The day was sunny, perfect weather for flying.
My hair fluttered in the wind as I drifted lazily through the air, looking down at the ground below.
Taking in the scenery was surprisingly peaceful.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last long.
Eventually, I reached my destination and gently landed on the front porch.
The knock on the door caught Rebecca off guard.
Judging by her heartbeat, though, she already had a pretty good idea who had come to visit.
When she finally opened the door, she spent a good two seconds staring at my face.
I could only smile at her, standing there in the same disguise I’d been using to pass myself off as an ordinary man.
“Why the masquerade?” she asked, frowning slightly.
“And why do you wear one?” I shot back, giving Rebecca a playful wink.
The way I looked her over, followed by the slight change in my smile, immediately told her what I meant.
She clearly hadn’t expected that.
Still, judging by the faint reaction on her face, she didn’t exactly dislike the compliment.
“And yet, why?” she asked again.
“Homelander never takes off his superhero costume.”
“But I’m not Homelander,” I said with a smile, which only left her more confused.
“My name is John. Homelander is simply a role I play for an audience of billions.”
“So, John?” Rebecca snorted, clearly not believing a word I said.
“That’s right, Rebecca.” I grinned and winked at Ryan, who had been watching me with obvious curiosity.
“Fine, John,” she practically hissed, catching the reflection of her son in my glasses.
“Come in.”
“Thank you, Rebecca.” I nodded and stepped inside.
“Hello, Ryan.”
“Hello,” the boy replied politely, although he still looked wary of me.
“We were having breakfast,” Rebecca explained.
“Why don’t you join us?”
“Gladly.”
I accepted the invitation despite having already eaten.
A huge stack of freshly made pancakes sat right in the middle of the table, looking ridiculously appetizing.
I took an empty seat and watched as Rebecca served her son.
“Aquí está tu desayuno,” she said, placing the food in front of him.
“Gracias,” Ryan replied.
“Spanish?” I asked, recognizing the word for “thank you.”
“On Sundays, we speak en español,” Rebecca explained.
“Oh.”
I made no attempt to hide my surprise.
“Do you speak Spanish?” Ryan asked me as he took a sip of orange juice.
“No, but I speak Russian and German.”
I couldn’t resist showing off a little in front of my son.
The original Homelander only knew one language, which wasn’t exactly surprising considering how arrogant he was.
“Really?” Rebecca asked, clearly surprised.
She had never heard anything about that, despite being Homelander’s chief publicist.
Her skepticism was understandable.
If Vought knew about those language skills, they’d have been exploiting them in Homelander’s publicity campaigns years ago.
“Yeah.” I smiled at Rebecca before turning back to Ryan.
“You know what, Ryan? I’ll start learning Spanish too. I wouldn’t want to fall behind you.”
“Won’t that be difficult?”
“Aller Anfang ist schwer,” I said with a wink, earning a confused look from the boy.
“It means, ‘Every beginning is difficult.’ Don’t worry, Ryan. I’ll manage.”
The boy nodded and began eating, doing his best not to stare at me.
His slight distance was understandable.
He wasn’t used to having strangers around.
If I’d been in his position, I’d probably have acted the same way.
“What would you like to drink? Tea or orange juice?” Rebecca asked, deciding to break the awkward silence.
“A glass of milk, please.”
Breakfast was decent, simple and homemade.
Rebecca had clearly gotten much better at cooking than she had been eight years ago, although I hadn’t actually had the chance to try her cooking back then.
There weren’t any shopping malls or restaurants out here.
Hell, you couldn’t even order a basic pizza.
She’d had no choice but to learn how to manage on her own.
I should probably think about moving her and the boy somewhere else, somewhere that wouldn’t attract too much attention if something went wrong.
There was another thing to consider too.
Socially, Ryan wasn’t exactly much better than Homelander had been during his first few days as a hero.
On his very first day, Homelander had somehow managed to blow up an entire damn factory.
I’d rather avoid a repeat performance with his son.
Lost in thought, I absentmindedly finished the two pancakes on my plate.
Somehow, my smartphone ended up in my hand, and I found myself watching a video that had recently gone viral.
It was an amusing amateur recording of a blonde woman in civilian clothes using bright yellow eye lasers to take down two rapists with impressive efficiency.
Looks like Annie decided to ignore my advice after all.
“John!”
Rebecca’s voice almost made me jump.
“Yes?”
I put the phone down and looked at her.
“We don’t use our phones at the table.”
She sighed.
Apparently, my behavior had annoyed her.
“Sorry. It’s work.” I tried to put a suitably apologetic tone into my voice.
She nodded as I slipped the phone back into my pocket.
“¿Y cuál es tu trabajo?”
I stared at Ryan with a questioning look.
Apparently, he’d just asked me something in Spanish.
Seeing that I hadn’t understood, he took pity on me and translated.
“What do you do for a living?”
“I’m an actor,” I answered without hesitation.
