Ambition

Unfortunately, that was Madelyn's personal wish. Ryan shook his head. He just wanted to live an ordinary life, one day at a time.

There was no one else in the corridor besides Madelyn and Ryan.

It led to the vice president's office, and few people came this way without a reason.

Beside the corridor window, Madelyn turned and leaned back against the glass.

"I'm getting old. Even standing for a while wears me out."

"Don't mind me. You can lie down if you want."

"I don't think I can do that."

Small talk wasn't what Madelyn wanted. She wanted Ryan's answer.

"What do you look for in a partner?"

"Someone to eat with and go on dates with. Someone I can slip a wedding ring onto at the beach while the sun sets."

"Only to be told she just sees you as a friend."

Madelyn picked up the thread with a smile. Ryan couldn't laugh. He didn't want to talk about it anymore.

She was just teasing him. The fact that he hadn't lashed out showed his good manners.

But Madelyn was getting interested.

"That's such a girlish fantasy. You've clearly watched too much TV."

"If you have something to say, just say it."

"When you meet a woman you like, pick her up and take her straight to a hotel in Times Square."

"Is that how the vice president of a superhero company does things?"

"Mm-hmm."

She nodded, making no attempt to hide it. Then she spoke her mind.

"I need you, Ryan. I need you to have children for the future of Vought International's supes."

"I'm not going to be a stud."

"That's not your decision."

Madelyn's voice hardened. She pushed away from the wall and straightened her back.

"Vought International can tolerate your whims and Homelander's, but we won't tolerate disobedience."

With that, she didn't wait for Ryan to answer.

She clapped her hands, the sound echoing down the empty corridor.

Ryan sensed something was wrong. He listened closely, his superhuman hearing picking up every movement around him.

Then, beneath the sound of Madelyn's clapping,

he heard the ceiling tremble. Ryan looked up and saw dust and plaster falling.

A hand punched a hole through the ceiling. Its owner dropped through after it.

A black ninja outfit. An air of silent menace.

Ryan recognized him.

Black Noir, a member of The Seven.

Black Noir said nothing. He reached straight for Ryan.

His movement was swift and smooth, but Ryan had no intention of backing down. He used the power that came most naturally to him.

Lasers shot from his eyes, red beams searing Black Noir's approaching hand.

To Ryan's frustration, it was much like his encounter with Homelander: the beams barely seemed to burn him.

Black Noir's hand kept coming. Ryan clenched his fist.

He swung at his attacker.

Their hands collided, and Ryan felt as though he had punched a rock.

Come to think of it, since arriving in this world, Ryan had found very few things that felt that hard.

Not even Homelander had. Black Noir was the first.

Ryan withdrew his fist after that one blow and eyed Black Noir warily.

Black Noir moved to press the attack, but Madelyn barked at him to stop.

Looking as though victory was already hers, Madelyn stepped in front of Black Noir.

"Black Noir is a copy of Homelander. His strength, endurance, and powers surpass both yours and your father's. Think it over, Ryan."

Her meaning was clear.

Ryan needed to consider obeying Vought International—and whether he would become its stud.

After speaking, Madelyn headed down the corridor toward her office.

Black Noir followed close beside her the whole way.

Once she was gone, Ryan was alone in the corridor. The sunlight outside the window was still warm, but his mood had darkened.

Grim-faced, Ryan looked at the fist he had struck Black Noir with. It was already slightly bruised.

He hadn't seen the marks of an ordinary fistfight on himself in a long time. Black Noir had hurt him, and Ryan felt a powerful urge to hit him back.

But if he went after him now, Ryan suspected he would only get beaten up.

He stood by the window and thought it over. Staying there wouldn't help.

So he took the elevator downstairs.

Then he headed out of Seven Tower.

Only after stepping outside did Ryan look up properly at the towering building for the first time.

The gray-white structure rose into the clouds. It was a company built around heroes, one that held the hopes and attention of countless people.

It was also a company backed by supes.

Vought International lacked neither talent nor money. Behind it flowed the funds of countless investors.

And it was a research powerhouse supported by all kinds of advanced technology.

A colossus.

Now that colossus wanted him to produce its next generation. Ryan's head ached.

He lowered his gaze from Seven Tower and stepped onto the street.

The urgency inside him only grew.

He needed strength. Ryan wanted to make his own decisions, not be pushed into doing what others wanted.

Madelyn's demand in particular hung over him like a dark cloud.

If he failed to grow stronger in time, if he couldn't become capable of defeating Black Noir,

he would be dragged off to sleep with one woman after another. In the end,

he might be stuck indoors, watching the world outside fill with his own children.

Flying heroes would be everywhere, all coming up to call him Dad.

The thought alone gave Ryan a headache. He didn't want things to turn out that way.

For now, the only thing he could rely on was Compound V.

Ryan turned off the street and onto a broad pedestrian overpass, with people streaming past on both sides.

Everyone was in a hurry, and Ryan was no exception.

Right now, he wanted to find A-Train, ask where the Compound V was, and study it.

That was how he hoped to strengthen his powers.

And the next time Madelyn summoned him, he hoped she and Black Noir wouldn't have it so easy.

The more he thought about it, the more pressed for time he felt. Ryan took off straight from the overpass.

The people around him stared in surprise, and quite a few pulled out their phones to take pictures.

They hadn't asked his permission, but Ryan paid them no mind. He climbed higher and slowly disappeared into the sky.

He knew that if Homelander were photographed like that, he would probably feel the urge to fire his lasers and turn everything in sight into a bloody mess.

But Ryan had more important things to do.

He flew straight to the wealthy neighborhood in the east, where The Female lived.

The Female was sure to have more clues about Compound V. Ryan intended to ask her directly.

Flying was always fast.

Before long, Ryan landed on the street outside The Female's villa. He looked around, but the van Hughie and the others had used for surveillance was nowhere to be seen.

He had no idea where they had gone.

As for The Female, Ryan used his X-Ray Vision and found her inside.

Someone else was with her.

Ryan recognized the man in the blue athletic gear and goggles at a glance.

A-Train.

The guy had come back to fool around with The Female. At this rate, he was going to drown in his obsession with her.

Meanwhile, Ryan was struggling to avoid becoming a breeding machine.

Thinking about it made him angry.

Ryan didn't knock. He walked up to the villa's front door and kicked it.

The flimsy door managed a pitiful creak before flying off its frame and slamming into the wall.

A-Train and The Female had been enjoying time alone together. Before the mood could turn intimate, they heard the door break apart.

They looked over in shock.

A teenage boy walked in.

The boy said,

"Room inspection. Starting now."