As for the heated discussions online, Skye, fleeing in a panic, remained completely unaware.
Her thoughts were a mess.
She couldn't focus on anything... Gaining superpowers should have been something to celebrate, yet she couldn't shake the terrified expressions she'd seen on the crowd's faces. She worried that the "family" in Stellar Tower might look at her the same way.
Especially Herman.
Just imagining Herman looking at her in fear made her tears flow uncontrollably.
She ran the whole way back.
By the time she reached the base of Stellar Tower, her anxiety and dread had only grown. She stood before the elevator, not knowing what to do.
Go up?
She could hide for a while, but not forever. Eventually, everyone would learn the truth, and it might even bring terrible trouble to the company.
"Someone will definitely want to capture me for experiments. I can't drag him or anyone else into this." Skye, who normally loved conspiracy theories, had little optimism about her own future.
The thought of shadowy government forces or military labs filled her with terror. Still, she clenched her teeth and made a decision.
Just as she turned to leave... something happened that made her blood run cold.
She heard Herman's voice inside her head.
"Done shopping? Still hiding down there slacking off?" The voice was so clear, as if Herman were whispering in her ear.
Skye darted her eyes around, but Herman was nowhere in sight. For a moment, she thought she was hallucinating.
But then.
"Hm? Pretending you can't hear me?"
There it was again.
This time, Skye was certain—Herman's voice was echoing in her mind! Her eyes went blank with confusion.
Urged on by that voice, she stepped into the elevator, returned to Stellar Tower, and hurried straight to Herman's office.
On the way, Quicksilver greeted her, but she ignored him. She needed to know whether she was really losing her mind.
"Boss?"
Skye pushed the door open.
Herman was waiting with a smile.
"Confused? About the voice in your head?"
He set his phone down on the desk. His lips didn't move, yet once again Skye heard his voice echo clearly in her mind.
In that instant, she understood.
"You're... like me?"
Unsure if Herman knew her situation, she could only ask carefully, her voice carrying a touch of excitement. If her guess was right, she wouldn't need to fear his rejection.
"If you mean extraordinary powers, then yes."
Herman raised a desk lamp and let it hover in midair.
The sight stunned Skye, who had been so uneasy moments before.
"You... you..."
She still struggled to accept this extraordinary world. It felt as though either reality had gone insane, or she had already died—and everything happening now was just a dying girl's last illusion.
"Aren't you curious why I wanted you to join us back then?"
Herman asked calmly, his eyes fixed on her.
"Wasn't it because I'm good-looking?"
Skye blurted, recalling their first encounter.
"..."
Herman felt speechless, but kept his expression steady.
"It was because I saw your potential. Because, like me, you are different."
Playing the mystic was nothing new to him. By now, Herman was well-practiced, his tone steady and full of conviction.
"You knew I had superpowers when we first met?" Skye stared wide-eyed at Herman, utterly astonished.
"People who are different naturally sense each other."
In truth, Herman thought, I even know you have alien blood in your veins.
But he kept that to himself. Skye was already reeling from enough shocks; piling on more revelations now would only overwhelm her.
"But why didn't I sense you?" Skye asked blankly, still confused. Could this so-called "sensing" just mean... feeling a spark?
"Because you're not as strong as me. Naturally, you couldn't sense me." Herman answered with perfect composure. Spinning such tales had become second nature to him.
Of course, he couldn't exactly say, "I'm a transmigrator, I've seen your shows before, and I already knew you were descended from the Inhumans."
"Is that how it is?"
Skye looked at Herman's serious expression and instinctively chose to believe him. She had always been easy to convince.
"Of course it is." Herman replied confidently. His eyes then shifted to the faint scratch-like wounds on her arm.
They were already scabbing over. It seemed Skye had some degree of healing ability—decent, though nowhere near the visibly rapid regeneration he had seen elsewhere.
"I heard you ran into some trouble outside?" Herman's gaze was deep and steady.
