An unexpected Maeve

The Seven's Meeting Room.

The Deep kept rubbing his hands. Translucent had actually put on clothes for once and stayed put obediently. Maeve leaned by the window smoking, a length of ash already building up on her cigarette.

At the far end of the meeting room, Black Noir lay on a temporary hospital bed, his chest wrapped in bandages, a blood bag hanging beside him.

Homelander's clawing strike had shattered four ribs on the left side of Black Noir's chest, damaged a lung, and even affected his heart slightly. He still wasn't out of danger.

If not for his astonishing healing ability, he would have been dead already.

"Hey, how long do we have to stay here? My octopus needs her water changed." The Deep was getting anxious.

Maeve exhaled a cloud of smoke. "If you're not afraid Homelander will kill you, you can go fuck your octopus girlfriend right now."

The Deep fell silent. He remembered Homelander's terrifying heat vision before he left and shuddered.

Even with ten times the courage, The Deep wouldn't have dared leave. Black Noir's horrific condition was still fresh in his mind.

"Have you guys seen the news?" Translucent asked casually.

He hadn't turned invisible to peep in the bathrooms for a full day and night. His eyes were vacant, and he felt as though ants were crawling over him.

No one paid any attention to his pointless chatter.

The Deep helplessly checked Black Noir's injuries, glancing toward the door from time to time.

"Whose side do you think Homelander will take?" Queen Maeve asked, bored out of her mind.

She understood Homelander better than anyone else in the Seven, and she could tell that this milk-addicted tyrant had changed.

Homelander had always put Vought first before. A single word of praise from Madelyn could keep him happy for hours.

Now he was openly defying Madelyn because of Soldier Boy.

"What do you mean, whose side?" The Deep looked blank, completely failing to understand Maeve's concern.

Translucent was even worse. Unable to go peeping, he indulged in sexual fantasies and grinned lewdly.

The corner of Maeve's mouth twitched. She didn't dare imagine what was happening to her in Translucent's head.

There wasn't a single normal person in the Seven.

A shadow settled over Maeve's brow. She had always wanted to escape Homelander, but now he had Soldier Boy beside him, just as dangerous and just as invincible.

Since Soldier Boy had destroyed that laboratory, it proved that he acknowledged this son of his.

All the signs suggested that Soldier Boy was very likely just as twisted as Homelander.

Crippling A-Train for some inexplicable reason, for example.

Knock, knock, knock.

Just then, a series of knocks came from outside the door.

Everyone perked up. Maeve instinctively stubbed out her cigarette.

They were here.

The next second.

The meeting room door was pushed open, revealing two figures outside.

The man in front wore ill-fitting casual clothes, a cigarette between his lips and a devil-may-care grin on his face. He was also very handsome.

That face was practically a national treasure!

Behind Soldier Boy, Homelander stood quietly, his American Flag Cape hanging down, looking like a lackey.

The Deep's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and his back straightened.

It was his first time seeing the legendary Supe from the previous century. He stammered, "S-Soldier Boy?"

Maeve tilted her head, inwardly stunned as she noticed something.

Their positions were wrong.

Soldier Boy was actually standing in front of Homelander?

Normally, Homelander would be in front, with everyone else following behind.

Now Homelander had willingly fallen half a step behind. That detail sent a chill down Maeve's back.

And... Homelander seemed to be in a very good mood.

Because this meant one thing: Homelander had accepted Soldier Boy too.

Maeve's heart kept sinking. She had only one thought: These two super bastards have teamed up.

Soldier Boy swept his gaze around the room before it settled on the hospital bed. He suddenly grinned. "Well, well, if it isn't little Noir?"

A sliver of light broke through Black Noir's unconsciousness. His body involuntarily went rigid, and he let out a rasping wheeze.

Soldier Boy strolled over and looked down at him.

Black Noir woke up, frightened awake by a single sentence from Soldier Boy.

The animal friends he saw were already too terrified to speak.

