The Times Have Changed

"He betrayed me." Ellis's voice was full of lingering fear and fury. "My vice president... fuck, he was involved too! He wanted me publicly executed, then to take my seat!"

"Yes, he did." Homelander turned around, no emotion visible in his azure eyes. "And he nearly succeeded."

"And that useless S.H.I.E.L.D.!" Ellis slammed his hand on the table. "I fucking pay Nick Fury! The Security Council gave him hundreds of billions in funding! Air Force One was hijacked! I was hung from an oil tanker! Where were his people?! Where was he?!"

Homelander wore just the right amount of mockery on his face. "Director Fury may have been assessing the threat level and analyzing intelligence. Maybe in another two hours, he'll send a team to... collect your body."

Ellis's breathing grew heavy.

"What about Stark?!" he roared again. "The Avengers! Fuck, what did he bring? A pile of remote-control toys that could only fly around!!"

President Ellis recalled that "battle."

More than a dozen suits of armor, wiped out within twenty minutes.

Tony Stark, that billionaire, had been pinned beneath Killian's foot like a cockroach, unable to move.

"He..." Ellis lowered his voice. "He was pretty pathetic, wasn't he?"

"Arrogance is in his nature, Matthew," Homelander corrected. "He thought he could handle everything. But he forgot that he was only human, a man hiding inside a tin can."

"And Killian... he was no longer human."

Homelander paced slowly, his award-winning acting skills fully unleashed, his voice brimming with pressure.

"Matthew, you need to recognize a fact."

"The times have changed, Mr. President."

"The Battle of New York opened Pandora's Box. Aliens... super soldiers... lunatics who can grow huge... this world is no longer something politicians in suits can control."

Homelander walked up to Ellis and leaned down slightly.

"Your NCPD is still using Glock pistols. But what about the black market?"

"Chitauri energy guns go for fifty thousand dollars apiece, and gangs are fighting to get them. SWAT storms a building, only to be blasted into slag by a particle cannon. What do you do?"

"Just like tonight, with Killian. Twenty or thirty Extremis Soldiers—send in conventional troops, and it's a massacre. S.H.I.E.L.D. is too weak. The Avengers are too slow."

Cold sweat beaded on President Ellis's forehead.

He realized that every word this blond man spoke struck him right in the heart.

"What... what exactly are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying you need a... new team."

Homelander straightened up and gave him a priceless smile.

"A professional, efficient 'firefighting team.'"

"A team... led by me."

"Mr. President," Homelander turned around, finally revealing his true intentions, "Vought, my company, is preparing to... sell security across the United States."

"Sell it?"

"A business model." Homelander's tone became light. "If the mayor of Los Angeles wants to deal with increasingly rampant Chitauri weapons crime, he can hire us. If Chicago has another outbreak of the Extremis Virus, they can hire us too."

"Of course, Washington, D.C. gets it for free." Homelander winked at him.

"This... is this protection money?" Ellis frowned.

"No, Mr. President." Homelander burst out laughing. "This is capitalization. It's what Americans do best."

"Americans have capitalized healthcare, capitalized education, capitalized prisons... so why can't we capitalize 'superheroes' too?"

"What I provide is a premium service, Mr. President. Premium services naturally require... certain fees. That's reasonable, isn't it?"

President Ellis fell silent.

He was a politician. He instantly understood the logic behind it.

Turn superheroes into a "commodity," rather than merely a spiritual symbol.

Commodities... could be "regulated" and "cooperated with."

He looked at Wu Yanzu. "Go on, Anthony. Have you chosen the members of your team?"

"Of course." Wu Yanzu resumed that sunny, upright image.

"I," he pointed to the eagle emblem on his chest, "will be the captain and leader of this team."

"And," he smiled mysteriously, "I've already recruited our second member. A... very powerful lady. She was once lost in darkness, but now, under my guidance, she will embrace the light."

("Fuck!" Far away in Starr Tower in New York, Jessica Jones, who was being forced through "smile training," sneezed violently.)

"As for the others..." Wu Yanzu's gaze drifted toward the window. "This world never lacks capable people. They merely lack an... agent like me."

President Ellis remained silent, his politician's brain racing.

This plan... was insane. But... fuck, it was tempting.

Outsource the mess of superhumans to a controllable private company.

"What..." Ellis began to waver. "What can you do?"

"We can do what the Avengers cannot."

Homelander returned to the desk, bracing both hands on it as that handsome face drew close to Ellis once more.

"Steve Rogers, that old popsicle, will argue with you about freedom and morality."

"Tony Stark will show off his new toys to you, then leave you hanging."

"Nick Fury will use ten lies to cover up one truth."

"And I, Matthew..."

Homelander's smile became incomparably sincere.

"...am your friend."

"You need to improve the government's image? No problem. Vought can have my superhero team conduct joint exercises with your Secret Service. The photos will make the cover of Time magazine. I've even thought of the headline—Guardians of a New Era."

"You need a firefighting team when disasters strike? Of course. Hurricanes, earthquakes, terrorist attacks... while your FEMA is still holding meetings, we'll have already rescued the people. And you only need to stand amid the ruins, face the cameras, and declare victory."

Ellis's breathing became rapid.

Homelander saw the ambition in his eyes.

"Matthew," Wu Yanzu lowered his voice further, filling it with temptation, "you're about to run for reelection, aren't you?"

"...Your popularity has hit rock bottom because of tonight's attack. People will say you're incompetent, that your government can't even protect its own president."

"But..."

"What if... the hero who saved you, the Homelander beloved by the entire United States, publicly endorsed you?"

"What if I became your... presidential guardian?"

"Your approval ratings," Homelander snapped his fingers, "will shoot into the stratosphere."

"You..." President Ellis's voice trembled with excitement. "What do you want?"

"What I want, Mr. President, is merely a license."

"An official license. Permission for Vought International's superheroes to enforce the law across the entire federation."

"That would mean... bypassing S.H.I.E.L.D.!" Ellis blurted out.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Homelander sneered. "Matthew, haven't you seen it yet? S.H.I.E.L.D. can't protect you. Its insides... have long since rotted through."

"And I," Homelander pointed at himself, "am the one... who can help you clean house."

President Ellis sank into a long silence.

This deal... was too tempting.

Trade one license for his political life, a chance at reelection, and... an invincible "bodyguard."

As for how Nick Fury felt? Fuck him.

Tonight, Homelander had saved him.

"How can I trust you?" Ellis asked his final question.

"You don't have to trust me, Matthew." Homelander stood upright, once again assuming that holy appearance.

"You only need to trust... the people."

"The people love me. And you... need the people's love."

President Ellis smiled.

"You really are a... natural-born bastard, Mr. Starr."

"Likewise, Mr. President."