Marvel : Mutant God

Madeline's "accidental" death proved an absolute blessing for Edgar. The day after her demise, he convened a board meeting and recommended a new vice president: Daenerys Ayala.

Richard had no recollection of this particular vice president. He had assumed Edgar would follow Homelander's approach from the TV series and elevate Ashley—Madeline's former assistant—to a puppet vice presidency where she would merely follow orders. Evidently, Edgar had other plans.

Though unfamiliar with Daenerys Ayala, Richard remained unconcerned. Whoever assumed the vice presidency would have minimal impact on his plans. Even if Edgar had appointed Stormfront—wife of Vought's founder—as vice president, it wouldn't have affected Richard's trajectory.

More interesting to Richard than Daenerys's appointment was confirmation that The Boys had formed in this universe, just as they had in the TV series. Billy Butcher had successfully located Hughie, whose girlfriend had been killed by A-Train, and persuaded him to join their vigilante group against Vought and The Seven.

Not only Hughie, but Frenchie and Mother's Milk had also been recruited by Butcher into The Boys. One key deviation from the TV series was that Butcher hadn't asked Hughie to plant a listening device in The Seven's conference room—not for lack of desire, but lack of opportunity.

When Richard discovered Butcher had approached Hughie, he had immediately ordered A-Train to hold a press conference and issue a public apology. Though A-Train had been reluctant, he ultimately complied with Richard's directive.

Richard hadn't needed to threaten A-Train directly. He had simply informed him that refusal would result in expulsion from The Seven, with Richard revealing to the public that A-Train had been high on Compound V during the incident. To preserve his position, A-Train had reluctantly followed Richard's instructions.

Beyond addressing the A-Train situation, Richard had also warned Translucent to cease his perverted surveillance activities throughout The Seven Tower. Though Translucent hadn't invaded Richard's personal suite, he habitually positioned himself in women's restrooms to spy on Starlight and female Vought employees.

Richard understood male desire, but he couldn't tolerate Translucent's voyeuristic behavior. If Translucent didn't possess valuable abilities, Richard would have expelled him from The Seven without hesitation.

The Seven's conference room.

A production crew bustled about, setting up cameras and lighting equipment. Three days earlier, Vought had officially announced Daenerys as the group's new vice president, replacing Madeline and assuming full responsibility for all matters related to The Seven.

Though Richard hadn't opposed Daenerys's appointment or her oversight of The Seven's public operations, he had arranged a private meeting with her on her first day. Their conversation had been brief but pointed, focusing primarily on The Seven's leadership structure and the selection of a new captain.

After Homelander had eliminated Madeline, Richard hadn't assigned him additional tasks. Instead, he had simply informed Homelander of his intention to formally assume the captaincy of The Seven.

Homelander had offered no objection to Richard's decision. With his strength significantly inferior to Richard's and his childish temperament, he could do nothing but seethe privately. While Richard couldn't confirm whether Homelander had found other outlets for his frustration, he strongly suspected that the emotionally unstable hero occasionally flew off alone to perform his infamous "laser the moon" routine.

Once the crew completed the set preparation, Richard and Homelander, both wearing sleek black long coat, began shooting a promotional video for the captain transition, following the script prepared by Vought's PR department.

Richard had initially dismissed the idea of creating a promotional video that served no practical purpose. However, after hearing the PR director's explanation, he had agreed to participate—not for Vought's benefit, but because such videos effectively increased his own popularity.

For over twenty years, the title of Captain of The Seven had been inextricably linked with Homelander. The captaincy constituted a significant portion of Homelander's fame. By filming this transition video, the attention and recognition previously focused on Homelander could transfer smoothly to Richard.

Standing before the conference room's massive window with the Empire State Building visible in the background, Homelander gazed outward with practiced emotion. "For the past twenty years," he began, "I've served as captain of The Seven, witnessing countless heroes join and leave our ranks."

His voice carried a wistful tone. "With each farewell, I wondered when a new leader would take the mantle from me. After all these years, that day has finally arrived."

At this point, a convincingly genuine smile of relief crossed Homelander's face as he turned toward Richard. "Times have changed, and I'm not getting any younger. This is a new era—your era. I belong to the previous generation. The time has come to pass leadership to the next wave of heroes."

He locked eyes with Richard. "Richard, I believe you'll surpass my accomplishments. Under your leadership, The Seven will achieve even greater prominence. The Seven is now in your hands."

Homelander placed a hand on Richard's shoulder, his expression conveying complete trust and confidence.

Though internally resentful, Richard had to acknowledge that Homelander—trained since childhood to be Vought's public face—possessed remarkable acting abilities. Even without powers, his acting skill and appearance alone could have made him a star in Hollywood.

"No, Homelander," Richard replied with equally practiced sincerity. "You can't just step aside like this. I've only recently joined The Seven. I lack your experience and wisdom. The Seven still needs your guidance."

Like Homelander, Richard demonstrated his own considerable acting ability. Though he hadn't received the lifelong training Homelander had, his performance proved nearly as convincing.

Hearing Richard's response, Homelander smiled warmly. "I'm not quite ready for full retirement. Rest assured, as long as I can fight crime and protect the citizens of this great nation, I'll remain with The Seven, contributing however I can." His expression turned deferential. "Of course, all subject to your approval, Captain."

"I can't imagine any reason to refuse your continued service," Richard answered.

