The fact that Allen could bend the rules with fragments probably left a doubt.
Can Allen use the shards to steal all of Homelander's powers?
Yes, Allen could use fragments to potentially seize all of Homelander's powers. However, there's a problem...
Allen came to this world to collect fragments; using them to defeat the main villain and end the story would be akin to shooting himself in the foot.
...
[Skill Acquired: Pyrokinesis]
After the grim conclusion, Lamplighter's body was placed in a body bag, and the journey resumed.
Mallory took everyone to her home since Butcher's part of the deal was completed. (Butcher had promised Mallory two things: one was to meet Allen, and the other was Lamplighter.)
Now, Mallory was prepared to fight to the end.
Allen let Annie drive while he sat in the passenger seat.
"Hey, you've had enough time, it's my turn!"
From the back seats, an angry Harley tried to push Rebecca off Allen's lap. But even with the girl's outburst, Rebecca didn't deign to look at her as she continued to play on a handheld console.
"Shut up! You've been glued to him all day, he even carried you—that's too much!"
"But I just got here and you've had many days with him, it's only fair that I get to monopolize him now!"
As the two girls argued, Annie, Kimiko, and Cate remained silent. Needless to say, the constant appearance of unknown women had already reached the point of madness.
A beautiful maid with platinum hair? That's fine.
A knight sister? They can accept that...
Two girls out of nowhere with extravagant appearances and a few screws loose?!
Allen knew he owed the girls an explanation. Now, how should Allen start to explain their origins without them calling for a straightjacket?
– Well, the truth is, I'm Allen Walker and I come from another world, traveling through different worlds punching jerks and unintentionally expanding my harem. –
Allen felt that line was enough to earn him a kick in the groin, even he got angry hearing such audacity.
[Host, the best option is to tell them everything bit by bit... you can start with the dolls...]
'That seems like a good idea, instead of dropping everything at once, tackling one thing at a time seems best...' he thought.
They arrived at Mallory's house and it was still quiet. Mallory went to rest but not before telling them that their best ally was on her way and who would help them to face Vought and open the congress.
The whole Chat sensed who it was, so they waited to see what Allen would do.
Frenchie apologized, he must be the most emotionally drained besides Mallory. Charlotte signaled to leave Frenchie to her.
Hughie, MM, and Butcher began calling their loved ones. Allen left them and went to the living room, the girls deserved a break. Allen pulled drinks from his inventory for everyone.
After an hour, while Allen was preparing something in the kitchen with the help of Annie and Cate and Kimiko was talking with her brother, the last guest arrived at Mallory's home.
She was Victoria Neuman...
Allen smiled but limited his interaction with her despite her clear interest in meeting him.
Gil-chan – that woman is pretty sassy, this king is angry.
Hestia – I can smell the suckiness underneath her smile hmph.
Megan – She looks like a quintessential liar...
...
Homelander burst through the wall and flew at full speed to Sage Grove.
Upon arrival, there were many police cordoning off the area. Homelander scanned the place and soon spotted what he was looking for. He landed, creating a blast of air that pushed the police back.
He saw Stormfront's body lying on the ground while crime scene technicians took photos and collected fingerprints, the usual.
Homelander was not in the mood.
"Step back..." he ordered.
The officers hesitated, Homelander was recognized by everyone, but ultimately he was still a civilian, as absurd as it may seem, and had no right to interfere with police work.
"Sir, this is a crime scene..."
Homelander closed his eyes, "I know it's a crime scene, now leave..."
Homelander's voice sounded increasingly low and threatening. Some accused him of being a monster hiding in a superhero suit, but these are things that no one can prove conclusively.
The police were ordered to back off, and Homelander started losing patience...
He still remembered his conversations with Stormfront; she believed the world was too unjust towards them. She incited Homelander to rule over them, to be the one standing above others. Homelander always believed he was special but always ended up alone.
He could feel the fear in others, A-train, Deep, even Maeve feared him, and he knew it, which is ridiculous because the Seven are supposed to be his equals.
But he quickly realized that was not the case, of course, except for Black Noir, who never showed fear and always supported him, making Homelander hold him in high esteem. However, it wasn't enough; he needed something more.
Then came Stormfront, an arrogant and very impertinent woman who kept debating his ideas, he looked at her interested and believed Stormfront could stand alongside him because she was strong enough.
But now she is dead... no glory no future...
Homelander accumulated this anger and put it together with his other problems.
Homelander had felt somewhat lost, although he had the support of his "father," he had lost Madelyn and his son.
Homelander finally had a chance to have a family, a blood connection, but it was denied by that brat.
Homelander began to boil with rage, feeling increasingly on the brink of madness. Even his reflection mocked him.
"This is what you deserve, I told you that brat was a problem, but instead of finding ways to kill him, you were more worried about your image and Vought, why? I'll tell you why, YOU WANTED TO PLEASE DADDY AND THIS IS THE RESULT!!"
