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In the early morning, Starlight, dressed in her hero uniform, walked into the Vought building, looking a bit tired.
She looked as if she hadn't slept well.
No, she really hadn't slept well.
Ever since The Deep left yesterday, Starlight had been aimlessly wandering the 99th floor of the Vought building, the floor exclusively for The Seven.
She first ran into Queen Maeve, the only female hero in The Seven.
Starlight wanted to ask Queen Maeve for an autograph and tell her that she used to be her biggest fan.
When she was a child, it was seeing Queen Maeve's heroic act of saving an entire school bus full of students that solidified her determination to become a superhero.
However... Queen Maeve had no intention of greeting Starlight. She seemed to have just finished work, gave Starlight a perfunctory two-sentence reply, and then ignored her.
That was the first time Starlight felt a bit disillusioned with her idol, realizing that these idols weren't as great in private as she had imagined.
What was even more unacceptable to Starlight was seeing Translucent, completely naked, in the restroom.
Although the restroom was co-ed, and Translucent had to take off his clothes to use his powers, his blatant peeping in the restroom still infuriated Starlight.
Starlight initially wanted to teach Translucent a lesson, but when she saw Queen Maeve enter and act as if Translucent's presence was nothing unusual, she understood that this wasn't the first time Translucent had done such a thing.
Even more terrifying was that the members of The Seven turned a blind eye to it.
At that moment, Starlight finally understood what The Deep meant by 'The Seven aren't as great as you imagine.'
That wasn't comfort; it was a statement of fact.
That night, Starlight had trouble sleeping.
The young woman who had entered The Seven with dreams, expecting to fight alongside the heroes she once admired, discovered that her former idols were not as wonderful as she had imagined.
The Deep seemed like an office worker who just slacked off, Queen Maeve appeared to be a cold person who didn't care about anything, and Translucent was a perverted peeper.
If the three heroes Starlight had met were already like this, what would the others be like?
Starlight felt a bit lost, even questioning her life.
But having finally joined The Seven, Starlight had no intention of giving up.
It didn't matter that the heroes weren't like her fantasies; she just needed to do her job well and become an excellent superhero.
Yes, she just needed to do her best.
Thinking this, Starlight regained her spirits and walked into the building, and then...
As she passed an office, she heard the angry voice of Ashley, the Director of Public Relations:
"Unbelievable! I can't believe you did this!"
Ashley seemed furious, yelling at someone.
Starlight swore she didn't want to eavesdrop, but... the office door wasn't completely shut. Through the gap, Starlight could see what was happening inside.
Inside the room, Ashley was clutching a report, running her hands through her hair. In front of her was The Deep, who had left on time yesterday.
What happened?
Starlight was curious and leaned in to listen.
Facing Ashley's anger, The Deep remained calm. He even had the leisure to pour himself a cup of coffee and said:
"Calm down, Ashley, isn't the outcome great? The trafficked people were rescued, and New York has one less group of damned criminals. Although it was my fault for not informing the company's PR department and camera crew beforehand, I didn't have time to notify you in that situation..."
"Aha? Is that what you think? Did you ever consider what would happen if someone filmed you killing those gangsters on the boat? What if someone edited it and posted it online?!"
"I know, that's why I'm admitting my mistake, aren't I? Uh... at worst, you can dock my pay? Although I think my situation yesterday counts as overtime..."
The Deep slumped on the sofa, speaking with a thoroughly lazy tone.
Ashley stared at The Deep with wide eyes, as if she was seeing him for the first time, her eyes filled with disbelief:
"You... how could you..."
"How could I what? Is there a problem?"
The Deep drank his coffee, spreading his hands as he questioned Ashley.
Through their conversation, Starlight also understood what had happened.
Late last night, The Deep accidentally encountered a human trafficking crime and then 'unilaterally' dealt with the crime without notifying the company.
The word 'unilaterally' was Ashley's; it didn't represent Starlight's original thoughts.
After hearing the whole story, Starlight's heroic heart, which had been somewhat disappointed by yesterday's events, was rekindled.
Although The Deep seemed to care about nothing, he was still secretly doing what a superhero should do.
No matter what the company said, as long as she did the right thing, wouldn't that be enough?
Honestly, if circumstances allowed, Starlight would have rushed in to tell The Deep, 'You did nothing wrong,' to encourage him.
But unfortunately, Starlight didn't want to lower her impression in other people's eyes by being caught peeking.
Taking advantage of the conversation in the room winding down, Starlight quietly walked past the office door.
The conversation between the two in the room had indeed stopped, but not because Ashley's anger had subsided. Instead, it was because Madelyn had called Ashley, saying she wanted The Deep to come up.
She had something to discuss with The Deep.
With her superior speaking, Ashley could only suppress her anger. She told The Deep:
"Ms. Madelyn wants to see you. You can explain it to her yourself."
"No problem, I'll head up now."
Kevin responded with a smile, placing the empty disposable paper cup on the table. As he left, he gave Ashley a very 'friendly' suggestion.
"Oh, and Ashley, you really shouldn't get angry so often. You'll lose your hair."
Ashley: "?"
After a final playful remark, Kevin left the office before Ashley could get angry.
After dealing with those gang members last night, Kevin, along with the trafficked people, went to the police station.
However, because The Deep was a superhero and had the backing of Vought International, he was released from the police station shortly after, also receiving praise and cheers from the police officers there.
At that moment, Kevin truly felt that being a superhero seemed like a good thing.
He liked hearing people cheer for him.
But unfortunately, what Kevin did, though certainly correct, would not be recognized by the company.
The reason was that Kevin did not inform the company in advance about what he did, and... he killed too many people.
Superheroes killing people is actually a common occurrence.
Homelander, Queen Maeve, and A-Train, they all killed many people in the process of stopping crime.
But the prerequisite was that they killed people under the cameras arranged by Vought International and within the script that Vought International had already prepared.
Yesterday, Kevin had no script, no cameras. In this situation, he killed a group of gang members in front of a group of undocumented immigrants who didn't understand English.
This matter could be big or small. If someone with ulterior motives exploited it, a good deed could very likely turn into a bad one.
What happened yesterday could also become a stain on The Deep's reputation.
This was the real reason for Ashley's anger.
After all, she was the Director of Public Relations, and if something really went wrong, she would also bear responsibility.
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