If an ordinary child had landed flat on the ground like that, he would have been done for. But a few seconds later, Ryan slowly sat up and rubbed his chest.
"That hurt a little..."
Soldier Boy's eyes lit up. Sure enough, this worked.
He had caught Ryan the first two times to make him lower his guard before the big one.
He had never considered that Ryan might get hurt. After all, he was the world's only natural-born superhuman and had inherited all of Homelander's abilities.
Besides, in the original show, Ryan had been thrown off a roof by Homelander and had been completely fine.
Soldier Boy smiled in satisfaction. "If you ask me, Homelander was still too gentle. Jade needs carving to become something worthwhile."
"This is so weird!" Ryan's eyes widened in surprise.
He realized he wasn't injured. His chest just felt tight, his breathing was labored, and the impact had left his stomach aching a little.
Also, waves of warmth were surging inside his body, but they were growing fainter, seemingly fading away again.
Ryan was easygoing, too. He pursed his lips and was just about to complain to Soldier Boy when the back of his shirt was suddenly grabbed again.
"Grandpa?!!!"
Whoosh!
He flew twenty meters straight up.
"Aaaah!" Ryan screamed in terror, his heart lurching just as he had finally relaxed.
He glanced pleadingly at Soldier Boy, but the man stood with his arms folded, looking as though he were watching a show.
I'm screwed.
"Kid, you'd better awaken your superpowers fast, or you're definitely going to fall to your death."
Soldier Boy kindly reminded him (threatened him).
Ryan wanted to cry but had no tears. An even more urgent pressure to survive bore down on him, his blood burning hot and flowing faster.