Whoosh.
A white baseball arced through the air, and Homelander caught it with ease.
Homelander shook his head and said to Blond Boy across from him, "Ryan, use your Psychic Powers."
"Psychic Powers?" Ryan asked, puzzled. "I don't have any Psychic Powers."
"You're my son. You must have Psychic Powers," Homelander said.
Seeing Ryan's confusion, Homelander sighed. "Never mind. Let's keep going. Watch how I throw."
Homelander and Ryan were playing catch without bats.
Ever since learning his son lived here, Homelander had spent nearly all his free time with him. He knew Ryan had grown up without a father's care, and he needed to build a bond with him as soon as possible.
Beyond that, he needed Ryan's Psychic Powers to awaken quickly.
Usually, Espers awakened their Psychic Powers in childhood after some particular outside stimulus. Some awakened as early as four or five, while even the late bloomers should have done so by the age of ten.
But Ryan had already reached that age, and his Psychic Powers still hadn't awakened.
It was hard to imagine a child reaching ten without ever experiencing a truly intense emotional upheaval.
Ryan had grown up like a flower in a greenhouse, surrounded by extraordinary security and his mother's constant, attentive care. That environment had largely shielded him from anything that might trigger his Psychic Powers, leaving him innocent and guileless.
If they hadn't unexpectedly lost their best candidate, Edgar wouldn't have wanted Ryan's Psychic Powers to awaken either. Ryan had only been a fallback. As long as the company didn't need his potential, it would have preferred to leave it buried forever.
But the company now faced a very different situation.
It needed Ryan's unknown potential. With the better alternative gone, Edgar had no choice but to settle for Homelander's son