Early the next morning.
Pero slowly walked out of the villa's front door and took one last, long look at the house he had lived in for nearly two months.
He had to admit, a life without work or saving the world, spent holed up in a villa playing games every day and occasionally watching a live family drama, was pretty fucking great.
That sense of peace was something new, something he had never experienced in either of his lives.
As though he had sensed something long ago, Homelander had already brought Ryan and Soldier Boy out onto the lawn, where they waited quietly.
Behind him stood a motley crew-the former Boys, every one of them wearing an expression that suggested nothing they saw felt real.
Beside them stood Starlight, Queen Maeve, and several other former members of the Seven.
Once mortal enemies, they now stood somewhat awkwardly on the same lawn because of a single man, forming an utterly absurd scene.
Pero casually swept his gaze over them, then nodded in satisfaction.
He could see that, though these people still had plenty of conflicts, now that he had shattered the shit-stirrer called Vought International with a single slap, at least there was light in their eyes.
He believed that with Homelander, whom he had personally "trained," and the strong-willed Starlight around, this cobbled-together new team might truly become heroes in the real sense of the word for this world someday.
"Father..."
Homelander spoke first. His tall frame was actually trembling slightly, his blue eyes full of reluctance to part. His voice even caught a little. "Could you... stay a few more days?"
He felt an unprecedented panic. The fear of abandonment that had been rooted deep in his heart since childhood overwhelmed him once again.
Was the warm, substantial