Free Web NovelChapter 14: 14: Ragebaiting Homelander. Stan, we’re in deep sh*t!
Mercy is a weakness. It invites chaos.
~Power Philosophy
____
"Only you know if it’s fake or not. Lies don’t hurt people; the truth is the sharper blade." Hillel didn’t give a shit that his phone got wrecked.
He had cash to burn now anyway. He could grab a few new ones later.
"This is all your fucking fault! If it wasn’t for you, these people wouldn’t be piling on A-Train and starting to curse me out too!"
Homelander kept shifting the blame like always.
"That’s not how it works. The people who are shitting on you had started hating you for a long time; they just weren’t getting an opportunity. And don’t get it wrong, even if nothing happened with A-Train, they’d just find another excuse to shit on you."
Hillel’s one line snapped Homelander back to reality.
Made sense. Haters gonna hate. They don’t need a real reason.
"Then what do you suggest I do?"
"Simple. People think there’s rot inside The Seven? Launch an internal investigation and use it to boot out the dirty ones hiding in the background."
Homelander gave him a skeptical look, like he was thinking, "You take me for a fucking idiot?"
That would just stir up a massive shitstorm! Who had time to prove their own innocence? He’d probably end up exposing his own ass instead of saving his rep.
"Hey, don’t get impatient again!"
Hillel slapped a hand on Homelander’s shoulder, buddy-buddy style. "Hear me out first!"
Homelander frowned but didn’t shrug the hand off.
"An internal investigation doesn’t have to be a fucking mess. You’re the leader of The Seven. You get to decide who stays and who gets kicked, right?"
"Hmm."
"Good. Now think about it. Inside The Seven, who actually helps you, and who’s just dead weight?"
Homelander didn’t answer out loud, but he knew exactly who the dead weight was.
The Deep was pure dead weight—cowardly, dumb, with those gross fish-like organs, always hanging around sea creatures, horny as hell that he even fucked fish,
A-Train was dead weight too. Dude did so many drugs he almost killed someone, then got publicly humiliated by a rookie.
Translucent was the absolute worst; his only use was turning invisible to spy on people in the bathroom.
Black Noir... Efficient, but he is Edgar’s loyal dog through and through.
The only one Homelander actually gave a damn about was Maeve.
Maeve was the missing piece for his perfect partner fantasy.
Too bad after she saw his real side, she started preferring pussy instead.
"See? You already know it deep down." Hillel watched the shifts in Homelander’s face and kept pushing.
"What good does it do you keeping The Deep and A-Train in The Seven? Their scandals could blow up any second. When that happens, the media won’t hit them first—they’ll come straight for you."
"Homelander, did you know what they were doing behind the scenes?"
"You gonna say ’I had no idea’ and get called clueless, or admit ’I knew all along’ and get branded their fucking accomplice?"
Homelander’s temple pulsed; Hillel had nailed it dead center.
No matter which way he answered, he’d be the one screwed.
"But what if you get ahead of it?" Hillel changed his tone, dropping his voice a notch.
"If you step up, personally announce an internal cleanup of The Seven, and personally boot out the rotten ones, how will the public see you?" freēwebnovel.com
"They’ll think, ’Homelander is the real hero. He doesn’t just protect the country—he keeps his own team pure, stands for absolute justice, and doesn’t let his own people get away with shit.’"
"That kind of image beats filming a hundred or a thousand promo spots."
Homelander’s breathing picked up. He knew Hillel’s plan actually made sense.
Seeing Homelander bite, Hillel felt a rush of satisfaction inside.
He knew this guy’s personality way too well.
Homelander didn’t give a fuck about The Deep, A-Train, or even Madelyn. Only one thing mattered to him.
Whether the public loved him.
"But... what about Vought?"
This was exactly the line Hillel had been waiting for.
"Vought?" He let out a short laugh.
"Bro, you really think Vought gives a shit about your image?"
Confusion crossed Homelander’s face. "I am Homelander, Vought’s biggest asset. As long as I exist, Vought exists!"
"You’re wrong. Vought doesn’t care about you one bit. They only care about how much money The Seven brand pulls in."
"The Deep’s merch brings in $300 million a year. A-Train’s collab sneakers do $500 million."
"Guess why Vought never reprimanded them before? Not even a single word, even after they had to threaten certain people and pay compensation to those who had happened to record Deep going balls deep inside 3 dolphins. Countless times over the past years, yes, I’ve seen the files.." free𝑤ebnovel.com
"Get my point? You aren’t superheroes, but products. Besides, weren’t there Supes at Vought before you?"
"Don’t forget, Black Noir is old-school. He used to run with Soldier Boy!"
"As for your dropping approval and fucked-up image, that’s your problem, not theirs. Once a product stops selling, Vought just swaps it out. They don’t care if the product lives or dies."
"In other words, if they can replace A-Train and replace The Deep, why can’t they replace Homelander?"
"You think you’re special? Before you there was Soldier Boy. After you, guys like me exist. You really believe Vought doesn’t have some secret lab cooking up Supes who are stronger and easier to control than you?"
Homelander’s face turned uglier by the second. He didn’t explode or lash out at Hillel.
He only trembled slightly at the lips. "Madelyn wouldn’t do that to me!"
Hillel snickered inside, but kept his face cold. "Madelyn has a kid. Who do you think she cares about more, that child or you?"
"You’re just a job to her. That kid is her real family."
"Impossible!" Homelander looked like he was about to cry.
He knew deep down that Hillel was right, but he couldn’t bring himself to face the worst.
This was the world’s strongest supe—a pathetic, lab-made man in both body and mind.
"Have you ever really thought about what your relationship with Vought actually is?"
Hillel stopped pushing on the family angle and dropped another heavy question instead.
Homelander stayed silent.
"You’re the leader of The Seven, the strongest superhero in the country, the guardian in the public’s hearts."
"But on Vought’s balance sheet, you’re just an SKU number."
"Your face gets slapped on lunchboxes, your name printed on T-shirts, your voice stuffed into dolls."
"They chop you into a billion pieces, slap a price tag on every single one, and sell you to the whole fucking world."
"And then? All the money goes to Vought, and the glory goes to... heh, glory doesn’t last."
"Once you fuck up, infamy nails you to the cross and you never come back down. You know how it goes—the public loves building gods, and they love tearing them down even more."
"You two aren’t partners. We usually call this..."
Hillel paused for a beat.
"Parasitism."
Parasitism! Parasitism!! Parasitism!!!
The word exploded in Homelander’s head. He had walked straight into Hillel’s trap.
Homelander’s pupils shook.
[Key Character: Homelander]
[Emotional Volatility: Self-doubt / Mental dependency wavering / Sense of belonging to Vought wavering]
[Ability Points Gained: +4,217]
Current Ability Points: 68,070 / 100,000
Four thousand points. As expected from Homelander!
"I think my words hit you pretty hard. Go back and think it through."
Hillel gave Homelander’s shoulder one last pat and walked off.
The hallway had no cameras anyway. If Homelander lost his shit later, what the fuck did it have to do with him?
He and Homelander were oil and water, mortal enemies!
No way he’d actually meant any of those heartfelt words!
...
The next morning.
Vought Tower, Madelyn’s office.
The phone rang.
Madelyn picked up. After the first few words, her face twisted into something ugly.
"What do you mean Homelander wants to do an internal reorganization of The Seven?"
"And what the hell is ’cleaning house’ supposed to mean?"
"What exactly is he planning?!"
Madelyn slammed the phone down and dialed another number.
"Stan, we’re in deep shit!"
This time she was genuinely panicked. Homelander had gone and caused a massive mess.
___
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