Acclimatization Issues? Time for Some Extreme Measures

"Clap, clap, clap... clap."

The applause rang out abruptly, and just as abruptly, it ceased.

The gazes of everyone present, filled with undisguised strangeness and subtlety, silently swept over Black Noir, practically spelling out a single line of text:

Are you serious?

Black Noir shifted his body, feeling uncomfortable once again.

"Adam!"

Homelander pretended not to notice the awkward atmosphere, sat down as if nothing had happened, and called out to the director.

Adam jolted, responding immediately, "I'm here, sir."

"You've heard the voices of the people, too. Go back, collect everyone's 'good' suggestions, and revise your script."

"Go on."

Adam, as if granted a reprieve, was just about to beat a hasty retreat from this suffocating scene when a child's voice suddenly rang out.

"Wait a second!"

His gaze locked, and his entire face performed a visual spectacle of a blooming chrysanthemum for all to see.

First bitter, then sweet, reaching the peak of sycophancy.

Ryan didn't look at him, merely pursed his lips, and then protested to Homelander with a touch of petty indignation: "Dad, you can't do this. You haven't let Mr. Director hear my ideas yet."

"You said it yourself, this is a film being shot for me."

"Homelander, I also think we should listen to Ryan's thoughts. Sometimes a child's wild and imaginative... imaginative..."

Before she could finish, a dark, piercing glare cut across the room.

Starlight cleared her throat, and the rest of her words were stifled by Homelander's gaze.

Homelander, who had intended to brush this off, had no choice but to soften his tone and reluctantly say, "Then tell us your ideas, though I won't necessarily agree to them."

Realizing the cameras were rolling, and having just claimed a second ago that everything was to fulfill his son's dream, Homelander added a self-correcting remark.

"Son, you're still too young, and many of your ideas aren't... er, aren't mature."

Maeve rolled her eyes.

Homelander, of course, couldn't see it. He continued with the air of a doting father acting in his son's best interest: "Perhaps we can incorporate some of your ideas, but they will need the approval of professionals."

"Adam, what is your opinion?"

"Of course, sir. I agree with your view one hundred percent."

"Son, go ahead."

Having received approval, Ryan lifted his eyes slightly, a cluster of tiny joys instantly bursting in their depths.

In an instant, this joy and excitement spread to his brows and his entire being, making him seem to light up from within.

He smiled at Homelander: "Dad, I knew you were the best."

After saying this, Ryan pretended not to see Homie, whose mouth had twisted into a crooked smirk at the sight of him and the praise he'd received, and looked straight at the director.

He spoke up excitedly: "Mr. Director, I... er..."

Ryan's little face turned bright red; he seemed embarrassed.

He paused and hesitated, and only after everyone's attention was focused on him did he blurt out:

"With great power comes great responsibility!"

"..."

The conference room was very quiet.

Everyone was looking at him, seemingly waiting to hear his follow-up thoughts.

Ryan froze for a moment.

This line, which he considered a lethal weapon, hadn't received the feedback he expected?

This result actually left him momentarily dazed.

"With great power comes great responsibility," he repeated softly.

Homelander acknowledged it: "Alright, with great power comes great responsibility. Is that the line you want? It's not bad; I'll have Adam add it for you."

"Thank you, Dad!"

Ryan pulled himself together. Although the expected feedback hadn't come, the point wasn't really on that line; he had just wanted to make a striking opening.

Since he couldn't spark a resonance here, he would get to the real stuff.

He gathered his emotions and spoke slowly: "Mr. Director, I don't want to grow up on a farm, because I am a small-town kid."

"I thought I was!"

Ryan emphasized heavily.

A child imprisoned in Truman's fake world and you, raised in a laboratory—you are similar, yet inevitably different.

"Then Dad found me, and he told me what the real world was like."

At this point, Ryan paused and said to Azu, "Dad, Mom only agreed to let those bad people do what they did to protect me. I know that."

"Of... of course."

Azu answered with some hesitation.

He instinctively wanted to say something bad about Becca, but facing his son's earnest gaze, he ultimately held back.

Ryan continued, "Mr. Director, do you know what I was most afraid of when I was little?"

Adam: And what about me?

He hurriedly chimed in with a soft voice, "I guess... oh, this is truly too hard to guess. Why don't you tell us, Ryan?"

Ryan's eyebrows twitched. Treating me like a child... oh, I'm acting well, so that's fine.

"It was lizards!"

"Lizards? Pfft, I thought it was something else."

Through his super-hearing, Stormfront's disdainful attitude drifted over in a whisper. Ryan couldn't even be bothered to give her a glance.

Director Adam, of course, couldn't hear her. Upon getting the answer, he immediately exclaimed, "Good heavens, lizards? That is truly terrifying."

"So Dad, I want a supervillain who can transform into a Lizard Man to appear in my movie, and then..."

Azu was listening quite intently.

Last night, he had only heard some fragmented ideas, nothing as specific as this.

Now that he heard it, he unexpectedly felt it wasn't bad at all.

Hearing Ryan's request, he naturally picked up the thread and said, "And then I appear and take over the battlefield!"

"Yes, I think so too."

Director Adam agreed.

Azu couldn't be bothered to look at him either, lost in his own imagination of the plot: "Although you are Homelander's son, Ryan, you are too young, so your superpowers aren't strong enough. Naturally, you can't beat the Lizard Man."

"Dad..."

"At that critical moment, I, Homelander, appear."

"Wait, I mean..."

"I defeat the Lizard Man with ease. What is trash and scum like him compared to the powerful and unrivaled Homelander?"

Azu's eyes lit up as he spoke; this plot was indeed interesting.

He cast a look of disgust at Director Adam. Is his head filled with crap?

With only sycophants like you around me, how am I supposed to handle my relationship with my son?

No wonder Ryan doesn't want to film your script. Should I replace...

"Dad!"

"Oh, of course, son. No problem, I agree to add a Lizard Man."

Azu was snapped back to reality and hurriedly agreed to his son's request.

But Ryan just spread his hands and said listlessly, "Thanks, but Dad, none of the content you're thinking of is what I want."

"Hm?"

"Isn't the Lizard Man the worst one?"

"He is!"

Ryan didn't wait for him to ask again and directly revealed, "The Lizard Man is the worst, but..."

He looked at Azu and asked the ultimate question: "Dad, have you ever thought about what would happen if one day you lost your superpowers?"