A few days later, our Ivan Greevs, the rising Vought employee, moved into a new office on the eighth floor of Vought Tower. One step closer to the real power.
He couldn't wait for the day he sat in the CEO chair.
He'd flip Vought's entire strategy, push Compound V everywhere, make it as common as handguns. He'd even create a Compound V Authority to register and control every new supe born from the stuff. The bigger the pool, the more monsters it would spawn.
Right now, his job was simple: make Vought untouchable. Control the narrative, ram Madeline's military integration plan through Congress, and turn the company into the real global boss that owned both the guns and the story.
His vision wasn't that different from Madeline's. Just way more ruthless. She wanted fat profits. He wanted an ocean of supes.
"Maybe Homelander and I will get along just fine," Ivan muttered, fingers laced over his stomach. "I can put him on a fucking throne."
Too bad the psycho only listened to Madeline right now. So Ivan would wait. He'd wait for the perfect moment.
...
That afternoon in the PR office, the man who had actually killed Translucent sat across from his boss like nothing happened.
"Translucent's been dark for almost a week," Ivan said. "If he doesn't show up soon, people are gonna freak out. Death rumors are already all over the internet. We need him visible before this turns into another shitstorm."
Ashley already knew the truth from Madeline. She looked stressed as hell.
Vought couldn't afford to admit a supe had been murdered. Not when they were pushing the military bill. If that died, Madeline's whole plan to privatize war and put supes in the Defense Department would collapse.
"He's dead," Ashley said bluntly, watching Ivan's reaction. "Homelander's looking into who did it."
Ivan stood up, walked to the coffee machine, and poured her a fresh cup.
"Easy fix," he said, sliding it across the desk. "Just let Translucent make an appearance. One public sighting and all the online bullshit dies overnight."
Ashley took the coffee and frowned. "He's dead. How the hell is he supposed to show up? Bring him back from the grave?"
"I've got three options," Ivan said. "First, we cut together old footage of Translucent and flood the internet. Make it look like he's still around. Downside? Netizens aren't stupid. It'll get picked apart fast and could spark even worse rumors."
He took a sip of his own coffee before continuing.
"Second option: find someone who looks almost exactly like him and have the guy play the part. Problem is it'll take too much time we probably don't have."
"And the third?" Ashley asked, leaning forward.
Ivan smiled. "Find a supe with shapeshifting powers and turn him into Translucent."
Of course, his real target was Doppelganger. The guy only answered to Madeline and handled all her dirty work, blackmailing senators and the like. Vought's official files didn't even have his name.
"We don't have any shapeshifters on the roster," Ashley said after thinking for a while.
"All three plans are workable. Let's send them up to Ms. Madeline and let her choose."
Ivan already knew what would happen. Unless things got desperate, Madeline would never play the Doppelganger card. Even if the risk was low, she wouldn't expose that asset. Once people knew about a shapeshifter working in the shadows, too many alarms would go off.
Still, Ivan would make sure she played that card herself.
Just as he expected, Madeline went with the first two plans: edited footage to buy time, and a quiet search for a lookalike.
Too bad Ivan had no intention of letting her plan work smoothly.
...
The very next day, Vought dropped a carefully edited "Translucent is fine" news package. It exploded across the internet and shot straight to number two on trending.
As for what was trending at number one? "Translucent Is Dead."
A huge crowd of Translucent fans had gathered outside Vought Tower, waving banners and screaming for answers. The noise carried all the way up.
Ivan stood at his office window, calmly sipping his coffee while he watched the chaos below.
The door slammed open. Ashley burst in, hair a mess, no breakfast, looking like she was about to have a stroke.
"What the fuck happened?! Your brilliant first plan didn't just fail, it made everything worse! Translucent's death is trending number one and his fans have lost their goddamn minds. Are they seriously trying to storm the building?" She was yanking at her blonde hair so hard clumps were coming out.
Ivan turned around, frowning. "I told you the downside of the first plan very clearly. People aren't stupid. The masses are, but the ones dedicated to supes, investigation streamers, and YouTubers, as well as the fanpage runners, aren't. When the lie gets ripped apart, people get pissed. This was predictable."
---
In the Vought Vice President's office, Madeline was still trying to figure out damage control.
"I'll make them leave," Homelander growled, walking in with a face like stone. He went straight to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of warm milk, twisted the cap off, and took slow, savoring sips like it was fine wine.
"You've been a little heated lately," Madeline noted.
Homelander licked a drop from the corner of his mouth, then set the bottle on her desk.
Without another word, he pushed open the window and flew out.
"It's Homelander! Homelander's here!" the crowd erupted the second he landed in front of them.
"Is Translucent really dead?!" someone shouted. "Why did Vought edit old footage to pretend he's alive? What the hell are you hiding?!"
The question was blunt and disrespectful. Homelander's eyes flashed bright red for a split second before he forced them back to normal. He plastered on that perfect, terrifying smile and faced the angry mob.
___
[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69