join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for hundreds of additional chapters and over a dozen stories
"You guys finally got smart this time, choosing a remote wilderness as our meeting spot."
After driving to a distant wilderness and seeing the dusty plains, Kevin said to Butcher with a hint of amusement.
Butcher sat on a rock, still dressed in black, and looked up at Kevin:
"Knowing you have the ability to control water, wouldn't it be too stupid to choose the sea again?"
"That's true."
Kevin nodded.
Last time, Butcher chose the sea as the location. Firstly, the sea offered a wide view, so if Kevin really did notify Vought, they would be able to see them at a glance.
Secondly, they never expected that Kevin could actually control water, and that it wasn't just Vought's exaggerated propaganda.
So, the last meeting was catastrophic for Butcher and his team.
This time, Butcher was prepared. He had found a meeting place in the wilderness in advance, so he didn't have to worry about Kevin using his water-controlling ability to display another 'miracle' in front of them.
"Alright, let's stop with the useless chatter. You've gained so much from us—power, status—you have it all. Now, isn't it time to tell me Becca's location?"
Butcher didn't want to talk about other things with Kevin and directly asked about his wife.
Kevin glanced at the black van not far away, where the other members of The Boys were sitting. They hadn't come over, only letting Butcher come alone to meet Kevin.
His gaze returned from The Boys, and Kevin smiled, saying:
"I thought you'd be angrier."
"What do you mean?"
"The Compound V incident failed to bring down Vought; instead, it allowed the Group to use the opportunity to negotiate with Congress, and even Homelander didn't suffer any losses. You actually have reason to be angry, Butcher."
The Boys had done so much to deal with Vought, to the point where it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they put their lives on the line.
Yet, after all that trouble, this was the final outcome.
It would be strange if Butcher and his team weren't angry.
But now, Butcher wasn't saying any of that to Kevin; instead, he was more concerned about his wife, Becca.
"Oh, you mean that."
Butcher shook his head, jumped off the rock, and faced Kevin directly:
"Indeed, we were played, and we didn't get the results we wanted, so we are very angry. But what good does our anger do? Or do you think it would be normal if I acted like a child crying for milk, wailing and cursing you again?"
As Butcher spoke, he took a few steps towards Kevin, closing the distance between them. They stood face to face at a very close range, and he continued:
"And even if we were truly angry and enraged, what would you do? Arrest all of us here?"
"How could I? We are partners, after all."
Kevin replied with a smile.
Butcher also smiled:
"Then please tell us what we want to know now, partner."
Butcher using 'we' to refer to himself was somewhat inappropriate.
More accurately, it should have been 'I'.
Only Butcher himself wanted to know Rebecca's location; the other members of the team had only gathered to deal with Vought.
But there was no helping it; Butcher was their leader, after all.
At this point, besides Butcher, they had no one else they could trust.
Kevin had already obtained Rebecca Butcher's location not long after taking over Madelyn's position.
Now, facing Butcher's request, Kevin gave Butcher Rebecca's current address with little hesitation.
"This is her current residential address, but my advice is, unless absolutely necessary, you'd best not go see her."
"That's none of your concern, Mr. Vice President."
Taking the address, Butcher didn't want to continue talking to Kevin and turned to leave.
But Kevin called out to him:
"She has a child, Homelander's, and Vought values her child immensely. They are trying to give this child a warm, normal growth environment, to make him into someone completely different from Homelander.
"So, the place where she is located is heavily guarded. To put it bluntly, if you go there now, it's equivalent to suicide."
The location of Rebecca and her son, Ryan, was even more secluded than Kevin had imagined.
Vought had created a very spacious special area for Rebecca and Ryan, with pleasant scenery and various facilities to make their lives convenient.
Kevin only understood, after learning about their situation, that Vought wanted to conduct experimental observations on Ryan, Homelander's biological son.
They wanted to give Ryan a seemingly normal environment, to give Ryan the 'mother's love' that Homelander never had, hoping to use this to experiment whether Ryan would eventually grow up to be like Homelander.
To Vought, Homelander was not a successful experimental subject. Perhaps he once was, but certainly not now.
Therefore, it was not difficult to understand why they turned their attention to Ryan.
And precisely because of this, it would be impossible for The Boys to secretly go see Ryan.
This was different from the original story, where Homelander had already discovered Rebecca and Ryan, and Vought, knowing they couldn't stop him, relaxed their surveillance of the mother and son, allowing Rebecca to be secretly taken away by Butcher midway.
But now, Homelander didn't know of their existence, and Vought's surveillance of the two remained strict.
The difficulty of going to see them was imaginable.
Kevin's words were not loud, but Butcher heard them clearly.
He stopped, suddenly turned his head, and asked Kevin:
"What do you want?"
"Hmm?"
"What do you want from us? Do you want us to be your pawns, to continue helping you eliminate 'enemies' within Vought, allowing yourself to climb higher and higher, which is why you're helping us?"
