Free Web NovelChapter 53: Chapter 53: Meeting Ryan
In the end, Homelander still did not do it.
Benjamin looked at his son, trapped in his own inner struggle. The next second, he stepped forward without expression and wrapped his broad hand around Vogelbaum’s neck.
There was no hesitation.
"Crack!"
The crisp sound of snapping bone rang through the room.
Vogelbaum was dead.
For an old bastard who had practically built the sinful foundation of Vought’s empire with his own hands, the ending Benjamin gave him was far too merciful.
A broken neck, instant brain death, no pain at all.
Compared to the original storyline, where Neuman used her superpower to blow his head open in public at the hearing, splattering red and white matter across the floor and leaving him without an intact corpse, Vogelbaum’s end here could absolutely be called peaceful.
After that, Benjamin had Vought secretly arrange an extremely low-profile funeral.
This was the last bit of dignity Benjamin left for the damned old man.
As for the look of release on Vogelbaum’s face in his final moment, maybe the old bastard really had felt true remorse, rather than regret over creating a failed product. Or maybe he had not. Who could say?
No one cared anymore.
...
A gloomy sky drizzled with fine rain.
In a remote private cemetery, Homelander stood beside Vogelbaum’s coffin like a silent statue.
His eyes were complicated as he watched the black wooden coffin disappear, bit by bit, beneath the yellow earth.
What was being buried was not only Vogelbaum, but also that fragile boy named "John," the one who had once trembled in the laboratory and longed for a hug.
"What are you staring off into space for?"
Benjamin’s broad hand clapped heavily onto Homelander’s shoulder, hard enough to make him sway slightly.
"What’s past is fucking past."
Benjamin’s voice was rough.
Homelander felt the weight and warmth of a true father’s hand on his shoulder.
He took a deep breath. The cold rain cleared his head quite a bit, and the confusion in his eyes gradually faded.
Homelander nodded, turned to Benjamin, and said, "Yeah, it’s in the past. Now... should we go find Ryan?"
"Let’s go." freewebnσvel.cѳm
Benjamin shrugged.
"To be honest, I’m curious too. I’ve never even met this grandson of mine. I want to see what he looks like."
He said he was curious, but in truth, Benjamin had a strong dislike for the grown-up Ryan from the original series. He was even somewhat disgusted by him.
In the later part of the original series, Benjamin felt that if Homelander was a giant man-child twisted by childhood trauma and desperate for love, who later killed many, many people, then what about Ryan?
Compared with Homelander, that little brat Ryan was even more of a beast.
After Homelander learned of Ryan’s existence, he truly did everything he could to make up for it.
His love for Ryan was clumsy.
He even humbled himself, wanting to keep Ryan by his side, wanting to give this son everything good in the world, desperately wanting to give Ryan the loving childhood he himself had never had.
Even if Homelander’s methods were extreme, he had never wronged Ryan.
But how did Ryan repay him?
When Ryan attacked Stormfront, he lost control of his power and accidentally killed his biological mother, Becca.
In the finale, during the ultimate battle at the White House, Ryan chose to stand with Butcher and fight against his own father.
In the end, Homelander’s death could not be separated from the betrayal of this "good son," Ryan.
By then, Ryan was nothing but an ungrateful little wolf cub.
Anyone could kill Homelander, but not Ryan.
But it did not matter anymore.
All of this could be changed.
Benjamin looked at Homelander beside him, who was filled with excitement and anticipation, and thought to himself.
...
One hour later.
A closed community secretly built by the Vought Group.
The place was shaded by trees, the houses were spotless, and the lawns were trimmed so perfectly they looked fake. The whole community had a false, eerie feeling, like something out of The Truman Show.
Benjamin and Homelander stopped side by side in front of a beautiful two-story villa.
The heavy footsteps outside seemed to have been heard.
With a click, the villa door opened from the inside.
A little boy around seven or eight years old ran out.
He had bright blond hair, clear sapphire-blue eyes, and delicate features. He was practically a copy of young John.
This child was Ryan.
"Mom, there are people outside!"
Ryan looked curiously at the two strong men in uniforms in front of him, then turned and shouted into the house.
At his son’s call, hurried footsteps sounded from inside.
"Ryan, what happened? I told you, try not to open the door for strangers..."
Becca walked out while tying her apron, her tone carrying a hint of reproach.
But the moment her gaze passed over her son and landed on the two men standing outside the yard, her mind went blank.
She felt as if she had been struck by lightning.
The person who had come was none other than Ryan’s biological father, Homelander.
Not only that, but beside Homelander stood a legendary figure even taller than him. Soldier Boy.
The internet was full of rumors that Homelander and Soldier Boy were father and son.
In other words, Ryan’s father and grandfather had come.
"Oh... look at this handsome young man."
Homelander paid no attention to Becca at all.
From the moment he first saw Ryan, he could not look away.
A trace of tenderness appeared in Homelander’s eyes.
He slowly crouched down, trying hard to make his voice sound kind and friendly as he stared closely at Ryan.
"Little guy, do you know... who we are?"
Ryan bit his finger and looked back and forth between the two of them.
Although he had been isolated here, he had still watched TV and read comics.
"I know."
Ryan nodded innocently.
"You’re Homelander, and the one next to you... is Soldier Boy. You’re superheroes."
Hearing that childish voice, Homelander could not help laughing. There was a touch of bitterness in his smile, but also immense satisfaction.
"Yes, that’s right. Very smart. But... do you know anything else?"
Just as this touching scene of "fatherly affection and filial piety" was unfolding, Benjamin, standing off to the side, could not take it anymore.
"You dumb kid! I’m your fucking grandfather! This grinning fool right here is your fucking father!
"How the fuck can you not see this?!"
("You dumb kid, I’m your fucking grandfather! This grinning idiot beside me is your fucking father!
"You little brat, how the fuck can you not see that?!")
Ryan was stunned by the scolding.
The little guy froze where he stood, his sapphire-blue eyes filled with confusion and shock, his small mouth hanging slightly open. For a moment, his brain simply could not catch up.
Dad and Grandpa...
But Mom said he did not have a dad or grandpa.
Homelander froze for a second, then looked back at Ryan, his smile becoming even brighter.
"Yeah... your grandpa’s way of putting it is a little... direct, but he’s not wrong."
Homelander reached out, wanting to touch Ryan’s cheek, and said in a low voice, "Ryan, your father is Homelander, and your grandfather is Soldier Boy."
"The two of us are the most powerful superheroes in the world, and you carry our sacred bloodline. We... are family."
Those words, "family," completely shattered Becca’s last psychological defense.
Watching Homelander’s hand move toward her son, watching shock and a faint, barely noticeable longing gradually rise in Ryan’s eyes, Becca’s face turned pale.
