Chapter 4: Notifying Holander
After a round of bullying, A-Train had been knocked unconscious twice, only to be beaten awake again by Benjamin. The speedster had now truly experienced exactly what Black Noir and the rest of Payback felt like.
Benjamin originally intended to leave, but suddenly realized sothing.
His cold eyes looked down from above at A-Train on the ground.
As a transmigrator who knew the plot inside out, Benjamin was well aware of his current situation.
He had just saved Robin, who originally would have been pulverized by A-Train, and had casually beaten the crap out of this junkie who was riding way too high on Compound V.
But this was New York, Vought International’s turf.
The street corner caras, and maybe even the satellites overhead, had likely already recorded everything.
With Vought’s intelligence network—especially that deep, unfathomable CEO, Stan Edgar—figuring out his identity as Soldier Boy was only a matter of ti.
It could cause quite a bit of trouble. For instance, Edgar might deploy a swarm of Supes or orchestrate a plan to drug him, getting him frozen again before he could even make contact with Holander.
And Benjamin couldn’t be absolutely certain whether he would actually wake up a second ti if he got frozen again.
While Billy Butcher might eventually break him out, Benjamin had zero desire to cross paths with that cuckold.
Since there was no avoiding it, he might as well flip the table right now.
As long as he let Holander know right now about his status as his biological father, given Holander’s pathological craving for family and his extrely unstable ntal state...
Vought’s top brass wouldn’t dare act rashly. This was his best way to break the deadlock.
Benjamin began rifling through A-Train’s body.
Completely ignoring A-Train’s furious yet cowering gaze, he bent down and calmly pulled out a smartphone.
"Who... cough cough... who the fuck are you?!"
Clutching his broken ribs, A-Train coughed up blood while wheezing out a harsh threat, trying to use Vought’s brand to back him off.
"You lay a finger on , Vought won’t let you get away with it! Holander... Holander will tear you into minced at!"
"Shut up, you pussy who only runs through won," Benjamin shot him a freezing glare. "If you’ve got the balls, why don’t you try running into ?"
Benjamin’s cold look was so intense that it instantly made A-Train feel as if he had been plunged into an ice cave, forcing him to swallow the rest of his threat right back down.
A-Train didn’t dare open his mouth, let alone try running into Benjamin. Given this older guy’s sheer physical durability, any impact would only leave the speedster severely injured or dead instead.
Benjamin casually swiped the phone screen. When facial recognition failed, he shoved the screen directly in front of A-Train’s cold-sweat-covered face.
With a click, the phone unlocked.
"Listen up, you pussy who runs through won."
Benjamin squatted down, grabbing A-Train by the collar and lifting him halfway off the ground.
"Now, find Holander’s number in your contacts and call it."
A-Train’s face contorted in agony, but under Benjamin’s absolute, deathly stare, his finger trembled as he tapped the number on the screen—a number he usually wouldn’t dare dial lightly.
The call went through. Benjamin snatched the phone away and hit the speakerphone button.
"Ring— Ring—"
After a few rings, a highly conceited and audibly displeased magnetic male voice echoed from the other end:
"A-Train? This better be important. I’m currently cooperating with PR, shooting these fucking promo videos."
Benjamin stood up straight. Facing the phone, he spoke in a steady, old-school tone:
"John."
The sound of breathing on the other end instantly hitched.
In this world, next to nobody dared call Holander by his real na.
Let alone in a condescending, elder-like tone.
"I’m Benjamin. Though you might be more familiar with my other na—Soldier Boy."
The mont the words left his mouth, the surrounding air seed to instantly solidify.
On the edge of the street, Hughie’s brain went completely offline. Though he was just an ordinary guy, he had grown up reading superhero comic books.
"Soldier Boy"? The legendary hero who sacrificed his life in the eighties to save a nuclear power plant?!
A-Train, lying on the ground, was completely dumbfounded.
Enduring the agonizing pain, he forced his head up, staring dead at this massive, mountain-like man in a vintage green jacket.
The old posters from the lower levels of Vought Tower began to perfectly overlap in his mind with the sharp-featured, cold, and rebellious face right in front of him.
This face, much like the readers themselves, was absolutely perfect.
Holy shit...
He’s Soldier Boy?!
The legendary original superhero?!
But Benjamin’s next words truly detonated the real nuclear bomb.
"The fall of 1980," Benjamin’s voice was completely calm, as if he were rely recounting a trivial piece of history. "I was called into Vought, to that old bastard Vogelbaum’s lab. It was a top-secret genetic experint."
There was a dead silence on the line, with only the faint trace of breathing coming through.
"Then, I beat off... into a cheap cup," Benjamin said. "That psycho Vogelbaum used that stuff to make a child. In the spring of 1981, that child was born. A boy."
"And that boy is you, John."
Silence.
A suffocating, absolute silence.
On the top floor of Vought Tower on the other end of the line, Holander stood directly in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.
His pupils dilated violently, his brain going completely blank in an instant.
Holander instinctively didn’t want to believe it, yet his sixth sense scread that every single word was the absolute truth.
"Father," "origins," "test-tube baby"...
Benjamin paid no attention to Holander’s near-collapsing emotional state.
As for this cheap son of his, he had no intention of engaging in any heartwarming father-son bonding at the mont.
His goal had already been achieved.
In the show, that was exactly how Soldier Boy laid it out.
And Holander, naturally, believed it as a matter of course. Though in the show, Holander went on to dig up hidden files after Soldier Boy told him.
What annoyed Benjamin a bit was that the current tiline was still in Season 1. Holander, who was still wrapped completely around Madelyn’s finger, didn’t possess that kind of autonomy yet.
But it didn’t matter; planting the seed of doubt was more than enough.
Besides, Benjamin wasn’t about to sit around and wait until Season 3 for Holander to take over the company.
He completely ignored the ghost-like, horrified expressions on Hughie and Robin’s faces.
He also ignored A-Train, who was lying on the ground looking utterly brain-dead, questioning his entire existence.
Benjamin spoke coldly into the phone, "Pass my words along to Vought, and to that fucking Stan Edgar who thinks he can control everything."
"I’m back."
Click.
Benjamin hung up the phone, preparing to leave.
"Soldier Boy..."
Hughie called out, stopping him.
Benjamin turned his head, sizing up the protagonist of the Boys.
"What is it?"
"Thank you. Thank you for saving Robin."
"Next ti, stay the fuck away from the curb. There’s more than just one Supe with super speed."
------
A/n: If you want to read ahead and find out what happens next right away, you can read up to 20 Chapters ahead on my p@tr~on: /ForgottenDaoist (@ = a, link is in my profile).
User Comments
0 comments from readers