Free Web NovelChapter 24: Chapter 24: Madelyn Almost Dies
Chapter 24: Madelyn Almost Dies
Towards evening, a knock sounded on Benjamin’s office door. He looked up. Madelyn stood at the entrance, wearing an exceptionally daring deep red dress, its neckline plunging even lower than Starlight’s new suit. She leaned against the door frame, holding a glass of whiskey, her lips coated in a darker red lipstick than usual.
She had spent the entire afternoon preparing for this entrance. In her eyes, Soldier Boy was still a man, and men always had weaknesses. Especially since Vought International’s records indicated that Soldier Boy seemed to prefer mature women, much like Homelander. And she was highly mature; moreover, when Soldier Boy had cursed at her earlier, he had used a "fuck you," so perhaps he genuinely meant it. Since Madelyn couldn’t handle him with conventional corporate tactics, she was going to try a different approach to lock down Benjamin, matching the exact way he had degraded her.
"Good evening, Mr. Soldier Boy." Her voice was dropped a few notches lower than usual, dragging out the final syllables. "I think there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding between us. Why don’t we—" fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Benjamin gave her a sideways glance, speaking expressionlessly. "You have the wrong floor."
Madelyn’s corporate smile froze completely. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"What the fuck are you doing in my office dressed like that? To talk about work? Or do you want me to fuck you? You’re disgusting, you know that? You haggard old bird." Benjamin gave her a thorough look from head to toe, his eyes entirely devoid of any emotion. "Whatever the fuck you’re trying to do, I’m not interested. The door’s right over there. Roll out. You’re making me fucking sick. Fuck."
Madelyn stood at the threshold, her fingers tightening around the whiskey glass until her knuckles turned white. Her lips moved slightly, wanting to fire back. But Benjamin had already lowered his head, resuming his look at the files in his hands, acting as though she wasn’t worth more of his time than a misplaced punctuation mark on the page. She turned and marched out.
Then, Madelyn crossed paths with Homelander, who was currently staring dead at her with a dark, brooding expression. Madelyn froze in her tracks.
"Madelyn," Homelander’s tone was freezing cold. "You make me fucking sick. I really want to kill you."
"I can explain. I was just... I was just going to look for you, but I couldn’t find you, so I..."
"Get out. Get the fuck away from me right now, before I change my mind. Move." Homelander lowered his head, forcefully suppressing his rising fury as he waved his hand.
Madelyn could only scramble to leave immediately. When Homelander tells someone to leave, they leave—staying behind usually means ending up dead. That was a golden rule that a vast number of employees at Vought International had learned the hard way.
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Late night. Madelyn sat alone in her office, clutching the glass of whiskey she had failed to deliver. The New York nightscape outside the window was as brilliant as ever, but looking at those lights, she only found them glaring. Homelander refused to listen to her anymore. Soldier Boy had berated her into absolute submission. Both father and son despised her.
The "alternative plan" she had spent the entire afternoon meticulously preparing had been torn to shreds by his insults, and she had even been caught red-handed by Homelander. The core issue remained Soldier Boy, Vought’s massive threat. This man possessed almost zero weaknesses. She had previously written this phrase in her report to the Board of Directors, but only tonight did she truly comprehend its full weight. Perhaps Soldier Boy’s single vulnerability was Homelander. But Homelander didn’t have weaknesses anymore either; his prior vulnerability was being starved of affection, but Soldier Boy’s arrival had completely patched that up. Neither of them had weaknesses because of each other. Damn it, it was so perfect. She took a sip of the whiskey, the liquor swirling over her tongue, incredibly bitter.
Meanwhile, Benjamin leaned back in his office chair, his feet propped up on the edge of the desk as he flipped through the latest roster of The Seven on his tablet. The Deep had been fired, Translucent was missing, A-Train was keeping his tail tucked between his legs, Starlight had changed into a new suit, and Maeve had actively sent him a message today praising him for roasting Madelyn so well. Homelander, his son, had actively gone to investigate Translucent’s disappearance today. He had also completely broken ties with Madelyn.
Vought was already losing its grip on Homelander, on himself, and on The Seven. He picked up his iced cola from the desk and took a sip. Outside the window, the New York night sky possessed an amber glow from the countless city lights, the Hudson River flowing silently in the distance. He recalled the phrase The Legend had uttered in his apartment that day—"You planning on sitting down to have dinner with them?"
"Dinner? Heh... It won’t be long before they get kicked off the table completely. Goddamn Vought..." Benjamin was pleased.
