Free Web NovelChapter 18: Chapter 18: I’m Proud of Him
Late at night, in Madelyn Stillwell’s private office at Vought Tower.
Mayor Tony of Baltimore sat in the middle of the leather sofa.
Madelyn sat across from him, her skirt arranged neatly beneath her knees, a practiced professional smile on her face.
"Three hundred million a year for an exclusive contract with Nubian Prince."
Her voice was gentle.
"Baltimore’s crime rate is at an all-time high. Your voters need a superhero."
The mayor took a sip of whiskey and set the glass on the sofa armrest.
"I know about Compound V."
Madelyn’s smile did not change. But her fingers paused on the armrest.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about."
"Of course you do."
The mayor spoke with confidence, leaning back into the sofa, the corners of his mouth lifting with certainty.
"Two hundred million a year. Otherwise, this report will be on the front page of The Washington Post tomorrow."
Madelyn lowered her eyes to the envelope on the coffee table.
The office was silent for a full five seconds.
"I’ll consider your proposal."
The mayor stood, buttoned his suit jacket, and strode out of the office.
The door closed behind him.
Madelyn tossed the envelope into the shredder.
A while later, she called the mayor and negotiated a suitable price. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
...
Not far away, Homelander heard the entire conversation through his super hearing, and anger flashed in his eyes.
The warmth in those blue eyes dropped instantly to freezing. The mayor. A petty city official, daring to threaten Vought and Madelyn with a few printed pages.
His thinking followed the same path it always had. Fly over there and slice that plane in half with his laser eyes.
Clean and simple.
But then he stopped.
An image flashed through his mind.
Soldier Boy standing in the conference room, saying in a flat voice, "We exist to protect those weak little wimps."
His father had been sold to Vought for forty years.
Vought used Compound V to create supervillains, then used superheroes to stop those supervillains, all to generate profit...
Why should he kill for Vought?
Homelander slowly straightened, his cape settling behind him as the fluttering sound died away.
He lowered his head and looked at the thousands of lights spread across New York beneath his feet. Somehow, those lights looked different from before.
After watching for a while, Homelander stepped away from the window.
Forget it. He was not going.
Outside the window, New York’s night sky remained as quiet as ever.
No red cape streaked across the sky. No laser burns tore through the clouds.
The mayor’s plane landed smoothly at an airport somewhere, and neither the mayor nor his son had any idea they had just brushed past death.
...
The lights were still on in the office of the Executive Director of Supe Affairs at Vought Tower.
Starlight stood in the doorway. She had changed out of her golden Supersuit and into a simple white shirt and jeans, carrying a bottle of champagne she had brought from the banquet hall. Her blond hair fell loosely over her shoulders.
Benjamin looked up from behind his desk and glanced at the bottle in her hand. "Come in."
"Soldier Boy, I came to thank you."
Starlight walked in and set the bottle on the coffee table.
"About what happened in the meeting room tonight..."
Soldier Boy’s words had been intense.
But he had still protected her, so Starlight felt she had to come thank him.
"No need to thank me. It’s this late, and you still had time to grab a damn bottle of champagne."
Starlight looked a little awkward, but she still placed the bottle on the desk.
Was this just how Soldier Boy talked?
Benjamin poured the champagne into a glass. A moment later, he spoke again.
"He thought he was exercising some kind of privilege he was entitled to... so let me warn you, there’s more than one person like that in Vought. I count as one of the relatively normal ones. Come to me if you run into trouble. After all, I’m also the boss of The Seven, and the whole team, including that wimpy son of mine, is under my control."
"Sir, Home... Homelander is actually your son?"
Starlight was utterly shocked.
After all, the media had not broken this news yet.
"He may be a bit of a wimp, and his personality isn’t great. He gets worked up too easily when things happen. But he really is the strongest Supe in America. I’m proud of him."
Benjamin took a sip of champagne as he spoke, his face full of pride.
Not far away, Homelander heard Benjamin praising him with his super hearing.
