Manipulating Homelander

"Mm..."

Homelander stood with his hands behind his back in front of his portrait in the hallway, fuming.

This one and that one, all of them told him not to act rashly. Not one of them trusted him. And then there was Starlight...

Starlight only cared about her own child. In her eyes, he was nothing but a tool for making money. He meant nothing to her.

Homelander stared through his portrait in the hallway at Starlight, who was nursing her baby. His throat felt dry, and a blaze of fury burned in his chest.

"Good afternoon, Homelander."

As Homelander watched Starlight through the wall and felt the endless fury inside him, a breezy voice drifted into his ears.

"Inhale..."

"Exhale..."

Homelander knew the voice echoing beside him all too well. He hated its owner. Half the reason he was so irritable right now was that person.

"I'm warning you. Don't provoke me!"

After steadying his breathing, Homelander turned to face the bastard in the white bodysuit approaching him and roared furiously.

"Wow..."

"Are you angry?"

Jupiter, wearing a white bodysuit with a large F emblazoned across the chest, looked at the furious Homelander and beamed with an infuriatingly bright smile.

"F..."

Homelander clenched his fists, his eyes glowing. Inside his mind, the Vought Family executives' orders and his emotions were locked in a constant struggle.

"Are you angry with me?"

Jupiter came to stand beside Homelander and asked with a smile.

"What do you think?!"

Homelander breathed hard through his nostrils. He felt as if he were about to lose control of his emotions.

"No, you're not angry with me."

Jupiter looked at the furious Homelander and shook his head slightly. Then, with his hands behind his back, he walked over to Homelander's portrait in the hallway.

"Then what do you think I'm angry about?!"

Homelander looked at Jupiter, who seemed to have everything under control, and pointed at his face, growling under his breath.

"..."

Jupiter frowned at Homelander's outstretched right index finger. He'd remember that finger. If Homelander weren't still useful, Jupiter would have broken it off already.

"Haha..."

The storm on Jupiter's face vanished in an instant. Without a word, he reached out and nudged Homelander's finger aside, then pointed at the portrait in front of him.

"I've never been the one making you angry. It's the woman in that room, and the bastards on the eighty-second floor who make a fortune off us just by running their mouths."

Jupiter sounded indignant. He was letting Homelander know that he wasn't the only one angry with Starlight and the executives on the eighty-second floor.

"Our public images and relationships were never our choice. They chose them for us..."

"You've seen what I'm wearing. I wanted to get closer to you, but they wouldn't let me..."

Jupiter insisted that he and Homelander were at odds through no choice of his own. It was all the company's decision.

"I saw!"

Homelander looked at Jupiter's bodysuit and cape, then nodded. Their outfits were similar. In his eyes, Jupiter's Battle Suit had clearly been modeled after his own.

"Fuck! What a bunch of ungrateful bastards. Don't they know who made all that money for them to enjoy? You did, Homelander!"

Jupiter lowered his voice. His final words were lifted straight from Homelander's own lines. He was trying to bring himself closer to Homelander.

"..."

After hearing Jupiter's words, Homelander parted his lips slightly, wanting to say something. But he realized he couldn't get a word out. Jupiter was right. More than Jupiter, what made him angry was that he'd done so much for that damn Vought company, yet those idiots weren't grateful in the slightest.

"You..."

Homelander looked at Jupiter and opened his mouth. The anger that had been on his face had completely vanished.

"You understand me. You get me. You really are my fan."

Homelander looked Jupiter up and down. He seemed much more likable now.

I'm your ancestor...

Jupiter listened to Homelander and sneered inwardly. Homelander was just a little brat with power and nothing else.

"I understand you better than you think."

"Listen, Homelander. We shouldn't be mascots for Vought. Metahumans should stand for something greater!"

"And as the strongest of all Metahumans, you should step forward and become the leader of every superhuman in the world!"

Jupiter declared Homelander the strongest Metahuman, placing himself behind Homelander.

"You're right. I'm the strongest."

Homelander nodded slightly. He didn't see anything wrong with what Jupiter said. He was the strongest, and he was born to lead.

"You should lead all those with strength beyond ordinary people forward, instead of..."

Jupiter looked troubled, as if what he was about to say would be unpleasant.

"Instead of what?!"

Homelander frowned.

"Instead of... you know what, Homelander? Behind your back, they all call you Starlight's little golden-haired lapdog."

Jupiter said it with exaggerated drama.

"..."

Homelander's face turned livid. Jupiter's words seemed to have struck a nerve.

"I know I'm being harsh."

Jupiter looked at the furious Homelander and spoke softly.

"No! I'm the one who looks too weak."

Homelander shook his head. He looked at Starlight soothing her baby on the other side of the wall, and the fury in him kept burning. He was too weak. That was why Starlight and those bastards on the eighty-second floor treated him like he was nothing.

"Fuck, you've saved enough people already. Now, whoever gets on your nerves, you should just..."

Jupiter sounded agitated, as if he couldn't stand the way Homelander was treated.

"I've said too much today. I can't stay here long, or those people will give me a hard time again. But I just can't stand seeing my idol treated so dismissively."

Jupiter looked at Homelander with an utterly helpless expression, as if being able to talk with him was a luxury in this company.

"Do whatever you want. Nobody in this world can stop you, can they?"

With that, Jupiter gave Homelander's shoulder a light pat and headed down the hallway.

"Fuck! He's so damn right."

Watching Jupiter walk away, Homelander realized he wasn't the only one who felt this way. Maybe he could find more people who agreed with him. He was the one who should be leading everything.

"..."

Jupiter gave Homelander a long look. Next, he would find the media and keep leaking Homelander's dirt, constantly pushing him toward more extreme ideas. All he had to do was keep guiding Homelander with his words from the shadows. In the end, Homelander would become exactly what Jupiter wanted to see.

"About time."

Jupiter checked his watch and saw that the time was almost right.

After getting everything ready, Jupiter went ahead to the Seven's hall.

"Haha..."

Just as Jupiter had settled into his seat in the Seven's hall, the doors suddenly opened and a man and a woman walked in, chatting and laughing.

"This is the Seven's hall. Welcome, Starlight!"

The doors opened, and a man radiating a lethargic, washed-up air led a blonde sweetheart dressed like a high school cheerleader into the room.

"Oh! So this is the Seven's hall?"

"The place I've always dreamed of..."

The blonde sweetheart looked around the room with a radiant smile.

"Of course, this is where we... uh..."

The washed-up man was following up on the blonde sweetheart's words when he suddenly spotted the figure in the room smiling brilliantly at him. His body stiffened on the spot.

"Welcome to the Seven's hall, Starlight. Welcome to the Seven."

Jupiter stood up and walked over to the blonde sweetheart and the washed-up man beside her.

"..."

The Deep felt a chill as he looked at Jupiter. He regretted bringing Starlight here. As soon as the press conference ended, he should have found a staff member to show Starlight the way.

"Deep, don't you have a mission to take care of?"

Jupiter looked at The Deep and asked.

"Oh! Right! You're right, I have a mission..."

The Deep nodded repeatedly and fled the Seven's hall without looking back.