Homelander arrived at the door and knocked. Benjamin didn’t intend to just take Homelander out for drinks tonight; instead, they were heading out for some late-night skewers. While there weren’t many American BBQ options, there were always Chinese BBQ joints around. This wasn’t some small town; this was New York—the most prosperous city on the planet.
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The following morning. Vought Tower Tactical Briefing Room. Madelyn stood before the electronic screen, her finger tracing a real-time aerial map. Midtown Manhattan, a forty-two-story commercial building. The rooftop helipad was merely a small gray square on the display. Her expression was tighter than usual, radiating humiliation and tightly coiled anger. Primarily, the memory of that deep red dress and the utter disgrace of "you have the wrong floor" was still churning violently in her stomach... Worse, she had nearly been slaughtered by Homelander because of it. But right now, Madelyn had zero time to digest her personal feelings.
"The situation is as follows: a forty-two-story commercial building. Six armed gunmen have taken an entire law firm on the thirty-first floor hostage. NYPD negotiators have been dealing with them for three hours with zero progress, so this is an incident where our superheroes can assist." She paused, sweeping her gaze across everyone at the long table.
Homelander was leaning back in his chair, with Benjamin sitting right next to him. Maeve was present, along with A-Train—who was scheduled for a race this afternoon—and Starlight, clad in her original suit.
"The police have requested backup from The Seven. According to the rotation schedule, this assignment should fall to—" Madelyn swiped her tablet. "Homelander and Maeve."
But she quickly continued, "However, considering yesterday’s press conference, Soldier Boy and Homelander share a father-son relationship. Yesterday, Soldier Boy’s speech surpassed four hundred million views across the web, and social media traction is still climbing wildly. If we deploy them as a father-son duo for this field mission, the public impact will far exceed the standard configuration." She shifted her gaze toward Benjamin, her standard corporate smile pulling back onto her face, though the grin was visibly forced. "Of course, if Mr. Soldier Boy does not wish to participate in field missions, I completely understand—"
"I’ll go." Benjamin picked up his shield, his voice flat.
Madelyn’s eyebrow hitched slightly. All her prepared arguments—about public image, Vought’s strategic layout, and the status of lobbying for Supes entering the military—were completely useless. Why was Soldier Boy being so cooperative today?
Homelander turned to look at Benjamin, the light in his blue eyes brightening a degree. "Really?"
"Sitting around here is boring anyway." Benjamin stood up, hooking the shield onto his left arm, casting a sideways glance at Homelander. "Let’s go. Don’t keep the cops waiting. The guns in their hands are real; this isn’t a fucking script this time. Also, don’t carry or hug me later. I don’t want to look like a couple of fags."
Homelander sprang up from his chair a beat faster than usual. It had been an exceptionally long time since he looked forward to a mission. Madelyn watched the father-son duo stride out of the briefing room together, standing in silence for a brief moment.
"Wow, Homelander is eager," Maeve remarked. "This looks like it’s Soldier Boy’s first actual field mission."
---<>---
By this time, Madison Avenue had been locked down for three full blocks. Three layers of yellow police tape had been stretched across the perimeter, and the red and blue strobe lights of the police cruisers remained blinding even under the midday sun, forcing onlookers to squint. At least twenty police cars were parked haphazardly around the cordoned-off zone. The streets were packed with a sea of people, their arms holding up smartphones as dense as a moving forest.
Just then, a red silhouette descended from the sky, his cape cutting a sharp arc against the New York skyline. The crowd’s roar erupted instantly. But when the onlookers caught sight of another deep green silhouette beside him, the roar transformed into deafening cheers.
Homelander landed securely inside the police tape, releasing his arm from Benjamin’s waist. Benjamin scanned his surroundings; this was his first actual mission, mostly because it wasn’t a scripted performance.
"It’s Soldier Boy—it’s really him!"
"What he said at the press conference yesterday, I watched it! Too fucking cool!"
"That face, I really want to sit on it..."
"Screw off, like you’re worthy."
"The two strongest Supes came together! The original and the modern! Those gunmen are finished!"
The wave of crowd cheers surged relentlessly. A few bold bystanders broke past the first layer of police tape to press forward, only to be held back by officers. The reporters’ cameras all pivoted away from the building toward the father and son, on-set directors screaming frantically into their earpieces, "Give me a close-up!"
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A/N: Next goal: 200 Power Stones = 1 bonus Chapter!
And if you want to read ahead and find out what happens next right away, you can get up to 20 Chapters ahead on my p@tr~on:
[email protected]/ForgottenDaoist (@ = a, link is in my profile).
