A sonic boom shattered the heart-to-heart. Homelander landed not far away, looking at them. He looked at Vogelbaum, then he looked at Aldrich, and the world stopped spinning for him. The face, the hair, the eyes, it was everything he had ever wanted in a son.
"Who is this?" asked Homelander, pointing a finger at Erasmus. His voice was steady, but his eyes scanned the boy with a starving intensity.
"A dear family member," Vogelbaum answered simply. Homelander strained his senses to hear an increasing heartbeat or a spike in adrenaline, but he felt nothing,"
"Is he a supe?"
"No, he is not."
Instantly, the halo around Aldrich vanished. Homelander's posture slumped, his interest evaporating. The boy became non-existent, just more background noise in a world of mud-people.
"What do you want, John?" Vogelbaum asked, his voice steady.
"I just wanted to drop in on you," Homelander said, looking at the pupies. "So, what are these? Your pets?"
"No. They are just for breeding. I try not to get attached to my subjects." Vogelbaum glanced at the boy. "Besides, they're Erasmus's dogs now. I just gave them to him."
"Erasmus?" Homelander's mouth twisted. "What a strange name."
"It means 'to be adored.' Or 'beloved,'" Vogelbaum said with a faint smile.
Erasmus looked at Vogelbaum, quietly enjoying the show. This man really knew how to push Homelander's buttons. The "World's Greatest Hero" looked like he was going to choke on his own heartbreak any second.
"You never gave me anything," Homelander muttered, his gaze dropping to the German Shepherds. "How about you give me one of these cute puppies?"
"He said they're mine."
The voice was flat. Aldrich spoke without looking up from the dogs, his tone completely devoid of the fear Homelander expected.
Homelander's head turned toward him, a fake smile plastered across his face. "Oh, would you look at that? A brave little boy you got there. Why don't you be quite, little buddy, and let the adults talk?"
"We were. Before you interrupted us," Aldrich replied.
"Erasmus, that's enough," Vogelbaum intervened, though there was no real bite in his voice. He turned back to John. "And no, John. You can't have one of these. I can get you a different one if you really want, but that's not why you're here, is it?"
"That's true," Homelander said. "Do you ever catch up with the gang in Vought?"
"Do we mind if we don't do this?" Vogelbaum said, looking him dead in the eye with no fear.
"Do what?"
"All this mouse-and-cat game. You want to know about Becca Butcher. You went to Stillwell about it because you know this will tip the domino pieces. Well, now it's led you to me. So just ask. I will be honest."
"Well, that would be a first."
"Eight years ago, Stillwell came to me with an interesting challenge. Rebecca Butcher came to her with an unprecedented medical condition. She was pregnant with your child." Vogelbaum started.
Homelander froze. The smile vanished instantly, replaced by a look of genuine, wide-eyed shock. "Pregnant? I thought I couldn't"
"So did I. But nature is tenacious. The fetus was developing unnaturally fast. We told her we would deliver the baby somewhere safe, but she had to sign an NDA. She couldn't tell anyone, not even her husband. The birth was difficult. The baby ripped right through her. It clawed its way out. The blood loss... no one could have survived. She died on the table."
"And the baby?" Homelander's voice was a whisper.
"Lived all of ten seconds."
"Was it a boy?"
"Does it matter?" Vogelbaum didn't blink.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Homelander looked heartbroken, tears welling in his eyes.
"To protect you. This is Vought's most important job, isn't it? To protect its most profitable asset."
"So why tell me now?"
Vogelbaum looked at the dogs, his eyes wet and cloudy with regret. "You don't understand the thing about crossbreeding dogs. You get the right genes, you get a perfect creation. But it doesn't matter how perfect they are, it will never be enough. When I raise subjects without their mothers, they turn violent. Aggressive. Downright hateful. You should have been raised with a family that loved you, not in a cold lab with doctors."
"And yet," Homelander said, standing taller, his chest puffed out in a desperate show of defiance, "I turned out great."
"When I think what it has done to you, and what you can now do to anyone else... I'm sorry."
"I don't need your fucking apology."
"All of this is my fault."
"What do you want? You want forgiveness now? After you raised me like a fucking lab rat? No, it's a little too late for that."
"I don't want anything from you, John. I'm just an old man thinking about his mistakes."
"I'm the world's greatest superhero."
Vogelbaum looked him dead in the eye, his face filled with a quiet, devastating pity. "You're my greatest failure."
Homelander looked at Vogelbaum, then his eyes drifted to Erasmus. He stood there for a beat, his jaw tight, before he bent his legs and shattered the air with a sonic boom.
"How did you lie to him?" Erasmus asked, his voice flat. "I thought he could tell."
"I knew he was coming," Vogelbaum said, wiping his eyes with a shaking hand. "I took something to slow my heart rate before you two came out here. He's always been arrogant; he hears what he wants to hear. So... that's your 'dad.' How do you like him?"
"He might be my 'dad,'" Aldrich said, turning to look at Vogelbaum with those cold, blue eyes. "But you're the only father I've ever known. It will always be like that."
Vogelbaum's breath hitched, a look of pure, tragic relief washing over his face. He reached out to touch the boy's shoulder.
"But I'm still not being called 'Vogelbaum,'" Aldrich added. "That name is still terrible."
Vogelbaum let out a wet, weak laugh. "Fair enough, Erasmus. Fair enough."