The door swung open and then they saw the shield.
The shield, engraved with a bald eagle in a diamond shape, was the first thing they saw through the gap in the door.
Then came the dark green tactical suit.
Finally, there was that face that had been sat on by the Queen of England.
A-Train and Translucent were stunned.
On the other hand, The Deep’s jaw dropped; he had spilled the cup in front of him and water was running across the table, dripping onto the carpet.
Seeing this, Homelander shot a disdainful look at The Deep.
Maeve pulled her body away from the window frame and stood up slowly.
A glimmer of astonishment appeared in her usually piercing eyes.
Benjamin entered the conference room with his shield hanging from his left arm, and his combat boots made no unnecessary sound on the carpet.
He stopped at the other end of the long table, scanning all the faces present, as if inspecting a squad of new recruits.
“Soldier Boy,” Homelander continued, his voice tinged with an emotion he couldn’t quite control.
“My father.”
“He is also my predecessor.”
“From today on, Soldier Boy will serve as Executive Director of the Department of Superhero Affairs at Vought International.”
“He will approve all missions, personnel deployments, and operational authorizations of The Seven.
His authority is above mine.”
The others didn’t know this.
They thought Soldier Boy would simply join The Seven, but they didn’t expect…
All the superheroes present absorbed the meaning of this statement at the same time, and then expressions of varying degrees of surprise appeared on their faces.
A-Train’s expression went from surprise to disbelief, Translucent’s froze, and The Deep finally regained his senses, wiped the water off the table, and put on a bored, dumb look again.
As for Maeve, she looked at Homelander and then at Soldier Boy.
After Homelander finished speaking, his gaze swept across the faces of everyone seated at the long table.
His facial expression was perfect; the corners of his lips curved slightly, reflecting joy and pride…
But if anyone looked closely…
Homelander was genuinely happy.
After all, the person standing at the other end of the long table was real; he was his flesh and blood, his father.
But at the same time.
When Homelander uttered the words “His authority is above mine,” he felt a little pain, or perhaps discomfort, inside.
Soldier Boy had a higher position and more power than him.
Although both were clearly similar in strength.
However, from now on, he, Homelander, was no longer the undisputed supreme figure within Vought’s superhero system.
Therefore, Homelander was still quite depressed.
But that person was Soldier Boy…
he was his father.
So Homelander simply bit his lip and didn’t show too much dissatisfaction.
Benjamin placed his shield on the long table, the painted bald eagle facing upward, reflecting a calm shine under the conference room lights.
He placed his hands on the edge of the table, leaned slightly forward, and spoke his first sentence of the afternoon to the group of the world’s most powerful superheroes before him.
“I’m Soldier Boy.
Pleased to meet you all.”
His tone was flat.
“However, as happy as I am, from today on, the rules of The Seven are going to change.”
Benjamin’s gaze slowly swept from the left side of the long table to the right, as if taking inventory of a pile of low-quality merchandise.
Then his line of sight stopped on A-Train.
A-Train was sitting in a wheelchair.
He rested his elbows on the armrests, his chin slightly raised, showing a bit of that superhero temperament, of someone who has been wronged but remains stubborn and unyielding.
But the moment Benjamin’s gaze caught him, his back involuntarily pressed against the back of the wheelchair.
“A-Train,” Benjamin said, “you coward who only knows how to hit women.
Slap yourself twice.
Hearing this, A-Train’s pupils contracted sharply.
Hadn’t he already been beaten?
And almost to death, at that.
His gaze instinctively shifted toward Benjamin’s side.
Homelander was already standing beside Benjamin, looking very docile.
His cape hung behind him, his arms crossed over his chest, and those blue eyes stared at him without blinking.
He showed no expression.
But precisely that impassive expression was more chilling than any threat.
The meaning was clear.
My father told you to do it.
You’d better do it yourself.
A-Train’s Adam’s apple moved once.
“Smack!
Smack!” With two dry sounds, A-Train’s palms struck his left and right cheeks forcefully.
The force was so great that even he was stunned for a moment.
Two bright red palm prints quickly appeared on his face, and even a trace of blood seeped from the right corner of his mouth.
Benjamin watched the scene without changing his expression and continued: “Very well, A-Train.
Also, if I catch you using drugs for future competitions again, you don’t have to stay in The Seven.”
Something buzzed in A-Train’s brain.
Drugs.
Compound V.
He did it with total discretion; no one should know.
