This Was the Greatest Restraint

"Screech-bang!"

The bicycle swerved sharply to avoid her, sending both rider and bike crashing heavily into the bushes beside the path, followed by cries of pain.

At the edge of the path, John, wearing a hoodie, held the arm of the little girl in the pink dress firmly and pulled her back onto the safety of the grass, completely unharmed.

The little girl named Sophie had not even realized what had happened. Her eyes still wide, she stared blankly at the blond boy in the baseball cap before her.

"Sophie!"

The young mother practically stumbled and crawled over, clutched her daughter tightly to her chest, and sobbed so hard that her whole body shook.

John stood where he was, ready for the scene he expected: being watched with awe, as he had been in Texas, or regarded warily like a monster.

But a second later, the tearful mother suddenly stood up and pulled John into her arms as well.

"Thank you! Oh, God, thank you. You're such a brave, good boy! If you hadn't reacted so quickly and pulled her away, I can't even imagine..."

The woman babbled her thanks, her tears even rubbing off onto the collar of John's hoodie.

Her embrace was tight, filled with the gratitude and warmth of an ordinary human who had just come through a terrible fright unscathed.

John went rigid.

His body of steel, which even armor-piercing rounds could not penetrate, seemed at a loss in this frail woman's embrace.

There were no camera flashes, no instructions from the boss, no carefully scripted lines from Vought International.

He was not even wearing the Stars and Stripes suit that represented power and divinity.

The woman did not know he was "Homelander," who could burn a building to ashes.

On an utterly ordinary afternoon, she had simply given her most sincere gratitude to an "ordinary boy" who had lent a hand.

"N-no... you're welcome."

John forced out the words a little stiffly.

The woman released John, wiped her tears, and took a prettily wrapped strawberry-flavored filled gummy candy from her pocket, pressing it into his palm.

"Good boy, here's a little reward from me. May God bless you."

The woman left holding the little girl's hand. The unlucky cyclist also climbed out of the bushes, swearing as he pushed his bike away on its warped wheels.

Central Park returned to its usual peace.

John looked down at the gummy candy lying quietly in his palm, then looked up at the mother's retreating figure. An unprecedented, exceedingly complex light flickered in his eyes.

Lynn slowly walked over and sat on the grass beside John.

"How does it feel?" Lynn looked at him.

"Her heart was beating very fast just now. It was full of fear. But when she hugged me, her heartbeat steadied."

John held the gummy candy between his fingers. "This thing she gave me isn't worth as much as Compound V. It doesn't even have as many calories as a single nutritional meal."

"But..."

John paused, dappled sunlight reflected in his bright blue eyes. "This feels much more real than hearing those people scream my name in front of the cameras. And it isn't as noisy."

Lynn smiled from the heart.

He knew that, in this moment, a crack had finally opened in John's heart. It was "empathy," something uniquely human.

"John, this is why I brought you out here."

Lynn reached out and ruffled the boy's blond hair. "The boss has you put on that suit to make you a god high above everyone, someone people fear and worship. But I want you to understand that a true hero doesn't act to harvest faith, but to protect these small, fragile, yet utterly real moments of warmth."

"You have the power to destroy the world, but being able to hold back from destroying it, and being willing to bend down to help a weak little life that has fallen-that is the greatest restraint."

John listened quietly, then unwrapped the candy with extreme care and put the strawberry gummy into his mouth.

It was sweet, with a slight taste of cheap artificial flavoring, yet sweeter than anything he had ever eaten at Vought International.

"I'll remember that, Lynn."

The boy raised his head. Though the brim of his cap was pulled low, his smile no longer held cold calculation or arrogance, only the innocence of an eight-year-old child.

"One step at a time, little champ."

Lynn watched Buddy romping on the grass in the distance and let out a long breath. "We still have plenty of time."