A week later, Vought headquarters held a press conference.
The man at the mic was the CEO, Stan Edgar. He set his right hand on the podium, looked at the reporters below, and spoke low.
"I am deeply sorry for what happened. Because of one person's negligence, Stormfront became a Vought superhero. A racist who wanted to smash the peace and start a war got into the ranks. That is on me. We will learn from it. We will sit with the pain. We will run hard checks. We will make damn sure this never happens again."
Edgar reached out and shifted the mic.
"The one piece of luck in this mess is Homelander moving fast enough to cut Stormfront out, the bad apple in the barrel. I have to praise how decisive he was. He did not give her a way out. That is how the danger died in the crib, instead of going somewhere worse."
He glanced at Homelander.
Homelander tipped a corner of his mouth for the cameras. The flashbulbs kept popping and washed his face pale, like he was forcing the smile.
"Everyone knows I am a Black man. I know exactly where my people stand. I have zero tolerance for racism. Not just me. Vought as a company is the same."
Edgar's speech pulled a thick round of applause.
A few White reporters had contempt on their faces, then covered it with smiles. No choice. This was the politically correct hour.
"Greevs."
Edgar left the podium and gave Ivan the spot.
Ivan walked to the mic at a steady pace. A few of the women in the press pit lit up the second he appeared.
The cream-white suit was cut clean. On that tall, straight frame it put his whole presence on display. Muscle lines showed faint under the fabric and had the women in the crowd practically drooling.
The title did some of the work too. Vice President of Vought. That name alone was worth hundreds of millions.
Ivan's face stayed hard. He swept the room once, then spoke. "As of today, I no longer hold the position of Vought Vice President."
The second it left his mouth the room blew up.
"Huh? Sir, I did not hear that right. Did Vought fire you?"
"Mr. Greevs, can you give us the actual reason?"
"Is this about Stormfront? Why did you bring her into Vought in the first place? Did you already know what she was?"
"Is there something else behind the resignation?"
Reporters shot their right hands up and kept yelling questions.
Ivan ignored them. He turned, nodded at Edgar, and walked straight out of the Vought press hall.
…
A black Cadillac rolled toward New York Airport.
Ivan had one hand on the wheel. He looked down at the watch on his wrist.
Hmm. Still two hours before the time he set with Hughie.
At this speed, he had room.
Looked like Butcher and the others already had a line on where Soldier Boy was hiding. No other reason to fly to Russia with nothing to aim at.
One hour later.
Ivan got to the meeting spot early.
With Butcher's wanted status, they were almost certainly taking a private plane to Russia.
While he waited, Ivan shut his eyes. Leaving Vought for now cost him nothing.
Every power worth parsing, he had already parsed. The only one left unfused was Homelander's raw strength, and that one would be his soon enough.
He ran the next targets in his head.
First, Soldier Boy. The man's super defense and that chest blast that could shut Compound V down were both high value.
After that, Mindstorm. Last came Butcher's heat vision and Hughie's teleport.
From how Hughie used it in the original story, the power looked less like a blink and more like spatial movement. If space was really in play, the ceiling got a lot higher.
He would know after he parsed it.
Ivan opened his eyes and called the panel.
"Nine thousand one hundred twenty." He looked at the number and said it under his breath.
...
At the same time.
Inside a small van.
Hughie kept glancing out the window, wound tight.
A few days back they had gone to see Mallory and gotten the real story of that war out of her.
No question. Filthy.
Cold War. The US and the Soviets stockpiled warheads until the treasuries were hollow. War is a money furnace. Both military blocs were hanging on by their teeth.
No big official war, but the cash still burned just as fast.
No money means you find money. So both sides dumped weapons on poorer countries already tearing themselves apart, countries that needed guns.
Guns cost money. War costs money. Some local factions had nothing left, so they paid in drugs, the hard currency.
The military bloc on one side did not turn it down. The stuff was worth real money. They only let it move into Black neighborhoods in America. The point was to let Black communities rot themselves out, wipe their own voice, and vanish.
The plan could not see daylight.
So they handed the dirty work to Payback. During transport the other military bloc hit them. The US government had not counted on Payback being all shine and no steel. A bunch of duds. One contact and Payback got carved up.
By the end even the captain, Soldier Boy, got snatched by the other side's plane.
After the war the CIA signed with Vought and buried the whole thing.
Mallory built The Boys later because of that war. On the ground she watched her people, her friends, get killed by supes.
That was when she knew those things were a plague if you left them alive. She called it right. Then Lamplighter's fire put her in a hole that did not end.
"Hand it over."
Butcher said it from the driver's seat.
"Starlight already told me."
Hughie froze, then hit the standard three-step deny. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not hiding anything. Don't make shit up."
"You sure?" Butcher flicked his eyes to the rearview.
The air sat there a few seconds. Hughie kept his mouth shut like a dead duck, then pulled a lime-green vial from his pocket.
"The hell is that? Compound V?"
Butcher watched the Temporary Compound V in Hughie's hand through the mirror.
That was when Hughie got it. Butcher had been running a bluff.
"Oh, shit! I knew Starlight would never just tell you." Hughie was pissed. Then, still sour, he asked, "How did you clock it?"
"Come on, son. The crease between your eyebrows these last few days could pinch a fly to death. Your face is wearing a sign that says, I have a secret, please come ask me." A thin sneer sat on Butcher's mouth.
___
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69