Meanwhile, Vought International urgently mobilized Superheroes from all over the world to form another new The Seven.
A-Train's replacement — Shockwave!
Queen Maeve's replacement — Stormfront!
The Lamplighter's replacement — Crimson Countess!
Translucent's replacement — Supersonic!
The Deep's replacement — Cindy!
Black Noir's replacement — Blindspot!
And finally, Homelander's replacement — Soldier Boy!
New York, Manhattan.
Vought International CEO Edgar personally arrived on site to manage the situation.
Vice President Madelyn looked gloomy and somewhat distracted.
This temporarily assembled The Seven had no prior synergy, and there were significant conflicts among them.
Especially between Soldier Boy and Crimson Countess. His undisguised murderous gaze made her tremble constantly, like a frightened little rabbit.
"If you want me to solve the company's problems, then you must let me do one thing first." Soldier Boy's tone was chilling.
He hated traitors.
"No, you can't do that."
Crimson Countess shook her head in panic, shouting at Edgar, "You promised me you'd protect me from his threats!"
Edgar crossed his arms over his chest, his expression calm. "Enough, Soldier Boy. I woke you from the freezer, not to let you show off in front of me."
Soldier Boy turned his head and stared straight at him. "So, you want me to clean up your mess, and you also want me to watch the bastard who betrayed me team up with me?"
"Perhaps I could consider joining the other side. At least, they wouldn't stop me from killing a few people."
Soldier Boy once led a powerful army of super-powered individuals to fight for the country, just like Homelander. But because of his brutal internal rule, his other teammates betrayed him one after another, and in a joint mission, they ambushed him and handed him over to the Soviets.
He was studied while in a coma, sleeping for decades.
Now that he was finally awakened, how could he tolerate the Crimson Countess, who betrayed him, flaunting herself in front of him?
What's more, Crimson Countess was basically his female slave at the time. This grudge was undeniably immense.
"Is that so? Then you can try it. Of course, before that, I'll press this button."
Edgar took out a remote control and said leisurely, "I forgot to tell you, while you were asleep, I left a hydrogen bomb in your rear. As soon as I press it, you'll be blown to smithereens."
Soldier Boy's face changed drastically, and he subconsciously wanted to touch his rear.
After hearing Edgar say that, he suddenly felt a discomfort in a certain part, as if there was some foreign object present.
The others, upon hearing this, looked at Soldier Boy with strange expressions.
At the same time, their faces were also quite wary, their peripheral vision occasionally sweeping towards Edgar, carefully examining their own bodies, as if feeling for something.
Edgar's lips curved into a smile upon seeing this. "You don't need to be nervous. So far, only Homelander and Soldier Boy have this treatment."
This comforting remark sounded a bit harsh. But everyone breathed a sigh of relief, no one wanted a ticking time bomb in their rear.
Among these seven people, the bald woman Cindy, who had the most unstable mental state and an extremely strong sense of vigilance towards the outside world, remained uncharacteristically silent from beginning to end. She said nothing, like a statue.
Edgar subtly glanced at Cindy, then turned his gaze to Stormfront.
The latter smiled and nodded, a gesture that seemed to say: Everything is under control.
However, when Stormfront scanned the others, her gaze lingered longest on Blindspot.
Among The Seven, a group of Caucasians, the presence of such a conspicuously dark-skinned person made Stormfront feel very uncomfortable.
As long as Blindspot existed, The Seven's team would be impure.
Although she knew Blindspot's existence was to win over minorities, she just couldn't stand it.
As the only remaining Nazi, Storm couldn't stand any skin color other than white.
If the timing wasn't wrong, she would have loved to sink Blindspot and even Vought International CEO Edgar into the sea. Only then would their team be pure and reliable.
Soldier Boy's expression was very displeased. Although he was confident in his strength, the hydrogen bomb inside him was not something confidence could withstand.
Edgar saw that the situation had stabilized, so he continued, "According to our current investigation, The Seven, led by Homelander, all died at Aaron's hands."
Supersonic raised his hand. "Even Homelander was no match for them, so how can we defeat him?"
Soldier Boy snorted, "Because I'm Homelander's daddy."
Saying that, he glared at Edgar again.
He strongly suspected that Vought International had a hand in the betrayal, otherwise, how could Homelander's existence be explained?
Clearly, Vought International had been experimenting with his cells for a long time, and Homelander was their best experimental result, used to replace his absence.
But...
Soldier Boy's lips curved into a smile. "A counterfeit will always be a counterfeit. No matter how excellent he is, he can never surpass the genuine one."
Stormfront's eyes sparkled as she looked at Soldier Boy.
She had always wanted to build a superhuman army and then rule the Earth. But this required a powerful father and a sufficiently powerful mother.
Undoubtedly, she, Stormfront, was the most perfect mother — eternally youthful, incredibly powerful, and capable of flight.
Previously, her most favored candidate was Homelander. He was powerful enough, flew faster, and was very well-rounded in his abilities.
During her decades of retirement, she had secretly observed Homelander's performance, and it had to be said that he was very excellent, and also very easy to control.
But no one expected Homelander to be so impressive in appearance but useless in practice.
