Kansas. Late at night.
Peter sat in the open space of his farm, gazing up at the night sky. The trees nearby stood tall and sturdy, their red leaves glowing like flames in the darkness, falling silently to the ground at his feet.
After a long while, he lowered his head, picked up the coffee cup beside him, and took a sip of the bitter brew.
The voice of a radio host cut through the silence from the radio nearby:
"Good evening, Kansas listeners. I'm sure you all know by now, the Geminid meteor shower will peak tonight at midnight."
The host continued, excitedly reporting on what was predicted to be the largest meteor shower in a decade.
"Just a reminder—dress warmer than you think you need to! Be cautious of radiation cooling. It's best to bring a recliner, find a dark, open area away from any bright light, lie on your back, and just enjoy the stars."
Click!
Peter, tired of the radio chatter, reached out and turned it off. He glanced down at his watch: 11:55—five minutes until the meteor shower.
Ordinarily, Peter would have no interest in such romantic nonsense, but this particular meteor shower was linked to his future happiness, so he couldn't ignore it.
As for why it was connected to his future? Well, it all started with who he really was.
Life hadn't been easy for him, not by a long shot. One fateful day, while watching a meteor shower with his girlfriend, a meteorite struck, killing him instantly.
When he woke up, he had transmigrated to the United States, becoming a young man named Peter Podrick. His new life was far from glamorous—he was an American cowboy with neither house nor car. Both of his parents were dead, and all they had left him, aside from a mountain of debt, was the farm in front of him that was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
After hearing the news about tonight's meteor shower, Peter had come out early to wait.
'Maybe I'll get lucky and find a way to go back home through this meteor shower,' he thought.
If he'd transmigrated into the life of a rich capitalist, a movie star, or some wealthy heir, he might still have had the motivation to push forward. But in his current situation, he didn't even have the typical cheat or "golden finger" that most transmigrators received. How could he change his fate when even the heavens seemed to be against him?
Peter downed the rest of his coffee in one gulp.
"If I had that kind of power, would I have spent my previous life as a 'steel worker' for so long?" he grumbled.
Compared to this miserable new start, he almost preferred the idea of going back and taking it easy in his old life.
Just as he was lamenting his unlucky fate as a transmigrator—one that embarrassed all the legendary transmigrators—he noticed a bright light in the distance.
In the dark night sky, a long, earth-grazing meteor streaked through the atmosphere, its trail glowing like fire. Soon, more meteors followed. Under the black sky, a magnificent meteor shower unfolded. Countless meteors shot across the heavens like blazing arrows, their brilliant tails lighting up the night.
Peter's mouth dropped open as he gazed at the spectacle.
Boom!
A deafening sound echoed across the farm, and the ground trembled slightly beneath his feet.
"What the hell?! The meteorite actually fell!"
Stunned, he looked ahead to see a huge crater where the meteorite had landed. Dirt had been flung into the air from the impact, and the heat generated by the friction had ignited the piles of soybeans stacked on the farm. Flames erupted instantly, painting the night sky red.
Cursing under his breath, Peter sprinted to the warehouse, grabbed a fire extinguisher, and doused the burning soybeans with foam. Fortunately, the meteorite wasn't too large, and only a small amount of soybeans had caught fire. He quickly extinguished the blaze.
Breathing heavily, he wiped the dirt from his face and stared at the deep crater, still radiating heat. As the smoke cleared and the air cooled, Peter peered down into the pit—and froze in shock.
It wasn't a meteorite at all. It was a small, silver spaceship, glowing under the night sky!
What the hell?! Did he just witness the arrival of aliens with his own eyes?
After rubbing his face and confirming he wasn't dreaming, Peter dropped the fire extinguisher and ran back to the warehouse. Moments later, he returned to the edge of the pit, shotgun raised. For his own safety—and to prevent any alien abduction—he figured it was best to take precautions.
Click! Click! Click!
As he watched, the cabin of the spaceship slowly opened. Instinctively, Peter raised his shotgun, aiming it at the spacecraft. As a firearms enthusiast, he had indulged his passion for shooting in the few weeks since he had traveled back in time. Now, with the gun steady in his hands, he was ready to shoot the moment anything threatening appeared.
But what shocked him was the absence of terrifying, alien Grays. Instead, a cute baby sat inside, sucking on its finger.
A baby?
Peter, confused, took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Let's just see what's going on here first."
The blond-haired baby, noticing Peter outside, stretched out its tiny legs and tried to crawl out of the spaceship.
"Danger!" Peter shouted, realizing the baby was about to fall. Without a second thought, he slid down the slope of the crater, abandoning caution.
Bang!
Staggering slightly, Peter reached the bottom, set his shotgun aside, and caught the baby just as it was about to tumble out. The baby, completely unfazed by the cool night air, giggled happily in Peter's arms.
Still holding the baby, Peter frowned and glanced into the spaceship. Inside, he found a white blanket, which he used to wrap the baby snugly. As he did, a strange sense of familiarity washed over him.
Kansas... farm... baby in a spaceship.
Wait a minute!
Wasn't this the exact scene from Superman's arrival on Earth?!
Could it be that the world he'd traveled to was the world of American comics? And the baby he was holding now—was it Superman?
Hiss...
Peter took a sharp breath, suddenly finding the baby in his arms even more adorable. If he became Superman's father... well, Superman's adoptive father didn't exactly have a happy ending. But Peter wasn't the type to sacrifice himself for others!
"You're my son now. If you don't take care of your old man, I'll disown you!" he thought. This shameless father-son dynamic was exactly what he aspired to! He was so thrilled, he was already imagining how to "mooch off" his son in the future.
His life was about to change forever!
Besides, wasn't Superman super strong as a kid? He could lift a school bus—so couldn't he lift ten harvesters with just one finger? Peter figured he wouldn't have to do farm work anymore, or even hire help. This kid could handle the work of ten men.
Just as Peter was fantasizing about his new life, something else caught his eye. Inside the spaceship, there was a watch, glowing faintly in the darkness. Hesitant, Peter reached out for it, but the moment he touched it, the watch began to transform!
The mechanical strap extended and wrapped itself around his left wrist, almost as if it were alive.
Click!
With a crisp mechanical sound, the watch locked firmly onto his wrist. Startled and suspicious, Peter suddenly felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. At the same time, a flood of information poured into his mind.
Two minutes later, only one thought echoed through Peter's brain:
I'm so cooked!
The baby in his arms wasn't Superman—it was Homelander!
Peter took a deep breath, staring down in shock at the baby. When this kid grew up, would he blow Peter's head off in a fit of rage? After all, who could say whether a person's evil nature was determined by their genes or by the environment they grew up in?
Thinking about the fact that this baby wasn't Superman but Homelander, Peter felt a knot of complicated emotions. But he had no choice. The message he'd just received told him that he was now bound to this baby. If the child died or was abandoned before adulthood, Peter would be punished as well.
So putting on the watch was like signing a shady contract?!
God, I hate system like these.
With ten thousand curses running through his mind, Peter raised his hand to inspect the watch that had forced him into this situation. On the dial, a pointer slowly turned. The system reminded him that once the pointer completed a full circle, the next meteor shower would arrive.
And with that meteor shower, more superpowered babies would come.
In other words, there was still a chance he might get Superman in the next meteor shower! All hope wasn't lost—there was always next time. Breathing a sigh of relief, Peter gently lowered his wrist and glanced at the baby.
"Call me daddy! And let's see...I'll call you Azu!"
(A/N: Homelander's name is still John. It's just that Azu sounds cute.)