Doors

When Ryan moved to leave, Homelander got up too. He washed up and said goodbye to Becca.

Then he followed Ryan out the door.

Outside, Ryan didn't take flight. He walked across the grass and along the road outside the little villa.

With his far-seeing vision, Homelander soon spotted him in a stretch of woods.

"Why leave like that? If something's bothering you, you can talk to me. I'll help."

His words sounded kind, but Ryan couldn't bring himself to trust him. This was Homelander talking to him, after all.

Homelander ignored rules and did whatever he pleased. You could ask him to kill someone, but with anything else, he'd only make a mess.

Ryan stopped walking.

"Let's fly. This road ends at a wall. You can't get out this way."

"Then I'll smash through the wall."

"Whoever built it never expected to keep out a monster who could smash through walls."

"Is that so?"

"It is."

The leaves and branches stirred in the rush of air as the two figures flew into the sky and away.

They arrived at Seven Tower.

Homelander flew through a window high on Seven Tower, while Ryan remained in the sky above it.

He was taking a call.

Hughie's voice came from the other end.

"We've made progress."

Earlier, Hughie and the others had gotten a lead on A-Train and The Female, hoping it would reveal more of the superheroes' secrets.

Now that Hughie said they'd made progress, Ryan was happy to hear him out.

"What did you find?"

"We found The Female's House."

That was a major discovery. If they wanted to uncover secrets, they first needed to know where she lived.

The news excited Ryan too.

"And? What did you learn?"

"We learned where The Female lives."

"You just said that."

"That's what we learned."

"So you've only just started investigating."

Finding someone's address was only the first step. Besides, Hughie sounded troubled on the phone.

He had run into a problem and called to see whether Ryan could come help.

Beside Seven Tower, Ryan hung up. He told Homelander he had "personal business."

Then he flew off and vanished into the distant sky.

Following the location Hughie had sent, Ryan found them in a wealthy neighborhood in the East.

White villas lined the street.

Ryan landed and followed Hughie's directions to the back of a small van.

He knocked on its closed rear doors, and they opened.

Inside were familiar faces.

Billy with his black beard, and Hughie.

Ryan stepped into the van. Billy glanced outside warily and, once he was sure no one was watching, shut the doors again.

A lightbulb was mounted inside the van.

Its warm yellow glow lit the space. Coils of cable lay tangled in one corner, connected to a laptop.

A man was moving the cursor on the laptop. He had dark skin and a powerful build.

Billy gestured in introduction.

"Mother's Milk. My friend."

"Who'd be dumb enough to be friends with you?" came the reply.

Mother's Milk was thoroughly casual about it.

He introduced himself to Ryan.

He used to work at a detention center. Billy had found him a few days ago, and he'd decided to help out for a while.

Ryan couldn't help asking a couple of questions.

"Do you know what these guys are doing?"

"That's why I joined."

"You have a grudge against superheroes too?"

"..."

Mother's Milk didn't answer. He moved the cursor again, and Ryan looked at the laptop screen.

The color display showed surveillance footage of the villa across from the van.

Passersby and the trees outside the villa were all visible.

It looked professional, and Ryan said with admiration,

"Impressive."

Mother's Milk took the compliment gladly.

"Just watch me find out what color underwear she's wearing today."

"No need for that."

Everyone in the van was excited, especially Hughie.

"I think we'll soon find evidence of A-Train's dirty deeds through The Female."

Even Billy couldn't help smiling at that.

The burly, black-bearded man had always struck Ryan as someone who rarely smiled.

The air was full of anticipation.

But something felt off to Ryan. He glanced around.

Their shadows overlapped beneath the light.

The cramped space was thick with the body odor of four men, their sweat mingling.

And all four of them were hunched over a laptop, spying on the private life of a washed-up female star.

Is this a convention for creeps?

Unable to stand it, Ryan was about to point out what was wrong with their behavior when Mother's Milk, staring at the feed, shouted,

"There she is!"

Everyone's gaze snapped to the laptop screen.

Hughie wrote down what they'd seen in a notebook.

He muttered as he recorded it.

"Caught on camera: The Female appeared outside the villa. She went in."

They'd found their target. If they kept watching, they were bound to learn more.

Mother's Milk watched the screen.

Five hours passed before he rubbed his eyes and checked the time on the laptop.

Only then did he realize why his eyes were so tired.

He turned and found Ryan playing on his phone and Hughie asleep against the side of the van.

Only Billy remained focused on the laptop screen.

His lips parted suddenly.

"There she is."

If you like this book, add it to your bookshelf so you can find it again.

Everyone turned back to the laptop screen.

The footage had caught their target again.

Billy announced her next move.

"The Female's going out."

"..."

Ryan couldn't take it anymore. He slapped the desk.

"This is pointless. You need to know what's happening inside."

"That's why we called you."

