Free Web NovelChapter 35: Chapter 35: Massacring the Board of Directors
After Homelander left, Benjamin soon finished getting a feel for his new ability and called Edgar.
The phone rang once before it was answered.
"Hello, Benjamin."
Stan Edgar’s voice came through the receiver.
His tone was no different from usual, as if nothing had happened tonight. ƒreewebɳovel.com
Benjamin leaned back in his office chair, his feet propped on the edge of the desk, spinning an M1911 he had dug out of the armory. Under the desk lamp, the barrel gave off a cold blue sheen.
"Edgar, I’m really starting to think I should twist off your head and your family’s heads, chop them all up, and feed them to the dogs."
The other end of the line went quiet for half a second.
...
"This was an accident, Benjamin."
Edgar’s tone remained that infuriating calm.
"Madelyn was responsible for all of this. And Madelyn is dead. She got what she deserved. As for the online public opinion, Vought International will handle it."
"Only an idiot would believe you. I’d sooner believe you and your family are getting dragged into bed by ten homeless men tonight."
Benjamin did not waste time agonizing. He set the gun on the desk.
"Since you decided to make a move against me and my son, it’s only fair that I hit back once, right?"
"Calm down, Benjamin... this is all just a misunderstanding."
Benjamin hung up.
He picked up the M1911, grabbed the shield from the back of his chair and strapped it to his left arm, then walked out of the office.
Late at night, the streets of New York were nearly empty.
Benjamin did not call for a ride.
After thinking about it for a moment, he figured his speed was still not fast enough yet. It was only Lv1. He might as well take a shared bike.
He scanned one outside Vought Tower, and while he was scanning the QR code, the app even popped up with a "new user coupon" notification.
He impatiently dismissed it, swung onto the seat, and pedaled toward Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Benjamin had long since gotten the addresses of every member of the Board of Directors.
Each of their home addresses, daily routes, and security details. He had figured all of it out within his first three days on the job.
The first stop was a townhouse on the Upper East Side.
The director who lived there was Howard Kramer, sixty-three years old. He had been on Vought’s Board of Directors for twenty-two years and had been one of the directors who voted to sell Soldier Boy to the Russians back then.
Benjamin parked the shared bike on the street corner, climbed over the wall, and pried open the back door lock with the edge of his shield.
While he was at it, he knocked out the two second-tier Supes guarding the place.
Howard was in his study reading financial reports. When he heard the noise and looked up, he saw a figure in a dark green Supersuit standing in the doorway. The whiskey glass in his hand slipped loose and shattered on the floor.
"Soldier Boy, you... how did you get in?"
"I walked."
Benjamin stepped forward and crushed his Adam’s apple with one punch.
There were no extra words. Howard collapsed onto the desk, his glasses falling onto the carpet, the lenses smeared with his own blood.
The second stop was on Park Avenue.
The third was on Central Park West.
The fourth was in Tribeca.
Benjamin rode the shared bike through the Manhattan night. At each address, he parked on the corner, climbed over the wall, did the job, climbed back out, and kept riding.
The route history on the bike-sharing app drew one jagged line after another across the map of Manhattan.
By four in the morning, every name on the Board of Directors list had been crossed off except Edgar’s.
The final man’s body lay beside his own swimming pool, his head smashed open by Benjamin.
Benjamin crouched, wiped the blood from his hands on the corpse’s suit, then straightened and looked at the moon reflected in the pool.
Why leave Edgar alive?
Not because he would not kill him. Benjamin just wanted to save that old thing for last.
He wanted Edgar to watch as his Vought was brought down bit by bit by him and Homelander. He wanted Edgar to sit in his office every day, terrified, never knowing when that bald eagle diamond shield would come smashing through his door.
A punishment more painful than death was waiting for death.
Of course, Benjamin also needed Edgar alive to take the blame for Vought’s downfall, so the old man was still useful.
He rode the shared bike back downstairs to Vought Tower and locked it. The app popped up with two notifications:
"This ride totaled 47 kilometers and burned 830 calories. Congratulations on breaking your personal longest ride record!"
