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When Kevin, the current CEO of Vought, publicly stated his intention to create a Super-Hero Association that would be free from government control and capable of overseeing all Supes and Superheroes, it meant he was serious.
Congress had sent many invitations to Kevin to discuss the matter, but most were rejected by him.
It's understandable that Alastair also wants to profit from this.
The Church of the Collective is composed mostly of Superheroes who are not highly valued by Vought, with only a few key members being ordinary people.
Many of the Superheroes here are controlled by the Church of the Collective.
Therefore, if these Superheroes, controlled by the Church of the Collective and Alastair, could join the Super-Hero Association, the Church of the Collective's social standing would skyrocket!
This was precisely Alastair's purpose in coming to talk with Kevin.
However, to get these heroes to join the future Super-Hero Association, Alastair still needed to face one problem.
Or rather, one person.
That is Stormfront.
Stormfront is an extreme racist, and if she were to join the Super-Hero Association in the future, then with her there, the Super-Hero Association would never have any Superheroes other than white people.
Unfortunately for Alastair, he has a considerable number of African, Latino, and Asian Superheroes under him; if Stormfront became an important member of the Super-Hero Association, most of Alastair's heroes would miss out on the opportunity to join.
This is the problem Alastair needs to face.
He believes this is also the problem Vought faces.
Vought has far more Superheroes than the Church of the Collective; the Church of the Collective only takes the scraps Vought doesn't want, so the problems they face are even more severe.
After Alastair finished his analysis and saw that Kevin still wasn't speaking, he continued:
"Stormfront is an obstacle for both of us, and she's also Edgar's person. Although Edgar has now left Vought, that doesn't mean he did so willingly."
Alastair didn't know that the current Edgar was a puppet disguised by a clone, and he still thought Kevin had used special means to force Edgar to abdicate.
From Alastair's perspective, since Kevin hadn't killed Edgar, there was a risk that Edgar might make a comeback in the future.
Stormfront's entry into The Seven was Edgar's arrangement; although Edgar is black, it's not impossible that he has other ways to control Stormfront.
In short, if everyone wants to live peacefully and make money without worries in the future, then eliminating Stormfront is undoubtedly the best option.
After Alastair finished speaking, the room fell into complete silence.
Alastair awaited Kevin's answer.
Kevin silently and elegantly finished all his steak, finally wiping his mouth and hands with a napkin before speaking to Alastair:
"Mr. Adana, what you said is indeed very true and reasonable."
"Then we..."
"But you overlooked one thing."
Before Alastair could speak, Kevin raised a finger and smiled:
"I am also a Supe."
"...?"
"So why should I help you, who are not a Supe, to deal with Stormfront, who is also a Supe?"
Regardless of how many times Kevin has undergone job changes or whether his body has evolved further, in the eyes of The Boys, he is currently a Supe.
Even if Alastair's words were flowery and convincing, Kevin, as a fellow Supe, seemingly had no reason or obligation to deal with Stormfront, who was also a Supe.
Kevin's unexpected answer left Alastair stunned for a long time.
He parted his lips slightly, and after a while, he said:
"But... but you are not just a Supe now, you... are also the CEO of Vought..."
"Precisely because of that, I should, in my current capacity, seek benefits for us Supes, shouldn't I, Mr. Adana?"
"..."
Alastair was speechless this time.
All the arguments he had prepared were rendered useless by Kevin's single phrase, 'I am a Supe.'
This prevented him from continuing his speech.
Kevin waited a moment longer, knowing that Alastair had nothing more to say that could convince him, then stood up:
"Thank you for your invitation today, Mr. Adana. The steak was delicious, but I hope the topic of our next dinner can be lighter."
With that, Kevin prepared to leave.
Alastair did not stop him; he watched Kevin leave, then leaned back in his chair.
Not long after Kevin left, a beautifully dressed woman in a luxurious gown emerged from the back of the banquet hall.
She, too, looked in the direction Kevin had left, and said to Alastair with some disbelief:
"What are you doing? You promised to introduce me to him!"
"Don't dream, Cassandra, he's not the old Deep anymore. Even if you like him, you can't be his girlfriend, you don't even qualify to be a mistress."
"But..."
"Alright, you can go now. I need to think more. If there's an opportunity in the future, I will introduce you to him, provided there is an opportunity."
Alastair didn't want to say more and waved Cassandra away.
Cassandra looked at him, bit her lip lightly, and left the banquet with a look of unwillingness.
If Kevin were there, he would recognize that this elegantly dressed woman in an evening gown was Cassandra Schwartz, the wife the Church arranged for The Deep in the original plot.
She was an 'Anthropology' professor at a certain university and an important member of the Church of the Collective.
In the original plot, she was arranged by the Church to marry The Deep.
However, despite seemingly just following the Church's arrangements, she resolutely left the Church with The Deep after his break with it and helped him write a memoir accusing the Church.
