Chapter Summaries

Kevin mastered his control over Charlie’s transformations, while Buddy suddenly gained the ability to speak after exposure to Animal-Type Compound V. Lynn silenced Buddy’s crude demands with a threat, leaving the children and John stunned by the changes in their home.

• Kevin smoothly transformed Charlie into a huge, monstrous fish and back, then celebrated his newfound control with Lynn and the children.
• Buddy woke after water splashed on his nose and spoke English, shocking everyone on the lawn.
• Buddy mocked Reggie and Charlie, then demanded better food and a drink from Lynn while making crude remarks about finding a dog to mate with.
• Lynn lifted Buddy by the scruff and threatened to punish him if he used dirty language around the children, and Buddy immediately promised to behave.

Buddy joined the family for dinner after Lynn allowed him to sit at the table, and John later reflected on how the estate had become a home for people regarded as misfits. John left the lawn with a renewed appreciation for the family Lynn had given him.

• The children crowded around Buddy after he revealed he could talk, while Lynn ended training and told everyone to prepare for dinner.
• Buddy persuaded Lynn to let him eat at the table, and the family shared dinner with him sitting on stacked crates.
• After dinner, John sat beside Buddy on the lawn and asked whether he was afraid of Lynn.
• Buddy said he respected Lynn for giving him a home, and John recognized that the estate offered the same refuge to him.
• Buddy told John to cherish their home, and John rubbed Buddy's head before sitting outside until the night dew dampened his trousers.

Lynn introduced an allowance system so the children could earn money through chores, and John chose to work so he could buy Lynn a scarf. The chapter ended with John watering the tulips while Lynn listened to the family’s cheerful bickering from the kitchen.

• Lynn announced that the children would earn allowance by doing chores and forbade them from using their superpowers to cheat.
• John offered to rob the Federal Reserve Bank if Lynn needed money, but Lynn explained that he wanted John to experience earning things through ordinary work.
• John agreed to water the tulips with a hose, while Reggie and Tommy hurried to claim other chores.
• Buddy asked John what he wanted to buy, and John quietly thought of a cashmere scarf for Lynn.
• Lynn washed a coffee cup in the kitchen as he listened to the children and Buddy outside.

Lynn had the children do ordinary chores without using their powers and paid them for their work. John treasured his ten-dollar wage and planned to save for a scarf to give Lynn before winter.

• Reggie pushed a mower, Tommy scrubbed the pool, and John cleaned the second-floor windows without using their powers while Black Noir watched.
• Lynn paid Reggie and Tommy five dollars each, then gave John ten dollars for carefully cleaning the windows.
• John asked to clear leaves the next day, and Lynn agreed.
• John put his ten-dollar bill in a jar and calculated how long it would take to save enough for Lynn’s scarf.

John woke early to earn ten dollars by sweeping leaves, while Reggie rushed to wash the car after realizing John had claimed the paying chore. Lynn watched the household scramble for work as Tommy complained that the chores were gone.

• John quietly got up before dawn and swept leaves on the hill to earn money for a scarf.
• Buddy questioned why John worked for ten dollars, but John said money mattered when he earned it himself.
• Reggie found John had already claimed the leaf-clearing job and hurried to wash the SUV for ten dollars.
• Lynn watched John and Reggie work while Buddy wandered between them and dodged Reggie's hose.
• Tommy complained after discovering the paying chores were taken, while Annie and Kevin tried to calm him and Charlie splashed in the fish tank.

John saved money from his work at the Manor to buy Lynn a cashmere scarf, then traveled to Manhattan and purchased it as a gift. He left the boutique carrying the scarf and said it was for his dad.

• Lynn made Reggie, Tommy, and John combine their Manor jobs with difficult superpower and combat training.
• Lynn paid John for sweeping the hill and avoiding Black Noir’s attacks, and John added the money to his savings jar.
• John counted $182.50 and realized he had saved enough to buy the $180 scarf he wanted to give Lynn.
• John asked Lynn to go to Manhattan, and Lynn gave him a commuter card and reminded him to stay safe and hide his powers.
• John traveled by train to a Manhattan mall and paid for the scarf with his saved bills and coins.
• John accepted the scarf in a paper bag, told the sales assistant it was a gift for his dad, and left the boutique.

John gave Lynn a cashmere scarf he had bought with money earned from days of work, and Lynn warmly accepted it. The next day, Stan Edgar visited Stormfront and asked her to help with Vought’s secret New Vanguard Camps for children injected with Compound V.

• John returned to the Long Island Estate and gave Lynn a dark gray cashmere scarf he had bought with his saved wages.
• Lynn put on the scarf, praised its color, and told John he liked it.
• The next day, Stan Edgar went to Stormfront’s secluded estate and endured her insults about him and his position at Vought.
• Edgar told Stormfront that Vought had established secret New Vanguard Camps for children injected with Compound V, and that Lynn had surpassed the company’s expectations by controlling them through family and affection.
• Edgar admitted that his decision had been a mistake and said he needed Stormfront.

