48 Cape to Corporate

[Date: October 2022]

"…even with the increased debt ratios the projected cashflows are more than enough to cover both interest servicing and the increased OpEx…"

As I sat in the conference room surrounded by the exec team I couldn't help but feel excited watching Ashley answer question after question with machine like precision.

Dressed in a light blue power suit jacket and pencil skirt, along with matching bra and panties, yes I peeked…sue me, plump red lips moving without hesitation I couldn't help but think she looked like a preppy terminator but instead of killing she was spitting finance answers.

Truthfully I was getting a stiffy.

After years of pressure working for Vought and handling Homelander there was nothing these finance cucks could throw that would faze her.

'HA! Eat your heart out Edgar!' Ashley was a diamond in the making.

She was sitting at the head of the table, strategically placed to show that she was in charge of Vought while I was in my full suit at the middle of the table.

Chairman of the board or not the 'Street' had only known me a 'Homelander the Hero', the 'Savior of New York', leader of 'The Seven'.

Officially I had no business experience and even though I had much more patience to answer their questions than the 'old' Homelander it was best that answers came from someone who was at least qualified in their eyes.

Even so the earnings call was going just ok.

Both our revenues and profits had dipped for the quarter which was no surprise to anyone considering the shit show Vought had gone through in the last few months.

Of course it wasn't our quarterly results that caused the uproar it was the forecast along with all the new initiatives that broke all hell loose.

Realistically projected earnings for 2022 were going to be ok, lower than expected but overall ok. It took time for initiatives to ramp up especially in a big corporation like Vought.

Next year was where most of the spending would ramp up along with the partnership with Byron SatCom for V-Light the new satellite telecom venture.

Yea, people freaked out about that and the grilling intensified.

Not only that but then they realized how much we were planning on borrowing and saw how much the debt ratios went up they had a stroke again.

It was a bit unorthodox the way we were presenting this. Usually we'd announce new ventures or initiatives come budget time, using press conferences once it was all planned.

Crossing the I's and dotting the T's, that sort of thing. This time I instead went for a massive push on the whole management team for the past two months to get a semblance of plan out as early as possible.

I wanted the 'Street' to get used to the new management initiatives along with the venture into Telecom and space as early as possible.

Take the stock slump this year as a shock and ironically let it ride back up in the next year while the actual spending spree is on the way.

In a way I was doing this for this for the stockholders, minimizing the risks and protecting their interests. Of course the most specific stockholder I was worried about was me.

A lot of Homelander's wealth was tied up in Vought stock. Between the various royalties and stock portfolios his and now my net worth was around four hundred million dollars.

Now Homelander never really put any care into his finances and why should he? Everything he ever needed or wanted was provided by Vought.

Unlike him, I cared about it quite a bit and just like Vought I was planning on borrowing a metric ton, against my stock and options, not only to diversify but also to invest in V-Light and the soon to be acknowledged space ventures.

I understood very well the power and influence money gave you especially when you had a large purse to spend on whatever you wanted.

I didn't just plan on being the most powerful person physically or figuratively by being at the head of Vought, I was going for personal power in all aspects of my life.

There was also the factor that I was riding high on the 'Savior of New York' bit which gave a lot of public leeway.

That made it unlikely that some of our biggest shareholders like the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYLRS) who administers both the Employees Retirement System (ERS) funds and the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS) funds would move to remove me from the board for all the changes I was bringing in.

For now New York loved me and I needed to take advantage of that.

"…with Byron providing their satellite technology and Vought administrative and launch capabilities…" Ashley confidently droned answers on and on.

'First the earnings call then the ensuing media circus probably for another two months hopefully it will calm down by the New Year.'

Was all I could think as the meeting continued past the scheduled hour.