A New Ability, the Time Had Come!

--Homelander, who craved love more than anything, fell on May 20 and was brutally decapitated; the final episode of The Boys was an absolute disaster (bonus chapter for Homelander)--

After an awkward dinner where everyone had their own thoughts, night fell.

Homelander lingered a little longer before reluctantly saying goodbye to his son.

As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Becca waiting there.

"Mother-son time..."

Homelander gestured for her to go in.

Becca didn't budge. She glared at him like a she-wolf. "Don't come here again!"

Homelander froze for a moment. "W-what did you say?"

"I said, don't ever come here again. Ryan is my son, and he's going to live an ordinary life."

"Please, don't bother us!"

Becca had run out of options.

During the day, she'd gone to see Dr. Baum, but the only answer she'd gotten was a cold, "When Homelander gets bored, he'll leave you alone."

That was right. Vought International would never choose to confront Homelander head-on.

They knew he was beyond anyone's control, especially after he'd chosen to kill Madelyn with his own hands, stamping out the weakness of a mother's love in his humanity.

To hell with Vought International. Becca just wanted Ryan to grow up happy and healthy.

Homelander's face twitched. His anger was about to flare, but he suddenly forced it back down.

Sharing secrets with Ryan during the day had let him know that his son had awakened Super Hearing. Ryan might be listening from his bedroom right now.

Who said Homelander wasn't clever?

At the thought, he immediately changed his tone and expression, putting on a meek air. "Don't be like this, Becca. Ryan is my son too. I love him."

"If you'd told me about him back then, I never would've let Ryan grow up without his biological father."

"Why would I tell you, you..."

Before Becca could finish cursing him, Homelander cut her off. "You enjoyed yourself back then too. I remember you came three times. Oh, right, Billy knows about this now too. I told him."

Becca stumbled and leaned against the wall.

Homelander spread his hands. "Besides, Becca, does keeping up this beautiful house of cards really make you feel secure? What about Ryan? Have you ever thought about how he feels?"

"When he finds out he's been living in a false world, how do you think he'll react?"

"You're deceiving him!"

Becca had no answer.

Thinking back, it had all started when she stepped into Homelander's office.

As the person in charge of managing Vought International's superheroes—no, more accurately, the person responsible for managing Homelander's image—she had initially been full of admiration for him.

How much she'd been forced, and how much she'd been willing, when it happened was hard to say.

That was one reason she'd let Vought International hide her away for eight years without trying to contact her husband, Billy.

Becca crouched on the ground and wept silently.

Homelander's Super Vision pierced the walls, letting him see Ryan's astonished expression.

A silent smile tugged at his lips, and he turned to leave.

In the room, Ryan's lips twitched too.

He hadn't expected Homelander to be so good at exploiting an opportunity to drive a wedge between him and Becca.

If he'd really been the original Ryan, he would've been angry with Becca and might even have stormed out to confront his mother.

But now...

It wasn't time to come clean yet. He wasn't fully prepared.

For one thing, his life-saving Steel Body skill had only reached level three, and the experience required to advance to level four had suddenly jumped to 50,000.

After upgrading Steel Body, he'd also spent 3,000 points to unlock Self-Healing and 2,000 to unlock Super Stamina.

That left him with only 4,385 experience points, which was far too little to make him feel safe.

He needed to use this period of back-and-forth to milk Homelander for as many points as he could, ideally enough to reach level four.

[Steel Body · Level 3]

Upgrade experience: 1/50000

Level 1 effect: The skin and muscles take on a steel-like form, allowing them to withstand armor-piercing rounds, though the impact causes internal shock and vibration damage.

Level 2 effect: The skin, muscles, and bones advance to a high-strength alloy-like form, making them impervious to conventional firearms and effectively protecting against impact and vibration damage.

Level 3 effect: The internal organs, flesh, and bones all transform in sync. Defense exceeds that of the hardest superalloy known to humanity. Completely immune to physical impact, explosions, vibration, and punctures, with no risk of internal injury. However, the body is less effective against energy attacks and radiation erosion.

The body can freely contract and relax, but doing so consumes a great deal of stamina—Super Stamina replenishes the energy expended.

[Self-Healing · Level 1]

Upgrade experience: 1/10000

Level 1 effect: Wounds to the skin and muscles heal at incredible speed. Broken bones and severely injured internal organs heal slowly. The healing process causes intense pain and consumes a great deal of stamina.

[Super Stamina · Level 1]

Upgrade experience: 1/5000

Level 1 effect: Greatly reduces stamina loss, extending the duration of abilities such as high-speed flight, enhanced defense, and self-healing. Fatigue is greatly delayed.

Ryan glanced again at the newly unlocked Self-Healing and Super Stamina in his skill list, then quietly raised Super Stamina's priority.

Steel Body, Self-Healing, and Super Stamina had produced a synergistic effect.

It was a change Ryan hadn't anticipated.

That meant his plan to upgrade Steel Body to the maximum level might need to change.

He'd have to think more about what to do.

And aside from his superpowers, there was another crucial reason he couldn't leave Becca yet.

"My mind, perspective, experience, and understanding need to grow gradually!"

Never underestimate Homelander.

It was true that Homelander didn't have Super Intelligence, but he was sensitive and suspicious, especially after all the deception and betrayal he'd experienced.

If Ryan suddenly went from being an innocent child deceived by a false world to a genius capable of distinguishing right from wrong on his own and taking charge of the superhero script...

?

That wouldn't make sense. Homelander would become suspicious.

So, over the following days, Ryan quietly adjusted how he interacted with Homelander.

Whenever they met, he continued to give Homie plenty of warmth, affection, and dependence, never letting up on the positive emotional feedback he offered. He still took meticulous care of him.

On top of that, he subtly used his innocent curiosity as an excuse to ask Homelander for all sorts of related things.

These included the movies and television shows Homelander had appeared in, the interviews he'd given publicly, and what people outside thought of him—the public opinion, popular reputation, and real feedback.

The reason was simple: he wanted to learn what kind of person his father was.

This made Homie feel immensely gratified. Without a second thought, he gathered everything Ryan asked for.

Most importantly, Ryan also asked for a computer (Homelander threw in a phone as well).

After Homelander spoke with Vought International, Ryan's surveillance had been removed, and he was connected to the internet again.

Although Becca limited how long he could go online each day, it was still enough for him to come up with a plausible reason for his growth.

Next, he needed an opportunity to leave Becca and go to Vought International.

Before long, the opportunity Ryan had been waiting for quietly arrived.