The Boys: I Became The Soldier Boy

Chapter 61: Chapter 61: This is the Real World, Ryan

Chapter 61: This is the Real World, Ryan

Bang!

Just as the father and son were enjoying this rare moment of warmth, the tightly shut door was shoved open from the outside. Becca rushed in, her eyes completely bloodshot.

"No! Absolutely not!" Becca dashed to the bed, pulling a bewildered Ryan behind her to shield him. Glaring at Homelander, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, like an animal guarding its food, she screamed, "My son is absolutely not going out with you! Don’t you dare think you can take him away from me!"

Homelander’s expression instantly flipped from tender to impatient. Of course, he knew the woman had been eavesdropping outside the door the entire time. Armed with super hearing, Becca’s rapid, terror-stricken heartbeat was as clear as a drum thumping right next to his ear. Homelander had always detested it when people feared him, and Becca was no exception.

"Mom..." Shielded behind her back, Ryan tugged at the corner of Becca’s shirt, his clear eyes flooded with confusion and panic. He couldn’t understand why the atmosphere had been so great just a second ago, only for his mother to suddenly fly off the handle like this.

Straining not to terrify his son, Homelander took a deep breath. "Relax, Becca." Homelander rose to his feet, looking down at her from his imposing height, his tone flat. "I’m not trying to steal him away. We’re just... going out for some barbecue. A little father-son bonding time, nothing more."

"Not even for barbecue!" Becca shouted. "Ryan isn’t going anywhere! He is not going out with you! Never!"

Homelander didn’t say a word. He gave Becca a long, deep look, then tilted his head slightly, jerking his thumb toward the door. "Ryan, give Daddy a second." With that, Homelander was the first to walk out of Ryan’s bedroom. Gritting her teeth, Becca braced herself and followed him out so her son wouldn’t witness the impending argument.

Out in the dimly lit hallway, Homelander spun around abruptly, his towering, muscular frame instantly pinning Becca into a corner. "Do you honestly think Ryan is an idiot?" Homelander leaned down slightly, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper, but every single word cut like a knife. "How much longer do you think you can keep tricking him like he’s braindead? Sooner or later, he’s going to figure out that this so-called ’home,’ this community choked with fake turf, is actually a prison."

Becca’s pupils shrank as her face turned deathly pale, but she still dug her heels in. "I don’t know what you’re talking about, this is our home! Don’t you ever come back here again!" She was terrified. Becca was genuinely worried that Homelander would completely strip Ryan away from her today. With Homelander’s temperament, Ryan would inevitably be molded into another Homelander down the line.

Homelander stared dead into Becca’s eyes, enunciating every single syllable: "You’re raising him like a house pet here. When the day comes that he unearths this cruel truth himself, he is going to hate you, Becca."

This statement struck a raw nerve. Her eyes brimming with red, Becca gritted her teeth and spat, "He is my son... I’m going to give him a normal life here."

At the mention of a "normal life," the image of him and his own father playing with model airplanes back in the apartment suddenly flashed through Homelander’s mind. Did Becca mean he wasn’t normal?

"What, am I not a normal human being?!" Homelander glared at Becca. "I’m a Supe, yeah, but when we strip off this uniform... we’re still human. I need a father, Ryan needs a father, we need a family!"

Becca leaned against the wall, utterly dumbfounded. She never expected that Homelander, who routinely slaughtered mortals without a second thought, would utter a phrase like "we’re still human." Vought had once told her that because Homelander was raised from infancy inside a laboratory, he was a monster entirely devoid of human empathy, which was exactly why she and Ryan needed protection inside a sealed community. Those were the exact words of the Vought handlers.

Becca obviously knew Vought’s true motive was to raise Ryan in a structured environment but with a mother’s presence. However, she also knew she had to navigate Homelander’s demands carefully to prevent him from discovering the full scope of the deception—otherwise, both she and her son would be finished.

While Becca was caught in a daze, Homelander had already strode back into Ryan’s room. The freezing edge on his face evaporated instantly, replaced once more by a bright, sunny smile as he extended a broad palm toward Ryan on the bed. "Ready to roll? Daddy’s taking you out for some amazing street barbecue! And hey, I’ll introduce you to your grandfather. He’s dying to have dinner with you."

Ryan’s eyes lit up. But he still cast a hesitant glance toward the doorway, whispering, "Dad, are we coming back later? Mom seems..." fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

Homelander stepped forward, scooping the lightweight Ryan effortlessly into his broad chest. Exceptionally gently, he nudged the boy’s nose and chuckled, "Of course, buddy. Daddy promises you we’ll head straight back after we eat."

"No! Give me my son back!" Snapping back to reality, Becca charged into the bedroom, throwing herself desperately at Homelander, her hands clawing wildly at his cape as she tried with everything she had to yank Ryan away. Cradling Ryan in his arms, Homelander entirely ignored Becca’s shoving and hysterical weeping, walking right through the front door and out into the yard.

"Let go of him! You bastard!" Becca trailed closely behind them, her tears breaching all floodgates. Gritting her teeth raw, her trembling right hand slipped into her apron pocket, closing around a pair of razor-sharp scissors. Her hand shook violently.

But Homelander had just made a promise that he would bring Ryan back... He had given her a thread of hope, however fragile. She couldn’t bring herself to die; she was terrified that if she died, she would never lay eyes on her son again.

Ultimately, Becca could only let go in despair, collapsing onto the manicured lawn. Clutching the scissors inside her pocket, she watched helplessly as the devil clad in the Star-Spangled suit hoisted the flesh and blood she had carried for ten months clean off the ground and rocketed into the stratosphere!

"Boom!"

---<>---

Up in the high altitude, the night wind howled furiously. Homelander used his massive build and his cape to shield Ryan from the slipstream. This was the first time in Ryan’s life that he had ever flown. Devoid of fear, his eyes went wide with pure exhilaration as he looked down at the sprawling earth beneath them.

However, as they ascended past a certain altitude, Ryan’s gaze froze. Guided by the moonlight, the high-altitude vantage point, and a biological visual prowess that was already inherently formidable, he saw the world he had grown up in with absolute clarity. This beautiful community of lush forests and serene lakes was systematically enclosed by a towering gray wall, forming a perfect, rigid square!

The top of the wall was heavily laced with dense electric fences and sweeps of searchlights. In the blind spots where those beams failed to reach, heavily armed guards clad in Vought International’s black tactical uniforms stood stationed every dozen meters. It was a literal cage.

"W-what is that...?" Resting against Homelander’s shoulder, Ryan’s small face instantly drained of color as his blue eyes locked onto the perimeter. He was young, but he was far from stupid. Taking in those freezing concrete walls and armed guards, the reality of his existence clicked into place in an instant.

Recalling the phrases his mother spun for him on a daily basis—"The outside world is dangerous, honey, we have to stay safe inside the house"—a slow burn of anger ignited within Ryan. The mother he had trusted above anyone else had been systematically lying to him his entire life.

"Do you see it clearly, son?" Homelander’s voice rolled slowly into Ryan’s ear over the roar of the rushing wind. "Your mother has been lying to you from the exact second you were born. She spun a web of lies to craft this goddamn cage."

Homelander extended his hand, pointing toward the genuinely illuminated, sprawling skyline of the bustling metropolis glittering in the distance. "You don’t belong in a fake, artificial layout like this. This place is beneath you. Ryan, the blood pumping through your veins is the most legendary, noble bloodline on the face of the earth. You are destined to grow into a superhero just as powerful as your grandfather and me—maybe even stronger. Your stage is the entire world, not being kept like penned livestock by your mother."

Listening to his father’s words, Ryan closed his eyes and nodded.

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