Free Web NovelChapter 55: Chapter 55: Out of the Mouths of Babes
Chapter 55: Out of the Mouths of Babes
This unfiltered strike from a child’s mouth completely caught Homelander off guard just as he was trying to maintain his fatherly persona. The expression on Homelander’s face froze slightly.
"Uh... well, ’fuck’... you can think of it as a catchphrase. Yeah, like a way of saying hello. It’s your grandfather’s exclusive catchphrase. It has a lot of... a lot of personality!"
Ryan nodded half-comprehendingly, finding it pretty fun to watch the word bounce out of his mouth, so he shouted clearly, "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck Grandpa!"
Benjamin: ?
In the kitchen, Becca, still holding her coffee cup, was now filled with pure exasperation and despair. She cast a hopeless glance at the profanity-spewing "grandfather" sitting on her sofa, then looked at the "father" who was actively teaching her son how to swear.
Damn it! This goddamn father-and-son duo. If she let them stay a few days longer, her son would absolutely be turned into a little thug by these two super-psychos! Becca only wanted these two bastards to get the hell out.
Just then, Benjamin couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up and said, "You two have fun playing here. I’m going out for a smoke, then heading back to Vought."
Reaching the doorway, Benjamin paused, turning his head slightly to glance at Becca before pushing the door open and leaving without looking back. Homelander didn’t care either way; he just kept playing with his son.
Leaving the cottage, a notification sounded in Benjamin’s ear.
[Notification: You helped Homelander kill Dr. Vogelbaum, the scientist who single-handedly created him. When Homelander couldn’t bring himself to do it, you stepped in and dealt the blow, while also giving Vogelbaum a relatively decent, dignified death and funeral. This has played a certain role in helping Homelander cut ties with his past. However, if you truly want Homelander to completely sever his past, you need to take him back "home." Reward acquired: Super Healing upgraded from Lv5 to Lv6.]
By now, his Strength, Defense, and Healing were all Lv6.
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Before long, Benjamin returned to his private office. There were quite a few messages piling up on his phone—Starlight was inviting him to lunch, and Stormfront was hitting him up to book a room. Seeing that he wasn’t really replying, Starlight would occasionally send a few cute emojis, while Stormfront was far more direct, sending nude photos of herself straight to Benjamin. Right now, he didn’t need to worry too much about Homelander.
Just as Benjamin was considering which invitation to take, a flurry of hurried footsteps echoed from outside. Ashley pushed the door open, looking like she had urgent business.
"S... Sir," Ashley said cautiously. "A superhero formerly fired by Vought just contacted us through our internal encrypted line. He says... he wants to see you, or Homelander. Do you have some time right now?"
"A fired piece of trash?" Benjamin didn’t even lift his eyelids. "Who?"
"Mesmer," Ashley said, her fingers rapidly flipping through her tablet. Even though she had become the CEO, she still retained this habit. "A former child star, former member of Vought’s Teenage Kix squad. His ability allows him to read anyone’s memories through physical contact. Two years ago, he was fired by Vought for using his superpower to steal trade secrets for insider trading."
Ashley paused, then added, "He says he has absolute intelligence regarding Translucent’s death."
Hearing this, Benjamin recalled the original plot. Mesmer the mind reader... If he was surfacing now, it meant that The Boys led by Billy Butcher had already made contact with the little fat guy. Furthermore, it meant that Kimiko had already been captured by The Boys, and they were trying to use Mesmer’s ability to read her memories!
How fucking interesting, Benjamin thought to himself.
In the original plot, Butcher and his crew had broken their backs tracking leads and trying to read memories primarily to secure ironclad proof of Vought International abusing Compound V for human experimentation to bring Vought down. But what about now? Why the hell were they still doing this? Honestly, Benjamin hadn’t expected The Boys to still be plugging away along this line. And besides, he had given orders to locate Kimiko a long time ago, yet a massive corporation like Vought couldn’t find her during this time, only for her to be tracked down by The Boys again. But quickly, Benjamin wondered if this might be a deal between Butcher and Colonel Mallory. After all, in the original show, the address where Butcher found Becca was provided by Colonel Mallory.
