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The abandoned factory where the Supe orphans disappeared was located in a remote part of the suburbs.
Normally, no one would come here; only homeless people and those who needed to stay out of sight would choose to temporarily reside here.
The orphans who escaped from Red River Institute were clearly the latter; knowing Vought would come looking for trouble, it was reasonable for them to choose to hide here temporarily.
What was unreasonable was their inexplicable disappearance.
"Are you sure this is the place?"
Standing in front of the abandoned factory's warehouse, Kevin asked Tek Knight Robert again.
Robert looked around the front of the warehouse and finally nodded, saying, "That's right, they did disappear here."
"And there are no new traces now?"
"No."
Robert answered honestly.
His ability could assist him in finding all existing traces, and before this, he had also relied on his ability to find his way here.
However, upon arriving here, Robert could no longer see any trace of these children.
That group of orphans from Red River Institute vanished without a trace from this place before Robert could find them.
"First, cordon off this area for investigation, and as for the others, go protect the parents of these Supe children who haven't been harmed yet."
Kevin, who had also looked for a long time without discerning anything, made this temporary arrangement.
Vought's security personnel deployed according to Kevin's orders.
During this time, Kevin looked at the still somewhat trembling Robert and suddenly asked, "You seem to be very afraid of me?"
"..."
Robert's smile froze, and cold sweat dripped down.
Kevin smiled at him:
"Am I that scary?"
"So… sorry…"
"Why apologize? Aren't I speaking to you in a very calm tone?"
Kevin's tone remained kind, even softer than usual, but the more it was, the more nervous Robert became.
"Sir, I… I really didn't… really didn't use my ability on you… No, I mean, I didn't think of trying to uncover your secrets…"
Under Kevin's 'coercion,' Robert's cold sweat increased, and eventually, he began to babble, saying everything he should and shouldn't have said.
Robert was very afraid of Kevin.
Because his ability allowed him to observe every detail, and having thoroughly studied detective work and psychology, combined with his own ability, he could discern Kevin's thoughts from his micro-expressions.
It was precisely because of this that Robert understood that Kevin genuinely wanted to get rid of him at all times.
Perhaps Kevin appeared very friendly, seemingly smiling at everyone, looking sunny and cheerful, but Robert could tell from the details that Kevin actually didn't like him.
He didn't like Robert's ability, and he especially didn't like Robert using this ability to probe him.
Therefore, the more Robert showed he knew, the more likely he was to be killed by Kevin.
Kevin was different from any other corporate executive Robert had met before.
Those corporate executives, even Edgar, never expressed murderous intent towards Robert when facing him, even knowing about his ability.
At most, they showed their aloofness towards him, because Robert made their proud 'acting skills' obsolete.
But that was all; they knew Robert would know what they were thinking.
And Robert also knew that they knew he knew what they were thinking.
Everyone was well aware, playing the game within a set of rules: Robert worked for them, they paid Robert, and gave him the power he deserved, nothing more.
But Kevin…
He genuinely wanted to kill him.
This made Robert feel terrified.
He lowered his head, not daring to meet Kevin's gaze again.
Kevin didn't bother this poor man, whose brain might have already started growing tumors, anymore. He reached out and gently squeezed Robert's shoulder, saying with a smile:
"Don't worry, as long as you're honest, I won't kill you."
"O-okay…"
Robert replied with a trembling voice.
Kevin then withdrew his hand and continued to look at the factory ahead.
His thoughts being seen through by Robert was actually intentional.
Kevin knew that his acting skills were probably not good enough in front of Robert's ability, and there was no reason for a boss to perform when meeting an employee.
So, Kevin had been consistent from just now until now, never thinking of controlling his expression, let alone performing.
Kevin did indeed have the idea of eliminating Robert.
Compared to mind readers like Mezmer and psychics like Cate, a guy like Robert, who could see through everything about a person just by details, was even more alarming.
Kevin could use defensive magic patterns to prevent psychic abilities from invading his brain, but he couldn't completely control every muscle on his face for a perfect performance.
And Kevin himself had many secrets.
Although in this world where he was already invincible, even if everything was exposed, it didn't seem like much, but no one wants their secrets to be known by some inexplicable guy, right?
Kevin was the same; actively revealing one's secrets and others discovering one's secrets are two different things. Therefore, the Tek Knight, who could be called the top detective in The Boys world, became the existence Kevin disliked the most.
If it weren't for today's matter, Kevin probably wouldn't have met the Tek Knight.
But since they met, he naturally had to make it clear that casually prying into a superior's secrets could cost him his life.
Robert dared not speak further, nor did he dare to look at Kevin.
Kevin also fully focused his attention on the factory in front of him, beginning to ponder how those Supe orphans had managed to escape from here.
And just as Vought cordoned off the area and Kevin and Robert were observing, a small blue light dot suddenly appeared in the open space in front of them.
The moment the light dot appeared, it was captured by Kevin, and by the time Kevin's attention was fully on the light dot, it had already grown to the size of a basketball.
