"Time to go on stage." A staffer beside him adjusted Ivan's tie.
"Edgar just told me on the phone. Ryan's been kidnapped. Butcher and his crew did it."
Homelander lifted his chin slightly and pressed his lips tight. The muscles along his jaw kept twitching. His eyes were pure murder.
"If I remember right, Ashley and Queen Maeve were in the car too. Ashley's one thing, but how the hell did they snatch Ryan right under Maeve's nose?"
Ivan already had the answer in his head. Starlight must have colluded with Maeve to pull this off. No other way it goes this smooth.
The real planner, though, had to be Butcher. No one else was crazy enough to kidnap Homelander's son.
Ivan had figured the head-popping mess at the hearing would keep Butcher's crew quiet for a while. Instead, only a few days later they couldn't sit still and went straight for Ryan. Classic. The most chaotic bastard among The Boys. Even when the odds were shit he still found a way to flip the board.
"High-concentration halothane." Homelander puffed out his cheeks, dragged in a deep breath, then blew it out.
"Maeve got knocked out cold. By the time the cops showed up she was still in a deep coma."
Ivan nodded. "That explains how they got Ryan past her. What are you going to do now? Go rescue him?"
"How? We don't even know where the fuck they're keeping him. The only reason they grabbed Ryan is to use him as leverage against me."
Homelander's head was starting to hurt. He knew Butcher's crew wouldn't actually hurt the kid… but Ryan was his only son. If that psycho decided to get even by putting a bullet in him, it wasn't impossible.
"Have they contacted you?" Homelander asked.
"Ever since we broke our last deal they've cut me off completely. But you don't need to stress too hard. If Butcher can use Ryan to threaten you, you can use Becca to threaten him right back. From what I know, everything he's doing is still about getting revenge for her."
The suggestion eased Homelander quite a bit. Yeah. As long as Becca was still under his control, Butcher and the others wouldn't dare push too far.
...
Snap!
Every light in the stadium went black. While the crowd sat in confused silence, multiple spotlights flared to life at once. In the middle of those bright beams Homelander rose slowly from the center of the stage with his back to the audience.
The classic stars-and-stripes cape alone triggered a thunderous roar.
"Homelander!!"
"Homelander!!!"
He raised both arms and closed his eyes, soaking in the pure spotlight moment. Only when the cheers started to fade did he turn to face the crowd.
"Great to see you all. But I've got some bad news." The smile dropped from his face. His voice went heavy. "Tonight's finals may have to be put on hold. We've had a small incident on site."
"What happened?"
"You've got to be kidding me. I came all this way just for Queen Maeve. Don't tell me she's out?"
"Can somebody explain what the hell is going on? I fought hard for these tickets!"
The audience started buzzing, heads leaning together, voices low and worried.
Seeing the atmosphere in the stadium about to spiral, the host hurried offstage and found Ivan. "Mr. Greevs, what's going on? Why did the event suddenly stop?"
"Queen Maeve and the others were attacked by super terrorists. They might not make it. A-Train also had an accident."
Ivan gave a short explanation for the shutdown.
"But this is the critical point of the competition. If we announce a pause out of nowhere, it could trigger a lot of bad press." The host looked anxious.
"Give me the mic."
Ivan took the microphone, walked onto the stage, and addressed the crowd. "I'm Greevs, vice president of Vought. Due to certain special circumstances, Queen Maeve and A-Train are temporarily unable to reach the venue. The event has to be suspended. For the full details, please follow Vought's official Twitter account."
"As a show of Vought's apology, tonight's tickets plus all your travel and hotel costs will be fully reimbursed by Vought. Contestants who made the finals will also receive a special gift. The real finals will resume one week from now, and you can enter free with tonight's tickets."
The audience looked a little unhappy, but with the full refunds on tickets and lodging they didn't start a riot on the spot. Butcher found that a bit of a shame, but he'd already gotten what he wanted. Leaving the stadium now wasn't a bad idea.
"Let's go. I can't wait to meet that little bastard."
In Butcher's eyes Homelander was a complete bastard, so his son was naturally a little bastard.
He had zero soft spots for Ryan. If it weren't for the need to negotiate with Edgar, he would have put a bullet in the kid without blinking.
As the crowd began filing out, Homelander shot straight toward the secret facility holding Becca. He needed to make sure she was still there, or he'd really be on the back foot.
...
Ivan drove back to his villa on the outskirts of New York.
He opened the fridge, grabbed a bottle of milk, and sat down on the living-room sofa.
[Congratulations, player has killed a major original character and obtained 1200 Fantasy Points]
[Current Fantasy Points: 4850]
Not bad. Another step closer to the ten-thousand-point goal.
Then he looked at the fusion bar on the panel.
[Supersonic… fusing, current progress 85%]
Only fifteen percent left until full fusion. He still had a batch of Compound V unused. Tonight should be enough to push it to one hundred.
Ivan bent down, pulled a black case from under the coffee table, and opened it. Twenty vials of Compound V sat inside.
He casually took one of the clear blue liquids, sliced the top open with a fingertip that had turned into a blade, and let the blue fluid get absorbed into his body. The fusion percentage on the panel climbed steadily.
[Supersonic… fusing, current progress 87…89…92...]
The Compound V in the case was vanishing at an insane rate. Thanks to the massive boost in his regeneration, he could absorb several times more in one go than before.
At the same time his body's resistance to Compound V kept rising. It was like painkillers. Use the same one long enough and you need a higher dose before you feel anything.
Soon the fusion hit the peak. One hundred percent!
____
[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69