Free Web NovelChapter 64: Chapter 64: The Heroes’ Dark Secrets
"Get to the point."
Benjamin cut him off impatiently.
"The point is..."
The Deep lowered his voice, his expression turning serious.
"I’ve been going to the beach a lot lately to clear my head... Some of my ’very good friends,’ uh... marine life. Dolphins and whales."
"They told me that mysterious fishing boats have been moving around at night near the edge of international waters."
"Those fishing boats may be smuggling Compound V. As for the money trail and the people behind those smuggling ships, I suspect the Church of the Collective is pulling the strings!"
Benjamin paused slightly at that.
Compound V smuggling?
Hadn’t that already stopped?
Looks like the Church of the Collective had been involved even before it was shut down...
And even now, after it had stopped, the Church of the Collective was still stirring up trouble. Either they were using leftover stock, or there was a mole inside Vought.
The Deep continued, "There’s one more thing, sir. The leader of the Church of the Collective is incredibly arrogant. They don’t just scam money and smuggle goods."
"The church’s main method is using its followers to collect and steal private information on celebrities and influential people!
"When I dealt with them before, it seemed like they had dirt on a lot of Vought executives, including members of The Seven. And... they apparently even have backups of dirt on you."
"Maybe that’s why the Church of the Collective acts so damn arrogant. If Vought refuses to cooperate with their demands, or starts investigating them, they can dump all that dirt straight to the media..."
"Of course, that might just be my guess. I still haven’t figured out what the church’s motive is. They may have had one before, since Vought was funding them, but now... I’m not really sure."
At that point, The Deep stood there anxiously, barely daring to breathe.
Sitting on the sofa, Benjamin narrowed his eyes and sank into thought.
"Dirt on me?"
Benjamin quickly sifted through the original body’s memories.
To be honest, the original Benjamin had never been some shining moral role model.
Aside from regularly bullying his teammates, if anyone really wanted to dig up scandals big enough to cause a public uproar, there were plenty. freёwebnoѵel.com
For example, Soldier Boy’s so-called "D-Day landings" and "frontline kills" during World War II were largely staged by Vought in sets built specifically for promotional filming.
His actual role on the battlefield was nowhere near as heroic as the movies made him look.
Then there was the fact that the original Benjamin had started out as an uneducated troublemaker who only knew how to cause problems.
He had an older brother who had truly been to war and earned medals. His brother was the real soldier.
Later, the original Benjamin used his father’s connections to pull strings and get both himself and his brother into the lab.
In the end, Benjamin succeeded and became the Soldier Boy admired by the masses.
As for his outstanding older brother, the experiment failed...
Soldier Boy did not really care about that rotten history.
But not caring about his reputation did not mean he could tolerate these disgusting bastards. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
In the original series, the Church of the Collective was an extremely repulsive organization.
It used mind control to brainwash Supes, politicians, business elites, and celebrities, then squeezed money out of them like crazy.
Later, the chairman of the Church of the Collective tried to threaten Edgar, only to have his head popped by the Head Popper. The series never explained exactly how Vought dealt with the aftermath, but in any case, taking out the Church of the Collective’s chairman should have been enough.
"Deep, good work," Benjamin said.
"Go tell Anika to find the headquarters address of this bullshit ’Church of the Collective’ and dig into their background."
"After that, you and A-Train are fully responsible for this matter. If you can’t handle it, I’ll step in. Consider it a test."
"Yes, sir."
The Deep nodded and quickly left the office.
...
Starlight asked curiously, "Sir, it’s hard to believe... A great World War II legend like you actually has things you don’t want people seeing?"
"Hah."
Benjamin sneered.
"Annie, don’t put me on a pedestal. In this world, every damn person has dirt on them."
"Dig deep enough with a shovel, and even the holiest priest in a church might have a few little boys hidden under his covers. Perfect people don’t exist. Everyone has a dark side."
Starlight nodded thoughtfully.
The two of them soon left headquarters and went to an extremely upscale French restaurant in downtown New York for a candlelit dinner.
Over dinner, they drank quite a bit of expensive red wine.
Afterward, they walked side by side through the bustling streets of New York.
The night breeze drifted past, and Starlight’s heart fluttered wildly. She felt nervous, but also filled with a strange sense of anticipation.
She had even started mentally rehearsing what position they should use once they got to the hotel...
"Whoosh!"
Just then, a red-and-blue figure descended from midair and landed in front of Benjamin.
It was Homelander.
What Starlight found unbelievable was that the normally arrogant Homelander was now carefully holding a seven- or eight-year-old little blond boy in his arms, one who looked almost exactly like him.
"You brought Ryan out?"
Benjamin stopped and glanced at Ryan, who was hiding in Homelander’s cape while curiously looking around at the street. His tone was calm.
"Yeah!" Homelander said with a smile.
"The second this little guy saw the outside world, he was so happy he didn’t even want to blink."
"I was planning to take Ryan to that Korean barbecue place we went to last time. Dad, wanna come?"
Benjamin nodded, then turned to ask, "What do you think, Annie? Are you going to head to the hotel, get a room, clean yourself up, and wait for me, or are you coming with the three of us?"
Starlight’s face instantly flushed red.
Seriously? Did you have to say it that bluntly?
Starlight complained inwardly.
