90 4.2

The six left were called John, Maria, Julia, William, Joel and Hector. They all were pretty forgettable as they did not show anything special. I was glad, however, that we didn't have any moron or anyone denying everything we said.

Well, being able to use the Force is a pretty good way to convince them I guess.

Anyway, as the counter reached its end, I stood by the door, ready to speak with the other presence in the house. Behind me was Victor, the man in a business suit, as out of everyone he was probably the most similar to Stan Edgar.

The timer ended, and the invisible barrier surrounding us disappeared, allowing me to open the door.

Stan Edgar was waiting for us in a large white room, with a large TV on the wall and paintings probably worth in the millions on the walls. It only had three walls though, as the last side was a giant glass showing the sea.

It was sunset.

Stan Edgar himself was dressed in that familiar dark blue suit, and looked at us with an impassive face.

Quickly enough, the entire team got into the room, the newbies standing back as I sat in the only other chair in the room, facing Stan.

"I figured you should be the leader. How should I call you?" The faintest impression of a smile appeared on his face as he addressed me.

My expression hidden by my mask, I replied, "My name is Alexander. Pleased to be working with you, Mr Edgar."

Stan sat with his legs crossed, his hands on his uppermost knee, "I wouldn't normally employ a mercenary group of dubious origins like W.E, but sometimes circumstances force my hand. You should know you have quite the work ahead of you."

"I got that impression. But only one thing really matters in our deal. You want your old position back, but how? What limits do we have? What budget?"

Stan slightly titled his head forward, looking at me directly in the eyes as he asked tentatively, "What if I asked you to kill Homelander?"

A part of me, the arrogant part, wanted to bite the bait, just to see his reaction, but I stayed cool, "I have a feeling that if I answer it can be done, your opinion of me and my team will go down the drain."

"Then what is your answer?"

I shrugged, "In a face off? No. But I'm not a knight in a shining armor. If push comes to shove, and killing Homelander really is the only way to put you back on top, then yes, I should be able to get him killed."

Stan Edgar stared at me silently for several long seconds, making everyone behind me tense as they awaited his answer.

A little too much, perhaps, as one of them, Hector, stood out and said, "Listen, Homelander is a little bitch compared to…"

Holding out my hand, I used Force Choke on the newbie as I apologized, "Sorry for that. Some members of the team are still in training. They won't be a problem for the mission, I assure you."

Stan was not impressed by my powers, which was to be expected considering his job as CEO of a Superhero company. He tilted his head back, and said, "For your limits, I don't really care about what you do, except for two things: First, don't cause Vought to go bankrupt. There wouldn't be much sense in getting a ruined company."

"Obviously."

"Second, don't kill Victoria Neuman. Nor her daughter."

This was a little more surprising. Victoria Neuman was like a daughter to Stan Edgar, but she had betrayed him for Homelander, causing him to lose his job. Stan did not appear to be the type to be controlled by his emotions.

"We won't kill her, but we won't be protecting her either."

Stan Edgar did not exactly look happy at the arrangement, but he still replied, "Fair enough. So, how will you be completing your job?"

Getting up from my seat, I said, "The Seven, and more particularly Homelander, have recently been butting heads with William Butcher's group, and Soldier Boy I believe. Than plan would normally be to use this conflict to our advantage, but there has been a development. Two other groups have also joined them, and know of our existence. They may put the conflict on a hold to deal with us."

Had I entered this world first or second, and known there was a stronger team, that's what I would have done anyway. My team was clearly stronger than the other two teams, and since they weren't allies, they should only be able to rely on the inhabitants of this world to deal with us.

Stan asked, "How will you be handling this problem?"

Tapping the side of my head, I explained, "Many get blinded by the powers of Supers. So much they forget they are nothing but humans who were granted powers. And humans are predictable and easily manipulable. Soldier Boy is on a hunt for the members of Payback, while Homelander is a slave to appearance and his own ego.

"Who's left of Payback?"

Stan Edgar took out his phone and answered as he typed something in, "With the fiasco in Herogasm, only Mindstorm and Black Noir are left."

"Hmm. They will definitely go for Black Noir last. So their next target is Mindstorm. I am going to need his location."

Stan put down his phone, "He is in a cabin in the woods of Vermont. I would advise caution, he has grown paranoid over the years, and happens to be bipolar. And all he needs is a look to put you in an eternal coma. Sneaking up on him will also be complicated, as he is capable of listening to the thoughts of anyone within a three miles radius, with enough concentration."

Mind powers were generally very dangerous, which I considered to possibly be the greatest danger within this game. This was also recognized by the petite girl Mary, seeing how she had reacted to me using a Mind Force Ability.

Personally, I probably held some resistance to mind abilities due to the sheer versatility of the Force, but to most people, a single attack to the mind could be deadly.

That's why I deemed finding Mindstorm to be the first thing we needed to do. He was unstable, but if we managed to make him our ally we would get a powerful weapon against the other two teams.

I also added, "I'm going to need a Geiger counter."

"What about Homelander?"

Although he let nothing pass, I knew that Stan cared little for Soldier Boy and The Boys. What he really wanted was to overthrow Homelander.

Stan Edgar was a cold character, but even he must have felt the sting of being betrayed by his own daughter for a man child.

I pointed at the large TV, and said, "Quite simple, actually. We use a tactic which has already been proven to work before. We destroy Homelander's reputation on the Internet."

Stan raised an eyebrow at that as he asked, "And last time, Stormfront turned the public's opinion back in his favor. Won't she do the same this time around?"

My heart skipped a beat as I finally found one of the changes God had made to this world. Stormfront was a character introduced in Season 2 who had been grievously injured by Ryan, Homelander's son. She later killed herself in Season 3.

But since Herogasm had happened and she wasn't dead, then this had to be a change from either God, or the team allied with the Seven. But I highly suspected it to be a manipulation of God as for Stan to believe she would help Homelander, she most probably never had been crippled.

For a quick rundown, Stormfront is a Nazi Super, literally as she was the first Super ever made in this world, and in Season 2 she had a relationship with Homelander, hailing him as the Super Aryan and the one who would destroy the other races.

But then, at the end of Season 2, she gets crippled by Homelander's son, and that makes Homelander mostly lose interest in her as it was mostly the appeal of someone as strong as him that made him like Stormfront.

That's why Homelander stops caring about her once she loses her powers in Season 3, which ultimately culminates in Stormfront killing herself to hurt him. And since all of this happened under the eyes of Stan Edgar, back when he still was at the head of Vought, if the events of the original show went down, Stan couldn't possibly believe Stormfront would help Homelander.

So there were two possibilities left: either Homelander's personality had been changed, or Stormfront never received her injuries.

Knowing how God liked to mess with me, I would bet on the second.