Chapter Summaries

John discovered that he could breathe out a powerful freezing mist, then received fragmented knowledge of events and people across the world. After A-Train refused to test the new Compound V, John learned where Kimiko might be and set out for Godolkin University.

• John tested his new freezing breath on a beetle and found that it could freeze the insect almost instantly.
• John received fragments of timelines involving Hughie, Starlight, The Deep, Butcher, and Godolkin University, and concluded that greater Distortion Degree would reveal more of the world's secrets.
• John offered A-Train the new Compound V, but A-Train refused to try it until the old compound and healing serum had cleared his system.
• A-Train recalled seeing a mute black-haired girl at a Brooklyn Chinese restaurant, giving John a possible lead on Kimiko.
• John messaged The Deep to come to the repair shop and entered Godolkin University's address into his phone before heading there on foot.

Black Noir followed The Deep to the Boys Squad’s hideout, where he discovered their Compound V stock and attacked them. The Deep insisted he had come at John’s invitation, then revealed Black Noir’s nut allergy as the fight continued.

• The Deep left his apartment after receiving a message, and Black Noir secretly followed him to an abandoned repair shop.
• The Deep told Frenchie, Hughie, and Mother's Milk that John had summoned him, but Black Noir’s thrown dagger made them suspect he was a Vought trap.
• Black Noir smashed into the repair shop, spotted the Compound V vials, and attacked Frenchie, Mother's Milk, and Hughie.
• The Deep hid from Black Noir and refused to fight, explaining that his powers did not work on dry land.
• The Deep remembered that Black Noir was allergic to nuts and told Hughie to find the walnuts on the lab bench.

Hughie used The Deep’s warning about Black Noir’s severe nut allergy to attack him with walnuts, but Black Noir recovered and overpowered The Deep. As Black Noir stabbed The Deep, a streak of red light appeared.

• The Deep remembered Maeve saying that Black Noir could suffer anaphylactic shock from nuts and told Hughie.
• Hughie hurled walnuts at Black Noir, who sliced them open and inhaled the nut dust.
• The Deep charged Black Noir, then dragged the weakened Frenchie away as Black Noir moved to attack him.
• Black Noir grabbed The Deep by the throat and slammed him into metal shelving.
• Frenchie found a dropped gun, but Hughie hesitated to shoot because he might hit The Deep.
• Black Noir stabbed The Deep in the chest, and The Deep saw a streak of red light through his fading vision.

John defeated Black Noir, exposed The Deep’s fake death, and ordered the team to relocate after finding a tracker. As they prepared to head near Godolkin University, John said he had a new recruit to introduce, and Hughie guessed she was a college girl.

• John blasted Black Noir through the garage door and into a forklift, then found The Deep pretending to be dead.
• John made The Deep get up and ordered him to remove Black Noir’s tracker before the team moved their base.
• The Deep discovered new ways to use his water-linked abilities while locating Black Noir’s tracker.
• Mother's Milk and Hughie packed the surviving Compound V ingredients as John gave Frenchie directions to the new base.
• John told the team to drive near Godolkin University so he could introduce a new recruit, and Hughie joked that John had gone to pick up college girls.

John visited Godolkin University to recruit Cate Dunlap, revealing that she was helping President Shetty conduct deadly experiments on supes. After Cate tried to read his memories, she recognized his face as Homelander’s and was overwhelmed by the power behind his mind; John gave her his number and left her to decide whether to investigate Shetty’s lab.

• John reviewed Cate Dunlap’s file and went to find her at Godolkin University.
• John told Cate that Shetty was using her mind control to support a virus experiment on imprisoned supes in The Woods.
• John urged Cate to inspect the lab herself and choose whether to keep helping Shetty.
• Cate touched John’s neck to read his memories, saw his face as Homelander, and was forcibly expelled from his consciousness.
• John warned Cate that probing his memories could destroy her mind, gave her his phone number, and left her to decide whether to contact him.

Cate uncovered the abuse hidden in Shetty’s laboratory, realized she had been helping harm the volunteers, and agreed to join John. Meanwhile, Stan Edgar investigated Black Noir’s disappearance and summoned Madelyn.

