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Several days had passed since the meeting with Butcher, and Kevin was still guessing when Butcher would make his move.
He didn't expect Butcher to act so decisively and swiftly.
Just this morning, Kevin had spoken to Madelyn on the phone about the recent documentary, but by evening, he heard the news of Madelyn's disappearance.
He didn't know how he did it.
Madelyn's disappearance was a big deal for the entire Vought, especially for The Seven, who were managed by Madelyn; they absolutely had to go to the conference room at this critical moment to discuss how to find Madelyn.
Or rather, they were forced to go to the conference room under Homelander's command.
Kevin called Starlight and told her about it, asking her to go to The Seven first.
Kevin himself then dialed Hughie's number, wanting to confirm their progress.
However, he received a 'phone off' message.
"Alright, pretty cautious."
Kevin couldn't get through on the phone, so he knew that Butcher's side must have cut off all their communications as a precaution.
Kevin didn't care about this; anyway, even if he couldn't get specific news from Butcher's side, The Seven would definitely have relevant news.
After all, Butcher kidnapped Madelyn to target Homelander.
Given his personality, he would definitely provoke Homelander.
This was to be expected.
Rushing from home to The Seven's conference room without stopping, The Seven were gathered there, a rare sight.
Except for Translucent, who was already dead, everyone was there, and Kevin was the last to arrive.
"You're late, Deep."
As soon as Kevin arrived, Homelander habitually said to Kevin.
Their conflict hadn't fully come to light yet, but Homelander, that petty person, wouldn't miss any opportunity to undermine Kevin.
Even in this situation, he had to say a few sarcastic words to target Kevin.
Kevin smiled slightly, glanced at the perfectly timed display on the surrounding screens, and didn't retort to Homelander, instead apologizing cooperatively: "Sorry, work at Godolkin University has been quite busy lately, so I was a little late."
Perhaps due to Madelyn's disappearance, Homelander was not in the mood to bicker with Kevin.
With a gloomy face, he didn't intend to pick a fight with Kevin and directly addressed everyone: "Everyone, we're in trouble now."
As he spoke, he pressed a remote control, and on one of the large screens in the conference room, an image appeared.
The image was of a wall.
On the wall, blood-red letters were spray-painted with red paint, forming a sentence, a sentence specifically designed to provoke The Seven.
"Now your mom has been captured by us, come find her if you dare! Homelander!"
This sentence was full of provocation, and the expressions of the team members present varied.
A-Train looked at the blood-red text with a shocked expression, while Maeve unconsciously glanced at Kevin for some reason.
Starlight's expression didn't change much; she just frowned, staring at the line of text on the screen.
Black Noir tilted his head, showing no reaction.
As for Kevin, he suppressed a smile, glanced at Homelander's ashen face, and cooperatively said, "Is this... a provocation against us?"
"This is a declaration of war! Deep! This is a declaration of war against us!"
Because of Madelyn's disappearance and the emergence of an enemy targeting The Seven as a whole, Homelander no longer dwelled on his grievances with Kevin and directly used 'us' to refer to everyone present.
He used the term 'declaration of war' to indicate the severity of the situation.
Homelander slammed the table, leaving an indented handprint on the tempered glass surface.
His eyes filled with anger, his gaze sweeping over each member of The Seven: "We need to find these people, we need to find Madelyn! Let them know that The Seven is not an existence they can provoke!"
After Homelander finished speaking, he immediately began to issue orders: "A-Train, the urban search operation is up to you and Black Noir. Deep, you are responsible for the maritime search, Starlight will assist, and Maeve and I will work together to find Madelyn as quickly as possible. She absolutely cannot be harmed! Do you understand?!"
"Understood."
"No problem, Captain."
A-Train and Kevin answered one after another.
In a situation like Madelyn's disappearance, no one wanted to anger Homelander, and that included Kevin.
He deeply understood that Homelander was now a powder keg ready to explode at any moment; if Kevin dared to offer a different opinion, Homelander would probably really start a fight with Kevin right there.
Kevin wasn't particularly afraid of Homelander now, or rather, he really wanted to fight him to test Homelander's strength and his own physique.
But it was better not to fight such unnecessary battles if possible.
The Seven, rarely acting together, Homelander and Maeve left from the rooftop of The Seven building, searching from the sky.
A-Train glanced at Kevin, then at Starlight beside Kevin, said nothing, and after a gust of wind, disappeared from The Seven's conference room.
Black Noir, perhaps having heard something from Edgar, nodded to Kevin before leaving.
Finally, only Kevin and Annie remained in the room.
It wasn't until everyone had left that Annie had time to talk to Kevin: "Madelyn has disappeared? How... is that possible? Wasn't Homelander always watching her?"
"Homelander isn't watching her every moment."
Kevin sat in the chair and said to Annie, "Madelyn probably took her son for a routine check-up at the hospital, which is when they seized the opportunity. She usually doesn't bring any escorts at that time."
Besides Homelander, Madelyn had almost no capable escorts around her, and in reality, she didn't really need bodyguards.
Because Homelander was available on call.
But unfortunately, Homelander couldn't always be with Madelyn.
When Madelyn took her son for a check-up at the hospital, Homelander wouldn't be there.
It's a bit funny to mention, Homelander seemed to be somewhat jealous of Madelyn's son and disliked his presence because Madelyn cared more about her son than about him.
