Tea Art Master, Stormfront, First Meeting

"This is the place I wanted to bring you, my Seven Tower!"

Azu's tone was filled with pride, as if the letters spelling out "Vought International" didn't exist at all.

"What do you think, son? Isn't it beautiful?"

"Come on, let me take you inside. You're going to love it here."

Ryan did not move.

He seemed a bit distracted, and after a brief moment of hesitation, he blurted out, "Dad, you didn't hurt Mom, did you?"

Azu froze on the spot.

In truth, Ryan was ninety-nine percent certain that Homelander would never hurt his mother, Becca.

Over a month of spending time together was enough for him to leave a deep impression on the "patch" he had installed in Azu's mind.

That was that Becca was important to him!

If Azu truly loved him as much as he claimed, then he would certainly care about his feelings.

"Haha, I—how could I ever hurt your mother?"

"Even though our relationship isn't great right now, I am the superhero Homelander, right, son?"

"Mm."

Ryan thought to himself that it was fortunate Azu hadn't turned dark yet; otherwise, he wouldn't have been confident enough to pull this off.

Suddenly asking to go out for a flight—any fool would know something was wrong.

That was the reason Azu had rushed over the moment he heard.

At the same time, Ryan asked again, his emotions sinking, "Dad, Mom said you were a bad person?"

"Do you believe her, son?"

"I—I don't know, but I know you're my dad, and you've been so, so good to me. I don't want to leave you."

Ryan blinked, his eyes turning slightly red.

His acting was as on-point as ever.

He looked up at Azu, "You'll always be good to me, right? If you do something bad, I'll definitely stop you!"

"Oh, son..."

Azu called out, deeply moved.

Ryan flew over and initiated a hug, "Dad, I'm not going to acknowledge that mean, unfamiliar man as my father."

"I only have one father, and that's you!"

Azu was so touched he nearly wept.

He embraced the small body before him, the bond of blood reaching its peak in that moment.

He scoffed at the words Billy had just said—about them not being the same kind of people, about going their separate ways.

Ryan is my son.

As long as I keep being good to him, he will never leave me.

"Aww~"

Ryan yawned, "Dad, I—I'm a little sleepy."

In this world, all the glamorous and adored superheroes were created through the use of Compound V, developed by Vought International.

Vought controlled the birth, packaging, and management of superhumans, crafting them into iconic symbols of national faith.

Among the hundreds of superhumans, only the seven with the greatest strength, popularity, and public support received the company's concentrated resources, forming the world's most high-profile elite hero team.

—The Seven.

The building where Ryan was now fast asleep served as the headquarters for Vought International, and from the 82nd floor all the way to the 99th-floor penthouse, the space belonged entirely to The Seven.

This was the exclusive base of operations for The Seven.

It was also the stage where they made public appearances, carried out missions, and cultivated their heroic personas.

Furthermore, it was a cage where this group of top-tier idols lived (ate, drank, and slept), played power games (being bullied by Homelander on a daily basis), and let their darkness fester (venting their repressed desires).

The original lineup of The Seven consisted of seven members: Homelander, Queen Maeve, The Deep, Black Noir, Mr. Marathon, Translucent, and Lamplighter.

The original structure remained for many years, but the balance was broken when the first Black hero of The Seven, A-Train, replaced Mr. Marathon.

The second member to exit was Lamplighter.

During a mission, Lamplighter had accidentally burned to death the two grandchildren of former CIA Deputy Director Grace Mallory.

Although this vicious incident, which could have caused a major political disaster for Vought, was eventually suppressed, Vought announced that Lamplighter had voluntarily retired for personal reasons to avoid the fallout.

At the same time Lamplighter retired from The Seven, Vought International took the opportunity to launch another years-long, reality-show-style nationwide audition.

The goal was not only to divert the attention of the higher-ups but also to boost the company's market value by hyping up the selection process, all while conveniently securing benefits for their political allies.

In the end, a superpowered individual named Starlight, Annie January, stood out and filled the vacancy left by Lamplighter to become the newest member of The Seven.

The matter did not end there.

As Starlight joined The Seven, A-Train caused trouble once again.

Because he had been privately injecting Compound V, his superpowers spiraled out of control, leading him to collide with and kill Hughie's girlfriend.

From that point on, Hughie joined Billy Butcher's camp (The Boys), and after a series of twists and turns, the unlucky Translucent ended up as the scapegoat and was killed.

A vacancy appeared once again.

However, this time Vought International did not hold another open audition; instead, the company's de facto leader, Stan Edgar, intervened forcefully and parachuted in a superhero no one knew.

A centenarian Nazi—Stormfront, Klara Risinger.

This woman possessed astonishing ambition and held extreme racial ideologies in her bones, acting with even more cold-bloodedness and lack of morals than Homelander.

Her joining The Seven, aside from a secret deal with Stan Edgar, had no purpose other than to control Homelander and, subsequently, attempt to control the entire world step by step to realize her Nazi aspirations.

Stormfront was quite cunning; she knew clearly that if she were to submit to Homelander like the others, she would be nothing more than a fresh toy.

Over time, he would grow bored and cast her aside like trash.

Therefore, the moment she joined the team, she immediately displayed her own intense style of conduct.

She laid her toughness, strength, and cold-bloodedness bare before Homelander, telling him that she was not someone to be trifled with.

Afterward, she would gradually and subtly transmit her antisocial personality, extreme self-centered ideology, and contempt for mortals, working hard to create an illusion of "kindred spirits" to thoroughly conquer Homelander.

The timing of Ryan's arrival was ingenious, and the first step of Stormfront's plan was implemented very smoothly.

After experiencing a series of terrible events—having his spotlight stolen, the public focus being drawn away, and his popularity plummeting—Homelander strangely felt a sense of jealousy and grievance in his heart.

But at the same time, Azu developed a strong curiosity and secret admiration for Stormfront.

Why could she manipulate the masses in the palm of her hand? Why did she curse, yet the public cheered for her? Why...

There were many "whys" that Azu could not figure out; that wasn't his style, but doing things that way felt truly satisfying!

Heaven knows how many times he had wanted to berate those idiots in public as morons instead of saying, "You are the real heroes," when he didn't know how to respond.

Heaven knows how many times he had forced himself to extinguish his heat vision that was on the verge of erupting, rather than destroying everything regardless of the consequences.

Heaven knows...

Azu slumped back into the sofa. On the tablet he held, a recorded video was playing of him accidentally killing Middle Eastern civilians.

There were also public condemnations and the downward curve of his voter approval ratings.

Annoyance, hatred, helplessness.

"What should I do, Madelyn?"

He thought of Madelyn, who was like a mother to him, but now, who else was there to give him advice and clean up his messes instead of leaving him to bear all this criticism alone?

"Knock, knock—Homelander, it's Storm, I'm coming in!"

"Wait..."

Before Azu could refuse, Stormfront had already shoved the door open and barged in.

At the same moment, Ryan, awakened by the noisy sound, walked out of the bedroom in a daze, wearing a pair of pajamas printed with Azu's face: "Dad, what's all the noise about?"