"Yesterday, a former member of the Sevens, Starlight was found dead in a warehouse, alongside her ex-boyfriend Hughie Cambells, Marvin T. Milk and notorious terrorist William Butcher- who was the perpetrator of Madelyn Stillwell's death." the CNN news anchor said as Adem closed the TV and turned towards his friend.
"So Starlight was dumb enough to jump you- and not in a fun way?" Luke asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Pretty much, not that I would touch her ugly ass, don't know what she did to her face, but I doubt Deep would stick his dick into it anymore." Adem said with a shrug, he had revealed the truth of what happened to Luke, and how he had used Vought's near infinite resources through Shetty to pretty much cover up the entire incident, blaming it on Hughie- a bitter ex- and William Butcher, a notorious terrorist.
Some of Starlighters online were blaming the incident on Homelander- which frankly speaking made sense, but this was dismissed as Homelander and the rest of the Seven had ironclad alibi, but regardless, none of them even considered Adem.
However, Adem was confident some higher ups in the government, or at least some in CIA might know the truth or even had proof, after all, from what he could gather Hughie Campell, Marvin Milk, and Willim Butcher were all CIA operatives. And it was a fair bet to assume so was Starlight after her abrupt exit from the Seven.
"What's our next move?" Luke asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We need to take out Homelander and preferably take over Vought." Adem said casually.
"That's easier said than done… The bastard is strong, perhaps stronger than you. And I have been getting weaker ever since the Woods project was canceled." He said with a downward look. Despite the fact that he was glad to end Sam's suffering, he felt a tinge of regret at losing all his newfound strength. Forget Adem, even Jordan was giving him trouble these days.
"The problem is he is the leader of the Seven and the Vought. We can't just casually take him on and hope no one helps him out."
"So what will we do?"
Adem smiled ever so slightly.
"For now, we do nothing."
— General POV —
"I thought this… what did you call them- the Boys were supposed to be the best of the best, people you had hand picked to take down Vought and Homelander once and for all" He told the seasoned CIA operative.
"They are- they were- We just had a miscalculation. Our initial psychological profiling suggested Adam is the type of person who could be controlled if we had someone he cared about. But… It seems he is willing to let her die." Malory said much to the chagrin of the presidential candidate.
"What if we threatened him with his parents?" Singer suggested, although he wasn't really hopeful about it.
"Not the best idea senator. The reports suggest Khan has become almost estranged from his parents post Compound V announcement. He keeps communication with them at bare minimum, and does not seem to harbor much love." His advisor said.
"Jesus Fucking Christ Mallory! This is all going to hell really fast." He said as he rubbed the back of his head, "We already got a psychotic murderer with the powers of a god, and now, a second one who may be even stronger than the first butchered our best assets. What do you suggest we do now?"
"I think we should wait and reassess-"
"With all due respect Senator," the man in the corner said. "I might have a different suggestion."
Singer looked at the man for a moment. This man, Jeff Kessler was arguably the biggest asshole in the CIA, including William Butcher.
The senator slowly nods his head and listens to the man.
"The whole world is about to burn. We need to make a move before the Supes start rounding us up and dumping us into camps."
"Now, on one corner we have a psychotic man child that can burn down a whole city by himself, on the other hand we have an angst teen who punches first and asks questions never… The way I see it, we need to get them to take each other out."
"That was exactly Butcher's plan, and see where it has gotten him."
"Butcher was going off of old, out of date data. He thought getting the girl would make Khan a puppet for us, but now we know better, if we approach this problem differently, we might be able to kill two birds with one stone."
Singer thought about his options for a moment. However, he didn't believe either Homelander or this Adem boy were an immediate threat.
There was someone much more concerning.
"Considering Homelander and Khan, we'll go with Malory's plan. Observe the situation and do not trigger the Supe nukes. But more importantly, I want you to allocate significant resources to taking out my future Vice President."
Malory and Kessler shared a look.
Victoria Neumann was a sore spot for both of them. They actually thought she would have been their greatest ally once she got to the office, but now she might turn into a bigger threat than Homelander.
"Yes Sir."
========
"So, what do you all think about Homelander's son?" Luke asked as he took a sip of his beer.
The news about Homelander's son was the most talked topic in the world- after the fact Homelander killed a civilian in daylight and Starlight was murdered in an abandoned warehouse.
The Hero class had not discussed the issue yet as the classes was just starting this week.
Seeing no one was talking Adem decided to start the conversation "Not much, he seems to have power like his daddy and I," he said with a shrug.
"Yeah, but, um, apparently he is not like us." Tyler said, getting everyone to nod.
Ryan- Homelander's son is a natural born Supe. Not a fucking lab rat like the rest of them.
"A Chosen One." Steve said getting everyone to look at him with raised eyebrow
"What do you mean Chosen One?" Adem asked, but rather than Steve it was Jordan who answered.
"You know, heroes like Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, Monkey D. Luffy, Uzumaki Naruto." After seeing no one was getting her she elaborate. "A young white boy- with a missing parent or two- that is chosen by destiny due to special lineage or events to be the savior of the world. People love to idolize the Chosen One, especially when it's a straight white dude. Fictional media brainwashed people into loving these characters, and people will love Ryan because Ryan fits to that category to the T."
"Wait, what. That explanation just completely throws the hero's journey to the trash, which is actually the part that makes people adore these characters. Without that, you are left with garbage Gary Stus and Mary Sues, people like Boruto and Rey Skywalker." Tyler said with clear contempt.
"Fucking Prequels."