Pursuit

In the end, getting the tracker fell to Billy.

The few times Ryan had met Billy, he'd seen the man tinkering with contraband. A tracker would be easy enough for him to get.

Ryan didn't stand on ceremony. He called Billy and offered to buy one, and the black-bearded man quoted him the going rate.

With the tracker in hand, Ryan put it together with a pen and gave both to Homelander.

A pen was always useful when you were out and about.

The exchange went smoothly. Only one thing struck Ryan as odd.

Homelander sniffed the pen like a precious treasure before accepting it, saying he would "use it to write on his thigh."

Ryan didn't know how Supes used pens, so he laughed it off.

As for the other end of the tracker, he gave it to Shockwave and told him to report anything strange.

By the time Ryan finished, the stadium had long since emptied.

The stands, roaring like the sea moments ago, were now littered with trash.

Popcorn boxes, soda cups, and fries lay abandoned on the ground.

A-Train hadn't left. He sat on the track, clutching his chest, his lips pale.

Ryan walked over to him.

"You look like you're having a heart attack."

"Side effect of Compound V. That's how it is."

Sounding as though he'd grown used to it, A-Train looked up at the sky.

There was neither joy nor sorrow in his voice.

"I won, Ryan."

"Yeah."

Ryan left A-Train to savor his victory. With Compound V in hand, he had something more important to do.

An experiment.

He knew Compound V could enhance superpowers, but he had no idea by how much.

He planned to take it somewhere and test its effects.

Choosing a place took little thought. The villa on the outskirts came to mind almost immediately.

Madelyn had assigned him the secluded villa. Even if Compound V caused side effects after he took it,

no one would know. Ryan knew the compound could make people agitated and affect their emotions to some degree.

That was why he chose the secluded villa. If the compound made him fire off a few laser beams,

he wouldn't trouble anyone else.

With that in mind, he flew back and entered through a window, only to find Kimiko asleep on the floor, hugging a pillow.

He had forgotten about her. She might be caught in the fallout, but that was all right. Her healing ability was strong.

When Ryan landed inside the villa, the faint sound of his feet touching down woke her.

Kimiko's eyes flew open. Like a wildcat, she leaped into a corner and stared at Ryan, bristling.

She couldn't have looked more wary.

Was it a burglar climbing through the window?

She studied the intruder, then recognized Ryan's young face and relaxed.

"Oh. It's just Ryan."

Her whole body eased. Ryan frowned.

"You're supposed to say, 'Welcome back.'"

"But I wasn't hoping you'd come back."

"..."

She had a point. Ryan knew they were still strangers, so he didn't press her.

Making no effort to hide it from Kimiko, Ryan sat on the sofa and took out the Compound V.

He held it in his hand. No matter how many times he saw the blue liquid sloshing inside the clear vial, it was a pleasure to look at.

Once Kimiko relaxed, she came over. She seemed to prefer the floor to the sofa.

She sat on the cool floor and looked up at Ryan.

"Are you going to drink that?"

"That's the plan."

"Do you need something to go with it?"

"Something to go with it?"

"Yeah. Pour any liquid into a wineglass and serve it with a sirloin steak, and it'll feel elegant."

"No idea what you mean. I'll smash the vial and drink it, glass shards and all."

Ryan shook his head. Kimiko's way sounded like too much trouble, and it wouldn't make the stuff taste any better.

But Kimiko's attitude puzzled him.

She had been much more distant before.

Curious, Ryan asked her about it.

"Why the sudden interest in what I eat and drink?"

"Because you said you'd help me find my family. I want us to get along."

"No need. We're strangers now, and we'll stay strangers."

To Ryan, Kimiko was nothing more than valuable experimental material. Her attempt to be friendly meant nothing to him.

Kimiko apparently felt otherwise. She pulled a magazine from the pile on the floor.

It seemed to have come from the bookshelf. Its old-fashioned paper made it look like something from the last century.

Kimiko tapped a page with her finger.

"I read about ways to get along with someone."

"Mm."

Ryan swirled the Compound V in his hand, only half listening.

Kimiko, meanwhile, sounded like a child reporting on her homework to a parent.

"It says the best way to get along is to have a fight at sunset. Ryan, can I beat you up?"

"I'll hit back. You'll be pulp before your healing can save you."

"The book didn't say to take it that far."

Kimiko muttered glumly. She turned a page and tapped it again.

"Then let's try the second method. It says that if a woman looks at a man like he's trash, he'll think deep down, She really likes me. By the way, Ryan, you're the trash."

"Are you trying to pick a fight?"

"No. Are we getting along better?"

Kimiko shook her head and looked at Ryan expectantly. He shook his head too.

"No. It's worse."

"Ugh, what a lousy book."

She unfairly took her frustration out on the magazine.

She threw it on the floor, stepped on it, then picked it up and tried to sneak it back onto the bookshelf.

If you can't find a book by its title, try searching for the author. Maybe the title just changed!