"Please pay $20!"
"Fuck you, twenty fucking dollars? Why doesn’t this stupid piece-of-shit app just rob me?"
Benjamin stared expressionlessly at the notification, paid it, then shoved his phone into his pocket.
His salary had not even been paid yet. Damn Edgar.
Next time, he would make Edgar advance his salary. Otherwise, he would go rob Edgar’s family.
...
Early the next morning.
The Seven conference room in Vought Tower.
The Deep stood at the door of The Seven conference room and took a deep breath.
Today, he had changed back into his blue-green Supersuit.
But his head was bald.
When he’d been fired before, he still had hair. But after spiraling into a mix of grief, rage, and full-on emo despair, The Deep had a meltdown and shaved it all off.
He had shaved off all the hair on his head and body, except for his beard.
Still, being bald had its advantages. After saving more than a hundred people yesterday, The Deep had not even needed to wash his hair.
At that moment, his bald head reflected a ridiculous shine under the conference room’s cold white lights.
Starlight sat on the left side of the long table.
When she saw The Deep walk in, her brow furrowed, and her fingers unconsciously tapped twice against the tabletop.
She had no good feelings toward this man at all.
After all, he had once tried to make a move on her in this very conference room.
But when she thought of him riding a dolphin ashore at sunset on the Atlantic yesterday, she took a deep breath and forced that disgust back down.
Forget it.
He had saved people yesterday.
The main reason was also that Soldier Boy had stopped The Deep, so he had never succeeded. Otherwise, Starlight would definitely have been far angrier.
Starlight was different from the original show right now. She had not been bullied by The Deep, had not gotten involved with Hughie, and had not seen Homelander’s vicious side. With Soldier Boy here as well, she still approved of The Seven for now.
Maeve sat beside Starlight, holding a cup of black coffee.
She glanced at The Deep’s bald head. The corner of her mouth twitched, but she did not laugh out loud.
A-Train was not there. He was still in the hospital.
Benjamin’s punch had knocked out several of his teeth, but what truly kept him bedridden and unable to move was his heart problem.
The doctors said the residual dose of Compound V Booster Shot in his body had reached a dangerous level, and he would need to remain in the hospital for observation for at least a month.
Homelander sat to the right of the head seat at the long table.
The head seat belonged to Benjamin.
Homelander swept his gaze over everyone in the conference room. No one mentioned Madelyn.
Good.
The door opened.
Benjamin walked in, his shield hanging from his left arm and a cup of iced coffee in his hand.
Ashley followed behind him. She was the junior supervisor from PR.
She hugged a stack of documents to her chest, wearing a pair of high heels that did not quite fit. She was so nervous that sweat had beaded on the tip of her nose.
"Sit."
Benjamin pointed to one of the seats at the long table.
That seat had once belonged to Madelyn.
Ashley froze.
"Sir, that was Ms. Madelyn’s..."
"Madelyn left last night. A few members of the Board of Directors did too. They went to a better place."
Benjamin sat down in the head seat and leaned his shield against the armrest.
"Starting today, you’ll take over her work. Any questions?"
Ashley nearly dropped the documents in her arms.
She fumbled to place them on the table, pulled out the chair, and sat down. The expression on her face kept switching between surprise and terror.
"N-No problem at all, sir. Thank you, sir. I won’t let you down, sir."
The Deep sat near the door along the long table, rubbing his smooth bald head, confusion written all over his face.
Madelyn left?
Several board members left at the same time? Wasn’t that a little too much of a coincidence?
Went to a better place?
He rubbed his head again and decided he did not really care.
He had never liked Madelyn much anyway, and he liked the Board of Directors even less.
The important thing was that he was back!
He was now a member of The Seven!
The Deep lowered his head and looked at the glass of water in front of him. His own bald head was reflected on the surface, like a sea urchin that had just been fished out of the water.
Finally, The Deep could not help it. Curiosity got the better of him, and he looked up to ask:
"Did they all go to Orlando?"
Benjamin and Homelander both stared hard at The Deep at the exact same time.
