The Romance Goes Public

"We're practically exposed now. Vought could issue a wanted notice at any time and make us targets."

Rorschach had a point. Though the string of blows had repeatedly left Vought reeling and sent its stock price plunging, the company was far from finished.

CEO Madelyne and company owner Edgar were both still in place. A corporation Vought's size could certainly fight back.

To put it bluntly, if Vought truly went berserk, the whole world would suffer.

That was why Rorschach had kept the conflict from escalating.

If Vought International were backed into a corner, it would choose an utterly shameless but effective response—give up and let everything loose.

So what if it had made Compound V? So what if it had broken every kind of regulation?

So what if its publicity was a pack of lies and double standards? So what if people had been hurt?

If I release all of it now, how many more victims do you think there'll be?

Because Vought was capable of something that shameless, Rorschach doubted the CIA could handle it alone.

The two hundred heroes under Vought's banner might rake in staggering amounts of money every year.

But that was nothing compared with the damage Supes could do if they emerged en masse and started wreaking havoc.

Homelander had spent years getting A-Train to do his dirty work, yet the "Supervillains" they had created numbered fewer than ten, and none of those Supes was particularly powerful.

But what if a hundred or two hundred Supes like that joined forces?

The losses would be unacceptable for the entire country.

Rorschach saw it differently. However many contingencies Edgar had prepared, Rorschach would not let Vought continue to exist as it did.

What he needed to do was simple: make Vought's downfall good for everyone. Then Vought's threat to blow everything open would no longer be so frightening.

Take away the loyal heroes who served as Vought's defenders, and the rest would pose little problem.

First, though, he needed a united front.

Of those around Homelander, Black Noir was absolutely loyal to Vought. After all, he had never breathed a word about Homelander's biological father, who was far away in Siberia.

Starlight seemed quite fond of Rorschach and thoroughly sick of the phony routine that came with being a celebrity. She was increasingly inclined to leave.

Maeve actually liked the same gender Rorschach did, so she only paid Homelander lip service. When it mattered, she would turn on him.

Shockwave was a newcomer, still at the stage of making himself known. He had yet to build anything like the momentum A-Train once had.

Translucent had Nanobots in his stomach, so killing him would take no more than a thought from Rorschach. He liked watching all sorts of things from the shadows, but Rorschach did not know whether his crimes merited death.

That left just one target: Stormfront.

She was the one who would be truly difficult to deal with. Homelander's handsome Aryan looks had captivated her at first sight.

And she was a racist ***, so she would never obey Edgar, a Black man, without question.

She was Vought's weapon, but not Edgar's personal weapon.

Besides, prying her away from Homelander and her near-obsessive love for him ought to earn Rorschach plenty of points.

The prospect made him eager to try.

In other words, once Stormfront was out of the picture, there really would be no one left at Homelander's side who loved him.

So Rorschach prepared a combination of moves.

That night, no one at New York's major television stations slept...

By the next day, pictures of Homelander and Stormfront as a couple had taken over Twitter.

Getting candid shots like those was no easy task, but fortunately, the two stuck together whenever they had a free moment.

After tailing them a few times, Rorschach sent several photos that looked like chance snapshots to the major television stations.

He made a tidy profit from them, too.

"Are you two in love?"

Even the host of that day's midday interview could not help asking.

"Uh... I guess we are..."

Homelander stumbled over the words like a bashful young man.

"We are in a relationship."

Stormfront was unexpectedly bold about it. Then again, that fit her reputation for speaking her mind.

Right on cue, the screen displayed their couple name: Homeland Storm.

As the news played on a loop across the major television stations, Translucent approached Rorschach with great caution.

"Here's what you wanted."

Seeing the news everywhere, Translucent had a vague idea of what Rorschach was trying to do.

The thought chilled him. If Rorschach wanted, he could ruin Translucent's reputation as well.

Worse, he could do it in front of Translucent's son.

That was something Translucent could not bear.

"Come on, my friend."

Rorschach looked at Translucent's now-visible head, and the blue flames in his eyes burned brighter.

The Penance Stare was a skill unique to Ghost Rider. It could reveal every sin a person had committed throughout his life.

Unlike those other flaming skulls, Rorschach's hair and clothes did not burn, even when flames engulfed his entire body.

He had acquired a convenient template, after all, without anything as troublesome as a Spirit of Vengeance.

Voyeurism, some sexual harassment, and a bit of theft of confidential information.

Translucent was guilty, but his crimes did not warrant death.

Rorschach extinguished the vivid blue flames and released Translucent's shoulder.

"Once you confess to the public through the media and admit what you've done, I'll help you remove the thing in there."

Rorschach tapped Translucent's abdomen, then waved a hand.

"You'll probably spend the rest of your life wearing a tracker in a house full of sensors. But you'll still have things to do, right?"

Rorschach took the documents from Translucent and set them on the copier to scan.

Translucent's eyes filled with tears. After enduring this for so long, he was finally going to be free...

He had not been a member of The Seven for long, and he had spent most of that time doing as he pleased on his own.

He only attended certain events for the sake of custody of his child.

That was also why Translucent, already middle-aged and reliant on his natural superpower, had only just gotten a second movie.

The persistent cramping in his stomach finally subsided, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Would confessing leave me feeling as unburdened as I do now?

Translucent did not know.

The process would shatter many children's dreams. It would make Vought's

The hearing was set for the weekend, yet all Vought had worth showing was Homelander and Stormfront's romance.

Its paid online defenders tried every possible spin, but they still could not save Vought and its subsidiaries from a sea of falling stock prices.

"New York."

Charles's gaze passed over the enormous photographs as Logan slowly pushed him forward.

"Last time we passed through, the place was almost nothing but ruins..."

"Now it's plastered with promotional posters for superheroes."

Even Wolverine, who was hardly the thinker Professor X was, found it absurd.

"But look. Vought's decades-long position of stability is starting to shake."

"If we find whoever's been going after Vought from behind the scenes, we'll get help that's actually useful?"

Logan trusted the judgment of the old man whose wheelchair he pushed, but he remained ready for a fight.

"If I weren't so old, I'd show these people what a real psychic storm looks like."

Still talking and laughing, the burly man and the old man melted into the crowd and vanished.