125. Chapter 125: We Have to Get Rid of Ryan, We Can't Let Vought Cultivate Another Freak!
Although Starlight was certain that A-Train wouldn't rat her out, she was anxious to get away at this moment. If Homelander noticed the anomalous situation here, everything would be over.
"Okay, money isn't a problem, I just hope you don't stand in my way." Relying on Vought's monthly salary, plus additional income like dividends, Starlight could barely scrape together six million US dollars. As for the remaining money, she could only apply for a bank loan.
"I'm warning you, don't try anything funny." A-Train tossed the makeup bag in his hand to Starlight, then stepped aside to let her leave.
Before leaving, Starlight glared at A-Train. Watching her hurried retreating figure, a hint of bitterness flashed across A-Train's face. His own situation was just as difficult; to maintain his ability, he still had to continue injecting Compound V, and he also had to help Homelander handle some dirty work. Furthermore, his very life was now under someone else's control.
After he woke up, a mysterious person had found him. That person's appearance was very ordinary, and he had no memory of them. That mysterious person had assigned him some missions, and if he failed to complete them, his heart would explode and he would die.
At first, A-Train didn't believe it at all, not until a tentacle grew out of his chest did he panic.
"Death isn't difficult, survival is very hard," A-Train sighed with emotion.
On the other side, Queen Maeve appeared before Xia Shang, holding a little girl's hand.
The girl was the sole survivor of Flight 37, Hana Lara. Xia Shang sensed the special radio waves unique to Supes on her.
"Fifty-seven minutes, you're late." Xia Shang raised his wristwatch, looking at the time on it as he spoke.
"Sorry, Mr. Jervis, the doctor just urgently notified me that Lara's symptoms had significantly worsened, and I had to rush over." Queen Maeve knew she also bore responsibility for the Flight 37 air disaster incident. Out of guilt, she had adopted Hana Lara, who had lost her parents.
"She's the survivor of Flight 37?"
According to Xia Shang's guess, this little girl might have been injected with Compound V since childhood, just like Starlight, but she herself didn't know it. Stan Edgar and Madelyn Stillwell, before she died, had never told him about this matter.
He hadn't paid attention himself, but he estimated that information related to Lara could probably be found in Vought's database.
"What kind of illness is so serious? You shouldn't have brought her to this occasion today."
"Severe dependency and some other psychological illnesses."
Queen Maeve's face showed pity. She gently stroked the little girl's hair, but the little girl tightly hugged her right arm, as if extremely wary of everything around her.
"Don't let it happen again. To avoid causing unnecessary public opinion, you and she should temporarily not appear in front of the Media. Take her upstairs and wander around."
Since Queen Maeve hadn't intentionally provoked him, there was no need for Xia Shang to dwell on it. That would make him seem petty.
After Xia Shang finished dealing with the various Reporters, he returned to his Office, opened his computer, entered a seven-digit password, and after face verification and fingerprint verification, he logged into Vought's Backstage and found the information about the girl.
The information above detailed Hana Lara's information from birth to the present, including Hana Lara's superpower.
"Body Enhancement, no obvious ability or side effect, similarity to Queen Maeve's ability is as high as 90%."
After reviewing all the information, Xia Shang was basically certain that Hana Lara was a miniature version of Queen Maeve. No wonder she could survive until The Deep's rescue; it turned out to be due to body enhancement.
If it were any other superpower, she would have probably died from the explosion or drowned in the seawater long ago.
While Xia Shang was checking the information.
Queen Maeve and Homelander unexpectedly met. At this time, Homelander was showing Ryan around his great achievements.
"One day, your portrait will also be hung up there, and you will be admired by tens of thousands of people."
Homelander stood in front of the portrait with his hands behind his back, encouraging his son, Ryan.
Suddenly, he turned his head to look at the Elevator entrance in the Corridor. When he saw Lara next to Queen Maeve, his complexion changed drastically. He said with a cold face, "Maeve, what is the meaning of this? Do you also want to disappear from the world like Translucent?"
Homelander didn't have any pleasant memories regarding Flight 37. If Madelyn Stillwell hadn't warned him multiple times before she died, he would have Murdered them to silence them long ago.
"I'm atoning... she has amnesia, she lost a lot of memory under the severe blow."
After experiencing the air disaster incident, Queen Maeve's mindset gradually changed, and it also allowed her to see Homelander's true face clearly.
"You'd better not try to deceive me." The popularity of the flight had long passed. Unless Queen Maeve was crazy, she wouldn't bring up the old matter again.
If it weren't for considering Ryan, Homelander would have definitely stepped forward to warn Queen Maeve.
"Aren't you teammates? Father, why are you threatening her?" Ryan asked, puzzled.
"Because I'm the Captain. When I see a teammate making a mistake, I naturally have to make her realize her mistake."
