Free Web NovelChapter 21: 21: Homelander’s Press Conference
To change the world, you don’t need everyone’s approval; you only need to control what they believe.
~ Me again. Fuck, I’m getting good at these lol.
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The press conference went off as planned.
The hall on the first floor of Vought Tower was packed wall to wall.
The buzz around this press conference blew way past expectations.
Vought had never voluntarily held a press conference about internal restructuring before.
For decades their PR game had been steady as hell.
Now they were about to air their own dirty laundry?
Media outlets from all over America swarmed like sharks that smelled blood.
Hillel skipped it.
He was over in Queens.
A supe in Flushing had gone full psycho and turned three people into actual glass.
Police had already locked down six blocks around the scene, but they were useless against this guy.
Bullets hitting him just turned to glass.
Grenades did jack shit.
The second shrapnel touched his body it shattered into glass shards too.
The guy even had crazy resistance to tranq darts.
It was straight-up bullshit.
Hillel had seen the warning pop up in Vought’s task system yesterday. The vitrifying supe in Flushing had been on their watchlist for a week and was ready to pop off any second.
Hillel timed his arrival to line up exactly with the press conference. freewebnoveℓ.com
Right now he stood in the middle of the street in Flushing, facing a bald guy whose whole body gave off this weird transparent shine.
Over a dozen news cameras surrounded them.
Vought’s media team was live-streaming the whole thing.
"Brother, calm down." Hillel held his hands up, showing he wasn’t looking for a fight.
"Don’t come closer!" the bald guy screamed, waving his arms like a maniac. "Anything I touch turns to glass! I can’t control it! I swear I didn’t mean to!"
Hillel got it.
For supes who got Compound V, the timing of their powers waking up was completely random and out of their control.
In the original show, Cate from Gen V accidentally killed her own brother. Marie Moreau killed her mom.
Plenty of supes hurt their families when their powers first kicked in.
That shit left them starving for love.
Just like Billy Butcher said, Compound V had already leaked into the general population.
More supes were gonna keep popping up.
"I know you can’t control it," Hillel said, stepping closer slowly.
"But right now you need to let me help you."
"You can’t help me! No one can help me!"
The bald guy’s hand brushed against a nearby fire hydrant.
The metal instantly turned transparent and then shattered, water and glass shards exploding outward at the same time.
Those shards flew straight toward the reporters, but Hillel blurred forward and blocked them all.
"Fuck! That guy is a monster!"
"A super terrorist!"
"Ahh!"
The glass bounced off his uniform without leaving a single mark.
The reporters behind him panicked and scattered in every direction.
"Quiet!"
Hillel’s voice cut through everything like a blade.
The whole street went dead silent.
He turned back to the bald guy, voice softer.
"What’s your name?"
"...Matthew."
"Matthew, your power going out of control isn’t your fault."
Hillel walked right up to him and held out his hand.
"It’s fine if you touch me. My body won’t turn to glass."
Matthew stared at the hand, his whole body shaking.
"Are... are you sure?"
"I am."
A Viltrumite soldier’s cellular structure was locked down tight, completely different from anything on Earth.
The vitrification power worked by rearranging molecular structure, but a Viltrumite’s molecules were locked in place. Nothing from outside could touch them.
Matthew hesitated for a long time, then finally reached out and grabbed Hillel’s hand.
Nothing happened.
Tears immediately welled up in Matthew’s eyes.
"It’s okay now." Hillel kept holding his hand. "You haven’t hurt anyone."
The cameras on the scene caught the whole thing.
The Guardian had walked right up and touched the out-of-control supe with his bare hands, stayed completely fine, and actually calmed the guy down.
...
Meanwhile.
Vought Tower.
Homelander stood on the podium, bathed in a circle of bright lights that made him look like a golden statue.
Perfect from every fucking angle.
"Today, I stand here not as the leader of The Seven, but as a fellow American."
He started reading the script the PR team had written for him, laying on the emotion thick.
"The Seven stands for more than just power. It stands for responsibility, justice, and trust."
"When I realized some members no longer lived up to those standards, I made a tough but necessary call."
"Starting today, A-Train and The Deep will officially leave The Seven."
Flashes exploded from the crowd as reporters jumped up, shouting questions.
This was massive breaking news they could spin into exclusives.
It was rare as hell for The Seven to boot two supes back to back.
And one of them was A-Train.
Everyone knew Homelander had already kicked out Marathon. Now A-Train too?
Who the hell was taking A-Train’s spot? Supersonic?
The media was salivating.
"Homelander! What’s the real reason A-Train and The Deep are leaving?"
"Does this have anything to do with that video of A-Train doing drugs that’s been all over the internet?"
"How are you filling the empty spots in The Seven? Are you looking at Supersonic and other activists?"
Homelander kept his perfect smile and answered them one by one.
"A-Train and The Deep are both great supes, but their recent form hasn’t been good enough for a high-pressure team like The Seven."
"This decision is the responsible thing for them and for the public."
"As for the open spots, we’re already working with Godolkin University to find the next generation of supes who excel in every area: morals, brains, body, looks, and work ethic."
"The Seven won’t come out weaker. We’ll only get stronger."
The reporters weren’t satisfied. fгeewebnovёl.com
Homelander had given them almost nothing. It wasn’t enough.
But their time was running out.
"Last question, Homelander. Did you face any pressure from Vought’s higher-ups when you made this decision?"
"No one pressured me." Homelander had expected this one.
"This was my call as leader. I will personally protect the purity of The Seven."
The empty words got a big round of applause.
Homelander stood on stage, soaking in the flashes and clapping, a warm rush of satisfaction spreading through his chest.
This shit felt fucking amazing!
Real-time approval tracking showed his personal favorability had jumped 2.3 points in just thirty minutes.
Even better than Vought’s PR team had predicted.
The Guardian was right.
This move worked like a charm.
He was already thinking ahead. Could he pull off a few more stunts like this to keep pushing that number higher?
Madelyn sat in the front row, forcing a perfect smile.
In reality her nails were digging hard into her palms.
With Homelander pulling this kind of shit, Vought’s stock was definitely going to tank short-term, and she had no idea how she’d explain it to the board.
On top of that, the brands tied to A-Train and The Deep had already fired off lawyer letters demanding breach of contract money.
Early numbers put Vought’s direct losses at no less than 800 million dollars.
The indirect damage was still growing.
But Homelander didn’t give a single fuck about the numbers.
He only cared about himself.
A spark of real resentment flared up in Madelyn.
The press conference had dragged on for nearly an hour.
The Q&A was almost over. Backstage, Ashley let out a big sigh of relief. Looked like her job was safe for at least another day.
She wouldn’t have to go interview at Disney.
Then another reporter stood up...
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