Hearing his words, Skye finally snapped out of her daze.
"I..."
Her face grew tense again as she remembered her earlier ordeal—and the people recording it all on video.
"No need to rush. Take your time."
Herman adjusted the phone on his desk, gesturing for her to sit across from him. With a flick of Telekinesis, he floated a cup of warm water to her.
"Thank you."
Skye's eyes remained wide as she accepted the cup. Even now, it all felt dreamlike, unreal.
A washed-up director who was secretly a billionaire had already been absurd enough. Now this billionaire was also a psychic?
For a moment, Skye didn't know how to process such revelations. She couldn't help but suspect Herman had countless other hidden identities.
"It happened like this..."
Taking a sip of water to calm herself, Skye began recounting her ordeal—everything that had happened after her powers awakened.
"Why didn't you come upstairs sooner?" Herman listened patiently to her story, though in truth he already knew most of it.
"I was afraid... afraid I'd drag you all into this." Skye admitted her fear of being captured and experimented on.
"Don't worry. No one's coming for you." Herman smiled gently, but Skye only shook her head.
"You don't understand. The government's secretly running all kinds of research. I once hacked into an agency, and their files even had records on aliens."
"They dissected aliens..."
In the past, she would never have dared say something so wild—words that could easily make others think she was crazy.
"Hm?"
"What was the name of that facility?" Herman raised an eyebrow.
Skye struggled to recall. "Something like... Department of Homeland Security or whatever... They had information that could overturn everything you think you know."
Her voice was full of conviction, absolutely certain of the government's corruption.
Herman chuckled.
"You hear that? You guys really have alien corpses over there?" he said into the phone on his desk, tone playful.
"..."
On the other end, Nick Fury was momentarily speechless.
"Young lady, you can call us S.H.I.E.L.D. We're not some evil organization. We exist to maintain stability."
"Trust me, we won't dissect you, and we won't arrest you... provided you stop hacking into government networks."
"That's illegal. Even without superpowers, you'd still face prison time." Fury's voice was heavy with exasperation.
Twenty minutes earlier, agents had contacted him after spotting the videos of Skye online. But before he could dispatch a team, Herman's call had come straight to his phone.
Fury still didn't know how Herman had gotten his number. But he had no choice but to take the man very seriously.
"You have connections with those agencies!?" Skye clearly heard Fury's voice and turned to Herman, stunned.
"I'm part of the class that makes the rules. Isn't it only natural I'd have ties with national agencies?" Herman replied smoothly.
Skye sat frozen, speechless for a long time.
She felt like the way events were unfolding had already gone far beyond anything she could have imagined.
"Those videos online... they'll still cause you—cause the company trouble," Skye finally said in a low voice after a long silence.
"That's not your concern. All you need to do is trust me—no one will come after you, and no one can cause me trouble."
Herman let out a light chuckle, his tone steady and confident.
"If anyone insists on giving you a hard time or tries to hurt you... then they'd better be ready for my retaliation."
"Since you've become my employee, you're under my protection. Anyone who threatens you is effectively declaring war on me."
His gaze was deep, his words unwavering.
That certainty gave Skye a sense of security she had never known before. Warmth spread through her heart.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure no one comes after you."
Nick Fury's weary voice came from the phone on the desk. He knew perfectly well that Herman's words were directed at him.
The message was unmistakable.
If anyone dared lay a hand on my people...I won't show mercy to anyone. Trouble? I don't care. I'll make enemies of whoever I have to.
Inside S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury's expression was grim.
If anyone else had spoken so arrogantly, he would have made them pay... but this was Herman.
The moment he thought about the analyses and evaluations on Herman, his resolve faltered. He feared Herman's power—but even more, he wanted to use that power to protect Earth.
So, as long as Herman didn't cross the line, Nick was willing to give him some leeway.
...
Regarding the video of Skye.
It spread like wildfire.