Edgar put Stormfront in charge of training Vought International’s young superpowered recruits, and she began by murdering the children she considered racially inferior. She left the surviving white recruits terrified and ordered them taken to the gravity chamber for further training.

• Edgar hired Stormfront to train the recruits, giving her freedom to use any methods as long as she produced loyal weapons for Vought International.
• Stormfront arrived at the fortieth basement level and condemned the diverse group of children as unsuitable recruits.
• Stormfront killed seven or eight Black, Latina, and Asian children with purple lightning while the researchers and surviving recruits watched in terror.
• Stormfront told the surviving white children to feel fortunate and ordered the supervisor to take them to the gravity chamber at two that afternoon.

After Stormfront slaughtered seven children at the New Vanguard Camp, Lynn watched footage of their bodies being removed and recognized the threat she posed to the Long Island Estate. He stayed calm around his lively household but vowed to protect everyone behind its gates, then doubled the children’s training.

• Madelyn reported that Stormfront had killed seven children at the New Vanguard Camp, and Stan Edgar ordered the bodies cleared and the costs deducted from Stormfront’s budget.
• At the Long Island Estate, Lynn made pumpkin porridge while John showed quiet delight at Lynn wearing his scarf, and Buddy begged for food.
• Reggie showed off his secondhand sunglasses, Tommy displayed his new game console, and the others shared their purchases and enjoyed breakfast preparations.
• Black Noir showed Lynn surveillance footage of workers removing the children’s charred bodies from the basement.
• Lynn recognized Stormfront as a future threat to his household, resolved to protect everyone at the estate, and ordered Reggie to double his training after breakfast.

During a snowy training session at the Long Island estate, Reggie, Tommy, Annie, Kevin, and John demonstrated how much they had improved. John earned praise from Lynn after matching Black Noir in pure combat technique, and the children gathered warmly together as winter continued.

• Reggie used Bullet Time to walk among suspended snowflakes and retrieve a broken branch, then showed off his speed to Tommy.
• Tommy held a large telekinetic shield over the pool while Annie kept the water warm with her light energy.
• Kevin commanded Charlie, a huge deep-sea monster, to roll over before the creature shrank back into a goldfish.
• John fought Black Noir without using superpowers and reached a draw with him through pure combat technique.
• Lynn brought hot chocolate and praised John's footwork and counter, then watched the children gather together in the snow.

Lynn set rules for a snowball fight, and John overcame his fear of hurting his friends to join in and laugh with them. The doorbell rang as the fight continued.

• Reggie proposed a snowball fight, and Lynn banned the children from using their powers or breaking windows.
• Reggie hit Tommy with the first snowball, and the yard erupted into a chaotic fight that Buddy joined.
• A snowball struck John, and he threw one back at Reggie before joining the game with laughter.
• Reggie called on Tommy and Kevin to focus their snowballs on John, while Black Noir secretly hit Buddy with a snowball.
• The doorbell rang while everyone was still playing.

A Vought assistant delivered luxury gifts to Long Island Estate to test the children’s loyalty, but they rejected the offerings and sent him away. After the snowball fight resumed, Lynn watched over the children as the snow grew heavier.

• A Vought assistant arrived with gifts from Stan Edgar, offering the children a Ferrari, an arcade cabinet, designer clothes, and a marine cultivation system.
• Reggie rejected the Ferrari because he valued earning his own money, and Tommy dismissed the arcade cabinet in favor of his hard-earned game saves.
• John blocked the assistant and told him to take the gifts away, so the assistant hurried back to the SUVs with everything.
• John restarted the snowball fight by hitting Reggie, and Lynn watched the children play as the snowfall grew heavier.

Stormfront brutalized mutant children in Vought’s gravity training room while Edgar assessed the failure of his attempt to lure the Long Island children away from Lynn. Edgar warned Stormfront not to attack the estate until Vought could mass-produce weapons and find a weakness in John.

• Stormfront used triple gravity and electric shocks to force Colin and the other mutant children to stand during their training.
• Edgar’s assistant reported that Reggie and Tommy had refused Vought’s gifts and that Homelander had driven the representatives away from the Long Island Estate.
• Edgar watched footage of Lynn and the children and concluded that Lynn had bound them together by giving them a family and dignity.
• Stormfront proposed taking the trained mutants to Long Island to kill Lynn and assert Vought’s control over John.
• Edgar forbade an attack, warning Stormfront that John could destroy the mutants and that Vought needed to mature its mass-production plan and find John’s weakness.
• Stormfront backed down but stared at John’s image with disgust and malice.

Stormfront arrived at the Manor with the New Vanguard Camp and destroyed its gate, then insulted Reggie and Buddy while demanding to see Lynn and John. John rejected her offer and calmly told Lynn she had broken their gate, leaving Lynn to face Stormfront.

