Homelander's strength is incredibly powerful in The Boys World, but his inner self is exceptionally fragile.
This was a deliberate move by Vought, because if they didn't give Homelander a weak personality, with his strength, Vought would have to change its name in minutes.
This also caused Homelander to be prone to psychological collapse when he couldn't handle a blow.
For example, this time Fang Yuan gave him a severe beating; in the more than thirty years of Homelander's life, this was an experience he had never had before.
So, the usually unscrupulous Homelander was scared.
Fang Yuan, however, was quite self-satisfied.
"Since little John calls me brother, I have to take responsibility," Fang Yuan nodded to himself. "How is this beating him? I'm clearly helping Homelander grow!"
Although Homelander is now older than him, Fang Yuan could ignore such a small matter.
The next day, Vought Vice President's office.
"What? MIB headquarters was attacked yesterday?"
Early in the morning, Madelyn heard this shocking news, and her whole mood instantly soured.
"Yes, according to informants, the MIB headquarters building is severely damaged and no longer usable," a staff member replied.
"Did MIB's Superhumans say who did it?" Madelyn asked.
"It's strange, they all suddenly refused to communicate with us, but..." The staff member hesitated for a few seconds before finally speaking out, "but Homelander went to the intelligence office yesterday to check MIB's files."
That brat again!
Madelyn sighed: "Was Green Meanie rescued?"
Though it was a question, her tone was certain.
After all, when Homelander takes action, there's no one who can stop him.
But the staff member shook his head: "No."
"No?"
Madelyn let out a light sound of surprise, then immediately frowned.
"What a... mess. Have Homelander come see me!"
What bothered her wasn't that Homelander attacked an official organization, but that he had actually failed to rescue Green Meanie even after taking action.
If Green Meanie had been rescued, Vought could still lie through their teeth and argue their way out, but now not only was Green Meanie not rescued, but Homelander was very likely exposed.
Homelander is Vought's star player; if his reputation is damaged, it affects the profits of the entire Vought Corporation!
Soon, Homelander was invited over.
With a smile on his face, he walked into Madelyn's office with his head held high and chest out.
"Your belly is getting bigger, huh?" Homelander spoke first.
Hearing this, Madelyn stroked her noticeably bulging lower abdomen, an unconsciously maternal look appearing in her eyes.
"Yes, it's already been sixteen weeks," she said.
She didn't notice that as Homelander stared at her, a few flashes of gloom passed through his eyes.
After some pleasantries, Madelyn carefully turned to the main topic.
"The MIB headquarters building was attacked. Do you know about this?"
"Oh? Really?"
Homelander looked surprised, then shook his head and replied: "I was with fans all last night."
"But..." Madelyn sighed, "I didn't say it was at night."
Homelander's smile instantly froze, and the atmosphere in the room became somewhat heavy.
It was Madelyn who broke the deadlock: "Your public image is sunshine, it is hope."
"Destruction?" Madelyn shook her head. "No, that's not what you should be doing."
"I, I just wanted to help you," Homelander said sincerely.
"So what exactly happened last night?" Madelyn asked.
Homelander's gaze was very unnatural; he was clearly recalling the painful experience of the previous night.
"Nothing, I tore that place apart and still couldn't find Green Meanie."
He still chose to hide the truth.
Homelander had always been a symbol of invincibility, and especially in front of Madelyn, for whom he had feelings, Homelander didn't want to expose his side of failure.
"No one discovered you, right?" Madelyn asked quickly; this was what she cared about most.
Homelander paused for a moment before gritting his teeth and answering: "No!"
He felt somewhat fortunate that MIB hadn't come to trouble Vought yet. It seemed that Black King from yesterday was right; he really did let him off the hook.
Homelander felt very stifled; he had taken a beating and in the end, he still had to rely on the opponent's mercy.
He would remember this grudge.
Madelyn didn't doubt him; she subconsciously felt that if MIB knew it was Homelander, they definitely wouldn't pass up such a good opportunity to strike at Vought.
So she breathed a sigh of relief and advised Homelander: "Don't do things like this on your own authority again."
"I don't need you to protect me."
Madelyn knew her words might hurt Homelander, so she walked over and stroked Homelander's face.
Homelander immediately tilted his head and pressed his face against Madelyn's hand.
"On the contrary, protecting you is my responsibility," Madelyn soothed. "You only need to complete the tasks assigned by the company."
Indeed, although Homelander was the one causing trouble, Madelyn had to soothe him carefully even while reprimanding him; this was the privilege brought by Homelander's strength.
Homelander closed his eyes enjoyably, as if he really had been comforted by Madelyn.
However, in his heart, he couldn't help but have a different opinion.
He didn't want to keep being like a Joker, following the arrangements of the circus Master; Homelander wanted to take on more responsibility and also wanted more power.
His rebellious phase came exceptionally late.
The incident of the attack passed just like that; since MIB didn't react, Vought naturally wouldn't do anything either.
