Shipping CP?

"Alright, baby, see you tonight~"

Early in the morning, Li Wei received a call from Firecracker. The other said he missed him, had even dreamed about him last night.

Li Wei didn't quite believe it, but that didn't stop him from finding the guy for some fun.

As a superhero, his energy was astonishingly abundant. Beating up ordinary old black thugs couldn't vent it at all. He was finally starting to understand, just a little, why other supers fell so deep into depravity.

But he suddenly felt like he might have too much on his plate lately. Besides Vought International's filming assignments, daily patrols in New Jersey, recreational beatdowns with The Boys, building rapport with Starlight, and optimizing his own powers as Angel—all of it demanded a certain chunk of his time.

And that didn't even include rendezvousing with Firecracker, keeping tabs on Hughie and the other original protagonists' moves, or participating in The Boys' Summit.

The trouble was, none of these could easily be shelved or cut short. It was a real headache.

After mulling it over, Li Wei figured there was only one path to gaining more free time: become one of The Seven, just like Starlight.

Unlike the other two or three hundred active supers, The Seven never got shipped elsewhere. They stayed put at Vought headquarters.

But that meant inevitably ending up right in front of that giant baby, Homelander. Which was also a headache.

If his abilities weren't strong enough, blindly licking Homelander's boots wouldn't guarantee his safety either.

In the original story, The Deep practically licked from start to finish. What did he get? During a Seven meeting, Homelander made him give A-Train oral.

That's right—even as a fellow member of The Seven, and both of them men, Homelander never truly cared about him.

Let alone the fact that Li Wei couldn't stoop to The Deep's level. The odds of a direct conflict would skyrocket.

So after all that thinking, he still had to boost his own strength as much as possible!

Just then, a news report on TV caught his attention.

Baltimore's mayor, Steve, along with his son and the entire flight crew, had tragically died in a plane crash.

Li Wei immediately realized—Homelander had made his move.

This Steve had somehow gotten wind of Compound V and tried to use it to negotiate with Madelyn, demanding a lower signing fee for the city's supers.

By all accounts, he was a decent mayor, since the higher the signing fee, the bigger the kickback Vought gave him.

After some heated back-and-forth, Madelyn agreed.

But unfortunately, their negotiation had caught the attention of that giant baby, Homelander.

Starved for maternal affection since childhood and addicted to drinking milk, Homelander took it upon himself to act on Madelyn's behalf—before she'd even said a word—and with such brutal methods.

Not only did the mayor die, but everyone on the plane became collateral damage.

From this, it was clear Homelander didn't see most ordinary people as human at all. Even a mayor, he'd kill without a second thought.

Letting out a small sigh, Li Wei first attended an event Vought had organized, then helped the city arrest a few bank robbers.

These were real criminals this time, not actors Vought had hired.

Li Wei didn't spend every day playing house with Vought. Occasionally, he actually helped the government solve real problems.

Similarly, other states and cities had the same situation. Otherwise, why would local governments spend so much money every year, just to let Vought and officials pocket it all?

Even if some places had a tacit understanding to scam the government together, they still had to keep up appearances.

After wrapping all that up, he chatted with Starlight online for a while, then waited for evening to go find Firecracker.

It wasn't just about boosting his abilities that he'd made the date. He was busy every day, piling up a lot of stress. Finding a chance to blow off some steam was only natural, right?

Just then, he suddenly got a call from Ashley.

Ashley cut straight to the chase: "Angel, what do you think of Starlight?"

With just that one sentence, Li Wei had a rough guess, but he stayed cautious: "In what regard?"

"From yesterday—God, haven't you been online today?"

"As of now, your rescue video has over a hundred million views. You both use light powers, and it's your first team-up. People love teamwork!"

"Starlight is hugely popular with conservative Christians, and a lot of your fans are Asian. That's always been a demographic we've wanted to target!"

Even just on the phone, Li Wei could picture exactly how excited Ashley was right now. She was probably practically dancing.

"So, you're suggesting we fake a relationship? But she's one of The Seven. That's against the rules, isn't it?"

The Seven only faked relationships with other Seven members. The earliest was Soldier Boy from Payback with the Crimson Countess, then Homelander with Maeve.

And honestly, Li Wei was a little resistant.

It might help him get closer to Starlight and copy her powers.

But he didn't want to give up the whole forest for one tree—especially not a dry, twiggy girl like Starlight.

He also had to consider Firecracker's feelings.

Back when Firecracker was thirteen, competing in the same regional qualifier as Starlight for the national tour, Starlight had falsely accused Firecracker of sleeping her way to the finals by letting the judges take turns with her.

Spreading a lie was easy. Clearing it up was much harder.

And honestly, not many people really cared about the truth. The gossip-hungry masses just wanted the drama, like no one cared how many bowls of noodles were actually in Sixth Son's stomach.

Needless to say, with that rumor floating around, Firecracker lost her shot at that crucial competition, and the slander followed her ever since.

Her fall to the bottom of the third-tier supers was directly tied to that incident.

If we're talking about ability, there are plenty of third-tier supes weaker than Firecracker.

That's exactly why Li Wei felt zero guilt about him trying to mess with Starlight.

Spreading rumors like that when she was just a teenager—how could her heart really be innocent and pure? None of them are good people.

"We're conducting an evaluation, so in your next solo movie, we've decided to have Starlight make a cameo. Consider it a stepping stone for her own solo film."

Ashley didn't deny her intentions, and to be honest, this wasn't a decision she could make alone. It also came from her top boss, Vought's Vice President—Madelyn.

Li Wei understood that. Without a good excuse to refuse, he just went along with it.

Homelander wasn't that twisted at first—at least he didn't casually kill other supes. It wasn't until that old woman he was obsessed with, Madelyn, was killed by his own hand that his personality started to change.

"Got it. I'll cooperate."