Chapter 29 Mister Marathon and Supersonic
The conference room.
Ashley slapped a stack of documents onto the table.
"The Seven currently only has four members left. A-Train, The Deep, and Translucent are all out. We need to fill at least three spots."
"Vought’s board of directors has emailed three times to push for progress, and the advertisers are asking as well."
"We need to pick people to fill out the team as soon as possible."
Homelander sat at the head of the table, legs crossed, flipping through the documents nonchalantly.
They were all a bunch of losers, not even as good as A-Train and the others.
Just looking at them was exhausting.
The quality of Supes really got worse with every generation.
Starlight and Lucas sat together, the atmosphere between them surprisingly harmonious.
They had already done the deed, so there was no need to be coy.
Annie felt that they could deal with the relationship later; there was no need to give an answer right away.
It wasn’t like they were getting married.
Ashley only had to glance at them to know that something must have happened between the two.
"There are seventeen Supes who have submitted applications, but only two are worth discussing."
Ashley then turned on the projector.
Two photos appeared on the screen.
On the left was Mister Marathon.
A B-tier hero under Vought, his ability is super speed, but his speed cap is only 1.5 Mach. He’s a has-been star with a commercial value of a few hundred thousand dollars.
Lucas knew this person.
Mister Marathon, the speedster kicked out of the team by Homelander himself, with the reason being that he was too slow.
He was indeed slow.
Homelander’s regular cruising speed is 1.8 Mach, and he can burst to 5 Mach; at full speed, he can even break into hypersonic range.
The system provided only the base stats.
But every Supe has a cap to their burst speed.
Mr. Mister Marathon’s limit was locked right there.
There was no potential for development.
"Who is the other one?" Homelander suppressed his inner annoyance and continued to ask.
"Supersonic."
Ashley displayed the photo.
Supersonic, an A-tier hero under Vought, handsome, with 23 million social media followers and extremely high commercial value.
Upon seeing Supersonic’s photo, Annie’s heartbeat fluctuated slightly.
She wanted to kill someone.
Homelander flipped through the documents: "I think Supersonic is good. He’s good-looking, has good audience appeal, and can bring a lot of buzz to The Seven."
"As for that trash Mister Marathon... he doesn’t even run faster than I walk. What do we need him for?"
Ashley nodded and recorded it on her tablet.
"Guardian, what’s your opinion?" Homelander subconsciously sought Lucas’s advice.
He didn’t even know why he did that.
Perhaps it had become a habit.
Starlight wanted to say something, but she didn’t dare to defy Homelander’s orders.
Lucas tapped his fingers on the table. "Ashley, pull up the detailed file on Supersonic."
"A detailed file? Isn’t this one on the projector enough?"
"I want the internal file. Vought’s security department definitely has one that’s completely different."
Ashley paused for a moment, then immediately began searching.
Homelander waved his hand indifferently.
Ashley tapped her tablet a few times and found Supersonic’s internal file.
She now had the authority to access the files of most Supes.
Lucas took the tablet and glanced at it. Sure enough...
"Supersonic, real name Alex."
"In March 2012, Vought’s security department received a report that Supersonic was using illegal drugs at a private party. It was suppressed by the PR department."
"In July 2013, he was reported again for using illegal drugs at a party, and also involved in..."
Lucas paused and looked at the wording.
"...involved in inappropriate behavior of a group-party nature."
Everyone was stunned for a moment.
Group-party nature... wasn’t that just an orgy?
Lucas put down the tablet.
"Doing drugs, throwing orgies—doesn’t that sound familiar with certain people?"
"We just kicked A-Train out, and now we’re turning around to recruit someone who’s rotten to the core?"
"If another scandal breaks out then, tsk tsk!"
Homelander understood immediately.
"Right, that makes sense."
Lucas said, "No matter how strong Ashley’s PR skills are, she can’t keep doing PR forever, right?"
"Then Mister Marathon?" Homelander frowned.
"His speed is just too slow. By the time he starts running, I’d have finished flying a lap around Manhattan and gone home to sleep."
Homelander’s words were a bit exaggerated, but the sentiment was sound.
However, Lucas had a different view. "Mister Marathon is just a display piece. The Seven just needs a speedster; whether he’s one Mach faster or slower doesn’t really matter."
"His advantage isn’t speed, but a clean record. He just likes to film little movies normally and doesn’t easily cause trouble."
"Recruiting a tool like this who won’t blow up is the best way to get work done."
Homelander thought about it and felt it made a lot of sense.
"Fine, let’s go with Mister Marathon."
He was increasingly trusting Lucas’s judgment.
"What about the second spot?"
"Are there any suitable ones among the remaining fifteen?"
Ashley shook her head.
"If we’re looking for Supes without dirty laundry, there are a few left, but their abilities aren’t that impressive."
"Then let’s go recruit from Godolkin University. The backgrounds of students are surely cleaner than those of people in society, right?"
Lucas’s logic was always simple and brutal.
Besides, Godolkin University had produced members of The Seven before.
It’s just that their characters weren’t very good.
"That works. How about Guardian makes another trip?" Homelander said.
Lucas nodded.
He was just worrying about not having a reason to visit Godolkin University to farm some Evolution Points anyway.
Cate and Jordan had already called him several times.
The meeting concluded.
The others left one after another.
Homelander stood up and gave Lucas a few friendly gestures.
"Not bad, not bad. Guardian, you’re becoming more and more suitable for this job!"
He even feigned intimacy by punching Lucas on the shoulder.
"I’m just fulfilling my own justice."
Homelander spread his arms.
"We are too. Justice is something that needs everyone to guard together, which is why you’re called Guardian!"
"It’s just that I’m called Homelander... you know, guarding the people of a nation... the meaning of this name is more specific..."
"Of course, I’m not saying yours isn’t good... it’s just..."
Lucas waved his hand to interrupt him.
"You are the symbol of America. Your name has great historical significance; I still have a long way to go."
A single sentence ended Homelander’s competitiveness.
Homelander’s personality was immature, just like a child.
A few words of flattery and he was handing over the gold coins.
"Did you reject Supersonic because of me?" Starlight leaned in to ask while no one was in the conference room.
"Of course. This is just the beginning; I have a hundred ways to mess with him. I’ll make sure the news about his orgy becomes a huge scandal so everyone knows what a scumbag he is," Lucas said.
Starlight said embarrassedly, "Don’t... don’t you think that’s a bit too much?"
"Not too much, not at all."
He hadn’t used a Viltrumite chop on him yet, so he was already being very merciful.
"So... now it’s time to get down to business."
Lucas leaned in, and a look of panic appeared on Starlight’s face.
"You’re crazy! This is Vought’s conference room, there’s monitor..."
"After The Deep’s video was exposed, I removed the surveillance in the conference room..."
"That still doesn’t..."
Annie couldn’t even finish her sentence.