Part 8.
Vought Tower. New York City.
While having a moonbase was nice, and Miranda was setting up Cerberus Defence Contracts within a fancy building of her own, if asked I would have admitted that the tower I was currently touring was certainly an impressive set-up, and it served well as the headquarters of both Vought International and The Seven.
I knew that at some point I might need to destroy this tower or maybe infiltrate it for some reason, as such, when Madalyn Stillwell offered me a tour I accepted. I came along at a time she decided upon even if that gave her some tiny measure of control over me.
The fact that she didn't meet me herself at the front desk was another little power game. If the deluded woman thought that she could control me as she did Homelander, then she was in for a very rude awakening.
There was no harm in listening to whatever offer Vought made. The fact that Starlight was the one showing me around was a nice bonus as she was pleasant to look at and I didn't find her voice to be annoying.
Since I'd killed Hughie Campbell she should be single. Starlight also looked really good in her short skirt and she didn't seem to mind the fact that I was checking her out.
At her core, Annie January was an idealist and one of the very few superhumans who truly cares about helping others and doing what she believes is right.
As such, her joining The Seven had been a wrong move as there was nothing heroic at all about that group. She'd have been much better off working on her own or finding a team that was more active.
It shouldn't be too hard to disillusion her enough that she was willing to leave Vought and maybe come to work with me. Perhaps I should make an effort to seduce her?
Spoiler
I didn't think it would be that hard to do since unlike most other men, I wouldn't feel threatened by the fact that she was stronger and tougher than me because she wasn't.
"Invincible, welcome to Floor 99," Starlight said.
This was where the Seven lived and worked. When they weren't off at some movie premiere or other event that let them preen for the cameras. This part of the building was filled with things that demonstrated how Vought controlled its talent.
Spoiler
All the pictures and statues made the superhumans feel as if they were larger-than-life figures when they were just a means for Vought to make even more money.
Spoiler
The Seven also had apartments here on this floor. I was not invited to check out any of them since they were meant to be private.
I took note of some of the other rooms. They were for meetings between members of the Seven and other Vought employees, there was also a dining room, a gym, and a rather nice lounge for people to hang around in.
"And this is where we have our meetings" Starlight let me know as we entered the most important part of this floor.
Spoiler
The Seven meeting room consists of an open circular space containing a large table in the shape of the Vought Seven logo which is a conjoined V7.
On one of the walls, I saw a number of screens that displayed information that must be important to the Seven, and there was also a set of windows that allowed for an impressive view of the city.
Spoiler
The subordinate six members are seated so they can face Homelander as he enters from the doorway and his chair, which I went and sat on, and the design allowed him to face any member of the Seven just by turning a little in his seat.
"I can see the appeal," I said, "If you are shallow and like bowing to the whims of unimportant people who bitch on social media about injustices rather than actually doing something about them".
Starlight looked more uncomfortable about what I was doing than the words I'd spoken. She knew as well as I that if Homelander saw what I was doing he would see it as a threat to his dominance.
I hoped that he did come in and give me an excuse to slap him down. That was the other reason why I'd decided to come here as it was time to declare myself top dog.
"You're scared of him, aren't you?" I asked.
She made an effort to deny it. It was a wasted effort as I could see the fear in her pretty little eyes.
"No, of course not" she insisted "Homelander is great, he's wonderful".
Even if I hadn't known the truth I wouldn't have been convinced by those words.
"So I assume that Stillwell told you to sell me on the idea of joining The Seven," I said.
I was giving real thought to working closer with Miranda despite the fact that we should be hostile towards each other. The more I looked into what the heroes who worked for Vought actually spent their time doing the less appealing it become to join The Seven.
I'd spend so much time getting my picture taken and attending meetings that I'd never get anything important done. The whole point of me wanting to originally join The Seven was for power and influence, but even if I could get that here I didn't think it would be worth all the crap I'd have to put up with.
They were already trying to suck me into that sort of life. That was why there had been so many reporters outside when I'd arrived. Had I appeared in costume rather than walking in the front door in a business suit and a pair of shades, I would have been swamped.
Stillwell had wanted me to get a taste of the attention I'd get as a member of the Seven. Had I been a vain person her little trick might have even worked.
