Free Web NovelChapter 44: Chapter 44: A Vought of Our Own
Chapter 44: A Vought of Our Own
This time, the Asian owner of the barbecue joint didn’t just see two superheroes. He counted them—six in total.
Benjamin, wearing his deep green suit, led the way, followed by the blond man in the red cape, a female warrior, a blonde girl with a high ponytail, and a bald guy dressed in deep green. The owner was incredibly nervous. Suppressing his pounding heart, he silently pushed two tables together, added two chairs, and turned back into the kitchen to chop up two extra racks of ribs.
The smoke from the charcoal drifted over from the kitchen, blending with the fragrant aroma of cumin and rendered fat. Six glasses of ice-cold beer were lined up on the table, foam trickling down the sides, leaving ring after ring of watermarks on the wooden surface.
"Starting today, does Vought belong to you?" Homelander asked, picking up his beer glass.
He sat to Benjamin’s right, his cape unbuckled and draped over the back of the chair. Although he cared deeply about Edgar’s words, Homelander knew this wasn’t something to be rushed; sooner or later, he would question Dr. Vogelbaum and the others. Besides, when the time came, he could bring Soldier Boy along; that boy was his grandson, too.
Benjamin picked up a beef rib and took a bite, grease running down the corner of his mouth. He wiped it casually with a napkin. "You’re half right. But it’s not just mine—" He placed the rib back onto the plate, tracing a circle on the table with his finger, encompassing everyone sitting there. "—it belongs to every single one of us, goddamn it."
Maeve, Starlight, The Deep, and the others all stared at Soldier Boy.
"Vought used to be a pharmaceutical company," Benjamin said, taking a sip of his beer, foam clinging to his upper lip. "To be precise, they made Compound V. Every single one of your superpowers comes from Compound V. It’s not natural, it’s not a gift from God; it was manufactured in Vought’s chemical plants. It’s just that most of you were injected as infants, so you don’t remember it at all. We’re just a bunch of goddamn junkies hawking a drug, not born superheroes."
Benjamin didn’t bother hiding the secret anymore; it wouldn’t be long before The Boys leaked it anyway. Or rather, to be exact, it would be Starlight, but even if Starlight didn’t join The Boys, someone else surely would. So instead of keeping it a secret, Benjamin figured he might as well spill it—especially since he had the perfect scapegoat ready.
Everyone was completely shocked, except for Homelander.
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The chicken wings on the grill were flipped over, droplets of grease bursting into tiny clusters of sparks against the charcoal. No one spoke.
"So Vought needs to pivot," Benjamin slammed his beer glass onto the table, the base hitting with a dull thud. "From a disgusting, goddamn pharmaceutical company into a real superhero company. From now on, we do one thing: train the people who already have powers into actual fucking heroes."
"I get it," Homelander nodded. His tone carried no hesitation; Vought was already rotten to the core in his mind. He intended to agree with and execute any decision Benjamin made. After all, this was his dad!
"You get it? What about those super-villains you created by shipping Compound V all over the goddamn place? You need to clean up that mess. You let them loose, so you reel them back in. Don’t be irresponsible. It’s just like me—sure, I left you in a cup back then, but aren’t I back now? If it weren’t for goddamn Vought, I wouldn’t have been delayed this long, fuck."
Homelander fell silent for a moment, then nodded once more. "I know. I’ll hunt them down one by one."
"Once you find them, don’t be in a rush to kill them. They were victimized by Vought. Compound V was pumped into their bodies like lab rats; a lot of them had no idea what they would turn into." Benjamin picked up a piece of grilled corn, poking at the charred spots with a chopstick, his voice dropping a notch lower.
"For the ones who didn’t commit crimes after getting their powers, capture them alive. Focus on placating them, and tell them that everything was goddamn Edgar’s doing. Of course, if they want out, my chest blast can burn away their powers and let them live as normal people. Oh, and right, keep an eye out for an Asian female super-villain in particular." freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Homelander looked up. "An Asian female?" He thought back to the messed-up things he’d done, dropping an Asian woman in New York to act as a super-villain, but he hadn’t expected Soldier Boy to know about something so specific.
Right, he meant Kimiko. Benjamin was referring to the super-terrorists. In the original show, Homelander had distributed Compound V worldwide, creating numerous super-terrorists; Kimiko was one, and another was a Syrian terrorist capable of self-detonation. To be honest, Benjamin didn’t know if The Boys had found Kimiko yet. According to the timeline, they might have found her, but she hadn’t fully accepted them yet. freёweɓnovel.com
That Syrian exploding super-terrorist could just be put down, but as for Kimiko, it would be best if they could bring her into Vought and train her to be a superhero. Granted, there was a high probability Kimiko would refuse, but even if she did, Benjamin would still have to strip her powers and send her home. In the final battle of Season 5, Kimiko had actually awakened the exact same chest blast as his own, successfully erasing Homelander’s powers. This wasn’t just to make amends to Kimiko; it was also to avoid that exact clusterfuck of an ending. His incredibly powerful son shouldn’t have to die in such a pathetic way. With him here now, he could absolutely prevent that tragedy.
