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The girl, Kate, followed Indira and Kevin into the elevator leading to The Woods.
As the elevator descended, Kevin carefully watched her back. Only after confirming that she hadn't reacted to his thoughts did he slightly relax.
It seemed Kate had already taken her medication and lost her ability to hear others' thoughts remotely.
Upon entering The Woods, Kevin, though knowing full well what was happening, cooperatively stepped forward to Indira and whispered,
"What's the situation with this girl?"
"Her ability is very special; she can help us a lot."
Indira quietly explained to Kevin, giving him some of Kate's information.
Kevin slightly frowned, looked back at the rather restless Kate, and asked Indira again,
"Are you sure she can help? She still looks like just a child."
"The Supes here are all children by age, and we don't need her for research. We just need her to delete some unnecessary memories."
"Delete memories? Whose?"
"Whose else? Of course, Professor Brink's most favored student, Luke Riordan."
Indira said matter-of-factly.
Luke Riordan.
He was the Superhero 'Gold Boy' in Gen V who exploded into fireworks in the sky at the end of the first episode.
Kevin had met this 'Gold Boy' once. At Professor Brink's instruction, Kevin had even told Luke some things about The Seven, and their relationship was quite good.
It was clear that Professor Brink really wanted Gold Boy Luke to become a member of The Seven.
But there was one problem: at this moment, Gold Boy Luke's ability was far from as powerful as it was in the original story.
Professor Brink also noticed this, so he asked The Woods to help him with something.
That was to transfuse Luke's brother Sam's blood into Luke's body.
As biological brothers, Sam's blood could enhance Luke's abilities, like a low-spec version of Compound V without side effects.
Brink wanted to use this method to personally cultivate a Superhero no less powerful than Homelander before his retirement.
This was his idea, and he hadn't hidden it from Kevin.
Or rather, his discovery of Maeve and A-Train was all to achieve this goal.
As for The Deep...
He was originally just an 'environmentalist' added to make The Seven more diverse and had never thought The Deep could become so powerful one day.
Even now, he hadn't thought so.
Gold Boy Luke was Brink's perfect future creation.
But now there was a small problem: Luke cared too much about his brother Sam and was completely unwilling to enhance himself by transfusing his brother's blood.
This caused Professor Brink's plan to be delayed.
And now, with Kate's arrival, the plan could finally proceed.
"Oh, you're finally here."
In one of the experiment rooms in The Woods, Brink and Dr. Cardosa had been waiting for a long time.
Professor Brink, with his full white beard and kindly face, smiled and greeted them, then turned his gaze to Kate:
"This must be Miss Dunlap."
"Yes... My name is Kate, hello... Professor."
Kate answered softly and weakly.
Having been confined by her family for many years, Kate, who had only recently regained her freedom, was still somewhat socially anxious.
When speaking to Professor Brink, she was still hiding behind Indira.
Brink didn't mind; he smiled and comforted Kate:
"Don't be nervous. We called you here not for anything too difficult. I heard your ability can make people do whatever you want them to do?"
"Yes... Yes."
"Very good. Then someone will come in later, and what you need to do is very simple: just make him fall asleep. Can you do that?"
Brink's voice was gentle, trying not to put pressure on Kate.
Kate looked up at Brink, then at Indira.
After receiving an encouraging look from Indira, she slowly nodded:
"I think... it should be no problem."
"Very good."
Brink nodded in satisfaction, then left the room.
Kate, not knowing what was happening, looked around anxiously.
Kevin was still observing her.
And seeing Kevin's gaze on her, Kate hid her entire body behind Indira.
Kevin withdrew his gaze from her and turned to Indira, asking,
"Is this all you wanted to tell me?"
"No, it's something else. I originally intended to tell you after this."
Indira, before Professor Brink returned, smiled and told Kevin:
"We plan to arrange a consultant position for you at the university, so it will be more convenient for you to come to The Woods in the future."
Kevin was a member of The Seven. If there was no suitable reason, constantly coming to Godolkin University would easily attract attention.
Indira giving Kevin a consultant position would save a lot of trouble.
However, although Godolkin University was ostensibly an extension of The Woods, most of the teachers there had no idea about the existence of The Woods. Indira needed to discuss it with the school's faculty and students to give Kevin a consultant position.
That's why Indira only told Kevin about this now.
Indira and Kevin's conversation didn't last long. On the other side, Professor Brink had already brought 'Bootleg Human Torch' Luke to The Woods.
Luke seemed to be here for the first time and had no idea what this place was.