• Cate read Gabriel’s memories and saw that white-coated staff had injected him with dangerous experimental drugs.
• Cate hid from a guard, controlled his mind, and used his access to reach basement level three.
• Cate found the volunteers in the specimen room, including a bald man and an injured girl, and understood that John had told her the truth.
• Cate texted John, “I’m in,” as the world distortion level reached 58%.
• Stan Edgar reviewed Black Noir’s last message and the evidence from the Mangrove resettlement site, then called Madelyn into his office.

Edgar investigated Black Noir’s disappearance and signs of an organized infiltration, then decided Homelander should handle the threat. Madelyn concealed her unease from Homelander, while Cate left Godolkin University under the watch of a crow bearing the name Cipher.

• Edgar told Madelyn that Black Noir had gone missing and reviewed evidence of a Heat Vision-like weapon used at the Mangrove incident.
• Edgar connected The Deep’s and A-Train’s suspicious activity to a possible infiltration and rejected sending Maeve to investigate because she might defect.
• Madelyn went to Homelander, who recognized her nervousness, learned Black Noir was missing, and insisted on taking charge of the search.
• Madelyn calmed Homelander by letting him rest his head on her lap as she stroked his hair.
• Cate left Godolkin University in an old Ford while a crow wearing a band marked “Cipher (The Emissary)” watched her and then flew back toward campus.

John brought Cate to Butcher’s basement to search Black Noir’s memories for information about Compound V1. Cate uncovered Thomas Godolkin’s role in creating V1 and betraying Soldier Boy, but a stronger psychic barrier blocked her from learning more about him.

• John introduced Cate to Hughie, Mother’s Milk, Frenchie, The Deep, and the unconscious Black Noir on the way to Butcher’s basement.
• Mother’s Milk tied Black Noir to a pillar, and Butcher warned John to keep Vought from discovering their safe house.
• Cate touched Black Noir and viewed memories of Soldier Boy abusing him and later killing him during a battle.
• Cate saw Thomas Godolkin inject Soldier Boy with the first Compound V1 and found that Godolkin had also recruited Soldier Boy’s teammates and orchestrated his betrayal.
• When Cate tried to uncover more about Godolkin, a psychic barrier in Black Noir’s memories blocked her, revealing that a more powerful psychic stood behind him.

Cate explained that Dr. Godolkin had developed Compound V1 and revived Black Noir, while Butcher left to investigate Godolkin’s vanished records. The Boys tested the new Compound V on The Deep, whose apparent death triggered powerful water manipulation before John revived him.

• Cate told Hughie and the others that Godolkin had secretly orchestrated events, developed Compound V1, and used the new Compound V to save Black Noir.
• Butcher recalled that Godolkin had appeared in CIA files about Nazi scientists and left to consult an old intelligence contact.
• Frenchie prepared to test the new Compound V, and The Deep volunteered to receive the first injection.
• The Deep’s heart stopped as the drug transformed him, but John discovered that a new mass of muscle was forming inside his heart.
• The Deep’s new powers lifted water throughout the basement, and John restored his consciousness, causing the suspended water to crash down.
• The Deep woke beneath the downpour and told John that he thought he had seen God lick his dick.

Frenchie and Mother's Milk tracked Kimiko to a Chinese restaurant, where she brutally killed the men sent to capture her. When she attacked Frenchie, he stopped her by mentioning her wanted younger brother, and she signed something that neither man understood.

• Frenchie and Mother's Milk found the restaurant where Kimiko was hiding and entered through its back door.
• A bald man and five thugs arrived to capture Kimiko, and she attacked them, killing several before Frenchie and Mother's Milk joined the fight.
• Kimiko killed the bald man, while Mother's Milk and Frenchie fought off the remaining thugs.
• Kimiko mistook Frenchie for a threat and pinned him down, choking him until he mentioned her younger brother, Miyashiro.
• Kimiko released Frenchie and signed to him, and he asked Mother's Milk what she was saying.

Homelander traced Black Noir’s movements to a secret Vought facility called Mangrove, then ignored Stan Edgar’s orders and went there himself. Inside, he found signs that a family had lived there and recognized Becca’s coat, leaving him to wonder what she had to do with the facility.