Not only did she help The Deep return to The Seven, but she also brought him great fame.
As an important member of the Church, to go to such lengths for The Deep, it was clear that Cassandra truly loved The Deep.
But unfortunately, The Deep's fetish was too peculiar, to the extent that Cassandra couldn't accept it, and eventually, she became completely disappointed with The Deep and separated from him.
Perhaps the deeper the love, the deeper the hate; after separating from The Deep, she publicly revealed that his famous book was ghostwritten by her and exposed more of The Deep's scandals, completely betraying him.
This was what happened in the original third season.
But now, due to Kevin's existence, Cassandra not only couldn't be with him, but the gap between them also grew wider.
Although Cassandra consequently grew to like Kevin even more, to the point of not hesitating to use her few privileges to have Alastair arrange a meeting with Kevin.
Yet, it seems they were ultimately not destined to be together.
Kevin and Alastair's conversation ended unpleasantly, so Cassandra naturally couldn't meet Kevin, and her plan to be with Kevin had no possibility whatsoever.
This greatly displeased Cassandra.
But she was helpless.
The Deep and Alastair's conversation was not pleasant; in such a situation, if Alastair forced an introduction, he might end up being disliked by the other party.
However, if The Deep didn't like the Church, then perhaps she could...
Cassandra, who had left the banquet, thought about what she could access, her eyes flickering continuously.
...
Leaving the Church of the Collective, Kevin got back into his car, glanced back, and then drove away.
To deal with Stormfront, Kevin certainly had the intention, but this matter could not be done by him.
At least on the surface, Kevin had to appear to be on Stormfront's side.
Just as he said, because he is a Supe, he cannot do anything to harm another Supe.
Especially before the plan to reduce the number of Supes officially begins, he cannot let anyone detect such an intention from him.
Otherwise, if all Supes united against Kevin, he would have a headache, as he couldn't possibly kill everyone.
Dealing with Stormfront cannot be done by Kevin; this is also why Kevin had The Boys act.
So, no matter how eloquent Alastair was or how sound his reasons, Kevin would never cooperate with him.
Moreover, this guy has big ambitions; a small Collective Church wanting to interfere in the affairs of the Super-Hero Association—Kevin would not let him continue to grow.
Another reason Kevin couldn't act was that he needed to temporarily stabilize everyone's respective destinies to prevent the world from further colliding with other worlds.
Stormfront's original fate was to have her dark secrets revealed by the Church of the Collective, leading to her downfall, and finally, due to threatening Rebecca, Ryan's powers went out of control and retaliated, turning her into a limbless torso.
Kevin doesn't demand that the plot strictly follow the original path, especially since he couldn't even do that in this unrecognizable The Boys world.
But he could try to make Stormfront's fate similar to the original.
Having Hughie infiltrate the Church of the Collective to bring down Stormfront could be considered a rough approximation of the original plot.
What's slightly worth noting is Kevin's skill point issue.
The greater the destiny fluctuation, the more skill points Kevin gains; the smaller the destiny fluctuation, the fewer skill points Kevin gains.
Therefore, by doing this, Kevin certainly wouldn't gain many skill points.
But Kevin didn't care at all.
The reason is that he now gains one skill point every day just by lying at home, doing nothing.
Kevin doesn't know why this is.
Compound V and the Villain Alliance's popularity have faded, the Super-Hero Association hasn't been established yet, and mere discussions aren't enough to cause destiny changes.
Yet, he still gains one skill point every day, without fail.
Not only that, but this daily skill point doesn't prevent Kevin from acquiring skill points through other means.
So sometimes, there would be occasions where he gained two or even three skill points in a single day.
By now, Kevin's skill point count had once again surpassed twenty.
And the good fortune of one skill point per day still hadn't stopped.
Kevin thought for a long time but couldn't figure out why, until he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and thought of an absurd yet reasonable theory.
That is, the Wolverine 3 world is continuously providing him with skill points!!
"If that's true, then the Marvel World's time doesn't necessarily need to be paused... provided the times on both sides are synchronized."
Currently, Kevin has only crossed over to two worlds: one is the Marvel Universe, and the other is the Wolverine 3 world, which looks like the Marvel Universe but is actually an independent universe.
In the former, Ancient One helps to lock time, so whenever Kevin returns, he goes back to the exact moment he left.
The latter, however, doesn't have such convenience, and therefore Kevin is unsure of what time it is there now.
If it's because time flows too fast there, and years, decades, or even several decades have passed, and that's why Kevin gained these skill points, then Kevin thinks it's better to keep the Marvel World's time 'paused.'
"I'll go back and check sometime."
The story of the Wolverine world has ended. Although that world doesn't have much development value, because Logan is there, Kevin will go back and see them if he gets the chance.
After all, he and Logan are friends.
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