After listening to Wanda's suggestion, they started the preparations.
The task of creating the bomb was fully entrusted to Frenchie and MM. Both had considerable expertise in firearms and explosives.
While they were preparing the bomb, they got goosebumps repeatedly. They felt the prying gaze of that mysterious person.
______
The Translucent's only thought now was regret, deep regret.
Initially, he had thought Hughie was just a spy sneaking into Vought. After all, Hughie gave off the vibe of an ordinary person who didn't understand much and posed no threat to a superpowered individual like him.
Back in the day, when he and Black Noir were fighting on the borders, they faced the heavy artillery of various terrorist groups. Even in such intense battles, he emerged unscathed. Compared to that, Hughie seemed like nothing more than an insignificant bug.
Moreover, they were in New York, inside the Vought Tower, the headquarters of the Seven. With such security, the Translucent never took Hughie seriously.
But he had never imagined that someone as strong as himself would one day fall into such a trap. Now, all he could do was pin his hopes on Homelander.
If Homelander realized he was missing, he would undoubtedly deploy all possible means to locate him. When that happened, these kidnappers would face retribution. However, when that time came, his place in the Seven might no longer be secure.
In the Seven, the least prominent members were Black Noir and himself. With Lamplighter retired and now him captured by a group of ordinary people, such a blunder could very well make him the next to retire.
If he were forced into retirement...
The thought alone gave the Translucent a massive headache.
He had a son, and if he lost this job, he would lose all the advantages that came with it. Forget about money—he knew well that "washed-up heroes" were treated worse than stray dogs. That wasn't just a saying.
The Translucent had seen his fair share of fallen heroes. Some were sent to remote areas to live out their days, while others took on low-budget films just to make ends meet. The lucky ones managed to live comfortably in retirement; the unlucky ones barely scraped by, living no better than the impoverished.
As his mind spiraled into these thoughts, gas started to flooding inside.
Seeing this, translucent started to panic, "let me out! Let me out!" in desperation—he tried to bend the cage bars, just end up getting shocked with lethal electricity.
It wasn't long before he blacked out.
Butcher entered the room and electrocuted the Translucent again just to make sure,the others, brainstormed ways to stuff a bomb into his rear end, wanda had already retracted her gaze from the safehouse.
Wanda had no interest in middle-aged men's rear ends.
After this small ordeal, Wanda continued her journey towards her destination—Sage Grove, a facility where Vought conducted research on Compound V and superhumans.
Similar to the "Woods" lab from Gen V, Sage Grove housed numerous superhumans,some with immense power, others with abilities uniquely suited to research.
The Woods lab specialized in creating bacteria-based viruses that targeted only superhumans. Once infected, victims would develop boils and die gruesomely within a week.
If unleashed, the virus could decimate the superhuman population—a doomsday weapon Vought created as a form of nuclear deterrence against unstable superhumans.
In contrast, Sage Grove was the polar opposite. This facility was dedicated to stabilizing Compound V to make it more widely usable.
At its core, Vought International was still a pharmaceutical company. Their ultimate goal was to militarize Compound V, granting them a foothold in national security and global power structures.
The primary issue with Compound V was that it only worked on newborns, introducing significant uncertainty and long developmental timelines.
Thus, Vought established Sage Grove to refine Compound V, enabling it to be directly injected into adults and transform them into superhumans.
This was the origin of Sage Grove.
Behind this facility was not only its chief architect, Stan Edgar, but also Stormfront—a superhuman who had lived since 1917.
Known simply as Stormfront, she had previously operated under the codename "Liberty" and was a soldier under a disgruntled painter, making her the first-ever superhuman.
Her powers granted her not only superhuman physical abilities and control over purple lightning but also extraordinary longevity. Despite living for over a century, she retained a youthful appearance.
Technically, Stormfront was one of Vought's founders. As a fervent racist, she was dedicated to sowing discord and even sought to reignite global conflict.
The Sage Grove facility, while ostensibly focused on creating super-soldiers for the military, was more about Stormfront's vision of assembling a superhuman army to launch aggressive wars worldwide.
Soon wanda arrived at Sage Grove.
It had to be said—Vought was incredibly adept at hiding its facilities. To keep Sage Grove concealed, they had planted several decoy locations on maps, if it was someone normal it will take a lot of effort to it.
Sage Grove operated under a closed management system. Those inside, whether patients or researchers, rarely had a chance to leave.
Wanda phased into the ground and began moving underground toward the facility.
Wanda simply walked through any security measures the facility had placed, they were useless against her.
Emerging from the ground, Wanda turned invisible. Wanda looked around, picked a direction, and began walking unimpeded.
As wanda moved through the asylum, the surroundings reminded him of the orphanages from her past life—just the inhabitants were bioengineered weapons.
As she walked some strands of sunlight managed to enter and brought some semblance of normalcy to this crazy place.
Two figures appeared in the corridor ahead.
A woman in a combat suit and an older man with graying temples.
"There's been some turmoil within the Seven recently. Vought has also been significantly affected. Your retirement caused quite a stir, but don't worry—I'll find an opportunity to join the Seven," the woman said arrogantly.
"You should be familiar with the work here by now. From now on, stay put and follow orders. Remember, report any incidents to me immediately, or you know what will happen," the woman said.
"Yes," the man replied softly, nodding.
Stormfront and Lamplighter?
What a coincidence—she had just entered and already run into these two.
In this world, there weren't many superhumans capable of harming Homelander. Coincidentally, both Maeve and Stormfront were among them.
However, their ability to harm Homelander was situational and dependent on luck. If Homelander got the first strike with his laser vision, they'd likely be finished.
This fact underscored just how powerful Homelander was—there were virtually no challengers in this universe capable of defeating him.
He was a big fish in a small pond. If the fish ever entered a river it will immediately get gobbled up.
Dispelling her thoughts, wanda continued walking. Following the facility's labeled signs, she quickly found the security room, where surveillance feeds for all the rooms were displayed.
Two security personnel were standing guard at the moment. Even though they couldn't see her—wanda still decided to freeze them in time so not to get disturbed.
One by one, the superhumans imprisoned in Sage Grove appeared on the screens.
Some could float and fly, others had immense strength, some had telekinetic abilities—and some had... rather impressive anatomical features.