Part 6.
Penthouse Apartment. New York City.
"So I didn't even rate a visit from Madelyn Stillwell in person," I said as I answered the door of my penthouse apartment "Please come on in Miss Barret".
Thanks to Cortana I had this fancy apartment wired up. No one could get near the place without her knowing it so I'd know that Ashley Barrett was coming to meet me before she'd even entered the building.
This kind of security was required because I was sure that by now quite a few groups had figured out who Invincible was when he was at home. Once the general public found out I might have to move.
The woman I let into my apartment was someone I knew well enough as I'd studied the files my AI had gotten me about the people working at Vought.
Ashley Barret was Madelyn Stillwell's assistant and had been assigned to handle Starlight as she settled into the Seven. Given that Starlight had never fitted in with the Seven and never could have due to having morals, then Miss Barret had been doomed from the start.
"Thank you, Mr Grayson," she said choosing to ignore my first remark "Or can I call you Invincible".
I didn't care either way, neither of those names meant anything to me. If the ROB ever sent a magic user after me it would be wise to keep my real name hidden as some types of magic could make use of your real name.
"Call me Nolan" I offered.
While I was disappointed that I hadn't rated a home visit from someone more important there was no sense in acting rude.
"Can I get you something?" I asked.
She politely refused and followed me into the sitting area.
"So what does Vought want from me?" I inquired.
It had just struck her that she'd never introduced herself.
"How do you know I'm from Vought?" she asked.
"I knew who you were as soon as you entered the building" I admitted "I have wonderful security".
No need to go into the details. Not that she would have understood them. I didn't understand a lot of it.
"You are Ashley Barrett, you work in public relations for Vought and I'm a superhero," I said "It's not hard to guess why you are here. You've been sent to recruit me".
She pretended not to be upset that I had stolen her thunder. No doubt she'd thought that I would be amazed by her offer and grateful to her for coming here to offer it to me in person.
I was actually a little insulted that the leaders of Vought had sent a lackey, but I was doing my best not to show it.
I'd seen the show and read her file so I knew that Ashley Barret was not a good person, she would suck up to whoever had power and she'd be willing to stab me in the back in a second if it meant advancing her own position or simply maintaining what she had.
"As a matter of fact that is why I am here" stated the woman "You're trending hard right now and your public approval is through the roof. This is the time to capitalise on your success and jump right into The Seven".
She no doubt expected me to be shocked by this. However, I kept my cool.
"I'm not interested in making more money," I said "I have plenty so I don't need to capitalise on anything".
Once you had your penthouse apartment in Manhattan and enough money to never have to work a day in your life the desire to obtain more wealth seemed rather pointless.
I could always have Cortana get more money if I really wanted it. Perhaps my lack of interest had to do with the fact that I wasn't putting in any effort to obtain money.
"Money isn't everything," said the Vought representative.
Judging by the look she was giving me Ashley thought me to be a little unhinged.
"Vought can manage your career, we have the best lawyers in the world, we can protect you from any fallout" she was now saying "Then there's the chance to have your own movie trilogy, a TV series, and think of the merchandise. You could have a music career or have books written about you. Who wouldn't want that?".
They really should have sent Madelyn Stillwell in person or just had this fool invite me to meet with her.
Vought didn't want to come off as too eager and they were prepared for me to reject the offer since there had been no word online about Vought seeking a replacement for the invisible guy who vanished some time ago.
That or they wanted to make sure it was a done deal before making any declaration to the public. I would find out which before too long.
"I don't have a career" I pointed out "I'm just helping people out. I'm not an actor, nor am I musical and my life isn't something for people to find amusement in".
It was easy to forget just how shallow the heroes of this world could be. They could dominate the planet or act as the true guardians of this world, instead, they were too busy tweeting to bring about any real change.
"Be a good little minion and go back to Madelyn Stillwell" I ordered keeping up a somewhat friendly tone "Tell her to call me when she wants to take this seriously".
While it might make sense for me to simply take up the offer I knew that I needed to play hardball or Vought would spend the next month trying to screw me over with contracts. I was the desirable one, they needed to seduce me properly.
"What?" asked Ashely "You can't just refuse to join the Seven. There are plenty of people out there just waiting to enter the big leagues".
The idea that someone wouldn't jump through hoops like a trained dolphin just for the opportunity to join the Seven was an alien one to this poor excuse for a human being.
"Then you don't need to waste your time with me," I said.
The poor woman simply sat there looking not unlike a goldfish that had been left out of the water.
"Was there anything else?" I asked.
She managed to get herself together long enough to make her way out of the building.
"So do you think they'll send Homelander to intimidate you into joining?" I heard Cortana say.
If so that would only aid my plans as I could send him packing and that would make me even more attractive to Vought.
"I don't know" I replied "I suspect that when Barret reports to her boss that I didn't appear interested then Stillwell will invite me to meet with her personally".
That should have been their opening move. They should have tried to impress me with a tour of the tower. Did they not want me near Homelander this soon?
He was unstable and might find me threatening enough that he'd do something stupid if his handlers didn't manage him right.
"Until then we need to make sure that I remain beloved in the eyes of the public," I said.
Which meant going out there and stopping more criminals.