• Stormfront blasted the Manor's iron gate apart and entered with the frightened children of the New Vanguard Camp, including Marge.
• Stormfront insulted Reggie and Buddy, and Reggie called for Lynn.
• Stormfront demanded that Lynn and John come out and threatened the Manor's residents.
• John came outside, ignored Stormfront's offer to take him away, and told Lynn that she had broken their gate.

John quickly overpowered Stormfront after she attacked Lynn’s home, ignoring her lightning and pinning her in the snow. He began carrying out Lynn’s order to break her legs, leaving Stormfront’s right knee shattered.

• Lynn told John to break both of Stormfront’s legs, throw her out, and avoid frightening the children.
• Stormfront assumed John would join her, but John vanished and slammed her into the frozen ground.
• Stormfront blasted John with purple lightning, but it did not harm him, and he pinned her by the throat.
• John warned Stormfront that she had broken their door and insulted his family, while the children watched in shock.
• John released Stormfront and stomped on her right knee, breaking it.

John crippled Stormfront while Lynn calmly tended to the children at the estate, showing the New Vanguard Camp children a life of warmth and care they had never known. Vought’s security took Stormfront and the children away, leaving Marge looking back at the brightly lit home with resentment and jealousy.

• John crushed Stormfront’s left knee after breaking her right one, then returned to his glass of hot milk.
• Lynn told John to warm the milk, sent the children inside to escape the cold, and asked Reggie to fill in the mud pit.
• The New Vanguard Camp children watched the family’s ordinary warmth and began to resent the suffering they had been taught to accept.
• Lynn gestured for Vought’s security personnel to collect Stormfront and escort the children back to their SUVs.
• Marge looked back at the warmly lit estate before the SUVs carried her and the others away.

At Vought Tower, Edgar saw how Stormfront’s defeat had shaken the New Vanguard Camp children and ordered their punishment training suspended. At the Long Island Estate, John reflected on his happy life with Lynn and promised to protect it, as the household gathered for apple pie.

• Stormfront endured surgery without anesthetic, and the chief medical officer told Edgar that her shattered legs would leave her unable to fight for at least a month.
• Edgar noticed that Marge and the other children had begun to question Stormfront’s control after seeing the warmth and safety at Lynn’s estate, so he ordered clean clothes, larger dinners, psychological assessments, and an end to corporal punishment training.
• At the Long Island Estate, Reggie filled in Stormfront’s crater while Lynn baked apple pie and John sat with a glass of warm milk.
• John told Lynn that his life was better than anyone else’s, and Lynn told him to protect it while warning that Black Noir would punish him if he lost focus during training.
• Lynn brought out the finished pie as Reggie, Tommy, Annie, and the others gathered noisily inside, while Buddy begged for a share.

Marge led the New Vanguard Camp children in a cafeteria uprising after their visit to the Long Island Estate made them long for freedom and family. As the children were overwhelmed, Stan Edgar ordered the guards to put away lethal weapons and headed toward the conflict, leaving Marge on the brink of being crushed.

• Marge refused to eat and demanded freedom, then resisted her collar’s electric shock and overturned a table into the lead guard.
• The New Vanguard children joined Marge’s revolt, using their powers to fight the guards and adult Supes.
• Stan Edgar watched the uprising and ordered the guards to put away lethal weapons while continuing to pressure the children until they were hopeless.
• Marge shielded younger children until she was badly wounded and exhausted, while the invisible boy lost consciousness.
• As a gravity-controlling Supe prepared to stomp on Marge, the isolation door opened and measured footsteps approached.

Edgar stopped the guards from abusing the children in Vought’s underground facility and promised them a better life in exchange for obedience. At Long Island Estate, John and the others shared Lynn’s homemade apple pie, leaving the chapter on a peaceful family meal.

• Edgar ordered the guards to leave the cafeteria and crouched before Marge, offering her a handkerchief and blaming Stormfront for the children’s mistreatment.
• Edgar’s assistant brought hot food, and the hungry children crowded around the table to eat.
• Edgar promised Marge that the fortieth underground floor would become the children’s home, with clean beds, a sunroom, and regular meals, if they followed their parent’s instructions; Marge agreed.
• At Long Island Estate, Lynn served apple pie and made Reggie wash his hands before eating.
• John secretly gave Buddy a piece of pie while Reggie praised Lynn’s baking and the family ate together.

Vought conditioned the children in the New Vanguard Camp to treat the basement as their home, while Lynn’s household prepared for a blizzard at the Long Island Estate. After John wondered whether the captive children would receive allowances, Lynn told him Vought would deny them the freedom they wanted, leaving John troubled by whether to rescue them.

• Edgar watched a psychologist comfort Marge and learned that the children were becoming loyal to Vought and protective of their false home.
• Lynn warned Reggie not to use super speed while clearing the roof, while Tommy used telekinesis to remove icicles and teased him.
• John cleared snow from the roof without using his powers, then accepted money from Lynn for the work.
• John asked Lynn whether the children taken by Vought would receive allowances, and Lynn told him the company would not give them freedom.
• John thought about how easily he could break into Vought Tower and rescue the children, but wondered what would happen afterward.