Thank you, Annie. It tastes great

Meanwhile, in Area C's underground training ground.

Free time was a little noisy that day.

A six-year-old Black boy named Reggie had just joined Vanguard Camp.

Reggie's ability was super speed. Like a spinning top that never stopped, he ran back and forth across the blue protective mats in streaks of afterimages, occasionally whipping up gusts of shrill wind.

"Look at me! Look how fast I am!"

Reggie shouted proudly, the air trailing behind him buffeting several children who were building with blocks.

Four-year-old Annie was carefully placing the last red wooden block atop her castle when a gust from Reggie swept over it, sending the entire castle clattering down in an instant.

Annie froze for a moment, her eyes immediately reddening. She clutched the red block tightly, at a loss.

"Hey! You broke Annie's castle!"

Five-year-old Tommy sprang to his feet.

Ever since John had "forgiven" him on the set last time, Tommy had become John's most loyal supporter, and that had also left him fiercely protective of Annie, whom John gave special care.

Tommy reached out and activated his weak telekinesis, trying to catch Reggie as he ran wild.

But Reggie was too fast. Tommy's telekinesis caught nothing but air, while Reggie circled behind him and gave him a hard shove.

"Slowpoke idiot! You can't catch me!" Reggie pulled a face.

Tommy fell onto the mat, and the other children backed away in fright.

Chaos among the superpowered children was about to erupt.

Just then, the training ground's automatic door opened.

John walked in wearing casual clothes.

He wasn't wearing his conspicuous battle suit that day, just a simple white T-shirt and jeans, his blond hair lying smoothly against his forehead.

Seeing John, Tommy immediately scrambled up and called out aggrievedly, "John."

Annie also held her blocks and looked at him pleadingly.

Reggie, who was showing off his speed in the middle of the training ground, clearly hadn't realized how serious things were. Looking at the blond boy two years older than him, he gave a provocative whistle, then turned into a blur again and charged straight at John.

As far as he knew, no one here except himself could keep up with his speed.

Yet, at the very instant Reggie was about to crash into John.

John merely raised his right hand casually.

There was a soft smack.

The super speed Reggie took such pride in stopped in an instant.

John's hand held Reggie firmly by the back of his neck, as though he had caught a scurrying chick.

The tremendous momentum vanished against John's steel-like arm. Reggie didn't even feel any deceleration before he was forcibly pinned in place.

The choking sensation and the terrifying force against his neck made Reggie's eyes widen instantly. Fear crawled over his entire body like an icy venomous snake.

He could feel that if the boy before him, who was still smiling, applied just a little pressure with his fingers, his neck would snap like a dry twig.

"Speed is a wonderful gift, Reggie."

John looked at the trembling Black boy in his hand, his azure eyes utterly unruffled, but his voice as gentle as if he were telling a bedtime story. "But when you run too fast, you can crash into people and hurt them. Here, we don't bully the weak."

John slowly released his hand.

Reggie's legs gave out, and he dropped straight onto the floor, gasping for breath. His eyes were now filled with deep awe and fear as he looked at John.

John paid Reggie no further attention and turned to walk over to Annie.

He crouched down, ruffled Annie's hair, then picked up the scattered blocks.

"Don't be sad, Annie. If the wind knocks down our castle, we just have to build a stronger one."

As John spoke, he restacked the blocks one by one at an incredible speed, making the castle even taller and more beautiful than before.

Watching the castle rise, Annie smiled through her tears, and that warm, gentle light shone in her palms again.

"Thank you, John!"

Tommy and the other children gathered around too, their eyes shining with unreserved admiration as they looked at John.

Even Reggie, still sitting on the floor and recovering, felt a longing to draw closer and be accepted by the blond boy surrounded by children.

In the monitoring room, Lynn watched the screen, tapping his fingers lightly against the desk in satisfaction.

"Fear is the stepping stone to establishing authority, but tempering severity with kindness is the true way to rule."

Lynn picked up the coffee beside him, which had already cooled somewhat, and drained it.

He picked up the file envelope on the desk containing information on the next batch of child candidates and leisurely unwound its string closure.

No matter how many people Vought International planned to push into the group in the future, the soul of this team had already been thoroughly stamped with John's mark.

For once, Manhattan enjoyed fine weather without any smog that weekend.

But Lynn and John hadn't stayed at the Long Island estate. Instead, they had driven to a newly built, enclosed outdoor lawn behind Vought Tower.

The company had originally planned to use the land to expand the underground parking garage, but at Lynn's insistence, the newly approved budget had been used to turn it into an outdoor recreation area with small playground equipment and barbecue grills.

Most importantly, using his authority as director of the management department, Lynn had had every surveillance camera in the area removed on the grounds of protecting the privacy of underage Supes.

There were no company eyes, nor any cameras frantically hunting for footage to boost ratings.

"Hold your plate properly, Tommy. Don't use your telekinesis to slack off. If you drop your sausage on the ground, Buddy won't hesitate to eat it."

Dressed in a casual light gray sweatshirt with an apron tied around his waist, Lynn stood before the grill, turning the sizzling cuts of meat.

Buddy, the golden retriever, wove among the children with his tail wagging, occasionally nudging their trouser legs with his nose and drawing peals of clear laughter.

Five-year-old Tommy quickly put away his weak superpower and obediently held his white paper plate in both hands as he joined the back of the line.

That day was a rare internal team-building day for Vanguard Camp.

There were only Lynn, John, and the children Annie, Tommy, and Reggie.

On that sunny afternoon, they weren't Vought International's property or the little heroes who drew so much attention on television, just ordinary children waiting for food on the lawn.

John sat at a wooden picnic table nearby, holding a can of chilled Coke.

He wore a very ordinary black hoodie that day, rather than the Stars and Stripes battle suit that represented responsibility and his public persona.

He quietly watched Lynn busy at the grill and the little brats chattering around him.

"John, do you want some corn with honey on it? Director Lynn said it's really sweet."

Four-year-old Annie ran up to John holding a golden-brown grilled ear of corn. She wore a pretty little floral dress that day, and her blond hair was tied into two little ponytails that bobbed as she ran.

John took the corn and bit into it, sweetness spreading through his mouth.

He reached out, instinctively about to put on a flawless, encouraging smile, just as he did in front of the cameras.

But when he saw Annie's large eyes, free of any impurity and filled with pure happiness, the perfect smile on his face paused slightly before becoming a faint smile that was somewhat helpless, but also more genuine.

"Thank you, Annie. It tastes great."