If I had the means I might even make a supervillain appear just so I could defeat them. The me who went around with my darksaber while wearing armour couldn't perform that role since that would require me to be in two places at once.
Besides only a few criminals had ever seen the guy and they had pictures to post online, nor did they wish to draw attention to themselves by telling everyone about the other me.
Red Hood couldn't play that role for me as he clearly didn't wish to work with me at all, and I'd knocked up Miranda so I didn't want her in any kind of danger.
So unless the ROB added another player to the mix I'd have to keep myself popular by helping people in danger. Which wasn't such a bad way to pass the time.
Thinking on Red Hood I realised that I should have hit those weapon merchants harder and faster. I need to get a better grasp of what it was I could do and maybe try to train myself.
I also needed to finish what I had started with those arms dealers. In the short term at least Miranda wasn't a threat as she wanted a cold war, however, I couldn't let Red Hood obtain too much in the way of resources, wealth and manpower.
Even with the help of an AI, there was still much for me to do. Cortana would find me my target once he poked his head up above whatever hole he was hiding in.
"Find me some people to help," I instructed Cortana.
With that, I went to get changed.
Vought Tower. New York City.
Madelyn Stillwell was not as alarmed as she might have been when she heard that Invincible had little or no interest in becoming one of the Seven.
It was surprising, but Madelyn had known that there was a chance that Barret would manage to screw things up. At least she could clean up this mess.
"There's no need to get upset, Ashley" she assured her assistant "Sometimes negotiations take time. He only refused our opening offer, and it was a rather vague offer"
The less experienced woman didn't see things that way. She was pacing and mumbling. Barret really needed to learn how to take these things in stride or she'd have a mental breakdown sometime in the next few years.
"Who refuses to join The Seven?" said Ashley "No one does that".
Stillwell had an answer to that question.
"Someone who either has no idea what he'd be passing up or someone who is playing hard to get," she said.
The Vice President unmuted the television and the two women watched as Invincible pulled off another daring rescue.
A house fire had gotten out of control, trapping a family on the top floor of an apartment block. Invincible had gone in and saved the family, much to the joy of the onlookers.
"He's going to be all over social media" stated Ashley "And we can't manage any of it because everyone knows he isn't one of ours".
Madelyn had dealt with superheroes who had been unwilling to make themselves an asset to Vought.
Only they had always been more low-level supes, a few of which had actually cared about helping their communities, even if such types were few and far between. She'd worn them down and gotten them under her thumb.
Offering more money was pointless. Invincible had more than enough, as such offering anything he could buy by himself was also a waste of time. She would have to offer this man things he couldn't get on his own.
If Invincible did for some reason actually care about people, or at least want people to think that he cared, then she could use that against him.
Many heroes openly supported worthy causes that actually did some good in the world, even if they existed to help save Vought a few million since they were all tax deductible.
Failing that there was always the promise of sex. Not with herself, but there were always desperate young women who would whore themselves out if meant they could hang on the arm of a rising star.
Young men could be controlled by Madelyn in many ways.
"Are you sure you even want this guy in The Seven?" asked Ahsley "We've been looking for ways to make the team more diverse and he's a white male".
Had they known that he was half-alien this wouldn't have been a concern. Although it certainly would have caused other issues.
"Invincible has something that matters more than diversity" answered Madelyn.
The less intelligent woman clearly didn't grasp what that was.
"He has power, Ashley" the smarter of the two women explained "That is what matters. We can't have someone with that kind of power just going around doing whatever he wants".
Having another woman on the team would have been great, or a man with some sort of ethnic background, and they could always make room if needs be. Not all of the Seven had powers that were flashy enough to impress the public.
"What the fuck is this?" a voice demanded.
Madelyn knew that her job had just become more complicated. Homelander must have found out about the attempt to recruit Invincible and how it had so far failed.
News got around this building fast and even without that Homelander had superhearing. It bothered her that he saw and heard so much.
"Who the hell does this guy think he is?" the leader of the Seven demanded to know.
Madelyn gestured for Ashley to leave. It would be better for her to handle him alone.
"If you are talking about Invincible then don't worry, I have it handled" she assured Homelander.
He wasn't soothed so easily.
"What, does he think he's too good for us?" the man in the cape asked.
Madelyn worked to hide her smile. It was good that Homelander felt a little threatened as long as he didn't actually do anything about it.
"Is he starting his own team?" was the next question.
That couldn't happen. Invincible was only able to act outside the law without Vought backing him because he was so well-liked. However, if he put a team together he'd been seen as too much of a threat by those in power.
"Invincible is just playing hard to get" Madelyn assured Homelander "He might have some idea of how much he is worth, so he can afford to make us dance to his tune for a while, but don't worry I'll seal the deal. I always do".
Homelander gave the matter a little thought.
"I can go and meet with him" he offered.
Madelyn wondered what the result of such a meeting would be. But she needed to get more of a measure of the man before she put up against Homelander.
If Invincible proved too difficult to bring under her control then perhaps she'd have Homelander deal with him before he became too strong.
"I'll take care of him" she promised "Don't I always".
For now, she needed to soothe Homelander and then set up a meeting with Nolan Grayson.
She was confident that she would find something that he wanted and once she knew what that was she could use it to guide this new superhero.