"We thought.. we thought we could create a better version. A nicer product," Stillwell said nervously, backing away from Homelander.

The blood boiled in Homelander's ears. He could barely hear her flimsy excuses over the thudding of his own heartbeat. Product. That's all he was to them, to her. Even after everything they'd been through together she still just saw him as a defective toy. And now she was building a newer, shinier supe.

His skin crawled at the thought of the lab and how he'd been raised. Old scars from tests and punishments stung as if it was yesterday. They were doing it to someone else now. Someone new.

"Show me," he growled. His eyes warmed, flashing red as his lasers simmered inside his skull. Homelander took a step forward to force Stillwell into a corner.

Madelyn swallowed nervously. She should've seen this coming years ago. She should've known her false affections and mothering couldn't keep him docile forever. The entire walk to the elevator that led down to the basement labs felt like a death march. Scientists stopped and stared in shock as she made her way through the sterile halls with Homelander himself behind her.

An elderly woman stopped them before Madelyn could open the door. Homelander gritted his teeth at the sight of her, Barbara Findley. She'd been the doctor who'd tormented him most growing up, keeping him in the Bad Room for days on end.

"You can't go in," she said firmly. "The kid is testing--"

"Kid?" Homelander's eerily calm voice made the elderly doctor shut up.