I felt sure that the other reason was so that everyone would know that Vought was in talks with me. It hadn't been declared that I'd been offered a place in The Seven, however, if people saw Invincible visiting Vought Tower they would draw their own conclusions.
"She only asked me to show you around" Starlight replied.
I smiled upon hearing that.
"She asked the most attractive member of your team, who happens to be the newest member who knows the place the least well, to show me around," I said, "Madelyn Stillwell is very good at her job".
When you want something from someone there are two direct ways to get it. The carrot and the stick. You either offer them something they want in exchange, or at least offer something you make them think they want, or use the stick to beat them into submission.
She wasn't actually offering up Annie January to me, she was simply and subtly suggesting that I could get close to Starlight. Soon would come the actual offer, money, fame and all that jazz.
Plus since Starlight wouldn't know as much about this place as others who worked here she was the least likely to give away important information.
"You think I'm the most attractive?" Starlight enquired "Not a big fan of Maeve".
It wasn't even a contest and I took note that Annie enjoyed it when I flattered her. I'd never gotten the impression that she was a shallow person so I assumed that something must have happened recently to make her feel bad about herself.
She might still feel like trash because of what The Deep had her do when she joined The Seven. I made a mental note to go and hurt that jerk at some point.
"By far," I said, "Given your looks, smarts, and your power, it's a real shame that you are letting yourself be wasted here. Getting treated as a commodity rather than the hero you could be".
Before she could find out what I meant by that Stillwell entered the room.
"I see that you are already making yourself comfortable" she commented.
Starlight took her own seat and smiled at me. She was still naive enough to think that joining the Seven was a good thing.
"So what do you think of Floor 99?" asked Madalyn Stillwell as she sat down.
Since I had my own penthouse apartment in Manhattan and I had an AI who monitors things for me, such as my social media presence, that meant Vought had nothing to offer me other than distractions. Something that I should have realised sooner. I'd almost fallen for the same trap as the other superhumans.
"I'm impressed by this fancy cage you've made" I answered.
Stillwell looked confused and I didn't bother to elaborate. The whole reminded me a little of the pilot episode of the original Star Trek series that involves the Captain of the Enterprise getting captured by some telepathic aliens who trap him within illusions.
"So make your offer," I invited as I put my feet up on the table.
Stillwell's lackey, that annoying Ashely woman they sent to my home not so long ago, took a contract out of a suitcase, and presented a contract to me. I made a show of reading it.
If you didn't know what to look for it could seem rather inviting. Stock options, health care for you and your family, insurance, legal defence, a share of the profits from products that use my name, and so on.
But it wasn't all good. I'd be required to jump through a lot of hoops, to make public appearances, star in movies, to appear on chat shows. It would all be a waste of my time when I could keep the public loving me by saving people.
To ensure that the public didn't get bored of me I'd have to up my game. It was a shame I couldn't work with the Red Hood as I did with Miranda Lawson. If we did then we could have staged a terrorist attack for me to foil.
"I'm not an actor and I'm not at all musical" I pointed out.
That wasn't the deal breaker it might seem to be, at least not for Vought.
"We can work around that" assured Stillwell "We can set up acting lessons and..".
I stopped her there as she simply wasn't getting the message.
"No I mean I'm not an actor, I'm not a musician" I argued "I have no talent or any interest in such things. I'm a superhero and there's not much in here about helping people".
I had no intention of actually accepting any contract I just wanted to take this chance to show Starlight how meaningless all this was. Perhaps I could convince her to come and work with me.
"That's not true" insisted Ashley "The Seven support a lot of good charities".
I put the contract down.
"None of which make any difference in the real world," I stated "These good causes exist to help Vought save millions in taxes and they create good publicity".
Poor Ashley didn't get where this was going.
"You can set up new charities if that is what you want" she offered.
I ignored that idea as it would just lead to Vought using it to generate more good publicity.
"That's not what I mean by helping people," I said, "Don't the Seven ever go out and stop crimes. I mean ones that you don't stage for publicity".
Starlight suddenly looked a lot more uncomfortable. Perhaps she hadn't considered that Vought staged events so as to make the heroes look good. I didn't know if that was actually true and I moved on before anyone could make a denial.
