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

Chapter 43: An Unpleasant Meeting

"Hey, can I say something?"

Lucas's voice interrupted the three men who were arguing.

He listened to the conversation between the three for a while and roughly understood the current timeline progress.

It should be the time when she "disappeared" according to Sheriff Hope's plan, after tearing the Chrysanthemum Monster apart on November 11th, in order to prevent the people in the laboratory from taking her back.

It was pretty much as he had expected.

With a super brain, even intuition becomes much more accurate.

...

"Who are you?"

Upon seeing Lucas suddenly appear, Dustin's round face immediately filled with wariness and suspicion.

He had no idea how the other person had gotten close to them; the other person had appeared beside them suddenly, like a gust of wind.

Mike and the dark-skinned boy also looked at Lucas with surprise and uncertainty.

"Who I am is not important. What's important is that I know Eleven is not dead, and I know where she is."

Lucas got straight to the point.

"Eleven's still alive?" Mike was both surprised and delighted to hear the news. "I've always felt that Eleven's still alive."

"Don't get agitated, they might just be bluffing us."

Dustin turned around and whispered to the dark-skinned boy and Mike.

Although she looks the youngest, she is the most rational among them. It's just that she probably eats too much sugar, so her height hasn't developed much.

"If you do as I say, you'll naturally know whether what I'm saying is true or false," Lucas said calmly.

"Damn it, how can you hear me!" Castin's eyes widened, and his red and white hat almost fell off his head. He was speaking so softly.

"Why are you helping us?" Mike suddenly asked.

Although he missed Eleven very much, he was not overwhelmed by excitement.

"Because I need her to do something for me," Lucas said honestly.

"Then why don't you go find Eleven yourself? Or are you lying to us, and that you're actually connected to some lab, luring us away and imprisoning us to conduct some shady experiments?"

Dustin immediately asked.

"Your imagination is certainly rich, but please use it wisely." Lucas glanced at the fat man. "If you say another word, I won't hesitate to teach you a lesson."

As he finished speaking, he symbolically clenched his fist.

Dustin swallowed hard and then decisively shut his mouth.

His intuition told him that this person was likely to keep his word.

He didn't think he could beat this boy, who was two heads taller than him, in terms of physical strength.

Furthermore, the aura emanating from the other party inexplicably instilled fear in him.

"No!" Mike stepped forward, blocking the chubby boy. After a two-second silence, he said in a hoarse voice, "I want to know where Eleven is."

"Very good." Lucas nodded. "Go find your old officer. Chief Hope knows where she is."

"Sheriff Hope?" The trio looked on in astonishment.

Because of Will, they had been with Sheriff Hope all this time.

If the other party knows, why not tell them?

However, Mike's expression changed slightly; he felt that Sheriff Hope's behavior had been a bit strange lately.

He erected the monument for Eleven, but when he paid his respects, he didn't sense much grief from Sheriff Hope, who clearly treated Eleven like his own daughter.

Thinking about it this way, he suddenly realized that the mysterious boy's words weren't entirely without credibility.

"So, are you able to contact Hope?"

"Sheriff Hope is at Will's house right now. Will is another one of our partners, and something's not right with him."

Mike thought for a moment and then answered truthfully.

"Then you can go and confront Sheriff Hope now. Oh, and whatever you do, don't say I told you to."

Lucas shrugged.

The three men exchanged a glance, then quickly pushed the old-fashioned bicycle off the ground and hurried away.

...

...

The setting sun, like a ripe orange, lazily lingered on the horizon, dyeing the entire sky the color of orange soda.

After leaving Will's house in a hurry, Sheriff Hope looked around and drove to his secret base.

Throughout the journey, his expression remained one of surprise and uncertainty.

Why did Mike and the others suddenly ask about Eleven's whereabouts?

Why are they so certain that they know?

Could it be that Eleven secretly met with Mike and the others behind his back?

If that's really the case, he'll have to give Eleven a good scolding.

After all that has happened, does the other party still not understand my good intentions?

Mike, Dustin... they're just kids, they can't keep their mouths shut and they're impulsive. Once they find out Eleven is alive, especially Mike, he'll definitely want to find her and contact her every day. Then the military will immediately start monitoring them, and the delicate agreement he reached with the lab's higher-ups will be nullified, and the military will take direct action.

He had clearly told him this countless times.

"Damn it!"

Thinking of this, Hope slammed his fist on the steering wheel.

He had already lost Sarah and didn't want to lose another "daughter".

The car drove deep into the dense forest, the bumpy dirt road flanked by lush trees that blocked out all outside sounds.

Hope stopped the car with a sullen face, opened the door and strode quickly toward the simple wooden cabin in the woods.

Inside, Eleven was sitting by the window, with short hair and deep-set features, gazing blankly at the woods outside.

Upon hearing the noise, Eleven immediately turned around.

"Did you secretly go to see Mike and the others?" Hope asked, her voice heavy with suppressed anger.

"Although I really wanted to meet them, I didn't. What happened?"

Eleven looked very puzzled.

"No?" Sheriff Hope frowned immediately; he didn't believe Eleven would lie to him.

But if Eleven didn't meet with Mike and the others, how did they find out that Eleven was still alive?

"Knock knock knock..."

As Sheriff Hope was deep in thought, a dull knocking sound suddenly rang out.

He and Eleven exchanged a glance, and a look of vigilance instantly rose in their eyes.

No one else knew about this cabin except him and Eleven.

"Could they be those monsters from the other world?"

Hope's expression hardened slightly as he silently reached for his sidearm at his waist, skillfully pushing the bullet into the chamber.

He stepped aside to shield Eleven, lowered his breath, his eyes sharp as an eagle's, and fixed the muzzle of his gun on the tightly closed wooden door.

After three knocks, the person inside seemed surprised by the alertness of the knocker. After a three-second silence, a calm and clear voice spoke:

"Sheriff Hope, please open the door. This is my first visit, and I don't want to break down the door."

Hearing the noticeably immature voice, Sheriff Hope paused for a moment, hesitated for two seconds, and then deliberately lowered his voice: "Who are you?"

"We've met before."

Hope frowned deeply.

As the sheriff of Hawkins, he was extremely sensitive to human voices, but he had absolutely no recollection of this particular sound.

"Excuse me, I don't think I know you. Please leave immediately," Hope said in a deep voice.

"All right."

Outside the door, Lucas stood expressionless, his clenched fist slamming directly into the wooden door…