Edgar pulled his glasses from his pocket and put them on, then leaned back on the sofa at a leisurely pace.

With a calm expression, he said, "The number of supes is completely under Vought’s control. If we start selling Compound V to regular people, how do you guarantee there won’t be a second Vought?"

Facing Edgar’s question, Ivan smiled.

"Monopoly."

This answer clearly pleased Edgar. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly as his right hand tapped lightly on the armrest. "Go on."

"Just as you said, Vought’s foundation is the Compound V formula. As long as we keep control of the formula, we remain the eternal monopoly. Besides, when we sell Compound V, we’ll set up strict requirements and have buyers sign contracts. It’s basically taking what we’ve been doing in secret and bringing it out into the open."

After hearing Ivan’s explanation, Edgar closed his eyes contentedly.

"Very good. Vought has always been a pharmaceutical company. I’m glad you understand that. At first I thought you were like Madeline, planning to pour more energy into the superhero entertainment business. Looks like I misjudged you."

"However, you should stay out of Compound V matters for now. Our only client remains the military."

"You’re smart and capable. The future of Vought will be yours."

Edgar skillfully dangled a big carrot. His meaning was clear: when he retired, he would hand the CEO position over to Ivan.

"Mr. Edgar, you are the soul of Vought. I don’t think anyone can replace you."

Ivan neither accepted nor rejected the offer.

"Alright. Regarding your proposal, I’ll have the finance department allocate you some funds. Do good work. I hope you can give me a pleasant surprise."

Whether Ivan would give Edgar a pleasant surprise remained to be seen, but a massive shock was already close at hand.

...

The scene shifted to Starlight. She was chatting with Stormfront when Stormfront suddenly told her that a one-eyed guy had been staring at her from behind.

"Hey, what happened to your eye?" Gecko had been fine the last time she saw him. How did his eye suddenly get messed up?

"Vought developed a new leave-in hair growth shampoo. The only downside is it makes your eyes feel like shit. Fuck it, you don’t care about that anyway." Gecko handed over the sample. "Here. This is what you wanted."

The sample was hidden inside a makeup bag. When Starlight opened it, she even found several lipsticks and lip glosses inside.

"Are you kidding me? I can’t take this right now. I can’t leave this media event, and I don’t have any pockets."

She tried to hand the makeup bag back to Gecko.

"Listen, just give it to me after the event."

But Gecko sounded extremely impatient. "The thing you wanted is inside. I did everything you asked. If you threaten me again, I’ll tell everyone what happened."

With that, he turned and walked away.

Whoosh!

A-Train suddenly appeared right in front of Starlight. The sneaky way the two had been acting immediately caught his attention. "You and Gecko know each other well?"

Starlight reacted quickly. "Yeah, we’ve known each other for a long time."

When she tried to leave, A-Train stopped her. "Hold on. What were you trying to stuff into your boot just now?"

"Nothing. You must’ve seen wrong." Starlight walked over to Stormfront’s bag and slipped the item inside.

Right at that moment, the newly reconstructed Mesmer accidentally knocked over the chair holding the bag. The pink makeup bag fell to the floor.

"Sorry, I didn’t mean to," Mesmer said, reaching down to pick it up. But his speed was no match for A-Train’s.

A-Train snatched the bag first and held it in front of Starlight. "Hard to imagine Stormfront using a pink makeup bag. This wouldn’t happen to be yours, would it? Mind if I take a look inside?"

Honestly, Starlight wanted to kill Mesmer right then and there.

"Sorry, you two chat. I’ve got things to handle." After putting everything back in place, Mesmer quickly left.

On the other end of the media center on Vought’s first floor, Ivan took a glass of whiskey from Mesmer’s hand. He held the glass and looked toward Starlight and A-Train while speaking to Mesmer. "Vought Diplomacy Department Deputy Director, Mr. Morland. Congratulations on your first day. How does it feel?"

"Thank you." Mesmer hadn’t expected to be given such an important position on his very first day back at Vought. He was extremely grateful to Ivan. Ever since Vought had abandoned him, he had been unemployed. Now he had a brand-new identity and a highly respectable job.

"Your previous identity was too sensitive. It might take some time before you can see your daughter. I hope you understand."

Ivan took a sip of whiskey and continued watching the show.

Since Edgar refused to change his clients, Ivan would just have to make him change.

Meanwhile, under Starlight’s watchful gaze, A-Train slowly unzipped the bag. When he saw the small vial of blue liquid inside, he smiled.

"Care to explain this?"

"You’d better stay out of it." Starlight reached out to snatch the bag, but A-Train pulled it away.

"You’re not scared I’ll hand this over to Homelander?"

A-Train zipped the bag back up and acted like he was about to walk away.

"You won’t." Starlight, now calm, realized he was bluffing. He didn’t dare rat her out because she had dirt on him too. She had seen the autopsy report on Pop Claw. Six syringes jammed into the arm veins, one even stabbed straight into the bone.

There was no way Pop Claw could have done that to herself.

But Vought had covered it up. If Starlight leaked the truth to the media, A-Train would be finished.

"How do you know I won’t? The mistake you just made is way bigger than mine. If Homelander finds out, there’s only one ending for you. You don’t want to get lasered into chunks, do you, Starlight?" A-Train felt a rush of satisfaction seeing the woman who had attacked him that night forced to eat shit in front of him.

Starlight stared straight into his eyes and dropped a single name. "Pop Claw."

"I don’t need to explain how she died, right? Worst case, we go down together."

"Hahaha, relax. I was just joking. Six million eight hundred and sixty thousand dollars, and I’ll keep your little secret." A-Train shrugged. He was desperate for cash. Ever since Ivan had blackmailed him, his bank account was basically empty.

Even though he was demanding that much from Starlight, only a small portion would actually end up in his pocket.

The lion’s share always went to someone else.

___

[]~(￣▽￣)~*

Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69