"Then there's this whole part about you owning my image" I mentioned.
Madlyn handled this apart.
"That's to protect you from any legal actions," she said "Any lawsuits made against you would have to go through us".
In theory, that sounds good, but I could have Cortana handle such things by destroying any electronic records that could incriminate me and simply removing any records of the lawsuits.
Not that this mattered as the real reason they wanted to control my image was that they sell my name to other companies who could they stick my name on any bit of crap they wanted to.
Stillwell soon got the heart of the matter.
"What exactly is it you want?" she asked.
I sighed.
"From you nothing at all," I said "I'm never going to join Vought. I did want to at one time, but the more I learn about this company the less appealing it became to become a part of it, and I have other options now".
The two company women seemed to be having trouble accepting that I simply didn't care about anything they thought I should care about.
"No one can offer you more than Vought" insisted the Vice-President "We can make you a household name. Merchandise, books, your own TV show, every kid in America is going to want Invincible on their lunchbox".
They simply couldn't understand.
"I don't care about any of that" I explained "My ambitions aren't so limited. I want to be more than Vought's way of making a few more bucks".
The doors opened and Homelander entered the room. He'd been listening in as I'd figured he would do.
"I knew it!" he yelled "He's planning on building his own team".
That was something I'd considered, but there wasn't anyone who could keep up with me, and while a team might be good for publicity for Cerberus that was Miranda Lawson's concern, not mine.
"I've given it some thought" I admitted.
Stillwell got between the two of us before Homelander did something stupid.
"I told you that I would handle this," she said.
Homelander looked mighty peeved.
"He's not interested in joining The Seven" he stated.
If I played my cards right I could end up in a fight with Homelander and be able to humble him.
"Why should I work under you?" I asked, "Maybe I should be running the Seven".
He did not like hearing that.
"I LEAD THE SEVEN!" he yelled.
Stillwell did her best to calm him. She was very much like a mother trying to soothe a toddler who was having a temper tantrum.
"No one is taking over the Seven" Stillwell stated "Invincible was invited to tour the tower, that is all".
Given the contract sitting on the table in front of me that was clearly a lie. Yet Stillwell was able to soothe the overgrown manchild.
"Good boy" I mocked "Listen to Mummy".
At this point, I'd decided that I was defiantly going to slap Homelander down and that I would do it hard. If only for my own amusement.
As it turned out, the mummy remark was too much for Homelander to handle and he came right up to me as I stood up. He punched me in the face. He knocked the fancy table aside with ease as he made his way over to me.
"I actually felt that," I admitted as I rubbed my cheek.
Despite not doing me much harm at all the asshole in the cape looked very pleased with himself. He should be a little happy, as until now the only thing that had even distracted me in a fight was getting shot at by a guy with a grenade launcher.
Then he flinched as if he'd been slapped. That must be the reflected damage I'd been told about when this all got set up by the ROB. I assumed that Red Hood hadn't felt it when he attacked because he'd only disoriented me.
"I'm the real hero," he said "America loves me".
Hearing that made me snigger.
"America," I said with a snort, "You think in such limited terms".
With that, I pushed Homelander right into the monitors on the wall. The screens that weren't outright demolished would still need replacing.
"You ladies might want to give us some space" I advised.
Only Starlight was willing to stick around and I wondered if she was going to try to separate us. There was still enough power in this room for her to channel into a blast and she was strong enough to try getting in our way.
Not that she got the chance as Homelander tackled me and we both went flying out of the window. We didn't stop until hit the inside of some sort of office block that happened to be occupied.
"Finally someone who might be a challenge," I said.
I'd been transformed into a member of a race of conquerors who had become a great power by turning themselves into fighters. There was a part of me that longed to challenge myself against a strong foe and Homelander might just be tough enough for me to get some exercise while beating the shit out of him.
"It's Homelander!" someone called out.
The guy in the cape actually got up and waved at everyone.
"Is that Invincible! a woman yelled.
It was hard to tell since I wasn't in my hero outfit. Although I had lost my shades.
"Don't worry. This is just an accident," he said "We were sparing at the tower and things got out of hand".
