It was a young female reporter, wearing a pair of thick-rimmed glasses.
"Homelander, please answer the final question."
She took out her phone, opened a video, and played it right in front of everyone.
"What is your take on this video?"
What was playing on the phone screen was security footage.
The resolution wasn’t very clear, but the content was quite explosive.
This was internal surveillance from Vought Tower. Inside the sacred conference room of The Seven, The Deep was getting handsy with Starlight.
Starlight looked terrified, but forced by the tyranny of his seniority, she had no choice but to comply with his demands.
As for what The Deep wanted to do, it went without saying.
As soon as the video started, the whole room fell into a dead silence.
"Holy crap!"
"How did The Deep dare to do that?"
"That’s America’s sweetheart superhero!"
"Her popularity has been unrivaled recently."
"To think she suffered such severe bullying just a short time after joining The Seven?"
"This is no longer just simple sexual harassment!"
The reporter deliberately didn’t show the aftermath where Guardian saved Starlight.
She left it open-ended on purpose, giving the other reporters plenty of room for imagination.
Just from this video alone, those unscrupulous reporters could come up with many viral headlines.
For example: "Starlight Cries! America’s Sweetheart Sexually Assaulted 72 Hours After Joining, Who Is the Mastermind?"
"She’s Only 19! What Did America’s Most Popular Heroine Go Through at Vought Tower?"
"Internal Restructuring or Emergency Damage Control? America Sees Right Through Homelander’s Press Conference."
Lucas held his new phone, watching the press conference in real-time.
Seeing the reporter pull out that video, he knew Billy Butcher was making his move.
"But that son of a bitch is truly insidious."
"He deliberately didn’t show the rest of the video; otherwise, the scene of him saving America’s sweetheart would have definitely become a symbol of justice, raking in a huge wave of public sentiment."
After the silence, the reporters at Vought Tower erupted.
Everyone swarmed forward, microphones almost shoved down Homelander’s throat.
Cameras started shooting from every angle, and if Homelander showed even the slightest change in expression, they could make a huge story out of the pictures.
"Is this video real?"
"Did The Deep assault Starlight?"
"Did Vought know? Why didn’t you call the police?"
"Homelander! You just said The Deep stepped down because he wasn’t in the right state of mind, but now it looks like the real reason is sexual assault! Are you covering for Vought?"
"What about A-Train? Did he do it too?"
"Is this press conference an internal restructuring or emergency damage control for a PR crisis?"
Homelander stood on stage, his smile frozen.
His brain raced, trying to understand what had just happened.
He vaguely knew that The Deep had assaulted Starlight and was stopped by Guardian.
Because after The Deep got beaten up, he had complained to him, and he had even flown over at the time to demand an explanation.
Of course, he wasn’t standing up for his lackey.
He wanted to blame Guardian for interfering with personnel changes within The Seven.
But he really didn’t know there was internal footage of The Deep assaulting Starlight.
Facing the reporters’ questions, Homelander couldn’t say a word.
But it was predictable that after this press conference, his personal approval rating wouldn’t just fail to rise—it would actually drop.
Homelander’s temples were throbbing.
The voices from the stage flooded into his ears, the faces of the questioning reporters looking so hideous!
A burning hot current instantly surged up.
He wanted to burn these pieces of trash to ashes.
All they had to do was report on his glorious image, why did they have to make such a fuss?
"Fuck the reporters! Fuck the news media! Fuck The Deep!"
Homelander’s last shred of sanity suppressed his impulse.
He still had some basic common sense; if he acted here, he would become a public enemy.
"Let me clarify first..." Homelander kept his voice as calm as possible, not letting the media hear any fluctuation in his tone.
"I didn’t know about this video, and I was completely unaware of The Deep’s actions, but if this turns out to be true, it only further proves that what I did today was correct!"
"The reason I wanted to clean house is precisely because I do not allow such scum to exist within The Seven."
"The Deep’s behavior shocks and angers me. I will demand that Vought conduct a thorough investigation into this matter and cooperate with relevant departments for legal action."
Homelander had been using PR speak for so many years that his ability to think on his feet had been well-honed.
But how could the reporters let him get away with it?
They seized on the key questions, asking relentlessly, hoping to provoke Homelander into spilling the truth in a fit of emotion.
Was the video content really unrelated to this press conference?
Anyone with a brain would think that Homelander must have known from the start, which is why he was in such a rush to kick The Deep out.
He wanted to distance himself before the scandal broke.
If that’s the case, then Homelander isn’t exactly a good guy either!
From internal restructuring to on-the-spot crisis management.
Even Madelyn hadn’t expected something like this to happen.
She turned to look at that reporter, only to find that the person had long since disappeared.
Ashley was panting backstage, on the verge of fainting. She was frantically sending messages to Madelyn, but Madelyn had no time to check her phone.
The press conference ended hastily in chaos.
Security personnel went to check the list of reporters for the press conference, while Homelander walked backstage, expressionless the entire time.
His aura was extremely sinister.
Lucas had returned to Vought early, his Super Hearing capturing Homelander’s heartbeat.
He was on the verge of rage.
By the time Lucas returned to his office, Homelander was sitting in his chair.
His eyes were staring straight at him.
On the sofa nearby, except for A-Train and The Deep, all the other members were there.
Even Ashley and Madelyn had come.
"Ah, Guardian is back!"
Homelander said with a cold sneer.
"The press conference didn’t go too well, did it?" Lucas poured himself a glass of whiskey, completely ignoring the frozen atmosphere in the room.
Homelander stood up, walked to the bay window, his fists already clenched.
"Tell me, what’s up with that video? Don’t lie, I can hear your heartbeats!"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone’s expression changed.
Madelyn’s heartbeat quickened.
That video was something she had personally suppressed; there were only a few people in all of Vought who knew about it.
Guardian, Ashley, and herself.
Even Edgar didn’t know; he couldn’t be bothered with such trivial matters.
And yet, this trivial matter had caused today’s press conference to fail.
"You suspect there’s a mole inside Vought?" Lucas directly pointed out Homelander’s thought.
Maeve was the first to speak up.
"Homelander, you know me. Although we broke up, I wouldn’t use something like this to frame you."
Homelander looked at her and nodded.
Maeve had no reason to lie.
What about Black Noir?
Black Noir shook his head at Homelander.
[You know me, I’m a mute.]
"Black Noir couldn’t betray me," Homelander nodded and said.
"Then, what about Starlight?" She was the one he suspected the most.
Because Starlight had a direct conflict with The Deep; she might not frame him, but she definitely had the motive to destroy The Deep.
"It wasn’t me!" Annie shook her head like a rattle, "Homelander, you know me. If I wanted to take revenge on The Deep, I would have uploaded the full video. As it stands, that video has caused me secondary trauma."
She showed her phone to Homelander.
It was open to her personal page.
The comments below were all uniform, asking whether or not Starlight had given it to The Deep.
She really didn’t!
The Deep insisted, but she didn’t give in!