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Now, the only problem Hughie faced was how to teleport with his clothes.
"If that doesn't work, we can choose a special Superhero uniform for him."
Outside the lab, Cardosa suggested to Kevin, watching Hughie playing with his powers inside the lab.
Kevin raised an eyebrow:
"Superhero uniform?"
"Yes, Mr. Campbell's ability should only allow him to teleport his own bodily matter, so we can choose to use his bodily matter to create a Superhero uniform."
"For example?"
"...Hair?"
Cardosa looked at Hughie's not-so-dense hair and added:
"Or, cloning some of his flesh and blood tissue would also work..."
Cloning sounded a bit evil, but if there was no other way for Hughie to use his ability without being naked, then Kevin could only accept Cardosa's suggestion.
"First, let him try to teleport with his own hair."
Kevin pondered, intending to see if Cardosa's guess was true.
If Hughie couldn't teleport to another place with his hair after cutting it, then... Kevin would unfortunately have to announce that Hughie wouldn't be able to become a proper Superhero in the future.
Hopefully not.
The experiment didn't take long. Cardosa went into the lab, called out to Hughie, who was having a blast experimenting with his powers, took some hair tissue from his head, and had him hold it in his hand to teleport.
The good news was that Hughie could indeed teleport with his hair.
The bad news was that he didn't have much hair; even if he shaved his head, the little hair on his body probably wouldn't be enough to make a pair of underwear.
But this was not a problem.
Since it was confirmed that Hughie could teleport with his own bodily tissue, Cardosa's proposed 'cloning' method could be used.
The issue of Hughie's uniform would be left to Cardosa to resolve, and he could also consult with the image design department later.
Now that Hughie had superpowers, it was time to talk about serious matters.
"How does it feel to have superpowers?"
Kevin, who had called Hughie back and met him in the office, asked with a smile.
Hughie, dressed and sitting in front of Kevin, had an undisguised look of excitement and exhilaration on his face. Hearing Kevin, he quickly said:
"It's... very good! It's just... I don't seem to be able to teleport with my clothes..."
"It's alright, we'll figure that out. Now, let's talk about serious matters."
"Oh, right... serious matters. What did you want me to help you with again?"
Hughie sat up straight and asked earnestly.
Kevin said directly:
"You should have heard me mention the dirt on Stormfront, it's at The Collective Church."
"Yes."
"The core of The Collective Church is inaccessible to ordinary people, but they have always been recruiting Superheroes, under the guise of helping Superheroes advance, to get these Superheroes to work for them."
Kevin paused slightly here, and Hughie began to understand:
"You mean, you want me... to enter The Collective Church as a Superhero, to be your undercover agent?"
"Hughie, you are truly very clever."
Seeing Hughie realize his true intention, Kevin did not stint on his praise for him.
Yes, Kevin wanted Hughie to go undercover at The Collective Church.
Actually, when it came to undercover candidates, Shockwave, who was currently in The Seven, was also a good choice.
But Shockwave himself was a member of The Collective Church, and Kevin wasn't sure if he would betray The Collective Church.
If Shockwave was loyal to The Collective Church, Kevin looking for him might just cause trouble for himself.
It would be quite a headache for Kevin if a speedster was constantly trying to cause him trouble.
It would be better to ignore him, let him do whatever he wants, and Kevin would find someone else.
Anyway, in a while, once the serum that can make Supe abilities disappear is developed, these so-called Superheroes will no longer be able to run rampant.
Kevin pondered, giving Hughie time to think.
A short while later, feeling that Hughie had probably thought enough, Kevin asked:
"What have you decided?"
"I... I can do it!"
Hughie said with courage:
"We are doing good, aren't we? If so, then I can do it!"
"Very good. Once your uniform is ready, you will officially debut. I will arrange for someone to promote you and give you the opportunity to contact The Collective Church."
Seeing Hughie agree, Kevin nodded with satisfaction and gave him the next set of arrangements.
Hughie stood up and shook Kevin's hand. Before leaving, he asked:
"Can I tell Butcher and them about this? About... me becoming a Supe."
"It's up to you, but I want to make one thing clear: it's fine for you to tell them, but I won't let them become Supes too. I chose you because I believe you are kind and have the qualifications to be a Superhero. Others... I don't think they have that qualification."
Kevin spoke quite bluntly.
Hughie was speechless.
Because he recalled the composition of The Boys, thinking about the members of the team, and he wholeheartedly agreed with what Kevin said.
The Boys were indeed not good people.
Currently, The Boys had five members, including Frenchie's girlfriend Cherie, and among these five, not counting Hughie himself, Hughie believed that only Mother's Milk Marvin was capable of becoming a hero.