So, when Madelyn was with her son, Homelander generally wouldn't stay by Madelyn's side for long periods.
This gave Butcher an opportunity to kidnap Madelyn when no one was paying attention.
"So now, are we going to the sea... or?"
Annie sought Kevin's opinion.
Kevin picked up a pen from the conference table, twirled it on his finger, thought for a moment, and said, "You go to the nearest body of water and wait for me; I still have some things to do."
"What things? Do you need my help?"
"No, it's just a small matter. You go ahead; I'll be there soon."
Raising his hand, Kevin rubbed Annie's head and said with a smile.
Seeing Kevin's smile, Annie stopped asking questions, nodded obediently, and then left the conference room.
After everyone had left, Kevin waited a while longer in the conference room before picking up the internal phone of The Seven's conference room, preparing to contact Edgar.
Perhaps Edgar had been paying attention to this place, as the call was immediately connected as soon as Kevin dialed.
"The Stillwell matter, was it your doing?"
"What are you talking about, sir? What does this have to do with me?"
Facing Edgar's question, Kevin retorted with extreme confusion.
Even if Kevin had done it, he absolutely couldn't admit it here, and besides, he wasn't the one who kidnapped Madelyn Stillwell.
"..."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a light chuckle: "Then what's the meaning of your call to me...?"
"Madelyn has disappeared, and it's uncertain when she'll be found. If I'm not mistaken, the group's current strategy regarding entering the Department of Defense is her responsibility, isn't it?"
"Indeed, so her disappearance is really giving me a headache."
"Then, Mr. Edgar, if you don't mind, I can handle this matter."
"Heh heh, let's talk about it after Madelyn is completely unfindable."
Edgar did not agree, but he also did not refuse.
After a few 'heh heh' laughs, he cut off communication with Kevin.
As Edgar hung up the phone, a smile instead appeared on Kevin's face.
Although Edgar seemed to not have agreed to anything, Kevin knew that if Madelyn truly couldn't return, then Edgar would eventually hand Madelyn's work over to him.
At that time, Kevin would successfully become part of Vought's management.
The plan was going smoothly, Kevin smiled.
But future matters could be discussed later; for now, it was important to do 'business'.
After ending the communication with Edgar, Kevin also left Vought Tower and, together with Annie, 'diligently' searched at sea.
However, the results were unsatisfactory; The Seven members searched for an entire day but couldn't find Madelyn, let alone the group who kidnapped her.
Kevin was not surprised by this outcome.
Butcher might not be good at other things, but in this aspect, he was a top-notch expert.
Tracking, counter-tracking, covering tracks... these were Butcher's specialties.
The fact that he could survive in the The Boys world as an ordinary person, going against so many Supes, was precisely because of this skill of his.
As long as Butcher wanted to, unless Homelander truly used his x-ray vision to scan every piece of land in the world little by little, it was highly unlikely Homelander would find Butcher.
Moreover, there was Frenchie, a Frenchman equally skilled in this area, helping him.
Madelyn probably wouldn't be able to return anytime soon.
Now, the problem Kevin needed to face was how to determine Madelyn's life or death.
Homelander couldn't find Butcher, and neither could Kevin.
Butcher had cut off contact with everyone.
But Kevin, on the contrary, was not anxious.
Because he believed that if Butcher truly still wanted to deal with Homelander, then Madelyn alone would certainly not satisfy him.
They would call him.
This time wouldn't be too far off.
…
"No! No! Butcher, calm down, you need to calm down!"
In a deserted air raid shelter, Mother's Milk Marvin and Hughie were holding back Butcher, who had pulled out a gun and was about to shoot Madelyn in the head.
Stopping him from killing Madelyn.
Yes, they had kidnapped Madelyn, but that didn't mean they had to kill this 'witness' who could be used against Vought.
Marvin and the others' thinking was very normal and simple.
Madelyn had a lot of dirt on Vought; as long as there was evidence to prove that what she said was true, then in court, she could send all those hypocritical executives of Vought to prison, one by one!
Now Butcher wanting to kill her was a waste for the entire The Boys.
A huge waste!
They couldn't let Butcher kill her!
"Get lost!!"
Butcher struggled forcefully against their restraint, his eyes bloodshot, his face full of rage, like a frenzied beast, baring his bloody fangs at Madelyn, who was tied to the chair.
From Madelyn's mouth, Butcher had already learned about his wife Rebecca's situation.
He learned that Rebecca had died in childbirth, and even the child couldn't be saved!
Years of obsession, years of searching, only to end with such a result.
Butcher simply couldn't accept it.
"Hey! Butcher, listen to me!"
The strong black man, Marvin, used all his strength to stop Butcher, persuading him: "Even if you kill her now, it won't change anything! On the contrary, if you spare her life, both Homelander and Vought could be brought down by you! Butcher—!"
"Get out!!!"
In a fit of rage, Butcher directly shook off Marvin and Hughie, picked up his handgun, took two steps forward, and pressed the gun against Madelyn's forehead.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Marvin shouted again: "Butcher! Is it more important to get revenge on someone who merely knew but didn't speak up, or to get revenge on the mastermind who caused all this?! Eliminate Homelander or eliminate her, think it through yourself!"
Perhaps Marvin's words had an effect, as Butcher's finger, which was about to pull the trigger, finally stopped.
At this moment, the air seemed to solidify, and everyone fell silent.
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