I Have an Idea

Coming your way now: The Boys' very own Legend, the king of taking abuse—ASH! LEY!

Ryan had arrived at the Seven's large conference room for a visit, and he was screaming inwardly.

Zhao Zilong was brave from head to toe. Ashley was Zhao Zilong from head to toe.

For an ordinary person with no powers at all, this woman surviving by Homie's side for so long was nothing short of a miracle.

Just look at her work environment.

An unpredictable, murderous man-child of a boss; coworkers with a trail of bodies behind them; a company so thoroughly infiltrated it was like a sieve; and a job where quitting could get you killed.

People said that if you spent enough time by the river, you were bound to get your shoes wet. Ashley went straight to Homie and said, "I can go for a swim."

Just say the word, and she'd even backstroke naked. That was loyalty!

"Homelander!"

Ashley rushed into the conference room, her heart and soul focused entirely on Homie. Flustered but trying to stay composed, she blurted out as soon as she entered, "We have an emergency, sir."

"Oh my God, did you see?"

"The video uploaded to YouTube last night was taken down across the internet by cybersecurity within seventeen minutes, but..."

"Ashley!"

Homelander suddenly cut her off.

Just like when Stormfront had barged into his room earlier and he'd sent her away, he didn't want his son to find out that he'd accidentally killed civilians.

The boy trusted him so much. He'd even fallen out with the mother he'd depended on all his life because of him. If Ryan found out, how disappointed would he be?

At the thought, Homelander began to feel anxious.

No, he had to find a way to keep Ryan away from the internet for a while. He couldn't let all the nonsense out there mislead him.

But how could he explain that?

He'd only brought Ryan home last night. Was he supposed to send him away today?

The problem was, Homie couldn't bear to, either...

"Thud—"

Just as Homelander was distracted, mulling over a solution, Ashley—already nervous—fumbled at his sharp rebuke and hit the play button.

As senior vice president of hero management, Ashley Barrett carried a tablet that automatically connected to the company network. From the moment she'd hurried back, its screen had already been mirrored in the large conference room.

And the reason she'd kept the footage ready to play was to make sure Homelander, who might not know what had happened, could grasp the situation immediately.

Ashley was the very model of dedication.

Besides, this was the Seven's private meeting hall, and its projection equipment was always on standby.

The moment Ashley hit play, the screens in the conference room lit up, revealing the footage in full view of everyone there.

The room fell dead silent.

But Homelander reacted a moment later, his eyes instantly flaring with crimson Heat Vision. With a single sideways glance, he reduced the screens showing the footage to wreckage.

"Ashley!!"

Homelander was furious. His still-glowing red eyes fixed on Ashley.

"N-no, I—I..."

Ashley was terrified. She had no idea why this was happening.

But at that moment, Ryan, who'd been watching from the sidelines, had no choice but to speak up.

Ever since Stormfront had suddenly shown up that morning, he'd been trying to work out what had happened. He'd even used Super Hearing to eavesdrop on conversations among Vought Tower employees.

The story was simple, but it had to start at the beginning.

Vought Group had originally made its name as a company devoted to pharmaceutical research and development.

But as Compound V became a stable product and more and more supes were born, the superhero system gradually took shape. The company's focus shifted along with it, and its original pharmaceutical business slowly became an afterthought.

These days, when people heard the name Vought, they no longer thought of a pharmaceutical company. The first thing that came to mind was an entertainment powerhouse at the height of its fame.

Creating superhero idols, managing hero IP, and producing commercial appearances and movies had become the company's defining features in the public eye.

Stan Edgar and the other executives had never been willing to let the company stray completely from its original purpose.

They'd introduced one plan after another and marshaled resources from all sides, doing everything they could to turn the company around and bring Vought back to its original course.

But every measure they tried to push through eventually got stuck in the White House.

Amid compromises between the powerful, cooperation, and battles over competing interests, the company's most important plans remained stalled.

Then Homelander started fighting for power. To prove he could take charge of the massive company, he secretly gave Compound V to small countries and organizations hostile to America, giving rise to the terrorist group known as the supervillains.

Homelander's childish stunt not only planted a huge security threat on American soil but completely upended the Vought executives' plans.

The company could only go with the flow and try to make up for the damage as best it could.

Under the circumstances, having the Seven take down supervillains became the politically correct thing to do.

For a time, the spectacle diverted attention from the massive Compound V leak scandal. It even helped Vought advance its plan to extend its Tentacles into the military.

You could call that an accidental stroke of luck.

But...

Nothing that happened with Homie ever counted as a surprise.

The company being right—or rather, Stan Edgar being right—meant that Homelander himself was wrong. Could he tolerate that?

Of course not!

So the adorable Homie had once again gone on a rampage, making sure everyone knew he was there, completely against everyone's expectations.

He'd been going out again and again to strike at the supervillains he'd helped create. Sometimes, people made mistakes.

And now, after the much-loved Flight 37 Incident, Homie had crashed and burned again.

During an unauthorized operation against supervillains in the Middle East, Homelander had accidentally killed civilians—and someone had secretly filmed it.

The news had exploded across the internet at one in the morning yesterday.

That was the full story as Ryan had pieced it together from his memories of the plot and what he'd overheard.

He'd actually wanted to pretend he didn't know anything about this. After all, he didn't have enough influence over Homie to make him obey his every word.

And his age was an even bigger obstacle. Given his life experience, he couldn't offer reasonable explanations for many possible solutions. It wasn't a question of intelligence; he just hadn't reached that stage of life.

So when Homelander flew into a rage and nearly killed Ashley on the spot, Ryan blurted out in shock, "Dad, you—you killed someone!!"

The boy's clear, frightened voice struck Homelander's barely controlled reason like a bolt of lightning.

The red glow of his Heat Vision vanished, replaced by the awkward, panicked look of a child caught by his teacher after doing something wrong.

"I didn't!"

Homelander hastily denied it, but then remembered that the brief clip they'd just played showed him accidentally killing civilians.

His son had already seen it. Denying it wouldn't help.

So he quickly changed his story. "That person wasn't a civilian. He—he... He was an accomplice of those supervillains!"

As Homelander went on making things up, his eyes lit up.

He turned straight to Ashley. "I have an idea... Ahem! Ashley, shouldn't you investigate and verify this now?"

"That person must have been an accomplice of the supervillains, right?"