While Alex waited silently in the lounge, the PR department had descended into utter chaos.
The sudden order had thrown all of their existing work arrangements into disarray.
Large numbers of field personnel went rushing out in a frantic hurry.
At the same time, the media outlets that worked closely with the Vought Corporation received a flood of phone calls.
And all of this was simply because of a single idea from one particular person.
Even so, the preparations dragged on from day into night.
After all, this kind of performance staged in front of the cameras was nothing like shooting a movie.
Although everyone was there to play along, the props and the like were all live ammunition—the real deal.
If a movie didn’t turn out well, you could just call cut and start over.
But this was a live broadcast, and it wasn’t nearly so easy.
The moment anything went wrong, it would become a serious PR disaster.
That was why, in every previous performance, the participating superheroes—the likes of Homelander—never needed to rehearse.
But those ordinary people still had to go through many rounds of rehearsal, to make everything look as real as possible.
Today, however, the sudden order had caught absolutely everyone off guard.
What’s more, according to the requirements, the scenario they set up had to be the kind that was extremely dire, with a real sense of urgency.
That only raised the difficulty even further.
Fortunately.
For a company as wealthy and powerful as Vought, any problem that could be solved with money was no problem at all.
“Sir, the PR department is all ready, and the actors have all arrived on scene.
This is the live broadcast…”
In the lounge, Ashley switched on the projector and began explaining to Alex.
As she spoke, Ashley also tried, as discreetly as she could, to observe him out of the corner of her eye.
As his assistant, Ashley felt that Homelander had been a little off these past couple of days.
Yet she couldn’t quite put her finger on why.
The main reason for this feeling wasn’t anything about how Homelander acted when he spoke to her.
It was Madelyn’s reaction today.
Although Madelyn and Homelander’s relationship had always been kept in a very discreet state under normal circumstances,
as the one closest to the two of them, Ashley could still pick up on a few things that were out of the ordinary.
After all, before now, Homelander had never once scolded Madelyn or anything of the sort, and she had certainly never seen the state Madelyn was in when she came out from Homelander’s presence today.
Each and every one of these signs seemed to prove the same thing.
The Homelander before her had undergone some unknown change—one severe enough that even Madelyn, with her special relationship to him, couldn’t come out unscathed.
Thinking about it that way, Ashley immediately felt that her days ahead were going to be even harder.
If even someone with a special relationship was being treated like this, then there was no need to even mention an ordinary working stiff like her.
Just as she was thinking, a call by her ear roused her.
“Ashley?”
“Yes!
Sir!”
“You were spacing out.”
“I’m so sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to.
Please forgive me!”
Clutching her folder, Ashley nervously apologized over and over.
Watching Ashley apologizing and bowing in front of him, Alex couldn’t help but feel that this queen of stress endurance seemed to be under even more pressure than before.
Yet he clearly hadn’t done anything to her at all.
‘So she’s been imagining things on her own, huh.’
Alex grumbled inwardly, then said, “Notify the PR department to ramp up the publicity even more.”
“And remember to give a solid reason to keep the superhero from showing up too early.”
“Once the matter has spread completely and the buzz has built up—that’s when it’ll be my time to appear.”
As she listened, Ashley quickly jotted everything down in her folder.
Ramp up the publicity while also giving a reasonable excuse to delay the superhero’s appearance?
Just that one sentence alone gave Ashley a headache to hear—she didn’t even dare think it through in detail.
It was simply wanting to have it both ways.
Thankfully, it wasn’t her problem.
She was just a mouthpiece passing along the message.
This sort of thing could be left for the PR department to rack their brains over.
Ashley thought with a touch of schadenfreude—so much for working stiffs not making things hard on other working stiffs.
She’d been under pressure for so long, losing hair by the handful every single day; it was about time someone else got to feel it too.
“No problem, sir, I’ll contact the PR department right away.”
Ashley nodded, swiftly pulled out her phone, and began making the calls.
After a bit of effort, during the evening prime-time hours, a piece of breaking news swiftly appeared before the eyes of the public.
In Lower Manhattan—world-famous and visited by countless tourists every day.
Atop One World Trade Center, known as the Freedom Tower, a horrifying kidnapping had taken place.
No one knew how the kidnapper had gotten up there, and no one knew how he had carried bombs past security.
All they knew was that by the time it all unfolded, it was already too late.
On the news.
A reporter was covering the scene from aboard a helicopter in the air.
Beneath the cover of night.
The rooftop of this 541-meter skyscraper was lit up exceptionally bright by searchlights.
Beneath the lights, two figures appeared before all the viewers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m Leah Carter, VNN’s special on-scene correspondent, reporting live for you from aboard a helicopter.”
“From what we’ve learned, this time the victim is the retired superhero Golden Geisha.”
“Because she once captured a criminal, she is now facing retaliation.”
“As you can see, her body is now strapped with bombs by the criminal, and it’s said that a toxin has even been planted inside her body…”
The reporter dutifully delivered her coverage from the helicopter, and at this moment,
Alex was on the rooftop of a building not far away, watching it all.
“Let me see just how long it takes for you to show up.”
With that, he lit a cigarette and began to wait quietly.
On this mission.
Aside from him, not a single one of The Seven was taking part.
This was a performance that belonged to him alone.
“Ring-a-ring.”
Just as he was waiting for Blast Vision to arrive, the phone on Alex began to ring.
Taking it out for a look, he found that it was actually Queen Maeve calling.
“Hey, calling me this late—now that’s a rare sight.”
“I saw the news on TV.
Just what is it you’re trying to do?”
Watching the Golden Geisha held captive by the kidnapper on the television in her hotel, Queen Maeve furrowed her brow.
Ever since taking the troublesome Golden Geisha off Alex’s hands, she had brought the woman with her to the hotel.
She might not like Homelander, but a promise she’d made was something she’d still carry out in earnest.
“For the sake of a certain thing.”
“A certain thing?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Just keep watching the TV.
You’ll find out soon enough.”
There was a smile in Alex’s voice as he spoke into the phone.
“Whatever your goal is, once it’s done it’s none of my business.”
“You really do sound cold-hearted.”
“But—I like it.”
[PS: Anyone out there?
Begging for votes~~~]