Who Got There First? Isn't That Cheating?

"Father???"

Stormfront was utterly shocked.

When had Homelander gotten a child? And one this damn old? Which wild woman had beaten her to it?

That was right—Stormfront had originally planned to use a child to bind Homelander to her for good someday.

While Stormfront was filled with shock and suspicion, Homelander completely acted as if she did not exist the moment he saw Ryan.

"Did we wake you, son?"

Homelander's voice was incredibly gentle.

Seeing Homelander like this, Stormfront's heart bled.

"I'll get rid of irrelevant people in a moment. Are you still sleepy? Do you want to go back and sleep a little longer?"

I'm irrelevant? Stormfront thought.

"No, I already got up pretty late today."

There was no way Ryan would go back to sleep.

The moment he heard Stormfront barge through the door, every alarm in his head had gone off.

This woman was no simple character. In the original storyline, Homelander's complete descent into darkness and eventual path toward dictatorship would be at least half her fault.

Her death and her Nazi ideology had both left a profound impact on him.

Long before deciding to come to Homelander's side, Ryan had already made a list of things he absolutely had to do.

Aside from using someone else's shell to lay eggs—filming an adaptation to gain experience points—one of them was stopping Homelander, this diamond drill bit, from hooking up with Stormfront, this meat grinder.

The two of them were far too bloody and bizarre in battle.

A terrible image flashed through Ryan's little head. Before the scene of Homelander beneath Stormfront, doing something for her... could play out, he cut it off.

At the same time, his attention returned to the present, and he secretly raised his guard to the fullest.

He did not know what had happened, but Ryan had already confirmed one thing: Homelander and Stormfront had not yet gotten together completely.

He raised a hand to rub his eyes, pretending to have only just seen Stormfront clearly, then greeted her. "Hi, Stormfront. I watched your introduction when you joined the team."

"Uh... hello!"

Stormfront also recovered from her shock and fury. With Homelander present, no matter how disgusted she was by this damn brat, she had to act enthusiastic.

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

Stormfront acted familiarly, as if she were not an outsider at all. "I mean... Homelander, why did you hide such an adorable son? None of us even knew."

"And by the way, kid, you're incredibly handsome."

"Hahaha..."

Homelander burst out laughing.

The moment he heard Stormfront praise his son, his mood immediately brightened.

Ryan also put on a shy expression and replied softly, bashfully, "My mom has said I was handsome since I was little too."

"Then your mom was absolutely right."

Stormfront gave him a thumbs-up. Just as she was about to use the opening to ask who this brat's mother was, she heard three consecutive lines that made her heart twitch violently.

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

Ryan looked up and asked Homelander in confusion, "Dad, do we look alike? I really think you're even more handsome."

"It would be great if I could be as impressive and handsome as you when I grow up."

"Haha... of course! Of course, my son. When you grow up, you'll definitely be just like me... uh, dignified."

"Hahahaha..."

Homelander was still somewhat embarrassed. Amid his laughter, he changed "impressive and handsome" to "dignified."

Stormfront forced a slightly stiff smile at the side.

She secretly glanced at Homelander's son, wondering whether he was doing it on purpose or was genuinely innocent and simply speaking without restraint.

Before she could figure it out, Homelander suddenly turned back and frowned at her. "Stormfront, what else do you want?"

"Oh... right, Homelander, did you see the trending stuff on YouTube...??"

Stormfront could not continue her question. The instant she mentioned today's trending news, Homelander's expression had already turned vicious.

With his back to Ryan, Homelander glared at Stormfront fiercely, murderously.

Yet strangely, his tone was unusually calm, as though his expression and voice had become disconnected and were completely out of sync.

"Those news stories aren't worth watching. If you have nothing else, get out, Stormfront!!"

Stormfront was frightened.

Based on her research and understanding of Homelander, even if she had brought up something painful for him, it should not have reached the point where he wanted to kill her.

What had happened?

There was no time to think carefully about the exact reason. The urgent matter was to obey Homelander's wishes. He—he... really would kill her!

Stormfront's gaze flickered, and she backed down remarkably fast.

Lowering her head, she said, "Okay, then I'll leave first."

She had come to use her online advantage from livestreaming to win Homelander over, yet now she left dejectedly without even getting a word in.

The more Stormfront thought about it, the angrier she became. Suppressing her resentment and fury, she left Vought Tower. Once she was far from Homelander's Super Vision and hearing, she immediately called Stan.

The moment the call connected, she shouted, "Edgar!! What the fuck is going on with Homelander's son? Where did that little bastard come from?"

Stan Edgar fell silent for a moment before slowly telling her Becca's story.

After hearing it, Stormfront snapped, "Why didn't you tell me back then? Don't forget our agreement. Without my help, don't even think about controlling Homelander!"

"Clara Vought..."

"Call me Clara Risinger!"

"Ms. Vought, we both know what your goal is, so don't talk about helping me control Homelander anymore."

After a pause, Stan Edgar continued, "I somewhat regret letting you get involved in this matter, but you brought out Mr. Vought's original shares, so neither of us owes the other anything."

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

"He's not a threat. He's a nuisance."

Stormfront let out a stifled breath, then said at last, "That kid is definitely not harmless. Help me kill him, quietly and without anyone knowing, just like you killed Susan, the CIA deputy director who investigated me."

On the other end of the call, Stan Edgar stared blankly at the disconnected phone for a moment.

After a long while, he shook his head with a faintly bitter smile and said to his daughter, who had heard the entire conversation, "He's only an eight-year-old boy."

Stan Edgar's daughter—his adopted daughter—Victoria Neuman, was currently a U.S. congresswoman and a superhuman, though her identity was hidden.

On the surface, this congresswoman seemed to have nothing whatsoever to do with superhumans. Her political platform was even anti-superhuman and anti-Vought.

Her whole shtick was the pretense of getting the public home safely.

But beneath that, she was Vought International's... no, more accurately, Stan Edgar's personal political puppet.

The purpose was nothing more than to secretly control the opposition and suppress its voices against superhumans and Vought's monopoly to a harmless level.

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

"Yes, but right now I need her to influence Homelander."

After thinking for a moment, Stan said, "It isn't time to get rid of Clara yet, and Ryan cannot be touched either."

"If we do that, Homelander will destroy everything completely."

"I'll send someone else to warn Homelander and have him hide his son. Don't get involved in this matter anymore."