However, that group of Superhumans from The Boys worked even harder at creating trouble for Vought.
They no longer took Vought's money; instead, they wore black uniform trench coats all day, gathering evidence of Vought Superheroes' violations and crimes everywhere.
Madelyn didn't understand how this group of Superhumans suddenly became so devoted to working for MIB, but under Vought's PR, no major negative news had spread for the time being.
What made Madelyn feel relatively relieved was that Homelander really took her words to heart and didn't take unauthorized action against The Boys.
Originally, Madelyn was quite worried that Homelander would continue to cause trouble, which made her feel rather smug; it seemed her position in Homelander's heart was still very high.
But she didn't know that Homelander wasn't listening to her at all; he simply didn't want to provoke Black King.
At least until he found a way to deal with Black King, Homelander would not act rashly.
So Homelander began to investigate Black King and MIB; Vought was naturally carrying out this work simultaneously.
However, there was another member of The Seven who was also very concerned about The Boys.
A-Train carefully avoided Vought's surveillance and arrived at an unremarkable apartment in New York City.
He knew he had a Vought tracking chip in his body, but as a member of The Seven, he also had his own privileges; not everyone had the right to check his location, so members of The Seven could use this to do some private business.
Of course, Homelander didn't have a chip in his body; no one at Vought dared to put such a thing in him.
Claw Woman returned to the apartment; with the MIB headquarters recently destroyed, the members could only return to their respective homes.
As soon as she turned on the light, Claw Woman discovered there was someone else in the room, which immediately gave her a fright.
In the darkness, even though Claw Woman was a Superhuman, she hadn't noticed A-Train's figure.
After all, A-Train wasn't smiling, so his teeth weren't showing.
A-Train wasn't just not smiling; his expression was also very serious.
"MIB? The Boys? Are you serious?"
He questioned Claw Woman loudly.
"How could you join such an organization? Do you know how much Vought hates MIB right now?"
But Claw Woman wasn't intimidated; she shrugged and took off her black trench coat to hang it up.
"So?"
"If I don't join MIB, will Vought be that good to me?" Claw Woman also had some resentment. "You know how heartless Vought is to a Superhuman like me who has no fame."
A-Train could only try to soothe Claw Woman first: "Honey, I know, I'm working on it."
"But Stillwell still hasn't agreed to me announcing a girlfriend at this time."
Stillwell was the Vought Vice President, full name Madelyn Stillwell.
A-Train's tone was a bit evasive; in fact, he hadn't mentioned this to Madelyn at all.
He did like Claw Woman, but A-Train also understood that Vought valued fame most, and Claw Woman was already a has-been.
Announcing a relationship with Claw Woman, aside from making Claw Woman popular again, wouldn't do any good for A-Train.
After all, A-Train wasn't like some celebrity who would sacrifice himself to help his girlfriend rise to the top.
"It's just that if your relationship with me is discovered by Vought, we won't have a chance," A-Train said somewhat anxiously.
If Vought knew his girlfriend had joined an organization opposing Vought, A-Train was very worried he would be implicated.
But Claw Woman quickly caught the loophole in his words: "Wait, Stillwell is the Vice President; if she knows, how could Vought not know about our relationship?"
She looked at A-Train with extreme suspicion: "Have you really reported our relationship to Stillwell?"
"Of course," A-Train realized his slip of the tongue and quickly tried to cover for himself, "I begged her not to tell anyone."
After all, they were in the middle of a passionate relationship, so Claw Woman accepted A-Train's explanation half-doubtingly.
"Regardless, MIB is an official organization, and I'm doing quite well in The Boys," Claw Woman clearly had no intention of cutting ties with The Boys.
"Ring, ring, ring!"
Suddenly Claw Woman's phone rang; she looked at it and quickly picked up.
"Ah? ... Yes!"
Claw Woman glanced at A-Train, then nodded and quickly hung up the phone.
"Black King wants to see you," Claw Woman said, then added an explanation for A-Train, "That is, the boss of MIB."
"See me?" A-Train's eyes widened. "Did you tell him about us?"
"Absolutely not!" Claw Woman swore an oath.
A-Train immediately realized this was nothing good; he decisively wanted to leave.
But at that moment, a knock sounded at the door.
"Knock, knock!"
Claw Woman sighed: "Black King is already here."
But this was no problem for A-Train; he could still leave through the window.
In the blink of an eye, A-Train disappeared from the room, and Claw Woman had no choice but to open the door first.
Only, after running not very far, A-Train felt something was wrong.
"Wait, that's not right? Why am I running?"
A-Train realized that since this Black King already knew about his relationship with Claw Woman, it was meaningless whether he ran or not; he might as well see what the other party wanted to do.
Moreover, in the middle of the night, leaving his girlfriend in a room alone with Black King—what kind of thing was it for him, the original boyfriend, to just slip away?
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
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