I got up and punched him in his stupid face with my right fist which caused Homelander to stagger backwards. He took the blow well.
"Can't you go five seconds without getting your picture taken?" I asked.
People were taking photos and recording us with their phones. Not that Homelander kept caring about that as he tried to punch me. Well, he managed to punch me, but the blow was rather weak.
"Please," I said.
That was when he backed off so that he could strike at me with his heat vision and that did hurt a little. Something he noticed right away and it made him smile. It was also an extremely reckless thing for him to do as we were surrounded by office workers.
Since getting a load of bystanders killed would only harm my image, and because there was no sense in harming random civilians, I grabbed Homelander and took us both out of the building and into the sky.
What followed was a lot of punching and kicking that would have made us look more like two young boys fighting in the schoolyard if it hadn't been happening up in the sky.
I really hoped that if someone was recording this that it looked much cooler from a distance.
"Can you handle space?" I asked.
As I took us higher. He fired off his laser eyes again, and this time the beams went wild, but since we were up in the air there was nothing for them to hit unless some unfortunate bird happened to be flying by.
This was followed up by lots of weak blows as I took us both even further up.
I didn't get the chance to see how he handled space as Homelander headbutted me with enough force that I lost control of the flight and then he was pushing down on me as we fell back to Earth. He was saying something, I just had no idea what as the air was too thin up here and my focus was elsewhere.
By the time I managed to get control of our flight, I was able to use Homelander to cushion my fall. He hit the helicopter landing pad, taking the impact, and we both went through the foot and ended up back on Floor 99.
"You need to train," I told Homelander as I got off him.
So did I, that he'd be able to take control of the fight even for a short time was simply embarrassing.
"Holy Fuck is he dead?" questioned Starlight.
Given that the guy was groaning in pain it appeared not. In fact, he was already recovering, and his eyes glowed when he looked at me so I kicked him in the face, knocking him out.
"Nah he's just all tuckered out" I joked.
To my surprise, Starlight took out a handkerchief and handed it to me.
"Your nose is bleeding," she let me know.
Given that she trying to aid me when her team leader was lying in the ruins told me just how little she cared for Homelander.
"Thank you," I said.
What a nice young lady.
"Should we call a doctor" Starlight wondered "For Homelander I mean".
Did anyone even know how to treat him for injuries?
"Vought must have some specialists" I answered "I'm just going to go home".
I gave Annie my address.
"Come over for a drink if you ever want to talk to shop or just hang out" I invited.
Smartly, no one from security tried to stop me and so I was free to leave
Torn Cape.
Part 9.
Penthouse. New York City.
"Boss, do you know what a dungeon keeper is?" I was asked by Cortana.
It wasn't often that she needed information from me, not unless it was about refining and altering my plans. My AI ally had access to all the knowledge of this world so for her not to be able to find information on a topic was very strange.
"Is this some sort of sex thing?" I asked back.
I'd just gotten out of the shower and now I was starting to change into my outfit for my superhero work. If I'd known she wanted to discuss something sexual I wouldn't have rubbed one out while in the bathroom.
"No, it's the name of the new player in the PVP, or maybe a title," Cortana let me know "I know that you haven't killed Miranda Lawson so I was trying to work out why we have a new enemy. Do you think it has something to do with you agreeing to be Cerberus's mascot?".
That was possible. One way to rid yourself of an enemy is to make them an ally. The ROB had never told me that I actually needed to kill anyone just that I would have enemies. Looking back I should have gotten more information, but to be fair it had all been rather overwhelming at the time.
"It makes sense, Miranda was never much interested in acting as my enemy even if she wanted to foil my plan to join The Seven" I mused "She might have even planned it to work out this way".
I had lowered my guard around, knocked her up, and chosen to work for her company, at this point we might as well be partners. So it made sense that the ROB might add a new enemy with Miranda now counting as my ally as Cortana did.
The ROB might even have wanted things to work out this way. Short of bringing the Normandy with her Miranda was never going to be a physical threat, seduction had been her only option and it had worked out for her.
"Outside of S&M, I don't think I've heard of a Dungeon Keeper," I said. "I doubt it means Dungeon Master in the D&D way because someone with that kind of power could alter this entire reality.
