"I went back and asked the people in that 'prison'," Homelander said, walking in with heavy steps, his cape swirling.
He looked at his son, who was completely indifferent to him, his expression complex.
"I know why you're like this with me now.
Ron, you're blaming me, aren't you?"
In the previous three days, he had confirmed Ron's relationship with him and tried to build a friendly father-son relationship with Ryan, not asking too many other questions.
But Ron's attitude towards him last time made him recall that Becca's attitude when mentioning Ron seemed off.
He went back and asked Becca, and even questioned the Vought personnel disguised as neighbors monitoring that damned cage, learning about Ron's experiences since childhood.
"Becca… her brain couldn't comprehend our uniqueness and power, and she saw you as a freak, and… perhaps some of it was my fault.
Letting you grow up in an environment almost devoid of affection and care."
Homelander looked at Ron sincerely, thinking Ron hated him because of his actions in childhood, which led to a lack of familial affection.
Listening to his words, Ron's face gradually darkened; this damned guy was starting again.
Seeing this, Homelander became even more certain that his son was suffering from childhood trauma due to his words, and this was the crux of the problem.
"Listen, I can understand you, Ron."
Taking a deep breath, Homelander said with an unprecedentedly repentant tone.
"I grew up in a cold laboratory; all I had was a towel, and only it could make me feel warm; it was the only thing that belonged to me."
"No family, no care…"
He also had an extremely bad, traumatic childhood and wanted to use this to bridge the gap with Ron, and then explain that his absence all these years wasn't intentional, to resolve his son's hatred for him.
"You really haven't changed.
You haven't learned to knock, and you haven't learned to shut your damned mouth!"
Sizzle!
A low sound echoed in the room, and Ron's slightly angry eyes shot out laser beams.
Homelander also fired rays to block them; the two rays collided, and he still wanted to continue persuading.
"Ron…"
But he stopped halfway, quickly realizing this time was different from last time.
Last time, the rays were evenly matched, but this time it was a one-sided defeat.
Ron's rays were nearly twice as powerful.
The rays from his eyes were quickly overpowered and annihilated, coming right before his eyes.
Homelander actually felt an unprecedented sense of danger from them and quickly widened his eyes.
"How could this be?!"
Bang!
The next second, rays carrying terrifying energy blasted Homelander's forehead, causing a burning pain.
Under the huge impact, his body spun and flew backward, smashing through the table and TV, and crashing into the wall.
Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the wall, and his entire body was almost embedded in it.
"Impossible, I'm injured?
How could I be injured…?"
Struggling free from the wall, Homelander touched his forehead, which was throbbing with a burning sensation, in disbelief.
In the shattered mirror nearby, his injured appearance was reflected.
Although it was only like skin being burned, the injury was not serious, but it shocked him immensely.
This was something even a small-yield nuclear bomb couldn't do, and just a few days ago, he was still evenly matched with Ron, and Ron's laser eyes didn't have this power!
"How did you do that?
A few days ago, you weren't this powerful!"
He looked at Ron, panic filling his heart and mind, his voice trembling with incredulous surprise.
Before, Ron was only on par with him, but now… Ron had the strength to defeat him!
Even if his other abilities hadn't changed, Ron alone with this one was enough!
"That has nothing to do with you.
You just need to remember one thing."
Ron, who had sent Homelander flying without even moving from his chair, stared coldly at the disheveled Homelander, a ruthless aura of a superior emanating from him, warning sternly.
"This is the first time I've said it, and I hope it's the last."
"Don't ever try to act as a father in front of me again; know your place, or I won't mind making Homelander disappear from this World!"
A terrifying killing intent enveloped Homelander.
"You…"
Such rebellious words made Homelander instinctively want to angrily emphasize his identity again; how could Ron say such things to him?
But facing Ron's eyes, which seemed to contain not a trace of emotion, his body stiffened, and he somehow couldn't utter the rest of his words.
Homelander had never thought before that he, the strongest superhero on the original Earth, would one day fall to such a state, injured and lectured by his own son, and even feeling fear towards his son.
"Very good, now come here; I have something I need you to do."
Seeing Homelander silently cower and submit, Ron tapped the table and commanded in a tone like he was addressing a subordinate.
A file was pushed onto the table.
"What is this?"
Walking over with a grim expression, Homelander glanced at the file and asked.
"Obviously, a woman."
Ron leaned back.
"What do you think of her appearance?"
"She's short, but her looks are alright, I guess," Homelander evaluated reluctantly, glancing at it twice more.
From his tone, he wasn't very interested.
"What if I told you she's already seventy or eighty years old?"
Ron said.
Aside from the photo, everything on the file was almost forged.
From this, he could also see his true standing as an Honorary President with a Board of Directors seat in Vought.
But it didn't matter; if others didn't give it, he could take it himself, and everything would be his.
"Her? Seventy or eighty years old?"
"Indeed."
Some superhumans were fortunate enough to gain the ability to live long lives, and Homelander was one of them; he could conservatively live for hundreds of years, so he didn't doubt it too much and believed it.
Hearing this, and looking at the photo again, Homelander, for some reason, felt that Stormfront's photo suddenly seemed much more beautiful.
There was a different, attractive charm about her, with one hand on her hip, an arrogant expression, like a young, rebellious yet strict mother.
"She seems even more beautiful than… Madeline."
His throat subtly moved.
Homelander said nothing more, but from his expression, Ron knew that Homelander, this incurable fetishist for mature women, was already tempted.
"You… you want me to kill her?"
Homelander looked at Ron, his gaze reluctantly moving away from the photo in the file.
The file stated that this woman named Stormfront was very powerful, even surpassing Mei, and perhaps only he could easily kill her in Vought.
He thought Ron wanted to use him like Black Noir, specifically for unsavory dirty work.
"No, I want you to approach her."
Halfway through, Ron shook his head.
"No, that's not right either; you don't need to do anything, she will actively approach you and get involved with you.
You need to extract some information I want to know from her."
If it were someone else, and the person standing in front was a woman, this behavior could undoubtedly be called a honey trap.
"What? Did I hear that wrong?"
Homelander was stunned.
His son was ordering his father to get involved with another woman, cuckolding his mother, all for intelligence.