"Was there someone in the room just now?"
Stormfront had changed out of her earlier outfit and into a lighter black knee-length dress. She pushed the door open, her skirt swaying gently as her high heels clicked against the floor. Then she handed Joey a stack of documents.
Joey took the files. At a glance, they were clearly secondhand materials that had been scanned and photocopied.
Much of the information about dates and locations had been processed afterward, but the yellowed tint of the paper still made it obvious that these documents were quite old.
He flipped through them carefully while replying to Stormfront in a casual tone.
"No one, Ms. Stormfront. Just a demon trying to tempt me."
Stormfront put her hands on her hips and laughed. "I told you to call me Clara~ And is this you trying to flirt with me?"
"Absolutely not, ma'am."
Joey skimmed rapidly, soon finishing the entire set of documents in detail. Unlike the files he had browsed earlier on the tablet, these paper materials—while still containing a fair amount of vague speculation—did include a considerable portion of content that actually had substance.
Even so, they were still far removed from the true world of magic.
"I borrowed these from an old friend of mine," Stormfront said. "He used to be my biggest idol. For a while, he was very interested in researching these mysterious things."
Stormfront noticed that the stack of historical materials she had acquired had clearly caught Joey's attention.
"Ms. Storm… Clara." Under Stormfront's gaze, Joey corrected his form of address. "Could you take me to visit this old friend of yours?"
"I'm afraid that won't be possible," Stormfront replied, clearly having anticipated the question. "He passed away a long time ago. Shot himself in the head."
"I'm very sorry. My condolences." The former owner's tragic fate only strengthened Joey's determination to obtain the complete materials. "Researching these things really is dangerous. What did he do for a living? Some kind of fortune-teller or mage?"
"No, no, no. He was just a moderately well-known local painter. His suicide didn't have much to do with these studies—it was just that his career hit a bit of a setback."
By now, Stormfront had already worked out her own plan for how to draw closer to Joey. "This was only his hobby, but he did collect a lot of material back then. If you like, I can have some people go through his belongings again. But first, you'll have to agree to one condition."
Joey wasn't opposed to such an exchange. He needed to speed things up and get a glimpse of the real magic world so he could achieve some of his goals.
"As long as it doesn't violate the law or cross any moral boundaries, Ms. Clara, anything is fine. I could even pluck any star you want from the sky."
"Hahaha! Even for me, that's a bit too cliche, little man."
Stormfront laughed heartily, her cheeks flushing red, her eyes curving into crescents. A faint hint of crow's-feet appeared at the corners of her eyes, adding a different kind of charm.
She simply took Joey's words as the flattery of a man toward a beautiful woman.
"Compared to stars in the sky, we should have loftier ambitions. For example—this world needs a hero."
Stormfront reached out and gently stroked Joey's chest, lifting her head to admire his face. Her hazy gaze was as if she were looking at a perfect creation.
"A superhero like you. You came into this world with a mission. The people, the corporations, the government—they are all rotting, all falling into corruption. They need a leader, a role model, a hero to make them better, more… pure."
"Isn't Homelander and the Seven enough for this world?"
Joey's words weren't really a question. Deep down, he already had a rough answer.
If before, his indifference had kept him from noticing the abnormalities of this world's superhero organizations, then after meeting two members of the Seven, he could no longer ignore it—especially since the Seven appeared to be affiliated with Vought, the company run by that very same chicken man, Stan Edgar. That made things even more suspicious.
That familiar face had played many roles across different universes: a fast-food tycoon turned meth kingpin, a blood-soaked mad dictator on a Central American island nation, an utterly corrupt sector governor in a galactic empire.
Going by first impressions, Joey felt there was no reason this universe should be any different. There had to be something wrong with Vought.
"The Seven aren't bad. They all live up to their profession. Homelander is fine—he's patriotic and pure-hearted—but he's already reached his limit, and he's far too stubborn."
"But you're different. You're young, full of promise. Join us. Become a hero. I can make you even more perfect—like a god."
After saying this, Stormfront looked up at Joey. She noticed the hesitation on his face, and smoothly slid the hand resting on his chest downward, wrapping both arms around him.
She slowly rubbed her face against his chest, while her other hand gently stroked his back. She was a head shorter than Joey, just enough for him to catch the fragrance in her hair.
"I remember you saying earlier that you could do anything for me. Do you really mean 'anything'?"
"I already said it—nothing illegal, ma'am."
Having gone through puberty twice and lived two lifetimes adding up to over forty years, Joey was naturally able to see through such an obvious honey trap. "Legally speaking, doing anything with a minor is a federal felony."
"I didn't ask you to do anything illegal. The one breaking the law would be me, not you. Isn't that right?"
One major downside of reincarnation is that when the time comes, you go through puberty all over again.
Teenagers in this phase are bursting with energy and vitality, often driven by hormones to do things that go against their true intentions—and to make decisions that are absolutely wrong.
For example, right now, Joey felt that Clara's words actually made a lot of sense.
---
"Hello to all the national producers, I'm a superhero trainee with twelve and a half years of training—Starlight~"
How many steps does it take to become a superhero?
First, you need to discover your talent. Then come image shaping, persona packaging, talent shows, media exposure, brand endorsements, stage performances…
Of course, there's also a small portion devoted to fighting crime and doing good deeds—but in the end, all of it serves the purposes above.
Annie January is a 'superhero' from Iowa. She was born with the ability to control electricity, possessed immense strength, and could fly.
After more than a decade of grueling training, combined with that small bit of innate talent, she finally stood on the highest-level audition stage of 'America's Got Heroes.'
As long as she won this competition, she could replace the retiring Lamplighter and advance into the nation's most powerful and famous superhero organization—the Seven—becoming a real superhero.
Starlight was serious about this—not just about the competition, but about being a superhero itself. She wasn't talking about the parts under the spotlight, not the singing, dancing, or rapping.
She meant the true 'superhero' part—the part about carrying hope, fighting evil, and saving the world. The part about genuinely doing good.
Like a puppet on strings, she had participated in talent shows for years, witnessing and experiencing countless filthy things—drugs, discrimination, exploitation…
She had even seen many people willingly sleep with powerful figures behind the scenes just to become a superhero admired by the masses.
Yet none of this had erased her nature, nor completely killed the small heroic dream buried deep in her heart.
She believed that once she joined the Seven, everything would be different. The most powerful superhero team in the world—she would finally escape her puppet-like existence and become her true self again.
A hero this world needs.