There was something a little familiar about it.
"I thought it might be something that is fictional from your world that doesn't exist here because of how the superhero genre nearly totally dominates all forms of entertainment," said Cortana.
There was a feeling that I should know, that some piece of information was missing.
"It might be something I saw only once about twenty years ago" I pointed out "I'm sure it will come to me".
The human brain was a strange machine. If I focused on something else then the memory I desire might pop up to the surface of my mind.
"I'll get back to you if anything jogs my memory" I promised Cortana.
For now, all she could do was look for anything odd going on while I got back out there. I hadn't forgotten about the Red Hood or that arms dealer who could be a problem if I didn't end him now.
"Boss, someone is coming" warned my AI.
A laptop screen showed the image of a redheaded woman entering the building.
"Any idea who she is?" I asked.
I didn't recognise her.
"She's Margaret Shaw," I was told.
The name meant nothing to me.
"Also known as Queen Maeve" Cortana explained.
I still did not recognise her. She looked so normal when not in her superhero outfit.
"Oh the knock-off Wonder Woman," I realised, "What could she want".
I knew from the show that she feared Homelander and wanted him taken down because he would never let her go be happy with anyone else. He would rather kill Maeve than let her love someone who wasn't him.
Because she knew that she couldn't take Homelander, not her own, I very much doubted she'd come to threaten me, and she was more likely to thank me than try to avenge him.
"So what brings you to my humble abode?" I asked Miss Shaw when I answered.
I'd always wondered why people only ever call their homes humble abodes when they don't mean it.
"I want to make a deal" she answered.
So much for small talk.
"Please come in," I invited.
I might not have any fancy psychic powers, but I didn't need them to know that Queen Maeve was worried about something and desperate for my help.
"What can I do for you?" I inquired.
Maeve reached into her handbag and took out six vials of some sort of chemical.
Spoiler
"This is Compound V," she told me "This is what Vought uses to make superhumans, it doesn't always work on adults, but who knows, you seem lucky, and if nothing else you can use it as a way to hurt Vought".
It wasn't hard for me to figure out that she was trying to buy protection from me. The value of what she was offering had to be in the millions of dollars. Not that I cared for that it was just a means of measuring how much this meant to her.
Of course, I knew about V and could have stolen some myself if I'd cared to. Cortana had even shown me a report on a blood sample that Vought's lab that had checked for traces of the compound. The reports didn't know what to make of my blood and Vought wasn't equipped to clone people, so I wasn't worried about that.
"Where did you just this much Compound V from?" I wondered.
If she'd just stolen from it Vought Tower then I was going to need to find out if she could survive a trip to the moon very quickly.
"Homelander has been using A-Train to smuggle V to some fringe groups because he wants to make supervillains for us to fight, so people will need us more, or that was what his plan" she let me know "I guess he'll be focusing on you if he ever wakes up as anything other than a vegetable".
I could picture him acting like that Immortal superhero who was part of the Guardians of the Globe before Omni-Man killed them all. I could see him waking up screaming my name and flying right here to try to kill me. That could be fun.
"So you want protection from Homelander in exchange for this V" I stated.
Rather a silly plan. I could have killed her at this point, and then thrown her body into space. Just as I did with another member of The Seven.
"If you need me to sweeten the deal I'm willing" she offered.
There was no need for that. I did consider knocking her up, but I'd never been much attracted to redheaded women, and I wasn't in the mood.
"No, I was just thinking of where to send you," I said.
Cortana could easily erase the existence of Margaret Shaw electronically and set her up with a new identity, but she was famous and some people other than me might recognise her. It wasn't as if I could erase people's memories.
"There's nowhere in the world I can go" she pointed out "I need you to protect me by making it clear to Homelander that if he so much as looks at me you'll finish him off".
She was desperate. I could have so easily taken advantage of this.
"I never mentioned anything about you staying here on Earth," I said.
While Maeve had a girlfriend I wasn't sure if they were together right now and even if they were I could deal with that later. It was possible to return her to the world in the near future once the heat had died down.
"How durable are you?" I asked.
It wasn't just a matter of her leaving the atmosphere, she needed shielding from cosmic radiation until we reached the base and a supply of air. I might need to borrow a space suit from NASA.
