Vought International Tower.
A stifling atmosphere hung over the entire company. Almost everyone had seen the news.
[Soldier Boy appears in New York]
[Homelander sent flying]
[Vought International concealed the truth for years]
The entire United States media had gone wild: live news broadcasts, secretly filmed street footage, trending topics on social media.
And Vought's stock price was plummeting.
Inside the conference room on the ninety-ninth floor.
Madelyn pointed at the screen and abruptly snapped, "Pause!"
It was a replay of Soldier Boy punching Homelander through the air, posted by an independent media account.
There were now hundreds, even thousands, of videos like it online.
In the high-definition footage, Homelander's face twisted slightly, his left cheek caved in and his cape billowing.
No one in the conference room dared speak.
"Who allowed this video to spread?" Madelyn's voice was icy.
The head of public relations had sweat all over his forehead. "Ma'am, too many people were streaming live. We can't delete them fast enough."
"Then keep deleting!" Madelyn exploded. "Have legal send out cease-and-desist letters!"
"Tell the media department to get the comments under control immediately!"
"Tell CNN it was just a friendly exchange between superheroes!"
Madelyn paused, a little short of breath after saying so much in one go. "Make absolutely sure 'Homelander injured' gets suppressed."
No one dared argue.
Vought's most important asset had never been superheroes. It was the creation of gods.
Gods could not be injured. Homelander absolutely could not fall from his pedestal.
"Ms. Madelyn." An executive beside her looked pale. "That's not the biggest problem online right now."
Madelyn shot him a murderous look.
Under immense pressure, the executive continued, "Soldier Boy. For decades, Vought has been telling everyone he died for his country."
"Now he's shown up alive... a lot of media outlets have already begun questioning whether Vought has been fabricating information for years."
Madelyn's expression turned utterly grim. Vought's decades-long reputation was beginning to crumble. This problem was even more urgent.
Just then.
"Bro, are you okay?" The Deep's voice came from the corner.
Everyone turned.
Black Noir sat there, his body trembling slightly. The Deep looked concerned, completely oblivious to the fact that everyone in the conference room was now watching them.
Black Noir said nothing. He only kept staring at Soldier Boy on the screen.
Madelyn frowned. "Black Noir? What's wrong?"
Black Noir did not react. His mind was already in complete turmoil.
Soldier Boy was back.
After being tortured by the Soviet Union for so many years, on top of Black Noir having sent him into hell with his own hands.
Soldier Boy would take revenge. The fear of death engulfed Black Noir's entire body.
His cartoon friends descended into chaos before his eyes. The rabbit and the little beaver clutched their heads and screamed.
"He'll kill us!"
"Run!!"
"Run, Black Noir!!!!"
Black Noir's breathing grew faster and faster.
He wanted to run. Immediately. Right now.
"The Deep, has seawater rotted your brain? Get Black Noir some medical attention, now." Madelyn's brow furrowed deeply.
One headache after another piled on until she wanted to kill someone.
As the biggest pushover in the Seven, The Deep naturally became her punching bag.
Just then.
A low hum sounded in the air, and the glass vibrated at an extremely low frequency.
A second later, everyone heard the sonic boom. Almost at the same instant, the glass was smashed through again.
Homelander wore his red-and-blue suit. "Wow, quite a crowd here."
He looked around-
"Madelyn, Black Noir, you're all here."
Homelander's voice was relaxed, as though he were having a light, pleasant conversation with friends.
But his expression was calm, without the slightest flicker.
There was none of the narcissism of "America needs me," much less that commercial smile he had practiced for decades.
The room fell deathly silent. No one dared speak. Everyone present stared at Homelander.
Calm.
As calm as stagnant water.
No one there knew the truth. They naively assumed Homelander was acting so strangely because he had lost, because his approval ratings might drop.
"Sir, the PR team is already working on it. Your approval ratings won't drop too much."
Still unable to read the room, The Deep cut in at the worst possible moment.
Homelander turned his head without so much as looking at him. Instead, he fixed his stare on Black Noir.
No, I still can't be sure what that man said was true.
Homelander exhaled deeply and looked at Madelyn, his eyes devoid of their usual dependence. "Madelyn."
Madelyn forced a smile. "John, the PR team will take care of everything."
She realized that Homelander was extremely dangerous right now. Instinctively, she called him John, hoping to stir the vulnerability inside him that way.
"Shut up." Homelander interrupted her very quietly.
Madelyn's heart sank. Her unfailingly effective appeal to his need for maternal love had failed.
She realized that the words Soldier Boy had deliberately lowered his voice to say were anything but ordinary. In just a few minutes, they had made Homelander difficult to soothe, difficult to control.
Homelander slowly raised his head. He looked as though he had not slept in ages, his sapphire-blue eyes bloodshot.
"I ask. You answer." He struggled to muster a hint of a smile, but it was completely distorted.
He looked every bit like a madman struggling to act normal.
For the first time, Madelyn truly felt things slipping out of control. "John, you're not emotionally stable right now. What did Soldier Boy say to you?"
"Do you love me?" Homelander asked first.
"Of course. You know how important you are to me." Concern appeared in Madelyn's eyes at just the right moment.
Homelander's breath caught. The tenderness at the corners of Madelyn's mouth, her consideration, made him waver.
He did not even dare keep asking. Slowly, he closed his eyes, his superhearing locking firmly onto Madelyn.
A few seconds later, "Then tell me. Is Soldier Boy my father?"
At that moment, amid vibrations in the air inaudible to human ears, the heartbeat inside Madelyn's chest sounded perfectly clear to Homelander.
Thump, thump, thump.
Steady, even, without speeding up. A completely calm heart rate.
Madelyn froze slightly, never having expected Homelander to ask that question. "What?"
The perfect mask she had forged over years in the corporate world seemed to have had a slit torn through it. Her pupils contracted sharply.
"No, how is that possible?" Madelyn's eyebrows rose, her breathing a little hurried.
She was somewhat stunned. A great deal of information raced through her mind in an instant. If this was true, it meant Vought International had been keeping its core secrets from her all along.
"Did Soldier Boy tell you that? This, this is definitely..." Flustered, Madelyn tried to take Homelander's hand. She wanted to tell him it was false.
"I don't know." But she was not sure either, and she dared even less to lie to Homelander in this state.
Now, in Homelander's ears, her previously steady heart had gone completely out of control, reaching almost 130 beats per minute.
Homelander stared at her, watching the convincing shock on her face, and calmed somewhat.
If someone lied, her heart would briefly level out as she tried to conceal it.
Madelyn's had not. Her heartbeat conveyed nothing but disbelief and confusion, along with a little anger.
She really did not know.
"Take me to the archives." Homelander's voice softened, but his tone still brooked no argument.
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