After Homelander finished speaking, no one dared to utter another word.
Although Ashley understood what Homelander was implying, she was afraid of misinterpreting him and still asked Homelander, "Betrayal... could you be more specific?"
Homelander turned to look at her, and Ashley nervously swallowed.
However, Homelander didn't do anything to her. He still wore a smile on his face and told them, "He was 'brainwashed' by Super Villains."
"Ah..."
"How heartbreaking. Our comrade, one of us, our best partner, was found by Super Villains, brainwashed, and turned against us. Honestly, I'm truly sad."
As Homelander spoke, he revealed a sorrowful expression.
Ashley finally understood Homelander's meaning. She glanced at the others in the room, and in just a second, she knew what she should do.
"Yes... yes, that's right. The Deep... because he was expelled from The Seven by the group, he held a grudge against us..."
"No, Ashley."
Homelander held up a finger to stop her from continuing and corrected her words:
"It's not holding a grudge; he was brainwashed by Super Villains, do you understand? We, The Seven, will never... never betray ourselves. We are one, we are family! Only brainwashing could make The Deep do something so regrettable."
"Yes, brainwashing... He was brainwashed and wanted to cause trouble on set, so you had no choice but to kill him, despite the pain..."
"I'm glad you understand me, Ashley."
Ashley's words clearly hit home with Homelander, and she received his praise.
Maeve watched all of this indifferently.
She wasn't surprised at all by the direction the conversation was taking.
Homelander was always like this, forcibly imposing his preferences and ideas on others, turning black into white, and good people into villains.
He probably had a contingency plan in mind as soon as he killed The Deep.
Super Villains, this excuse that came about due to Translucent's death, was truly useful. It allowed Homelander to use it until now and pin all the blame on them.
Maeve was quite clear about Homelander's actions, but despite her clarity, Maeve could do nothing now.
For her girlfriend Elena, Maeve could only remain silent now, otherwise, the one who would get hurt in the end... wouldn't be her, but her girlfriend.
Homelander's words were clearly not finished.
After presenting the argument that 'The Deep is a Super Villain', he once again brought up Starlight:
"And Starlight, she was probably also deceived by Super Villains. It's alright, we can find her, and then... eliminate all the Super Villains associated with her, all of them! Completely.
"It's our responsibility to clean up the trash that pollutes this world, isn't it, guys?"
Homelander also categorized Starlight as being associated with Super Villains.
But the key wasn't Homelander's view of Starlight, but rather that phrase from Homelander.
'Eliminate all Super Villains associated with her'.
This meant... Homelander intended to eliminate the people and things Starlight cared about, just as he had done to those who got close to Maeve.
And Maeve still couldn't say anything.
She lowered her head, looking at the ground, as if there was something captivating her there, watching silently.
Homelander remained seated on Ashley's desk, watching her.
But soon he shifted his gaze to A-Train:
"I'll give you a chance. Find Starlight, and you can return to The Seven."
"Uh... Ashley already told me about this task."
A-Train replied.
Almost as soon as he answered, Ashley quickly said, "It was Edgar's idea! He... he wanted A-Train to find Starlight..."
"Don't be so nervous. Isn't this great? It's rare that Edgar and I agree."
Homelander smiled and clapped his hands:
"Alright, I believe everyone should know their tasks now, so go get busy. Oh, and Maeve, stay."
Homelander pointed to Queen Maeve.
The others left Ashley's office without another word, except for A-Train, who hesitated briefly before leaving the office, as if to say something.
But unfortunately, Homelander didn't notice A-Train's hesitation.
"A-Train, you should get to work."
He ordered A-Train, who was still standing at the doorway.
A speedster who could no longer run for long periods or as fast as before was simply not worth Homelander's attention.
In fact, Homelander even wanted Shockwave to replace A-Train.
However, Shockwave wasn't here right now, and A-Train happened to be in front of him.
Following the principle of convenience, Homelander chose A-Train.
So he wasn't genuinely giving A-Train a chance; it was simply because he had no other option besides this guy right now that he chose him.
It didn't mean Homelander could truly treat him like before.
A-Train clearly understood Homelander's meaning.
He had been hesitant, wanting to say something, but in the end, he left the office without saying anything and quickly rushed to the hotel where the parallel world's The Deep was staying.
This world's The Deep had asked A-Train to notify him if anything major happened within The Seven.
That's why A-Train had called him when The Deep died earlier.
It was the same now.
Changes were about to happen within The Seven, and The Deep and Starlight's 'Super Villain' identities, under Homelander's arrangements, would likely be definitively sealed.
