"Bang!!"
Just as father and son were sharing a rare warm mont, the tightly shut door was shoved open from the outside.
Becca rushed in, her eyes red.
"No! Absolutely not!"
She ran to the bed and pulled the bewildered Ryan behind her, shielding him like sothing precious. Then she glared at Holander, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, and shouted, "My son is not going anywhere with you! And don’t even think about taking him away from !"
Holander’s expression shifted from gentle affection to impatience.
Of course he knew she had been eavesdropping outside the door the whole ti.
Holander had Super Hearing. To him, Becca’s fear-spiked heartbeat was as clear as a drum pounding right beside his ear.
The truth was, Holander had always hated people being afraid of him. Even Becca was no exception.
"Mom..."
Ryan tugged at Becca’s sleeve from behind her, his clear eyes full of confusion and fear.
He didn’t understand why everything had been fine a mont ago, only for his mom to suddenly get so angry.
Not wanting to scare his son, Holander took a deep breath.
"Relax, Becca."
Holander stood, looking down at her from above, his voice flat. "I’m not trying to steal him away. We’re just going out for barbecue. A little father-son bonding, that’s all."
"Not even for barbecue!"
Becca shouted, "Ryan isn’t going anywhere! He can’t go out with you! Ever!"
Holander said nothing.
He gave Becca a long look, then tilted his head slightly and jerked his thumb toward the door.
"Ryan, give Daddy a minute."
With that, Holander walked out of Ryan’s room first.
Becca gritted her teeth. Not wanting her son to see the argunt that was coming, she forced herself to follow him out.
The hallway outside the room was dimly lit.
Holander suddenly turned around, his tall, powerful body instantly backing Becca into the corner against the wall.
"Do you really think Ryan is stupid?"
Holander lowered his head slightly. His voice was very low, but every word cut deep. "How long do you think you can keep tricking him like he’s an idiot? Sooner or later, he’s going to find out that this so-called ’ho,’ this neighborhood covered in fake lawns, is really a prison."
Becca’s pupils shrank, and her face went deathly pale. Still, she forced herself to snap back, "I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is our ho! Don’t ever co here again!"
She was terrified.
Becca was truly afraid Holander would take Ryan away for good today.
With Holander’s personality, Ryan would definitely beco another Holander in the future.
Holander stared hard into Becca’s eyes and said, word by word, "You’re raising him here like a pet. One day, when he discovers this cruel truth on his own, he’s going to hate you, Becca."
That sentence struck Becca right where it hurt.
Her eyes red, she clenched her teeth and said, "He’s my son... I want to live a normal life with him here."
The words "normal life" made an image suddenly flash through Holander’s mind.
The two of them in the apartnt, playing with model airplanes together.
Was Becca saying he wasn’t normal?
"So I’m not normal?!"
Holander looked at Becca. "I’m a Supe, but when I take off this uniform... we’re human too. I need a father. Ryan needs a father. We need a family!"
Becca leaned against the wall, stunned.
She had never expected Holander, who had never treated ordinary people’s lives as lives at all, to say sothing like "we’re human too."
Vought had once told her that Holander had grown up in a lab, that he had beco an inhuman monster, and that she and Ryan had to be protected inside a closed community.
Those had been Vought’s exact words.
Of course Becca knew Vought wanted to raise Ryan in a different way, one where he had his mother with him.
But Becca also knew she had to accept Holander’s arrangent, or else he might discover the truth. If that happened, both she and her son were finished...
While Becca was still dazed, Holander had already strode back into Ryan’s room.
The coldness on his face vanished in an instant, replaced by a bright, sunny smile. He held out one large hand to Ryan on the bed.
"Wanna go? Daddy’s taking you out for so good street barbecue. And while we’re at it, I’ll take you to see your grandpa again. He’s been really looking forward to having dinner with you."
Ryan’s eyes lit up.
But he still glanced hesitantly toward the door and asked quietly, "Dad, are we coming back later? Mom, she..."
Holander stepped forward and scooped the light-as-a-feather Ryan into his broad arms. Then he gently tapped the boy’s nose and smiled.
"Of course, my sweetheart. Daddy promises. We’ll co back after barbecue."
"No! Give back my son!"
Becca snapped back to herself and rushed into the room, throwing herself at Holander in despair. Her hands clutched his cape as she desperately tried to pull Ryan away from him.
Holding Ryan in his arms, Holander ignored Becca’s shoving and sobbing. He walked straight through the front door and into the yard.
"Let him go! You bastard!"
Becca followed close behind, tears pouring down her face.
She clenched her teeth, her right hand trembling as it slipped into the pocket of her apron.
Then she gripped a pair of extrely sharp scissors.
Her hand shook violently.
But Holander had just said he would bring Ryan back...
Holander had given her a hollow, fragile promise.
She didn’t dare die. She was afraid that if she died, she would never see her son again.
In the end, Becca could only let go in despair and collapse onto the lawn.
With the scissors clenched in her pocket, she watched helplessly as the devil in the Stars and Stripes Supersuit held the flesh and blood she had carried for ten months, lifted off the ground, and shot into the sky.
"Boom!"
...
High in the sky, the night wind roared.
Holander used his own body and cape to shield Ryan in his arms from the wind.
It was the first ti Ryan had ever flown in his life.
He wasn’t afraid. His eyes were wide with excitent as he looked down at the earth beneath them.
But once they reached a certain height, Ryan froze.
By the moonlight, from that high vantage point, and with his naturally powerful eyesight, he could see it clearly.
The world he had grown up in.
That beautiful community with forests and lakes.
It was actually sealed inside a gray, square enclosure of high walls.
The top of the walls was covered in dense electric fencing and searchlights.
In the dark places the lights couldn’t reach, every dozen ters or so stood an ard guard in a black Vought uniform, fully ard and ready.
It was like a cage.
"W-what is this...?"
Ryan leaned against Holander’s shoulder, his deep blue eyes fixed on everything below as his small face instantly turned pale.
He was young, but he wasn’t stupid.
Looking at those cold high walls and those guards, he understood everything in an instant.
He thought of all the things his mother usually told him.
"It’s dangerous outside. We have to stay ho and behave..."
Ryan slowly began to feel angry.
All this ti, the mother he trusted most had been lying to him.
"See it now, son?"
With the wind howling beside his ears, Holander’s voice slowly sounded next to Ryan.
"Your mom has been lying to you. From the mont you were born, she’s been weaving this cage around you with lies."
Holander reached out and pointed toward the truly bustling, brightly lit city in the distance.
"You shouldn’t be stuck in this fake place. It isn’t worthy of you!"
"Ryan, the blood flowing through your veins is the greatest and noblest blood in this world! One day, you’re destined to grow into a superhero as powerful as and your grandpa. Maybe even stronger than both of us!"
"Your stage is the whole world. Not this place where your mother has kept you penned in."
Listening to his father’s words, Ryan closed his eyes and nodded.
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