Who Got There First, Isn't That Cheating?

"Dad???"

Stormfront was struck with utter shock.

Since when did Homelander have a child, and how the hell was he this old? Which wild woman had beaten her to the punch?

Right, Stormfront had originally intended to use a child in the future to bind Homelander to her completely.

While Stormfront was filled with astonishment and suspicion, Homelander acted as if she didn't exist the moment he saw Ryan.

"Did I wake you, son?"

Homelander's voice was incredibly gentle.

Watching Homelander act like this, Stormfront's heart bled.

"I'll chase the irrelevant people away in a moment. Are you still sleepy? Do you want to go back and nap for a while?"

I'm an irrelevant person—Stormfront?

"No, I already woke up quite late today."

How could Ryan possibly go back to sleep?

He had already sounded the alarm the moment he heard Stormfront break through the door.

This woman was no simple character. In the original plot, Homelander turned completely evil, and Stormfront bore more than half the responsibility for his eventual descent into dictatorship.

Her manner of death and her Nazi ideology had a profound influence on him.

Long before he made plans to come to Homelander's side, Ryan had already listed his must-do tasks.

Aside from using a shell company to film adaptations and gain experience points, one of them was to prevent Homelander, this diamond drill, from hooking up with Stormfront, this meat grinder.

The combat power of these two was far too bloody and bizarre.

The terrible images in Ryan's little head flashed and vanished; a scene of a certain Homelander... under Stormfront was cut off before it could even play.

His attention returned to the present, and he secretly braced himself.

He didn't know what had happened, but Ryan had confirmed one thing: at this moment, Homelander and Stormfront had not yet fully come together.

He raised his hand to rub his eyes, pretending he had just noticed Stormfront, and greeted her, "Hi, Stormfront, nice to meet you. I've seen your recruitment introduction."

"Uh... hello!"

Stormfront recovered from her shock and rage. With Homelander present, no matter how much she loathed this brat, she had to appear enthusiastic.

"Wow, I just heard you call Homelander 'Dad,' so you're his child, right?"

Stormfront acted very familiar, not treating herself as an outsider at all. "Not to say... Homelander, why would you hide such a cute son? We didn't even know."

"By the way, kid, you're a ten out of ten on the handsome scale."

"Hahaha..."

Homelander laughed out loud on the spot.

Hearing Stormfront praise his son, his mood instantly cleared up.

Ryan also put on a shy expression, twisting slightly as he replied, "My mom has also said since I was little that I look handsome."

"Then your mom is absolutely right."

Stormfront gave a thumbs-up. Just as she was about to use the opening to ask who the brat's mother was, she heard three sentences in a row that made her heart twitch.

"Yeah, Mom also said I look like my father."

Ryan looked up and asked Homelander, confused, "Dad, do we look alike? I really feel like you're even more handsome."

"I hope I can be as imposing and handsome as you when I grow up."

"Haha... of course! Of course, my son. When you grow up, you will definitely be just like me... er, imposing."

"Hahahaha..."

Homelander was still a bit embarrassed, changing "imposing and handsome" to just "imposing" amidst his constant laughter.

Stormfront stood to the side, wearing a slightly stiff smile.

She snuck a glance at Homelander's son, wondering if he was doing it on purpose or if he was truly innocent and speaking without thinking.

Before she could figure it out, Homelander suddenly turned his head and frowned at her. "Stormfront, is there anything else?"

"Oh... right, Homelander, have you seen the trending topics on YouTube...?"

Stormfront couldn't finish her question. The moment she mentioned today's trending news, Homelander's expression turned vicious.

With his back to Ryan, Homelander glared at Stormfront with a fierce, murderous intent.

Yet, eerily, his tone remained exceptionally calm, as if his expression and voice were out of sync, completely mismatched.

"That news isn't worth looking at. If there's nothing else, you can leave, Stormfront!!"

Stormfront was terrified.

Based on her research and understanding of Homelander, even if she had touched a sore spot, it shouldn't have reached the point where he wanted to kill her.

What happened?

There was no time to ponder the specific reasons; the immediate priority was to submit to Homelander's will. He... he would truly kill her!

Stormfront's eyes flickered, and she backed down quite quickly.

Lowering her head, she said, "Fine, I'll take my leave then."

She had intended to leverage her online influence from the live stream to win Homelander over, but now she was slinking away without even getting a word in.

The more Stormfront thought about it, the angrier she became. She suppressed her humiliation and rage as she left Vought Tower, and once she was far enough away to be out of range of Homelander's super-hearing and vision, she immediately dialed Stan.

As soon as the call connected, she snapped, "Edgar!! What the hell is the deal with Homelander's son? Where did that little brat pop out from?"

Stan Edgar was silent for a moment before slowly recounting Becca's story.

After listening, Stormfront raged, "Why didn't you tell me from the start? Don't forget our agreement—without my help, you can forget about controlling Homelander!"

"Clara Vought..."

"Call me Clara Risinger!"

"Ms. Vought, we both know what your goal is, so let's stop talking about helping me control Homelander."

After a pause, Stan Edgar continued, "I somewhat regret getting you involved in this matter, but since you produced Mr. Vought's original shares, we are even."

"Besides, is Homelander's son a threat to you?"

"It's not a threat; it's a nuisance."

Stormfront let out a stifled breath and finally said, "That kid is definitely not someone to be trifled with. Help me kill him, just as quietly and cleanly as you killed Susan, the CIA deputy director who was investigating me."

On the other end of the line, Stan Edgar stared blankly at the phone after it hung up.

After a long while, he shook his head with a faint, bitter smile and said to his daughter, who had heard the entire conversation from within the room, "That is just an eight-year-old boy."

Stan Edgar's daughter (adopted), Victoria Neuman, was currently a U.S. Congresswoman and a supe (secret identity).

On the surface, this congresswoman had absolutely nothing to do with supes; in fact, her political platform was anti-supe and anti-Vought.

She primarily operated under the guise of ensuring the public's safety.

But in reality, she was a political puppet for Vought International—or, more accurately, for Stan Edgar alone.

Her purpose was none other than to secretly control the opposition, suppressing their anti-supe and anti-Vought monopoly rhetoric to a level that caused no real harm.

Neuman looked pained. "Father, Stormfront is a crazed Nazi. We shouldn't be working with her."

"I know, but for now, I need her to influence Homelander."

Stan pondered for a moment and said, "It is not yet time to get rid of Clara, and Ryan cannot be touched either."

"If we did that, Homelander would completely destroy everything."

"I will send someone else to remind Homelander to hide his son. You are not to get involved in this."