Benjamin sat in his office, took a sip of coffee, and looked over a new file he had created on his tablet.
It was about Hughie, Butcher, Frenchie, and Mother’s Milk.
All four of them should still be around.
To be honest, Benjamin had originally thought that since Robin had not died, Hughie would never go down this path.
But he had gotten involved anyway. That did not make much sense.
Now Translucent had disappeared, with no sign of him alive or dead, yet no one at Vought was investigating, and no one was asking questions.
As for whether Translucent lived or died, honestly, it had nothing to do with him.
Forget it. Benjamin did not plan to get involved. In his eyes, Translucent’s life or death was not even as important as those beautiful, sexy female characters.
At the lower level of Vought Tower, inside Edgar’s private conference room.
There were no windows, sound-absorbing panels covered all four walls, and every electronic device had been left in the shielded cabinet outside the door.
This ensured that their conversation could not be overheard by Holander.
Several core directors sat around the long table, with Madelyn seated on Edgar’s right. The lighting was dim.
"Get straight to the point."
Edgar’s voice carried no emotion.
"The losses since Soldier Boy took office."
Madelyn opened her tablet. "The black market for Compound V has been shut down, and projected profits have fallen by twenty-three percent. Deep has been removed, which ans all derivative revenue from Deep-related IP has dropped to zero. That alone is a loss of at least eight hundred million. And because of the previous incident, three of A-Train’s sponsors are currently discussing contract termination."
She paused, then continued,
"Soldier Boy has no weaknesses. He does not care about money, and perhaps not about won either. His personality has no exploitable flaws. He won’t be like Holander, caring about reputation. We can’t find any leverage over him..."
"And because Soldier Boy is Holander’s father, Holander won’t resent him just because he has greater authority."
Silence settled over the conference table.
A gray-haired director took off his glasses.
"What about Holander? If Madelyn can keep him firmly under control, at least it could form so kind of balance. That might even be better than Holander holding absolute power the way he did before."
Madelyn set down her glass of water. The motion was half a beat slower than usual.
Edgar answered for her. "Over the past two days, Holander has not gone to Madelyn for milk. Compared to before Soldier Boy arrived, their relationship seems to have fractured."
"Why?"
"Because Soldier Boy is his father." Madelyn’s voice was dry. "A man who has gone his entire life without love suddenly has his biological father fall out of the sky. Who do you think he’ll choose?"
"Perhaps, Madelyn, you could give Holander even more love than Soldier Boy can. Soldier Boy doesn’t have milk, after all."
Madelyn rubbed her forehead. She did not know what to say.
Silence pressed down again.
The second hand on the wall clock made three full circles before soone finally spoke.
"Soldier Boy can’t be killed, but he can be locked away. The Russians managed it back then."
"You an..."
"He’ll leave Vought Tower sooner or later. The mbers of Payback are still around, except for Black Noir."
"Use them, along with a few obedient Supes. Pick a mont when he’s out alone, surround him, subdue him, and imprison him. Just like before."
Several gazes turned toward Edgar at the sa ti.
Edgar did not answer imdiately.
He looked at the tabletop. After a long while, he raised his head.
"Prepare both options."
His voice did not rise or fall.
"Madelyn, satisfy Holander as much as possible. Pull him back. Whatever he wants, give it to him. Pacify him. As for the other side..."
He looked toward the director who had made the suggestion.
"Contact Payback. They will follow Vought’s arrangents. They hate Soldier Boy. Have them stand by."
Madelyn nodded.
She knew very well that winning over Holander used to require only a look, or perhaps a slight tug at her collar. But now, it had beco a task that required her to "satisfy every demand as much as possible."
But she had no other cards left.
Madelyn did not know what else she could do either. Apart from certain parts of her own body, what else did she have?
But soon, Madelyn thought of Soldier Boy. Could she use the sa thod she used to tempt Holander to tempt...
The eting ended.
The directors filed out one after another, until only Edgar remained seated alone at the far end of the long table.
He sighed. Soldier Boy’s return had indeed caused plenty of trouble. And... it seed he intended to be a real superhero.
Vought did not need real superheroes.
Vought only needed obedient products.
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