In the video on the glowing screen, the two iron-willed women—Vought's VP Madelyn Stillwell and Deputy CIA Director Susan Raynor—were engaged in a fierce showdown. With solid evidence laid out before her, Vought was clearly at a disadvantage. Their heinous crimes finally seemed to be facing some semblance of justice...
But for the viewers outside the screen—Billy Butcher and his crew—this hardly felt like justice.
To them, the CIA's so-called "intervention" was just more backroom dealing. In other words: a superficial fix.
Whether it was murder, human experimentation, or other atrocities, the CIA didn't actually care. And for all anyone knew, they might even be profiting from it behind the scenes.
What truly triggered the CIA's action was Vought stepping over the line—daring to meddle in national defense and trying to infiltrate the upper echelons of government with a private army.
That was the red line.
Crossing it had prompted the CIA to act—but even then, all they did was push Vought back behind that line. No real punishment. No true accountability.
Hughie furrowed his brow. "So all those innocent lives taken by Supes… are just going to be ignored? The CIA should be launching a full investigation into Vought!"
"There's no chance of that happening," Stephen replied, shaking his head. "The CIA only wants to keep Vought out of the military. Exposing everything publicly wouldn't benefit them at all.
Let's not kid ourselves—the CIA's hands aren't clean either. And if they push too hard, Vought's rabid dogs won't be easy to control."
Billy scoffed. "Now do you see why I refused to hand over the evidence?"
Annie looked visibly disappointed. "Who's going to stand for true justice, then? To them, the truth doesn't matter at all!"
Thor shrugged. "Now you understand why this Quiz game matters? Without it, the government and corporations would keep striking shady deals behind closed doors. In my world, our equivalent of SHIELD got completely infiltrated by an evil group hellbent on world domination. These things happen everywhere. It's nothing new."
And that was the harsh truth of the modern information age: controlling the narrative was more powerful than ever.
Vought represented entrenched corporate power. Their influence ran deep. Even with earth-shattering scandals, media outlets were either bought out or too afraid to publish anything. As a result, the public remained in the dark.
But now, thanks to the Quiz game's global broadcast, everything was being laid bare for the world to see. Sure, it sparked panic and chaos—but it also forced hidden evil into the light.
Whether that darkness could be eradicated would depend entirely on the choices players made.
Veteran players—those who had participated in several rounds of the game—were beginning to grasp this pattern.
The game never interfered directly in the course of events. Instead, it revealed glimpses of the future and empowered select individuals with knowledge and rewards—tools to change their fate and their worlds.
Thor's insight left Billy, Hughie, and Annie deep in thought. But the moment was cut short as the future video continued playing on the screen.
Back in the footage, Susan Raynor had just backed Madelyn Stillwell into a corner with her relentless questioning—leaving the Vought VP speechless.
Suddenly, one of Raynor's subordinates burst in, interrupting the interrogation.
Something urgent had come up.
Raynor quickly left to head to the surveillance command center, where her aide briefed her on the situation: A Navy SEAL team had tracked down a known terrorist—the mastermind behind the hijacking incident—and had prepared to take him out.
At first, everything was going smoothly.
But then, things took a turn.
Her aide pulled up live surveillance footage from the operation. Armed soldiers stormed the terrorist's hideout, gunning down targets inside one by one. Everything looked routine—until he appeared.
A shirtless man stepped into view, strange glowing symbols etched into his skin.
He was unarmed, but showed no signs of fear as he faced the elite unit.
As the SEALs shouted commands, light suddenly surged beneath the man's skin—and in the next instant, the screen was engulfed in a blinding flash, followed by the roar of gunfire...
The footage switched to an exterior angle. The entire building exploded in a towering fireball.
Raynor bowed her head in silence, mourning the fallen soldiers. She assumed the terrorist had gone down with the team.
But her aide interrupted: "It's not over."
Raynor looked up, stunned—just in time to see the same man walking out of the burning ruins, completely unscathed.
He even looked directly at the surveillance camera and smirked.
Raynor froze. Her aide quietly explained, "The text on his chest—it's his Supe name. It means The Leader."
Raynor was stunned. "You're telling me they've got a superpowered terrorist now?!"
Outside the video, Hughie's eyes widened in horror. "Vought's lost their damn minds! This has to be them! They gave Compound V to actual terrorists!"
Billy was equally shocked. "No wonder they were experimenting on that mute Asian girl!"
Earlier footage had shown Billy's team discovering a secret facility—inside, a mute Asian woman had been locked away. Empty Compound V vials nearby made it clear: she was a test subject.
What they didn't realize at the time was that she was just the tip of the iceberg.
Vought had been intentionally creating supervillains—arming dangerous individuals with powers to manufacture chaos.
And it worked.
Conveniently, just as Vought was under heavy scrutiny, a major "incident" occurred. The timing was no coincidence. It was a direct message to the government:
Only our Supes can stop threats like these.
Back in The Boys' universe, Homelander's temple twitched.
He had just been preparing to launch this very plan—to unleash supervillains and justify Vought's continued relevance.
And now… the Quiz game had ruined everything.
"So you think exposing this early will stop me?" he snarled, his expression twisted with fury.
"You're wrong. No one can stop me!"
No matter what was revealed, he believed that once chaos truly broke out, the world would beg for his protection.
As long as the villains kept coming, they would come crawling back.
_____
T/N:
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