Vought International Side Story: Joining Vought

"Vought International is a pharmaceutical company, and these superheroes are the least valuable asset." In his office on the top floor of the mental hospital, Schiller stood by the window and said to a woman behind his desk.

"That's no excuse for you to kill them at will. You will pay the price." The woman was expressionless. She was wearing a Walter Corporation uniform with a name tag on her chest that read "Director Madelyn."

Schiller killed Storm in the mental hospital, and Vought International had already located the location the instant Storm died.

Because this mental hospital is a secret experimental site, they cannot use large-scale weapons to attack it. They can only send a team of Superpower User, but everyone who comes here has disappeared without a trace.

It seems to be a secret trap. When the Vought Corporation received news of their deaths, they were unable to analyze how they died from the last footage.

Vought International had planned to send the Seven, but they've recently run into trouble. A group of people, whose origins are unknown, are constantly causing trouble for the superheroes. First, the Transparent Man went missing, and then internal conflicts arose within the Seven. Vought International had no choice but to deal with their problems first.

Until one day, in the final death video of one of the members of the last team of superhumans sent here, a man appeared who called himself "Dr. Rodriguez" and wanted to talk to the Vought Corporation.

This footage is terrifying. A man named Dr. Rodriguez is dissecting a corpse wearing a video recording device while holding a scalpel and talking non-stop.

This wasn't the first time Madeline had heard this phrase from Schiller. In this video, Schiller's opening line was still. "Vought International is a pharmaceutical company, and superheroes are the least valuable asset."

"You could have used them in much better ways, but look what you've done!"

"We created a bunch of super babies, and we have to take care of their eating, drinking, and toileting needs, and even their mood and whether they are willing to work."

"If someone is heartbroken, you have to comfort them; if two people are arguing, you have to mediate; if someone doesn't want to work, you have to encourage them..."

Schiller turned back to Madeline and said, "You think you're their supervisor, their boss, but in reality, you're just a nanny who solves all the trivial problems, Ms. Madeline. Ask yourself... do they deserve it?"

Madeline's expression grew increasingly cold, but Schiller walked to her side with a smile, the crisp sound of his leather shoes on the floor echoing in Madeline's ears, like the chimes she often heard in her high-rise offices in the Waterhouse Building.

Whenever Madeline stood there, the entire bustling city was laid out before her, making her feel like a superior being, having achieved what countless people could never attain in their entire lives, because she could order those powerful superheroes around at will.

Madeline knew that this peaceful time wouldn't last long. Soon, her phone would ring again, and the person on the other end would tell her what mess Homelander had made, or which of the Seven had gotten into a fight over some conflict...

Meanwhile, Schiller's words kept echoing in Madeline's ears. "I know you have listening devices on you, and there are more Vought executives listening to our conversation, but that doesn't matter, because I don't want to undermine you."

"It's not that I want you to join me, it's that I want to join you."

"Honestly, I've had enough of these superheroes, and I've had enough of you guys who elevate them to the heavens. You and I both know this situation can't last much longer. They're just a bunch of experimental subjects for drug trials, and they're asking for too much."

Through Madeline's earpiece, the signal traveled thousands of miles, and in a conference room, a Black man holding a pen paused for a moment.

"Maintaining the perfect superhero idol image requires too much from the company and yields too little. They are becoming increasingly arrogant and extreme, and accidents will continue to happen. If they don't change, you'll have a lot of headaches to deal with in the future."

"Walter Corporation is a pharmaceutical company. They can produce as many experimental subjects as they need. They are just expendable resources. Why give them so many human rights?"

"They should be kept in the experimental chambers and deployed to do your work when necessary; otherwise, just let them lie there."

"If someone doesn't complete their task well, you can simply throw them into the incinerator and replace them with another consumable. Isn't that the most cost-effective way?"

"Oh, I know. Maybe your drugs are expensive, and it's not easy to cultivate powerful superheroes, but that's okay. Is the current Seven really as perfect as you advertise?"

"Since it's all deception and packaging, what difference does it make whether the raw materials used for packaging are strong or weak? If they're weaker, they might be easier to control, or at least make less noise when thrown into the incinerator."

"Of course you have that right. Those who object and are unwilling to let superheroes become weapons simply cannot understand the contributions you have made to human civilization."

"I don't understand what you're saying." Madeline stood there, expressionless, but from the slight twitching of her eyes, one could tell that even though she worked in such a company, what Schiller was saying was a bit too inhuman.

"WOT is a legal and compliant company, and we have always taken human development as our responsibility."

"Of course, sacrificing some test subjects for the development of all humanity is only right, isn't it?" Schiller walked up to Madeline, very close to her, and looked into Madeline eyes as he spoke.