With that, they simultaneously extended their right hands, shared a firm handshake, and briefly embraced.

"Perfect! Excellent! Got it in one take!" the director called out enthusiastically, initiating applause that the crew quickly joined.

Unlike the celebrating staff, Richard and Homelander separated with remarkable speed the moment the director called cut, as if each found the other toxic.

"Don't forget to post the promotional video on your social media accounts," Richard instructed Homelander curtly.

"I won't forget," Homelander replied coldly.

After receiving Homelander's terse confirmation, Richard said nothing more. He immediately teleported from the conference room back to his luxury suite on the 96th floor.

Within hours, Vought released the transition video across all major platforms, purchasing trending placements on various social media sites and news websites. Simultaneously, paid commenters who had been organized earlier that morning began flooding comment sections to guide public discourse in Vought's preferred direction.

As expected, Richard and Homelander quickly dominated headlines across major social media platforms and search engines.

Richard paid no attention to the video's online reception. Instead, he retreated to his study to review information on Soldier Boy.

As Richard already knew, Soldier Boy had been America's first superhero and former captain of the superhero team Payback. During a mission in Nicaragua, the team's circus-like unprofessionalism had led to their defeat by a surprise Soviet military attack. Soldier Boy had been captured by Soviet forces, his whereabouts subsequently unknown.

Of course, the public narrative differed dramatically. Vought, still developing its PR capabilities at that time, had crafted a heroic ending for Soldier Boy, allowing him to fade from public consciousness as a martyr who died in combat.

The materials Richard currently reviewed included internal Vought documents provided by Edgar himself, along with classified military intelligence supplied by Victoria Neuman. Despite their apparent cooperation, neither Vought nor the U.S. military had any concrete information on Soldier Boy's current location within Soviet custody.

After studying the documents, Richard summoned a golden flame and incinerated the evidence.

To the world, Soldier Boy had long been dead. But Richard knew the truth—the hero wasn't just alive but had been used as a test subject in Soviet experiments, imprisoned in a classified research facility.

Though Soldier Boy's strength didn't match Homelander's and posed no threat to Richard, he recognized potential value in this intelligence. He considered whether Soldier Boy might prove useful as a "supervillain" to further enhance Richard's own fame.

Judging by his personality and behavior patterns, Soldier Boy couldn't truly be classified as a supervillain—merely a powered individual with reprehensible character. But that didn't mean he couldn't be repackaged as one. With proper messaging and promotion, America's first superhero could easily be transformed into a mass-murdering villain.

After brief consideration, Richard decided to postpone any action regarding Soldier Boy. While he needed to increase his fame, traveling to Russia personally to extract Soldier Boy seemed unnecessary. If Butcher, Hughie, and the others eventually rescued Soldier Boy as they had in the TV series, Richard could simply reframe him as a villain then.

Having made his decision, Richard temporarily shelved thoughts of Soldier Boy. He left his suite and walked to Starlight's quarters down the hall.

Though he could have teleported directly inside, he chose not to. Upon reaching her door, he pressed the doorbell.

Ding-dong!

Within seconds, Starlight appeared wearing her new, significantly more revealing uniform. While her physical appearance hadn't fundamentally changed, her image had transformed completely. As the saying went, "clothes make the man." After exchanging her modest outfit for what essentially resembled a golden swimsuit and styling her blonde hair in glamorous waves, Starlight's presentation had shifted from youthful and energetic to overtly alluring.

"Are you ready?" Richard asked, noting how the uniform accentuated her figure.

"Ready!" Starlight replied promptly.

Though she despised the new uniform, she didn't dare directly defy Richard's instructions. After spending time with him, she'd concluded that while Richard wasn't the paragon of justice she'd initially hoped for, neither was he completely without principles.

This evolution in her perspective traced back to a particular night at a club exclusively for superhumans. Several days after joining The Seven, Richard had taken Starlight to this establishment specifically to reveal the true nature of her fellow "heroes" when they believed themselves unobserved.

That night had proven eye-opening not just for Starlight but for Richard himself. Despite possessing numerous abilities, he typically reserved their use for serious matters. The supes of this world, however, had developed wildly different applications for their powers.

After witnessing the authentic behavior of Vought's carefully packaged heroes, Starlight's worldview had been thoroughly shattered. She'd briefly considered abandoning The Seven altogether to live as a civilian.

Richard, however, had quickly dissuaded her from this path. While Vought's manufactured heroes might not deserve their titles, that didn't mean all powered individuals were inherently corrupt. Among both ordinary humans and superhumans, one found both virtue and vice.

Richard had candidly revealed that his own tenure with The Seven would be brief. After his departure, he hoped Starlight would assume the captaincy, transforming The Seven from pretenders into genuine heroes.

Though uncertain of Richard's motivations, the relatively inexperienced Starlight had found his arguments persuasive. That same night, after returning to The Seven Tower, she had visited Richard's suite for what had become an intense philosophical debate on morality and purpose.

Now, with Starlight prepared for their outing, Richard approached her, wrapped an arm around her slender waist, and activated his teleportation.

In an instant, they materialized in Brooklyn, standing before an abandoned warehouse.

"Inside are robbers who just hit a jewelry store," Richard informed her. "Handle them your way."

Starlight nodded decisively, approached the warehouse entrance, and prepared to unleash her powers.

...

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