Exploitation

"How did you know she'd been injected with Compound V?"

Butcher walked into the room and spoke slowly as he watched Rorschach flip through a magazine.

"I'm not like you." Rorschach turned a page, waiting for Kimiko to finish washing and change her clothes before coming to see him.

Marvin had needed to see the Compound V syringe before he could understand why Kimiko had been imprisoned there.

"Let me ask you something: what happens when audiences get tired of watching superheroes stop crimes?"

"Then they'll create stronger enemies. The threat won't just be to global peace. It might even be..."

Marvin had picked up the thought, but as he spoke, he stunned himself.

"Seriously? Is that what Vought International is planning?"

It was hardly their fault they had been slow to catch on. They were looking at things from entirely different angles.

Rorschach was a chess player, someone set on bringing down Vought International single-handedly.

The Boys were pawns at best. Vought International and Homelander had beaten them into submission, leaving them to win what they could through sacrifice and patience.

"Who's the next target?"

Butcher was eager to go after Homelander. To him, this was a rare opportunity.

If Rorschach hadn't been the one leading the whole team, Butcher would already have been pushing them back to work.

"Don't rush."

Rorschach turned on the television. It was showing Vought International programs and advertisements.

After a trailer for a Translucent movie, Vought International's official response finally came.

"Yes, we're delighted that Shockwave can join The Seven, but a veteran hero deserves a perfect send-off."

"Once A-Train finishes his current commitments, he'll leave The Seven."

"And we're also delighted to announce that a new hero, Stormfront, is joining The Seven, bringing even more female power to the team."

As Vought International CEO Madelyne introduced her, a short-haired woman in a black bodysuit appeared on-screen.

"Looks like they're ready to play the gender card?"

Rorschach glanced at the bathroom door, which was still shut, and couldn't help feeling a little wistful.

So it's finally starting? One of the earliest superheroes, Stormfront hadn't been supposed to join The Seven until the second season.

Yet she had joined The Seven now. It was hard to say whether that had been Madelyne's decision or the Supreme Leader's.

One thing was certain: her arrival would only magnify Homelander's sense of superiority.

That would make him an even harder opponent to deal with.

Still, that made things interesting. Vought International had shown one of its trump cards early.

With a seasoned new star who could even outshine Homelander on the scene, they could keep public opinion behind the bill.

They had suffered a setback, but that didn't mean they were out of chances.

The Shapeshifter was still around, but the congressman had been left psychologically scarred.

He had also issued a harsh condemnation of Vought International's conduct.

Then Vought International played the gender card, claiming that the Shapeshifter primarily took part in covert missions, identified as a girl, and liked older men.

With help from an army of online activists, Vought International had barely emerged unscathed from the battle for public opinion.

But Rorschach knew that this blow had truly hurt Vought International. It was only a matter of time before they traced it back to him.

That was why he needed to tame the hard-to-kill Wolf Girl as soon as possible and keep her close in case trouble came.

But since they had already played that trump card, Rorschach didn't mind serving them another hot dish.

After all, Vought International's reach across America was enormous. But in Europe?

There, it meant nothing.

John Bull, Gallic Rooster, and Big Hairy were the ones who held the most sway there.

Information was cheap to obtain through the system. That was how he had gotten the congressman's room number.

It had cost him next to nothing. It couldn't have been more convenient.

But when Rorschach thought about how quickly he would probably burn through money from now on, his chest ached.

Creak—

As the door swung open, Kimiko walked into the room in clean clothes, her eyes fixed on the floor.

Butcher and Marvin reacted as if facing a deadly threat and hurriedly took two steps back.

Frenchie, meanwhile, stared at her.

"Everyone, this is Wolf Girl, Kimiko."

"Kimiko, this is Butcher, Marvin, and Frenchie. I'm Rorschach."

Rorschach snapped his fingers twice and made the brief introductions.

"Why call her Wolf Girl?" Frenchie didn't understand. A wolf did fit the impression she had made when he first saw her, but he didn't want to call her that.

Especially now that Kimiko had bathed, she looked like a flower fresh from the water, her face soft and gentle.

"You'll understand once you've seen her fight."

To everyone else, Kimiko was dangerous.

But toward Rorschach, Kimiko had shown a flicker of fear.

As he had said before, Rorschach was different from Butcher and Frenchie, even setting aside the system.

The Boys were the protagonists of the story. They went through events, built relationships, and eventually reached their ending.

Rorschach, on the other hand, stood in the position of a narrator above the story. He already knew many of its secrets and could tell anyone he pleased.

For instance, he knew Wolf Girl had good hearing, so he quietly promised that he would reunite her with her brother.

Kimiko didn't know who Rorschach was, but to her, trapped in endless darkness, his promise was a single straw of hope.

She would cling to it with all her strength.

"Is this what you want, Homelander?"

Madelyne smiled at the big boy in front of her while bouncing her baby in her arms.

"Yes. A-Train can't leave the team yet. I don't have time to break in another troublemaker."

"We can let Shockwave build up some momentum first, then have him gradually take A-Train's place, if that's what you want."

Madelyne was careful with Homelander's feelings. That was how she had always managed to keep him under her thumb.

"But you know he signs all his contracts one year at a time, always chasing the highest price. So this time next month, he'll have to leave no matter what."

Madelyne turned to soothe her wailing baby. Homelander watched her, irritation joining the heat in his gaze.

"Fine. But something feels wrong. Very wrong."

Homelander looked straight ahead again, away from the baby he envied so fiercely.

"The Deep gets into trouble, just in time for Starlight to move up. Then A-Train loses to some punk kid... What's next? Am I going to be replaced by some guy in a cape?"

Anger edged Homelander's voice. He put particular weight on the word "replaced."

"Oh, my sweet, innocent big boy..."

Once Madelyne had quieted the baby, she laid him in his crib and gently touched Homelander's shoulder.

"No one could ever replace you. You're the strongest man in this country, in this world. You're my god, and theirs too..."

Her words worked. Before long, Homelander finally shook off the worst of his dark mood.

"That's right. No one can replace me."

The corner of his mouth lifted into the smile he so often wore for work.

"But I still want Translucent to look into this."

"Of course, as long as you attend your events like you're supposed to."