• Homelander checked Black Noir’s tracking history and found an unauthorized detour to an undisclosed Vought asset named Mangrove, overseen by Stan Edgar.
• Homelander tried to learn about Mangrove’s injured guards at the Prince Medical Department, but staff refused access without Edgar’s authorization.
• After Edgar told him to return to the tower, Homelander decided to investigate Mangrove in person.
• Homelander found the facility’s blast door precisely cut by Heat Vision, though he knew he had not done it.
• Homelander entered an ordinary apartment inside the facility and saw children’s drawings, including one of The Deep and one labeled “Mom.”
• Homelander recognized a coat in the bedroom as one Becca had worn and began to suspect a connection.

Homelander confronted Stan Edgar over Vought’s secrets about Becca and a child, then vowed to investigate the Mangrove base himself. Meanwhile, Frenchie and Mother’s Milk found evidence that Kimiko’s brother Kenji Miyashiro might still be alive, and Butcher revealed a hidden lab beneath Godolkin University.

• Homelander demanded answers about the Mangrove base, but Stan Edgar refused and told him he was only a product of Compound V.
• Edgar reminded Homelander that Vought had not settled the matter of his secretly supplying Compound V to terrorists, and Homelander left without getting answers.
• Homelander flew to the top of Vought Tower and vowed to uncover the truth about Becca, the child, and the Mangrove base himself.
• Frenchie and Mother’s Milk brought Kimiko to Saike, who showed them photos suggesting her brother Kenji Miyashiro was alive after being transferred from a Vought facility.
• Kimiko agreed to work with Frenchie and Mother’s Milk if they helped her find Kenji, threatening to kill them if they lied.
• Butcher called Frenchie and reported a passage beneath a bronze statue at Godolkin University that led to a secret laboratory on the third basement level.

Frenchie, Mother's Milk, and Kimiko broke into Vought’s hidden supe prison, where Lamplighter confronted them. Meanwhile, Homelander confronted Dr. Vogelbaum about Becca and their child, recognized Vogelbaum’s story as a lie, and demanded the truth.

• Frenchie, Mother's Milk, Kimiko, and Hughie reached the laboratory, cut through its electric fence, and entered through a back door.
• Frenchie heard guards beyond a reinforced door, and Kimiko led the attack as she and the others killed five guards.
• Frenchie and Mother's Milk discovered surveillance footage of imprisoned supes and spotted a red figure approaching; they later recognized the man as Lamplighter when he confronted them with a fireball.
• Homelander broke into Dr. Vogelbaum’s home and demanded to know what happened to Becca and their child eight years earlier.
• Dr. Vogelbaum claimed Becca died giving birth and the child died moments later, but Homelander accused him of lying and threatened him.

Homelander learned that Vought had concealed his son and kept Becca at Mangrove Base for eight years, then confronted Madelyn about her role in the deception. After Madelyn admitted she feared him, Homelander killed her and turned his attention to Edgar and finding his son.

• Homelander threatened Vogelbaum until the doctor revealed that Edgar had ordered the child’s existence concealed and Madelyn had overseen Becca’s confinement at Mangrove Base.
• Homelander learned that Becca had survived childbirth and raised his son there, while Vought told the world that both mother and child had died.
• Homelander flew to Vought Tower and confronted Madelyn, who denied the truth until he told her he had visited Mangrove Base.
• Madelyn confessed that she had hidden the child because she feared Homelander and believed he could destroy everything she had.
• Homelander kissed Madelyn’s forehead, killed her with Heat Vision, and resolved to find his son and deal with Edgar.

Frenchie confronted Lamplighter, whose taunts forced him to face his guilt over leaving his post before Lamplighter burned Mallory’s grandchildren. Frenchie, Mother’s Milk, and Kimiko fought back, but Lamplighter engulfed the corridor in flames, leaving them with nowhere to hide.

• Frenchie recognized Lamplighter and charged at him, but Mother’s Milk restrained him as Frenchie accused Lamplighter of killing Mallory’s grandchildren.
• Lamplighter reminded Frenchie that he had watched him leave the nightclub and had failed to warn anyone; Frenchie recalled abandoning surveillance to help Jay, then learning the children had died in a fire.
• Lamplighter attacked with a fireball, and Mother’s Milk shielded Frenchie while Kimiko tried to strike Lamplighter and was burned by his flames.
• Frenchie used liquid nitrogen to weaken Lamplighter’s fire, letting Kimiko land a blow before the team retreated from his counterattack.
• Lamplighter spread flames across the floor, walls, and ceiling, trapping Frenchie, Mother’s Milk, and Kimiko in a burning corridor.

