Alex watched Queen Maeve in her somewhat frantic state, gave a faint smile, then picked up his phone and waved it at her, making a calling gesture toward himself.
Then, without so much as a backward glance, he turned and flew straight out the window.
Leaving Queen Maeve all alone, standing in the living room with a flustered expression, unable to gather her wits for a long, long while.
Leaving the hotel.
Alex made his way back to Vought Tower in no particular hurry.
The moment he stepped into the lounge, a knock came at the door right behind him.
“Come in.”
Alex didn’t find it the least bit surprising—after all, every single thing he’d done today had been so out of the ordinary.
Especially appearing out of nowhere, and then leaving one right after the other with Blast Vision.
None of that could possibly have escaped the eyes of the Vought Corporation.
The door opened, and Ashley walked in, her expression weary.
“Sir, you suddenly left during the event—did something unexpected happen?”
“The live broadcast was cut off just like you said, and many of the viewers who cared about this matter are extremely dissatisfied with how it turned out.”
“The company feels the same way…”
“So you’ve stayed this late without clocking out, waiting here for me to come back?”
Alex stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, peeling off the cape from his shoulders, speaking without turning around.
“Sir, I didn’t mean to corner you the moment you returned.
I just, I just….”
Ashley’s face went pale as she stammered out an explanation.
“I understand, there’s no need to be nervous.
You’re working for Vought too—you have to listen to your superiors.”
Alex turned his head and gave Ashley a smile.
“If you had the choice, you wouldn’t want to work overtime either, would you?”
Ashley: “…”
‘Here we go again.’
Ashley let out a despairing wail in her heart.
If only Homelander weren’t standing right in front of her.
Faced with this kind of impossible-to-answer question, she really wanted to grab fistfuls of her own hair and let it all out.
But right now, she couldn’t do anything—she could only silently endure it.
Just as Ashley was racking her brain, not knowing how to answer Homelander’s question.
Alex had already come up in front of her and patted her on the shoulder.
“Don’t overthink it, just relax a little.”
“What you need to do right now is go back and get a good night’s sleep.
Everything else can wait until tomorrow.”
“Take the morning off tomorrow and rest at home.
Have yourself a nice lie-in.”
As he spoke, Alex pulled out his phone and dialed Madelyn.
“I hear the company’s looking for me?”
“Mm, I got it.
I’ll be over in a bit.”
“Oh, right—I’ve already let Ashley clock out, and I’ve given her the morning off tomorrow.
And don’t forget her overtime pay for tonight.”
Hanging up the phone, Alex winked at Ashley.
“All settled.
Hurry up and go get some rest.”
“Don’t think too much about anything else.
When the time comes, you’ll find out on your own.”
With that, Alex walked right past Ashley and left the lounge.
It wasn’t until Alex had vanished from sight that Ashley finally snapped out of her statue-like state.
“Am…
am I hallucinating?”
Ashley looked down at her own palm, hesitated for a moment, then raised her hand and slapped herself.
“Ow, that hurts.”
Ashley, who had already been dead tired from pulling an all-nighter, covered her face with her reddened eyes, feeling like she hadn’t quite woken up.
Homelander—actually showing concern for her, even getting her a half-day off from her boss, and overtime pay too?!
If it weren’t still before dawn, Ashley really would have wanted to check whether the sun was rising from the wrong direction.
Having just left the lounge, Alex heard the sound of the slap coming from behind him with his super hearing, and a smile curled at the corner of his mouth without his even realizing it.
This Ashley girl really was quite interesting.
Back when he’d watched The Boys, Alex had rather liked this character.
It wasn’t that the things she did were so endearing, but that under Homelander’s immense pressure, she could still diligently and conscientiously get her work done—and in the end, she even worked her way up to the rank of Vice President.
For an ordinary working person, the word “exaggerated” wasn’t even enough to describe it.
As a fellow corporate drone, Alex himself found her quite relatable.
Especially in the grand finale, when Ashley risked her life to help the protagonist team, giving them a chance to put an end to it all.
It completely rounded out this character’s persona.
And beyond all that, Ashley’s professional ability was absolutely top-notch.
Talent like that, though not a superhero, was nonetheless indispensable for the Hero Association he was about to set up.
With this opportunity, Alex naturally wasn’t going to pass up the chance to extend a little goodwill.
Alex got into the elevator and rode it all the way down.
All the way to the 82nd floor.
That’s right—on the call with Madelyn just now, she’d been in Edgar’s office.
Knocking lightly on the door, Alex pushed it open without waiting.
Inside the office, Edgar and Madelyn were seated facing each other across the desk.
Alex stepped forward, pulled out the chair beside Madelyn, and sat down on it.
“It’s this late?
Is there something you need?”
“John.”
Edgar pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose, giving an unobtrusive glance at the empty space behind Alex, his voice gentle and calm.
“I hear you’ve taken up smoking now?”
“Care to try a cigar?
The flavor isn’t bad.”
Edgar didn’t launch straight into tonight’s affair; instead, like an elder, he started with idle small talk.
“Not interested.”
“Rather than this, why don’t we be a bit more direct?”
Alex shook his head.
“It’s already getting late, and I want to get a proper rest.”
“Pulling all-nighters and the like really isn’t very healthy.”
Not very healthy?
You’re Superman—and yet you’re going on about it not being healthy?
No expression showed on Edgar’s face, nor did he press the matter.
“It seems you’ve developed quite an interest in taking care of yourself lately.
Looks like this old man will have to learn from you instead.”
“I heard from Madelyn that tonight, while you had the PR department coordinating with your operation, you just up and left?”
“Mm, that’s right.”
“Care to talk about what happened back then…”
“I think you all already know perfectly well.
Don’t tell me there were no cameras on the rooftop, that you hadn’t arranged other high-definition cameras in the surrounding area.”
Alex cut Edgar off, a faintly disdainful smile on his face.
“My goal was very simple—it was all for the original compound, nothing more.”
Edgar remained silent, his fingers tapping lightly on the desktop, as if pondering something.
“How did you know that Blast Vision still had one more dose of the original compound on him?”
Edgar couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard he thought.
He’d watched tonight’s footage too.
Just as Alex had said, everything around them had long been blanketed with surveillance, and many high-definition cameras had been arranged at greater distances as well.
[PS: Not a single monthly ticket, how miserable, please give me some monthly tickets.]
____
👻🔥P- Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Homelander: Founding the Hero Association
Help us hit our targets: