Become a Homelander and a Marvel superstar

Ryan looked at the steak in front of him, and his stomach growled again.

He hesitated for two seconds, but finally couldn't resist the temptation of the food, picked up his knife and fork, cut off a large piece, and stuffed it into his mouth.

The juices burst in my mouth, the temperature was just right.

As the food went down my throat, my tense nerves gradually relaxed.

He raised his eyelids and secretly sized up Ah Zu across from him.

"You...you're really not John?" Ryan asked in a low voice.

"If I were John, you'd be listening to me launch into a long tirade about being God by now," Azu joked.

Ryan couldn't help but chuckle, but quickly suppressed his smile, his expression darkening. "So... he lost his superpowers too?"

"Yes, just like you." Azu picked up her milk, took a sip, and looked at him quietly. "So you see, he and you are both just ordinary people now."

“I don’t want to see him.” Ryan shook his head. “He’s a madman, a murderer. He forced me to do things I didn’t like and killed a lot of innocent people. Butcher was right, he’s a monster.”

"Butcher is a cuckolded madman; you can't believe a word he says, not even the punctuation. As for John, he has certainly done a lot of stupid things, you could even say he's guilty of many crimes. But it's not entirely his fault."

Ah Zu put down his knife and fork, picked up a napkin, and wiped his mouth.

"Ryan, if I locked you in a dugout lab with walls on all four sides from the moment you were born, burned your skin with a flamethrower every day, crushed your bones with a hydraulic press, and soaked you in liquid nitrogen at sub-zero temperatures, just to test your limits..."

Ah Zu paused for a moment before continuing, "What do you think you'll become when you grow up and leave that room?"

"That's how the Vought Corporation treated John." Azu leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on the window. "Frederic Vought was a Nazi remnant, and Jonah Vogelbaum was a mad scientist with no humanity. They created John, yet they feared his power. To completely control him, they not only tortured him physically, but also destroyed his heart with the cruelest mental torture."

"Mental torture?" Ryan asked.

"What you saw was just the 'Homelander' that Vought International wanted you to see, not the real John," Azu said gravely, expertly explaining his situation.

"Ryan, have you ever wondered why your father is sometimes so gentle with you, like a child who needs companionship, but the next second he'll fly into a rage over the smallest thing, even verbally abusing and oppressing you?"

Ryan recalled the moments he had spent with John.

Indeed, sometimes John would protect him like a loving father, but when alone, he was like a helpless child, so vulnerable that it broke your heart.

But in the blink of an eye, he can become cold and cruel.

"You mean... he's sick?" Ryan asked uncertainly.

"Yes, because he's sick. Very sick." Azu gently tapped his temple. "If you were Walter's boss, how would you control an invincible god?"

Ryan shook his head: "I don't know."

"Destroy his mind, shred his soul," Azu said coldly. "Through years of psychological hypnosis, drug stimulation, and mental abuse, the higher-ups at Walter have artificially created multiple personalities in John's mind. This is medically known as dissociative identity disorder, commonly referred to as schizophrenia."

Ryan exclaimed in surprise, "Schizophrenia?"

“That’s right.” Azu sighed, his expression of pity perfectly conveyed. “The real John has always been locked away in the darkest corner of his heart. The one who cried while clutching a blanket, longing for the warmth of family, and who couldn’t bear to blame you even after you injured his lover with a laser, is your real father, John.”

"And what normally controls this body is a cold-blooded monster deliberately created by the Vought Corporation for profit and to intimidate the world!"

Ryan was stunned.

Azu paused for a moment, giving Ryan time to process what he had just learned.

This explanation struck like a thunderbolt, shattering Ryan's long-standing pain and inner turmoil.

He never understood why his father would say he loved him while doing things that terrified him.

It turns out that the one who did bad things wasn't his father at all, but a secondary personality created by Walter!

Seeing Ryan's reaction, Azu pressed his advantage, saying, "Do you remember when you and Butcher teamed up to attack him in the White House? He had countless opportunities to hurt you, but he didn't lay a single punch on you until he fell down."

"Because whenever he faces you, the real John fights desperately to regain control of his body. You are his only human anchor, Lane."

"Then...then all the bad things he did..." Ryan's mind was undergoing a dramatic reorganization.

"That was the sin of Vought's higher-ups, and the sin of the false personality within him." Azu's tone was resolute, defining the nature of the incident. "And today, Kimiko's radiation shockwave destroyed his superpowers, and at the same time shattered the mental shackles Vought had placed in his mind. That tyrannical personality has disappeared along with his superpowers. Now he is just John. A pitiful father who has lost his power, is filled with guilt, and only wants to make amends for his mistakes."

"Really?" Ryan asked in disbelief.

Deep down, he longed for a normal father, instead of having to choose between Butcher and Homelander every day.

"Of course, I assure you with the honor of the Stark family," Azu said with a vague smile.

"I am his father and your grandfather. Family doesn't need to be so formal. True family isn't about applauding you when things are going well, but about being willing to take you home when you're down in the mud."

Hint! Gained 20000 Special Popularity Points! (From Ryan Butcher)

"Done! That's so cool!" Ah Zu thought to himself with pride.

Azu's words struck Ryan's deepest, most hidden pain.

The image of Butcher's cold words to him and the blame for Becca's death resurfaced in his mind, making him feel a tightness in his chest.

In contrast, the grandfather who suddenly appeared in front of him not only cooked for him and patiently reasoned with him, but also treated him as a real family member.

"Grandpa..." Ryan called out softly, his voice still a little rusty, but his guard had already fallen away. "Where is my father? Is he alright?"

"He's cleaning up the mess at the White House." Azu picked up the remote and pressed a button on the TV on the wall.

The screen lit up, switching to a live CBS news broadcast.

The footage shows a press podium set up on the South Lawn of the White House.

John no longer wore his signature tight-fitting uniform, but instead put on a dark blue suit with a red tie.

He had a band-aid on his nose, and his face was slightly pale. He had completely lost his usual imposing aura and looked like a middle-aged man who had just gone through a serious illness.