Can I Join The Seven Now?

"First, I need to get Vought to invite me to their headquarters..."

Jupiter thought it over, then casually pulled out his phone, logged into Vought's official website for The Seven, and recorded a short video.

"My name is Jupiter Grayson. You can call me Free Man. As you can see, I'm of Asian descent. My parents are divorced, and my Asian mother raised me all by herself..."

Jupiter rambled on and on into his phone, basically stacking up buffs for himself.

Nobody understood Free Nation's playbook better than Jupiter. Nothing worked better than a good stack of buffs.

At Vought, the employees responsible for reviewing recruitment videos for The Seven opened their computers as usual and started clicking through the submissions. Ever since Lamplighter retired because he couldn't make enough money...

Ahem. Ever since Lamplighter retired because he was overworked, they received tens of thousands of introduction videos every day. Everyone eagerly declared that they could take Lamplighter's place and become a new member of the superhero Seven. But honestly, every single video said more or less the same thing and completely failed to meet their recruitment standards...

That is, until today, when a Vought employee came across Jupiter's video. He watched it while sipping his coffee.

"I'm from a single-parent family, I'm a vegetarian, and I'm an environmentalist..."

In the video, Jupiter introduced himself with calm confidence.

At first, it was fine. But then things got increasingly ridiculous...

"Pfft..."

"WTF?! We have to show this video to the boss..."

As the reviewer listened to Jupiter piling on one buff after another, he was so startled that he spat out the coffee in his mouth.

A day later...

"Mr. Grayson..."

"I'm Ashley Barrett, the dedicated secretary for the superheroes at Vought. You contacted our company."

Vought, the world's largest superhero manufacturer and the behind-the-scenes sponsor of The Seven. At that moment, a white woman with chestnut-brown hair styled in a short, tousled perm was standing outside Vought's building, meeting with Jupiter.

"I assume that since you've come to see me, you watched the short introduction video I sent your company, right?"

Jupiter, wearing a white bodysuit with a big F emblazoned on the chest, looked at the woman in front of him and asked.

"Of course..."

"Of course I watched your introduction video."

"You're of mixed Asian descent, from a single-parent household, your mother is a strong, independent woman, and you're a vegetarian and an environmentalist. You also have all kinds of superpowers, and you grew up in a Black neighborhood..."

Ashley rattled off more than fifty outlandish labels as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. She had to say, Fuck. This man had way too many buffs. In the end, even their boss, Mr. Edgar, had been alerted. He'd ordered her to personally receive the man before her, who called himself Free Man, Jupiter Grayson.

"That's right. Everything you said is true."

"Then why don't you invite me inside?"

Jupiter looked at Ashley and asked.

"Of course. Please, come in..."

Ashley wiped the sweat from her forehead and led Jupiter into the Vought building.

"Mr. Grayson, here's the thing. First, I'd like to thank you for submitting your application to the Vought Family. I believe you chose to apply because you have complete faith in the Vought Family, and I hope you'll understand our work and our rules..."

Ashley led Jupiter to the lobby of The Seven. As she walked ahead of him, she continued explaining things.

"All right, all right. I think I get the gist of what you're saying. So, can you tell me whether I made the cut?!"

Jupiter casually sat down in Homelander's chair, crossed his legs, and looked at Ashley with an air of arrogance, as if he weren't a guest of the Vought Family but its owner.

"I'm sorry. What I mean is, there's a young woman named Starlight who's a better fit for our standards. But that doesn't mean we're rejecting you. You can still work for Vought. We have plenty of other superhero teams besides The Seven, and we can build a team just for you. I mean, a superhero team that markets your Asian heritage. What do you think?"

Ashley looked at Jupiter expectantly. She could practically smell money on him.

"Maybe you didn't understand..."

"What I mean is, I'm only joining The Seven."

Jupiter sat in the swivel chair with his legs crossed and flashed Ashley a sunny smile.

"Then we have nothing to discuss!"

"There are only seven positions on The Seven. With Starlight already selected, the roster is full. You'll have to look elsewhere. But before you leave, please sign a statement confirming that the Vought Family did everything it could to recruit you."

Ashley smoothed her short hair and pulled a document out of her bag.

"I don't think there's any need to sign that document."

Jupiter looked at the document Ashley had brought out and shook his head.

"You're making this very difficult for us."

At his words, Ashley's expression immediately fell. Jupiter wasn't going to work for the Vought Family, but he also wouldn't sign the document. That put her in a bind and could bring the company a lot of bad publicity.

"It's not difficult. The real reason I can't join The Seven is that there are only seven spots, right?"

Jupiter sat comfortably in the swivel chair and asked Ashley.

"Of course..."

Ashley nodded, her expression haughty as a little swan's.

"Since we can't rename the team The Eight, there's only one way for me to join The Seven: after Starlight fills the vacant spot, The Seven will need to have another spot open up."

As he spoke, Jupiter rose from his seat and walked toward the entrance to The Seven's meeting hall.

"What are you going to do?"

After hearing Jupiter's words, Ashley's expression changed slightly. A bad feeling suddenly came over her.

"Shh..."

Jupiter heard Ashley's question, blew lightly on his finger to tell her to be quiet, then walked straight over to a corner of the hall.

"..."

Ashley didn't know what Jupiter was planning, but she still clamped her mouth shut and even held her breath without thinking.

"How can there be seven people on The Seven with Starlight included? There are only six right now!"

"Homelander, Queen Maeve, A-Train, Black Noir, The Deep, Starlight, and me. That's seven."

As he said this, Jupiter raised his hand toward the empty space in front of him.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be standing here naked, eavesdropping on our conversation."

Jupiter spoke, then suddenly threw a punch at the air.

The next second, a pool of blood appeared on the floor of The Seven's meeting hall.

"Now count them. Are there only six people left in The Seven, Starlight included? So, can I join now?!"

Jupiter casually grabbed a communal paper towel from the hall and wiped his bloodstained glove.

"Oh my God! Did you just kill The Invisible Man?!"

Ashley stared at the mangled heap on the floor, only now realizing what Jupiter had just done.

"What Invisible Man? He was just a supervillain trying to steal the Vought Family's confidential information. Don't worry. I just killed the criminal with my own hands..."

Jupiter smiled lightly at Ashley. Having watched every episode of the Outlaw Zhang San series, he knew how to arm himself with the law and protect himself. He wasn't afraid of Ancestor Person's brute strength; what he feared was Ancestor Person knowing the law.

"Haah, haah, haah..."

Ashley didn't answer Jupiter. She just stared at the mess on the floor and gasped for breath. The Invisible Man's skin was as hard as diamond, but now he was nothing more than a mangled heap on the floor...

The man before her was practically another Homelander. No, he was even more violent than Homelander—more Homelander than Homelander himself.

Perhaps they would need to reassess Jupiter's threat level and offer him better terms...

As for The Invisible Man's death, come on. A superhero who couldn't make Vought any money was worth less than a lump of shit.