Restaurant. New York City.
"Billions of dollars and decades of effort spent for the world's most expensive nosebleed," said Stan Edgar.
Despite the seriousness of this conversation the CEO of Vought International couldn't help smiling a little as he spoke to Miranda Lawson. She'd agreed to meet him at a location of her choosing, because she wasn't stupid, and now they were here to discuss the future of both their companies in a restaurant he'd made sure would be closed for the evening.
Spoiler
"I've seen the footage," stated Miranda Lawson.
Stan was not happy about that bit of video making its way onto the web. It had done more to harm Vought's finances than the damage done to the building. It was humiliating for Vought and for Homelander's supporters to see the world's strongest hero lying on the broken remains of The Seven's meeting room.
Somewhat symbolic too. As if the act as broken The Seven and it certainly had removed their aura of invincibility. An aura that had been broken by someone who might as well be invincible in name as well as nature.
Homelander was in Vought's own ICU and Invincible had walked away with a nosebleed. The new hero might as well have been a schoolyard scuffle.
"What you might not know is that Homelander still hasn't woken up," said Stan Edgar "Over the years, he's been shot, stabbed, blown up, gassed, poisoned, and set on fire. None of it did more than require him to change his clothing and comb his hair. Then your company's new mascot put him into a coma".
Invincible was frightening. The Vought CEO wondered if anything short of a nuclear weapon could stop the new superhero from doing anything he pleased.
"You don't seem terribly upset, Mr Edgar," remarked Miranda Lawson.
Stan didn't normally take much notice of a person's looks as other men might, yet he took note that Lawson was a very attractive woman, and resourceful too, as she'd managed to get the most powerful superhuman on the planet to come and work for her. Most impressive.
"Please call me Stan" he invited "I prefer to use first names".
She had no problem with that.
"The truth is Miranda, Vought is fat and lazy" admitted the CEO "What's worse is that we were never meant to be a superhero company. Like Cerberus, we were originally meant to be a defence contractor, yet we have become a global leader in the media, retail, energy, and pharmaceutical sectors. Vought is a bloated monster that nearly always crushes or absorbs everything it comes into contact with".
Miranda was surprised to hear this, yet she soon deduced where this was going.
"You're planning on using Invincible's fight with Homelander as an excuse to shake things up over at Vought" she realised.
That was indeed the plan. Every crisis can be made into an opportunity.
"Vought has suffered due to this, and investors have become nervous" he shared "As for the public they can't decide if Invincible is going to replace Homelander as he supplanted Soldier Boy, or if Invincible is some kind of threat".
While the former seemed to be what the majority wanted from Invincible there were many people who saw what happened to Homelander as proof that Invincible was some sort of godless supervillain.
What Stan didn't know was that thanks to the work of a couple of AI the negative opinions kept disappearing and the positive views on the situation were popping up everywhere. He'd expected more panic from people and more outrage.
The US Government had so not spoken on the subject, yet they had to see the potential of Invincible and it helped that while Homelander was recovering the man who'd been put in a coma was still out there doing good deeds.
"Invincible is better, stronger, faster and he's new," said Miranda as she enjoyed her meal "Homelander could be getting a bit stale".
Stan nodded in agreement.
"As he's a wakeup call," said the CEO of Vought "It's not just my company that's become lazy, the talent has too. The sex, the drugs, the publicity, it all goes to their heads and makes them a nightmare to manage".
Stan sipped his cooling coffee.
"I want them to be scared of Invincible" he told Miranda "I need, we all need, someone who can make sure that they don't step too far out of line".
Lawson already understood where this was going.
"You want to use Invincible to keep the other superhumans in line," she said "But why would he agree to that. Why should I?".
Stan had already considered this.
"Cerberus is a new company," he pointed out "New and hungry, and you have some control over Invincible, or at least influence. Vought could do with some way of outsourcing a few of our problems. We'd pay for the privilege and in turn, we can help Cerberus to grow".
Miranda would be a fool to refuse that aid.
"What exactly is it you want from Invincible?" she asked.
Stan drank some more coffee before answering. It was a good blend.