John and the Boys confronted Lamplighter, who revealed that Storm was behind Godolkin University’s supe-virus project. After learning the remaining samples and research were stored on the third basement level, John spared Lamplighter and asked if he wanted to work with them.

• Frenchie, Mother's Milk, and Kimiko trapped themselves in a storeroom and used oxygen cylinders and thermite to blast Lamplighter, but he survived behind a shield of fire.
• Cate suppressed Lamplighter’s powers, and John froze his arm before questioning him.
• Lamplighter revealed that Storm was directing Shetty and using Godolkin students as test subjects for a virus that targeted supes.
• Lamplighter said Storm had taken prototype virus samples for field tests and that the remaining strains and data were in a cold storage room on the third basement level, guarded by Shetty and armed men.
• John let Lamplighter’s ice melt and asked him if he wanted to work with them.

After Homelander killed Madelyn Stillwell, Stan Edgar ordered Vought to cover up her death and decided to counter Homelander by releasing Soldier Boy. He activated the thawing plan, setting Vought’s next struggle in motion.

• Reynolds told Stan Edgar that Homelander had killed Madelyn Stillwell with Heat Vision.
• Edgar ordered Vought to disguise Madelyn’s death as a heart attack, silence witnesses, and erase evidence from the scene.
• Edgar reviewed Homelander’s past loss of control and concluded that Vought needed a new countermeasure.
• Edgar opened Vought’s shadow archive and examined the secret file revealing that Soldier Boy had been handed to the Soviets and kept frozen in Siberia.
• Edgar decided to use Soldier Boy against Homelander and activate him to remove the remaining Payback members.
• Edgar called an encrypted phone and ordered the thawing plan activated.

John brought Lamplighter to the base, where Black Noir’s account of Vought erasing Lamplighter’s legacy drove him to join John’s cause. Meanwhile, Soldier Boy awoke in Siberia, escaped Vought’s facility, and Edgar ordered his agents to track him until he returned to America.

• Frenchie objected to John bringing Lamplighter into the base, but John insisted Lamplighter was too weak to pose a threat.
• Black Noir wrote that Lamplighter’s statue had been removed and his name and files erased, prompting Lamplighter to agree to work with John.
• John had Cate place a cognitive lock on Black Noir so he could not reveal information about the base or its people.
• Vought technicians thawed Soldier Boy in an abandoned Siberian military base, and his awakening destroyed the cryogenic chamber.
• Soldier Boy punched through a concrete wall and escaped into the blizzard despite guards firing at him.
• Cole told Edgar that Soldier Boy had escaped, and Edgar ordered Cole to follow him discreetly and let him return to America.

Thomas Godolkin, disguised as the Emissary, oversaw Marie Moreau’s failed blood-control experiment before meeting Homelander, who came seeking search-capable supes and information about suspicious visitors. The Emissary secretly probed Homelander’s memories and discovered a fracture in his mind, then learned that a freshman had left with suspicious people whose trail ended at an abandoned parking lot.

• The Emissary ordered Marie Moreau to reinfuse a mouse’s blood and repair its artery, but the mouse exploded when her control failed.
• The Emissary ordered the experiment continued with rabbits, then went to meet Homelander after security reported his arrival.
• Homelander asked whether Godolkin University had students with search abilities and whether suspicious supes had appeared recently.
• The Emissary secretly probed Homelander’s mind, saw memories of his childhood in a laboratory and Madelyn’s death, and withdrew when Homelander sensed the intrusion.
• Crow reported that a freshman had left with a group of suspicious people and that ravens had tracked them to an abandoned parking lot.

Soldier Boy escaped from captivity and reached New York, where a Russian song triggered his powers and caused a devastating blast. At a cabin, Becca and Ryan waited for Butcher until an ominous arrival outside made Becca fear Homelander had found them.

• Soldier Boy stole supplies in a Siberian border town, then hitchhiked south to Manhattan.
• In New York, Soldier Boy saw the Seven promoted everywhere while he was absent from the new world’s history.
• A Russian song from a record store triggered Soldier Boy’s PTSD, and his chest beam tore through the street.
• Becca prepared dinner for Ryan and told him Butcher had gone into town to arrange their move to Canada.
• A heavy impact sounded in the cabin’s yard, and Becca feared a supe or Homelander had arrived.