A middle aged man with a big belly, puffing on a cigar, said, "What's there to talk about? The stock price tanked yesterday. There's only one reason."
"Homelander!"
The whole meeting room fell silent for a moment.
The fat man continued, "If he had just shown up to the hearing like he was supposed to, the market wouldn't have crashed like that."
"If that video hadn't come out yesterday, the Bureau of Safety wouldn't have withdrawn the charges."
"Gentlemen, I dare say more than half the people in this room would've been standing on rooftops today, me included!"
A white man wearing gold rimmed glasses, with a refined and scholarly look, spoke softly, "Mr. Edgar, I have a question on behalf of my investors."
"Is Vought still capable of controlling superhumans the way it used to, especially Homelander?"
"My investors don't quite understand why something like yesterday was allowed to happen."
"If similar incidents continue, my investors will seriously consider whether they should withdraw their capital."
Sitting beside Edgar, a tall, broad man with a full beard said in a deep voice, "Edgar, if a product is out of control, then dispose of it."
"Don't let a single product affect the company's overall strategy."
"Especially not at the expense of our interests."
His words drew agreement.
The fat man with the cigar stood up and said, "That's right, Edgar."
"At this point, there's no need to be polite with him anymore."
"Didn't you assure us before that you had emergency measures for situations like this?"
"Then use them."
"Homelander has made us a lot of money, sure. But look at what he's been doing lately."
"If he can't make us money anymore, then get rid of him."
"If we lose Homelander, we can always train up another Patriot. The key is that he has to be controllable and able to make us money!"
The fat man's speech made several directors nod in agreement.
Just as Edgar was about to say something, the pupils of his dark eyes suddenly widened.
He saw a figure standing outside the conference room window.
Golden hair slicked back. On a sharply cut face hung a smile with no warmth at all.
Homelander!
Then he saw Homelander take a step forward. With a thunderous crash, the window and part of the wall were smashed through as he burst inside.
Alex walked in with his hands behind his back, the corners of his mouth raised, smiling brightly as he glanced at the directors present.
"Good morning, gentlemen."
All the directors jumped up in shock and hurried toward Edgar's side.
The conference room door flew open. Security guards rushed in one after another, but when they saw it was Homelander, they froze, not knowing what to do.
Alex smiled at them and gently spat out a single word, "Scram."
The guards quickly backed out, pretending not to see the signals the directors were giving them.
Sweat covered Edgar's forehead, but he managed to stay calm as he said, "Homelander, we're in a meeting."
"I know."
Alex raised a hand to his ear and made a listening gesture, "Just now I heard you talking about disposing of an out of control product, didn't I?"
As he spoke, Alex walked over to the fat man, removed the cigar from his mouth, casually rubbed it between his fingers, and it crumbled into countless bits of fluff that drifted down.
Then he leaned in close, almost pressing against the man's face, smiling as he looked straight into his eyes, "I also heard someone telling me to get lost and saying they'd train up another Patriot instead. Did I hear that wrong?"
The fat on the man's face trembled uncontrollably. He suddenly jumped back and screamed at Edgar, "Kill him!"
"Edgar, if you still want my investment, kill him!"
"He's out of control!"
"He's a madman!"
"He can't be allowed to stay in this world!"
Under the table, Edgar's hand moved slightly. His fingers were only one centimeter away from the alarm button.
Alex glanced over calmly.
Edgar's hand, which had already been reaching for the button, froze instantly.
Seeing no response from Edgar, the fat man shouted toward the door, "Security! Where are the security guards!"
"Get in here right now!"
"No, call the police!"
"Call the police now!"
"Call—"
He suddenly couldn't make a sound, because Alex had covered his mouth with one hand.
Alex raised a finger to his lips and whispered, "Shh!"
"Quiet."
"You're too loud."
Then he gave a casual shove.
The fat man was sent flying uncontrollably, crashing into the floor to ceiling window on one side of the conference room.
The glass shattered. Screaming, flailing his arms in midair, he experienced a brief moment of free fall.
The meeting room fell completely silent.
Alex looked at his hand and shrugged, "My bad. My hand slipped."
He put his hands behind his back again and said with a smile, "What was that gentleman's name?"
Edgar took a deep breath before answering, "Dunn Baggi. One of our directors."
"Alright."
"Just now Mr. Dunn said he would transfer the shares under his name to Angelina. You all heard that, didn't you?"
Alex beamed, his expression relaxed as he looked at the directors.
Edgar let out a sigh and nodded, "Yes. That's correct."
"Mr. Dunn did say that."
The other directors and representatives looked toward Edgar, then quickly understood.
If they didn't cooperate with Homelander now, they would probably end up like Dunn, taking a turn as a flying man.
They immediately nodded again and again.
Yet each of them felt deep shame. Every one of them was an elite of high society. But now they were like rats in a gutter, not daring to say a single word of refusal, forced to cooperate with that devil in exchange for their precious lives.
Alex smiled in satisfaction, then looked at the white man with the gold rimmed glasses, "When you go back, what will you tell your investors?"
The once refined man had lost all his earlier composure and pride. He put on a flattering smile and said, "I'll have them increase their investment by another 20 percent. No, at least 30 percent!"
"With you here, Homelander, Vought will definitely be the most profitable company in the world. No one else comes close!"
Alex then looked at the tall, bearded man, "Is there any other out of control product that needs to be handled? I can help."
The man hurriedly shook his head, "No, nothing needs to be handled, Homelander."
"Good."
"Since no one has any objections."
Alex made a gesture, and Angelina opened the door and walked in.
Standing behind her, Alex lightly pressed his hands on the girl's shoulders and looked at Edgar and the other directors, "This is Angelina."
"With your testimony, I believe she'll soon receive Mr. Dunn's shares."
"Also, I hereby announce."
"From this moment on, Angelina is the Executive Vice President of Vought."
"Gentlemen, any objections?"
Looking at the imposing figure standing behind the beautiful woman, everyone in the conference room, Edgar included, lowered their heads. Who would dare object?
Alex nodded in satisfaction, "Very good."
He glanced at Edgar, then said, "Have a pleasant day, gentlemen."
[T/N: Badum! Tss!]
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