Homelander: New Legacy [186] : Fire

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Crunch—

The sound of a mouse shattering echoed as Roger accidentally crushed his own mouse in a fit of frustration.

Staring at the broken mouse, then at the screen in front of him, Roger swallowed hard, replaced the broken mouse with a spare one, and continued browsing the webpage.

"Andrea, A transmigrator who accidentally arrived in the Marvel Universe, possesses a mind no less brilliant than Iron Man's, and has created many technologies. Her proudest invention is..."

Roger scrolled further.

"The artificial intelligence, Athena."

Roger's pupils contracted as he tightly controlled his strength to avoid crushing the spare mouse in his hand like the first one.

Slumping into his chair as if all energy had left him, Roger stared at the illustration on the screen.

Previously, he had thought all of this was just a coincidence. But now, after seeing Andrea’s illustration, he could no longer convince himself otherwise.

Not only was the character’s design the sa, but so were the na and the technology she developed. What were the odds of such a coincidence?

Could it be that the person Roger transmigrated into was rely a fan-made character created by an amateur artist?

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Roger sat up straight, carefully examining the character description provided by Luna. Although the explanation was sparse, there was a brief outline of Andrea’s life.

Roger flipped through a few relevant sketches and discovered a crucial discrepancy in the character's design.

"Not a Sorcerer Supre…?"

The character description Luna provided didn’t include the title of Sorcerer Supre. It only ntioned that Andrea was an ordinary person striving to beco a supre being.

While she gained Asgardian lineage due to certain circumstances and used the power of the Infinity Stones, she had never studied magic and was definitely not a Sorcerer Supre.

"Was the character design wrong? Or is this a fan design of a fan design?"

Although this minor inconsistency wasn’t enough to explain much, the difference between Luna's description and Roger’s knowledge of the character made him uneasy.

There was sothing that didn’t quite add up.

But no matter how much he thought about it, it was futile. To find out more about the character design, he would have to ask the creator of this work—Luna.

"The problem is, it’s not easy to contact her."

Roger picked up his phone, found Luna, but hesitated to send a ssage.

After all, they were re acquaintances. Luna had reached out to Roger out of gratitude, but if Roger were to contact her proactively, it might seem like he was leveraging her gratitude.

Worse, people might misunderstand it as him pursuing her romantically.

Moreover, Roger hadn’t figured out how to broach the topic if they were to et.

Should he just co out and say, "I think I transmigrated into the character you designed"?

If he said that, he’d be lucky not to be labeled insane, let alone have a aningful conversation.

Of course, if Roger demonstrated his abilities, he could explain himself. But currently, his powers were only partially restored, and his signature heat vision was still unavailable.

Other abilities could be passed off as genetic enhancents, but they wouldn’t be convincing enough to support such an outlandish claim.

So if Roger wanted to discuss this with Luna without raising suspicion, he would have to wait for her to contact him first.

"She’ll probably reach out, right?" Roger speculated.

Judging by Luna’s behavior, she didn’t seem like the kind of person to break a promise—especially since she had explicitly said, “I always keep my word.” Roger believed that wasn’t an empty statent.

After pondering for a while, Roger decided to download all of Luna’s fan art. He also browsed through the comnts under each image.

"She’s got quite the fanbase."

Although Luna didn’t have many followers on Pixiv, her fan art was widely shared on international platforms, her creations were quite popular.

So had even created secondary works based on her original characters, leaving comnts under her posts. That was how Roger learned of these.

However, fan-made works were ultimately niche. Having this level of popularity was already impressive.

Closing the website, Roger lay down on his bed, resting while waiting for Luna to contact him.

If Luna truly intended to repay Roger, she would likely reach out within the next few days. If not, Roger would find another way to approach her.

He had to know if the character he transmigrated into was one of Luna’s creations.

Roger had expected the next ti he heard from Luna, it would be for a al invitation.

But to his shock, when she called him the following night, her voice was filled with terror:

“…Help… Help !”

Crackle, crackle—

The sound of flas burning ca through her phone.

Hearing this, Roger imdiately stood up and shouted, “Where are you?!”

“I sent… the location…”

“Hold on! I’m on my way!”

Roger grabbed the location she sent, quickly got dressed, and rushed out the door.

“Hey! Where are you going this late?” his father asked.

“To save soone!”

...

Without waiting for an answer, Roger put on his shoes and dashed out, running towards Luna’s location at a speed far beyond human limits.

By sheer luck—or perhaps Luna’s fortune—her house was only two blocks away from Roger’s.

With Roger running at full speed, he reached her building in just two minutes.

“Fire! There’s a fire! Soone call the fire departnt!”

“They’re on their way!”

Looking up, Roger saw thick black smoke billowing from the fourth and fifth floors of the building. In the darkness of night, flas flickered ominously within the building.

A few brave residents had grabbed fire extinguishers and attempted to head upstairs, but they were quickly forced back by the overwhelming smoke, unable to reach the fire’s source.

Using his partially restored X-ray vision, Roger scanned the building.

The fire originated on the fifth floor, and while so residents on the fourth and fifth floors had managed to escape, others were trapped by the flas.

