New York, inside the police chief's office at the Federal Police Headquarters—
Chief Karl put down the phone and looked at the woman in front of him.
"Sorry, ma'am, I can't get in touch with Miss Ashley from the Seven."
"She may have been held up by something. I'll try again later."
The fairly good-looking woman said irritably, "But I've already been waiting for several days, Chief."
"Right now, a superhero has gone missing."
"And after he went missing for 24 hours, I've been seeking police assistance."
"But it's only today that I finally get to see you."
"And now you're telling me to go home and wait again. Maybe while I'm waiting, Blue Hawk has already been killed!"
Chief Karl rubbed his face.
"First of all, superheroes don't die that easily."
"Also, superheroes are under the Seven Tower, under Vought Corporation. You should really go directly to the Seven Tower."
The woman snapped, "It's always like this."
"The local precinct told me only the police headquarters could handle this."
"Now you're pushing the responsibility to the Seven Tower again."
"If I go to the Seven Tower, will they tell me, 'If someone's missing, go find the police'?"
"Ha! Is this how you treat taxpayers?"
Chief Karl said with a headache, "Alright, alright, let me think of something else."
"How about this. I'll call the Seven Tower's PR department. They might be able to provide some assistance."
The chief picked up the phone again. A moment later, he said happily, "There's progress, ma'am."
"The PR department said they'll contact the crime analysis division."
"Every superhero is registered with Vought Corporation. They have trackers on them for positioning and rescue."
"I believe we'll soon have news about Mr. Blue Hawk."
Only then did the woman nod, "I hope so."
———
[Seven Tower, 88th floor]
Edgar watched the TV as Homelander smiled brightly on screen.
["Yes."]
["From this very second."]
["The Seven will conduct no rescues and no activities."]
Edgar took off his glasses, wiped them, then put them back on.
At this moment, there was a knock at the door, followed by a sweet voice.
"Mr. Edgar, you have a guest."
"It's Mr. David, who had an appointment with you earlier."
Moments later, a man in a white lab coat walked into the office. He wore glasses, had a yellow-brown beard, and plump cheeks.
He could not wait to place a briefcase on Edgar's desk.
"There's progress, Mr. Edgar."
"I've already made a sample. The experimental results are quite good."
The fat man opened the briefcase. Inside was only a single test tube, containing a golden liquid that looked like orange juice.
Edgar looked at it, "It is?"
"It's the thing we talked about before, something that can suppress superpower factors."
"I haven't officially named it yet. Hmm, how about calling it 'David Particles'."
Edgar picked up the test tube and asked, "How is it used? Injection?"
David shook his head.
"No, no. Homelander has a body like steel. If it's released by injection, I don't think there's a needle in the world that can pierce his skin."
"So from the beginning, I designed it for airborne transmission."
"These particles are highly volatile. Once exposed to air, they spread throughout the surroundings within seconds."
"Oh?", Edgar suddenly smashed the test tube onto the floor.
With a crack, the glass shattered, and the liquid immediately spilled out.
But just as David said, it evaporated extremely quickly and vanished in the blink of an eye.
While the fat man still looked confused, he suddenly saw a naked figure appear in the corner.
Edgar turned around and smiled.
"Hello there, Invisible Man."
Then he said to the fat man, "Looks like your 'David Particles' work very well."
The fat man hurriedly said, "No, no, no. It's still in the experimental stage. It can only suppress superpowers for one to three minutes at most."
Looking at the Invisible Man who had revealed himself, Edgar narrowed his eyes.
"One minute is already enough to do a lot of things."
"Don't you think so, Invisible Man?"
———
"This is absolutely crazy!"
"What is this supposed to be? Is Homelander expressing dissatisfaction with the Security Bureau?"
"Or is he throwing a childish tantrum?"
"Could it be that our guardian is an immature giant baby?"
"Otherwise, how could he openly declare a strike right after the Supreme Court demanded he attend a hearing?"
"Colonel Yuri, as a soldier, what is your view on this matter?"
On the TV, the camera shifted, and a military officer appeared on screen.
Seeing this, Senator Hope, thick around the waist and holding a glass of wine, smiled at the tall, thin, pale-faced man beside him, whose brown hair was tied into a small braid at the back of his head.
"It seems attending the hearing really made our Homelander angry."
"Look, he couldn't wait to strike back."
"But he doesn't realize that this kind of counterattack will only put him in a worse position."
"Whether or not he attends the hearing, this year's Defense Department weapons procurement projects will have nothing to do with Vought Corporation."
"Congratulations, Mr. Arnold."
"With Vought pushed aside, the Defense Department will have no choice but to work with your Olga Corporation."
The braided man smiled, "That's all thanks to Senator Hope. Without your push, the Security Bureau wouldn't have filed charges with the federal court."
The senator laughed loudly, then said darkly, "That damn Homelander. When I was kidnapped last time, he didn't care about my life at all."
"From that moment, I knew he was no protector."
"He only cares about his hero games!"
"A person like that should already be locked up in a prison built especially for him, not allowed to fly around freely!"
The man called Arnold smiled, "I agree completely."
The senator frowned again, "However, I've heard that in order to collect necessary data, your company previously went so far as to give battle armor to some criminals."
"If this matter isn't handled properly, the Defense Department may not cooperate with you, and even I could be at risk of impeachment."
Arnold said in surprise, "Giving battle armor to criminals?"
"Such a thing actually happened?"
"Why do I know nothing about it?"
He immediately took out his phone and made a call.
Then he smiled at the senator.
"It's been cleared up."
"It turns out it was one of our engineers, Mr. Jeff."
"He sold the battle armor to criminals without my approval."
"We've already fired this engineer and reported him to the police. I believe he'll soon receive legal punishment."
The senator froze for a moment, then understood and burst into laughter, giving Arnold a thumbs-up.
"You're ruthless enough, Mr. Arnold."
"Come, here's to a pleasant cooperation."
"To a pleasant cooperation!"
The two glasses clinked lightly together.
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