Although Homelander ordered him to distribute Compound V, he shouldn’t know that he himself was using it.
No, maybe he already knew; otherwise, how would Soldier Boy know?
Suddenly, he looked up at Benjamin.
But in Benjamin’s expression there was no trace of interrogation or inquiry.
The expression he used to say this was exactly the same as when he forced him to slap himself before.
Firm, certain, as if stating a public fact.
Then his gaze involuntarily shifted to Homelander once more.
It must have been Homelander who told Soldier Boy.
And Homelander was still standing beside his father, staring at him with a pair of expressionless eyes.
A-Train swallowed; a drop of blood from the corner of his lips dripped down his chin; he didn’t wipe it off.
“Yes, sir.”
Benjamin’s gaze moved away from him and settled on another figure at the long table.
“Translucent.”
Translucent’s body tensed slightly.
To be honest, just moments ago he had been secretly rejoicing.
A-Train had been called out, The Deep probably wouldn’t escape either, and aside from his love of being in the women’s bathroom, he didn’t have any weak points that could be grabbed.
He should be a relatively good Super.
But Benjamin’s next words caused a physiological reaction in his anus.
“Translucent, if I catch you, you disgusting pervert, appearing naked in the bathroom to peep again, I’ll shove a bomb up your ass, blow you to pieces, and then feed your shredded meat to the dogs.”
Translucent sat completely motionless in his chair.
The outer surface of his carbon fiber skin was indestructible, but the inside was his own body, which was invulnerable but not without weaknesses.
And this weakness, he had never told anyone.
An image involuntarily surfaced in his mind.
The image was too specific and vivid, so much so that he had to squeeze his eyes shut.
Is this the wisdom of the first generation of superheroes?
Back only a few days.
And he had already discovered his fatal weakness, which no one at Vought had known for over a decade?
Translucent opened his mouth to say something, but in the end only said humbly: “Yes, sir.
I definitely won’t do it again.”
Homelander stood beside Benjamin, blinking.
The light in his blue eyes flickered slightly.
A-Train almost hit someone, Translucent peeping…
he knew all that.
There was nothing inside Vought that he didn’t know.
But, in his opinion, they were just harmless little flaws.
What’s wrong with hitting someone?
What’s wrong with taking a peek?
It wasn’t a big deal.
Homelander had thought Soldier Boy was going to discipline the even more pathetic The Deep, after all, that useless guy only knew how to talk to fish.
He didn’t fully understand why his father wanted to make an example of such trivialities.
Was it a way to discipline him?
To establish authority?
Or was it…?
Suddenly, some images flashed through his mind.
His expression froze slightly.
It seemed that the bad things he had done were even…
“Maeve.”
Queen Maeve leaned against the floor-to-ceiling window, arms crossed.
She wasn’t wearing her mask, revealing a sharply featured face that reflected weariness and fatigue.
Before Benjamin entered this conference room, she already had complex emotions regarding the matter of “Soldier Boy’s return.”
And when Benjamin dealt with A-Train and Translucent one by one, she couldn’t help but have a different view of Benjamin.
Although the purpose might be to establish authority and not actually discipline,
At that moment, hearing herself called by name, her spine straightened a little unconsciously.
“If Translucent does this again, inform me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Maeve’s gaze shifted toward Translucent, with evident contempt in her eyes.
She had been working with Translucent for a long time.
All the goodwill she felt for this “partner” had evaporated due to his shady actions.
Someone was keeping him in check, and in a way that hit the mark; she even felt a satisfaction she had lost long ago.
Under the pincer attack of the two gazes, Translucent shrank his neck and repeated: “Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
I’ll never do it again.”
“The Deep.” Benjamin’s voice turned to the next target.
The Deep’s shoulders visibly trembled.
The glass of water in front of him had already spilled once, and after trying to quickly straighten it, he left a puddle of dirty water on the table.
He looked at Benjamin, trying to show a calm expression, but the panic in his eyes betrayed all his psychological activity at that moment.
A-Train was slapped in public, Translucent was threatened with an anal explosion, and now it was his turn.
He didn’t know what was coming.
He didn’t seem to have done anything wrong, did he?
Probably not.
Benjamin looked at him, and the disdain in his gaze needed no words to express it.
“A useless piece of trash who likes to fuck fish.”
The conference room was silent for two full seconds.
Ashley didn’t even dare to breathe; she couldn’t believe that the first thing Soldier Boy did upon his return was to discipline, or rather, educate The Seven.