Chapter 68: The Current Situation of The Boys
The next morning, Benjamin and Starlight got dressed and returned to Vought headquarters.
Holander, however, had flown out of headquarters before dawn to hunt down rogue Supes causing chaos around the world. After all, back when he wanted to force Supes into the military, he was the one who had ordered A-Train to distribute Compound V to terrorists worldwide. Aside from seeing his son, Holander spent most of his ti dealing with this ss.
He also had to track down Kimiko and her brother... though Holander didn’t know why Soldier Boy was so obsessed with them. He wondered if Soldier Boy just wanted to mix things up.
The days went by like this. Benjamin’s life beca exceptionally structured and "fulfilling." He occasionally went to the Peninsula Hotel with Starlight, enjoying this new-generation Supe and Arica’s Sweetheart. Other tis, Benjamin would open the door to Stormfront’s apartnt and engage in a fist-to-flesh, "hardcore sparring match" with her.
Perhaps because Benjamin didn’t agree with her grand ideals, Stormfront had clearly checked out recently. She stopped fighting criminals on the streets. Instead, she half-heartedly went to Vought’s studios every day to shoot terrible movies, or wore her black uniform to talk shows to deliver speeches about female empowernt and the like.
Surprisingly, Stormfront was actually a highly skilled speaker. Her approval ratings among won of all ages spiked significantly, and her popularity even began to subtly eclipse Starlight’s. Both Stormfront and Starlight beca highly active in the public eye. Along with Maeve, they were hailed as the trio of female empowernt. Of course, while Starlight and Maeve were actually out hunting rogue Supes, Stormfront spent most of her ti attending promotional events, dropping bombshell statents that were even more shocking than Benjamin’s.
Benjamin didn’t get angry at Stormfront’s slacking; in fact, he was glad to see it. He knew the old woman’s true nature all too well. No matter how much she claid to follow the rules now, deep down, she was a thoroughly extre, racist psycho. If he let her out on missions, the mont she ran into Black or Asian criminals, the slaughter and destruction she’d unleash would probably be a hundred tis worse than anything the rogue Supes could do.
Keeping her penned under the spotlight as a token figurehead was actually the best way to protect society. Despite her previous promises, she was far from trustworthy, standing as the complete polar opposite of Starlight. Her capacity for calculation and malice was unmatched by almost any other Supe.
anwhile, The Deep and A-Train—the two forr outcasts of The Seven—were frantically tracking down the Church of the Collective.
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A few nights later. Sowhere in the Middle East, at a smoke-filled, abandoned insurgent camp.
Splat!
Holander expressionlessly lifted his glowing red eyes, and his beams instantly obliterated a terrorist leader’s head. This was the third rogue Supe he had eliminated today.
"Disgusting roaches, there’s a never-ending supply of them," Holander murmured, casting a look of pure disgust at the corpse.
As the final scream died out, the violent crimson glow in his eyes slowly ebbed away. He took a deep breath, his terrifying aura subsiding. Holander carefully reached into a clean, blood-free inner pocket of his suit and pulled out a beautifully packaged, limited-edition Holander Lego set.
Staring at the toy, the tyrant who had just slaughtered dozens of people let out a soft, dopey smile. "It’s almost ti to go see Ryan again. The little guy’s gonna love this."
Boom!
Accompanied by a deafening sonic boom, Holander clutched the Lego box, punched through the clouds without a second’s delay, and flew at maximum velocity back toward the secret community in Arica.
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In the Arican Midwest, inside an abandoned church. Two factions stood facing off against each other.
On the left was the forr Deputy Director of the CIA, Grace Mallory. She wore a faded gray trench coat, her wrinkled face etched with intense vigilance. Yet, one could still make out from her features that she had been quite beautiful in her youth, possessing an exceptional aura. The original Soldier Boy had actually tried to hit on her back in the day, only to get thoroughly shut down and read out.
