Ron did not kill Kimiko Miyashiro. Instead, he handed the former terrorist over to Madelyn.
Edgar and Madelyn did not know that Kimiko's ability was the exceptionally rare power of immortal regeneration. Otherwise, their goal would not have been to eliminate her, but to capture her.
Every superhuman with regenerative abilities was a scarce treasure to laboratories.
Once he acquired Vought, she would be his property. He could not afford to waste her.
After delivering a speech on the shore near the sea where the plane had crashed, Homelander returned smugly to his room at Vought, sneering as he prepared to rest before going to see Madelyn.
After accomplishing this, Madelyn could not possibly leave him unrewarded.
As he pushed open the door, the sound of a television reached him.
"Why did we only arrive three minutes after the plane crashed?
Because I wasn't part of the Defense Command system."
On the television screen, Homelander was being interviewed, his eyes brimming with tears as he delivered a sorrowful speech. His words were deeply moving enough to make people weep.
"I could have saved them. More than two hundred mothers, husbands, and children could have reunited with their families after a slightly turbulent journey, but..."
Hearing his own voice on the television and seeing the familiar figure seated with his back to him, he entered the room while suppressing his fury.
"Not a bad speech."
Before he could say anything, Ron turned the chair around and slowly applauded with a light laugh, as if praising his speech.
"What stirring words. Vought's entry into the Department of Defense is practically a done deal now."
"Why are you here?"
"Madelyn will definitely reward you generously."
Resting his head on one hand, Ron continued.
"Perhaps you'll even get to drink some of that fresh breast milk you like."
"I asked you—why are you here?!"
The moment he saw Ron, Homelander's good mood vanished entirely. He roared word by word, his face twisted with rage as lasers lit up in his eyes.
"Oh, look at you. You're really terrifying like this. If your fans saw you, how heartbroken would they be?"
Without changing expression, Ron slid a phone forward and lightly tapped it.
"Almost exactly like this."
A video began playing on the phone. It showed the several dozen seconds on that plane when Homelander threatened the passengers, forced them back, and then mercilessly abandoned them to die.
Meanwhile, the television on the other side of the room was still showing him delivering a grief-stricken speech for those who had died on the plane.
"How ironic and hypocritical."
He glanced at the television again and smiled.
If this video were leaked, Homelander's carefully cultivated image and the enormous popularity he had only recently gained would collapse overnight. He would immediately become a pariah.
"How did you get that?"
With evidence of his crimes exposed, Homelander's face turned livid. Furious and terrified, he snatched up the phone.
Sparks flashed as he crushed the phone into scrap, then his heat vision blew apart the television playing his speech.
Those damned people had been about to die, yet they still had the leisure to record a video?!
"You didn't think I wouldn't make backups, did you?"
Ron acted as though he had not seen Homelander's actions at all.
"What do you want?"
Both hands pressed against the table, Homelander stared at him with a dark expression, as though he wanted to devour him, and spoke coldly and rapidly.
"You want to use this to threaten me?"
"If it gets leaked and there's nothing left in this world that I care about, I won't mind killing everyone and destroying the world!"
He immediately threatened to destroy the world in return.
Ron's strength was only enough to match his. He did not have the ability to stop him completely.
"I'll make you spend the rest of your life in an empty wasteland. Then you'll regret threatening me!"
"Whatever. Go ahead and try."
A cold, contemptuous indifference showed in Ron's eyes. He did not fall for that at all, merely sneering in amusement.
"I'd like to know whether, once Earth becomes a wasteland and no one loves you anymore, you'll go mad from loneliness, find a doll to be your 'Friday,' talk to it by yourself, treat it as your only fan, and accept its worship."
The words struck directly at Homelander's weakness.
Whether Vought had done it unintentionally or deliberately controlled it, his miserable birth and childhood had left Homelander with a massive psychological defect—a warped, desperate need for love. He could never accept that no one loved or cared about him.
Crack!
His teeth ground together.
Homelander struggled to suppress his rage, humiliation on his face as his fists clenched tight.
He could tell that Ron truly did not care about his threats. Yet he could not lose the people who loved him now, especially when more people liked and worshipped him than ever before.
Just imagining the scene Ron had described made him feel as though he were suffocating, unable to breathe.
"Be good and listen. As long as you don't go against my will..."
Seeing that he remained silent for a long time, Ron stood and walked past him. Like a mafia godfather encouraging one of his underlings, he patted Homelander on the shoulder and turned sideways with a kindly smile.
"You'll still be the Homelander admired by millions and loved by countless people."
After Ron left, Homelander sat on the sofa with vacant eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Suddenly, a call came in. The voice on the other end trembled, whether from pain or fear.
"Respected Homelander, it's me... A-Train.
Something unexpected happened."
"Someone found my girlfriend. They threatened her and learned about one of the places where I delivered goods, then let one of the test subjects escape."
In the hospital, A-Train had narrowly survived. His knees were almost ground to the bone, and he had been tortured until he barely looked human. Without even taking time to rest, he hurried to find a way to save himself.
"When I found her, Dark Star was there for some reason. He broke my legs, nearly killed me, and took the person away."
He deliberately emphasized Ron, implying both openly and indirectly that Ron might be the mastermind behind it all.
After saying that, he sent Homelander a video.
It was surveillance footage from a hidden pinhole camera in The Mesmer's room. In the recording, two people threatened his girlfriend.
Anxious and terrified, A-Train wanted to direct Homelander's anger toward the troublemakers and Ron.
But he did not know that Homelander's fatal weakness was already in Ron's hands. What could Homelander possibly do to Ron?
"Ron, you do hold a 'nuclear bomb' that can destroy me, but nuclear bombs are never used lightly unless absolutely necessary."
However, Homelander believed he could still retaliate and disgust Ron a little, such as by killing the underlings who worked for him.
"Do you think Homelander, the strongest superhero on Earth, will just submit and obediently become your dog?"
He grinned viciously.
Would someone as cold and detached as Ron really fall out with him over a few underlings working for him?
Ron would only swallow his disgust and endure it.
But after watching the footage A-Train had sent, Homelander suddenly frowned.
"This person looks familiar."
One of the men threatening A-Train's girlfriend in the recording was a burly, bearded man with a fierce appearance and a mouth full of profanity. He looked somewhat familiar.
"Who is he?"
For some reason, Homelander had a sudden feeling that this matter was immensely important to him, yet he simply could not remember why.
"Billy Butcher..."
He turned and went to Vought's Crime Investigation Department. After searching the image and reviewing the files, Homelander softly read the information aloud. His originally grim expression became somewhat strange.
"It's him? That woman Becca's husband?"
His eyes suddenly narrowed.
"Wait. The file says his wife, Becca, has been missing for eight years?"
After gaining control of Homelander, Ron was in a good mood. Together with his new partner, Starlight, who had a case to work on, he went out to fight crime.
It was an armored truck robbery.
Ron and Starlight strolled through the hail of bullets, chatting as they dealt with the criminals, not taking those vicious criminals seriously at all.
"Ron, what are you doing this afternoon? Want to go to that café from last time?"
After dealing with the criminals, Ron heard Starlight's question and took a moment to glance at the system. He froze slightly.
Ability: 240,000
"What happened?"
Why had his Ability Points surged after threatening and controlling Homelander, only to rise again so soon afterward, reaching an unprecedented 240,000?
Before you continue