Madelyn's death

The moment Stormfront spoke, Homelander turned to look at her.

"Good luck." Stormfront waved.

Homelander frowned, unsure what the hell was wrong with this woman. He had no interest in bothering with her, either, because he had something more important to deal with.

After a long while, he slowly said, "Everyone out."

Starlight practically flew out the door. The medical staff fled as though they had been granted a pardon, and the young doctor ran for his life, not even stopping when he lost a shoe.

Stormfront shrugged, gave Homelander a meaningful look, and turned to leave, closing the door behind her.

Only Homelander and Madelyn remained in the enormous office.

Madelyn looked at the figure who had appeared before her countless times, yet felt utterly unfamiliar. She ventured, "John."

"No." Homelander moved his head slightly. "Call me Homelander."

Madelyn forced a familiar smile. "All right, Homelander. Have you been under too much pressure lately? We can sit down and talk."

"Talk?" Homelander finally turned around.

His expression twisted. "Madelyn, you shouldn't have betrayed me, and you certainly shouldn't have said those things about my father."

"You were lying last night. I heard your heartbeat perfectly clearly. I didn't want to kill you. I just wanted you to go far away and never appear in front of me again."

"You didn't leave."

He approached one step at a time. "Today, you went behind my back and did this to Starlight, all in Soldier Boy's name."

"If Father found out, he'd kill you himself."

"But I didn't want that. I didn't want you to die, so I killed Roger and asked Starlight to help me cover it up."

Homelander's voice faltered, choking up several times.

Madelyn fell silent for a moment, then suddenly reached out and gently took his wrist. "John, everything I did was for Vought, and for you."

Homelander lowered his head and looked at that familiar hand. Images flashed through his mind: milk brought to him late at night, and all those times she had called him a good boy...

In the past, only with Madelyn could he find a little warmth.

It wasn't as though Madelyn had never lied to him, but what else could Homelander do? He was an overgrown baby starved for love. Even if that love was false and twisted, he eagerly accepted it.

"For me?" Homelander stared blankly. "Then tell me, what was the deal with that fucking giant cobra?"

Madelyn froze for a moment, then reached up with her other hand to stroke Homelander's hair.

"Sweetheart, I really don't know."

Homelander looked at her and nervously activated his Super Hearing.

Her heartbeat was accelerating. She was lying.

Even now, Madelyn was still lying to him.

Homelander slowly closed his eyes. "Why did even you have to betray me?"

With that, he gently pulled free of Madelyn's hand. When he opened his eyes again, they shone scarlet, as though he were wearing blood-red contact lenses.

An extremely low-frequency sizzling suddenly filled the office.

A few seconds later, everything fell silent again. Homelander stood motionless. That familiar person had fallen, and the smell of burning still lingered in the air.

He stared blankly ahead, as though he had lost the ability to think. Only after a long while did he slowly sink to his knees, bracing his hands against the floor and lowering his head, unable to say a word.

Only when a magpie flew past outside with a sharp cry did Homelander snap out of his blank state.

His emotions finally burst through. Homelander slowly curled up, burying his head between his arms as his shoulders began to tremble:

"Why do you all have to betray me?"

First Black Noir, then Madelyn.

His voice grew quieter and quieter. Tears slid down his cheeks and dripped onto the cold floor.

At that moment, he wasn't the god who had just held someone else's life and death in his hands. He was merely a child who had never truly had a family, and John, who had spent half his life longing for approval.

Only Starlight and Stormfront remained in the hallway outside.

The two women walked side by side as Starlight recounted everything that had happened.

"Fuck!!!"

Stormfront's fantasy shattered. She gritted her teeth in fury. "I thought Homelander was normal. This world needs a complete correction."

"Ha-ha." Starlight gave a couple of dry laughs.

So in her eyes, Nazi ideology was the true orthodoxy.

Lunatic.

As they spoke, they reached the elevator. With a ding, its doors opened.

"Hey, babes."

Soldier Boy leaned against the back wall of the elevator, flicked his bangs, and greeted them in what he considered a suave tone.

The routine might have been old, but he was handsome enough to pull it off.

Stormfront immediately pressed close to him. "Ben, I've missed you so much."

"Hold on, I have something to ask you two," Soldier Boy interrupted her. "Why did someone fall from the Vought building?"

Stormfront and Starlight exchanged a glance.

One minute later.

"That's what happened, sir. I don't know what happened afterward. Homelander sent us all away."

Starlight explained it all in a subdued tone.

"I need to go check on him now." Soldier Boy let out a heavy breath and stepped out.

He wasn't sure how Homelander would deal with Madelyn, either.

He approached the vice president's office. Through the door, he could just faintly hear the wind. He pushed, and the door opened.

A floor strewn with wreckage greeted his eyes.

Homelander sat on the floor with his back against the desk, his cape spread out behind him. His eyes were red, and the tear tracks on his face hadn't quite dried, but he was already trying hard to look normal again.

Soldier Boy's gaze slowly shifted. A few meters away lay Madelyn, her head blasted open.

He looked away after a single glance, as though she were nothing but a pile of trash. The only person who truly mattered to him had always been Homelander.

Homelander raised his head, too. When he saw the figure standing in the doorway, his expression barely changed, but his eyes grew much more at ease.

He was like someone who had spent a long time walking through a storm and finally spotted a little house with a light on in the distance.

They looked at each other across the room. Soldier Boy spoke first. "What are you doing sitting on the floor?"

His tone was the same as always, even carrying a hint of disdain.

Homelander didn't move. In a low voice, he said, "I killed Madelyn. She lied to me and said bad things about you."

"Oh, and that snake had something to do with Madelyn, too..."

Soldier Boy walked over and stood before him, blocking the light from the window. "Come with me first. It stinks in here."

He held out his hand and pulled Homelander up off the floor.

Homelander rose with his help, then took one last look back at Madelyn's body.

In the hallway.

"I think we need to investigate Edgar as soon as possible. He's the one behind it all," Homelander said dispiritedly.

Soldier Boy interrupted him with a chuckle. "John, that doesn't matter. Right now, you need to relax."

Homelander froze, then suddenly laughed.

He wanted to discuss what they should do next with Soldier Boy, or explain what had happened in the office, but what Soldier Boy truly cared about was how he felt.

"Come with me, you sniveling pussy."

"I just found out today that you can skip a phone across the water a few hundred times. Tell Ashley Barrett to buy some phones. I'll take you skipping."

Homelander jogged to catch up, much of the gloom in his heart swept away.

Father and son walked out of Vought Tower and looked at Roger's body on the ground at the same time.

"Fuck." Soldier Boy's mouth twitched. "That fucking thing is ugly as hell. Must be a friend of yours, huh?"

Homelander: "..."