“BANG!”
Compared to the last time she’d come to Edgar’s office, this time Madelyn practically burst right in.
No pause, no knock, no warning of any kind.
Her sudden arrival caught Edgar completely off guard.
Fortunately, the aging Edgar wasn’t in the middle of doing anything exciting with his secretary.
Edgar, who had been checking the company’s stock price, saw Madelyn come in.
He reached up to push his glasses into place and was just about to speak.
Madelyn crossed the room in three hurried strides, coming straight up to the desk, her tone urgent and panicked.
“Mr.
Edgar, Homelander has lost control!”
“Madelyn, I’ve told you before…”
“Yes, you’ve said it—Homelander is like a child going through a rebellious phase, and we, his so-called ‘parents,’ have to learn how to guide him.”
Madelyn impatiently cut Edgar off, something that under normal circumstances would have been utterly unthinkable.
But having just been through a “brush with death,” the fear she felt toward Homelander had completely overpowered her reverence for her superior.
She was alive for money, for power—and yes, these were things Edgar could indeed give her.
But if she were dead, not only would those things be gone, everything else would be too.
“But!”
“When that child picks up a knife and starts making threats—when he nearly kills his own mother—then things become completely different, don’t they?”
“Damn it, just now, he almost killed me.
Do you understand that?!”
“Those red eyes, the lasers landing right in front of me.”
“Oh, shit!!”
Madelyn couldn’t hold it back, cursing right in front of Edgar.
She irritably swept a hand through her hair, her chest heaving rapidly, her whole body radiating the lingering terror from the inside out.
Hearing this, Edgar took off his glasses.
Just as Madelyn had said, the nature of certain matters was indeed different.
He picked up a cloth and began wiping the lenses in his hand, then calmly said:
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
…
A moment later, after learning the full sequence of events from Madelyn, Edgar’s brow furrowed slightly.
The shapeshifter Doppelganger, suddenly demanding an on-screen appearance…
Instinctively, Edgar felt something was off.
Though he didn’t yet know exactly what lay beneath it all, as a veteran who had risen and fallen in the business world for decades, his instincts sharply told him something wasn’t right.
Yet he couldn’t string these things together into a single truth.
Edgar fell silent, and after wiping his glasses for a full five minutes, he put them back on.
“Tell the PR department to meet his demand.”
“Just one thing—you must remind them: the moment things start to spin out of control, cut the signal immediately.”
Vought was a company.
For a company, what mattered most was profit—and any negative news that might threaten that profit.
Compared to those concerns, Homelander’s little request really amounted to nothing.
Perhaps he simply felt he hadn’t been in the public eye for a while and was feeling a bit insecure?
Edgar silently speculated in his heart.
But it didn’t really matter.
The reason Madelyn had instinctively refused was just like raising a child.
Indulging him without limit would only spoil the child rotten, making him harder and harder to handle.
Only by keeping him in check could one maintain better control.
Even if, at times, it was only over some very small matter.
“Is that really all there is to it?”
“What I mean is, his condition is clearly off…”
Listening to Edgar’s words, Madelyn struggled to find the right way to phrase it.
“I think perhaps we should speed up the other preparations.”
Madelyn spoke with pointed implication.
“Which is exactly why we need to keep him stable, isn’t it?”
“Right now what we lack most is time.
You know full well how much effort we’ve poured into cultivating Homelander.”
“Besides, the replacement’s image is far too immature.
It would be best to give her a bit more time.”
How could Edgar not know what Madelyn was thinking?
It was simply that none of this was that simple.
“But Homelander right now…”
Madelyn recalled the scene of facing Homelander’s laser eyes just moments ago, and a deep sense of resistance welled up in her heart.
If she could, she really didn’t want to face Homelander again.
To face that creature who could very well bring about her death.
“Madelyn, think carefully.
Over all these years, how did you go from an ordinary staffer in the PR department to the position of Senior Vice President of Superhero Management you hold today?”
“Why do you think that is?”
Edgar leaned back in his chair, regarding her calmly.
“Everything you have now was given to you by the company, and so naturally you must make your contribution—not stand here shirking responsibility.”
At Edgar’s words, Madelyn’s breath caught.
It was true—without the company, there would be no her, none of what she had now.
Either go back and dutifully placate Homelander, even at the risk of her life.
Or lose all of this completely—and perhaps even be purged in the reckoning…
“I understand, Mr.
Edgar.
I’ll go contact the PR department right away.”
Madelyn made her choice, turning to leave Edgar’s office.
Alex, who had watched all of this unfold, curled his lips into a smile of utter control.
Everything was proceeding exactly according to his plan.
Not much time was wasted.
Madelyn returned.
The moment she stepped out of the elevator and stood in the corridor of the 99th floor, she had already begun steeling herself mentally.
To make someone face a “mentally unstable” individual who was capable and might kill her at any moment—it would be impossible to say the pressure wasn’t immense.
If Ashley had been there at that moment, she surely would have felt a deep sense of empathy.
“Knock, knock knock.”
The sound of knocking rang out.
“Come in.”
Madelyn forced her expression to stay calm, and after walking into the lounge, she put on her usual smile toward Homelander.
“John.”
“Your request has just been approved.
The PR department is now fully cooperating.”
“They’re on their way right now to set up the scene.”
“I believe you’ll be able to head over soon.”
Alex nodded slightly, a faint smile surfacing on his face.
“Not bad.”
“As long as you set your mind to it, you can get it done, can’t you?”
Madelyn’s expression stiffened slightly, and she nodded with a dry laugh.
“Alright, now that it’s handled, go and get busy.”
“If anything comes up, I’ll contact you again.”
Alex waved a hand at Madelyn as he spoke, as if instructing some obedient little secretary.
And yet Madelyn couldn’t react in any other way to this—she didn’t even dare show the slightest trace of dissatisfaction.
Obediently, she turned and left, heading out the door.