◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 50 chapter ahead on P@treon of which 10 are free Chapters. if you're interested: patreon.com/Heroicverse
------------------------------------------------
Anthony ignored her stunned silence, sliding gracefully into the van; his tall frame made the whole minibus feel cramped.
"So..." Skye still couldn't process it.
"You—Homelander, Anthony Starr, the big boss of Vought—show up at my 'doghouse'... why? Slumming it?"
"I came for you, Skye." Anthony cut straight to the point. "I read your Rising Tide manifesto."
"We will rise against those who hide the truth..." He recited it word for word. "Well written. Passionate."
"Ha." Skye gave a self-mocking laugh.
"So? Here to arrest me? Write me a ticket? I'm broke."
"I'm here to offer you... a bigger stage."
Anthony stood, X-ray vision sweeping the inside of the van.
"You've got talent, Skye. With nothing but this pile of junk you've given S.H.I.E.L.D. headaches. You're a genius."
"But you're still just one person."
"And they—" Anthony's voice dropped "—are an empire, built on lies and secrets. You can't beat them alone."
"Not your business." Skye eyed him warily.
"You're on their side. Government mascot."
"Mascot?"
Anthony smiled.
He reached out and rested a hand on her seventeen-inch laptop.
Zzzt—
Before Skye could react, the computer—and every drive inside—was crushed into a metal wafer.
"Oh, shit! My laptop!" Skye shrieked.
"You bastard! That had all my—"
"All your... evidence?" Anthony withdrew his hand; the smile vanished from his handsome face.
"Skye, you have no idea what game you're playing."
He switched to "Oscar mode," voice dropping.
"I have to say, Skye... you're right."
Skye froze.
"What do you think I am?" Anthony gave a self-deprecating grin. "A capital-wrapped clown? A government lapdog?"
Skye said nothing, but her face answered for her.
"That's how they see me too." A flicker of "sadness" crossed his features.
"S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury—they don't trust me. They fear me."
"They fear me the same way they fear you, Skye."
"Their people sent agents to pluck my hair, scrape my skin, collect everything about me."
"They want to study me, Skye."
"They want to find my weakness, put a collar on me, lock me in a cage!"
"They..." Anthony looked at her with "indignant sorrow" "...are afraid of me. Just like they're afraid of you."
"I..." Skye was speechless.
"You think S.H.I.E.L.D. is the good-guy club?" He sneered.
"They're parasites, Skye. This country's biggest lie."
"They watch everyone. You, me, even the president."
"Haven't you been hunting for your real parents, Skye?"
The words hit like lightning.
"How... how do you know that?!"
"I know far more than you think." Anthony began his empathy performance.
"I know you're an orphan who's never had a home. I know why you dig so hard for the truth—because you're searching for your own."
"You..." Skye's eyes reddened.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. knows." He dangled the fatal bait.
"They have your file, Skye. They know who your parents are, why you were abandoned. But they'll never tell you."
"Because to them you're just another threat—an Inhuman who needs monitoring."
"No... impossible..." Skye's voice trembled.
"Nothing's impossible." Anthony knelt, meeting her eyes, voice dripping with persuasion.
"You and I, Skye, we're the same."
"We're both abandoned freaks. Used and feared."
"And I—" he smiled "—am fucking done with it."
"Join me, Skye." Anthony extended his hand.
"Vought—my company—can give you the world's fastest servers, military-grade satellite nets. A real stage."
"Don't you want the truth?"
"I'll help you. You help me."
"Together we'll tear S.H.I.E.L.D. out by the roots and drag every filthy secret they keep in the dark into the light."
Skye stared at his offered hand, then into his "sincere" eyes.
Did she hate S.H.I.E.L.D.? Absolutely.
Did she crave the truth? Desperately.
And this man was handing her the C-4 to blow it all up.
"...Why?" Skye jerked her head up.
"Why do this? You're Homelander, a billionaire with everything."
"Because..."
Anthony stepped closer and patted her shoulder lightly.
"The world... needs the truth, doesn't it?"
She stayed silent for three seconds.
"...Screw it, I'm in!"
"But not for you, not for Vought."
"For the truth."
"Of course." Anthony smiled.
"We're the good guys, right?"
He elegantly popped open a can of Vought energy drink, thinking: I am the goddamn good guys!
"Ding! Special popularity +10,000"
...Next day, Vought International, Los Angeles branch.
Skye was ushered into an office more luxurious than every place she'd ever lived combined.
Anthony pressed a button on his desk.
The walls slid open, revealing the most opulent "war room" she had ever seen.
An entire wall of servers, hundreds of monitors, a holographic platform.
"Your van... retro. I like retro." His voice oozed temptation.
"But here—Vought's global data center, quantum encrypted. Here... you are a god."
Skye's breath caught.
She drifted forward as if in pilgrimage.
Over the next seventy-two hours S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence network... went insane.
A hacker group calling itself "Rising Tide 2.0" began dumping data onto the internet.