I'm Waiting for the Button, What's Your Hurry?

The world never stops turning for any single person.

Just as Ryan finally exhausted every effort and scheme to gain Azu's consent to produce his first exclusive film based on his own vision, certain things were undergoing subtle, strange changes.

The Boys' secret base.

The video clip broadcast live by Raven had finished playing, and the internet was in an uproar, filled with all sorts of clamor.

Yet, the members of The Boys in the room remained entirely indifferent to it.

"With great power comes great responsibility."

Hughie sighed with emotion, "How well said. He's still so young, yet he understands such profound principles. We should act quickly to bring Ryan back; Homelander will corrupt him."

"Ha!"

Billy Butcher sneered, exposing the double meaning with a cutting remark: "That's a fairy tale told to ordinary people!"

He paused, seemingly unsatisfied, and voiced his own perspective: "It should be 'with great power comes great authority'! But you're right about one thing..."

Butcher turned his head toward someone who shouldn't have been there.

"We do need to act quickly. Collecting evidence of Stormfront's crimes can be put on hold for now. Starlight, what news have you brought?"

This was the first time Starlight had truly stood in front of the entire team, in person and in full view.

Before this, she had only heard of them through her boyfriend.

There was no doubt about it: these were a group of lone warriors.

They were the first to stand up against injustice, against Vought International, and against Homelander, and they had actually achieved some results.

Now, she had officially joined their ranks.

Taking a deep breath, Starlight said, "I have two pieces of news."

She pointed to the video that had automatically stopped playing on the computer.

"As you can see, Homelander has agreed to let Ryan's ideas drive the film, and the company is currently working overtime to rush the script."

"How long will it take?"

Butcher caught the implication in Starlight's words and immediately asked the crucial question.

Starlight felt like laughing when she thought about what was currently happening at the company: "I'm not sure, because the process... well, it's a bit difficult."

"Difficult?"

Hughie, standing to the side, looked puzzled.

Becca interrupted Hughie's line of questioning, asking anxiously, "What's the fastest? Starlight, when do you estimate the script will be finished, and then... filming!"

"I really don't know."

Starlight shook her head regretfully and said earnestly, "But I will keep a close eye on Ryan and monitor Homelander's movements. As soon as I can confirm they are separated, I will notify you immediately."

Becca wanted to press for more news about Ryan, but Butcher held her back.

"Becca, be patient."

Butcher turned his head again and said, "Or perhaps we can create an opportunity!"

"Yes, and that relates to the second piece of news I brought."

Starlight reached into her small bag and took out two perfectly sealed, clear, bright green vials.

"What are these?"

"They're from Queen Maeve."

Starlight's tone carried a hint of gravity: "It's not just us who think Ryan should be kept away from Homelander; Queen Maeve thinks so too."

"Wait, Queen Maeve discovered your identity? You've been exposed?"

"It's okay, Hughie. Queen Maeve is on our side now. She's the one who gave me these two vials of Compound V."

"Shouldn't Compound V be blue?" Frenchie, the part-time chemist of The Boys, asked curiously.

Starlight relayed Queen Maeve's exact words: "A single injection lasts for 24 hours, after which the effects wear off completely. The side effects... are unknown."

"This is Temp V!"

"Yes."

Starlight nodded in confirmation, her expression growing more solemn: "Queen Maeve warned me that Vought is still testing the side effects of Temp V. No one knows what the consequences might be."

"Unless it's a last resort, do not use them."

Queen Maeve's journey also began with Compound V.

The world naturally attributed all of Maeve's top-tier combat prowess to the gift of the serum, but few knew that when the young Maeve first stepped through the gates of Godolkin, she was merely an unremarkable supe with multiple superpowers, forced to rely on her durable physique just to fight for a ranking in the school.

That was how she achieved her current dazzling success.

While everyone else was grinding end-of-season dungeons, she alone remained true to her original intent, soloing the boss (Homelander) and even possessing the ability to make him bleed from the nose with a single punch—all of which she had ground out through decades of unwavering persistence.

"Ryan, focus!"

"Do that move again!"

Distracted for a moment, Ryan was jolted back to reality by the stern reprimand. "Sorry, Maeve, I was thinking about the script again."

Ever since the script began development, Ryan had been pestering Queen Maeve, using the excuse that he wanted to learn how to fight so he could perform better in the movie.

On one hand, he genuinely wanted to learn combat techniques so that the flashy, superficial moves he had practiced in his past life would have more actual power.

On the other hand, he still believed Maeve was worth winning over.

Even after the recent incident where Azu lost control, he realized that the difficulty of getting Queen Maeve to be his stepmother had plummeted to hellish levels, but he still didn't want to see her fade away so ignominiously.

Even if they couldn't be a couple, he couldn't push her to the opposing side either.

Only a fool would do something like that.

Maeve shook her head, glanced at the time, and said, "Then take a ten-minute break."

"No, I still..."

"That's enough. No one actually wants to see how beautifully you can knock down an enemy, Ryan." A voice suddenly cut in, interrupting Ryan.

Stormfront held up a phone, walked over quickly, and pointed it directly at him. "Don't you agree? Right? You all just want to see what happens to Homelander when he loses his superpowers!"

"Whoa, don't look at me like that, Maeve."

Stormfront turned the phone toward Maeve. "Don't forget, I was already an internet celebrity before joining The Seven. The current social trend is Ryan's script, so of course, I have to keep up with the times."

Maeve was stunned for a moment before immediately adopting a camera-ready posture, hurriedly replying, "Ryan is training very hard, and I am holding him to strict standards. The script is being polished, and it will be ready soon..."

"Not soon!"

Stormfront interrupted again. "Maeve, your information is outdated. I just came from Homelander's side, and Adam has already produced the fifth draft."

"Let's go, Ryan. Don't waste time here; let's go over and take a look together."

The camera shifted back to Ryan.

Ryan instinctively raised his hand to wipe away non-existent sweat, wanting to prove to the audience that he was truly training hard for the movie.

But he immediately caught himself; he was a superhuman child now, no longer the struggling bit-part actor from his past life.

He used his raised hand to scratch his hair instead, gave the camera an embarrassed smile, and then spoke to Stormfront with a serious expression: "Maeve was just helping me train, so she didn't know about the news."

A flash of surprise crossed Stormfront's eyes.

She hadn't expected Ryan's first reaction to be defending Maeve.

Recovering quickly, she smiled and replied, "Yes, Maeve is a qualified coach. Well then, Coach Maeve, I'll be taking Ryan now."

Habitually belittling others to elevate herself.

Ryan briefly analyzed Stormfront's train of thought and chuckled inwardly: If it weren't for the Countess of Crows, I wouldn't even have known you were harboring malice toward me.

With Stan Edgar's movie arrangements on one side and Stormfront's abnormal focus on the progress on the other.

So, what exactly are you all in such a rush for?