The night sky was cold, the wind howling.
Holander held Ryan close, streaking through the clouds like a shooting star as he flew straight toward the Vought Secret Community.
All the way there, Ryan kept his face buried deep in Holander’s cloak.
The little guy had none of the excitent he’d had on the way out. His clear blue eyes were filled with timid unease.
"I’m sorry, Dad."
Ryan clutched Holander’s Supersuit tightly, his voice soft and shaky.
"Maybe I shouldn’t have kept asking to co back. Back at the barbecue place... did I embarrass you and Grandpa?"
Hearing his son apologize, Holander’s expression softened at once.
"Don’t say stupid stuff like that, son."
Holander shook his head and gently patted Ryan’s back with his broad hand, his voice tinged with self-bla.
"I didn’t think it through. That’s on . I shouldn’t have taken you sowhere so crowded, with that many people staring. I scared you."
When Ryan realized Holander wasn’t blaming him, the weight in his chest finally eased.
But soon, he felt conflicted again.
A mont ago, he had been scared because there were too many people, so he had instinctively wanted to go back to that familiar "ho."
But now, as he looked down at the sealed-off community below, locked behind towering walls, he rembered all the lies his mother had told him.
"Dad..."
Ryan lifted his head into the night wind and asked quietly,
"Will you still take out again? To see other places?"
"Of course."
A bright smile tugged at Holander’s mouth, his tone full of affection.
"Anyti you want. Don’t forget, you’ve got a phone now. Just call , and wherever you want to go, Dad will take you."
...
A few minutes later.
In the yard of the small cabin.
Becca sat collapsed on the cold grass in despair.
Her eyes were red and swollen, and she was gripping the scissors so tightly her knuckles had gone pale.
As ti dragged on, the fear in her heart only grew worse.
She didn’t believe for a second that a devil like Holander would keep any goddamn promise.
If Holander didn’t bring Ryan back tonight, she had already made up her mind. Even if she had to risk her life escaping the community, she was going to find her son!
Just as Becca was on the verge of breaking down.
"Whoosh!"
A rush of air sounded overhead.
Becca looked up and saw the man in the Stars and Stripes Supersuit land steadily in the middle of the yard.
And in his arms was Ryan, completely unhard.
"Mom!"
The second they touched down, Ryan wriggled out of Holander’s arms and ran straight into Becca’s embrace.
"My son! Oh my God, my sweet boy!"
Becca grabbed Ryan and held him tight as her tears broke free.
She kissed Ryan’s hair and cheeks again and again, her voice shaking with lingering terror.
"I’m sorry... Mommy is so sorry. I didn’t protect you. I’m so sorry..."
A few steps away, Holander watched Becca coldly.
"Becca."
Holander straightened his cloak, his voice laced with mockery.
"Don’t go running around saying I don’t keep my promises.
I said I’d bring my son back after barbecue. He wanted to co back, so I brought him back."
Hearing Holander’s voice, Becca looked up. Her tear-streaked face showed surprise that he had actually returned, but the disgust in her eyes had not faded.
"If you really love Ryan, then you should never co near him again! Your existence will only ruin him!"
The mont Becca started lecturing him from that moral high ground again, Holander’s temper flared.
He suddenly rembered what Becca had said earlier, that he wasn’t a normal person.
By Becca’s logic, he didn’t deserve to be a father. He had no right to co looking for Ryan.
But why the hell not?
It was Vought International!
It was Madelyn!
They were the ones who worked together to hide his son from him, who ripped away his right to be a father for eight whole years!
Holander’s face went blank, but his eyes burned with fury, turning red on instinct.
"Mom! Stop!"
Ryan suddenly shouted from Becca’s arms.
The little guy broke free from his mother’s embrace, turned around, and yelled,
"Dad’s a good guy! He didn’t pick on . He took flying and even bought a phone! So stop yelling at him!"
Hearing Ryan defend him, the faint red glow in Holander’s eyes flickered once, then quickly faded back to their original deep blue.
Holander looked deeply at Becca and Ryan. Then he bent his knees slightly, and with a boom, shot into the sky, vanishing into the endless night.
...
Once she saw Holander fly away, Becca’s taut nerves finally loosened.
"Ryan, listen to ..."
Becca pulled her son toward her and said,
"He isn’t a good person. He’s a goddamn devil, a monster. He only wants to take you away and hurt you. We hid in this place so we could get away from him forever..."
But Ryan yanked his hand free.
The little guy stared at his mother with confusion and disappointnt, then took two steps back.
Dad had clearly been so good to him. He hadn’t looked down on him for not knowing anything about the outside world, and when he got scared, Dad had held him tight.
So why had Mom been lying to him all this ti in this "fake world," and why did she keep saying awful things about Dad behind his back?
Seeing the doubt in her son’s eyes, Becca’s heart sank completely.
She sighed and let her hands fall weakly to her sides.
She knew Ryan had already been fooled by Holander. Nothing she said would matter now.
All she could do was wait until he was a little older, then tell him the brutal truth about how she had been raped all those years ago...
...
Elsewhere.
Because Ryan had defended him, Holander didn’t lose his temper, but the rage was still burning inside him.
He flew aimlessly through the New York night sky at high speed, his eyes filled with confusion.
"Goddamn Madelyn..."
The more Holander thought about it, the angrier he got.
He felt like the first half of his life had been pathetic, back when he had no father and no son.
But Madelyn’s head had already been blown apart by his own heat vision, and Vogelbaum’s neck had already been snapped by his father, Benjamin.
They were dead. So who was he supposed to take his anger out on?
Suddenly, sothing clicked in Holander’s mind.
He thought of his father, Soldier Boy.
Whenever Soldier Boy was in a bad mood, he seed to beat people up.
No, that wasn’t right. Even when he was in a good mood, if he felt like beating soone up, he would do it anyway.
"I can do that too..."
But who should he beat up?
Very quickly, Holander had an idea.
He hovered in midair, pulled out his phone, and sent a ssage.
Then he turned around and flew at full speed toward an extrely well-hidden safe house on the outskirts of New York.
...
He pushed open the door of the safe house.
The lights inside were dim.
On the carpet, a woman in a business suit with short blond hair knelt on the floor, trembling.
It was Madelyn.
"Madelyn" knelt there, tilting her head up to look at Holander as he walked in expressionlessly.
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