"I know I've killed a lot of these consumables, but it's okay. I can compensate you with more. As long as you let me participate in this game, I'm willing to spend a lot of money to buy a ticket."

As he spoke, Schiller produced a thin test tube from somewhere and waved it in front of Madeline. The cold light shone through the test tube onto Madeline's face, leaving a bright spot between her eyes.

"Infinite Serum, a drug that can greatly extend human lifespan, but will not grant any superpowers."

The Black man in the conference room tapped his pen on the table with a "click," and Madeleine, who was in the room, asked, "How do you prove it?"

"Guess how long I've lived?"

Madeline sized Schiller up, estimating he was probably in his early thirties. She didn't speak, but gestured to Schiller with her eyes. Schiller shook his head and said, "No, I was born in the winter when the Battle of Stalingrad began, and I lived in East Berlin after the war..."

"Perhaps I can't prove it with words, but I can provide a list of spies from various countries during the Soviet Union era, which has never been made public before. Vought can go to the CIA to verify whether the list I provided is correct."

Schiller walked back to his desk, took out a few sheets of paper, and placed them in front of Madeline. Madeline continued to stare into his eyes, then took the papers with her hand. She discovered that they were full of names and resumes.

Madeline took out a pair of glasses and put them on. The contents of the paper were scanned into the glasses and then transmitted to the conference room at the headquarters of the Vought Corporation. The leader who was monitoring everything, the black man with the pen, quickly investigated and confirmed the information.

Meanwhile, Schiller tapped the test tube and said, "I think, how could a globally renowned pharmaceutical company not have a research and development team for longevity drugs?"

"You should have achieved some results, right? But I think the biggest challenge in increasing human lifespan is not how to extend lifespan, but how to extend lifespan without side effects."

"Many of the superhumans you've created have longer lifespans, but in your view, having superpowers is actually a drawback because it's completely uncontrollable."

"If this medicine cannot be used on yourselves, then those you want to impress with the medicine will not buy it."

"I can provide you with a medicine for you to study. Soon you will find that it is effective, and then we can talk again."

When Madeline left, she took a vial of Infinite Serum. She was still surprised as she walked out of the mental hospital.

She hadn't expected to get it so easily. She thought that at least the Seven would have to be sent to engage in a violent exchange with Schiller before she could force him to hand it over.

However, the ease with which she obtained it made her question the potion's effectiveness, but Schiller wasn't worried because the Infinite Serum he gave Madeline was indeed genuine.

That was something he asked Nick for in the Marvel Universe. Nick was able to live from World War II to the present because of this drug. He asked Nick for 100 sets, which sounds like a lot, but it's actually not that many, because this drug must be injected continuously to prolong life.

Schiller was not worried that the Vought Corporation would directly produce the formula for this serum. The Infinite Serum, also known as the SSS Formula, has a complicated origin. It was originally developed by Newton to prolong the life of the great prophet Nostradamus. However, it had a very serious side effect: although people could live, their brains would become demented.

Later, human scientists obtained a portion of the Infinity Formula and then developed a new version of the SSS Formula, which can infinitely slow down the aging process of humans. The Winter Soldier also injected himself with this serum, so he can also live forever like Captain America.

However, as mentioned before, this drug must be injected continuously to maintain the youthful state, and once the injections are stopped, aging will accelerate until death.

Schiller had already confirmed with Nick when he was in the Marvel Universe that without the Infinity Formula, it was absolutely impossible to create this potion. It was more of a mystery than a pharmacological science.

Sure enough, Schiller soon received an offer to join the Vought Corporation, but he knew that the Vought Corporation was not sincerely looking for him to join; they just wanted to get the secret of Schiller's immortality from him in order to develop the perfect longevity elixir.

The Vought Corporation confirmed that the drug was effective, and that the outdated intelligence information Schiller provided to them was entirely true, even containing information unknown to the CIA. They wanted to deal with Schiller in the same way they dealt with superheroes: first win him over, then control him.

And so, Schiller became the planning director of the Superhero Management Department at Vought International, half a rank below Madeline.

However, Madeline is in charge of all fieldwork and internal affairs for the Seven, while Schiller's department is responsible for packaging, or rather, forgery.

That's right, this department is responsible for weaving the heroic stories of the Seven. It's a completely clerical job, with no contact with the superheroes. Perhaps this is a position that Vought International created to keep Schiller at bay.

But it doesn't matter. Compared to serving those superheroes by feeding them and taking care of their every need, Schiller is more suited to be a director, or rather... a conman.

This is an extra chapter for those who voted for August.

Correction after midnight