Chapter 9

"I already knew that you were hiding things. Go into detail before I start imagining things." I said and I didn't hate her or feel betrayed. I had already checked that she wasn't faking her love and as for the rest, it would depend on whether she did something against me.

"My parents were FBI agents and they died during their duty. I was approached by their colleagues 6 years ago and they asked me to help them keep an eye on you. I was told that you had some connections with Vought and I should approach you as a friend to keep an eye on you.

I obviously didn't agree to some random stranger coming to my house and asking me to spy on someone. They then started telling bullshit about patriotism and when even that failed, they moved to my uncle and aunt.

They are the ones that adopted me after my parents death. They wanted my parents' property, which they can legally obtain only when I turn 18. They were hungry for money and when the FBI offered them money and a small amount of tax reduction, they agreed and forced me to spy on you.

At first, I hated doing something I didn't like, but as I kept observing you, I became interested in you. You always had a mysterious aura around you and, also felt that you always knew everything happening around you and have everything under control. You know the rest.

What might help you now, would be about my condition. I didn't think that superheroes, who are meant to protect us, would do all these. I was in my room when my father brought Mindstorm with him and my mind went blank for a while.

After an unknown period of time, I could tell what was happening, but I had no control over my body. My mind was partly active, but my body wasn't in my control. I will testify against them if you want." Kate said.

"You said that you were spying on me. What did you find?" I asked and she got up. She took out some book from a drawer. I came to her room to investigate about her. I found this book and didn't focus much on it as it was her diary.

She sat on the bed and said "I wrote a report on you, nothing else. It is written in a secret code. You have to do this to read it...." and did some things, eliminating a few words and letters.

She handed me the book and I started reading it. Except for the basic bio data it also had "Nature : arrogant, prideful, sadistic, manipulative, careless, lazy and feels superior like other rich kids.

Incidents : Tim Herb, son of Ray Herb who owns a large part of timber business in the country, bullies James and the next week he is arrested for forced labour and his business suffered a lot.

Peter Weast, who also bullies James and after exactly a week, their family's pharmaceutical company is shut down for illegal drug testing.

Tom Butac, bullies James and again, after a week, his family is arrested for illegal constructions in government lands."

I then threw the book to the side and said "Look, I am not going to do anything or get mad at you this time because nothing bad happened and I don't care about the FBI, but I want you to tell me stuff like this immediately. Also, your uncle will have to die."

"After the thing he did to me, I have no attachment to that man. The only reason I stay with them is because I felt lonely and I needed money to live till I turn 18, after which I can look for ways to earn money." she said.

I kissed her and walked to the window. "Where are you going?" Kate asked and I replied "To propose a deal to a close friend." before I flew out.

I then went to a telephone booth and made a call to the close friend I mentioned earlier. I proposed a place to meet and flew there. After two hours, I went to a park and choose a place which was secluded.

I didn't wait for long, as I heard a voice from behind "Mr. James, I am extremely sorry that our meeting again is in such a situation."

It was from my close friend Stan Edgar. I said to him "Don't act like you don't have anything to do in this matter. The drugs were delivered in a box made of Zinc, which I wouldn't consider a coincidence. Also, you didn't do anything even when they were setting up all those evidences behind my back. Most of all, Mindstorm isn't someone who would do all that without someone ordering him to do so.

Now that I think about it, with his personality, he wouldn't get involved even with Hank. I suppose you don't know anything about that." and when I finished, I noticed Edgar getting slightly angry, but he managed to cover it perfectly with his poker face.

"I guess acting ignorant will only make me look like a fool. Although a person from Vought was involved in all these incidents, we would like to assure you that not everyone in Vought want to offend you." Edgar said.

"You knew that someone was behind this, but didn't stop them. It might be because you, the Director of Vought, actually couldn't stop that person. That person should be important enough to make Vought risk offending me. I guess that person has her hopes completely on Maria and Margaret, hoping to control me even if I got angry." I said and the last part made him loose his poker face for short period of time.

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice? You guys first started trying to brainwash me to turn me into a soldier of the company. After that, you tried to make me patriotic so that I would support Vought's men in politics.

I don't know when, but you started noticing that I wasn't reacting to all those the way you wanted me to. At the age of 7, you brought that contract to test out my intelligence and concluded that I can't be brainwashed. With no physical weakness and no way to make me loyal to Vought, you guys decided to make a weakness for me.

You sent me to the Shaw family so that I grow closer to them as I grow up and consider them a family. You wanted to use them as my weakness and as means to control me.It is pretty obvious when you think properly.

Till then everything was planned perfectly, but with Hank's incident and Lyra's incident, it is confirmed that there are fools in Vought. If it were you, you wouldn't risk angering me just for Hank or Lyra." I finished my deduction and Edgar now completely had a panicked and angry face.