"SHUT UP!!"
Homelander flew off into the distance, leaving the place behind.
...
(Hours later)
Allen ended his stream but promised to keep the girls informed about what happened.
Back in the apartment, Allen sat on his sofa, but he didn't have time to rest before he was surrounded by three girls with furrowed brows. It might have had something to do with Harley, who was in his lap.
"Daddy, did I do a good job?❤️~"
If looks could kill, Allen would have been stabbed twelve times.
"Well, first of all, this is Harley Quinn."
Harley glanced at the girls and flashed a half-smile, "Pleasure to meet you girls!~"
Allen had the three women sit down; among them, Annie was the most upset with her arms crossed, Kimiko seemed angry but also showed fear behind her eyes, perhaps thinking Allen would abandon her, Cate was more confused than upset by Harley's sudden appearance.
"First of all, I hope you'll listen to me until the end, even if you have questions, I promise to answer them all after I finish speaking."
Allen proceeded to tell them the story of how one day Wednesday Addams appeared, to Allen's surprise, in this world the Addams family existed, although only on television.
"Wait, and where is she?!" Cate asked excitedly, for her, it would be equivalent to meeting a celebrity.
"We fought and are currently separated..." Allen coughed, "I hope to resolve this in the future."
Allen continued revealing things, but the girls looked at Harley incredulously, no matter how they looked at her, she didn't seem like a "doll."
Allen smiled and called the other girls, and the next second above Allen appeared Nokotan, Bocchi, Rebecca, 2B, and Artoria in their mini versions, Harley also turned into a doll and started floating above Allen.
The girls' jaws dropped to the floor.
"That's impossible!"
Allen shrugged, "There are powers that can reduce a person's size, why would it be impossible?"
Allen's argument left no room for response, but no matter how you looked at it, the possibility of women appearing around you as if it were some sort of perverted fantasy made no sense.
Annie, arms crossed and frowning, tapped her arm with her fingers trying to absorb that her "boyfriend" had an active home delivery service of women. It was simply absurd, Annie wasn't sure if getting involved with him was a good idea after all.
"Wait!" Annie exclaimed after realizing a detail, her face turning red, "Are you saying they've been with you all this time?"
Allen nodded, initially unaware that his statement was dangerous.
[Host!]
'Hm?... ah!'
"No, wait, Annie, they're not always watching, in special situations, they usually leave me alone."
"They usually? So not always?!"
Allen realized his words were only digging him deeper, he had become accustomed to his lifestyle surrounded by women that he forgot that normally women do not accept such things.
'Bocchi!' Allen called for backup.
Bocchi didn't know why she had been called but being her submissive personality, she immediately went to help Allen. She turned into her human version and fell into Allen's lap.
"Huh?"
Bocchi was embarrassed at first, but seeing the angry look from the women, she started to tremble and emit an aura of lament and desperation.
Allen smiled with a sweat drop on his cheek. As expected, Bocchi's "Don't hurt me" aura surpassed nine thousand units. Her pitiable appearance was capable of evoking sympathy from a Siberian tiger, and Annie found it impossible to be upset with her. However, Allen still wasn't out of trouble, and he understood that.
2B and Artoria turned into normal-sized women. Annie, Kimiko, and Cate tensed up, the respect they already had for these powerful women grew as they saw just how powerful they truly were.
"Don't blame Allen entirely," Artoria said apologetically, "He was caught in a surreal situation without the ability to choose or refuse."
"Girls, don't worry, Allen is always serious," Rebecca smiled carelessly with her hands behind her neck.
2B bowed, "My master has a great heart, he has no obligation to look after us, help us, or deal with the troubles we cause, but he chose to do so."
Bocchi stood up and looked at everyone, "I am a nuisance, I'm not strong, smart, or skilled, of all present I'm the least able to help him and... he never abandoned me... not even asking for anything in return... I can't even imagine what he has to endure every day..."
Allen was moved by everyone's words and let out a smile. Unable to withstand Bocchi's adorability, he pulled her into a hug, but she turned red, and blue, then lost all color and fainted.
"Bocchi!" Allen exclaimed.
Allen held Bocchi's unconscious body in his arms, Nokotan cried, 2B handed a damp towel to Allen, Artoria remained silent observing everything, and Rebecca laughed nonstop.
The three women observed Allen's interactions with his dolls, realizing they had been together for a long time and shared an unbreakable bond.
'I can't believe such incredible women chose to serve him; maybe that speaks well of him,' Annie thought with a sigh. But who could she blame? She had accepted that Allen was not a one-woman man.
Over a week ago, 2B had told them they were still in time to walk away, yet none of the three women did so. Clearly, they didn't accept the reality immediately but believed that if they tried hard enough, they could win Allen's heart for themselves.
