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"I said no, and no means no!"
"Maeve, can't you stop being so stubborn?"
"Stubborn? Who was it that said we should become real superheroes? And now you're calling me stubborn?"
Inside the Super Entertainment office, located three blocks away from Vought Tower, Queen Maeve and Tek Knight were in the middle of a heated argument.
The source of their disagreement was currently sitting in the reception room of Super Entertainment, a former member of the Seven, A-Train, who had been kicked out of the group and had recently switched sides to join Super Entertainment. He was calmly sipping juice.
Tek Knight, his hair now graying, had become even more gaunt over the past three months. If not for the medication he regularly took to suppress his tumors, he might not have been able to stand here and argue with Maeve at all.
However, the pain caused by his brain tumor was nothing compared to the headache Maeve was giving him now.
Ever since leaving Vought, Maeve seemed to have rediscovered her former self. She became more righteous, almost like a little girl with superhero dreams. Alongside Starlight and the Female (Kimiko), she formed an all-women's team within the Superhuman Alliance (Super Ent).
The three of them went out together to fight crime, and with Homelander missing, Maeve had become the undisputed pillar of support for Super Ent.
However, Maeve's renewed sense of justice now made her extremely reluctant to let A-Train join the Superhuman Alliance.
She knew exactly what kind of person A-Train was. Unlike the now-reformed Homelander, A-Train hadn't committed any particularly heinous crimes, but he wasn't a good person either. Most critically, A-Train was addicted to Compound V. Since Super Ent didn't have access to the substance, there was no telling whether A-Train would betray them when he had a withdrawal.
"I know, I know. He's a controversial figure...no, a controversial *hero*! But what choice do we have right now?" Tek Knight sighed.
"That kid Roger has been missing for three months without a word. We don't even know when he'll return! The only reason we can compete with Vought is because of him. If they find out he's not actually here, do you think we can stand up to them?"
"Maeve, we need resources, we need popularity, we need... heroes like A-Train who can bring in the public's attention. Only with that can we hold on until Roger returns!"
Tek Knight sat down, holding his head in his hands. "Besides, I don't have much time left. If Roger hasn't come back by the time I'm dead, I need to make sure you all are taken care of..."
Seeing him like this, Maeve's heart softened a little.
Noticing her silence, Tek Knight pressed on, "A-Train is just the beginning. Once he joins, more superheroes will follow. If we have a pool of growing superhumans, people will have more choices. Not everyone will flock to Vought."
"But those who join us won't be pure of heart."
"And what does that matter? Who in this world isn't working for fame and fortune? As long as they're on our side and meet our standards, none of that matters. Right now, we need support, we need strength to stand against Vought..."
*Beep Beep Beep, *
As Tek Knight and Maeve were in the middle of their discussion, Maeve's communicator suddenly went off.
It was a device developed by Tek Knight himself. The team's communicators could quickly locate other members and facilitate communication. In terms of internal communication, it worked better than phones.
The fact that Maeve's communicator was buzzing now meant that Starlight was in trouble.
Pausing their argument, Maeve picked up the device and answered, "Starlight? What's going on?"
"Maeve, can you come over here? We've run into some trouble with the supervillain who crossed the border."
"Hard to handle?"
Maeve frowned.
Starlight hesitated, "It's not exactly about difficulty... the supervillain seems to be... Kimiko's brother..."
"???"
Maeve was momentarily confused, but she quickly grasped the gravity of the situation. She said to Starlight, "Keep an eye on Kimiko and her brother. I'm on my way!"
"You better hurry."
Starlight's voice came through the communicator. "Because Stormfront seems to be heading our way."
…
After hanging up the call with Maeve, Starlight stood in front of the abandoned warehouse, trying to calm Kimiko, who was gesturing frantically with her hands.
"Don't worry, Maeve will be here soon. We need to stay calm."
'But my brother is still in there! Stormfront will kill him!' Kimiko signed rapidly, reflecting her inner turmoil.
Starlight turned to the drones circling in the distance and gently persuaded Kimiko, "I understand, but now isn't the time to lose our heads. The drones are broadcasting, and you don't want to cause any trouble for Roger, right?"
The surveillance drones in the distance belonged to both Vought and Super Entertainment.
In the ongoing media battle surrounding superheroes, Super Ent had been the first to employ surveillance drones to capture footage of its members.
This was a way to prevent Vought from spreading misinformation about Super Ent members when they weren't on camera. Starlight remembered all too well the public relations disaster when she first debuted, an incident caused by a lack of recorded footage.
Super Ent didn't have many staff members, so they couldn't always send someone to follow each hero around with a camera. That's when Tek Knight came up with the idea of using drones.
These drones signed contracts with newspapers and TV stations: the newspapers had the right to report on the footage, while the TV stations had the right to broadcast it.
Once Tek Knight introduced this idea, Vought quickly followed suit. In terms of technological development, Vought was far ahead of Super Ent. Anything Super Ent could do, Vought could do better.
Now, every time a superhero went out on a mission, there would be at least one drone following them. The more popular the hero, the more drones surrounded them.
Especially with Stormfront, thanks to her electromagnetic powers, there was a need to protect the drones from interference. As a result, more drones accompanied her, all of them shielded to block electromagnetic disruptions.
So, whenever Stormfront appeared, it was easy to spot the swarms of drones, flying in like flocks of sparrows.
Some of those drones belonged to Vought, while others belonged to Super Ent.
Right now, the drones were capturing Starlight and Kimiko from every angle. If either of them made any rash moves, the audience watching from behind their screens would begin to suspect something was wrong.
Starlight was fully aware of this, which was why she was doing everything in her power to keep Kimiko from acting impulsively. If people found out that the supervillain was Kimiko's brother, there was no telling what kind of stories the ruthless media would cook up.
"Oh, look who I see here."
Starlight was still trying to soothe Kimiko when an annoying, crackling voice came down from above.
It was Stormfront, the hottest star of the Seven, whose fame had even surpassed that of the original Homelander. She hovered before them, wearing a smug smile that Starlight found insufferable.
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