed away, but then, the Homelander slammed into the road next to the car. It was all Yuriko could do to prevent the shockwave from pulverising the chassis, but at that point, they flipped over the barricade and fell over the bridge.