Butcher pointed at Kevin and questioned him.
Kevin's concern for The Boys, in Butcher's eyes, was like a weasel paying respects to a chicken. He never believed that a Supe would care about their team, which could be called criminals, for no reason.
Butcher was more willing to believe that Kevin wanted to continue using them.
Using them to do things that Kevin himself found inconvenient or couldn't do openly.
And it must be said…
Butcher guessed correctly.
"You're right." Kevin admitted frankly, "I need a team that can continue to target Vought, and you are the most suitable in my eyes."
"Heh, what did I just hear? The new Vice President of Vought actually wants to personally deal with Vought? That's a really funny joke."
"Normally, it would indeed be a joke, but Butcher, I'm serious."
Kevin's expression remained unchanged, his attitude serious and sincere.
The smile on Butcher's face slowly faded. He met Kevin's gaze, and after a moment, he said:
"You have no reason to target Vought."
"Yes, why not? You know, I'm a Supe, and regarding Supes, Vought's attitude has always been 'monitor,' 'control,' 'master.' Supes are just assets in their hands, and it's rare for a Supe to enter the Group's high ranks."
"But you did."
"That's because of Homelander. Do you think any Vice President other than me could pacify Homelander?"
Kevin spoke bluntly in front of Butcher:
"Using Supes to deal with Supes, that's Vought's real intention, and once Homelander is truly taken down by me, then without a doubt, my future will also end there."
"The reason sounds plausible enough, so what's your idea? Replace all Vought's executives with Supes?"
"No, I don't have such a grand idea, nor am I that… racist. I just want to gain more benefits, and on that basis, we can continue to cooperate."
Kevin stated his idea:
"No matter what the final outcome, at least during this process, our goals are temporarily aligned."
Although Edgar made Kevin the Vice President, Kevin understood from his interactions with the Group's executives these past few days that they still had no intention of letting Supes enter the Group's high ranks.
Kevin was merely the vanguard against Homelander. He couldn't enjoy the privilege of working on the 82nd floor like Madelyn.
And, barring accidents, he never would.
Kevin didn't want to just stick to this one position and be a Vice President his entire life, so while improving his strength, Kevin also wanted The Boys to help him deal with Vought.
One attacking from the outside, one slowly taking over Vought from within.
Ultimately, the old Vought would die, and a new Vought belonging to Kevin would be reborn—this was Kevin's idea.
Since he was going to make money anyway, why not go for the biggest one?
Moreover, during the process of controlling Vought, he might also gain a large number of skill points.
Butcher talked with Kevin for a long time. In the end, he didn't agree to anything, taking the address Kevin gave him and leaving with The Boys.
But Kevin knew that Butcher would definitely contact him in the future.
As long as Butcher still wanted to continue dealing with Vought and bring down this behemoth, he would definitely need Kevin.
And Kevin would then be able to continuously gain skill points through Butcher's connection.
The conversation with Butcher didn't take much time.
After driving back to Vought Tower, Kevin began preparing for the job change.
All the things that needed to be done during this period had been completed, and Kevin had a lot of free time. Plus, his skill point reserves were already sufficient, so Kevin wanted to complete the job change as soon as possible during this period to elevate his strength to the next level.
Kevin felt that once his strength improved again, he should be stronger than Homelander.
At that time, he would be the strongest Supe in this world, and he would no longer have to worry about anyone trying to deal with him.
Moreover, after the job change, [Supe] would become [The Deep Fighter], and Kevin would no longer be a Supe. The methods used in this world to deal with Supes probably wouldn't work on him anymore.
"Alright, preparations complete. Job change—activate!"
After finding a quiet room at home and telling Annie and the others not to disturb him unnecessarily, Kevin eagerly initiated the job change.
That's right, in the end, Kevin still chose to change jobs to The Deep Fighter, because no matter what, physical fitness was always the most important.
The Fighter profession sounded like it had great physical prowess, very awesome, and perhaps it could truly elevate his physique to that of a Superman.
Prepared, Kevin, with anticipation and apprehension, clicked on the job change page and confirmed the job change.
But after clicking confirm, Kevin saw another prompt pop up on the job change page.
—Cannot be changed after job change, cannot change job change tasks midway. Please confirm whether to change to job [The Deep Fighter]
[Confirm] [Deny].
"Of course, confirm!"
—During the job change period, due to the different time flow rates between the main world and the task world, the main world time slowdown function can be enabled. This will pause the main world time. Enabling the function requires three skill points. Do you want to enable it?
"…"
Upon seeing this prompt, Kevin was stunned.
No way… so this skill tree can pause the main world's time during a job change?
You should have told me earlier!
If you had told me earlier, wouldn't I have changed jobs sooner!!
When he learned that the skill tree had a time-pausing function, Kevin instantly felt like an idiot for having been so busy gathering skill points for the job change during this period.
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence: 9 Reader for hundreds of additional chapters and over a dozen stories