Free Web NovelChapter 12: 12: Sidelining The Deep, Honest Rizz
In politics and in life, the only real power is the power to manipulate appearances.
~ Adapted from Niccolò Machiavelli
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Hillel got back to the fancy apartment Vought International set up for him, took a quick shower, and flopped onto the sofa scrolling through his phone.
Halfway through he got thirsty, so he checked the liquor cabinet. It was stocked with all kinds of expensive-looking bottles that screamed money.
Then he remembered his twelve-million-dollar-a-year salary package.
Hillel shook his head. Feels like Trump was right, money really feels goo.. ehm.. the Corp was trying to buy him off with fancy bullets. freewёbnoνel.com
Popularity comes and goes. The spotlight couldn’t stay glued on him forever.
Online emotion farming would swing up and down too.
Looked like another variable he had to manage by keeping his exposure high.
[Current Ability Points: 54,676 / 100,000]
Hillel was busy figuring out which key character to hit up next or where to go cause some trouble when his phone suddenly rang.
Unknown number on the caller ID.
This phone was pretty private. Not many people had the number.
Had to be Vought.
"The Guardian, right? Sir. This is Ashley Barrett from Vought Public Relations."
The voice on the other end was rushed and stressed.
"We need to talk about what happened tonight. As soon as possible, please come in."
Hillel checked the time: 1:40 AM.
What a fucking psycho. Who calls at this hour?
"Tomorrow morning at nine. Your office."
"But—"
Hillel didn’t give a shit why Ashley was still grinding at 1:40 in the morning. He hung up right away.
He rolled over and passed out in two seconds flat.
A Viltrumite body didn’t need much sleep, but he liked it anyway—a habit from his old life. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Besides, letting Ashley sweat for a few more hours didn’t hurt.
...
At exactly nine the next morning.
Hillel showed up at Ashley’s office door right on time. He walked straight in without knocking.
Ashley was sitting behind her desk with three laptops open and a small mountain of empty coffee cups next to her.
Her eye bags were so dark it looked like someone had punched her twice.
She’d clearly pulled an all-nighter.
"Please, sit," Ashley said, jumping up and forcing a professional smile. "Coffee? Water?"
After getting blown off all night, Ashley didn’t dare complain. The second the man himself walked in she slapped on a big ass-kissing grin.
As an insider and a bit of an exec at Vought, she knew damn well the guy in front of her was no easier to handle than Homelander.
"Get to the point."
Ashley took a deep breath and spun one of the laptop screens toward him.
It showed the surveillance footage from the conference room last night.
The angle was crystal clear: the door flying off its hinges, The Deep standing there with his pants halfway down, Annie on her knees, and then Hillel floating in.
"The Seven’s private floor has full surveillance," Ashley said quickly. "Right now only the security director and I have seen this footage. I’ve locked the original file and the security team signed NDAs, but..."
Her hand went to her hair and started yanking on it without thinking.
"I need your cooperation. If this gets out, The Deep is done, The Seven’s image takes a massive shit, and Vought’s stock price..."
"You trying to teach me how to do my job?"
Ashley shut her mouth fast.
Hillel leaned back in the chair, crossed his legs, and propped his boots on the corner of her desk like he owned the place.
Truth was, he wasn’t even this cocky at home.
"Ashley, right? I remember you. You’re a smart one, so I’ll lay it out."
He held up a finger.
"First, keep the video buried. Don’t delete it, just lock a backup under the highest clearance."
"Second, starting today The Deep stays the fuck away from any core Seven activities. Find an excuse. Send him on some charity tour or cutting ribbons at an aquarium, I don’t give a shit. Just make him vanish from Starlight’s radar."
Ashley opened her mouth but Hillel didn’t let her speak.
"If it’s too hard for you, I can go have a chat with The Deep myself. Though my kind of chat might not be great for inside Vought Tower. You saw what happened when I slapped the shit out of A-Train."
Ashley’s hand shook. She cut him off fast.
"No no no! Don’t do anything rash, everything’s negotiable!"
"I... I need to check with Miss Madelyn first—"
"Go ahead. But I’m not backing down. The internal culture in The Seven is rotten as fuck." Hillel stood up, ready to leave. "Keeping a guy like The Deep around is just asking for trouble. Today it’s Starlight, tomorrow it could be one of his fans."
"Is it really that hard to find a superhero who pushes environmental shit? Do we have to keep a twisted pervert like him?"
"I’m sure with Vought’s resources, if we ditch The Deep plenty of people will line up to take his spot."
Ashley was already dialing, her hands shaking so bad she screwed up the number twice.
...