Luna’s apartnt was an older unit with cluttered hallways and no modern fire safety equipnt—only a few extinguishers scattered in the corridors.

In such conditions, those trapped inside had little chance of escaping or using firefighting equipnt to save themselves.

Though the fire departnt was on its way—Roger could hear the sirens—they were at least three minutes out.

Counting the ti since the fire was reported, it hadn’t been five minutes yet. If the fire departnt arrived within eight minutes, it would already be considered a rapid response.

But that might still be too late.

“Don’t jump! Don’t jump!”

A woman’s panicked scream snapped Roger out of his thoughts.

Looking up, he saw a boy, trapped by the fire, climbing over the window ledge. He hesitated, clearly debating whether to jump.

The boy was on the fourth floor. Jumping from that height might not be fatal, but it would almost certainly result in severe injuries.

“Damn it!” Roger cursed under his breath. Without hesitation, he ripped a piece of fabric from his shirt, soaked it under a nearby tap, wrapped it around his nose and mouth, and dashed into the building.

While Roger’s physiology allowed him to go without breathing for an extended period, he had to maintain appearances in front of the crowd. This makeshift protection also conserved so of his energy.

Ignoring his phone, Roger used his X-ray vision to pinpoint Luna’s location.

She was trapped in the bathroom, where she had opened all the windows and filled the bathtub with water, hoping to buy herself more ti.

But the fire had started right outside her apartnt door, and the small bathroom window wasn’t large enough for anyone to escape—not even a cat.

The situation was critical.

Roger swiftly made his way to her apartnt door. Ignoring the roaring flas around him, he smashed through the door and shouted, “Luna!”

“…I… I’m here…”

Her weak voice ca from the bathroom as she coughed heavily, barely conscious.

Breaking down the bathroom door, Roger found her slumped beside the bathtub, wearing nothing but a bathrobe. Scooping her up in his arms, he used his faintly restored bio-field to shield both of them as he rushed back through the fiery hallway.

On his way down, Roger didn’t forget the boy on the fourth floor.

Bursting into the boy’s apartnt, he grabbed him and carried him out as well. With the boy on his back and Luna in his arms, Roger quickly made his way down and placed them among the other evacuated residents.

The crowd imdiately rushed forward to help the two survivors.

“Kid! You’re amazing!”

“You’re a hero! Wait—hey! Don’t go back in there!”

Before anyone could properly thank him, Roger ignored their protests and dashed back into the flas.

This ti, he had another mission. In addition to saving people, he needed to retrieve Luna’s sketches. Those might hold the key to his connection with the Marvel world.

As Roger plunged back into the blazing inferno, the fire had grown even more intense.

Fortunately, he was familiar with the layout and quickly reached the fire’s origin point.

Breaking down doors and rescuing trapped residents, Roger followed a systematic process, taking less than three minutes to extract everyone in his path. By then, the fire departnt had finally arrived, their boots pounding up the stairs.

Hearing their footsteps, Roger hesitated briefly, setting down the people he had rescued in an unburned stairwell before turning back toward Luna’s apartnt.

By now, her apartnt was completely engulfed in flas. The fire burned so fiercely that even standing nearby felt unbearable.

Fortunately, Roger’s bio-field, though not at full strength, shielded him from the flas.

However, while Roger could withstand the heat, the sa couldn’t be said for paper.

Realizing the futility of his search, Roger sighed. The sketches were almost certainly reduced to ashes.

Dejected but resolute, Roger turned to leave. On his way out, he rescued the last remaining person trapped in the blaze.

Firefighters, equipped with protective gear, were climbing the stairs when Roger carried the survivor down. Seeing him erge from the inferno, even the seasoned firefighters were montarily stunned.

The flas on the upper floors had reached a level where rely moving around was difficult. The firefighters had already braced themselves for potential casualties.

Yet here was Roger, defying all expectations.

“Quick! Heat-resistant gear! Oxygen tanks!”

“Get these two downstairs!”

The firefighters quickly escorted Roger and the survivor to safety before rushing back into the fire.

Roger silently watched their retreating figures.

Unlike him, these firefighters didn’t have superhuman abilities. They were ordinary people willingly risking their lives in the face of overwhelming danger.

Roger had always believed his actions qualified him as a hero, but watching these firefighters, he realized he still had a long way to go.

“Hey! Everyone’s been rescued! There’s no need to go back in there!”

Roger shouted to the firefighters from below.

But they didn’t respond or even pause, continuing their courageous charge into the burning building.

Deeply impressed by their bravery, Roger turned away, intending to check on Luna’s condition.

However, as he noticed the admiring yet curious gazes of the gathered crowd, Roger realized staying any longer would only draw unnecessary attention.

Unwilling to attract fa in this world, he hesitated briefly before slipping away from the scene.

Luna was safe for now. Since she was unconscious, there was no way to get answers from her imdiately. It would be better to wait until she recovered.

For now, Roger had another matter to attend to.

This fire was clearly no accident. Though he didn’t yet know who was responsible, he was certain it was deliberate arson.

Roger’s next task was to find whoever had started this fire.

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