Transmigrated into The Boys, Starting as Soldier Boy

Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Homelander Sees Ryan Again

Butcher’s rough hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly the veins stood out across the backs of them.

"Becca... she’s still alive..."

A thousand things surged through Butcher’s mind.

All those late nights drowning himself in booze. All those times he woke from nightmares and smashed bottles against the wall.

In some of those nightmares, he even saw himself kneeling there, watching Homelander and Becca with his own eyes...

Even back then, Butcher had never believed Becca was dead. He had taken a sledgehammer himself and smashed the cold tombstone bearing her name to pieces.

Somewhere deep down, he had always felt that Becca was not dead.

And now, Mallory had finally confirmed that hunch.

Butcher slowly turned his head and fixed his eyes on Mallory in the passenger seat.

"You knew she wasn’t dead all along, didn’t you, Colonel?"

Butcher’s voice was eerily calm.

"All these years, you knew everything."

Facing Butcher’s stare, Mallory remained expressionless. She did not deny it. She simply looked back at him coldly.

In this brutal game to bring down Vought, nobody’s hands were clean.

Butcher laughed coldly to himself.

Yeah, Mallory was using him. But hadn’t he also been using Mallory and the CIA resources behind her to track down his wife?

They were all ghosts clawing their way through the same filthy swamp. None of them had the right to call anyone else dirty.

"I get it," Butcher said. "I’ll bring you that Supervillain alive. You’d better pray that when it’s done, you keep your promise."

Hearing Butcher take the job, Frenchie let out a breath from the back seat and asked, "So, do we bring Hughie in on this one? The kid’s a bit of a coward, sure, but he’s got a good head on him. And after killing Translucent, he’s seen blood before..."

Butcher’s foot hesitated slightly on the gas.

Hughie’s face flashed through his mind, like the face of a little brother.

...

Because A-Train had never smashed Hughie’s girlfriend Robin to pieces in the street, Hughie did not carry that bone-deep hatred that came from losing everything.

The only reason he had gotten dragged in before was because Butcher had forced him into it, which led to him being hunted by Vought’s Translucent. In the end, he had pressed the detonator in a state of pure panic.

Now that the Translucent incident had died down, Hughie rarely got involved with The Boys anymore. He also had never been seen by Mesmer. Kimiko and Hughie did not know each other either, so Mesmer had not learned about Hughie from her memories.

So Hughie had returned to a normal life.

He had a whole family. He had Robin, alive and well.

"No."

Butcher bit down on the cigarette in his mouth and shook his head.

"The kid’s doing fine now. Hughie’s not like us. Hughie... he’s still an outsider. Leave him out of it."

Dragging someone with a normal life into this kind of dangerous shit by force.

For some reason, Butcher suddenly found the idea tasteless.

The van fell into a strange silence for two seconds.

Mallory turned and looked Butcher up and down with utter disbelief, like she was seeing him for the first time. Then she gave a quiet laugh.

"Well, I’ll be damned. The sun must be rising in the west. Butcher, I thought you were the kind of rabid dog who’d use anyone and not give a damn, as long as it got you what you wanted."

In the back seat, Mother’s Milk and Frenchie exchanged a deeply understanding look, then nodded hard without hesitation.

Even Kimiko, who had been sitting silently in the corner the whole time, nodded too.

Butcher glanced at the comrades who had been through hell with him in the rearview mirror. His brow twitched, and he cursed roughly.

"Fuck! Is that really what I am to you bastards? Some no-limits piece of shit?"

"Yes."

Mallory, Mother’s Milk, Frenchie, and even Kimiko all nodded at the same time.

"Fuck all of you."

Butcher rolled his eyes hard and floored the gas.

...

Meanwhile.

Vought’s secret community, Becca’s cabin.

Warm afternoon sunlight poured through the glass windows and spilled across the living room carpet.

Ryan lay on the floor, completely focused on the pile of colorful LEGO bricks in front of him.

He was using them to build what he imagined as a "perfect, cozy family."

In the little LEGO scene, there was a pretty small house, with three figures standing on the lawn.

One was a female figure wearing an apron, representing Mom. One was a little boy figure, representing Ryan himself. And beside them stood a black-haired uncle figure.

That black-haired uncle figure had been put together by Becca herself.

"Mom..."

Ryan held the black-bearded figure in his hand, his bright blue eyes full of confusion.

He turned to look at Becca, who was sitting on the sofa mending clothes, and asked with a pout, "This isn’t Dad at all! Dad has blond hair, and he wears a cape. And Dad is handsome. This black-bearded uncle doesn’t look anything like Dad!"

Hearing her son’s innocent question, Becca gave a bitter smile. She reached out and stroked Ryan’s little head.

"Ryan, you’ll understand one day."

Ryan did not understand at all.

"Boom!"

A familiar sonic boom rang out outside the cabin yard.

With a click, the cabin door opened.

Homelander strode in.

"Look! My little genius Ryan, guess what Daddy brought you!"

Homelander pulled the set out from behind his back.

It was Vought’s newest Homelander LEGO set, and a limited edition at that. The kind no one could get unless they were a serious superfan.

Ryan froze for a second. Then his blue eyes went wide.

He threw aside the poor black-haired uncle in his hand and cheered as he flung himself into Homelander’s arms.

"Whoa! It’s Daddy’s LEGO! That’s so cool!"

Ryan hugged Homelander’s leg.

"Dad! You’re so good to me!"

Hearing that, Homelander felt nothing but pure joy.

He shot a smug glance at Becca, whose expression had turned ugly, then lifted Ryan high into the air with a doting smile.

"Silly kid. You’re my son! If I’m not good to you, who the hell am I supposed to be good to?"

...

After playing LEGO with his son for a while, the father and son went out into the yard to play baseball.

The crisp crack of the bat and Ryan’s laughter echoed through the community.

Once they were both sweaty from playing, Homelander suddenly stopped.

He looked at Ryan, who was picking up the ball, and said, "Ryan, come here."

Then Homelander set down his baseball glove and opened his arms.

Ryan obediently ran over. Homelander scooped him into his arms and bent his legs slightly.

Whoosh!

In an instant, the two of them flew up onto the roof of the cabin. freёwebnoѵel.com

The cabin roof was at least six meters off the ground, about the height of a two-story building.

A light breeze blew past, and the view suddenly opened wide around them.

Ryan stood near the edge of the slightly sloped roof and poked his little head out to look down. It was a little high, but he was not scared. Instead, he was thrilled by the feeling of "standing higher than everyone else."

After all, he was a kid Homelander had once carried ten thousand meters into the sky.

"So, Ryan? Feels pretty great standing up here, doesn’t it?"

Homelander stood with his hands on his hips, facing the wind, savoring that sense of control that came from looking down on everything.

"Yeah! Super cool!"

Ryan nodded excitedly.