After Joey's home was reduced to rubble, Laurie woke up to a reality she couldn't accept for a while.
Superpowers significantly amplify a person's emotions and desires—this was something Laurie had already experienced firsthand.
But she absolutely did not believe her father's claim that Joey's family had been destroyed by his own powers spiraling out of control. There had to be something hidden behind it.
Because she had seen the kind of calm and restraint Joey displayed—far beyond what someone his age should possess.
The force he used to knock her unconscious had been controlled with such precision. How could someone like that possibly lose control of his power?
She worked up the courage to ask around with the local police, but everyone kept their mouths shut. She got no answers from them, and didn't even know whether Joey was alive or dead.
Until a few days ago—after running around everywhere, sleepless and restless, Laurie skipped another day of school and happened to see news on TV about a new member joining the Seven.
When the red-and-blue figure descending from the sky still had his face shrouded in shadow, she recognized him at a glance.
Joey wasn't dead! She had to go to New York and find him!
---
Madelyn had recently been feeling that life at Vought was getting harder and harder.
If it were just external business issues, she could handle them easily. But now, a massive storm was brewing inside Vought itself, and her views on certain internal struggles differed sharply from those on the top floor.
In her opinion, many things were negotiable. Vought itself was built on exchange of interests and political compromise. Even though the company possessed what could be called the most powerful superhuman force on the planet, it had never relied on that power to solve problems.
But now the top floor was clearly trying to break that precedent. Sending people to dig into the G-Men's dirty laundry was no different from a declaration of war, and their extreme reaction was entirely within Madelyn's expectations.
Put herself in their shoes—if someone tried to investigate Homelander's origins or the whereabouts of Lamplighter, she would also find a way to make them disappear.
Ring ring~
As she was thinking this, the desk phone on Madelyn's desk rang. She picked it up, and on the other end came the voice of the G-Men's leader, John Godolkin—known as Professor G.
"Madelyn, I'm very pleased that you've been paying so much attention lately to the personal conduct of our G-Men members! As you know, the supes under my command are undisciplined and unorganized. Without strict supervision, they're bound to do things that endanger society."
"Oh, not at all, John."
Hearing words that were practically a provocation, Madelyn simply chuckled lightly, her tone full of flattery.
"Everyone knows the G-Men are the most popular superhero team in the country."
"Of course. The G-Men are committed to uniting society and building consensus. Most of our superheroes are orphans, people with disabilities, sexual minorities, Black people, Indigenous people, LGBT—they are role models and exemplars of inclusivity and diversity for the American people..."
Listening to Professor G's formulaic self-praise, even with Madelyn's polished professionalism, she was finding it hard to keep up appearances.
"You can save that nonsense for when the media is hounding you nonstop over the #g-too scandal, Professor G."
Clearly struck at a sore spot, the man on the other end dropped the friendly façade.
"This is your final warning, Madelyn. Don't push us too far. The G-Men IP brings Vought more profit than the Seven and Payback combined. When it comes to personnel management and brand operations, I don't want you sticking your fingers in."
"No. Personnel changes within the G-Men must be unified under Vought's HR department. The old methods carry too much risk and cannot continue."
On this point, Madelyn could not back down.
For decades, Professor G had relied on his independent Compound V production line, running the G-Men like an independent kingdom—impervious to needles or water—driving Vought's executives crazy.
But the organization was not without flaws. For a long time, the G-Men's methods of recruiting and training newcomers had been… special.
There are no airtight walls in this world. If this were exposed, the blow to Vought would be devastating. She had to eliminate this hidden danger before everything was dragged into the sunlight.
The recent rise of the #g-too topic on Twitter wasn't just because the G-Men themselves were dirty—an even bigger factor was that Madelyn had instructed Vought's online influence teams to fan the flames.
The goal was to give them a warning shot, to force a peaceful transfer of management authority over the G-Men—especially now that internal problems had also surfaced within the organization.
Madelyn escalated her threat:
"Don't be too confident. Your G-Men are not a monolith. Nubia and Silver Kincaid already proved that a few months ago. I put in a lot of effort to suppress that incident—don't let my work go to waste, Professor G."
"Of course. Please convey our thanks to Vought's PR department on behalf of the entire G-Men."
As soon as Professor G heard Nubia and Silver Kincaid mentioned, his attitude softened immediately.
"I've already made proper arrangements for the replacement you sent over for Silver Kincaid a few days ago. But next time you try to plant outsiders into the G-Men, it'd be best to give me a heads-up. Given our current culture, it might be… hard for outsiders to accept."
Madelyn didn't care about that at all. That young rural girl she had planted there was clearly not meant to accomplish anything on her own. To sabotage the G-Men from within, the real leverage lay with the agent bound to her.
"Pleasure working with you, John."
With another compromise reached, Madelyn hung up the phone, a satisfied smile returning to her face.
But her good mood didn't last more than a few minutes before Homelander stormed in angrily, his face dark, his teeth clenched as he spoke:
"Look at this, Madelyn!"
Madelyn hurriedly stood up, gently stroking Homelander's chest as if soothing an angry child.
"Don't rush, dear. Tell me what happened."
For once, Homelander didn't respond to that. Instead, he forcefully dragged Madelyn into the Seven's conference room and showed her a sealed container.
"Remember Translucent, who went missing a few days ago? The Deep found this in New York Bay this morning—a zinc-plated box. Translucent is inside."
Homelander gestured for The Deep to open the zinc-plated metal crate. Madelyn looked inside. Even with mental preparation, she covered her mouth and nose after just one glance, turning her head away in disgust.
Boom!
A sonic boom echoed from the distant horizon. Joey, flying back to New York from Kansas at top speed, had arrived at Vought Tower.
The first time he met Stan Edgar and Stormfront, he had already sensed the rift between them.
Because of that, he was certain that even if Stan knew what had happened, Vought as a whole might not react with extreme force right away.
But even if they decided to turn hostile immediately, he was still coming.
After all, Laurie had headed straight for him a few days ago. According to the message she sent, she was very likely in extreme danger right now.
If he wanted to find Laurie's whereabouts, going through Vought was the fastest way. As for whether the process would be peaceful or violent—he didn't care.
"What the hell is that smell?"
Having killed someone not long ago, Joey swaggered straight in through the window. Before he could even greet Homelander, he was hit by a stench—a nauseating mix of fishy rot and fermented egg.
Joey couldn't care less what these three were discussing, but it was hard to ignore the horrifyingly smelly box in the room—especially with senses far sharper than those of ordinary people.
The stench even caused his super-vision to activate involuntarily. One sweep of his eyes revealed the full contents of the box, and he frowned slightly.
"This pile of crap isn't Translucent, is it?"
He had once seen Translucent's internal structure when his super-vision activated before, and remembered that bizarre skin clearly.
If he wasn't mistaken, the box contained Translucent—or rather, what was left of him.