Even television news stations began airing footage from the supermarket... and not even S.H.I.E.L.D. had the means to easily quell the public uproar.
Protests broke out, demanding that the government acknowledge the existence of superpowered humans. The man who had once claimed to witness Herman kill someone—before being taken away by S.H.I.E.L.D.—resurfaced again.
Before the camera of a news reporter, he declared with unwavering conviction that Herman Chu was in fact the real Homelander.
He went further, claiming this Homelander controlled Congress and the upper echelons of the U.S. government, with the ability to command federal agents at will.
"I don't know why he filmed that broadcast! Maybe he just wanted to flaunt his power! But one thing's certain—he's no wise ruler!"
"I've suffered unspeakable torment at the hands of his lackeys! I've personally experienced the brutality of the Homelander!"
This self-proclaimed witness clearly hadn't been properly silenced by S.H.I.E.L.D. He took advantage of the trending topic to loudly denounce an intelligence agency for abetting tyranny.
Of course.
Few people actually believed him.
But there were many who suspected Herman might indeed be hiding something.
Some began dissecting episodes of the TV show frame by frame, searching for moments that didn't look like special effects. They proudly pointed to these as so-called evidence.
"Is Starlight New York's second superhero?"
In truth, compared to the uncertainty surrounding Herman, the public's attention toward Skye was just as strong.
The viral video circulating online showed Skye unleashing her powers in a supermarket. Many optimistic voices hailed her as New York's second superhero.
For New Yorkers, this was easy to accept. They already had Spider-Man; another superpowered hero didn't seem strange at all.
But elsewhere, many worried that the existence of superhumans would destabilize society itself.
For a time, even the news of Iron Man appearing over New York—Tony Stark finally unveiling his armor—was only second on the trending list.
...
"Oh my god! Skye! You're a superhero!"
Everyone at the company browsed the web too.
By the next day, all of them knew about Skye.
To her surprise, not a single person looked at her with prejudice. Aunt May even hugged her and said, "You're truly noble."
Aunt May believed Skye had only revealed her powers to save lives, and that alone made her worthy of being called a superhero.
"Nice work! You did great!"
Quicksilver gave her a thumbs-up. Thanks to Herman's private introductions, Skye soon discovered that even the company's doorman wasn't exactly ordinary.
"Oh my god... so here, abnormal is normal?"
And after learning Wanda was a witch, Skye felt the world was only growing more fantastical.
"What about Cross and Fox?"
She remembered how neither of them seemed fazed by her powers. Curiosity led her to ask Herman.
"Oh, them? Like Aunt May, they're just regular people."
Herman's first words made Skye breathe a sigh of relief. At least there were still normal people in the company...
But his next words made her eyes widen again.
"It's just that they're both highly skilled, stronger than professional agents. They're basically retired top-tier assassins now."
Holy shit.
The janitors were retired assassins?
Skye froze in shock.
"What about Aunt May?"
Her expression twisted with unease. She half-expected Herman to reveal Aunt May was secretly a crime boss.
"Aunt May is just a simple office worker," Herman said. He had promised Spider-Man to keep his true identity secret, so he didn't mention her connection to superheroes.
"I never thought... this world would be even harder to accept than I imagined."
Skye took a deep breath, her face a mix of emotions.
She didn't ask about Carrie. Anyone could tell her appetite wasn't normal. Skye might have been slow to react at times, but not that slow.
"No one at the company will discriminate against you, so stop thinking about running away."
Herman patted her head. Watching her leave with a smile finally back on her face, he turned toward the laptop on his desk.
These past few days, the online uproar had already begun to die down.
Partly because of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Partly because of Herman's own hand.
In this world, when money was plentiful enough, even truth itself could be silenced—let alone a temporary surge of online outrage.
"Time to draw a new identity again."
Herman scrolled through the internet as he waited for the countdown.
Indeed.
Today was the day the All-Seeing Eye came off cooldown once more.
...
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