CIATB Chapter 20 Everyone is fickle.
Chapter 20 Everyone is fickle.
Homelander eventually condescended to wander around outside, trying to find the Invisible Man by following some faint signals he had previously obtained, since the Invisible Man had been missing for long enough.
Whether it's alcohol or ice, these things have extremely limited effects on the body of superhumans. The invisibility man's unexplained disappearance made Homelander sense something unusual.
However, after patrolling around and questioning several suspicious people, he still came up empty-handed and returned with a belly full of anger, only able to seek some solace at his Madeline's place.
Homelander's attachment to Madeline is like a classic case from Freud's theory: an insecure, overgrown child spontaneously treats Madeline as his mother.
Madeline, who was holding her homelander, was preoccupied with her own thoughts.
Firstly, she is currently preoccupied with how to get Vought International onto the Pentagon's list of military procurement suppliers.
Secondly, and most importantly, it's because the people of the motherland have been a bit too active lately.
The Vought International superheroes are more like entertainers than heroes; their only job is to present the persona the company has given them to outsiders.
But Homelander has clearly gotten a little too caught up in his role lately, frequently acting on his own initiative and doing things beyond the scope of his responsibilities.
He even bypassed Madeline to command all departments, acting as if he were the true leader of the Walter administration.
It's normal for superheroes like Homelander to have privileges, but Homelander's current privileges are clearly directly threatening his own and the company's operations.
One unspoken understanding between superheroes and Vought International is that once they shed their masks of identity, they all lead their own lives: saving the world in front of the camera, and living a glamorous life behind the scenes.
For example, the Invisible Man likes to spy on people in various private places; the Locomotive loves his mistress; Queen Maeve is a heavy drinker and bisexual; the Deep Sea likes to talk to fish...
Homelander was the only exception. He was a test-tube baby who grew up in a cold laboratory. All his interpersonal relationships from childhood to his debut were fabricated by Vought International.
To save time, the Vought International initially gave him the identity of an alien, but Homelander insisted on changing it to an American middle-class family.
Madeline had read almost all of Homelander's childhood lab diaries, and every entry sent chills down her spine.
From a young age, Walter instilled fear and anxiety in the hearts of his homelanders, much like he tamed a circus elephant.
Having been tied by a rope since childhood, after trying for a day, a week, a month, or even a year, he will eventually find that he cannot break free of that rope no matter what, so he will naturally choose to give up.
Even as the baby elephant grows into a full-grown elephant, it will never again try to break the rope that has become insignificant to it.
But the current situation is that the elephant has started trying to break the rope.
The elephant, which Vought has spent billions of dollars on research and development to create, is currently under control, but Madeline is unsure how long this situation can last.
Especially given the current unrest within the company.
~~~~
After using sweet words to send Joey away, Storm quickly tidied herself up and leaped out of the suite window, flying towards her usual workplace.
Unlike Joey, who plays superheroes and acts out pretend games every day, Storm's job is the true cornerstone of Vought International's enduring success.
Storm landed in a fortified mental hospital, the entire building constructed of reinforced concrete, where no patient could easily escape.
After landing, she went to the central control room of the building and found the "attending physician" there:
"How's it going?"
"Which aspect? DNA or compounds?"
The Vought International's superheroes are essentially humans with Compound V flowing through their veins; there is no such thing as a divine blessing. This is an open secret among the top executives of Vought International.
Vought is essentially a biochemical pharmaceutical company, not an entertainment agency; superheroes are merely a byproduct of the Compound V supply chain.
Researching compounds like Compound 5 sometimes encounters difficulties that cannot be overcome due to legal, moral, and ethical constraints.
This is the significance of Storm and the "mental hospitals" she operates; in her "mental hospitals," there is no such useless thing as morality or ethics.
"DNA, didn't you tell me there was a major discovery?"
Storm is not actually interested in DNA research, because human DNA mixed with compound 5 is incredibly diverse and can exhibit all sorts of random mutations.
It could even be said that each individual injected with compound five could be considered a separate race, with reproductive isolation existing between superhuman individuals and between superhumans and humans.
In this context, studying the effects of compound 5 at the DNA level is an enormous undertaking that cannot be accomplished with our own resources.
It is more cost-effective to directly summarize the surface properties using various live experimental materials.
The attending physician adjusted his glasses and handed the lab notes to Storm:
"The hair samples you brought, and other samples, are very strange. If I had to put it into words, their structure is more like that of humans who have not been affected by compound 5, rather than superhumans."
"Say it again?"
It was a very short sentence, but Storm found herself unable to understand it.
"What I mean is, from a DNA structure perspective, it's obvious that it's very similar to humans, rather than those superhumans whose DNA is riddled with holes by compound five..."
The doctor belatedly glanced at Storm Girl, a cold sweat immediately breaking out on his forehead: "No offense intended, ma'am!"
Storm was no longer concerned about the unintentional insult; she had thought of something of utmost importance.
In her eyes, Joey was just a sixteen-year-old boy who had just lost his parents and whose heart was broken; he could easily accept any external comfort.
She could have taken this opportunity to cultivate dependence, nurturing it gradually, just like Madeleine did with Homelander, spending several years educating him and slowly shaping him into the person she wanted him to be.
But if Joey's DNA is so similar to that of humans, wouldn't that mean he has the opportunity to create another Joey through the womb of an ordinary human, just like Vought created Homelander?
A completely blank slate like Joey can be raised by her like a mother, and he will be absolutely obedient to her.
Isn't this more cost-effective than spending time educating a rebellious sixteen-year-old?
As for the extra ten years or so? Storm, as a superhuman who has met Hitler and is immortal and eternally youthful, has no shortage of time.