So Homelander copied him..
resting one arm along the back of the sofa behind Madelyn and dangling his legs over the table the exact same way.
Dean glanced sideways at him.
“Cape Man, are you copying me?” Homelander froze for a second, then snapped back immediately.
“I am not!
I was already sitting like this!
And stop calling me Cape Man, my name is Homelander!” “Oh, so you do know people shouldn’t just get random nicknames handed to them?” Dean’s expression went ice-cold.
“Then you, you milk-smelling asshole, dared to slap a random code name on me.
If that bullshit ‘Thunder King’ name spreads from here today, I swear I’ll shove your baby bottle straight up your rectum!” ?
A giant question mark practically floated over Homelander’s head as he stared at Dean in pure disbelief.
This was the first time anyone had ever dared talk to him like that.
At least since he grew up and unlocked all his powers, it was the first time anyone had said that shit to his face.
Back in the lab the researchers who trained him might talk shit, but they always did it behind his back in secret whispers.
This bastard just said it right to his face!
“You bastard!” Homelander shook with pure rage.
He shot to his feet and glared at Dean, red light already flickering in his eyes.
“What, you want a taste of a hundred thousand volts too?” Dean did not even bother standing up.
Purple electricity started crackling and jumping across his open palm.
Watching the two of them about to throw down, Black Noir instinctively edged farther away from Homelander so he would not get caught in the crossfire.
But his eyes were locked on Dean, not Homelander.
Because on Dean he saw the shadow of someone he knew.
Someone he would not even dare to dream about in his worst nightmares.
They looked alike.
Way too alike.
The face… and that same thunderous way of talking.
“Stop!
Stop!
Don’t fight!” In the end Madelyn, stuck right between them, stood up and planted herself in the middle.
She wrapped her arms around Homelander and spoke in a soft, coaxing voice.
“Homelander, don’t be impulsive.
The Seven can’t start having internal fights the second it’s formed.
Just do me this one favor and don’t fight…” The red glow in Homelander’s eyes flickered a few times, then finally died out.
He sat back down looking pure sulky.
Madelyn let out a quiet breath of relief and turned to Dean.
“Dean, do me a favor too, okay?” “Of course~” Dean answered like it was nothing and let the purple electricity on his palm fade away.
Madelyn’s reputation was not the important part.
He had never planned to actually fight in the first place.
He was just testing the waters—probing exactly how far Homelander’s psychopathy had developed at this stage.
From the look of it, the newly debuted Homelander was still a long way from the bloodthirsty, impulsive, hair-trigger version from the start of The Boys.
He was still relatively normal.
There was still a real chance of dragging him out of Vought’s cesspool.
If Homelander’s head had already been as twisted as it got in the early or later seasons of the show, Dean would have seriously considered whether the guy was even worth saving.
He already had one younger brother in Harry.
He did not necessarily need another one like Homelander.
The only reason he wanted to pull Homelander out at all was because the bastard was his twin.
After that little “minor conflict,” Dean stopped poking the bear on purpose.
No more unpleasantness broke out.
From that moment on, throughout the rest of the matches, Homelander never said another word to Dean.
Madelyn quietly told Ashley to delete the earlier footage of Homelander yelling “Thunder King” at Dean.
She did not dare gamble on whether Dean’s earlier threat had been a joke.
Just in case it was serious, and the two of them actually started throwing down over a stupid code name, the whole thing would turn into a worldwide laughingstock.
Vought’s brand-new Seven having their first real fight be an internal brawl between the two strongest members instead of fighting actual criminals?
The entire planet would laugh until their teeth fell out.
As for the remaining matches that day, the results left both Madelyn and Homelander less than impressed.
The final winners of the later groups put on completely ordinary performances.
Nothing even close to the jaw-dropping show Dean had given.
They were not even as eye-catching as the eliminated A-Train from the first group.
Because of that, neither Madelyn nor Homelander cared about any of the other winners.
Instead they quietly marked the eliminated A-Train as a backup candidate for The Seven.
If no stronger candidates showed up over the next nine days, A-Train would slide into a spot without any trouble.
Time flew to 7:50 PM.
The live audience finished dinner and filed back into the stadium stands.
Almost nobody stayed away.
At 8:00 PM sharp there would be a friendly match: The Seven’s Captain Homelander versus all of today’s winners.
Plenty of people were still unhappy that Vought had simply appointed Homelander Captain of The Seven from the start.
Especially after watching Dean’s performance today, those complaints only got louder.
Online a whole wave of voices had already started pushing the idea that Dean should be the real Captain of The Seven.
Homelander scrolled through those comments from Dean’s new fans and got so pissed his teeth itched.
That was why he looked forward to the 8:00 PM match more than anyone else in the building.
He was going to prove himself right here, right now.
His place as Captain was not some shady Vought backroom deal.
He had the strength to be Captain, period.
Especially that Dean.
Tonight he was going to teach that bastard a hard lesson and make it crystal clear that a Captain’s authority was not something you could just step on.
As for whether he could actually beat Dean, Homelander never once doubted it.
Sure, Dean had one-shot nine supes in his group, but Homelander was confident he could do the exact same thing without breaking a sweat.
One sweep of his laser eyes and those nine would not just be knocked out—they would be finished for good.
And lasers were only part of his arsenal.
His raw physical stats were top-tier too.
So far he had never met a single supe whose strength or durability came close to his own.
With that kind of confidence, Homelander naturally felt zero fear toward Dean.
Inside the arena Madelyn’s voice rolled out across the entire stadium.
[Ladies and gentlemen, good evening.
We already said more than enough nonsense during the day, so we will not waste any more of your precious time.
Therefore I now announce that the first friendly match between The Seven’s Captain, Homelander, and the candidates officially begins!] The second her words finished, thunderous cheers exploded from every stand.
Spectators screamed the names of whoever they were backing.
And without any contest, the loudest name ringing through the entire stadium belonged to Dean—the guy whose looks and raw power had completely crushed everyone else.
He was also the only contestant who had never given himself a superhero code name and simply showed up under his real one.