Chương 20

Adam clenched his teeth and kept both hands buried in the nose of the plane. Flight 37 was still falling. It was dropping slower than before. Adam could feel the change through his arms. The plane was fighting him with its full weight, yet his body was finally slowing it down little by little. Only one scene stayed in his mind. Superman catching a plane and placing it safely inside a stadium. Adam had watched that scene in his old life. Now he was hanging in front of the plane, trying to make that miracle happen.

'Visualize it,' Adam thought.

'Do it like him.' A blue screen appeared in front of him. [Host synchronization has reached 25%.] The moment the message appeared, the air around Adam changed. It pushed away from his body like the blast from a jet. His flight became stronger, and the plane's nose pressed harder around his hands. The upper part of his copper mask had already been torn open by his heat vision. The broken metal around his eyes was black from the heat.

As the plane pushed against him, the front of his face sank deeper into the damaged nose. Adam did not pull back. The plane slowed even more. Inside Flight 37, the passengers were still screaming. The cabin shook as the plane tilted. A flight attendant moved near the front and looked toward the cockpit. A few passengers had also reached that area. Through the broken front view, they saw someone outside. A man was in front of the plane, holding it. The flight attendant turned back toward the cabin.

"Sit down!" she shouted.

"Someone is trying to stop the plane! Sit down and hold on!" Her words spread through the cabin. People stumbled back to their seats, and a few began praying out loud. The flight attendant strapped herself into a seat near the front. Other attendants tried to calm the crying passengers. Then some people near the windows looked outside. The ocean was no longer rushing up toward them in the same way. The water below had started moving farther away. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road.

Report any occurrences. The plane was rising. Adam had finally forced Flight 37 upward. The nose was still bending deeper around his hands, so Adam took a deep breath. Cold gathered in his lungs. He breathed out over the damaged metal. Ice spread across the nose of the plane. It formed around his hands and locked the broken metal in place. The ice held the front together enough for Adam to control it better. Adam lifted the plane higher into the air.

Both engines were dead, so he gave the plane one strong push forward and released the nose. For one short moment, Flight 37 moved ahead without him. Adam dropped under it. He flew beneath the body of the plane and caught it from below. His hands pressed into the lower metal as the weight settled across his shoulders. The pressure was massive. This time, he stayed in the air. At twenty-five percent synchronization, the Kryptonian template finally let him carry the plane. His body shook under the weight.

He kept it in the air. Adam adjusted his grip until his fingers dug into the plane. Then he flew forward with Flight 37. Inside, the passengers felt the whole plane shift again and looked through the windows. A scene shifted to a baseball field. Children were playing with their coach while people watched from the side. The game stopped when one child pointed at the sky.

"What is that?" More people looked up. The sound came next. A full airplane was coming down toward the field. Panic spread across the ground. The coach shouted for the children to run, and people rushed away while still looking back. Helicopters arrived above the area soon after. News crews reached the nearby streets and started broadcasting live. Adam came down slowly with Flight 37 on his shoulders. Half of his face was still covered by copper. More copper hid his body from the cameras.

He lowered himself until his feet touched the ground, then lowered the plane. The field shook when the weight settled down. The plane stayed in one piece, and Adam remained under it until it was stable. Then he moved toward the door. Everyone on the field stared at him. Adam placed one hand against the aircraft door and tore it open. He threw the door aside. The emergency slide opened a moment later and dropped to the ground. Adam stepped into the plane. The passengers stared at him in silence.

Some people near the front had seen his face pressed against the damaged nose. They knew he was the one who had held the plane. Adam spoke in a calm voice.

"Don't worry. You can all get down now." Many passengers started crying. The little girl Maeve had tried to save came forward first. The girl ran to Adam and hugged him while crying. Adam placed one hand on her head.

"Don't worry," he said softly.

"You are safe now." After that, Adam helped the passengers leave. People came down the emergency slide while cameras kept recording from the ground. Reporters shouted from behind the barriers as they tried to explain what the whole world was watching. Adam did not stay. Once the passengers were moving down safely, he stepped back from the plane. Then he pushed off the ground and shot into the sky. People on the field watched him fly higher until he disappeared above the clouds.

At Vought Tower, Madelyn Stillwell watched the live broadcast from her office. Sweat covered her face. The same associates who had been discussing Translucent's public story were standing near her. None of them spoke as the news replayed the masked man carrying Flight 37. The office door suddenly slammed open. Homelander entered, ready to shout. Then his eyes moved to the news screen. Horror appeared on his face.