Facing the furious A-Train, The Deep didn’t show a hint of fear.
He didn’t even bother to resist.
His current physical durability, after stacking stats with Starlight, had already reached A-rank.
As long as A-Train didn’t charge at him at absolute maximum speed, A-Train’s raw strength alone couldn’t even break his defense.
The Deep felt that this Seven was just a pack of useless trash—pure stat-monsters with zero skill, let alone any actual development of their superpowers.
A-Train only knew how to run people over at supersonic speeds; Translucent only knew how to spy on women’s asses in the restroom; and Homelander didn’t even need mentioning—he was an absolute, overpowered stat-monster who crushed everything through sheer numerical dominance.
Queen Maeve was the only exception.
While possessing superhuman durability, she also knew how to develop her own offensive techniques.
This was what led to her high-light moment later on, where she temporarily suppressed Homelander and even managed to injure one of his ears.
For an overpowered monster like Homelander, Queen Maeve’s achievement was no different than a mortal slaying a god.
Actually, A-Train hadn’t really wanted to kill The Deep; he just wanted to scare him.
But the usually cowardly and weak Deep, pinned to the ground by one hand, was actually smiling at him.
This smile was the ultimate mockery.
Now, however, A-Train was riding a tiger and couldn’t get off.
He couldn’t actually kill The Deep.
Ordinary people were worthless and could be killed at will, but every supe was an asset of Vought International.
Furthermore, The Deep was one of The Seven, a brand into which Vought had invested massive amounts of marketing capital.
If he killed The Deep, his own good days would be over.
A-Train might have been hot-headed, but he wasn’t stupid.
Just as A-Train was caught in a dilemma, a commanding voice echoed from behind him.
“Let go of The Deep.”
A-Train looked back to see Homelander floating in midair.
He descended like a god, looking down at them from a deity’s posture, his face devoid of emotion—majestic and sacred.
His tone brooked no argument, and his cold gaze looked as if it might pierce A-Train’s heart in the next second.
“I said, let go of The Deep,” Homelander repeated, his tone sharpening with a hint of impatience.
A-Train slowly released his grip and threw his hands up, trying to save face.
“Okay!
Okay!
For the boss’s sake, I won’t hold a grudge.”
Homelander’s gaze turned cold.
“Apologize to The Deep.
Apologize to him for your rude behavior.”
A-Train almost had a stroke right then and there.
But under Homelander’s tyrannical pressure, he gritted his teeth and apologized to the newly upright Deep.
“I’m sorry, Deep.
I offer you my sincerest apologies.”
The Deep smiled generously.
“It’s fine.
We’re still brothers.”
At the same time, he threw Homelander a look of gratitude.
A-Train looked as though he had swallowed a dung fly.
With a sour face, he slumped back into his seat.
Homelander floated back to his own seat as well.
As The Deep sat back down, he looked at Starlight and suddenly asked, “Starlight, do you know what Nike and the KKK have in common?”
Starlight, who had just witnessed the farce and hadn’t fully recovered from her shock, subconsciously replied, “What do they have in common?”
The Deep grinned.
“They both make Black people run faster.”
After a brief, stunned silence, the conference room erupted into thunderous laughter.
The joke required a second of thought, but once understood, its dark nature was three times worse than before.
Starlight desperately tried to hold back her laughter.
Her religious background didn’t allow her to build her happiness on other people’s pain, but this kind of dark humor that hit you after a moment of realization was just too funny.
Plus, it was a double pun, because A-Train’s superpower was literally running fast.
*Bastard!* Starlight gripped the edge of the conference table tightly, trying her absolute best to stifle her laughter as she glared at the man in front of her.
*Deep, you brute, scumbag, beast, son of a b—*
Pfft—she eventually let out a snicker.
*I’m going to Hell!*
Starlight bit her lip, shooting another hateful glare at the man who had dragged her down into the abyss.
But she probably hadn’t even realized that the hatred in her heart toward The Deep had already dissipated by a fraction.
After getting a good laugh at A-Train’s expense, the meeting finally returned to the main topic.
It was still related to A-Train.
Homelander looked at A-Train.
“A-Train, you ran over and killed a girl a few days ago.
It brought negative PR to the company.
As your captain, you caused my follower count to drop by 0.01%.
If you still can’t reach a settlement with that girl’s boyfriend, then I think you should step down from The Seven and properly atone for your sins.”
“Sir!
I didn’t want this either!” A-Train poured out his grievances.
“It really was an accident.
