With Fang Yuan fanning the flames, Pioneer Company's very first defection target was set on Salvador.
After all, she wasn't just a member of Hellfire; she was also the only Vought employee who had ever publicly mocked Vought Corporation.
"That's more like it."
Fang Yuan left the meeting in high spirits; with him steering the discussion, the group's efficiency in taking covert shots at Vought had skyrocketed.
But he didn't get to slip away as planned—several people quietly cornered him to chat about Slicing up Awakened for study… "Nice, you lot. In the meeting you looked all torn up; I almost thought you'd taken the wrong meds. Turns out you just like to scheme in the dark," Fang Yuan griped to himself.
Yet he wasn't annoyed—he was delighted.
These were the very fish he'd lured. If anyone ever sabotaged Vought, these faces would top the suspect list.
Among those who came to ingratiate themselves, one short figure caught Fang Yuan's attention most.
Bolivar Trask.
"Aren't you Patrick's assistant?" Fang Yuan feigned puzzlement. "Patrick and I are rivals; does he know you're here?"
Trask shook his head, glanced around to confirm no one was within earshot, then spoke.
"I came of my own accord. Senator Lance, your proposal… intrigues me."
Fang Yuan didn't need to guess what had hooked Trask.
Slicing, of course.
He'd deliberately floated the idea the moment he spotted Trask in the room.
The disguised Senator Lance looked Trask up and down, intrigued. "Patrick keeps you close—you must have some skill."
Then he shook his head. "Pity you're Patrick's man; he'd never risk letting you experiment on Awakened."
Bolivar Trask clenched his teeth but didn't voice any thought of switching allegiance.
Changing bosses was a huge step; Trask wasn't about to leap rashly.
Fang Yuan wasn't rushed—he'd merely cast the bait; Trask would bite eventually.
After adjournment, Fang Yuan returned to Senator Lance's residence, then teleported straight back to Vought Tower and released the real Senator Lance from the hidden chamber.
When impersonating someone, you must keep the genuine article from popping up unexpectedly.
Lance was an ordinary man; with Telepathy Fang Yuan easily placed him under control.
Once he'd planted a mental command that Lance should contact him at once if Pioneer Company or any major player reached out, Fang Yuan sent the senator home.
Next morning Lance went to work as usual, raising no suspicion; colleagues who'd attended yesterday's meeting even silently praised his acting skills.
Pioneer Company moved quickly to approach Salvador.
Both sides believed their contact ultra-secret, yet every move had long since fallen under Fang Yuan's surveillance.
All those months in the Kryptonian Learning Pod hadn't been wasted; tiny spy cameras were child's play.
Fang Yuan was curious which path Salvador would pick; he'd actually left her one way out.
If she turned Pioneer down, she could stay at Vought and enjoy endless fame and fortune.
But if she betrayed them again, the pit he'd prepared would swallow her whole.
The outcome was gratifying—Salvador accepted.
"I am the Black Queen, Sebastian Shaw's Queen!"
"Fang Yuan has it in for me—he stole my title and worries I'll eclipse his precious X-Men!"
"But he can't dictate what audiences love; the Black Queen's popularity is proof!"
"I can thrive without Vought!"
Those were Salvador's exact words when Pioneer tried to poach her.
Clearly Fang Yuan's Black Queen hype campaign had left her unable to tell ace from joker.
She now believed she'd blown up on her own, without Vought's resources—so why stay?
With Pioneer offering richer terms, why not jump ship now?
That's the danger of over-hype: once the inflated lose perspective, they misread the board.
Watching her leap into the pit, Fang Yuan silently told Big Brother Shaw, "Don't blame me—sis made the first move."
Yet Fang Yuan knew the Black Queen crown was only crowd bait; neither he nor Shaw ever saw Salvador as a true partner.
Only Salvador herself failed to see it.
Pioneer Company worked fast; with so many powerful Awakened inside Vought, they feared Salvador might leak word.
So within two days she suddenly appeared on a Pioneer-owned TV show.
"Compared with Vought's practice of placing Awakened above humanity, Pioneer's philosophy is clearly more progressive."
"Peaceful coexistence between Awakened and humans makes the awakened one act essential."
"After careful consideration—"
Live on air, Salvador delivered her bombshell.
"I have decided to join Pioneer Company!"
Boom!
Viewers erupted; the Black Queen was already red-hot, and everyone could see that Vought and Pioneer stood on opposite sides of the awakened one act.
For a signed Vought employee to defect on air was far more seismic than a normal job hop.
"Vought's on the back foot!"
In his living room, Old Tom glared at Old Jerry, who was shamelessly snatching cheese off his plate.
"If even the Black Queen walks, others might get ideas," Old Tom sighed.
He actually liked Vought, but for ordinary folks Pioneer, who favored curbing the Awakened, better served their interests.
"As long as the X-Men don't bail, Vought will hold," Old Jerry retorted, licking the last of the cheese from his fingers.
Sure enough, though Salvador's exit stung, when Angel, the X-Men and others stepped forward, Vought's base soon steadied.
Yet Pioneer, buoyed by the Black Queen's defection, gained enough clout to stand toe-to-toe with Vought within a month.
Pioneer's backers praised the Salvador gambit, and Senator Lance's influence rose in tandem.
But… "Champagne already? We've barely left the dock."
Fang Yuan railed at their premature triumphalism.
Vought's reach remained vast; other capital groups feared it might flip the table, so after Salvador's switch Pioneer's aggressive tempo actually slowed.
"Guess I'll have to handle it myself."
He became Senator Lance once more and sought out Bolivar Trask.
"Patrick still bars you from researching Awakened—are you really content with that?" he asked, voice laced with temptation.
The second strike at Vought would again spring from the father of Vought himself.
Only the pit Pioneer was digging kept growing deeper.
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