“Really? Like Clark Gable?” Ryan asked excitedly.
“Who?”
I’d never heard of the actor in either of my lives.
“From Gone with the Wind. He plays the male lead,” Rebecca explained.
“I’ve never seen that movie, although I think I’ve heard of it.”
“Maybe we could watch it together?” Ryan suggested, giving his mother a pleading look.
“All right.” Rebecca smiled, giving in to her son.
“It’s his favorite movie.”
“Yes!”
And that’s how I ended up staying at their house for the next four hours, which was how long the movie lasted.
Watching the story of a selfish girl gradually turning into a complete bitch was actually pretty entertaining.
Most of that was thanks to the actors, especially the lead actress.
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was watching the lives of a bunch of genuinely terrible people.
That feeling stayed with me throughout the entire movie.
When it ended, I had to put on an enthusiastic performance and tell Ryan how much I’d enjoyed it.
My actual opinion was considerably more complicated.
Then again, my opinion wasn’t exactly important here.
I’d never considered myself an expert on movies from the forties, especially ones that somehow felt decades ahead of their time and looked more like something produced in the eighties.
What mattered was that the time had passed quickly and the movie had kept me entertained.
Still, I couldn’t stay there for much longer.
I left shortly after we’d finished watching it.
Now I needed to find out what Madelyn intended to do about Starlight.
That woman had never liked it when the people under her supervision started doing things on their own.
She wouldn’t even let Homelander make a move without her approval, so the others had even less freedom.
The elevator I’d grown accustomed to looked exactly the same as before.
So did the corridor on the ninety-fifth floor.
People hurried around me without paying any attention to America’s greatest superhero.
At least, that’s how Homelander liked to think of himself.
Certainly not Earth’s greatest superhero.
But one person did notice me.
A blonde woman in a rather cute superhero costume.
“Homelander!” Starlight exclaimed happily when she saw me.
Until that moment, she’d looked extremely thoughtful.
That alone told me something had happened.
“Starlight, you have no idea how happy I am to see you.” I smiled at her and immediately led her toward the meeting room.
“Come on, tell me what happened.”
“What about?”
“You looked so distracted that you nearly knocked someone over.”
I gave her an amused, condescending look.
“Really?”
“Absolutely.”
I reassured her as the massive metal gates began sliding open.
I stepped inside before they had even fully opened.
“So, what happened?”
“Ms. Stillwell wants me to wear something that’s usually sold in sex shops.”
“Something like a swimsuit?”
“Yes.”
Starlight grimaced.
“And that’s supposed to help with your ratings.”
I nodded thoughtfully, remembering the padding built into Homelander’s costume to emphasize his abs and muscular physique.
“Yes,” she sighed.
“Can you help me?”
“Of course.”
I smiled at the desperate-looking girl.
“I even have a perfectly workable idea.”
Madelyn was furious.
You wouldn’t have known it by looking at her, though.
Years in the entertainment industry had taught her how to hide her genuine emotions behind a professional smile.
Perhaps that was why the events of the past few days had been getting under her skin so badly.
For the first time in years, she’d dropped that mask in front of Homelander and shown genuine panic and fear.
She had never allowed herself to do that before, fully aware of just how dangerous America’s most famous blonde actually was.
And then there was the fact that Mesmer had suddenly disappeared.
That meant all their plans for him were now off the table.
The bastard hadn’t even bothered to send her a text before deciding to go drinking.
And that wasn’t even mentioning Homelander’s sudden opposition to Vought.
Until recently, he’d considered himself part of the company.
Now, after learning about his son, everything had changed.
Then things had gone completely off the rails.
A-Train had decided to embarrass himself live on Instagram.
And then there was Starlight, the new girl, who had decided to wander around in civilian clothes and start shooting eye lasers!
Fortunately, everything had worked out.
The girl’s ratings had even increased, which meant they had to capitalize on her popularity before it dropped again.
But there was always that damn “but.”
Madelyn clenched her fists, feeling her fingernails dig into her palms.
That ungrateful girl had stubbornly refused the new costume design, despite the fact that it was supposed to boost her popularity among both teenagers and adults.
As if that weren’t enough, the blonde had started insisting that anything involving the Seven should be decided personally by Homelander.
That had nearly driven Madelyn insane.
Still, she’d managed to keep herself under control and patiently explain Vought’s policies to the naive idiot.
And now, just a couple of hours later, Homelander had summoned her to the meeting room.
He had never done that before.
She was supposed to summon him, not the other way around!
Even so, Stillwell restrained herself.
She wasn’t about to unload all her rage on this group of children playing in their little sandbox.
She was the one who always had to clean up their messes.
And she was clearly being paid far too little for this thankless job.
With those thoughts running through her head, she forced her usual professional smile onto her face and approached the metal gates.
They opened smoothly, allowing her inside.
The remaining six members of the Seven were already there, all of them watching her expectantly.
