"You lot, get out. I need to talk to Mr. Ezekiel here. Important business."
Ivan walked up beside Ezekiel and placed the phone on the table right in front of him, video already playing. At first Ezekiel didn't give a shit. As God's so-called messenger, he'd dealt with plenty of crazy fans trying to get his attention. He figured Ivan was just another one.
Then he glanced at the screen. The nightclub footage hit him like a truck. His face went bone white.
"Out! Everybody get the fuck out of this room right now!" Ezekiel slammed the phone off and roared at the staff.
The confused workers scrambled out without a word.
"What do you want from me?" Ezekiel asked, pulling himself together fast. He was a professional conman. If the guy hadn't leaked the video yet, there was still room to deal.
Ivan was getting pretty damn good at this blackmail thing.
"Compound V," he said flatly.
"What's that? Never heard of it. Sounds like some new building material."
"If you're gonna play stupid, then you're useless to me. And useless people tend to have very bad days."
Ivan shrugged and turned to leave, phone in hand.
"Wait! Wait, it's coming back to me," Ezekiel called out before Ivan reached the door.
"Coming back, huh?" Ivan pulled up a chair and sat down with a smug little smile. "Let me jog your memory. You're using your precious charity to ship Compound V to hospitals all over the world disguised as vaccines. All that 'God's chosen' bullshit? Just lab rats pumped full of V."
Ezekiel stared at him like he was staring at a demon. His mind was reeling.
Barely three people in the whole world knew about this. How the fuck did this random prick know everything? Could he read minds?
"You.. you want money?" Ezekiel tried, sounding hopeful. Money was easy. He could handle money.
But the worst thing you worry about is usually exactly what shows up.
"Heh~ I don't need money. Money means jack shit to me. I just want twenty vials of Compound V every week," Ivan said calmly.
"Shit. You might as well kill me right now. If Vought finds out, I'm dead anyway. Just leak the fucking video."
Ezekiel shot up from his chair, acting like he was ready to burn it all down.
Ivan just sat there watching the performance, completely unfazed.
When Ezekiel realized his little tantrum wasn't working, he deflated like a punctured balloon and dropped back into the seat. Sweat poured down his temples. He looked like a man balanced on a tightrope over hell, no safe direction left.
"If the public ever found out about Compound V," Ivan said with a slow smile, "what do you think Vought would do first?"
That smile looked straight-up demonic to Ezekiel. His body started shaking.
He knew exactly what Vought would do, but he couldn't say it out loud.
Ivan finished for him. "They'd erase every loose end. You'd disappear off the face of the earth. The only proof you ever existed would be fish swimming past your chopped-up limbs at the bottom of the ocean."
"Stop. Fine. I'll do it. Twenty vials a week. But you keep your mouth shut," Ezekiel blurted out fast, voice cracking.
Ivan smiled. "Of course. Everyone I work with knows I keep my word."
"By the way, today's Monday. I'll take this week's batch now."
"I don't have it on me. The latest shipment just went to the neonatal ICU at Mercy Hospital," Ezekiel said, shaking his head.
"Hm?" Ivan tilted his head. "Do I sound like I'm negotiating with you? Or are you about to start bargaining like a fucking market stall?"
Ivan's smile vanished. His eyes turned ice cold as he stared at Ezekiel. "I don't give a fuck how you do it. Steal it from hospitals, report it as lost, whatever. I want that package delivered to me this afternoon."
Even Homelander had managed to steal enough Compound V from Vought to create an army of supe terrorists worldwide. A guy like Ezekiel, who actually had official access, could pull it off easily.
Of course, Homelander never could've done it so openly without Stan Edgar turning a blind eye.
Ezekiel stayed quiet for a long time. Finally, thinking about staying alive and keeping his empire, he gritted his teeth and nodded.
"I look forward to your delivery."
Before leaving, Ivan scribbled down an address on a piece of paper. It was for a random shop three or four kilometers from his villa.
The second Ivan stepped out of the rest area, he spotted Butcher and the crew lurking in the crowd, watching him like nervous spies.
A few moments later they pretended to bump into him by accident.
Ivan didn't call them out. He simply pulled out the phone and handed it back to Hughie.
"Ezekiel admitted everything. He's been shipping Compound V disguised as vaccines through his charity to hospitals all over the world. Latest batch went to the neonatal ICU at Mercy Hospital. I'll go with you tomorrow when I get the word. Stay ready."
He had to keep his word with Butcher's crew too. Fair's fair. First come, first served.
"And keep this quiet. Big secrets only hit hardest when you drop them at the perfect moment."
With that, Ivan turned and walked straight out of the gala.
He couldn't give less of a shit about the closing speech by the special guest. Starlight wasn't going to accuse The Deep of sexual assault like in the original timeline anyway. The whole incident never happened, so she'd suffered a lot less.
[Congratulations, player. You have slightly altered the original plotline and earned 200 fantasy points.]
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69