And I’m already willing to pay forty-five thousand dollars for a settlement.
That’s a whole year’s salary for that audio store clerk, but that weakling still wants to squeeze more cash out of my pocket.
People these days are so greedy!”
“Fuck!” Homelander snapped angrily.
“I don’t care how much you pay that man.
I need you to resolve this right now, immediately, this instant.
If it affects my follower count and causes it to drop any further, I will personally snap both your legs, stuff one foot into your mouth, and the other into your second mouth.”
Sure enough, Homelander’s behavior reinforced The Deep’s stereotype of him.
Superman feared Kryptonite; Homelander feared getting canceled online.
He truly treated his followers like family.
After the meeting ended, The Deep took the initiative to walk up to A-Train and threw an arm around his shoulders.
“Get lost!” A-Train’s face was dark, desperately suppressing his rage.
He wanted nothing more than to run this racist piece of garbage over.
The Deep felt A-Train’s fury but didn’t care.
In this fertile soil of capitalism, many conflicts could be resolved through mutual benefit.
“Starlight!”
The Deep called out to the young girl exiting the conference room while keeping his arm around A-Train.
Starlight turned her head.
Seeing the two of them acting so chummy, she looked astonished, which quickly turned into deep disgust.
“What?”
“Let’s grab a drink at the company bar, the three of us?”
“Go to hell!” Starlight snapped, turning and walking away without looking back.
“What a fresh, sexy, delicious little firecracker!” The Deep tsked, drawing a massive eye-roll from the adjacent A-Train.
A-Train felt deeply ashamed to even be in the same group as this guy.
The Deep dragged A-Train to the Vought International bar.
He flashed two fingers to the bartender.
“Two Mojitos.”
After the drinks were served, The Deep took a sip.
To A-Train’s surprise, The Deep actually apologized.
“A-Train, I apologize for my offensive words earlier.”
A-Train was dumbfounded again.
He couldn’t understand The Deep anymore.
Was this polite, sincere Deep in front of him really the same brute who had mocked him in the conference room?
The Deep’s smile was polite and humble.
“I know you must be confused right now.
But in the meeting room, what I did seemed like mocking you, but it was actually saving you.
A-Train, someone like me who makes jokes about your skin color might have some malice at most.
But the one who truly wants to kill you because of your skin color is the one who never mentions it.”
A chill ran down A-Train’s spine.
Belatedly, he asked, “Are you saying…
Homelander?”
The Deep smiled noncommittally and didn’t continue the topic, instead offering friendly advice.
“Show our captain the highest respect from now on, A-Train.
You’re my brother.
I don’t want to have to pick up your corpse one day, especially if it’s in a bunch of scattered, bloody chunks.”
A-Train’s eye twitched.
He feared Homelander from the bottom of his heart.
Polite, humble, elegant, gentlemanly, savior—these were Homelander’s public personas.
But within The Seven, Homelander was a temperamental, merciless tyrant.
A-Train’s lips trembled as he said, “Thanks, brother.”
The Deep had watched the first four seasons of *The Boys*.
He knew exactly how the plot would unfold.
Homelander, the villain, was bound to die eventually, but surviving before the protagonist group defeated the final boss was an art in itself.
Anyone who got too close to Homelander met a grim end: his manager Madelyn, his lover Stormfront, his loyal dog Black Noir, his ex-girlfriend Queen Maeve, his ally Victoria Neuman…
Queen Maeve was the only one who seemed to have retired to the countryside, though she still had one eye gouged out by Homelander.
But siding with the protagonists wasn’t any better either.
Anyone associated with them had their families ruined at best, serving as fuel for the protagonist group’s vengeance.
How to survive in the cracks, and how to connect with more female supes to boost his power—this would heavily test The Deep’s next moves.
And A-Train was his first chess piece in The Seven.
While A-Train was rejoicing over his narrow escape, he also shared his current troubles with his new “brother.” “Deep, what should I do next?
If I can’t reach a settlement with that weakling audio store clerk, Homelander will really kill me.”
A-Train looked deeply worried, adding, “I can’t pay too much, and I won’t kneel to him.”
The Deep finished his drink, stood up, patted A-Train’s shoulder, and said meaningfully, “Bro, you don’t have to do anything.
That clerk will come to settle with you on his own.”
“What?” A-Train watched The Deep walk away, throwing his hands up in disbelief.
*Deep, do you think you’re a god?
That weakling wants to butcher me right now, how could he possibly settle with me on his own?*