The Boys: I Became The Soldier Boy

Chapter 64: Chapter 64: The Heroes’ Dirt

Chapter 64: The Heroes’ Dirt

"Get to the point," Benjamin interrupted impatiently.

"The point is..." The Deep lowered his voice, his expression turning serious. "I’ve been going down to the beach a lot lately to clear my head... and some of my ’good friends’—uh, marine life, like dolphins and whales..."

"They reported to me that lately, mysterious fishing boats have been highly active at night, right along the edge of international waters."

"They might be smuggling Compound V. And the money trail and handlers behind these smuggling boats? I’m betting the Church of the Collective is behind it!"

Hearing this, Benjamin paused slightly. Smuggling Compound V? Hadn’t it already been halted? It looked like the Church of the Collective had been pulling this shit even before the ban. And now, even after the shutdown, they were still at it. It was either backlogged stock, or there was a mole inside Vought.

The Deep continued, "There’s one more thing, sir. The leader of the Church of the Collective is incredibly arrogant. They don’t just hoard wealth and smuggle; the cult’s core operation is using their followers to gather and steal dirt on all kinds of high-profile celebrities! When I dealt with them before, they seemed to hold dirt on a lot of Vought executives, including members of The Seven. And... it looks like they even have a backup of your dirt too. Maybe that’s why the Church of the Collective is so damn cocky. If Vought doesn’t play ball with their demands, or if we investigate them, they can leak all that dirt to the media... Of course, this might just be my speculation. I just haven’t figured out their angle. They had a motive before, since Vought was feeding them cash, but now... I’m not really sure."

Having said his piece, The Deep stood rooted to the spot, trembling, not even daring to breathe too loudly. Meanwhile, sitting on the sofa, Benjamin’s eyes narrowed slightly as he sank into thought.

My dirt? freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Benjamin rapidly sifted through the memories belonging to his predecessor. To be fair, the original Soldier Boy was hardly a shining beacon of morality. Aside from routinely hazing his teammates, if anyone wanted to dig up scandals capable of causing a massive public uproar, there was a hell of a lot of material.

For instance, Soldier Boy’s so-called "D-Day landings" and "frontline kills" during World War II were mostly staged propaganda, filmed on sets built by Vought. His actual impact on the battlefield was a far cry from the heroic exploits hyped up in the movies.

Or for another, the original host was inherently an uneducated, trouble-making brat. He actually had an older brother who had served on the front lines and earned military medals—his brother was the real soldier. Later on, the original host pulled strings through his father’s connections, took a back door, and entered the lab alongside his brother. In the end, Benjamin succeeded, becoming the universally idolized Soldier Boy. Meanwhile, his outstanding brother failed the experiment...

While Benjamin didn’t particularly give a shit about these skeletons in the closet, not caring about his reputation didn’t mean he would tolerate these disgusting parasites. In the original show, the Church of the Collective was a thoroughly repulsive organization. It used psychological manipulation to brainwash Supes, politicians, and corporate elites, amassing an absolute fortune in the process. Later, the cult’s leader tried to threaten Edgar, only to get his brains popped by the Headpopper. The show never explicitly detailed how Vought cleaned up the aftermath, but in short, as long as he neutralized the leader of the Church of the Collective, everything should be settled.

"Good work, Deep," Benjamin praised. "Go notify Anika. Tell her to look into the headquarters’ address and dig up the background on this damn Church of the Collective. Then, you and A-Train will take full charge of handling this matter. If you screw it up, I’ll step in myself. Consider this your test."

"Yes, sir." The Deep nodded and quickly made his exit from the office.

Starlight asked curiously, "Sir, it’s honestly hard to believe... a legendary World War II icon like you actually has dark secrets?"

"Pfft," Benjamin scoffed. "Annie, don’t make me out to be some saint. Everyone in this goddamn world has dirt on them. If you dig deep enough with a shovel, even the holiest priest in the church probably has some young boys hidden under his covers. There are no perfect people in this world; everyone has a dark side."

Starlight nodded thoughtfully. Before long, the two left headquarters and headed to an exceptionally high-end French restaurant downtown for a candlelight dinner. Over the course of the meal, they went through quite a bit of expensive red wine.

After dinner, they walked side-by-side along the bustling streets of New York. As the night breeze swept past, Starlight’s heart fluttered like a caged bird, filled with a mix of nervousness and an inexplicable sense of anticipation. She was even beginning to mentally rehearse what positions to use once they reached the hotel... fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

Whoosh!

Right then, a red-and-blue figure dropped from the sky, landing right in front of Benjamin. The newcomer was none other than Homelander. What Starlight found utterly mind-boggling was that the usually arrogant-to-a-fault Homelander was currently holding a seven- or eight-year-old blond kid—who looked almost exactly like his carbon copy—with extreme, delicate care!

"You brought Ryan out?" Benjamin stopped in his tracks, casting a glance at Ryan, who was peeking out from behind Homelander’s cape to curiously take in the surrounding city streets. He asked in a flat tone.

"Yeah!" Homelander beamed. "The second this little guy saw the outside world, he was so excited he didn’t even want to blink. I’m planning to take Ryan to that Korean barbecue joint we hit last time. Dad, want to come along?"

Benjamin nodded, then turned his head to ask, "What’s the play, Annie? Do you want to head to the hotel first, check in, wash up, and wait for me, or are you coming with the three of us?"

Hearing this, Starlight’s face flushed crimson instantly.

Jesus, do you have to be so goddamn blunt?! Starlight complained inwardly.

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