However, now that there was a more powerful candidate, Homelander was no longer so important.
Shockwave then spoke, "Didn't they say Queen Maeve's body hasn't been found yet? Perhaps we..."
Edgar said with a cold face, "We strongly suspect there's an internal mole in The Seven, and Queen Maeve is the spy. She helped the enemy ambush Homelander, which led to The Seven's mission failure."
"So you don't need to worry. As long as you unite, those guys are nothing to worry about."
"Of course, considering the importance of this operation, I have prepared some helpers for you."
"A powerful army of super-powered individuals."
Edgar clapped his hands, and nearly two hundred super-powered individuals appeared on the screen.
These were all registered Superheroes of Vought International. Normally, they would stay in their respective cities to maintain a righteous image. But when Vought International needed them, they could participate in battle at any time and contribute to Vought International.
After all, they deeply knew that everything they had was given by Vought International.
Admittedly, the strength of these Superheroes varied, some strong, some weak, uneven. But just this massive number was enough to give them sufficient confidence.
Two hundred people versus five people, the advantage is theirs.
The numerical advantage greatly reduced the tension in the atmosphere, and those who were originally tense now felt relaxed.
At this moment, Edgar suddenly heard some news, and his expression became solemn.
"You need to act now. We have news of Aaron and the others. It's time to show them what we're made of."
Time was running out for them.
The news of The Seven's annihilation was leaked immediately through the live broadcast. If they didn't act soon, Vought International would go bankrupt before the other side even came for them.
Soldier Boy was reluctant, but he swore he would make everyone pay.
Just then, a dazzling light pierced the sky.
Annie descended, riding on sunlight.
The sunlight around her swelled, and her golden eyes erupted with intense energy fluctuations. This energy was constantly compressed, and the released energy was even more terrifying.
This power was vast and dazzling, completely unconcealed in its provocative intent.
Soldier Boy's face contorted in anger, he hated anyone who was more arrogant than him.
"Annie, the Guardian of Des Moines, Iowa... an unremarkable ability. Who wants to take her down?"
Edgar meticulously described her abilities. This Starlight looked somewhat ridiculously overpowered. But he didn't mention a word of it.
His nonchalant demeanor gave The Seven the illusion that she was nothing special, and they could handle her too.
Supersonic, the replacement for Translucent, stepped forward, looking at Starlight's beautiful face with great interest.
"She's mine."
"Give me some time, I'll set her straight."
Supersonic rushed out, but very quickly, following a bright flash of light, came the grim news of Supersonic being instantly annihilated.
At the same time, the bustling street outside also vanished.
No one realized what had just happened, just as they could never catch up to the speed of light.
Before they could recover, a piercing alarm sounded from the ground floor of the building.
Edgar gave Madelyn a look, and she quickly went downstairs to handle it.
However...
About ten seconds later, a message came from the ground floor security.
"This is bad, we're surrounded by enemies!"
Edgar's expression remained normal. "How many people?"
"One!"
"What the f*ck?! One!!!"
Just as Edgar cursed, another violent explosion roared from the front of the building.
Soon, two figures silently entered Vought International.
The intermittent explosions signified that this legendary landmark, with its glorious history and reputation as the Superhero headquarters, was being blasted open by cannon fire.
However, the instigators of all this were merely four women.
Even now, the company's executives, including Edgar, had no idea how terrifying the enemies they were facing truly were. They also couldn't understand how the heavily guarded building was breached so easily.
This is illogical!
Where's Aaron? Why hasn't Aaron shown up yet!
"Immediately contact the surrounding garrison, terrorists are attacking Vought International, we must strike back!"
Edgar realized things were not good. The enemy's momentum was fierce, and his arrangements might not necessarily work. Even with over two hundred super-powered individuals in the company, he felt far from secure.
He had miscalculated, he shouldn't have come here today.
How could a boss put himself in danger? He should have controlled the meeting remotely.
Edgar, who had always been in control, had to pay the price for his arrogance.
Facing Aaron and others who didn't play by the rules, he, as a "civilized man," felt the signs of the situation spiraling out of control.
Soldier Boy scoffed, glancing at Edgar, "Is that all you've got? Just a few youngsters can catch you off guard? Looks like I overestimated you."
With that, Soldier Boy ignored the scowling Edgar and turned to walk downstairs.
Halfway down, he paused and asked without looking back, "What are you all still standing around for? Are you just going to watch them fight their way up? This generation of The Seven really sucks."
Soldier Boy was not one to sit idly by. He always believed he was the strongest super-powered individual.
Especially after decades in the Soviet Union, his superpower had further evolved.
The remaining five members of The Seven exchanged glances, hesitating for a while, then, except for Crimson Countess, the others followed suit.
Crimson Countess's face changed. Although she still felt terrified looking at Soldier Boy's back, she now knew she couldn't turn back, so she also followed.
As Edgar watched them leave, the vast conference room was left with only him.
He made a phone call, then returned to his office, solemnly retrieving a black briefcase from a safe.
When he opened the briefcase, a bottle of azure blue potion appeared inside.
Edgar, holding the reagent, headed straight for the top of the building without looking back. At this moment, a helicopter was already waiting on the roof.