Vought International Side Story: Joining Vought

The Boys Side Story: Joining Vought International

"Vought International is a pharmaceutical company, and these superheroes are its least valuable assets." In an office on the top floor of the psychiatric hospital, Schiller stood before the window and spoke to a woman behind the desk.

"That still isn’t a reason for you to slaughter them at will. You’ll pay for this." The woman remained expressionless. She wore a Vought uniform, and the badge on her chest read, "Director Madelyn."

Schiller had killed Storm in the psychiatric hospital. The instant Storm died, Vought had already locked onto this place.

Because this psychiatric hospital was a secret experimental site, they could not use large-scale weapons to attack it. They could only send in teams of Superpower Users, yet everyone who entered vanished without a trace.

It seemed to be some kind of secret trap. When Vought received news of their deaths, they could not even determine from the final footage how they had died.

Vought had originally intended to send The Seven, but they had recently been caught up in trouble as well. A group of people from who knew where had been constantly causing problems for superheroes. First, The Transparent Man disappeared, then conflicts within The Seven kept escalating. Vought could only deal with their problems first.

Until one day, in the final death footage of a member of the last Superpower User team sent here, a man appeared. He called himself "Dr. Rodriguez" and said he wanted to talk to Vought.

The footage was horrifying. The man named Dr. Rodriguez dissected the corpse wearing the recording equipment with a scalpel while speaking eloquently.

This was not the first time Madelyn had heard these words from Schiller. In that footage, Schiller had opened the same way: "Vought is a pharmaceutical company, and superheroes are its least valuable assets."

"You could have used them in better ways, but now… look at what you’ve done."

"You created a bunch of super babies. You cater to their every need, and you even have to care whether they’re in a good mood or willing to work."

"If someone gets dumped, you have to comfort him. If two people quarrel, you have to mediate. If someone doesn’t want to work, you have to encourage him…"

Schiller turned back toward Madelyn and said, "You think you’re their director, their boss, but in truth, you’re just a nanny dealing with every trivial mess. Ms. Madelyn, ask yourself… are they worth it?"

Madelyn’s expression grew colder and colder, but Schiller smiled and walked toward her. The crisp sound of his leather shoes striking the floor echoed endlessly in her ears, like the chimes she often heard in the executive offices of Vought Tower.

Whenever Madelyn stood there, the entire prosperous city lay beneath her gaze. It made her feel superior to everyone else, as though she had achieved what countless people could never achieve in their lifetimes, because she could order around those powerful superheroes at will.

But Madelyn also knew that such peaceful moments never lasted long. Soon, her phone would ring again, and someone on the other end would tell her what mess Homelander had made this time, or which members of The Seven had gotten into a fight over some conflict…

At that moment, Schiller’s words kept echoing in Madelyn’s ears. He said, "I know you’re wearing a listening device, and more Vought executives are listening to our conversation. But that doesn’t matter, because I’m not trying to sway you."

"It isn’t that I want you to join me. I want to join you."

"Honestly, I’m sick of this group of superheroes, and I’m sick of you people putting them on pedestals. You and I both know this situation can’t last much longer. They’re just experimental subjects used to test drugs, yet they have far too many demands."

Through Madelyn’s earpiece, the signal crossed thousands of miles. In a conference room, a Black man holding a pen paused for a moment.

"To maintain their perfect superhero idol images, the company pays too much and gains too little. They’re becoming more arrogant, more extreme. Those accidents will keep happening. If you don’t change things, you’ll have plenty of headaches in the future."

"Vought is a pharmaceutical company. There are as many experimental subjects as you want. They’re just consumables. Why give them so many human rights?"

"They should be locked in experimental chambers and deployed when you need them to do your work. When you don’t need them, let them lie there."

"If someone performs poorly on a mission, you can toss him into the incinerator and replace him with another consumable. That’s the most cost-effective method, isn’t it?"

"Oh, I know. Perhaps your drugs are expensive, and cultivating powerful superheroes isn’t easy. But it doesn’t matter. Is The Seven really as perfect as you advertise?"

"Since it’s all deception and packaging anyway, what difference does it make whether the raw material being packaged is strong or not? If they’re weaker, they might even be easier to control. Or rather, when they’re thrown into the incinerator, they won’t scream as loudly."

"Of course you have that right. Those who object, those unwilling to let superheroes become weapons, simply cannot understand the contributions you’ve made to human civilization."

"I don’t understand what you’re talking about." Madelyn stood where she was, expressionless, but the slight twitch at the corner of her eye showed that even for someone who worked at a company like this, Schiller’s words were a little too inhuman.

"Vought is a lawful and compliant company. We have always regarded humanity’s development as our mission."

