Free Web NovelChapter 63: Chapter 63: The Church of the Collective
Soon, the blinding camera flashes and the reporters’ noisy questions finally died down.
The PR team and cleanup crew Ashley had sent quickly took over the scene. They skillfully set up police tape and loaded the mangled remains into black body bags.
Benjamin casually tossed his bloodstained shield into the trunk of Vought’s car, opened the door, and got into the back seat.
Starlight quickly climbed in after him and sat beside him.
The car was quiet, with only the sound of Benjamin taking deep pulls from his cigar.
"Um..."
Starlight carefully broke the silence.
She turned her head, her big, beautiful eyes fixed seriously on Benjamin. "About today... thank you. Really. Thank you so much."
"If you hadn’t shown up in time, those cops wouldn’t have been the only ones. I probably would’ve been skewered by those ice spikes too. You saved my life."
"Wasn’t a big deal."
Benjamin exhaled a mouthful of blue smoke.
Starlight unconsciously leaned a little closer to him. "Tonight... can I buy you dinner? Just, just the two of us."
Benjamin raised an eyebrow and finally turned to glance at her. "You’re paying?"
"Yes, I’m paying. Anywhere you want!"
Starlight nodded hard. The way she looked at Benjamin grew brighter and brighter, even carrying a hint of fangirl worship. "You know, I honestly hate who I used to be. How the hell was I so blind that I treated a coward like The Deep as my idol? Compared to him, you’re the perfect superhero!"
...
It was like Starlight had opened the floodgates, and she began praising him nonstop.
"Soldier Boy, you’re way hotter than Deep. You’re so strong, and the way you fight is so clean and decisive! And you actually have a sense of justice. You protected those cops..."
"Stop. Right there."
At the mention of The Deep, Benjamin rubbed his temples helplessly and cut her off. "Fuck, praise me all you want, but don’t you fucking compare me to that fish-fucking asshole, okay?"
Starlight froze for a second, then couldn’t help laughing.
"Okay, I take it back."
Starlight rested her chin on one hand, her deep blue eyes staring straight at Benjamin. "But... from today on, you’re my idol, Soldier Boy. Now and in the future. Always."
"Put away those bedroom eyes, Annie."
Seeing her like that, Benjamin leaned back against the seat and teased, "You’re acting like you want to hop into bed with me right after dinner tonight. What? You don’t want to be America’s sweetheart anymore? You want to be Homelander’s stepmom?"
Benjamin had only meant it as a joke.
But to his surprise, Starlight actually froze for a second, and a blush rose across her cheeks.
She bit her sexy lip. Not only did she not deny it, she boldly met Benjamin’s gaze instead.
"If you don’t mind me... I’d be happy to."
He had already saved her twice. And after spending this time around Benjamin, she had long since fallen for this handsome older man.
Homelander: ?
"All right, all right. We’ll talk about dinner later." freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Benjamin waved a hand, changing the subject for now. After all, the driver was still in the car.
"Come back to Vought Headquarters with me first. I need to settle things with that idiot Deep."
"What do you need Deep for?" Starlight asked, puzzled.
"What else?"
Benjamin gave a cold laugh. "Find that wimp and beat his ass!"
The most unreliable person in the original series had always been The Deep.
Who would have thought he would still be just as useless now?
"Huh?"
Starlight’s mouth fell open, but for some reason, she felt a faint sense of anticipation.
...
...
Half an hour later, Vought Headquarters, Benjamin’s office.
Benjamin and Starlight had just sat down on the sofa when the office door was carefully pushed open.
The Deep, wearing his tight green scaled Supersuit, poked his head inside.
He had just come back from outside, and the moment he entered headquarters, Ashley told him Soldier Boy was looking for him.
"S-sir, you wanted to see me?"
The Deep forced out a flattering smile.
Benjamin did not waste a single word. He stood up from the sofa and grabbed The Deep by the collar.
His other fist was already raised high, ready to beat the shit out of him.
Starlight stood to the side, watching the show.
...
"Sir! Wait!"
The Deep hurriedly said, "I have a reason! There’s a really important reason I didn’t go support Starlight today!"
Benjamin lowered his hand and stared at him coldly.
"If your reason is that you ran off to some aquarium again to party with a bunch of dolphins, or some sexy octopus, then I’m not just beating your ass today. I’m slicing up all your damn fish into sashimi and feeding them to the whole company."
Beside him, Starlight licked her sexy lips.
Seeing that, The Deep shuddered from head to toe. "No! Absolutely not, sir!"
"Sir, do you remember... back when you first took over the company and kicked me out of The Seven?"
Benjamin sat back down on the sofa, lit another cigarette, and signaled with his eyes for him to keep talking.
"Well... around the time I got kicked out and was completely depressed, a very mysterious church reached out to me. They called themselves the Church of the Collective."
The Deep swallowed and spoke quickly. "Their leader told me that as long as I joined them and donated a lot of money, they could use their massive social resources and other means to help get me back into The Seven."
Benjamin frowned slightly. In the original series, The Deep had gone through something like this too. While he was being brainwashed and getting high, he even talked to his own gills and sang a song.
The Deep gave an awkward smile.
"But sir, as you know, later on, you brought me back with one phone call. So I figured this Church of the Collective was just some money-grubbing cult, and I ignored them."