Soldier Boy asked, "I hear you can't talk anymore?"

Black Noir didn't move.

Not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't. Homelander had torn his lung open, and every breath left him teetering between life and death.

Homelander watched from the side. He had left in such a hurry that he'd assumed Black Noir was already dead.

"Fuck," Homelander cursed under his breath, his expression souring.

Soldier Boy was silent for a while. "He's hurt this badly. You did this?"

Homelander raised a hand, trying to explain. "Listen, Black Noir was-"

"No need," Soldier Boy interrupted. "Get him treated first."

Homelander was at a loss for words. He glanced at Maeve, who nodded and contacted the medical staff again to have Black Noir carried away.

Finally, Homelander couldn't hold back any longer. "He betrayed you and lied to me. Why did you tell me to spare him?"

Soldier Boy said, "Forty years. I was locked up that long. I figured a few things out."

"I did some bad things to Black Noir in the past. That's why he chose to betray me. I don't blame him."

Soldier Boy casually fed him an excuse.

He hadn't suffered the original owner's forty years of frozen torment, and the original owner had gone too far with Black Noir.

Being frozen had been a deserved punishment.

Besides, in his memories, Homelander's feelings toward Black Noir were extremely complicated. Keeping Black Noir alive might prove useful later.

Homelander didn't understand. In his world, anyone who displeased him or betrayed his trust deserved to die.

But he cared about Soldier Boy's feelings and forcibly suppressed his murderous intent toward Black Noir. "Where's A-Train?"

"Uh." Maeve didn't know how to say it and looked at Soldier Boy.

"I broke his legs. He should be lying in a hospital right now," Soldier Boy answered for Maeve.

"What?" The Deep exclaimed.

But both Homelander and Soldier Boy turned their gazes on him.

The Deep wilted, clapped a hand over his mouth, and instantly stood ramrod straight.

"All right, the few of us will start the meeting first." Homelander waved a hand, seemingly about to announce something momentous.

Maeve's pupils constricted.

He isn't even going to ask why? Has their father-son relationship already reached this point?

Homelander didn't have nearly as much on his mind as Maeve. He had wanted to beat up A-Train for a long time, but A-Train was so cowardly that he simply couldn't find a reason.

He figured Soldier Boy had just felt like hitting someone. So he'd beaten him up. No big deal.

"Starting today, Soldier Boy will officially take charge of the Seven. Everyone, including me, will follow his orders."

Homelander spoke solemnly.

The three of them froze.

"Soldier Boy is my father. He's a legendary hero who fought in World War II. He's qualified to lead us."

Homelander extended a hand, inviting Soldier Boy to speak.

Soldier Boy surveyed everyone present. His roguish air faded, fully revealing the imposing presence of a battle-hardened veteran.

"Starting today, the Seven will begin to change."

"I don't care how you did things before, but under me, you will fulfill your duties as superheroes."

"I don't give a damn whether you're real superheroes."

"But at least don't act like a bunch of useless losers, collecting tens of millions of dollars in salary while being too lazy to catch a few robbers."

"It's fucking embarrassing."

"If I find any of you pretending to obey while going behind my back, I'll punch your brains into your assholes."

Translucent shuddered all over. He kept feeling as though Soldier Boy was glancing at him, whether deliberately or not.

The Deep trembled slightly, barely able to breathe under the weight of Soldier Boy's presence.

As for Maeve, her eyes lit up, and the look she gave Soldier Boy no longer held any hidden hostility.

This old soldier seemed a little different from what she'd imagined.

"Be a real superhero?" The sunlight Maeve had hidden deep in her heart seemed to break through the clouds and shine.

Her original wish had been to become a real hero, but Vought had suppressed her, so she had chosen to stop trying.

"All right, you can get the hell out."

Soldier Boy waved them off. Not wanting to make a long speech, he dismissed the group.

Only Homelander remained in the meeting room.

His sapphire-blue eyes were full of confusion. In the end, he called out to Soldier Boy, who was about to leave.