When Benjamin returned to Vought headquarters, Holander had just co back from Becca’s secret community.
Tonight, Holander was in an unusually good mood, a smile on his face.
But when the Vought executives along the way saw that smile, they all quickened their pace and tried to get as far away as possible.
Because in their experience, the happier Holander looked, the more it usually ant sothing was wrong.
No one knew whether Holander was genuinely happy or only pretending.
Holander walked straight into the office.
He had a wonderful ti playing with his son Ryan today.
Honestly, if that damn woman Becca had not kept urging Ryan to go to bed, he would have wanted to stay in that little cabin all night.
"My son is an angel..."
Holander poured himself a glass of milk and murmured to himself.
He had already made plans in his heart.
The next ti he went to see his son, he had to bring him the newest iPhone.
And so high-quality milk. Milk was good for children, nutritious.
Goat milk would work too. Or, if Ryan needed it, so high-quality breast milk.
He wanted to give Ryan the very best things in the world.
At the sa ti, Holander was very dissatisfied with Becca.
He absolutely hated the way Becca raised their child.
She was actually raising a boy who carried his and Benjamin’s bloodline like a fragile little girl in a greenhouse.
That was unforgivable.
"Ryan is a lion cub, not a house cat."
Holander drained the milk in his glass, licked his lips, and said slowly, "I need to find a way to train his superpowers myself. I need to teach him how to fly..."
Just as Holander was sinking into his wonderful plans for raising his child, the office door opened.
Benjamin walked in and slapped sr’s phone down in front of Holander.
"We have an answer on Translucent’s death."
Holander froze for a mont.
His gaze swept over the photos, then finally stopped on the face of the fierce-eyed man with a full beard. Holander’s pupils shifted slightly.
Soon, the mories began to connect. The party eight years ago, the earlier race between A-Train and Shockwave. That sa face had been staring at him...
"William Butcher..."
Holander stared hard at the photo, realization dawning on him. "He’s Becca’s husband... her ex-husband."
The whole chain of logic finally clicked into place.
There had been no terrorist attack at all.
Translucent had been killed by this ordinary man.
And the reason Butcher had targeted The Boys, targeted Vought, and even killed Translucent, from beginning to end, he had only one goal: revenge against Holander.
"The ss your damn lower half caused has turned into a real problem," Benjamin said.
"I’ll handle it. He’s just a normal person."
Holander spoke slowly, but his eyes gradually lit up.
He knew how to deal with that damned Becca now. He almost wanted to bring Butcher to Becca’s cabin and let him see the son he and Becca had with his own eyes.
Then he could threaten Becca with Butcher’s life.
At that thought, Holander smiled again.
Benjamin had no idea what Holander was thinking.
He stood up, walked to the desk, and suddenly did sothing that left Holander utterly baffled.
He pulled a black, large-caliber M1911 pistol from the holster at his waist, the sa model as the gun he had used before.
"Click."
Benjamin gently placed the gun in front of Holander.
"Carry this."
Benjamin’s voice was flat.
"For self-defense."
Holander: ?
Holander stared at the pistol on the desk, completely dumbfounded.
"Self-defense?"
Holander pointed at himself and said, "Are you kidding ? I’m Holander. The strongest Supe in the world. And you’re giving a handgun for self-defense?"
Benjamin nodded. "That’s right. And not just that. You keep it on you at all tis. Don’t lose it."
Holander could not understand.
"Looks like you still haven’t fully figured out what ability your old man actually awakened."
"All you know is that on the day Edgar sent Supes to surround and attack , the scene was hit by an explosion equivalent to a small nuclear bomb, right?"
Holander paused, then nodded.
When he had arrived, the traces of a massive explosion at the scene had been obvious.
"That was the new ability I awakened because those damned Russians spent decades doing inhuman radiation experints on ."
Benjamin explained slowly, "That wasn’t an ordinary explosion."
"If Supes are hit by my Nuclear Blast, and they’re weak trash with poor constitutions, they vanish completely in an instant."
"But what if they’re top-tier Supes with extrely strong bodies who can withstand the explosion?"
"The radiation from my blast directly evaporates the Compound V in their blood."
"In other words, anyone hit by it instantly loses all their superpowers. They beco an ordinary human."
Holander’s mind went blank.
Lose his superpowers and beco an ordinary human?
What kind of joke was that?
Holander did not dare imagine what he would be like without his superpowers.
Everything he had now ca from his powers.
Even though his childhood had tortured him into what he was, Holander could never give up his powers and beco an ordinary person.
Benjamin looked at the dazed Holander and said, "So have you ever thought that, aside from , there may be other ways in this world to remove the Compound V from your body?"
"Or say you’re fighting an enemy, and my Nuclear Blast accidentally catches you in it..."
"Also, I suggest that besides carrying a gun, you carry a dose of Compound V too. If you’re hit by my Nuclear Blast, injecting Compound V again can restore your superpowers, though it may take a short while."
Holander finally understood what Benjamin ant.
This was an "insurance policy" Benjamin was giving him.
If one day he fell from his lofty pedestal and beca a powerless cripple, the pistol would be his weapon for self-defense, and Compound V would be his tool for regaining his power.
Holander reached out and gripped the cold pistol.
Just then, Stormfront called Benjamin’s phone again.
Benjamin glanced at his phone and patted Holander on the shoulder. "Anything can happen. Even we aren’t invincible in this world. Be careful. Then be even more careful. Learn from your father."
After saying that, Benjamin’s mind flashed to the scene from the original series finale where Holander’s head was pried open by Butcher.
To put it plainly, if he had carried a gun or a dose of Compound V, he would not have ended up like that.
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