— New York, Seven Tower, General POV —
What kind of a person is Homelander?
That's a question I have been asking myself a lot lately.
From outside, he is everything a superhero should be. Strong, fast, good-looking, philanthropist.
But once you look past the facade, you see a selfish, unhinged, insecure man with the powers of a god- small 'g' god of course.
"Hello Khan, sorry to keep you waiting." Voice of a woman brought me out of my thoughts.
Cate and I had went to Vought Tower- 'taking' Homelander at his offer to visit. Not that we could refute without risking his wrath.
We were immediately taken to the CEO's office and asked to wait and here was this woman.
I turned around and saw a relatively short light skinned black woman in her mid to late 20s. I was fairly certain I never met her before but there was a tone of familiarity in her voice.
"Hello, my name is Cate Dunlop, I'm Khan's manager. Who might you be?" The hot blonde next to me asked before I could.
"Oh right, we never met before. I have looked over your file so much I nearly forgotten we don't know each other. I am Miss Barrett's personal assistant. My name's Ashley. Same as Ashley, so also Ashley. Nice to meet you Khan," she said as she looked at me as if she was the one with X-Ray vision. Completely ignoring Cate.
"Right, and where is Miss Barrett?" I asked
"Khan, hi." Ashley said as she suddenly walked in to her office. She looked tired and stressed out, and considering what today was it's not surprising.
"What brought you to our humble tower?"
"Miss Barrett, hi. Sorry for showing up unannounced. But Homelander did say I can come up and have a look at my room anytime I want," at the mention of Homelander a chill ran down Ashley's spine.
"Right, of course. That makes perfect sense. ASHLEY,"
"Yes Ashley," Also Ashley
"Why haven't you asked our guests if they want to have anything to drink yet?!" She almost shouted.
"Sorry Ashley,"
"Don't let it happen again Ashley."
Seeing the weird interaction between the duo, I was momentarily speechless.
She hired an assistant with a same name? And now she is berating her? Can't tell if it's narcissistic or self-hating.
"Would you like anything to drink?" Also Ashley asked,
"I'm good," Cate said before glancing at me.
"… I'mma little thirsty. Can you get me a bottle of water?" As soon as I said so Also Ashley pressed a button and a redhead with low cut skirt walked in with a bottle of water and handed it to me. "Wha- um thanks." I said awkwardly.
This was weird, kinda reminded me of that President Biden video where he presses a button and an ice cream just shows up to his office.
"Anyways, I have come to get a tour, is Homelander around?" I asked despite knowing the answer.
"Homelander is currently unavailable right now."
This did not surprise me at all. Homelander was currently at a hearing regarding his murder of a guy who attacked his son.
"That's too bad. Would it be possible for someone else to give us the tour?" Cate asked
"Of course… Ashley, who is available right now?" Ashley asked Also Ashley who pulled out her phone and scrolled for a minute before answering
"A-Train is in the set of his new movie, Black Noir is patrolling, I believe Deep is in the Tower. Would you like me to get him?" Also Ashley said which caused Ashley to stop for a moment.
She was momentarily silent. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking me in the eyes with the smile of a woman who was failing to hide her annoyance. "Actually, it might be better if I personally showed you your future accommodations."
I smiled as I turned to Cate, who returned the smile and gave a nod.
"That would be great." I said and she walked towards the door and topd us to follow along.
We went towards the elevators.
We got into it and she pressed to the top floor.
"We were in the 82nd floor which is where we get the paper work done. As you know my office is there, if you ever need anything you can often find me there but it's better to send a text. The real work, however, is done at the 99th floor."
The elevator door opened as Ashley stopped talking.
The door opened and I was greeted to the sight of larger than life size metal statues of the original Seven.
Homelander was of course at the front and middle, he also towered over others which isn't the case in reality as Black Noir and Mr. Marathon are both taller than him- I think Marathon was supposed to be 6'4 (1.93 meters) which is hilarious since he is actually the smallest statue.
"The room in our right is the Seven's Meeting Room." Also Ashley said
"Thank you Ashley. But unless asked don't cut me off." Ashley told her with mild annoyance.
"Of course Ashley," Also Ashley said with a nod.
"Does it ever get confusing?" I asked,
"What?" Ashley asked.
Seeing there was no more explanation on the subject. I let her introduce equipment on the Meeting room which was fairly high tech surveillance equipment that the Seven had access to.
Cate took notes as Ashley talked about the technical stuff that half of it went over my head.
But the gist of it is surveillance used by the Seven is actually what the law enforcement has access to plus various Vought security camera footage that they actually sell to people.
People apperantly 'willingly' and legally give Vought access to their Vought brand security cameras. It's in Terms and Conditions of the Security Cameras which most people do not read. They just see the picture of Homelander on the box, buy it, set it up, and give Vought more eyes on the city.
Finally Ashley walked us to the Seven's private quarters.
"This used to be Translucent's old quarters. RIP. His son is your classmate, right?" Ashley asked
"Yea, Maverick is a good friend of ours." Cate said which got the redhead to nod.
"Of course… Why don't I leave you two to take a look around?" Ashley said with a knowing smirk, "Come on Ashley!"
"Coming Ashley" the duo of Ashley's left us alone in the room.
I looked around the room. There was no recording devices, at least none that I can find.
Then I looked towards the King Sized bed, and at Cate who was wearing lace black underwear. "Well… since we are already here…"