Because among these few, only Mother's Milk Marvin was normal.
Thinking this, Hughie immediately stopped talking and left The Woods.
Of course, he had to tell them about becoming a Supe, but whether or not to let others become Supes and Superheroes was not something Hughie could decide himself.
...
Inside The Seven's meeting room, the TV was playing news about the recent Super Hero Association proposal, as well as footage of Kevin speaking at the press conference that day.
Homelander leaned back in his chair, listening to Kevin say on TV that the future president of the Association would be the captain of The Seven, and fell into deep thought.
Kevin had told Homelander that he would be the future president of the Hero Association, but what he said on TV was that the future president of the Association would be the captain of The Seven.
At first glance, there was no difference. The current captain of The Seven was also Homelander, and as long as his position was not shaken, it was a foregone conclusion that he would become the president of the Association in the future.
But the problem was, there was still someone in The Seven who opposed him.
That woman, Stormfront, whose prestige was now even higher than his, subtly showing signs of replacing his position.
Originally, Homelander hadn't really considered her an opponent, but in the past few days, because of what happened in Africa, Homelander was now in a dormant state.
He had listened to Kevin, agreeing to be stable for a while and wait until the storm passed.
This led to Stormfront's prestige actually growing higher and higher.
Now she had completely surpassed him.
Many Photoshopped images of Stormfront also appeared online, swapping Stormfront's position in The Seven with Homelander's position in The Seven, which made Homelander's blood pressure rise.
Especially now, after watching the recorded broadcast of Kevin's interview and then looking at the online comments, finding that they were all overwhelmingly praising Stormfront, Homelander became even more unbearable.
Thinking that his status might be replaced by Stormfront, and that he would no longer be the captain of The Seven in the future, and the position of president of the Super-Hero Association might even slip through his fingers, Homelander could no longer sit still.
He turned off the TV, left The Seven, and went directly to the set to find Stormfront, who was still filming a movie.
When Stormfront finished work, he personally went to her trailer and closed the door.
"Hmm? Oh, isn't this our captain? I don't remember you having any filming scenes today? What are you here for?"
Stormfront, who was about to rest, saw Homelander approach and spoke to him in her usual slightly off-kilter tone.
"Do you think I don't know what you're doing?"
Homelander approached Stormfront, the flesh on his face trembling from suppressed anger:
"Trying to undermine my position in The Seven through the internet? Stealing my team? And then becoming the leader of The Seven yourself? I'm telling you, that method won't work with me! I am the captain of The Seven!"
"Hmmph? You came all the way from Vought Tower just to throw a childish tantrum? To be honest, Homelander, I'm a little disappointed."
Stormfront was indeed Stormfront; even with Homelander so angry, she continued to add fuel to the fire.
And sure enough, this sentence made Homelander, who was already angry, even angrier. His expression instantly turned cold, and red light emanated from his eyes, as if his heat vision would shoot out at any moment.
Seeing Homelander show his signature laser eyes, Stormfront's smile also disappeared.
She stood up, her tone becoming gentle as she began to soothe Homelander:
"Alright, alright, I know you're serious now. Please calm down. I really don't mean to oppose you, truly."
Homelander didn't actually want to kill Stormfront. This was a film set, and killing Stormfront here would carry public opinion risks.
He merely wanted to scare Stormfront.
Therefore, upon seeing Stormfront relent, he retracted his heat vision and asked:
"Then what do you want to do?"
"I want to help you."
"Help me? How? By posting all that nonsense online, by posting those obviously fake Photoshopped images, to ruin my reputation?!"
"Calm down, I'm really helping you. I know you've been in a bad mood lately because Kevin sidelined you, right? He told you he wanted you to calm down for a while? Do nothing?"
...
Homelander did not answer.
Because Stormfront was right; Kevin had indeed asked Homelander to do that.
"But online public opinion won't disappear just because you keep quiet. It still exists, and under my manipulation, it will only intensify."
"What exactly do you want to do?"
Stormfront kept avoiding the main point, and Homelander was quite impatient.
Stormfront took a few steps forward, getting closer to Homelander, and said:
"Like I said, I'm helping you. Your traditional propaganda methods, the ways you gained fans, are actually outdated.
"What you need to do now is to first make a portion of people truly angry, and then... use these angry people to boost your popularity, thereby gaining more support, more support than Kevin."
...
"I know you might not believe what I'm saying, but what I want to say is, in my heart, you have always been the best among us, better than anyone."
Stormfront patiently soothed Homelander's emotions, approaching him and speaking in a soft, gentle voice.
And what she said wasn't false.
Stormfront had always thought Homelander was excellent, the best Supe among them.
Well, before she witnessed Kevin's power.
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