Ryan stopped her.

"What are you doing?"

"This one's broken, so I'm going to swap it for a new one from your shelf."

"You just got tired of reading it."

Ryan noticed how many pages had been turned until their edges curled. He felt exhausted.

He had only come to this secluded place to use Compound V in peace.

He hadn't expected Kimiko to be so noisy.

On the sofa, Ryan rubbed his brow before looking back at the Compound V.

It was time to try a couple of sips.

The vial had no opening, so Ryan held it over the table, ready to smash one into it.

He had just raised the vial when something rang in his pocket.

It was his phone. Ryan answered it.

The voice on the other end was one he'd heard earlier that day: Shockwave's.

"Homelander flew out to sea. I can't keep up with him."

"Out to sea?"

Puzzled, Ryan checked the time. He had parted ways with A-Train at the stadium, then flown back to the villa.

After his chat with Kimiko, the clock on the wall now read nine at night.

The stars were already out. What was Homelander doing over the sea at this hour?

Ryan thought for a moment, then remembered the original story.

This was when Homelander first showed how little he valued human life.

With a blast from his eyes, Homelander would shear the wing off a passenger plane and send it crashing into the open sea.

No one would survive out there.

Ryan ended the call. He knew what Homelander had gone out there to do.

If the original story held true, he was going to kill a congressman who stood in the way of Vought International's plans. The other passengers were innocent bystanders.

Should he save them? Ryan leaned against the sofa, silent for a moment.

The answer seemed obvious: saving those passengers would bring him no benefit, while leaving them would spare him a lot of trouble.

He weighed the costs and benefits and gradually came to a decision. Beside him, Kimiko leaned closer.

"You look troubled."

"Because I have something to worry about."

"Hm?"

"I don't know whether it's better to be a hero or an ordinary person."

"I don't really understand. But Ryan, I think you should do what you believe is right."

As she said it, Ryan stood and flew out through the window.

Watching him go, Kimiko had the feeling he'd made up his mind.

She called after him in encouragement.

"Why don't you use the door?"

"Because the window's right here."

With that simple answer, Ryan flew into the night sky toward the position shown by Homelander's tracker.

A gentle evening breeze blew along his route.

The cool wind brushed against him as he flew deep among the clouds, filling him with exhilaration.

He had spent so long in this world of antiheroes that he had nearly forgotten what being a hero meant.

Putting aside gain and loss, a hero did everything he could to help others simply because he didn't want to see grief and tears.

Someone who strove for other people's happiness—that was a hero.

Ryan didn't consider himself that selfless. But he knew about this plane, and he wanted to save it.

Elsewhere, a passenger plane flew through the moonlit night.

A child pressed against a cabin window. He loved the darkness outside.

As he gazed out, he spotted something unusual in the night sky and excitedly told his father, who sat beside him.

"Dad, look! It's Homelander."

The boy's delighted cry drew his father's gaze to the window.

His father saw Homelander in his flying suit, smiling at him. Then red lasers shot from Homelander's eyes.

The beams streaked straight toward the plane, heating the air until it warped.

The father opened his mouth but found he couldn't speak.

All he could do was wait as the deadly beams drew closer.

A moment later,

cold sweat slid down his face. Another flying Supe had appeared in his field of vision and punched Homelander toward the earth.

The blow knocked Homelander's lasers off course. The two red beams swept past the plane like dazzling auroras and shot into the distance.

Only then did the father come back to his senses. He pulled his child tight against his chest.

He said nothing, but his body shook uncontrollably.

Outside the plane lay a sea of clouds. Beneath the moonlight, it was anything but peaceful tonight.

Above the clouds, two men hovered, one higher than the other.

The evening wind stirred their hair.

Homelander touched his cheek, where the punch had landed.

"Ryan, this is Vought International business. It's work. Stay out of it."

His tone was a gentle warning, but Ryan shook his head.

"If your job is dirty work, I'll stop you."

Stopping Homelander wasn't only about saving the people on the plane. It was also about Vought International.

If the congressman died, Vought International's plans would proceed unhindered. Then they would probably have time to deal with Ryan.

They wanted to use him to breed the next generation, and Ryan wanted no part of it.

Right now, he needed time. It would be better if the congressman stayed alive and kept giving Vought International a headache.

Elsewhere, Homelander clenched his fists.

"No one can stop me."

He roared the words, his voice echoing through the sea of clouds. Ryan answered calmly.

"Someone can."

"Ryan, let me teach you how to use your powers."

As he spoke, Homelander's voice turned cruel and stern.

Ryan sighed at the harsh words and pulled out Compound V.

Moonlight washed over everything, making the Compound V in Ryan's hand glow blue.

Ryan snapped the top off the vial, tipped back his head, and drank the Compound V in one gulp.

Then Ryan tossed the empty vial at Homelander.

"I don't want to fight, but you won't make peace. So I'll leave you breathing."