Billy asked whether Ryan's powers included X-Ray Vision.

The answer, of course, was no.

In truth, Ryan had seen a few things with X-Ray Vision: The Female living alone, drinking and sleeping.

Nothing interesting.

He'd kept playing on his phone, hoping something different would happen.

In the end, all he'd seen was The Female leave the house.

As for Billy's request, Ryan shook his head. He didn't want his powers to become a handy tool for someone else.

He wouldn't feel fulfilled just because he was useful to Billy, nor would he feel dejected if he wasn't valued or noticed.

Ryan spread his hands, leaving the problem of their stalled investigation to Billy.

Billy scratched his head and came up with an idea.

"Mother's Milk, get a gun. We'll storm in and grab her."

"What?"

Mother's Milk stared at him, baffled.

"What are you talking about?"

"Just tie her up and ask her. Why go through all this surveillance nonsense?"

"We're ordinary people. If you had powers like Homelander, you could go tie up whoever you wanted, however you wanted."

Mother's Milk's meaning was clear. He glared at the impulsive Billy; if Billy did something reckless, he'd drag him down too.

He didn't want to spend his life on the run over a kidnapping.

Everyone in the van dug in their heels, and no one could think of a good solution.

Amid the strained atmosphere, someone timidly raised a hand.

Ryan spotted him and gestured for him to speak.

"Hughie, if you want to swear at someone, don't hold back."

"I'm not going to swear. I used to work at a Video Store, and I set up home internet for customers."

He explained the idea briefly.

The others in the van understood.

If Hughie could get into The Female's House, he could obtain her network address and access the cameras on her computer and television.

That would give them footage from inside.

Hughie's suggestion made Billy's eyes light up. Until now, he hadn't realized Hughie could be this useful.

After some thought,

Billy drew up a rough plan.

"We pose as technicians upgrading her internet and get inside."

With the plan settled, they had to choose who would carry it out.

Weighing his options, Billy looked at Mother's Milk.

"With your build, people would peg you as a robber before you even opened your mouth."

"I haven't sunk to robbing people for a living."

After firing back at Billy, Mother's Milk squeezed his own arm. It really was probably as thick as The Female's thigh.

He'd be spotted if he tried to pose as a technician.

With no other choice, Mother's Milk looked at Hughie.

"You'll definitely have to go."

Hughie nodded. He knew that himself.

For the second person, Mother's Milk considered Billy.

His black beard looked uncombed, and his tired eyes were full of menace. He looked like a would-be robber too.

That left only one person.

Mother's Milk looked at Ryan. The good-looking young man had remained calm throughout, and this was the first time Mother's Milk had met him.

From the way Ryan spoke and carried himself, he seemed far removed from the rest of them. That was why Mother's Milk hadn't considered him at first.

He had a feeling that if he asked Ryan to pose as a technician, he'd be flatly refused.

But there was no one else to ask.

Mother's Milk steeled himself and asked Ryan.

To his surprise, after that anxious question, Ryan nodded. "Sure."

That settled it.

Billy's plan was simple: pose as technicians, get inside, and obtain her network address.

Now that they had the people to carry it out, Billy started preparing.

He got technician uniforms, and Ryan changed into one.

He still looked like a schoolboy.

But Billy had said there were plenty of teenagers working odd jobs around here. Ryan was young, so she would be even less wary of him.

The men waited in front of the laptop screen until The Female came home.

Dressed in work uniforms and carrying toolboxes, Ryan and Hughie went to The Female's villa and knocked.

Hughie was the one who knocked, tapping lightly on the door.

The door opened, and a head peeked out.

It was The Female, whom they had seen on the surveillance feed. She had never seen Hughie or Ryan, of course, and she looked puzzled.

"I didn't call for service."

Hughie froze. He had never called for service either, and he had no idea how to respond.

Ryan stepped forward and explained that they were there to upgrade the internet. As they talked, he also put to rest her doubts about his age.

By the end of the conversation, The Female had invited Ryan and Hughie inside.

"The internet has been a little slow lately."

She pointed to the computer in the room, asked how long it would take, then went about her own business.

Hughie handled the task of obtaining the network address with practiced ease. He turned on the computer and set his fingers on the keyboard.

He got to work.

Hughie said it would take about fifteen minutes.

As long as nothing went wrong in that time, they would succeed.

Ryan nodded. In truth, he had nothing to do, though he was keeping an eye on The Female.

But she paid them no attention at all. Hughie would have had time to unleash a Getsuga Tensho right there.

Ryan sat down beside him, bored. All he could do was wait.

He propped up his chin and watched the computer screen. Then another knock sounded at the door.

Ryan looked toward it.

A man wearing goggles and a blue tracksuit stood outside.

Another familiar face.

Ryan named the newcomer, and Hughie's hands paused over the keyboard.

"A-Train's here."