"Mostly we need him to keep doing what is already doing," he said "Invincible makes every superhero on the Vought payroll look lazy and careless. As long as he is out there actually acting like a superhero the others don't measure up and they won't be able to stand that".
Their egos simply wouldn't allow it.
"I'll use Invincible and this recent incident to justify holding our superheroes to a higher standard" stated Stan "We'll cut away some of the weeds and enforce a training schedule. This way I can get rid of some of the troublemakers and find new ways to keep the rest out of some of the trouble they get themselves into".
Miranda could see the logic in this.
"We'll make it clear that the only hope Vought's heroes have of ever taking on Invincible is if they work in teams as they are supposed to and actually do their jobs," said Vought's leader "This crisis is ironically good for me, at least in the long term, and it could be good for my company".
Stan was aware that the US military and government would be nervous about Invincible. He should be able to use this to push the idea of their talent getting into the military because Invincible wasn't American and short nuking one of their own cities they could do nothing to stop Invincible.
No, they would need superheroes in the hundreds to take down Invincible, each of them trained and ready to work in teams. The military would need superhumans of their own as well.
Madelyn Stillwell didn't see it that way, she and others at Vought were freaking out about how they couldn't use Invinicble's name to sell anything because he'd signed a contract with Cerberus and that was known publicly. Vought couldn't licence others to use a hero name that they didn't manage.
Even getting a DNA sample from Invincible hadn't led to anything because the sample they'd gotten made no sense at all. Some of the experts weren't even sure that Nolan Grayson was human. What else could he be? An alien?
One that just happened to look exactly like a human, bleed red blood, spoke English and for some reason come to this world to be a superhero. Not even the fictional heroes created by Vought to sell more comic books ever had people with origin stories that silly.
No something must have either altered Grayson's DNA, a byproduct of whatever bootleg version of Compound V and genetic engineering had been made to make him, or something had corrupted the sample.
Perhaps the blood had been exposed to something in the Vought lab and it was his people who had messed up. He'd believe in the incompetence of men over the idea of an alien flying around doing good deeds.
Heck Nolan might even be some freak mutant who somehow got exposed to Compound V and didn't end up a total mess due to random chance.
He'd even considered the idea that the UK had managed to make their own Homelander, one they had trained and refined, but that seemed unlikely since the United Kingdom wouldn't have sent their Homlander overseas when they could keep him at home and paraded him around.
Stan didn't understand where Invincible had come from, but he certainly wasn't some alien as a few of the scientists in the lab had speculated and no one would take that seriously even if the idea leaked out.
"So you use Invincible as a threat to make your heroes shape up," said Miranda "I can see that working and the public isn't turning on Invincible because they don't seem to know what to think. But happens when Homelander wakes up".
Miranda was having EDI working 24/7 to make sure that public opinion remained so divided that they would never take any unified action. The main two political factions were too interested in blaming each other to get anything meaningful done.
In her time and place, this wouldn't have worked, but the people of this Earth were either led about by the nose by social media or they didn't believe the news at all.
There were a few people out there claiming that all the footage was fake and that it was all promotion for some movie called Dawn of The Seven.
"If he wakes up" corrected Stan Edger "And if he does he might be so brain damaged that he won't even know who he is. Our doctors are anticipating memory loss and a change of behaviour".
Not surprising given his head injury.
"Even if he recovers and goes for a rematch he can't beat Invisible. As long as he doesn't kill Homelander we don't really have much to be concerned about" promised Stan "Homelander is well loved yes, but he's been shown to be vulnerable now. He's not the god in a cape people thought he was".
Stan had wondered if people would be foolish to demand that Invincible be arrested, and there had been talk of that, it "had just never gotten anywhere. Which was good as to who would even be able to arrest Invincible?
"We've been downplaying Homelander's condition, trying to get people to think that he and Invincible were testing themselves at Vought Tower with some sparring and it got out of hand" Stan was now saying "Since he's remained out of sight it's hard to disprove and Invincible hasn't shown any hostility towards any other superheroes, at least not publicly".
Things could have escalated if Grayson had picked another fight.
"Alright," said Miranda "I'll talk to Grayson and let him know the deal".
With that, they shook hands and parted ways as they both had a lot of work to be getting on with.