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A-Train ultimately couldn't be saved.
The doctor said he missed the critical golden hour for rescue.
After a heart attack, the optimal rescue time is four minutes; exceeding ten minutes puts one's life in danger.
This is for ordinary people.
A Supe might be able to last a bit longer, but unfortunately, Kevin's 'rescue' at the time wasn't standard, and the ambulance arrived a little too late.
By the time A-Train was brought to the hospital, the fastest Supe in the world had already lost his vital signs.
A-Train was dead.
He died of a heart attack.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Franklin, I'm truly sorry."
In front of the hospital morgue, Kevin looked at A-Train's brother, Nathan Franklin, his face filled with grief.
Nathan was expressionless, staring blankly at his brother's body, slowly shaking his head:
"It's not your fault... I know, he had a heart condition, and I urged him to take care of himself, but he... he..."
Nathan's voice gradually choked up, unable to continue.
Kevin comforted Nathan:
"He was someone who never gave up. Even with a heart condition, he never told us... If I had known he..."
At this point, Kevin sighed again:
"...A-Train's passing is a great loss for us. We will hold a grand funeral for him, Mr. Franklin, please accept our condolences."
Madelyn's funeral had just finished, and now A-Train's funeral was next. Vought must be ecstatic.
Because another large sum of money would be coming in.
The news of A-Train's death was still a secret for now; currently, besides Kevin, no one else knew about it.
Kevin didn't plan to announce A-Train's death immediately. He intended to wait two more days, let the impact of Madelyn's death subside, solidify his position as Vice President, and then announce it to the public.
Leaving the hospital, it was already early morning the next day.
Kevin, who hadn't slept all night, decided to go directly to Vought Tower to tell The Seven members about this and announce the new members joining the team.
Translucent died, Kevin retired, and A-Train died of a heart attack; three members of The Seven were gone at once.
If new members weren't added soon, The Seven wouldn't be called The Seven; they could be renamed the Four Heavenly Kings.
So, adding new members was a necessary task.
Furthermore...
Kevin looked at his skill tree.
The current number of skill points, not counting those already committed to the class change, was six.
All six of these skill points were contributed by A-Train to Kevin.
Killing an original plot character gave Kevin six skill points, proving Kevin's previous idea was correct: killing original plot characters was indeed the fastest way to gain skill points.
"This really is... addicting."
Looking at the rapidly increasing number of skill points, Kevin sighed inwardly.
This method of rapidly increasing skill points was indeed very addicting. If it were someone else with less self-control, they might truly start a rampage in this world to gain the necessary skill points.
Of course, Kevin didn't think of himself as someone with self-control, but he believed he at least had a tiny, insignificant bit of conscience.
Driven by his conscience, Kevin could at least avoid wantonly killing innocents.
However, that sounded just like... like someone who does something immoral but still tries to maintain a good reputation...
Shaking off those fantasies in his head, Kevin drove towards Vought Tower.
However, what he didn't expect was that halfway there, he encountered an unexpected person who got into his car.
It was Homelander.
"Wow, this really is..."
Looking at Homelander, who suddenly appeared in his back seat via the rearview mirror, Kevin's expression remained unchanged. He continued driving and greeted Homelander:
"Good morning, Homelander."
"How dare you?"
Homelander ignored Kevin's greeting and asked a seemingly illogical question.
"How dare I what? I don't quite understand."
"How dare you kill A-Train!"
Homelander continued to question.
Homelander had actually been following what A-Train was doing, but he hadn't expected Kevin to just stand by and watch A-Train die without doing anything.
This went against Homelander's understanding of Kevin.
In his eyes, no matter what Kevin did or what position he was in, he was still the same timid and weak Deep.
The reason he could stand up to Homelander now was because Edgar was backing him.
Yes, perhaps this The Deep's abilities had enhanced, but no matter how much they enhanced, could he be as strong as Homelander?
Homelander was the strongest Supe in the world; he had always believed this.
But as it turned out, this Deep had actually transformed into a fierce and terrifying Great White Shark! Tearing off and devouring one of Homelander's arms.
Kevin actually dared to let A-Train die, and in his own home at that. How dare he?!
"Correction, Homelander, A-Train died of a heart attack, not because of me."
Kevin explained calmly, but Homelander retorted:
"We all know what happened! You don't need to play dumb in front of me!"
"Uh huh? So, according to you, you saw the entire conversation between A-Train and me, but you didn't stop it. Can I interpret it that way?"
