As the weeks flew by, I started to notice Stormfront and Homelander growing closer. When I asked Stormfront, she told me that they were dating. While I told her I was happy for them I was actually a little disappointed. I hadn't considered asking her out or anything but now that she was dating someone, she would be spending all of he free time with him, and we wouldn't have much free time to hang out together.
I will admit, that I have been a little lonely lately. My only real friend on the team is pretty busy now, with doing all of her rallies condemning super terrorists, and the rest of her free time being taken up by Homelander. My family is in another state, and I was beginning to realize that I had no-one to talk to. I continued to do my own work, going on a few missions and just trying to stay busy when I decided that I need to make some new friends outside of my line of work. I figured the best way to do that was to join a running group and just start talking to people. That's what my dad did and it seemed to have worked out for him.
So, I started to go out and run every weekend with this running group I found on Garmin and we started to talk. After the runs I invited a few of them to go out and get some lunch together. One thing led to another and bam, I had made some new friends. They knew who I was of course, but these were smart people, some of them were doctors, lawyers, and one of the runners was even a governor so they didn't seem to have any problems talking with me, they were all used to meeting famous people, and being famous people themselves.
As I talked about everything that had gone on since I joined the 7 with them they decided to comment and express their views on everything that they now knew went on behind the scenes of Vought. They weren't really surprised by how much of our time was given to PR stunts and other such things, but they were surprised to learn how, well, dysfunctional our team was.
They told me that usually coworkers will interact at least somewhat outside of the office, and the fact that I talked to pretty much none of the members of the 7 outside of work was kind of unusual, but not a unique situation. They told me that sometimes people at work are just fellow employees and not friends. I was told to not worry about it, that if they just want to remain professional, then there was nothing wrong with that.
After a few weeks of my new routine, running with my new friends and continuing my work, I was feeling better than ever. I was also starting to realize that this is what I had needed all along, an outside perspective.
One day though, after arriving at Vought for work as usual, I learned something that I was not expecting, Starlight was working with terrorists. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I had known that she was having problems, it would be hard to not know that much having met her mother, but to think that she was working with terrorists! When later that day I was asked by reporters for comments on the news that Homelander had released I said, "I'll be honest here, I'm still extremely shocked to learn about this. I would like to believe that these allegations are false, but Starlight did admit to the 7 that she had once dated one of these criminals. I had assumed that she was being tricked and used, and had broken things off, but now, I don't know what to believe."
Still shocked about what had happened I went to talk to the other members of the 7 about what had happened, to see if they knew more details about everything that had happened with Starlight. As I walked over to Homelander and Stormfront, I saw them fly off to who knows where. So, after that I tried to talk to Maeve, only to not be able to find her. After not finding anyone on the 7 to talk to I decided to take this to the top, the CEO Edgar. I went up to his office and, after knocking on his door, I walked in after hearing a "come in".
I stepped in front of Edgar's desk and after a moment of silence he said, "Metallic, what can I do for you.
I paused for a moment and then asked, "Edgar, sir, I'm here to ask, did Starlight really work with those terrorists. I'd ask Homelander or any other members of the 7 but I haven't been able to talk to them in private, and no one here at Vought will tell me anything, they either don't know, or won't tell me."
Edgar paused for a moment and then replied, "As far as I know, yes, Starlight did in fact work with those criminals to bring down Vought."
Processing these words, the shock and confusion started to leave me, being replaced by a feeling of betrayal. The fact that Starlight betrayed the team was angering. I asked, after processing what was said, "Is there anything you need me to do sir."
Edgar looked at me for a moment, seemingly searching my soul for a moment, and then, looking pleased at what he had found said, "No, nothing at the moment, just go home and rest for the day. Come back tomorrow for the hearing that will be taking place against Vought. We will need you there, you may be called to testify. I trust you will be speaking in favor of Vought."
"Of course, sir" I responded, while I wouldn't lie, I couldn't really think of anything really bad that Vought had done that every other company in the US wasn't doing.
I left that room feeling less confused, and more motivated to help Vought. The next day, as I walked into the court, I greeted reporters and answered a few questions saying, "I trust today's court hearing will prove that Vought hasn't done any corporate malfeasance or been involved in any felonies. I have been with Vought for about half a year now, and in all of that time I haven't seen evidence of any of these allegations. So, I will be very surprised to find any of these accusations proving to be true."
As I sat down in the court room next to a random stranger, dressed in my normal steel costume, without the helmet pulled over, I waited for the court proceedings to start. When it finally began, a witness was called in by the prosecutor, a Jonah Vogelbaum. He rolled in on a wheelchair and as he came in, I knew absolutely nothing about the man, other than the fact that he was apparently a former CSO of Vought, as told by the prosecutor. I leaned over and asked the man next to me if he knew anything about the man. He responded that he didn't know the man either.
I sat on the edge of my seat, waiting to hear the man's testimony, and just as he was about to start making his opening statement, the judges head suddenly exploded. Then Vogelbaums head exploded. I quickly stood up panicked, and covered my head in steel, trying to protect myself. As everyone ran around panicking, more people started to explode. I tried looking for the perpetrator, only to find no one. I quickly started to help evacuate the room, calling everyone to follow me towards the exit. As everyone followed me and we left the room, I still found no evidence of the criminal behind this. After everything was over, I went home showered the blood off, and went to sleep, pretty horrified by everything that had happened that day.
YOU ARE READING
The Boys- Apprentice
FanfictionA young man goes on to apprentice as a hero for the one and only Queen Maeve of the 7.