Three days after the Ryan incident, Ashley walked into the office with a face full of excitement and couldn't wait to hand her phone to Ivan.
"You might want to look at this video, Mr. Greevs. It's unbelievable. I think he's gone completely crazy. He actually announced online that he's the one who planned the whole thing."
Ashley was especially agitated. Although Butcher's behavior seemed absurd to her, that wasn't the important part.
The important part was that once Butcher's video went up it quickly climbed to the top of the trending lists on every major social media platform.
Right now public opinion about Ryan and Vought was quietly shifting. At this rate it wouldn't take long for Vought to escape the current PR crisis.
Just thinking that she no longer had to worry about losing her job made Ashley feel a lot lighter.
"Can you pour me a cup of coffee? Thanks."
Ivan took Ashley's phone and tapped open the video.
The recording environment was a bit dim, but Butcher's full figure was still clear. In the video Butcher held a gun against Becca's temple with his right hand and spoke in a cold voice.
"My attacks will not end. This is only the beginning. As long as the U.S. government refuses to put superhumans under control, my revenge against Vought will never stop."
"Please let Ryan go. He's innocent." A woman's desperate, piercing cry came from the video.
"Shut up!"
Butcher's eyes narrowed and he fiercely pulled the trigger. With a gunshot the phone screen went completely black.
As for the woman's fate, it went without saying.
"Smart man." Ivan put the phone down and showed a faint smile.
The video was short, but it conveyed at least three messages.
First, Butcher admitted that Ryan's killings were connected to him.
Second, he not only kidnapped Ryan but also kidnapped Ryan's mother.
Third, he considered himself the righteous side and everything he was doing was only to restrain superhumans.
The first two messages were secondary. The real finishing touch was the last one.
Butcher was trying to shape himself into a hero walking against the light, the only force that dared to resist Vought. It was easy to imagine that once the video was uploaded, online comments about Butcher would be mixed.
In some people's eyes Butcher was just a vicious terrorist. In others' eyes he was a civilian hero standing on the side of ordinary people.
"Your coffee."
"Thanks." After returning the phone to Ashley, Ivan asked, "Did Homelander go to the theater today?"
Ashley instinctively glanced at the ceiling, then nodded.
No need to say it out loud. Homelander definitely hadn't gone.
Ever since Ryan was taken away by the police car, Homelander could only relieve his inner irritation through frantic exercise.
Right now he was tangled with Stormfront in a certain position and floating in the air.
At the same time, Queen Maeve, who had already figured out Homelander's movements, took the key to Homelander's room and carefully opened the door.
Homelander's room was cleaned by dedicated staff every day, so it looked spotless and especially neat.
Queen Maeve tried her best to keep her footsteps light to avoid making any sound that might alert Homelander.
She opened the drawers. Apart from some contract-related papers, there were only Homelander's own posters.
"Homelander wouldn't put the photo in such an obvious place." As Homelander's ex-girlfriend, Queen Maeve shifted her gaze to the safe beside her.
She had no idea what the password was, so she just randomly pressed a few numbers. Halfway through she was surprised to discover that the safe wasn't locked at all.
Made sense. With Homelander's personality, why would he ever lock a safe?
As expected, there was nothing she wanted inside.
Sure enough, when she opened the safe it was completely empty. Just as Maeve was starting to feel discouraged, Homelander's nightstand caught her attention.
She tiptoed over to the nightstand by the bed and gently pulled it open. The next second a stack of Stormfront photos entered her view.
Queen Maeve forced down her excitement. After confirming these were exactly the blackmail materials Butcher had mentioned, she rolled the photos up and stuffed them into her boot.
"What are you doing?"
The sudden voice froze Queen Maeve in place. Luckily the photos were already hidden.
All she needed to do next was find an excuse to leave the room, make a copy, and put them back.
To keep Homelander from noticing anything strange, she forced herself to stay calm and turned to look at him.
She didn't expect Homelander to be pointing his little elephant straight at her. The little elephant lifted its head slightly in greeting.
"Nothing. I went to the set looking for you earlier and couldn't find you, so I figured you might be resting in your room."
Queen Maeve recovered, forced out a smile, and continued, "Since you're busy, I won't disturb you any further. We'll talk later."
"Don't rush. I think you have something you want to say to me."
Looking at the still-attractive Queen Maeve in front of him, Homelander couldn't help showing a sunny smile. He put both hands on her shoulders and slowly leaned closer.
Seeing this, Queen Maeve sighed inwardly. Looks like she would have to sleep with this lunatic in order to bury him in the future.
After a fierce battle.
Queen Maeve stood in front of the mirror, adjusted her clothes, and made sure no outsider could tell what had just happened to her. Only then did she slowly walk out of the room.
At that moment Homelander, leaning against the headboard, had his expression change from sunny to dark in an instant. He crushed a corner of the nightstand with force, eyes extremely gloomy.
"Greevs."
He picked up his phone and dialed Ivan.
"Something wrong?"
"Investigate for me who Maeve has been in contact with recently, when she left Vought, and her movements these past few days. The moment her location appears outside Vought Tower, notify me immediately." Homelander wasn't an idiot. During Ryan's kidnapping a while ago, Queen Maeve who had been sitting in the car somehow got knocked out by a few cans of halogen.
From that day on Homelander had suspected Queen Maeve had betrayed Vought, but because she used to be his girlfriend, out of old feelings he never pressed her.
But now she actually dared to steal things from his room!
Homelander smashed the nightstand behind him with one slap. Apart from wood chips, the photos that had been stored inside were already gone.
"Maeve, you've disappointed me too much." His voice was slightly hoarse, as if the temperature in the entire room had dropped several degrees.
"But this is fine too. It's time to wipe out Butcher and his entire crew in one net."
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69