"Sir, what are you doing here?" The Deep's face went deathly pale as he struggled to suppress the urge to run.
Starlight stood rooted to the spot, her face turned slightly aside, completely dumbfounded. Her rosy image of The Seven had shattered.
The Deep still wanted to argue his way out, but sheer terror had already robbed him of speech.
Soldier Boy couldn't care less how scared he was. He swung his fist hard, holding nothing back as his level seven Super Strength poured out.
The Deep could only watch as the fist came closer and closer, growing larger and larger.
He wanted to dodge, but couldn't.
"Urgh!"
The Deep went flying at a speed comparable to Homelander's super flight.
The sharp crack of breaking bones came first, followed by the dull thud of his body hitting the wall.
The wall of The Seven's Private Conference Room cracked, and tiny chunks of stone rained down.
It wasn't until ten seconds later that The Deep felt the pain. Screaming, he touched his cheek, only to feel a strange indentation.
Starlight covered her mouth and cried out.
She saw that The Deep's cheekbone had been punched inward.
Soldier Boy lit a cigarette and took a drag. Smoke curled around him, obscuring the anger in his features.
Part of it was because of Starlight, and part of it was because of the system.
When he received the mission, he had planned to teach The Deep a lesson and easily pocket 200 Exchange Points.
He hadn't expected the system to issue another temporary mission, telling him to hide under the table and give The Deep a massive fright at the critical moment.
A man of principle might refuse to bow for a pittance, but these were Exchange Points.
Soldier Boy had compromised, leading to the scene before them.
[Ding.] [Host detected to have completed the mission: stop Starlight from being bullied by The Deep and intimidate The Deep.] [Mission rewards: Exchange Points ×200, automatic teammate-bullying patch ×1. All rewards have been issued.] [Current Exchange Points: 300]
An ominous feeling rose in Soldier Boy's heart. "System, what is this automatic bullying patch?"
[It is the reward for intimidating The Deep. It has been automatically installed.] [The host may choose whether to enable it.]
Soldier Boy stared blankly. The system had screwed him over again.
When the rewards were issued, he had already guessed what the patch did.
There was no ambiguity. It did exactly what its name said.
Sure enough, after he chose to enable it, countless ways to bully The Deep appeared in his mind at once.
Especially when he saw The Deep's pathetic state, malice surged from the depths of his heart.
I really want a good, satisfying round of bullying.
Soldier Boy walked over and stared down at him. "Deep, tell me. What were you about to do?"
The Deep trembled, his voice quavering. "Sir, you've misunderstood. This is a tradition in The Seven."
"The veterans do it to the newcomers... Ah!"
Soldier Boy aimed the toe of his shoe at the gills over The Deep's lungs and ground it in, making him scream repeatedly in pain.
He reached out to grasp Soldier Boy's foot, only to discover in despair that even with all his strength, he couldn't move it an inch.
The Deep sobbed in agony. "Please, sir. Stop."
The Deep's weakness made Soldier Boy increasingly irritated:
"You useless piece of shit. Fucking fish is one thing, but you actually dared bring those filthy ideas into The Seven."
"I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please, I can't breathe." Tears and snot streamed down The Deep's face.
"Shut up, you coward!" Soldier Boy bellowed. "What I hate most is an apology after the fact."
"You've disappointed me so much, you useless piece of shit. All you can do is beg." His teeth ground audibly.
"Excuse me, he looks a little dead." Starlight timidly tugged at Soldier Boy's sleeve.
The Deep's eyes had rolled back, and his whole body was convulsing.
Soldier Boy took a deep breath and withdrew his foot.
"Ptooey." He spat in The Deep's face.
Then he told Starlight, "You're useless too, letting The Deep blackmail you."
"If I were you, I wouldn't join The Seven. Go home and use your powers to fix light bulbs. That suits you better."
Starlight's eyes widened in disbelief.
Indiscriminate attacks?
"Wow, what happened?"
Homelander had quietly appeared at the conference room door.
The Deep hitting the wall had made such a racket that even the walls of his room had shaken.
Maeve had come too. She guessed what had happened in a second, her beautiful eyes lingering on Soldier Boy for a long time.
Soldier Boy vigorously brushed off the dust, glared at Homelander, and said harshly:
"Homelander, these are the men you lead."
With that, he left without looking back.
He brushed past Homelander without even looking at him.
The relaxed expression vanished from Homelander's face, and he stood frozen for a long time.
After several seconds of stunned silence, he forced down his anger and walked up to The Deep, his face expressionless.
By now, oxygen deprivation had intensified The Deep's pain, and he had passed out.
In his daze, he felt something heavy press down on his hand, sending an agonizing crushing sensation straight to his brain.
"Ah!"
The Deep woke from the pain, letting out just one scream.
Because he had seen the furious Homelander, whose face was twitching.
Homelander gave him a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Deep, what are you fucking up now, you idiot?"
"Sir, you... how did you..."
The Deep was so frightened he couldn't form a complete sentence.
Seeing him like this, Homelander's smile grew even more twisted. He turned to Starlight. "Starlight, what happened?"
Starlight took half a step back.
She felt that Homelander seemed a little different from what she had imagined, but she still recounted everything that had happened.
After listening, Homelander tipped his head back and stared upward in silence.
That bastard Deep dared to touch the girl Soldier Boy had his eye on. No wonder Soldier Boy was so angry.
Even I got caught in the crossfire.
The words, "Homelander, look at the men you lead," still rang in his ears.
After a long while, Homelander did his best to give Starlight a kindly smile. "All right. I'll make sure you get justice. You can head back now."
Starlight was deeply moved. Captain Homelander truly was a champion of justice!
And Soldier Boy, too. His language was a little foul, but what he had done warmed her heart.
Starlight now regarded these two as true superheroes, and the gloom The Deep had brought upon her vanished.
As she passed Maeve, Starlight even smiled at her. Maeve nodded slightly and folded her arms, ready to watch the show.
Once Starlight was far away, Homelander finally bared his fangs.
"Deep, you made me lose face in front of my father."
He crouched down and gently stroked The Deep's Adam's apple. One gentle squeeze would kill The Deep on the spot.
"I'm sorry. I, I, I just wanted to..." The Deep looked worse than if he had been crying, not daring to finish the sentence.
"Shh!" Homelander held a finger to his lips.
At Vought International's tower, screams rang out into the sky.
In the end, Homelander didn't kill The Deep. Not because he had gone soft, but because he had vented enough.
Another reason was that he didn't think it warranted killing him. In Homelander's eyes, The Deep attempting to force himself on Starlight was a trivial matter.
If Soldier Boy hadn't been angry about it, Homelander would have done no more than swear at The Deep a few times.
Before leaving, he coldly delivered one final warning. "Do it again, and you're out of The Seven. You can spend the rest of your life living with fish."
Soldier Boy walked out of Vought Tower, breathing in the cold air.
[Ding.] [Key figure detected: Private Angel.]
Soldier Boy jolted and asked in disbelief, "Where?"
[Pay 50 Exchange Points to locate her.]
Soldier Boy gritted his teeth and agreed, leaving him with just 250 Exchange Points.
Those fifty points were well spent. His plan was to bring Private Angel over to his side because her ability was so powerful.
She was a rare healing-type supe, though her method of healing was a little hard to take.
[Location query successful. Private Angel is in the second stall of the men's restroom in the bar diagonally across from the host.]
Soldier Boy: "?"
Before you continue