"You know what I’m talking about. Be a real fucking superhero, Homelander. Got it?" Benjamin pointed at Homelander, speaking with absolute seriousness.
On the other side of the table, Starlight’s hand froze on the rim of her beer glass, her fingertips trembling slightly. Her lips moved twice; the first time no sound came out, and only on the second attempt did she force the words out.
"Sir, what do you mean by that?" She looked at Benjamin, then at Homelander, before her gaze finally snapped back to Benjamin. "A pharmaceutical company... super-villains... and Compound V, what is all of this? From what you’re saying, our superpowers aren’t natural? They were manufactured in a factory?" Her voice was trembling with fear. "I’ve been able to make my hands glow since I was a kid—I thought it was a gift. My mom thought it was a gift too. Wait... did my mom sell me to Vought for experiments and drugs?"
Maeve didn’t say a word, her face incredibly grim. She picked up her beer glass, took a massive gulp, and slammed it back down on the table, the thud louder than usual.
Sweat began to bead on The Deep’s bald head. "Then... what the hell are we? Products?"
"You used to be products," Benjamin said, looking at him. "What you are from now on depends entirely on yourselves. Starting today, I’m shutting down Vought’s labs; there will be no new injections of Compound V. For those who have already been injected, you can choose to keep being heroes, or you can walk away. Regardless of what you choose, no one is going to use Compound V to hurt anyone ever again. This isn’t a request; it’s an order."
Starlight kept her head down, staring at her hands. Under the dim light, a golden glow lit up her fingertips—the power she had possessed since childhood.
Products... Superheroes... Starlight was genuinely inspired by Soldier Boy’s words, but she was still deeply heartbroken. She hated her mother. It was even possible that her father’s departure back then had been caused by her mother selling her out to Vought...
"What about our press conference?" Homelander broke the silence.
"We hold it as scheduled," Benjamin said. "Oh, and right, let’s just expose Compound V right there at the press conference. We’ll dump the whole goddamn mess on Edgar. He’s dead anyway, and dead men don’t talk back. We’ll tell everyone that Vought was a pharmaceutical company that secretly manufactured a superpower compound and injected it into a massive number of people without their informed consent. The mastermind behind this was Stan Edgar and the former board of directors. Now that Edgar is dead and the board is dissolved, Vought will fully disclose all data on Compound V, cooperate with the federal investigation, and provide compensation to all victims..."
Maeve leaned back in her chair, letting out a long, heavy exhale. She had been holding that breath for ten years.
"You’re going to turn Vought’s deepest secret into a press release?" Maeve asked.
"It’s not our deepest secret," Benjamin said, taking a sip from his beer glass. "It’s our foulest, most rotten goddamn wound. If you don’t lance a wound, it’ll never heal. If Vought wants to fucking pivot, the first step is to scoop out the rotten flesh and show it to the world, fuck."
The Deep murmured, "Sir, t-this will tank Vought’s stock price."
"It’ll tank the stock price of Edgar’s Vought, not ours. Besides, Vought doesn’t need a stock price to survive. Vought needs goddamn credibility. From this day forward, every single one of you pussies needs to look the public dead in the eye with complete sincerity when you stand before them. You need to let them know that you’re not putting on an act—you’re out there actually doing good."
"We will, sir," Starlight said, lifting her hand from the table and raising her beer glass to clink it against his.
Maeve’s glass clinked in second. The Deep’s glass hesitated for a moment before joining the clink.
As for Homelander’s glass, it had already been waiting there.
Five glass cups came together amidst the savory aroma of the charcoal fire and the greasy smoke of the barbecue.
Though Homelander still didn’t quite understand why Benjamin was making things so complicated—after all, hadn’t he done plenty of good deeds before, the kind of things superheroes did, even if most of it was just acting...
But it didn’t matter. Soldier Boy was his father; whatever his father told him to do, he would do.
Obeying your father—wasn’t that just what you were supposed to do?
The Asian owner only felt his scalp go numb, his entire body trembling. What on earth had he just overheard?
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A/N: Want to know what happens next? You can read up to 20 Chapters ahead on my p@tr~on:
[email protected]/ForgottenDaoist (@ = a, link is in my profile).
