For a moment, the audience below the podium fell into complete silence. Then came an unending ripple of hushed whispers.
Most of the people present were either die-hard fans who followed every scrap of information Vought released, investment managers handling tens of millions of dollars, or media reporters who ran faster than anyone else when news broke.
Based on everything they had heard beforehand, the newcomer was supposed to be the freshly crowned winner of the talent show — America's sweetheart, Starlight — not this so-called Superman.
Yet all doubts vanished the instant that godlike figure, clad in a red cape, descended from the heavens.
What followed was wave after wave of cheers and thunderous applause.
"Superman! Superman!"
Countless cameras and phones were raised high. The flashing lights were so intense that, for a brief moment, even the stage spotlights seemed dim by comparison. Superman descended slowly along the beam of light, his physique turning every photograph into something that looked more like art than reportage.
Wow — Homelander must be absolutely losing his mind right now.
Watching from backstage, Queen Maeve couldn't help but think exactly that.
The figure tore through the column of light, dressed in a dark blue, metallic-fiber bodysuit.
As he descended, the red cape fluttered behind him, and the golden-red 'S' on his chest gleamed brilliantly under the camera flashes.
Aside from swapping the star-spangled cape for a solid red one and adding a bold capital "S" to the chest, the uniform was almost indistinguishable from Homelander's.
Maeve hadn't wanted to attend this annual self-congratulatory circus in the first place. No one in the Seven ever did. But as one of the few people who knew Joey's background, once she heard he had been shoved into the Seven, she felt she had to come see the spectacle for herself.
Of course, not just the one onstage — the backstage drama was always far more interesting.
---
"What the hell is this, Madelyn?"
Madelyn had barely returned to her office and hadn't even had time to sit down when Homelander pushed the door open and stormed in on his own, pacing furiously in front of her desk.
"That new kid — his costume is a complete ripoff of my design!"
"...You came all this way just to yell at me about that?" Madelyn felt a deep, creeping exhaustion set in.
From her early days as Homelander's handler to her current position as Vought's second-in-command, she knew very well that without Homelander's halo, she would never have climbed this far.
Nearly twenty years had passed. She was no longer young — no amount of makeup could fully hide the marks left by time. Homelander, on the other hand, looked as radiant as ever, as if time itself simply slid off him.
And that wasn't just physical. Psychologically, too, he often behaved like an overgrown child in front of her.
"Come here."
Madelyn shifted from her office chair to the couch, casually tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear as she extended her long fingers toward him.
The anger on Homelander's face melted away almost instantly. The all-powerful supe, capable of flying through the skies and leveling cities, now approached obediently like a wronged puppy.
"You know what I mean, Madelyn."
"Yes. I know."
Like a loving mother, Madelyn gently stroked his face. Homelander responded just as directly as always — lying down across her lap, burying his face against her lower abdomen while she kneaded his thick blond hair at will.
"The company put that thing on my team because they want to replace me. I will not allow that."
Though age had dulled her beauty, Madelyn had once been breathtaking. And after so many years working alongside Homelander, it was clear that their relationship extended well beyond professional boundaries.
"No, that's not what this is about, sweetheart."
Madelyn slowly combed through his hair, as if organizing her thoughts. Some things simply couldn't be explained to a man-child like him.
Homelander was Vought's most valuable IP. The value he alone generated rivaled the entirety of the G-Men. His existence had brought Vought hundreds of billions of dollars.
A flawless public image. Overwhelming power. Massive popular support.
These were the reasons he stood at the center of the Seven — but none of them were immutable. Nothing ever was.
Vought had functioned just fine before Homelander ever existed.
As memories of the deeper truths she'd learned after entering upper management resurfaced, Madelyn felt her breathing grow tight.
"What's wrong?"
Homelander turned his head, resting the back of it on Madelyn's thighs as he looked up at her. "I can see it. Your heart's beating like a frightened little deer."
Madelyn suddenly realized that when you spend time with a living lie detector who can see through every layer of your body, you probably shouldn't think about messy things like this.
"Of course it's because I'm looking at your handsome face, my hero~"
She lifted his chin and kissed him, just like she always had.
Homelander responded with equal passion, not caring in the slightest that she had grown old — just as he never had before.
Perhaps, just as the people on the eighty-second floor liked to say, heroes come and go.
Only Vought stands forever.
---
Ashley Barrett, head of Public Relations and Human Resources, was currently on the verge of a meltdown.
Not because of the company's last-minute decision to swap out the Seven's new member — as PR director, she knew that was, in essence, a trivial matter.
Just like how A-Train, that absolute piece of garbage who'd somehow gotten his leg broken a few days ago and had at least three innocent deaths on his hands, could still be spun into a fearless hero — the fastest man alive.
A tiny backstage manipulation like this wasn't going to shake Vought's image.
The reason Ashley was drenched in sweat was that the beneficiary and the victim of this manipulation had just run into each other.
America's sweetheart Starlight was supposed to be waiting for news at her hotel. Somehow, she had slipped in here.
Once Ashley found the negligent security guard responsible, she swore she'd fire them on the spot.
"You were the one who told us yesterday to register Starlight's face in the access control system early," her assistant whispered.
Hearing that, Ashley completely snapped. "I swear to god — shut your fucking mouth!"
Now Starlight had already confronted Superman, right here backstage.
At that sight, Ashley suddenly remembered that Queen Maeve seemed to be attending the shareholder meeting today. She hurriedly looked around like a drowning person searching for a lifeline.
But the Queen Maeve who had been standing nearby earlier, arms crossed and watching the show, was nowhere to be found.
Ashley's heart sank. Cold sweat poured down her back as she grabbed fistfuls of her hair in panic.
These weren't normal people. They weren't even normal supes.
When ordinary people argued, it might escalate from shouting to shoving, then end with security dragging them away.
But if these two decided words weren't enough and started throwing punches, what if they decided to give Vought Tower a full renovation?
"You're the super-ass who stole my spot?"
Starlight's fury was entirely understandable. Years of effort, stolen effortlessly by someone she'd never even heard of — no one could swallow that.
Joey had just followed the company script, making his dramatic descent from the ceiling and showing himself off to the crowd.
Now, stepping backstage, he immediately ran into Starlight.
"Sorry — who are you?"
"You—!!"
Impulsiveness was the privilege of youth. Anyone would explode hearing that, and Starlight was far from a meek girl.
Overcome with rage, she only wanted to teach him a lesson.
The lights around them suddenly began to flicker.
An alarming amount of energy started to gather in Starlight's eyes and hands.
Oh no no no...
Nearby, Ashley was already envisioning her future: fired on the spot for gross mismanagement, sued by the board for millions in damages after Vought Tower got demolished, blacklisted from the industry, drowning in debt, maxing out credit cards, ending up homeless, and finally dying on the street from a drug overdose.