The new question was even stranger than before.
Tony shook his head while watching everyone's reactions.
"I'm not that picky about milk. Cold, warm—doesn't matter. But you, Homelander… this question is obviously about you, right?"
He'd noticed Homelander's exaggerated reaction and decided to tease him on purpose.
Homelander's expression shifted slightly before he shook his head.
"No. I'm not interested in milk. I usually prefer juice—my fans all know that."
Tony rolled his eyes. "I'm not one of your fans."
Natasha frowned. "This question is so odd. Whether someone likes milk, and whether they warm it up, is basically personal privacy, isn't it? Why would they even make us answer that?"
Bruce Banner shrugged. "This weird game clearly doesn't care about privacy. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been invading all of ours from the very start."
Tony chuckled. "Speaking from experience—questions like this usually end in a famous scene. Trust me, folks, we're in for a show."
Homelander's lip twitched. A bad premonition crept in. "Before you 'enjoy the show,' we still have to answer this one. Tony Stark, I think this is about you. A self-absorbed guy like you is just a giant baby."
Tony shrugged. "Whatever you say. Funny thing is—I'm voting for you."
The others exchanged glances and kept quiet, each thinking it over.
The countdown began. Despite their verbal sparring, neither Tony nor Homelander rushed to hit the buzzer first—clearly, no one here was confident in their guess.
After all, the question was absurd. Who could possibly know if someone had a habit of heating milk before drinking it?
Only when the timer was nearly up did the players start buzzing in.
Natasha got in first. She hesitated, then chose C. "Totally random guess," she admitted with a shrug.
Erik returned the gesture. "Same here," he said, picking B.
Homelander, of course, picked A. Tony, in turn, deliberately picked D just to oppose him.
Bruce Banner hesitated, then also chose D.
"Because I'm not an option," he explained. "I actually like milk a lot—and warm milk tastes even better."
Time ran out.
[Player Natasha Romanoff answered incorrectly, -4 points]
[Congratulations to Player Tony Stark and Player Bruce Banner—both correct, +1 point each! Player Homelander and Player Erik Lenhenserr answered incorrectly, -1 point each!]
Tony grinned. "Ha! I knew it was you, Homelander! Natasha, you should've listened to me—you'd have 4 points now!"
Homelander's face darkened. "Bullshit! This is all garbage! I don't even like milk—this is slander!"
"It's just milk. Why are you so worked up?" Bruce looked at him curiously, then glanced at the others. "Isn't liking milk perfectly normal? Am I really the only one who thinks so?"
"You're fine, Bruce. The one with the problem is clearly Homelander!" Tony laughed, eyes gleaming with mischief. "Think about it—this question never actually said it was cow's milk."
Bruce frowned. "If it's not cow's milk… then what kind of milk?"
Tony burst out laughing. "Here's a little secret—Homelander has a serious mommy complex. Get it now?"
"Shut the hell up!" Homelander finally snapped, glaring at Tony with murderous eyes. "I'll snap your neck and rip out your damn tongue!"
Just the mention of it sent him into a rage. This was a secret he'd always buried deep, but now, thanks to the quiz game, it had basically become public knowledge.
Homelander cared more than anything about his image in the eyes of others—and this was a massive blow.
The more agitated he became, the harder Tony laughed. "I'm right here, Homelander. Come at me. Oh, wait—turns out you're a coward too? Forget it, I'm bored of teasing you. I'll just wait for your big scene."
Homelander clenched his fists, raising them several times, only to put them down again. His anger hadn't overridden his reason—not yet.
He'd already seen the game's power firsthand. Whether it was being forcibly summoned to this mysterious place or the electric shocks just moments ago, it was enough to make him play it safe.
Under a mix of curious, mocking, and hostile stares, the screen finally began showing the correct answer.
First appeared the iconic Vought International tower.
Seeing it, Tony couldn't resist. "Wow. You guys didn't even try to be original. That building is literally my Stark Tower. Honestly, I should sue Vought for copyright infringement."
Erik had also seen future footage of Vought and The Seven. Combined with the intel Charles had given him about the Multiverse Defenders, it was obvious to him—the so-called "heroes" in The Seven had abilities, personas, and even looks suspiciously similar to certain Defenders supers.
Curious, he said, "Strange… Homelander is basically Superman, Queen Maeve is your Wonder Woman equivalent, A-Train is like the Flash… So why doesn't Vought have their own version of Iron Man?"
Homelander sneered. "Who'd want to be some guy locked inside a tin can?"
Tony smirked right back. "Copy me? Please. Don't give those clowns too much credit. They'd have to find someone as rich as me, as charming as me, and as smart as me."
"And even if they got lucky and found such a person—how would they convince him to work for their company and play superhero dress-up?"
Natasha gave an exaggerated look of disgust.
"Alright, Tony, that's enough. Please be quiet."
On the screen, Homelander appeared, stepping into a messy office and digging through a cardboard box until he pulled out a photo of himself with Madelyn.
His expression as he looked at it was… complicated.
___
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