“Good afternoon, Madelyn,” Homelander greeted her with a smile, spreading his arms as though he were trying to give her a hug.
The distance between them made that impossible, of course.
“Good afternoon, Homelander.” Madelyn smiled back and glanced at Starlight, then at the new costume lying on the table.
“Why did you call me?”
“I thought I’d take care of a little problem.”
Homelander’s smile became slightly more strained as he casually swept the costume off the table and onto the floor right in front of Madelyn.
“That’s all.”
“Then why is everyone here?”
“As everyone knows, we live in a democracy.”
Homelander smiled.
“That means everyone’s voice should be considered when making a decision that directly affects the entire team. And you’re here to witness it.”
He turned toward Maeve.
“What do you think, Maeve?”
“I completely agree.”
The redhead replied while taking another sip from her glass of whiskey, throwing Madelyn a contemptuous look.
“And when do we begin?” Stillwell asked with a smile.
Her fingernails were digging deeper into her palms.
“Right now,” Homelander said casually.
“Who supports changing Starlight’s costume design? Raise your hand.”
As expected, nobody dared vote against Homelander.
At that moment, Madelyn wanted nothing more than to punch that smug bastard in the face.
He had deliberately humiliated her in front of her own subordinates.
She would definitely remember this.
“And who wants to leave things as they are?”
Homelander raised his hand.
Everyone else followed their nominal leader’s example.
“Well, then. I hope you won’t object to our decision.”
“I…”
“Why exactly did you assume you were allowed to make decisions here?”
The voice came from the doorway.
The man who entered the room was, by all rights, the most powerful person in the entire company.
A Black man wearing glasses and an obviously custom-tailored business suit.
His expression was arrogant and commanding, the kind of look that could silence anyone, even Homelander.
The room fell completely silent.
Edgar had a presence that seemed to dominate the entire space.
“Stan! What a surprise!” Homelander greeted him cheerfully, completely unfazed by what he’d just said.
“Did you decide to descend from the heavens and visit us?”
“Very witty.”
Stan Edgar remained completely calm.
“But I’m not the one who spends days flying over the city instead of doing his job.”
“I’m just trying to make up for lost time, sir.”
Homelander smiled.
There was an obvious double meaning behind his words, one that only three people in the room understood.
He rose into the air, floated over the table, and landed directly in front of the company’s CEO.
“That doesn’t give you an excuse to jeopardize an important contract.”
Edgar frowned as he stared directly into Homelander’s eyes.
“I’d say it’s an excellent reason.”
Homelander smirked challengingly.
“Do you consider yourself the most valuable asset our company possesses?”
“Oh, no. Why would I?”
Homelander snorted, looking at the Black man with open amusement.
“But fortunately, I know exactly what that asset is, and I happen to have it with me.”
He glanced toward Madelyn.
“Just in case. Right, Madelyn?”
She flinched.
For a moment, it felt as though the ground had disappeared beneath her feet.
How could she possibly have known ten years ago that one day he’d use his knowledge of Compound V against her?
The bastard had practically threatened to expose the existence of the drug over a damn costume for the new girl!
“And what exactly do you want?” Edgar asked.
Madelyn was stunned.
He had never backed down before.
Edgar always had another card up his sleeve.
But against Homelander, a man who apparently didn’t give a damn about the company’s future, those cards seemed useless.
At least this time.
Edgar wasn’t going to let it go so easily.
“It’s simple.”
Homelander looked down at the CEO and extended his hand.
“I’ll continue handling my business, and you can continue handling yours. And you won’t force the members of my team to do anything they don’t want to do.”
He tilted his head slightly.
“Do we have an agreement?”
“I suppose we do.”
For the first time during the entire conversation, Edgar allowed himself to smile as he shook the hero’s hand.
“Until next time, Homelander.”
“Until next time, Stan.”
Homelander smirked as he watched the Black man walk away.
Madelyn stared in disbelief.
Stan Edgar had just been defeated by the very man he’d always considered a spoiled child who could easily be put in his place.
Stillwell decided to follow him.
She had no desire to remain here any longer, and she also needed to find out what Edgar intended to do about Homelander.
Because he definitely had plans.
“Ashley, please get this piece of trash out of my sight.”
Homelander addressed Stillwell’s assistant, who had apparently decided to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“Yes, of course!”
The girl practically squeaked as she hurriedly picked up the costume from the floor.
“Well, now that everything’s settled, let’s get back to work.”
Homelander smiled and turned toward the silent spectators.
The first thing he noticed was Starlight’s look of complete admiration.
The other members of the team were a different story.
Shock was written all over their faces.
Even Black Noir’s posture seemed to reflect it.
And that said quite a lot.
Well, the objective had been accomplished, and far more successfully than expected.
John was perfectly satisfied.
Now all he had to do was wait for Edgar to make his next move.
And there was no doubt that one was coming.