And a few seconds later, the blue light dot expanded into a transparent humanoid figure.
Honestly, the moment the blue light dot transformed into a human shape, Kevin almost thought Dr. Manhattan from the DC Universe had come here.
When he saw the appearance of the blue humanoid, Kevin breathed a sigh of relief.
It wasn't Dr. Manhattan; it was one of the orphans who had escaped from Red River Institute, Ghost.
Ghost's true form was a Black girl.
She hadn't awakened her ability when she was little, but one day during her growth, she suddenly awakened her ability and became the current Ghost.
As Ghost, she couldn't touch anything, and nothing else could touch her either.
She became a complete ghost, just like her ability.
And according to the nurse at the orphanage, this revenge operation was initiated by the Ghost in front of them, so if she could be caught here, it would mean catching the leader of this special revenge squad.
Provided she could be caught.
Ghost's appearance made the surrounding Vought employees completely alert.
They surrounded her, encircling Ghost and pointing their guns at her.
Ghost looked around blankly, her eyes unfocused, and she muttered to herself:
"…What's going on? Didn't I escape?"
"Apparently not, Miss."
Kevin said to Ghost, and gestured for the surrounding Vought employees to lower their guns.
For a ghost that no physical attack could harm, firearms were the most useless things.
Perhaps noticing Kevin's actions, Ghost realized that the man in front of her was the leader of these people.
She took a deep breath and asked Kevin in a deep voice, "What do you want to do? Do you want to catch me?"
"To be honest, yes, but unfortunately, we currently don't have the means to control spirits, so in this world, you are free, you can go wherever you want, Miss Ghost."
Kevin didn't try to attack Ghost.
Perhaps an attack augmented with magic patterns could affect Ghost, but there was no point in doing so.
Ghost herself had no offensive power; instead of threatening her with words, it was better to use a conciliatory approach to make Ghost stay.
Kevin spoke politely to the young girl, who was probably not yet sixteen, then continued:
"But my personal suggestion is that you'd best stay at Red River Institute; that way, we might still be able to help you."
"Help me?"
Tears strangely flowed from Ghost's eyes, and she yelled at Kevin as if venting:
"You stopped our revenge and killed my friends! You call that helping me?!"
Kevin: "?"
"I won't listen to you, and I certainly won't stay. I'll find a way to get revenge!"
Ghost's eyes burned with the flames of hatred, she shouted angrily, then tried to burrow into the ground, attempting to escape from the encirclement.
Kevin immediately stopped her:
"Wait a minute!! What do you mean 'you killed my friends!?' I never gave such an order!"
Kevin said, looking at the security chief beside him.
He almost thought his subordinates had deceived him, eliminating these Supe orphans first, then giving him false reports that they had lost them, to cover something up.
Vought's security chief broke out in a cold sweat under Kevin's gaze, and he quickly replied:
"Sir, we… we really didn't find any trace of them, and it's impossible for us to have killed them! She's lying!"
"What?" Hearing the security chief's words, Ghost, who was about to escape, also stopped and retorted angrily to the security chief:
"It was clearly you! You and Homelander! You killed my friends!! And you're not even admitting it?!"
"Wait… wait a minute!"
What Ghost said made Kevin, after a moment of confusion, suddenly have a very absurd guess.
He confirmed with Ghost again:
"You said Homelander?"
"Of course!"
"That's impossible, Homelander has been working on set all this time, he hasn't come out for any hero activities at all!"
Before this, he had; Homelander even went to Africa to eliminate a certain Super Villains.
But ever since that incident, Homelander hadn't acted freely again because Kevin wouldn't allow it.
Therefore, what Ghost said, that Homelander killed her friends, simply couldn't have happened.
Unless…
The one who killed Ghost's friends wasn't the Homelander from Kevin's The Boys world.
"Don't try to trick me!!"
However, Ghost clearly wouldn't believe Kevin's words.
Homelander killing her friends was something she witnessed with her own eyes; Homelander's heat vision even passed through her body. If she weren't Ghost, her fate would probably be the same as her friends.
Ghost clearly believed what she had seen and heard, and Kevin's mind raced.
what if the Ghost in front of him wasn't the Ghost from his The Boys world, but rather from World Line A, then that meant her parents had already been killed by her.
But in this world, Ghost's parents were protected by Vought's swift action and were still alive.
So, he could use this point to persuade her.
"Your parents!" Kevin said calmly: "I can let your parents come to see you."
"? What nonsense are you talking about? My father… I already killed him… with my own hands…!!"
"He's not dead! If you don't believe me, you can come with me to see him. Anyway, you're Ghost, and if you feel something's wrong, you can leave anytime!
"How about it, will you trust me?"
Kevin invited Ghost.
Ghost looked at Kevin in silence, pondering for a long time.
Finally, under Kevin's gaze, the half of her body that had burrowed into the earth emerged from the ground.
"…For now, I'll trust you once."
Ghost said.
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