No more than five people were gathered – to be clear, it was four people.
Three of them were sitting on the sofa and one was standing beside the image projected on the wall.
Yes, there was a projector in the middle, casting the image for them to see.
"What do you think?" asked Frenchie, who was standing next to the image on the wall, holding what looked like a wooden pointer. He gestured toward the image and asked,
"Don't you find it interesting? Just look at those colors, aren't they cool?" Frenchie asked, clearly excited.
"To be honest, I'm not really feeling it. It's too colorful, too flashy," replied James.
It had already been a few minutes since this "session" began. He had to choose a uniform, because their plan was to infiltrate the Tower or something along those lines.
But as he debated what to pick, Butcher, who was sitting beside him with a vaguely distant expression, spoke up:
"But isn't that exactly what we want? It has to be flashy, has to be as gay as possible, just like Homelander's."
"I'm not sure I like that… something black and less flashy, maybe…" he murmured.
But his idea wasn't well received.
MM, sitting nearby, agreed with Butcher.
"Yeah, Butcher's right. The flashier, the better."
"Look, I'd love to keep this little family meeting going, but I've got more important things to do, alright? When you lot finish up, let me know, yeah?" said Butcher, standing up to leave.
"Where are you going?" asked Frenchie.
"Out for some fresh air and a cup of coffee," he replied.
"But the pot's full of coffee, and there's fresh air in the backyard," Frenchie pointed out.
"Don't start," said Butcher, walking out and leaving the three in somewhat awkward silence.
"Anyway, let's continue," said Frenchie.
He then pulled up several images of the current members of The Seven's suits.
He started showing them one by one, from the most important down to The Deep.
It was the first time James had seen the other members of The Seven besides Homelander.
"So what do you think? It has to be something like this. Have anything in mind?" asked Frenchie.
"Wow, she's really pretty" was all James could think.
That Queen Maeve was really hot, he thought. There wasn't much he could do—he was full of youthful energy.
Frenchie and MM exchanged glances, suspicious.
"Was that really all you paid attention to?" asked MM, hand on his forehead.
"Ah, sorry… but now that you mention it, I like the cape. It's pretty flashy," said James.
Frenchie felt a spark of hope hearing that. At least he liked something, so he had to ask:
"Did you like Homelander's suit?" Frenchie asked, a wild idea beginning to form in his mind.
"Well… I didn't really like the cape, and there's too much color, but it's cool…" said James.
Frenchie then asked excitedly,
"Do you think you could design something like that?"
"I think so… I know a little editing, changing colors and stuff like that shouldn't be too hard."
Frenchie and MM exchanged looks again, then MM stood up and went to get Grace's laptop, which was somewhere around.
After that, he placed it on the table and said,
"Give it a try."
A few days passed after that. During that time, Grace was quite busy with the process of creating a false identity for the boy. In short, besides the fake ID, she also had trouble with the "adoption."
Yes, technically, she adopted him. Her former position had earned her many favors from many people, so in the end, she didn't have as much trouble as she imagined she would.
During this time, she also ended up spending a lot of time alone with the boy. She discovered that, although he was technically very powerful—almost a god among men, like Homelander—in other ways, he seemed quite normal.
He liked spending his time on his laptop, gaming and messing around. Besides his evident laziness when it came to doing anything other than gaming and lying on the couch, she also found that he was quite sensitive to sound—sometimes startling at nothing quite often.
To be honest, she felt a bit of affection for this boy. After all, he was pretty laid-back around her. Well, she attributed that to maybe the fact that he didn't have many friends or a family or anything like that.
Anyway, it wouldn't be long before his fake identity arrived, and with that, she planned to enroll him in school. After all, it wasn't good for him to stay home all day loafing around.
But anyway, a few days ago, James finished the suit design and she had it made. A stylist came, took his measurements, and made it.
By the way, his suit was already ready for a fitting.
There was a small gathering to see it.
Grace and the others showed up. Since it was a "special" occasion, there was food—it was almost like a little party among them.
Yes, she wasn't the only one. Frenchie and MM, from what she could tell, had also grown more attached to the boy.
"Come on, James, let us see," said Grace, who was waiting by the bathroom door for him to come out.
Frenchie and MM were also curious.
"Are you shy, mon cœur? Don't be timid, no one here is going to laugh at you," said Frenchie, holding a drink in his hand.
"Exactly, kid. Come out already and show us," said MM.
Butcher was somewhere around.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming out. Don't laugh," he said.
He then opened the door and revealed himself:
A vibrant red cape that nearly brushed the floor.
The rest of the suit was blue—not light blue, but a slightly darker shade. The suit was also lined with red details. There was also something that looked like a red belt, but it was too thin to be a belt—more of an accent.
Meanwhile, his boots were red, unlike the rest of the blue suit.
There was also a symbol on his chest, red in color. The symbol had an "S" inside it in red, set against a yellow background.
"How do I look?" asked James, embarrassed.
"Wow… they really put effort into this, huh? It turned out much cooler than I thought it would," said Frenchie, being honest.
"Yeah, I thought it would look bad, but it's actually not bad," MM continued.
"Hey, what do you mean by that? Are you saying I have bad taste? Watch it, I'll take you down…" said James, slightly annoyed.
Grace, on the other hand, had a slight smile on her face. But deep down, she felt a little worried and couldn't figure out why.
After that, a few more days passed. James learned from Grace that he would start studying in April. His classes would begin in just a few days—no more than a couple of weeks. He wasn't sure how he felt about it.
According to Grace, he wouldn't study "too much" and wouldn't be too busy, since she'd managed to get him a fake academic record so he could start in a grade appropriate for someone his age.
Well, that didn't matter right now, because this wasn't the time to think about it.
Why?
Because the situation wasn't appropriate.
He was now on top of a building—a very tall one, in fact. He was up there, observing things.
He was wearing his suit and ready to act. He was just waiting for something to happen so he could jump into action.
And you might be wondering how he got up there in the first place. Well, that's a bit of a backstory.
A few days ago, while sleeping, he got a huge scare when he realized he was "flying."
Yes, he already knew he got his powers from Homelander and had all of them except the ability to fly. But he thought maybe he couldn't do it—just because Homelander could didn't mean he could, or so he thought.
But to his surprise, he could fly, too.
Anyway, this wasn't the time to think about that. As he focused on detecting any signs of crime in the area, he heard a police siren.
He concentrated a bit more and heard a female voice coming from what seemed like one of those police car radios:
"Heading toward the East Zone, crossing the bridge. Stolen car, repeat stolen car—black with a white stripe."
Alright… alright… it's time. I hope everything goes well on my first patrol… James thought as he stood up. He'd been sitting there for a while.
After standing, he began to float slowly off the ground. His cape, which brushed the floor, slowly began to sway in the wind.
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Author's note: This story will not be a harem for those who are curious. I personally don't like it and I'm tired of reading harems on this site.