General Mac had received more detailed intelligence, and was therefore even angrier, "That bastard knew about this in advance. Otherwise, there's no way he could have gathered the reporters ahead of time, prepared a helicopter, and flown directly to the military base in Yellowstone Park to take pictures."
The press secretary said, "I'll contact all the major media outlets immediately and make them keep their mouths shut."
At this point, Rick Archibald sighed and shook his head, "It's useless."
"With Homelander backing them, those reporters won't keep quiet."
"Have Public Relations contact the Seven Towers. Tell them I want to meet Homelander."
"If Homelander is still willing to meet me, perhaps there's still a chance to salvage this."
"Otherwise…"
Everyone's hearts sank.
Especially General Mac. He looked out the window.
Today's sunset was exceptionally blood-red, dyeing everything in a sea of red. Through that bloody color, he seemed to see a scene of buildings tilting, smoke rising everywhere, and flames covering the ground.
"My God…"
General Mac could not help murmuring.
Just then, the president's secretary walked in. After whispering something into the president's ear, Rick Archibald nodded.
The secretary then turned on the television in the office.
On the screen was a villa.
Suddenly, a light appeared inside the villa, and then the villa exploded. Screams and cries of alarm rang out.
In the blink of an eye, the villa had become a ruin, with flames raging and thick smoke billowing everywhere.
People struggled to crawl out of the villa. They were covered in injuries; some had their hands blown off, while some had their vital organs reduced to a mass of mangled flesh.
Their bodies were covered in blood as they cried and wailed.
The scene was like hell.
A moment later, a man walked out of the ruins of the villa.
He was wearing a combat suit and carrying a shield. At this moment, the camera zoomed in and gave him a close-up.
Immediately afterward, a voice came from the television screen:
["Viewers, did everyone get a good look?"]
["Isn't this the superhuman criminal who destroyed Midtown a few days ago and killed several innocent bystanders?"]
["That's right, it's him."]
["I couldn't possibly mistake him."]
["And yesterday, this superhuman criminal once again committed an outrageous crime."]
["He destroyed a house, causing more than twenty people inside to die and nearly thirty people to suffer injuries of varying severity."]
["Several of them died from their severe injuries while being taken to the hospital."]
["And this happened only a few days after he destroyed Midtown."]
["Here, I can't help but ask, what exactly are our federal police doing?"]
["They're actually allowing such a dangerous criminal to roam free."]
["If you can't deal with him, can't you ask the Seven Towers for help, or seek Homelander's assistance?"]
["Is this how you waste our taxpayers' money?"]
Inside the office, both the president and everyone else fell silent.
After a while, Rick Archibald finally said, "He's already started attacking us."
The president sighed and said, "This news happened yesterday, but it wasn't reported yesterday. Instead, it's only being reported now."
"With this news laying the groundwork, all he has to do next is expose the photos of Soldier Boy and me meeting and shaking hands, and I won't be able to remain president."
General Mac roared, "Mallory!"
"It has to be Mallory!"
"She was responsible for making the connections. She must have leaked this information to Homelander."
"Otherwise, how would Homelander know that Mr. President met with Soldier Boy?"
Rick Archibald shook his head, "It wasn't her."
"And it wasn't anyone here."
"Homelander must have obtained this intelligence through some other means."
"Mallory herself also fell into Homelander's trap."
"I can roughly imagine Homelander's plan."
"He knew in advance that Soldier Boy was hunting down members of the 'Payback' team, and he also knew that Soldier Boy would go kill the TNT Twins."
"So he had the reporters lie in wait. After they captured footage of Soldier Boy, he suppressed the news instead of letting it come out."
"The purpose was to numb Mallory and me, ensuring that today's meeting would go ahead as usual."
"Then, after taking photos of me and Soldier Boy and obtaining the evidence, he would release this news, laying the groundwork for the next, even more explosive news."
"That way, the headline could be…"
"'President Meets Superhuman Criminal, Plots to Murder Savior, Protector of the Nation, Federal General Homelander.'"
"Once that happened, my reputation would hit rock bottom."
"Then I wouldn't have many choices left."
"Either declare war on Homelander directly."
"Or I could only leave this position."
General Mac immediately said, "We absolutely cannot let Homelander get his way!"
"Mr. President, once you leave this position…"
"It isn't hard to imagine."
"The next person sitting in this position…"
"Will either be Homelander, or someone he has arranged!"
Rick Archibald nodded, "You're right. But, General, how are we going to stop Homelander?"
———
That night, in an unnamed motel, Mallory was drinking.
One glass after another.
There was a knock at the door, followed by Frenchie's voice from outside, "Ma'am, I'm here."
Mallory opened the door, reeking of alcohol.
Frenchie walked in and glanced at the vodka that was almost gone, "You've had too much to drink."
Mallory smiled, "No matter how much I drink, the situation can't get any worse than it is now."
Frenchie shook his head, "This isn't your fault. Even you couldn't have predicted that Homelander would actually show up at the military base."
Mallory sighed, "We really took a hard fall this time."
Frenchie asked, "What are you planning to do next?"
"I…"
Mallory had just begun to speak when a news report interrupted the television program.
The scene was at the White House.
President Rick Archibald walked out, and a burst of camera flashes immediately lit up.
He walked to the front and said solemnly, ["Fellow reporters viewers watching from home, and citizens of the Federation."]
["I want to take this opportunity to offer Homelander my most sincere apologies."]
Another burst of camera shutters immediately rang out from the screen.
Frenchie said in surprise, "What is the president doing?"
"The news about the military base today hasn't even come out yet, and he's already voluntarily apologizing to Homelander?"
"Homelander isn't stupid. Does he think he can fool him?"
Mallory's expression, however, changed.
"Damn it, we need to leave here immediately!"
Frenchie froze, "Why, ma'am?"
"The president clearly wants to get ahead of Homelander's news and admit his mistake first."
"But like you said, he personally ordered Soldier Boy at the scene to assassinate Homelander."
"Can he really fool everyone just by apologizing first?"
Mallory pulled out a handgun and hurriedly said, "The president isn't stupid."
"So he only has one way to do this: find someone to take the blame."
"So who would be suitable to take the blame?"
Before she had even finished speaking, Frenchie heard the president on television say, "Because I was deceived by former Security Department employee Mallory, I was led to make an incorrect judgment about Homelander…"
Frenchie immediately swore.
"Shit!"
[🙇🏻 You Can Support through P@tr3on—AmbitiousTranslator. It also has 40+ advanced chapters of all the novels and fanfics. It gets updated daily. Thanks for reading, have a great day~]