Respect +!
3: 03: New Parents Acquired!
Respect +!
But pulling that off would take some real maneuvering.
Dean could not just count on coming back to life and expect the Normans who hauled him out of Vought’s lab to adopt him on the spot.
He needed to show them he was worth something first.
And lucky for him, he had exactly the right capital.
Not his little Dean, of course.
The V5-activated power Vought had pumped into him while he was still an embryo.
Just like Homelander, he had gotten the V5 shot in the womb.
Since Homelander was born with powers, Dean had them too.
Even though they were twins, their abilities were nothing alike.
Homelander woke up with Superman-style powers.
Dean’s leaned hard toward the Stormfront side of his genes.
Electricity.
Yeah.
Dean could feel it clear as day.
He had full control over purple electricity.
That purple skin at birth was not from suffocation.
It was the supernatural current running wild through his body.
The original owner had simply been too weak to handle the voltage and died from it.
‘Alright.
Time to grab some attention.’ Dean sucked in a deep breath and let out the first cry of his new life.
“Waaah—waaah—waaah—” The baby’s wail filled the stretch limousine and snapped Emily, who was holding him, and Norman, who had been lost in thought across from her, both to attention.
They stared at the source of the noise at the same time.
Then their faces changed when they realized the sound was coming from the kid they had written off as dead.
“Oh my god!
Norman, this child is still alive!
He’s alive!” Emily clapped a hand over her mouth, staring down at the crying Dean in pure shock.
Norman’s expression went dark.
He growled, “Alive?
Bernard, stop the car!” Screech—!
The butler behind the wheel slammed the brakes the second he heard the order.
Emily almost pitched forward but kept her seat, still clutching Dean, and looked at her husband in confusion.
“Norman, what are you doing?” “Emily, we have to send this child back to Vought,” Norman said.
Dean: …please..
please…
Emily refused on the spot, shielding Dean tighter.
“No.
Don’t even think about it.
This child crawled back from hell and I am not letting you throw him straight back into that hellhole called Vought!” Norman shook his head like he was dealing with a stubborn child.
“Emily, I know you mean well, but sneaking a dead test subject out of Vought and walking out with a living one are two completely different crimes.” “This kid is Vought’s prize experiment.
If they find out he is not dead and we took him and hid him, they will come after Oscorp with everything they have.
The losses would be impossible to calculate.” Emily’s temper flared hotter.
“Oscorp.
Always Oscorp with you.
Norman, you are a human being first and a businessman second.
You do not get to kill your own humanity just because you might lose some short-term profit!” “If one day the only way to protect Oscorp was to sacrifice the child in my belly, your own flesh and blood, would you do it?
Would you sacrifice your own kid too?!” Norman’s face twisted.
He shot back in a low voice, “But he is not our child!” Emily did not back down an inch.
She was dead set on saving him.
“But he can be.
We can adopt him.
Our own baby is almost here.
We can even make it look like the two of them are twins.
That way Vought will never know.” Norman’s eyes flickered.
The idea was not half bad.
But was risking open war with Vought really worth it?
He asked himself that question hard.
Alright!
Seeing Norman hesitate, Dean knew it was time to prove his worth.
“Waaah—waaah—waaah—” Zzzzt—!!
He opened his mouth and wailed again.
This time it was not just crying.
Crackling electricity rode every sound.
The lights inside the stretch limousine flickered hard.
The needles on the dashboard in front of the butler jumped all over the place like the current was going haywire.
Then something even crazier happened.
Dean started flying.
He slowly lifted off Emily’s lap and hovered in mid-air.
Purple electricity lit up his eyes as he stared straight at Norman and stretched out his chubby little hands toward him.
Norman’s pupils shrank.
He threw his arms up to shield his face on pure instinct.
He was sure this kid was about to start blasting lasers the same way the one in the lab had.
A few seconds passed.
No pain came.
Instead he heard his wife laughing.
“Hahaha, Norman, I haven’t seen you pull a move that ridiculous since we got married~” Norman realized he had completely misread the situation and lowered his arms.
“Look, Norman, the little guy likes you.
He’s asking for a hug!” Norman looked up at Dean floating there with both arms wide open, putting on the full hug pose.
On that wrinkled newborn face sat the most innocent little smile.
Something in Norman’s chest skipped.
He was already getting ready to be a father with Emily pregnant.
Maybe keeping this kid and taking a small risk was not completely out of the question… He reached out almost without thinking and pulled the hovering Dean into his arms.
The purple electricity in Dean’s eyes faded away.
Those big eyes blinked up at Norman like a pair of gemstones.
A tiny soft hand reached up and patted the stubble on Norman’s cheek.
Norman’s gaze went soft.
“Norman, let’s keep him.
He already has a real connection with you…” Emily said from the side, stacking on the pressure.
That was all it took.
Norman’s decision locked in.
A smile tugged at his mouth.
At the same moment the electricity in the car settled back to normal.
The old butler turned around with a grin.
“Sir, should we still head back to Vought?” Norman shook his head hard.
“No.
We’re going home.” The car rolled forward again, but this time it was pointed toward home, not the Vought lab.
Pheeeew~ Inside, Dean finally let out a long breath in his head.
‘Secure.’ ‘Not only do I not have to go back to Vought, I just became a filthy-rich second-generation heir!’ ‘People say getting rich is hard.
Take some notes, Kids!
I started from a trash can!’ Using his power had wiped him out.
With the worry gone his eyelids started dropping fast.
Sleep was coming whether he wanted it or not.
Right before his eyes shut completely an old car rolled past them on the road.
Dean glanced out the window on pure reflex and caught a long-haired man on a motorcycle speeding by their limo.
That man had a silver metal arm…