The press conference was held as scheduled.
On the first floor of Vought Tower, the hall was packed.
The buzz surrounding this press conference far exceeded expectations.
Because Vought had never proactively held a press conference regarding internal restructuring.
For the past few decades, Vought’s PR strategy had been very steady.
And now they were going to expose themselves?
Media outlets across America swarmed like they had caught a scent.
Lucas did not attend.
He was currently in Queens.
A Supe was causing trouble in Flushing, having turned three people into glass. (Actual glass.)
The police quickly cordoned off six surrounding blocks, but were helpless against that Supe.
Bullets hitting his body turned into glass.
Grenades couldn’t subdue him either.
The moment shrapnel touched his body, it also turned into glass shards.
That Supe even had an extremely high resistance to tranquilizer darts.
It was practically devious to the extreme.
Lucas had seen the relevant warning in Vought’s task system yesterday; the vitrifying Supe in Flushing had been under surveillance for a week and could explode at any moment.
Lucas had deliberately timed his intervention to coincide with the press conference.
At this moment, he was standing on the streets of Flushing, facing a bald man whose entire body radiated a transparent luster.
Surrounding them were over a dozen news broadcast cameras.
Vought’s media team was broadcasting the scene live.
"Brother, calm down." Lucas spread his hands, indicating he had no intention of fighting.
"Don’t come over!" the bald man screamed, waving his hands wildly. "Anything I touch turns into glass! I can’t control it! I really didn’t mean to!"
Lucas expressed his understanding.
For Supes injected with compound v, the time of ability awakening was completely uncertain and beyond their control.
In the original show, Cate from Gen V accidentally killed her own brother, and Marie Moreau killed her mother.
Many Supes hurt their families during their early awakening.
This led to them being extremely deprived of love.
Just as Billy Butcher said, compound v had long since flowed into the public sphere.
Supes would only continue to awaken.
"I know you can’t control it," Lucas approached step by step.
"But you need to let me help you now."
"You can’t help me! No one can help me!"
The bald man’s hand touched a nearby fire hydrant.
The metal fire hydrant instantly turned into transparent glass and then shattered, with fragments and a water jet spraying out simultaneously.
Those fragments shot toward the reporters, but Lucas flashed over and blocked in front of the fragments.
The glass shards hit his uniform, not leaving even a scratch.
But the reporters behind him were terrified and scattered in all directions.
"Quiet!"
Lucas’s voice had tremendous penetrating power.
The whole street quieted down.
He turned to the bald man, his tone softening.
"What is your name?"
"...Matthew."
"Matthew, your ability going out of control is not your fault."
Lucas walked in front of Matthew and reached out his hand.
"It’s okay to touch me; my body won’t turn into glass."
Matthew looked at that hand, his whole body trembling.
"Are... are you sure?"
"I am."
The cellular structure of a Viltrumite Soldier was stable and unlike any matter on Earth.
The essence of the vitrification ability was to alter the molecular arrangement of matter, but the molecular structure of a Viltrumite was locked, and external forces could not change it.
Matthew hesitated for a long time, then reached out and took Lucas’s hand.
Nothing happened.
Matthew’s tears welled up instantly.
"It’s okay now." Lucas held his hand. "You haven’t hurt anyone."
The cameras on the scene recorded this entire scene.
Guardian had touched the out-of-control Supe with his bare hands, remained unharmed, and successfully calmed the other person down.
...
Meanwhile.
Vought Tower.
Homelander stood on the podium, surrounded by a circle of magnesium lights, making him look like a gilded statue.
Handsome from every angle.
"Today, I stand here, not as the leader of The Seven, but as an American."
He began to read the script written for him by the PR department, delivering an emotional speech.
"The Seven represents not just power, but responsibility, justice, and trust."
"When I discovered that there were members within The Seven who did not meet these standards, I made a difficult but necessary decision."
"Starting today, A-Train and The Deep will officially withdraw from The Seven."
Flashes flickered wildly off-stage as reporters scrambled to stand up and ask Homelander questions.
This was major breaking news that could be written as an exclusive.
It was extremely rare for The Seven to kick out two Supes in a row.
And one of them was A-Train.
One had to know that Homelander had already kicked out Mister Marathon, and now he was kicking out A-Train?
Who would take A-Train’s spot? Supersonic?
All of this made the media incredibly curious.
"Homelander! What is the real reason for the withdrawal of A-Train and The Deep?"
"Is it related to the video of A-Train using drugs that has been circulating online recently?"
"How will the vacancies in The Seven be filled? Are you considering Supersonic and other environmentalists?"
Homelander maintained a smile and replied one by one.
"A-Train and The Deep are both excellent Supes, but their recent states have not been good, and they are not suitable to remain in a high-intensity team like The Seven."
"This is a decision that is responsible for them and responsible for the public."
"Regarding the vacancies, we are already cooperating with Godolkin University to screen a new generation of Supes who are well-rounded in morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics, and labor."
"The Seven will not be weakened by this; it will only be stronger."
The reporters refused to let it go.
The information Homelander revealed was too little; it simply wasn’t enough.
But their questioning was time-limited.
"Last question, Homelander. Did you face pressure from Vought’s upper management when making this decision?"
"No one pressured me." Homelander had long anticipated that the reporters would ask this question.
"This is my independent judgment as the leader. The purity of The Seven will be protected by me."
The platitudes were met with a wave of applause.
Homelander stood on the stage, feeling the baptism of applause and flashes, a sense of satisfaction welling up in his heart.
This feeling was just too good!
Real-time approval rating monitoring showed that his personal favorability had risen by 2.3 percentage points within thirty minutes.
It was even higher than what Vought’s PR had predicted.
Guardian was right.
This move was indeed effective.
He even began to calculate in his mind the next step—could he pull off a few more similar actions to keep boosting his approval rating?
Madelyn sat in the front row, doing her best to maintain a proper smile on her face.
In reality, her fingernails were already digging deep into her palms.
With Homelander pulling a stunt like this, Vought’s stock price would definitely take a nosedive in the short term, and she didn’t know how she would answer to the board of shareholders.
Furthermore, the brands with commercial contracts for A-Train and The Deep had already sent lawyer letters inquiring about breach of contract compensation.
Preliminary calculations showed that Vought’s direct losses would be no less than 800 million USD.
And the indirect losses this matter brought to Vought were still expanding.
However, Homelander didn’t care about these numbers at all.
He only cared about himself.
A trace of resentment rose in Madelyn’s heart.
The press conference had been going on for nearly an hour.
The Q&A session was nearing its end, and Ashley let out a sigh of relief backstage; it seemed her job was safe for another day.
She didn’t have to go interview at Disney.
Then, a reporter stood up...