"Of course. For the development of all humanity, sacrificing a few test subjects is only proper, isn’t it?" Schiller walked up to Madelyn and stood very close to her. Then he looked into her eyes and said:

"I know I killed many of these consumables, but that’s fine. I can compensate you with more. As long as you let me join this game, I’m willing to pay a high price for a ticket."

As he spoke, Schiller produced a thin test tube from nowhere and waved it before Madelyn. Cold light passed through the tube and shone onto her face, leaving a bright spot between her eyes.

"Infinite Serum. A drug that can greatly extend a human lifespan, but grants no superpowers."

The Black man in the conference room tapped the tip of his pen against the table with a click. Madeline in the room asked, "How do you prove it?"

"Guess how long I’ve lived."

Madelyn sized Schiller up and thought he looked to be in his thirties at most. She said nothing, only gestured with her eyes for him to continue. Schiller shook his head and said, "No. I was born in the winter when the Battle of Stalingrad began, and I lived in East Berlin after the war ended…"

"Perhaps my word alone is not enough, but I can provide a list of spies from various countries during the Soviet era, one that has never been made public in history. Vought can ask the CIA to verify whether the list I provide is accurate."

Schiller returned behind his desk, took out several sheets of paper, and placed them before Madelyn. Madelyn continued staring into his eyes, then accepted the papers. She found that they were filled with names and personal histories.

Madelyn took out a pair of glasses and put them on. The contents of the pages were scanned into the glasses, then transmitted to the conference room at Vought headquarters. The leader monitoring everything, the Black man holding the pen, swiftly investigated and verified the information.

During that time, Schiller tapped the test tube and said, "I imagine a globally renowned pharmaceutical company could not possibly lack a research team for an immortality drug."

"You should already have achieved some results, right? But I think the greatest difficulty in extending human life is not how to prolong it, but how to do so without side effects."

"Many of the superhumans you created have longer lifespans, but to you, having superpowers is actually a flaw, because it is completely uncontrollable."

"If this drug cannot be used on yourselves, then the people you want to win over with it won’t buy it either."

"I can provide you with a dose for research. Soon, you’ll discover that it works. Then we can talk."

When Madelyn left, she took a dose of Infinite Serum with her. As she walked out of the psychiatric hospital’s gates, she was still astonished.

She had not expected to obtain it so easily. She had thought they would at least need to send The Seven over and have some kind of forceful exchange with Schiller before they could make him hand it over.

But obtaining it so easily also made her question the drug’s effects. Schiller was not worried, however, because the Infinite Serum he had given Madelyn was genuine.

He had obtained it from Nick in the Marvel world before. Nick had only been able to live from World War II until now because he had injected this drug. Schiller had asked Nick for one hundred doses at the time. That sounded like a lot, but it really was not, because the drug had to be injected continuously to extend one’s lifespan.

Schiller was not worried that Vought would simply reproduce the serum’s formula. Infinite Serum was also known as SSS Formula. Its origins were complicated. Newton had originally developed it to prolong the life of the great prophet Nostradamus, but it had carried a severe side effect at the time: although the person could live, the brain would become demented.

Later, human scientists obtained part of the Infinite Formula and developed a new version of SSS Formula. It could reduce the rate of human aging indefinitely. Winter Soldier had also injected this drug, which was why he could live forever like Captain America.

But as mentioned before, this drug had to be injected continuously to maintain an ageless state. Once the injections stopped, aging would accelerate until death.

When Schiller had been in the Marvel world, he had already confirmed with Nick that without the contents of the Infinite Formula, it would be absolutely impossible to manufacture this drug. Rather than pharmacology, it was closer to mysticism.

Sure enough, Schiller soon received an offer of employment from Vought. But he knew Vought had no sincere intention of letting him join. They merely wanted to obtain the secret of his immortality from him and develop the perfect longevity drug.

Vought confirmed that the drug worked, and the outdated spy information Schiller had provided was all true. It even contained details unknown to the CIA. They wanted to use the same method on Schiller that they used on superheroes: recruit first, then control.

And so, Schiller became the planning director of Vought’s superhero management department, half a rank below Madelyn.

However, Madelyn was responsible for all field operations and internal affairs of The Seven, while Schiller’s department was responsible for packaging, or rather, fabrication.

That was right. This department created the heroic stories of The Seven. It was entirely clerical work and offered no contact with superheroes. Perhaps this was the position Vought had given him to guard against him.

But it did not matter. Compared with being a nanny catering to those superheroes’ every need, Schiller was better suited to being a director, or rather… a liar.

This is the bonus chapter for August monthly tickets.

The main chapter will be updated after midnight.