Similarly having just joined Vought not long ago, Ashley, who was as green as Homelander, trembled even harder upon hearing this shout.
Not daring to look back at all, she could only explain in a trembling, quiet voice:
“Um… the door to The Seven’s conference room is automatic. I couldn’t knock…”
Homelander: …
Finally, his face flushed red with embarrassment and anger, Homelander roared, “Get out! I don’t want to see you right now!”
“Yes, yes, sir, I’m leaving right away!”
Hearing this, Ashley felt as if she had been granted a massive pardon.
She quickly hurried out, even twisting her ankle along the way, but not daring to stop for a second.
Seeing that eyesore of an ugly woman Ashley leave, Homelander patted his face, relaxed his facial muscles, and finally forced a smile:
“Let’s go, Black Noir. Let’s go choose our future teammates together!”
Hearing this, Black Noir did not choose to go with Homelander.
Instead, he began writing on his cardboard again.
[You need to go by yourself this time. The selection for The Seven is open to the entire public. Vought has already designated you as the Captain behind closed doors, which has already sparked some voices in society calling Vought ‘unfair’. I need to go through the selection process to join The Seven. You might also need to step down and show your strength in person later!]
Seeing this, Homelander panicked a bit again: “What?! You’re not coming with me? But you’ve been by my side since I was a child. Without you, I… can I do this?!”
[You are Homelander. You can do anything!]
Black Noir held up the cardboard again.
After that, without waiting for Homelander’s response, Black Noir put down the cardboard and walked out of the conference room.
He was getting a bit tired of this giant baby who clung to him every single second!
With Black Noir gone, Homelander had no choice but to grit his teeth, force down the rising wave of anxiety, and fly out of the conference room window by himself.
Metropolitan Stadium.
This was the largest stadium in New York, with a seating capacity of a whopping 82,500!
Today, the stadium was packed to the brim, and tickets were incredibly hard to come by.
Ticket prices had been driven up to a terrifying ten thousand dollars each!
However, what was being held in the stadium wasn’t some ball game, but rather Vought International’s selection trials for The Seven!
It was precisely because, starting today and lasting for half a month, supes from all over the World would gather here for the selection trials that Vought was able to drive the ticket prices so high.
After all, who wouldn’t want to witness a sci-fi blockbuster of colliding superpowers live in person?
Once it gained more traction over the next couple of days, the ticket prices would likely skyrocket to astronomical levels!
“Tsk tsk, no wonder Vought is so obsessed with commercializing superheroes. This ticket-selling speed of making money is even faster than robbing a bank!”
A deep purple Bugatti parked in a space by the side of the stadium road.
The car door opened, and a tall, upright figure stepped out, letting the sunlight spill over Derek’s breathtakingly handsome face.
Screeech—
With the sound of screeching brakes, a deep green Aston Martin parked in the space behind Derek’s car.
The doors on both sides of the Aston Martin opened, and two figures stepped out from the driver’s and passenger’s seats.
“Bro, you were driving way too fast! I almost couldn’t keep up with you!”
“Uh… I feel a bit like throwing up, Harry…”
Hearing the voices, Derek turned back to look at the two.
The first was, naturally, Derek’s cheap younger brother, the future New Goblin, Harry Osborn.
As for the second, he was even more well-known—the future Spider-Man, that bastard Peter Parker!
Of course, right now, Harry and Peter had not yet obtained their extraordinary powers; they were just two ordinary people.
And Peter, as Harry’s best friend, had been invited by Harry today to watch his older brother Derek’s selection trials!
“I… am never riding in your car again, *ugh*…”
“Peter, you can’t even handle this speed? You’re so weak!”
While Peter was dry-heaving from motion sickness, Harry was still teasing him from the side.
Seeing this, Derek walked over to the bent-over, dry-heaving Peter.
Purple Electricity crackled from his right index finger as he tapped Peter on the back.
Zzzzt—
“Oh! My back! My back!!!”
The sudden electrical jolt on his back made Peter leap forward like a startled rabbit, frantically rubbing his back with his hands.
Harry was also taken aback: “Whoa, bro, what are you doing? Are you trying to turn Peter into a roast duck?”
Derek said calmly, “Just giving Peter a little wake-up call. Peter, do you still feel dizzy and want to throw up?”
Hearing this, Peter lowered his hand from his back, only then realizing that his motion sickness was actually gone!
“How does that work?”
“Just a tiny bit of electrical stimulation~”
With that, he walked toward the competitors’ entrance.
Harry and Peter quickly followed.
Along the way, Peter looked at the ticket prices with a long string of zeros displayed on the electronic screen of the Metropolitan Stadium, his mouth hanging wide open in shock.
“My God, Vought is practically robbing people. Tickets starting at ten thousand dollars—if it were up to me, I wouldn’t come even if you killed me!”
In this Universe, although Peter had not lost his parents due to Derek’s intervention in the timeline, and his father, Richard, worked at Oscorp with a decent monthly salary, making the family fairly well-off,
Peter himself was still quite frugal, just like the public’s impression of Spider-Man.
Harry patted Peter’s shoulder and comforted him:
“Don’t worry, Peter. We’re attending as the family of a competitor—my brother. Not only is it free, but we also get front-row seats!”
…
“Name?”
“Derek Osborn.”
“Just a moment, let me look up your information.”
At the registration desk inside the stadium, Derek gave his name.
A female employee from Vought’s information department tapped away rapidly on her keyboard.
A moment later, the female employee’s eyes widened.
She stared at the information on her computer, then looked up at the tall, handsome man in front of her.
“My God, not only does this man have a top-tier physique and looks, but he actually has a top-tier family background too!”
“Is the World really this unfair? Why does one person get all the good things!”
“Are you done looking it up?”
It wasn’t until Derek’s calm voice drifted over that she snapped out of it and quickly clicked the button to generate a number.
“All set. This is your selection number, 342. When it’s your turn, your name will be broadcasted inside the stadium for you to go up.”
As she spoke, she handed Derek a round number plate spat out by the machine.
Derek took it, frowned slightly, said nothing, and left.
After he left, the female employee secretly noted down Derek’s phone number from his information file.
What if she actually stood a chance with this young master of the Osborn Family?