Standing behind Mallory were Mother’s Milk, Billy Butcher, Frenchie, and their lone Supe, Kimiko.
When Butcher’s crew had previously co up with the plan to expose Compound V to the public, Soldier Boy had beaten them to the punch, catching them completely off guard. On top of that, due to killing Translucent and being sold out by sr, they had beco wanted fugitives. With heroes, cops, and everyone else hunting them down, Butcher’s situation was far more precarious than in the original tiline, forcing them to seek shelter under Colonel Mallory.
As for Hughie, things had deviated from the original plot. When they went to threaten sr, Hughie hadn’t been present, so he never beca a fugitive. Right now, Hughie was living a relatively comfortable life with Robin.
Standing opposite them was a man dressed in an immaculate, custom white suit, his hair slicked back into a neat pompadour, a gentle smile playing at the corners of his mouth. This was Alastair Adana, the cult leader of the Church of the Collective, who commanded millions of fanatical followers across Arica and amassed a fortune through systematic brainwashing and psychological control.
Behind him stood several expressionless, suit-clad Supe bodyguards. These Supes didn’t belong to Vought International; they were contingency assets left behind by Stan Edgar.
"Colonel Mallory," Adana spoke first, breaking the silence. He offered a highly graceful, slight bow. "To be quite frank, when I extended the invitation, I assud your rigid nature would keep you from ever showing up. But look at that... here you are."
"Can it with the repulsive pleasantries, you holy roller," Mallory countered coldly. "I have absolutely nothing to say to a cult leader who bleeds people’s minds and bank accounts dry. If your intel hadn’t ntioned Vought, I’d put a bullet through your skull right now."
"But you ca anyway, didn’t you? Because you have no choice." Adana didn’t mind her hostility at all, spreading his arms wide. "Co now, Colonel, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We share a common foe right now, an invincible one at that... Vought! According to my intelligence network, this little team you secretly put together—The Boys—is practically the only faction that has ever actually managed to bruise Vought. Translucent, for instance, was your handiwork."
"Fuck you!" Butcher barked from behind Mallory, unable to keep his mouth shut.
He took a step forward, his heavily bearded face twisted in raw hostility, pointing a finger dead at Alastair’s nose. "You goddamn cultist freaks have been in bed with Vought since day one! How many dirty Supes have you scrubbed clean for them? How many errands have you run for Vought? What, the dynamic changed when it ca to splitting the spoils, so now you’re jumping out to bite the hand that fed you?"
Faced with Butcher’s insults, the smile on Adana’s face finally faded a bit. He sighed, shrugging his shoulders with a helpless air. "You’re entirely right, Mr. Butcher. We certainly used to be the best of allies. Vought needed us to clean up after their Supes, and we needed Vought to provide funding, protection, and status. But now... tis have changed."
A flash of genuine terror flickered in Adana’s eyes. "That old fox Stan Edgar is dead, and Madelyn is dead too. Vought has been completely overthrown. Soldier Boy and Holander—that terrifying father-and-son duo—are running the whole company now. They don’t play by the rules at all! They don’t need the Church to recruit mbers for them, they don’t need us to clean up their image. They... they probably just want to wipe the slate clean with absolute, raw violence!"
"Just the day before yesterday, they officially kicked the Church of the Collective out of the partnership loop and severed all our funding pipelines. They might have even dispatched Supes to hunt us down," Adana said, gritting his teeth. "If we don’t strike first, the Church will be systematically erased by that pair within days, fading completely from existence. And I... I will be left with absolutely nothing."
"Ha!" Mallory couldn’t help but let out a mocking, cold laugh. "Then Vought actually managed to do sothing good for humanity for once in their miserable lives. You piece-of-shit cultists who warp people’s minds... in a way, you’re even more repulsive than Vought. You think we’re going to be your personal hit squad? Dream on."
With that, Mallory spun around, preparing to walk out.
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/ForgottenDaoist (@ = a, link is in my profile).
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