On the endless open ocean, after ditching his old man in the freezing water, Ryan didn't waste a second. He was already moving on to his next trophy.
Using every dirty detail he ripped from Popclaw's desperate dying memories, he turned into an invisible streak of light above New York and shot straight toward the massive, solemn headquarters of the "Light of Dawn" Church, which was in talks to be called "Church of Vough" from next year, right in the city center.
The building was pure white marble from top to bottom, standing out like a fake angel in the middle of New York's concrete jungle.
Giant stained-glass windows showed Bible scenes, with sunlight pouring through them and painting colorful patterns everywhere, making everyone who walked in feel fake peace and fake holiness.
To Ryan, it was all just a expensive, lying skin wrapped around pure filth.
He slipped through their "unbreakable" security system—supposedly designed by Vought's best experts—like it was nothing. Completely invisible, he ghosted straight into the heart of this holier-than-thou shithole.
He strolled down the fancy hallways lined with soft red carpets.
He saw the brainwashed believers everywhere, faces stuck in the same fanatical, empty smiles. They knelt in front of the statues, praying hard and handing over their hard-earned cash for some bullshit spiritual comfort and a one-way ticket to heaven that would never come.
With his super senses, he picked up every hidden camera tucked behind the holy statues, every soundproof room for dirty deals, and all the nasty shit involving money, power, and flesh happening in the shadows.
He "heard" high-ranking church officials in a luxury office cutting deals with a politician on how to milk the believers' votes.
He "saw" a respected priest in a hidden lounge committing a disgusting act of molestation on a young believer who had come for guidance.
Every inch of this so-called sanctuary stank of rot.
Combining Popclaw's info with what he remembered from The Boys, he quickly zeroed in on the church's top dog: Bishop Ezekiel. The public face of love and peace who was actually a pedophile, a whore, and greedy as fuck behind closed doors.
At the same time, he located the secret vault holding the church's real "holy relic"—Compound V.
Ezekiel's private prayer room on the top floor was basically a goddamn palace.
Right now, the respected bishop was completely naked, groaning in pleasure while two young, male believers gave him very thorough, very personal "service."
The room reeked of sex and cheap perfume, a thick, nauseating stink.
Just as Ezekiel closed his eyes, savoring his private little luxury, an uninvited guest popped in.
Ryan appeared in his seven-year-old form right in the middle of the room without a sound.
The moaning stopped dead.
The two little boys screamed at the top of their lungs, scrambling to grab their clothes and cover themselves.
Ezekiel's face flashed with annoyance at being interrupted, but he recovered fast. He waved a hand, ordering the terrified women to get out.
He slipped on a silk robe, and just like that, the saintly, benevolent smile clicked back into place.
He looked at Ryan like a gentle shepherd spotting a lost lamb.
"Child, how did you get in here? Are you lost? Don't be scared. Tell me everything. I can help you."
He tried to pull out his usual mind-fucking preacher talk to figure out who this mystery kid was.
Ryan wasn't interested in playing games.
He cut straight to the point, his young voice cold and flat.
"Give me all the Compound V your church has."
Boom!
The second he heard "Compound V," Ezekiel's holy smile froze solid.
His brain went blank.
He knew instantly this wasn't some lost kid. This was a dangerous enemy who knew their darkest secrets.
In less than a second, his eyes changed from kind pastor to venomous snake ready to strike.
Ezekiel didn't waste time.
His soft, slightly fat body suddenly twisted like rubber with no bones. His arms shot out, stretching and thickening into two long, black, whip-like tentacles that tore through the air from two fucked-up angles, lashing straight at Ryan.
Ryan didn't look surprised at all.
He already knew Ezekiel's power was rubberization. Normal punches and kicks barely did shit to a guy who could bounce back from blunt force like it was nothing.
He didn't even bother dodging.
Just before Ezekiel's stretched-out arms could hit him, Ryan's fused super speed exploded.
His body vanished from the spot.
Ezekiel's attack slammed into nothing, the force cracking two deep gouges into the expensive marble floor.
Before he could even blink, a small but iron-tight hand clamped around his throat.
Ryan had already closed the distance.
"Got you," Ryan said softly.
Ezekiel didn't panic. Instead, a savage grin split his face.
So what if you grabbed me? Physical attacks are fucking useless!
His rubber body instantly wrapped around Ryan like a giant python, squeezing hard, trying to crush and smother him with its elastic power.
But Ryan gave him zero chance.
He ignored the rubber arms clinging to him like sticky shit and grabbed Ezekiel's writhing body with his other hand, holding him close like a lover.
The next second, destruction hit.
Blazing heat vision from his eyes and raw starlight energy from his palms blasted straight into Ezekiel's head at point-blank range, full power, no holding back.
It was a total internal and external energy fuckery.
Ezekiel's proud rubber head, which could tank any physical hit, lasted less than a second under that pure destructive blast.
It popped like an overinflated balloon.
[Plunder successful! Target: 'Ezekiel.']
[Acquired: Rubberized physique, extreme body elongation.....]
Ryan let go in disgust, dropping the headless, still-twitching rubber corpse onto the fancy carpet with a wet, nasty splat. The body looked half-melted from the heat.
He closed his eyes and quietly absorbed the flood of new memories: the entire dirty operation model of the "Light of Dawn" Church, all their key people, and the full secret network for trading Compound V.
A few seconds later, Ryan opened his eyes.
He walked straight to one wall of the prayer room and triggered the hidden switch at the base of a Virgin Mary statue like he'd done it a hundred times.
The wall slid open without a sound, revealing a secret vault made of thick high-strength alloy.
Ryan yanked the vault door open with zero effort.
Inside, dozens of vials of raw Compound V glowed with an eerie blue light under the cold lamps, neatly lined up in temperature-controlled fridges.
These were the Church's so-called "holy relics" — their biggest tools for blackmail, control, and dirty deals.
Ryan swept every single vial into the briefcase he'd brought with him.
He glanced down at his arms, now able to stretch and twist however the fuck he wanted, and a satisfied grin spread across his face.
Another fun new toy to fuck with his enemies.
He walked out of the blood-splattered prayer room, still littered with chunks of rubber and gore, carrying the heavy briefcase like he'd just run a simple errand.
He knew it was time to head back.
Time to feed his three starving "guinea pigs" who already had the seeds of desire planted deep inside them.
___
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