He asked Professor Brink curiously,
"Professor, this place is...?"
"A place that can make you stronger."
Professor Brink led Luke into the laboratory, placing a hand on Luke's shoulder.
Then, from an angle Luke couldn't see, he gave Kate a look.
Kate was still a bit flustered. Indira patted Kate's back and softly said,
"Go on, make him fall asleep and not remember anything about this place."
"...Mm."
Kate took off her gloves and walked towards Luke.
Luke, still unaware of what was happening, looked at Kate with a strange expression.
"Professor, she is...?"
Luke was about to ask who Kate was and why she was here.
But Kate's hand was already on his shoulder:
"I'm sorry, but... sleep."
"Wh... what...!?
Out of trust in the professor, believing he wouldn't harm him, Luke was completely unprepared and easily hypnotized by Kate.
He fainted to the ground with a look of astonishment, offering no resistance during the process.
The current Kate was different from the Kate before the Gen V storyline began.
At the beginning of the storyline, whenever Kate used her ability, her eyes would turn red, she would have a severe headache, and feel as if she was about to die from a brain hemorrhage at any moment.
After all, at that time, Kate had been taking medication to suppress her abilities for three whole years.
Three years had already made Kate's abilities extremely weak.
But now, Kate had only just started taking the medication a short while ago. Although she could no longer hear others' thoughts remotely, her hypnotic ability hadn't weakened much.
Luke wasn't in his full state either. Without Sam's blood transfusion, he was just an ordinary Supe, and he couldn't resist Kate's hypnosis at all.
Seeing Luke faint to the ground, Kate turned back to Indira.
"Well done, Kate. You can stay here on standby for now. Dr. Cardosa, please bring Sam over."
Indira first praised her, then turned to Dr. Cardosa and said.
Unlike Gold Boy Luke, Professor Brink didn't want Luke's body to be affected by anesthetics, fearing it would impact Luke's potential, which is why he sought Kate to hypnotize Luke.
Sam wasn't treated so gently.
His mental state was unstable, and he constantly needed tranquilizers. Moreover, he was considered an experimental subject of The Woods, and Brink wouldn't be very merciful to experimental subjects.
Sam had already been given tranquilizers and anesthetics, a dose more than ten times higher than normal, enough to keep a powerful Supe like Sam unconscious for several days.
Dr. Cardosa brought people to drag over the hospital bed where Sam was restrained, then had Luke placed on another bed.
Finally, he began his work, transfusing Sam's blood into Luke's body.
The work there had already begun, and Kevin and Kate remained on standby.
Kate didn't know what she was doing, nor did she know what Indira was doing.
She only chose to obey Indira because Indira had pulled her out of that small room and given her back her freedom.
So now, looking at everything before her, Kate was very confused.
She felt like she was doing something bad.
Indira was indeed an expert in psychology. From Kate's expression, Indira could discern Kate's current thoughts.
She stood beside Kate and gently comforted her:
"Don't worry, we're not doing anything bad. We're just making him stronger."
"...Stronger?"
"Yes, Luke's future achievements are far from limited to this, so he needs a little help from us. We are helping them, definitely not harming them, you can rest assured."
As Indira spoke, she actively reached out and held Kate's hand.
She knew that doing so would let Kate know her true thoughts, and only then would Kate truly believe her.
Sure enough, after contact with Kate, Kate's tense expression immediately relaxed a lot. She smiled happily and said,
"You're telling the truth."
"I was always telling the truth."
Indira smiled, looked at Kevin beside her, and then said to Kate:
"Oh, by the way, don't you like The Seven very much? This person next to you is The Deep, a member of The Seven. You can chat with him, or ask him for an autograph."
Kevin was speechless:
"You're just handing the babysitting job over to me?"
"Don't you get along very well with the children here? I think you have a talent for this, Kevin."
"..."
If me beating them until they beg for mercy counts as getting along, then yes, we get along very well.
Kevin grumbled internally but didn't undermine Indira. Instead, he turned to Kate and asked,
"So, do you want my autograph, kid?"
"Yes! But... it would be even better if I could have Maeve and Starlight's autographs."
Perhaps sensing that everyone had no ill will towards her, Kate gradually relaxed and was no longer as nervous as she was at first, smiling as she spoke to Kevin.
Kevin also joked with her:
"Alright, so you're not my fan, but no problem. As long as you behave well, I can get you both of their autographs."
Maeve was Kevin's colleague, and Starlight was even Kevin's girlfriend.
Getting autographs from these two people was really not a difficult task for Kevin.
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