The wounded look on Homelander’s face vanished the moment he heard his father invite him to dinner.

He even straightened his cape impatiently and followed after Benjamin.

Benjamin stepped out of the RV. As he passed Annie, his steps paused slightly.

Benjamin said, "Wait for me at the apartment, Annie. I’ll come find you tonight."

Annie’s pretty face flushed at the aggressively suggestive hint.

"Yes, sir... I’ll be waiting."

Homelander glanced at Annie, clearly not thrilled.

Benjamin and Homelander soon left the RV.

After watching the father and son leave, Starlight turned around, looked at Stormfront in the wreckage of the RV, and let out a helpless sigh.

"Well, guess my work’s not done yet."

Muttering to herself, Annie walked over and grabbed Stormfront by the arm, hauling her up like a dead dog.

She needed to get this world-domination wannabe Stormfront to Vought’s secret hospital for emergency treatment, fast.

...

...

The New York night breeze carried a faint chill threaded with the city’s noise.

Neon lights sliced the skyline into strange, dazzling fragments.

The father and son had just finished tomahawk steaks at a high-end restaurant, and now they were walking side by side down a relatively quiet street.

Because of the violent clash that had broken out in the RV earlier, the atmosphere between them still held a faint, awkward stiffness.

Homelander trailed half a step behind Benjamin with his head lowered, like a kid who had screwed up and was terrified of pissing off his parent again.

Benjamin walked ahead with an unlit cigar between his teeth, his brow slightly furrowed as his mind raced over a troublesome question.

How was he supposed to completely root out Homelander’s sick, love-starved personality?

Benjamin knew Homelander’s nature all too well.

In the original storyline, Homelander’s "giant baby syndrome" and "extreme lack of love" were practically terminal illnesses buried deep in his bones.

Even as the story moved into Seasons 4 and 5, he kept abandoning his own humanity.

And yet, even at the very end, he still never fully succeeded...

In the end, Homelander still had humanity. He still craved love.

Just like Vought International had said.

He could never break free from his humanity.

Originally, toward the later part of Season 4, Homelander had seemed like he was about to sever his mortal emotions and fully awaken into darkness.

And then what happened?

That low-tier female Supe called "Firecracker" used a dose of motherly, glowing breast milk to force him right back down.

Benjamin realized that Homelander’s education had hit a bottleneck.

It had been a long time since the system had given him a notification that Homelander’s education had succeeded.

That meant continuing the transaction, making Homelander change again and become better, was proving difficult...

"John."

Benjamin suddenly stopped, turned his head, and fixed his deep gaze on Homelander’s slightly uneasy face.

"Dad, I’m here."

Homelander straightened at once.

Benjamin took the cigar from his mouth. His tone was no longer as cold as before. Instead, it carried the weary clarity of someone who had seen too much.

"You need to understand something, John. The world has never been black and white."

"Some people will love you because you saved them. But there will always be people who envy you, fear you, or even hate you for no damn reason just because you’re powerful. Otherwise, where the hell do you think internet trolls come from? I’ve been through all of it..."

Benjamin continued, "You can’t build your self-worth on the poll numbers of a bunch of stupid civilians. You have to let go of that sick obsession with making the entire world love you unconditionally."

Homelander froze where he stood and said nothing.

Confusion flickered in his bright blue eyes.

Let go of the obsession?

He didn’t need everyone’s love?

To him, that was as impossible to understand as telling a fish to leave the water and breathe air.

Benjamin did not care whether Homelander understood right away.

He turned around, his back to New York’s glittering nightscape, and left him with two lessons.

"Remember this. Love is mutual."

"If you want someone’s real love, then you need to learn how to love others, and how to respect life."

After saying that, Benjamin paid no further attention to Homelander, who had sunk into a storm of thought.

He casually tossed the cigar into a trash can and strode into the darkness at the street corner.

In his luxury apartment, a blonde, blue-eyed beauty named Starlight, dressed in a white-and-gold Supersuit, was waiting for him under the warm covers so he could burn off his excess energy.

"Love... is mutual?"

On the empty street, Homelander stood alone beneath the streetlight, repeating those words over and over.

A breeze stirred the Stars and Stripes cape behind him.

In the thirty-plus years he had grown up inside Vought Labs, the scientists in white coats had taught him how to kill, how to use his Superpowers, how to gain other people’s love, how to fake a smile in front of the cameras, and how to maintain his approval ratings...

But not a single person had ever told him that love was mutual.

Homelander felt as if a slit had been torn open in his brain.

Some emotion he had never experienced before was quietly sprouting inside that wound.

He did not immediately fly back to Vought Tower. Instead, like an ordinary person, he walked aimlessly down the broken suburban road, step by step, thinking over what his father had said.

...

...

The night grew deeper, and the suburban streets became utterly desolate.

Just as Homelander was completely lost in his father’s lesson.

"Help! Please... don’t come any closer!"

A woman’s shrill, desperate plea suddenly tore through the night sky and reached Homelander’s sharp ears with perfect clarity.

Before he met Benjamin, Homelander would not have so much as lifted an eyelid for some mortal’s cry for help, as long as there were no cameras or media around.

Homelander quickly headed toward the sound.

About two blocks away, in a pitch-black, filthy dead-end alley.

Under the faint moonlight, two drunken, tattoo-covered pieces of human trash had cornered a heavily pregnant woman against the wall.

"Run, you filthy bitch! The fuck happened? Thought you could run!"

One of them, a bulky bald man, pulled a switchblade from his waistband and waved it across the pregnant woman’s pale face. His eyes gleamed with disgusting lust.

"Now take your clothes off. Right fucking now! Or I’ll kick that little bastard in your belly to pieces!"

At those vicious words, the pregnant woman went weak with terror. She clutched her swollen belly in despair as tears streamed down her face.

"Heh, gotta say, boss, this hot little momma with the big belly’s got a different kind of flavor than those skinny street sluts."

The other man, his face covered in pockmarks, licked his lips and let out a filthy laugh.

The two of them kept threatening her, and the beautiful woman kept sobbing.

"Just fucking with you, bitch!"

The bald man’s face suddenly twisted with malice.

"I think I’ll kick that kid in your belly to mush right now! Then I’ll squeeze out some shampoo and make you service me while you bleed and scream! Hahaha!"

...

...

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