Homelander's smile seemed so hypocritical to Queen Maeve. She didn't want to get entangled with Homelander any further and was preparing to leave with Lara. However, Lara suddenly let go of her hand and rushed towards Homelander.
Queen Maeve looked anxious and wanted to stop her, but she saw Lara burst out with astonishing speed. She raised her fist and was about to smash it towards Homelander.
"Ryan." Homelander calmly pushed Ryan away. He wouldn't go so far as to bully a little girl in front of his former girlfriend.
But what he didn't expect was that Ryan was actually pushed down directly by Lara. Ryan's such poor performance instantly made the smiling Homelander lose his smile. He couldn't help but let out a cold snort, "Get up, Ryan, let her see your ability."
"Her strength is so great." Ryan got up from the ground but had no intention of fighting back.
At this time, Queen Maeve intervened in time to stop the girl and took her away. "Let's go."
"Ryan, you disappoint me greatly."
After Homelander finished speaking, he turned and left alone. His eyes contained not only anger but also an indelible sense of loss. As the most powerful Superhero in the entire United States, he couldn't tolerate his son being a useless person with no fighting spirit.
...
In the Basement just a few hundred meters from Vought Tower, Billy brought everyone two pieces of good news.
"Mallory has helped us get the address of the human trafficker. As long as we find him, we can follow the trail and finally dig out his superior. Besides that, we have another mission."
Billy took out his Mobile Phone with a serious tone, then brought up images of Ryan.
"This is Homelander's son, Maverick Ryan. He is very likely also a Supe, otherwise Homelander wouldn't value him so much. We either get him away from Vought and Homelander, or we get rid of Ryan directly. We can't let Vought cultivate another freak!"
Now, one Homelander was already giving them an immense headache. If another one appeared, it would be over. They might as well just raise their hands and surrender.
It was precisely because he was worried about this matter that when Billy saw Ryan appear next to Homelander, the desire to snatch him arose.
He absolutely would not allow a second Homelander to appear!
"Hey mate, you're not drunk, are you? You want us to snatch someone from Vought, and right under Homelander's nose?" Mother's Milk found it difficult to understand. He spread his hands and patted Frenchie's shoulder. "I knew this bastard wasn't reliable," he said. "Let's pack our things and run."
"Alright, let's put this matter aside for now and discuss it another day."
Actually, Billy wanted to kidnap Ryan and then force Homelander to reveal Becca's address.
He never forgot Becca's eyes, which contained surprise mixed with pain. He believed Becca still deeply loved him, but she was hiding and pretending to be missing due to Homelander's threat.
"However, we can't just leave Ryan alone either. At least we need to sow discord between Ryan and Homelander, making them father and son enemies." As Billy spoke, a hint of a sinister smile couldn't help but appear at the corner of his mouth.
"Now this is the Billy we know: calm and despicable."
Mother's Milk laughed.
"More reliable than the previous plan, I don't object, but how do we do it?" Frenchie asked while checking the firearms on the table.
"It's simple: write Homelander's criminal evidence on paper, and then have Starlight find an opportunity to give it to Ryan. We can slightly exaggerate." The thought of seeing Ryan and his father turn against each other made Billy unable to suppress the smile on his face.
However, just then, Hughie suddenly asked, "Does Homelander have any criminal evidence?"
As soon as his words fell, the entire place fell silent.
What criminal evidence does Homelander have? Mother's Milk frowned. Is it because Homelander cracking down on criminals has caused the crime rate across the United States to plummet? Or is it that, under Vought's packaging, he is happy to help fans and participate in some charity activities?
Or perhaps, to protect the safety of the public, he specifically went overseas to wipe out terrorist strongholds?
Shit! Mother's Milk genuinely didn't know what dirt Homelander had for a moment.
Homelander having such immense popularity today isn't without reason. At least he's packaged very well. Even if his heart is incredibly evil, without substantial evidence, no one can accuse Homelander.
"He raped Becca, don't forget." Seeing everyone silent, Billy on the side couldn't stand it anymore.
"Do you have evidence?"
Hughie's words hit Billy hard. How could he prove this? Should he personally question Becca? To be honest, he didn't dare, afraid of hearing the answer from Becca's mouth that he didn't want to hear.
If Xia Shang were present, he would definitely pat his shoulder and comfort him: "Batman has been looking for you for a long time. Hurry back to Gotham."
"Fuck! Get me a piece of paper."
Billy bit open the cap of the pen with his mouth, then wrote Homelander's criminal evidence one by one on the paper.
Hughie and the others curiously gathered around him, wanting to see what he could write.
"The mastermind behind creating super terrorists, single-handedly manipulating Vought to inject Compound V into babies, the creator of the Flight 37 air disaster, a hypocritical butcher who kills without batting an eye, personally cultivated a large number of criminals in the New York basement, rapist, Murderer, an ambitious schemer attempting to control the U.S. Military... the real fuse of World War II..."
(End of Chapter)