Free Web NovelChapter 22: 22: Did She or Did She Not?
Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
~ Alfred Pennyworth (The Dark Knight)
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It was a young female reporter with thick-rimmed glasses.
"Homelander, please answer this final question."
She pulled out her phone, opened a video, and hit play right there in front of everyone.
"What do you have to say about this?"
The footage on the screen was security camera recording.
The quality was shit, but the content hit like a bomb.
It was internal Vought Tower surveillance from the sacred Seven conference room. The Deep had his hands all over Starlight.
Starlight looked terrified, but with The Deep pulling rank on her, she had no choice but to go along with whatever the fuck he wanted.
What he wanted was obvious.
The second the video started, the entire hall went dead silent.
"Holy shit!"
"How the fuck did The Deep have the balls to do that?"
"That’s America’s sweetheart!"
"Her popularity has been through the roof lately."
"And she got sexually bullied like this just after joining The Seven?"
"This isn’t just harassment. This is straight-up assault!"
The reporter deliberately cut the video before the part where The Guardian stepped in and saved Starlight.
She left it hanging on purpose, giving all the other vultures plenty of room to spin their own nasty stories.
From just this clip, those sleazy reporters could already cook up killer headlines like:
"Starlight in Tears! America’s Sweetheart Sexually Assaulted 72 Hours After Joining The Seven — Who’s Really Behind It?"
"She’s Only 19! What the Hell Did America’s Favorite Heroine Endure at Vought Tower?"
"Internal Cleanup or Panic Damage Control? America Sees Through Homelander’s Press Conference."
Hillel sat with his new phone, watching the live feed of the press conference.
The second that reporter dropped the video, he knew Butcher had made his move.
"But that son of a bitch is really fucking sneaky."
He cut it right before I showed up. Otherwise the clip of me saving America’s sweetheart would’ve turned into a massive justice moment and flooded me with public goodwill.
After the initial silence, the press hall at Vought Tower exploded.
Reporters surged forward, microphones practically shoved down Homelander’s throat.
Cameras fired from every angle. One wrong twitch on his face and they’d turn it into front-page gold.
"Is this video real?"
"Did The Deep sexually assault Starlight?"
"Did Vought know about this? Why didn’t you call the police?"
"Homelander! You just said The Deep left because he wasn’t in the right state. Now it looks like the real reason is sexual assault! Are you covering for Vought?"
"What about A-Train? Did he do something too?"
"Is this press conference really about restructuring, or are you just doing emergency damage control?"
Homelander stood on stage with his smile frozen solid.
His brain was spinning, trying to process what the fuck just happened.
He vaguely knew The Deep had tried something with Starlight and got stopped by The Guardian.
The Deep had bitched to him about it afterward, and Homelander had even flown over to demand answers at the time.
Of course he wasn’t defending his underling.
He just wanted to chew out The Guardian for meddling in Seven’s business.
But he had no idea there was actual internal footage of The Deep assaulting Starlight.
Faced with the barrage of questions, Homelander couldn’t say shit.
It was obvious that after this press conference, his approval rating wasn’t going to rise. It was about to tank.
Homelander’s temples throbbed hard.
The voices from the crowd hammered into his ears. The reporters’ ugly, greedy faces looked fucking hideous.
A burning rage shot through him.
He wanted to laser every last one of these pieces of shit into ashes.
All they had to do was praise his glorious image. Why the fuck did they have to stir up all this shit?
Fuck the reporters! Fuck the media! Fuck The Deep!
Homelander’s last bit of sanity held back the impulse.
He still had enough sense to know that losing it here would make him public enemy number one.
"Let me clarify something first..." Homelander kept his voice as steady as possible so the mics wouldn’t pick up any shake.
"I had no knowledge of this video, and I was completely unaware of The Deep’s actions. But if this is real, it only proves that what I did today was the right call!"
"The whole reason I wanted to clean house was exactly because I refuse to let scum like that stay in The Seven."
"The Deep’s behaviour shocks and disgusts me. I will demand that Vought launch a full investigation into this and fully cooperate with the authorities for legal action."
Homelander had been spitting PR bullshit for years. His ability to think on his feet was sharp.
But the reporters weren’t about to let him off easy.
They hammered the key questions, pushing hard, hoping to crack him and make him slip up in the heat of the moment.
Was the video really unrelated to this press conference?
Anyone with half a brain figured Homelander must have known all along. That’s why he was in such a rush to boot The Deep — to get ahead of the scandal.
If that was true, then Homelander wasn’t exactly a hero either.
The whole thing had flipped from internal cleanup to emergency damage control.
Even Madelyn hadn’t seen this coming.
She turned to look at the reporter, but the woman had already vanished into the crowd.
Backstage, Ashley was panting like she was about to pass out. She kept frantically texting Madelyn, but Madelyn didn’t have time to check her phone.
The press conference wrapped up in total chaos.
Security went to check the reporter list while Homelander headed backstage, face blank the whole way.
His aura was ice cold and nasty as hell.
Hillel had gotten back to Vought early. His super hearing picked up Homelander’s racing heartbeat.
The guy was on the edge of exploding.
By the time Hillel walked into his office, Homelander was already sitting in his chair, staring straight at him.
On the nearby sofa, every member of The Seven was there except A-Train and The Deep.
Even Ashley and Madelyn had shown up.
"Ah, The Guardian’s back!"
Homelander said with a cold sneer.
"The press conference didn’t go so well, huh?" Hillel poured himself a glass of whiskey, acting like the frozen tension in the room didn’t exist.
Homelander stood up and walked over to the big window, fists already clenched tight.
"Tell me about that video. Don’t lie. I can hear all your heartbeats."
The second he said it, everyone’s face changed.
Madelyn’s heartbeat spiked.
She had personally buried that video. Only a handful of people in all of Vought knew about it: herself, Ashley, and The Guardian.
Even Edgar didn’t know. He didn’t waste time on small shit like this.
And yet this "small shit" had just blown up the entire press conference.
"You think there’s a mole inside Vought?" Hillel said, cutting straight to what Homelander was thinking.
Maeve spoke first.
"Homelander, you know me. Even though we broke up, I wouldn’t pull some backstabbing shit like this to fuck you over."
Homelander looked at her and nodded.
Maeve had no reason to lie.
What about Black Noir?
Black Noir just shook his head at Homelander.
[You know me. I’m mute.] freewebnσvel.cøm
"Black Noir wouldn’t betray me," Homelander said with a nod.
"Then what about Starlight?" She was the one he suspected most.
Starlight had direct beef with The Deep. She might not frame him on purpose, but she definitely had motive to destroy him.
"It wasn’t me!" Annie shook her head fast. "Homelander, you know me. If I wanted revenge on The Deep, I would’ve leaked the full video. This clip just dragged me through the trauma all over again."
She shoved her phone at Homelander.
Her social media page was open.
The comments were all the same: asking if Starlight had actually let The Deep fuck her.
She really fucking didn’t!
The Deep kept pushing, but she never gave in!
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