"..."
Homelander fell silent instantly, because Kevin was speaking the truth.
"See? None of us cared about A-Train's life. Neither I nor you. You came here to talk to me simply because a dog that obeyed your every command died, and you're angry. You never thought about getting 'justice' for A-Train."
Kevin didn't know that Homelander had been watching from outside last night.
But this was no big deal. Homelander could watch all he wanted, but he never stopped Kevin from doing anything to A-Train from beginning to end, and he also watched A-Train die.
This proved that A-Train's importance in his heart was only so much.
His thoughts exposed, Homelander's expression didn't change much. He suddenly smiled, leaned back in the seat, and said to Kevin:
"You... you're not The Deep."
"?"
"You are definitely not The Deep. Who exactly are you? Are you some... some incredibly powerful Supe that Vought newly researched? Someone who looks like The Deep and replaced him?"
Homelander was guessing.
After so many confrontations with Kevin, Homelander simply didn't believe that the person in front of him was the former The Deep.
He would rather believe that the current Kevin was some monster newly 'created' by Vought, just like himself, rather than believe that the original The Deep could have changed so much.
Kevin neither admitted nor denied it.
"Does it matter?" Kevin countered.
Homelander paused, then also smiled:
"Yes, it doesn't matter. No matter who you are, you're now riding on my head."
"Don't put it so harshly." Kevin glanced at Homelander through the rearview mirror. "Why do you always think of me as an opponent? We can actually cooperate, just like you and Madelyn used to cooperate."
"Cooperate?"
"I'm no longer in The Seven. From now on, the captain of The Seven will still be you. I'll help you gain more fans, be loved by more people. I'll make you Vought's most outstanding hero."
"..."
"As I said before, we have never been enemies, Homelander. I hope we never will be in the future either."
Constantly suppressing Homelander was not advisable. If this guy truly went berserk, it would be extremely difficult for Kevin to subdue him.
It would be better to appeal to his emotions and reason, making Homelander Kevin's... money-making machine.
Based on the current situation, eliminating Homelander was the least advisable course of action. Firstly, Homelander could still make money, and secondly, Vought would not allow Kevin to do anything to their star attraction.
So, cooperation became the only option.
In the future, Kevin would be the Vice President, and Homelander would be the captain of The Seven. Their responsibilities and authority did not conflict. They could fully cooperate with each other, just as they did when Madelyn was still around.
As long as Homelander could slightly let go of his prejudice against Kevin.
Homelander fell into thought, not responding.
Kevin drove the car to the base of Vought building before saying to Homelander:
"We've arrived. What do you think? 'Captain'?"
Homelander's gaze shifted from the car window back to meet Kevin's in the rearview mirror. After a long pause, he said:
"I hope you're serious."
"I'm always serious. So, it looks like we've reached an agreement?"
Bang.
No sooner had Kevin finished speaking than Homelander opened the door, exited, and slammed the car door shut.
Seeing Homelander's reaction, Kevin knew that he would no longer be hostile towards Kevin, at least for the time being.
However, looking at the car door, which was somewhat deformed from Homelander closing it with such force, Kevin couldn't help but roll his eyes:
"This is a new car I just bought..."
...
A-Train's passing was a major event for the entire Hero Management Department of Vought.
Especially upon learning that A-Train died in Kevin's home, many people suspected that Kevin had done something to A-Train.
Even though the hospital report now stated that A-Train died of a heart attack.
Kevin offered no explanation; he let others misunderstand, as this would make them wary of him.
However, even if everyone suspected Kevin had done something to A-Train, they didn't dare to truly speak out. Under Kevin's command, the entire Hero Management Department and related departments mobilized.
Madelyn had just died, and A-Train then died of a heart attack. If this news got out, it could cause Vought's stock to fall.
Therefore, A-Train's death could not be announced yet; they had to wait for some time.
Kevin even had an idea: they could announce it along with Translucent's death, and then create a hypothetical enemy to enhance The Seven's prestige.
Well, this wasn't actually Kevin's idea, but Homelander's.
The purpose of him creating those Super terrorists was precisely this: to shift the blame, making the world believe that there was a group of superpowered criminals out there, and that Superheroes were needed to protect them.
The plan was temporarily set, and after no one raised objections, the proposal was sent to Vought's board of directors.
Kevin was busy at Vought for a few more days before finally finishing all these chaotic matters and becoming free.
Then... he received a call from Butcher.
Butcher was eager to see his wife.
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