[Key Character: Ashley Barrett]
[Emotion Change: Fear / Helplessness / Forced Obedience]
[Ability Points Gained: +743]
Hillel stepped out of Ashley’s office and was heading downstairs for breakfast.
Right as he reached the elevator, a voice called from behind him.
"Guardian?"
Starlight stood at the end of the hallway in casual clothes: white hoodie, jeans, and sneakers.
Her innocent, no-filler face looked so damn pure, the perfect blonde sweetheart.
"You waiting for me?" Hillel asked, surprised.
"Do you have a minute?"
"Yes."
"Can we find somewhere private to talk? Not here—there are cameras everywhere."
Hillel thought for a second.
"How about the rooftop?"
...
The rooftop of Vought Tower.
Strong wind whipped around them, giving a killer view over half of Manhattan.
Hillel flicked his finger and sent a compressed air bullet straight into the rooftop camera, smashing it to shit.
"About last night..." Annie started, her face full of doubt. "How did you know?"
"If you’re asking if I was spying on you, I wasn’t," Hillel said.
"I’ve got super hearing. I can pick up most sounds inside the tower."
"So you’ve been listening the whole time?"
"Not on purpose. There’s no off switch for super hearing, so I just try to filter out all the useless crap."
Annie stayed quiet for a moment.
"I’ve wanted to be a superhero since I was a kid. My mom told me I was special, that I could save the world. I believed her right up until last night."
She stared down at her hands.
"Joining The Seven was my dream, but on the very first night I almost..."
Hillel didn’t say anything. He still wasn’t sure what Annie wanted from him.
Gratitude? It was just a casual move on his part.
Annie took a deep breath.
"Why did you join Vought?"
"For the money and the fame. Vought can give me what I want."
Annie turned and looked at him.
Hillel shrugged. "I’m not joking. Before I joined the Vought family, I had thirty-seven bucks in my bank account."
"Edgar offered me a deal I couldn’t turn down: twelve million a year and a sweet Midtown apartment. The only catch is I still fly around fighting crime but now I’m tied to Vought International. Only a dumbass would say no to that."
Annie looked surprised as hell.
She’d figured The Guardian joined for justice and all that noble shit.
How could his reason be so...
"But you didn’t save me for money or fame, right?"
"That was just a casual thing!" Hillel shrugged again. "Even if Vought is a shithole, I can still do what I want. I saved you because I couldn’t stand watching a pervert get his rocks off."
Hillel tossed out whatever excuse came to mind.
Truth was, he saved Starlight purely for the ability points.
As for women, Starlight was cute as hell, sure, but his Viltrumite blood leaned toward tougher-looking ones like Queen Maeve.
"This chat went way different than I expected."
Starlight pouted. She’d been hoping for some deep idealist heart-to-heart.
Instead the guy in front of her was brutally direct.
"That’s the difference between ideals and reality, kid!"
"You’re only like a year older than me, so quit acting like some wise old man!"
Annie gave him a light shove without thinking.
The move felt so natural that she only realized what she’d done after it was already over.
She sneaked a quick glance at Hillel.
He didn’t seem to mind at all.
[Key Character: Annie January (Starlight)]
[Emotion Change: Confusion → Relief → Deepened Trust]
[Ability Points Gained: +1,847]
Current Ability Points: 57,266 / 100,000
The two of them stayed up on the rooftop for over twenty minutes, bullshitting about random stuff.
After some small talk and swapping a few personal bits, Hillel became Starlight’s first friend inside Vought.
...
After she left, Hillel hung around on the rooftop a bit longer.
His super hearing picked up a heartbeat fading into the distance.
The rhythm felt way too familiar.
It was Homelander’s heartbeat.
How long had that bastard been listening from above?
Hillel had no idea.
But he could guess easy enough—Homelander showed up because of The Deep.
Homelander hated losing control, especially over The Seven.
Now some asshole was messing with who stays or goes in his team without even asking him first.
That shit crossed one of Homelander’s biggest lines.
"Oh, getting nervous now, huh?"
Hillel grinned.
...
Vought Tower.
Homelander’s private suite.
He stood in front of the huge French windows, arms crossed, staring at his own reflection in the glass.
His face was flawless, blonde hair perfectly combed.
But his expression looked like he’d swallowed ten thousand flies.
The Deep was about to get sidelined, and the order came straight from Edgar himself.
No arguments. No questions.
Bang!
The window glass exploded outward as cold wind blasted in.
Homelander’s face slowly twisted, all composure gone.
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Sorry, guys, for the sudden disappearance. I am working on an original novel, well, it’ll take like 6 months before I complete it’s 1st vol. xD.