"You too. I’m just like you. I’m the strongest Supe in America."
Homelander murmured to himself.
...
...
Starlight lowered her head and stayed silent for a while.
"Sir... I thought joining The Seven was my dream. Now I’m not sure if that dream is what I imagined it would be." freeweɓnøvel.com
"There’s nothing wrong with the dream. It’s this goddamn place that doesn’t deserve it."
Benjamin took another sip of champagne and set the glass on the coffee table.
"But you can make this place deserve it."
Starlight looked up at him.
This man, who seemed to have stepped out of a black-and-white photo in a history textbook, spoke differently from every Vought executive she had ever met.
No empty promises, no motivational nonsense, no talk of brand value or fan growth curves.
His words were rough, even intense, but they felt real.
She smiled.
"Thank you. Not just for tonight."
Benjamin said nothing. He simply raised his glass slightly in response.
Starlight looked at Benjamin’s handsome face and briefly lost herself.
Early the next morning.
Vought’s HR department issued two notices with record-breaking efficiency.
The first was public. Deep had resigned from The Seven for "personal reasons," effective immediately.
The PR department drafted a farewell statement within ten minutes, praising his outstanding contributions to marine conservation and the injuries he had sustained over years of fighting criminals.
At the end, they even added a "personal statement" from Deep, written with deep sincerity.
Of course, Deep himself had not written a single word of it.
Deep dragged his suitcase out through the side entrance of Vought Tower, white medical tape stuck across his nose and dark bruises blooming over both cheekbones.
He tried to hide them with a baseball cap and sunglasses.
Deep stood at the curb and looked back at Vought Tower. He had once thought that light belonged to him.
He sighed, opened the car door, and climbed into the back of a taxi.
The door slammed shut, and the taxi merged into Manhattan’s morning rush-hour traffic.
Fortunately, although he had been kicked out of The Seven, he was still working at Vought. Madelyn had also told him he might have a chance to return in the future, depending on his performance.
Of course, that was just polite talk.
Benjamin could not be bothered with such a minor matter. Mainly, he had disliked Deep from the start.
Of course, if Deep could turn himself around and stop being such a creep, Benjamin would not mind letting him come back.
That afternoon, Hughie came to Vought.
Hughie still came, and he received some compensation. After all, A-Train had nearly run his girlfriend over.
When Benjamin saw Hughie in the elevator, he noticed how nervous Hughie was.
"What the hell are you doing at Vought all of a sudden, you damn pussy?"
Benjamin knowingly asked.
Hughie looked a little awkward and said, "I’m here to accept the compensation from Vought."
"Take the money and go live your life. After all, you and that girlfriend of yours who was almost turned into ground meat are both still alive, aren’t you?"
Hughie nodded. "I will, sir. And thank you for saving my girlfriend’s life back then."
Benjamin patted Hughie on the shoulder. Even though he had already been very gentle, the pat still made Hughie grimace.
Benjamin had no idea how much of his advice Hughie had taken in.
Maybe he had listened. Maybe he had not. In the end, he might still end up hanging around with that cuckolded vigilante.
Still, aside from really hating that cuckolded vigilante’s speeches, Benjamin did not dislike that group of people.
Perhaps he could use them to trip up Vought and Edgar.
After all, Benjamin was not that much stronger than the original Soldier Boy. His physique was just a little stronger, and he was a little faster.
He had no idea whether Vought had some hidden backup plan to deal with him and Homelander.
Of course, even without The Boys, Homelander would take control of Vought sooner or later.
Using The Boys might simply make it happen faster.
...
Early the next morning, Translucent disappeared.
A living, breathing man, a bulletproof superhero, had suddenly vanished into thin air.
Vought and the others did not pay much attention. After all, Translucent often used his invisibility to sneak off and mess around elsewhere.
Benjamin sat behind his desk and lifted his first cup of coffee of the morning.
The plot had begun.
Yesterday, Hughie and Butcher had already made contact, and they had kidnapped Translucent.