He murmured "I knew it was a horrible idea when I found out. If only I could have stopped her before itself." I heard it and I had a guess as to who it was. "Is it Liberty who did all this?" I asked and Edgar's reaction was enough to answer my question.

I can understand her wanting to control me as soon as possible. She revealed a huge secret that she was a Nazi follower in hopes of getting me to help her and Vought, but I not only didn't give her the answer she wanted, I left her near her husband's grave when I could have taken her to the lab faster.

She is not only scared that I might reveal her secret, she is also angry for the near death experience. I smiled when I saw Edgar's frustrated and angry face. I could tell that he also hated that bitch.

I personally never felt anything for Liberty and felt that there are many woman more beautiful than her. So, my hormones also weren't in her favour. I said to Edgar "I know how frustrating it is when we have a fool who is in a higher position than us. I am going to help you become the C.E.O of Vought, oppress Liberty and help you when Vought needs my help. In return, I want you to clean up after anything I do."

Edgar was surprised when he heard the offer. He quickly put on his poker face and said "James, Liberty is one of the only famous superheroes we have and after you killed Gunpowder and the TNT twin, we obviously wouldn't want to loose another superhero."

I just smiled at him and didn't say anything. Right now, the deal I proposed is the best one he can get. I already got 30% of Vought's shares, which is a lot. With my support and with the little plan in my help, he can easily become the CEO of Vought.

It didn't take long for him to give up and say "Fine James, it's a deal. I help clean up after you and you help me clean up the company. Also, we have been repeatedly trying to convince Mrs. Mariana to send her daughter to the Hero college we plan to set up for superheroes.

It will help Margaret if she learns to control her powers and it will also help her be free, not having to worrying about hurting anyone in fights or feel unfair in a sport."

If I am not wrong, this is where Margaret first meets Homelander. I don't know if things would go as they went in the show. In the show. it was said that she only had a father, that means that Maria suicides and her father raises her.

A lot has changed, I wonder what will happen. I said to him "I will just put in a word for you. It is completely upto them if they want to send her to this Hero college. There is still a lot of time for her to complete her schooling."

Edgar agreed and said "Let me deal with this case real quick and get you out of jail." to which I shook my head and said "No, I will deal with this myself and this will be the first step to my plan. Also, I would need to attack any one of Vought's property. It would be better if it is something that has no men but is still important for the company."

Edgar isn't someone dumb. He understood what I had in mind and agreed "I will leave this case to you and will inform you of the location you can destroy." he said. I then fly off and head back to Kate's house.

Before I returned, she was still in her bed and was staring at the window. When I flew inside through the window, she just looked at me and went back to her gloomy self.

I sat beside her and pulled her into a hug. I patted her back and said "I already told you I am not mad at you. Just get rid of all those stupid thoughts."

She immediately hit me on my chest and burst out crying. She said "That's what hurting me the most. If I were in your position, I would think that you were faking the love towards me. I would be completely mad at you to the point of almost killing the other person, but you didn't even get mad and trusted me completely. Even when I was under Mindstorm's control, you believed in me. It hurts me when I think about it because you love me unconditionally and that's one of the reasons you are in jail. I don't even know if I love you unconditionally. I hate being your weakness."

I honestly didn't know how to react to that. She misunderstood a lot of things. If it was anyone else in her place, she would be crushed like a tomato puree. The only reason I wasn't mad at her is because I knew she was under mind control and I used my superpowers to make sure her feelings were true.

I didn't know what to say or how to calm a crying girlfriend because I already mentioned that I am terrible at relationships. I said to her as I patted her head "Kate, I also know you love me. Although you were lying about a lot of things, your eyes didn't lie." trying to convince her with lies.

I guess they worked, as she wasn't crying as much as before. I also added "I know that you also love me a lot, because even after showing you my superpowers, you didn't react like Max. You looked completely fine knowing that I also hid it from you."

Immediately when I finished saying that, she moved back from the hug and said "Now that you mention it, I was mentally unstable at that time, so I didn't think about it that much. WHAT THE HELL? YOU HAVE SUPERPOWERS!!!" shouting in shock at the end.

She then starts murmuring "Did the FBI know you have superpowers? Did they send me here knowing I could have died if the supe discovered me?....."

It took her a while to take it all in, displaying various emotions during this time. After a while, she calmed down and said "Now that I know you were also hiding something from me, it makes me a little less sad."

I smiled and said "Then, we have to celebrate this moment." flying out and getting food and drinks. It was already dark, we ate, drank and had a lot of fun on bed.

After a few rounds, Kate wanted a break. So, I stopped and was getting dressed. As I walked towards the window, Kate asks "Where are you going?" to which I reply "I have a few buildings I have to visit and now's the perfect time." and took off.