Benjamin said, "Bring him to see me."
Ashley looked troubled. "Sir, Mesmer says he’s waiting for you tonight on the rooftop of an abandoned building, and he only wants to see you or Homelander."
"Damn it, I can’t fucking fly!" Soldier Boy muttered, exasperated.
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Late at night, on the rooftop of an abandoned building where cold winds howled. Benjamin had shown up after all; of course, he took the freight elevator up. At the edge of the rooftop, a chubby little guy with a portly frame, wearing a cheap jacket and looking exceptionally drained, was pacing back and forth anxiously. This was Mesmer.
Catching the heavy thud of combat boots on the ground behind him, Mesmer shattered all over, then turned his head.
"M... Mr. Soldier Boy!" Mesmer stammered out a greeting, handing his smartphone over to Benjamin.
Benjamin inspected the photographs and surveillance screenshots inside. Captured clearly on the screen were Hughie, Frenchie, Mother’s Milk, and the heavily bearded Billy Butcher. Benjamin casually flipped through them a couple of times before stuffing the phone into his overcoat pocket.
Mesmer parted his lips, wanting to say it was his phone, but he didn’t quite dare to.
Benjamin pulled out a cigar and lit it, the spark illuminating his unyielding face. "Spit it out. What do you want?" Benjamin asked, blowing a smoke ring.
Mesmer swallowed hard, a profound yearning glittering in his eyes. "Mr. Soldier Boy, I... I want to come back to Vought. I want to put the uniform back on, I want to step back into the spotlight..."
The fingers Benjamin used to clamp his cigar paused slightly as he pointed at Mesmer. "You know exactly why you got sacked, right? Couldn’t keep your hands to yourself, running insider trading. I hate people who don’t follow the goddamn rules more than anything."
Thud!
Without a shred of hesitation, Mesmer dropped to his knees on the dust-covered rooftop, casting his dignity entirely aside as tears and snot poured down his face. "Sir! I know I messed up! I swear I’ll clean up my act! As long as you let me back in, I’ll be your dog! My ability is incredibly useful, please, I’m begging you!"
In the original plot, not long after this fat fuck handed the Intel over to Homelander, a furious Butcher cornered him in a public restroom and beat his skull to a pulp against a sink. Honestly, his ability was actually quite decent; letting Butcher butcher him like that felt like a total waste of a good asset. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"Wipe your goddamn tears, you fat fuck, looking at you makes me sick." Benjamin spun around, making his way toward the rooftop exit. "Eight o’clock tomorrow morning, report to Ashley at Vought. If you ever dare use your ability to pull any shady shit behind my back again... I will twist your head clean off myself, understand?"
Mesmer was ecstatic. "Understood! Completely understood! Thank you, sir! Thank you!"
Riding the elevator down, Benjamin continued to ponder. Perhaps The Seven alone was a bit thin on numbers; he could roll out some secondary teams, like a dedicated speedster squad. Marathon, Shockwave, A-Train, along with those three second-tier speedster Supes from earlier—their defining trait was raw velocity. Aside from an all-encompassing powerhouse like Homelander, practically no other Supes could outrun them. The speedsters could be structured into a single squad, with Shockwave running as their leader.
Beyond that, the universe of The Boys boasted quite a few powerful individuals. For instance, Lamplighter, or Golden Boy, Marie, and Jordan Li over at Godolkin University... if he absorbed all of them into Vought, the company’s structural power would skyrocket.
There was also Cindy, the telekinetic girl inside the facility. As of now, the facilities running these human trials had been systematically shut down by Benjamin himself, but those uncontrollable Supes were still kept under lock and key. Benjamin planned to find some time to make a trip out there, seeing if he could use his chest blast to strip the powers from the uncontrollable ones and cut them loose. As for the ones who could be kept in line, he would see about absorbing them into Vought International.
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A/N: Next bonus Chapter at 100ps!!
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