Annie, Kimiko, and Cate exchanged glances, realizing they had been secretly competing for Allen's affection. But seeing him surrounded by beautiful, powerful women made them feel that competing was futile.
The three women smiled weakly and in silent consensus decided to let time determine if this relationship could work.
...
(Nearly a week later)
Allen went to Congress to watch the show that was about to begin. He used the invisibility skill he acquired from the woman Harley discovered. It was similar to Translucent's but didn't turn his skin into a diamond. Not that Allen will need that, many skills he had acquired were useless.
Rock skin, steel bones, low shield generation, low regeneration—all these skills were useless because Allen's body, having inherited the power of Sentry, could do all that more easily and much more powerfully. However, some skills like invisibility were very useful.
People started to enter; various congressmen were present, including those who would preside over this session. Allen watched Mallory accompany Raynor and Butcher, who was discreetly on the side.
Victoria Neuman entered, dressed formally with a confident smile. She was one of the main instigators here; she would condemn Vought's actions, publicly expose everything that happened at Sage Grove Center, reveal countless pieces of information about Vought, and seek the condemnation of Vought International.
Allen squinted his eyes.
[I.M] "You'd never think she was capable of a massacre if you just saw her now."
Gwen – Allen, haven't you removed her power?
MJ – Haha, I bet he's waiting to do it at the last minute~
[I.M] "Exactly, if I had done it earlier, she wouldn't have organized this..."
(IM = Incognito Mode)
Originally, the session wasn't supposed to proceed, and that's because Victoria Newman has a different agenda. All the efforts of Butcher, Mallory, and Raynor end horribly with many people's heads exploding. Needless to say, she is responsible for that and, it turns out, is a super.
Allen looked at Vought's representatives, a nervous Ashley accompanied by some senior Vought executives. Of course, expecting Stan Edgar to show up under these circumstances was out of the question.
Ashley is pitiable; she only wants to worry about things like movies, fan events, regaining sponsorships, and maybe some new program. But one day she's told that Vought might disappear, accused of conducting human experiments, and to top it all off, Golden Boy and Stormfront are dead.
Natasha – She should get another job, speaking from experience, a job that only makes you unhappy isn't worth it.
Emma Frost – I can tell from one look that both she and the senior executives are just cannon fodder.
Emma Frost's business acumen is terrifying; with one look, she could see the inexperience of the executives as if they didn't even know why they were there.
Stan Edgar is meticulous and only gives others a false sense of control; from the shadows, he has always had power over Vought, and it's only in these situations that the executives realize they have no idea about everything Vought is involved in.
"Thank you all for being here, Congresswoman Neuman has five minutes to present her case..."
As the chairman's words ended, Victoria's smile froze. She tried to activate her power to start a massacre but failed.
'What?!'
"Congresswoman Neuman, you only have five minutes, where is your case..."
"Yes... I..."
She looked around desperately; at that moment, Allen removed his invisibility and appeared discreetly, his hair black, but Victoria recognized him.
Murmurs arose while the faces of Mallory and Raynor grew grim, and the look of Ashley and the Vought people lit up.
After so much pressure, it was the moment to sink Vought, a moment when the world would change, but the main protagonist was unable to speak.
Victoria was pale; was she forced to do what had been planned from the beginning?
Allen smiled as Victoria realized that the man in front of her was responsible for stripping her of her power.
Various thoughts raced through Victoria's mind, but as twenty seconds passed, people grew impatient.
"Congresswoman Neuman, I hope you understand the gravity of this session; many people are expecting a resolution to this conflict!"
Victoria was cornered, even if she wanted to postpone or delay this, Allen wouldn't let her; she understood that when she saw Allen's eyes.
"I apologize... today I come to denounce with evidence and testimonies the inhumane events carried out by Vought International...."
Victoria began to speak, stretching her words to make the five minutes pass faster, planning to talk a lot without getting to anything concrete. This would anger her "allies," but it was her best option.
Butcher also sensed something was wrong and started to grow irritated. However, Victoria's hopes died when she felt pressure in her chest. It was a chilling sensation, as if someone was holding her heart and about to crush it.
She looked towards Allen, and his cold eyes made Victoria tremble; she realized there were no games to be played.
Victoria apologized in her heart and hoped someone else would act.
"As the main topic, I want to talk about Sage Grove Center, a Machiavellian place where inhumane experiments were conducted. Compound V is extremely dangerous in adults... we have many studies confirming this... at Sage Grove, Compound V was administered knowing this to hundreds of people, of which only dozens survived..."
Everyone present swallowed hard, including Vought's executives, demonstrating they had no idea about the severity of the situation.
Allen smiled but didn't let his guard down; he knew Stan Edgar wouldn't go down without a fight and anticipated everything that would happen.
...
In the sky, a figure watched the congress with murderous eyes...
===
A/N: Allen: No no no, no exploding heads on my watch 🗿