Zinc Box

Translucent wasn't just gone.

By now, Billy had probably tossed him into the sea, and the Zinc Box could have drifted anywhere.

In any case, Ryan didn't care about Madelyn's ambitions. If her plan succeeded and superheroes entered the military,

then this country really might be in for a shake-up.

Outside the door, Ryan waved him off.

"I know. You can go."

"You won't invite me in, Ryan?"

"Wasn't planning to."

"You're turning Homelander away at the door?"

"Who's Homelander? Don't know him, don't know anything about him, don't care."

Homelander was always confident. He had spent years flying over this country as a superhero, and everyone knew his name.

In the past, everyone he met had greeted him warmly. Some had even asked for a photo.

Today, for once, he got the cold shoulder. Ryan pretending not to know him stung.

When Madelyn told him the kid was his son, he'd been thrilled.

Seeing that the kid was as unruly as he was had pleased him too.

So why did putting those two happy things together leave him feeling anything but happy?

Homelander froze at Ryan's chilly dismissal, but he didn't leave.

He still had something to say.

"Don't you want to see your mother?"

"..."

The simple question stopped Ryan in his tracks. He knew he was the sort of person who acted cold but cared deeply.

Especially here at Vought International, where greed and ambition tangled together. If anyone learned he cared about someone,

they would use that person against him.

And the person he cared about would get hurt.

That was why Ryan had always acted indifferent to most things.

Becca had raised him for so long that she was like an adoptive mother to him.

Homelander's question brought back memories.

"People rarely think about others. You're only asking because you want to see her yourself, aren't you?"

With his motives exposed, Homelander didn't bother hiding them.

"I want you to come with me to see Becca."

"Why?"

"Because I've always wanted to know what it feels like when there are three of us together. Madelyn told me that's called a family."

"..."

Ryan watched Homelander. One look at his face was enough to tell

how much he longed for that.

Homelander's hopes had nothing to do with Ryan. Living up to someone else's expectations was exhausting.

Even so, Ryan nodded.

He did want to see Becca. He still remembered how she'd tried to make him stay when they parted.

His decision made, Ryan asked when Homelander wanted to go. Homelander answered without hesitation.

"Now."

He was so impatient, like someone who had to play a game the day it came out.

Urged on by Homelander, Ryan headed with him toward Madelyn's office in the Seven Tower.

Homelander looked delighted. He didn't even bother taking the elevator like a normal person.

"I am the elevator," he said. Then he sprang upward, the rush of air from his flight lifting Ryan's hair.

Ryan looked up and saw Homelander punch through the floor above, showering himself with plaster as he kept flying.

Ryan didn't know what to say about that approach.

The more time he spent with Homelander, the more the man seemed like a child, with no restraint whatsoever.

Whatever crossed his mind, he did.

Ryan sighed helplessly, then flew up through the hole Homelander had made and followed him.

Meanwhile, Madelyn hung up the phone in her office.

She had been speaking with the relevant legislators. Passage of the bill allowing superheroes into the military seemed all but certain.

She couldn't help smiling. She could almost see an army of superhumans taking Vought International to new heights.

Then she glanced down at the floor.

It had been shaking for a while now. The noise was awful, and she had no idea what was going on.

I'll have to remind the employees to keep the noise down while they work.

She got up to investigate, but the floor beneath her began to shake too.

The rumbling seemed to reverberate through her chest. Startled, Madelyn grabbed her desk to keep from falling.

The shaking went on for a while.

Cracks appeared in the floor and spread until it broke apart, leaving a huge hole.

Homelander appeared in her office with plaster all over his face. He wiped some of it away.

Just looking at him gave Madelyn a headache.

"What are you doing?"

"Coming to see you. As you can see."

"By punching through the floor?"

"It was the fastest way."

"Take the damn elevator."

Madelyn stared at the hole in the floor. Through it, she could see another hole in the floor below.

She had no idea how many floors Homelander had punched through to get there.

Repairs cost money, especially when every floor needed them.

Vought International could afford it, but she couldn't let Homelander do whatever he pleased.

She shot him an angry look and sat back down at her desk.

"You and Ryan have similar powers. If you were even half as easy to manage as he is, my days would be so much better."

No sooner had she spoken than the floor shook again. Madelyn looked down, her face saying, No way.

A moment later,

another huge hole burst open in the floor. Ryan flew out and wiped the dust off his face with the flag on Homelander's back.

He looked thoroughly embarrassed.

"I missed the opening a little."

"Take the damn elevator!"

Madelyn practically roared. Chunks of concrete were crumbling from the edge of the new hole.

Standing on a floor that looked as if a doomsday mushroom had blown it apart, she felt her blood pressure spike.

Only her good manners kept her from immediately cursing them out. She couldn't think of the right words.

All she could manage was one.

"Shit."

After voicing her displeasure, Madelyn asked why Ryan had come.

Homelander explained in a brief exchange.

Madelyn understood that he wanted to see Becca. She had known this day would come.

In fact, she had known it ever since Homelander asked about Ryan's origins after their fight. Of course he would want to see Becca.

It wasn't difficult to arrange. Madelyn tapped her fingers on the desk.

"I can take you there, but can you use the elevator from now on?"

Then she realized there was little point asking these two reckless men. She tried a gentler approach.

"If you want to fly, you can open a window and come around the outside of the building."

Homelander gave her sincere suggestion no answer. He cared far more about seeing Becca.

He urged Madelyn to hurry. She picked up her office phone and called for a helicopter whose pilot knew where Becca lived.

The helicopter took off from the Seven Tower's helipad and hovered outside Madelyn's office window, its rotors spinning.

It waited for Homelander and the others. Homelander couldn't wait. Under Madelyn's helpless gaze, he smashed through the office window and flew out.

The wind lifted the cape behind him. He turned back and shouted for Ryan to "Hurry up!"

Ryan ignored him. He looked at Madelyn instead. There was something he wanted to ask.

"You used walls to keep Becca and me hidden so you could control Homelander with a wife and child he'd never met. Why tell him where Becca lives now?"

The answer was simple. Meeting Ryan's gaze, Madelyn looked toward the figure flying against the sky.

"Because I don't need to anymore. You can keep Homelander in check, and I can use Becca to keep you in check."