A-Train thought he might be able to do something during this time to further solidify his position within The Seven.
For example... seeking help from the parallel world's The Deep, who clearly seemed incredibly strong.
Although the other party seemed very difficult to deal with, A-Train believed that as long as the other party didn't intend to kill him, anything could be discussed.
So after the meeting, A-Train first thought of the parallel world's The Deep and returned to their hotel.
Given A-Train's speed, it wouldn't take long to get from Vought to their hotel.
A-Train did have a heart condition, but it wasn't yet so severe that he couldn't run. With fast-acting medication on him, A-Train could also ensure he wouldn't die from a heart attack.
Rushing back to the hotel, A-Train originally intended to immediately tell Kevin about The Seven's situation.
But as soon as he opened the hotel bedroom door, he saw a rapidly darting golden lightning bolt in the room.
Instinctively, A-Train used his ability. Through his speedster powers, he caught the shadow of that golden lightning and recognized the person.
That golden lightning was none other than the person brought by the parallel world's The Deep! That seemingly dazed guy!
But if A-Train remembered correctly, he shouldn't have had superpowers before, right?
...
"Yo, you're back?"
Kevin, who was watching Barry excitedly dart around the room, noticed the movement at the door.
He greeted A-Train standing at the door, then said, "Close the door. Whatever you have to say, come inside first."
A-Train Reggie walked into the room in a daze, looked at Barry darting around, and pointed at the golden lightning, asking, "He... he..."
"He's a Superhero from a parallel world. You can call him Flash."
"...But wasn't he just a normal person before?!"
"He just temporarily lost his powers for some reason, and now his powers have returned... Alright Barry, stop."
Kevin only told Barry to stop when Barry's speed became so fast that even Kevin's naked eye could barely track him.
Barry, who had stopped again, was still wearing the same shirt he arrived in, excitedly looking at his hands, which were sparking with golden electricity:
"I did it! And... I seem to be even faster than before?!"
"Are you sure it's Speed Force?"
"Positive! It's nothing else, it's Speed Force!"
Barry was very certain.
Just now, after he finished eating, he felt like a car filled with fuel, full of power from head to toe.
Golden sparks crackled on his body, and then Barry felt that he had regained his speed.
Kevin was worried that what he recovered wasn't Speed Force, but superpowers awakened through Compound V, which was why he had Barry test his strength.
But thankfully, what Barry possessed was indeed Speed Force.
There were no surprises on that front.
So, based on this, Barry's body actually still contained the DC Universe's Speed Force, but for some unknown reason, it had simply never been activated.
Compound V activated the ability within him.
However, if this theory holds, then a mutant serum capable of activating the X-gene could probably also restore Barry's abilities.
In any case, it was a good thing that Barry had recovered his Speed Force.
Kevin ignored A-Train beside him and continued to ask Barry, "So what do you plan to do now? Go back to your original world, or... continue to stay with me?"
Barry had recovered his Speed Force, and a day had passed. Kevin had also confirmed the changes in skill points after bringing in plot characters.
First, the conclusion.
Kevin did not pay extra skill points for Barry.
The previous skill tree prompt was that bringing one person over would cost three skill points, and then an additional skill point would be paid each day to maintain that person's existence within the world.
Otherwise, they would be sent back to their original world.
But twenty-four hours had passed since Kevin brought Barry over, and besides the initial three skill points for bringing him, no additional skill points had been paid so far.
Not only that, his skill points were still slowly increasing.
It was unknown whether it was the fate changes from Wolverine 3 or the DC Universe that were providing Kevin with skill points.
Kevin guessed that this might be because bringing Barry over also counted as changing the plot of the DC Universe, allowing Kevin to barely achieve a balance in skill point income and expenditure, thus not having to pay extra skill points.
Based on this deduction, in the future, when Kevin takes Wolverine, besides the three skill points required to open the world, he probably won't need extra skill points to maintain Wolverine's existence.
This was good news.
In the future, Kevin wouldn't be restricted when bringing people; as long as they were plot characters, he could bring anyone he wanted.
That's enough about skill points for now; Kevin was still waiting for Barry's answer.
And Barry said without hesitation, "I'll help you deal with your current troubles first, and then I'll go back."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course! You've helped me so much, so I have to help you too. You don't have to worry about me; I won't be a burden to you now."
Barry said earnestly.
It seemed he had already made up his mind, just waiting for Kevin to ask, and he would immediately give his answer.