After his first day of work, Nolan could safely say he loved his job.
Sure, it was nice being an author, but this…
It felt like when he's Omni-Man. Dressed in a nice suit, patrolling, making sure no rules are broken.
Though here, he was only patrolling a theater, not a city, or a planet.
It actually kinda sucked that he had to leave.
But, it was time to make a move on Vought, and he still had to meet Hughie and Billy at the warehouse.
Waving goodbye to Sam at the front counter as his shift ended, He walked outside, and pulled out his phone as he began walking down the sidewalk.
Going to the contacts, he selected the only number in the phone, and put it up to his ear as it began ringing.
"Hello?" A voice from the other side of the phone asked.
"Butcher? It's Nolan."
"Yeah mate, what's up?"
"The new guy, Hughie."
"Yeah?"
"Should I meet him as Nolan Grayson, or Omni-Man?"
"Does it really matter? He's gonna know anyway. Besides, you're gonna have to go into Vought as Omni-Man anyway, right?"
"That's true. You two there yet?"
"Yeah, waiting on you, mate."
"Alright, let's get off here, give me a few seconds."
"See you in a sec."
Ending the call, Nolan put the phone back into his pocket, and looked around. Making sure he was in the clear, he snuck into a nearby alley, before blasting off. He was quick to change his clothes, donning his Omni-Man apparel once more as he flew to the warehouse to meet Butcher and Hughie.
Slowing down as he approached, he lowered down into it through a hole in the roof, and he could already see Butcher there with a tall skinny man, who looked a little nervous to be there. Must've been Hughie.
"Ah, you made it!" Butcher said, grinning as Nolan landed, his outfit on full display. "And you chose to come as Omni-Man. Nice Mate."
"Uh, who is this?" Hughie asked, approaching slightly.
"This, Hughie, is Omni-Man, the only damn hero that Vought doesn't control." Butcher explained, grinning slightly as he turned to look at Hughie. "Remember how you thought you'd fuck this up? Well, this guy has an offer from Vought as well, and he plans on using it to keep watch on your ass."
"Oh, so he's like my handler." Hughie said, nervously glancing at Omni-Man.
Nolan sighed with a roll of his eyes as he approached Hughie. "Look, kid, I can see the look your giving me. Your afraid of me, you don't trust me. Am I right?"
Hughie's eyes widened, before he nodded when he realized he'd been caught.
"Listen, I understand what you mean. I'm assuming that you had the bombshell dropped on you recently, and now you hate or distrust all heroes." Nolan guessed.
Hughie looked at Nolan for a moment, before sighing. "Yeah. Honestly, Butcher never even mentioned you when he talked about this whole 'taking Vought down' thing."
Nolan glanced at Butcher, giving him a look. "Really?"
"Wanted to surprise the lad. Let him know there is a superhero on our side, at least against Vought." Butcher smirked as he spoke. Nolan rolled his eyes.
"Of course you did." Nolan turned to look at Hughie. "Listen to me, I don't do this for a paycheck. There are innocent people who need help, both against Vought, and in general, and those pathetic jokes that Vought panders around could care less. Let me ask you something, what do you know of me?"
Hughie looked at Nolan, somewhat confused. "Not much honestly. Ever since A-Train murdered my girlfriend last week, I uh, haven't kept up with recent events." He admitted.
Nolan nodded. "Understandable. I debuted yesterday, and I spent a couple of hours flying across the country, stopping any crime I would come across." He explained, looking at Hughie. "I could've stuck with one save, and then hogged all the attention, but there were other people out there who needed my help. I wasn't sticking around for any news interviews."
"Wait till you hear his story, lad." Butcher remarked, grinning as he approached the two. Nolan rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, let's see how today goes before I tell anyone else." Nolan said, annoyed. "I already had to tell my coworkers today."
Butcher grinned. "Let me guess, no mask?"
"Fuck you."
Butcher laughed boisterously, very much enjoying Nolan's luck. "I told you the other day, mate, you wear a mask or something."
"Yeah yeah." Nolan said, rolling his eyes, before looking at Hughie. "Look, Hughie, I know your probably a little distrusting of me, but I assure you that not only do we have the same agenda, but when we're in the tower, you'll be as safe as can be." He assured Hughie.
Hughie looked at Nolan, and sighed. "I don't really have much of a choice do I?" He sighed in resignation, before offering his hand to Nolan. "Since we're working together, I'm Hugh Campbell."
Nolan smiled. It was a start. "I'm Nolan Grayson. No point in hiding that if we're working together." He said as he shook Hughie's hand.
"Alright, lads, know that you two know each other, what do you say we go and bug those cunts, eh?" Butcher proposed.
Nolan looked at him. "Yeah, I've been thinking how to make the plan as low risk as possible."
"We're bugging the headquarters of the most powerful team in the world." Hughie remarked. "Isn't going to be high risk either way?"
"I said make it low risk as possible, not low risk in general." Nolan clarified. "First, I shouldn't be seen with you."
"What do you mean?" Butcher asked, narrowing his eyebrows.
"I'm a superhero. On the off chance you two get caught, if I'm seen with you, suspicion will fall on me. But if I… arrive… around the same time you do, well that's just a coincidence." Nolan reasoned.
"Basically you can be a failsafe in case we get caught, but you can still keep an eye on us." Hughie reasoned. Nolan nodded.
"You catch on quick, Hughie. That's a good trait." Nolan complimented Hughie. "Yes, that's it. We can still meet in private, talk on the phone, but I shouldn't be seen in my superhero attire with you."
"Makes sense." Butcher admitted. "Going against these cunts, anything can go south."
"Exactly." Nolan nodded. "I'll fly above you as you drive there, and once Hughie gets out and begins approaching, I'll just happen to land and follow him inside." Nolan explained.
They both looked at him, and nodded. "Any other tweaks?"
"No, not at the moment."
Butcher nodded. "Alright then, let's go nail those fuckers to the bleeding cross."
With a nod of his own, Nolan took to the air, flying above as Hughie and Butcher left in Butcher's car.
It took no time at all to arrive at Vought tower, and after a few minutes of waiting, Hughie got out of the car, walking inside the building, looking nervous as all get out.
Nolan landed behind him, and tailed him inside, keeping an eye on him, and using his heightened senses to listen out for him, make sure he was alright.
Outside of being nervous, he was fine so far.
He tailed Hughie inside, entering the door right behind him and following him in, keeping quiet, making sure not to speak to him to give the illusion that they arrived separately.
While Hughie met a lawyer and was walked off to somewhere else in the building, Omni-Man was approached by a Vought executive. A short woman with ginger hair.
"Omni-Man! So glad to make your acquaintance, I'm Ashley!" She said, offering her hand, which he shook. Though he noticed a sort of excited nervousness to her as she spoke.
"On behalf of Vought, thank you so much for agreeing to meet us here!" She exclaimed, looking at him eagerly.
Nolan nodded, already having to hide his annoyance. "No problem. Figured I'd hear out your offer."
Ashley smiled, and pulled out a phone as she began walking off. "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to Madelyn Stillwell's office. She's our Senior Vice President of Superhero Management, and she has final say in who joins the Seven."
Nolan raised an eyebrow as he followed this Ashley girl. She seemed overloaded with Stress and caffeine, and he wanted to ask why she seemed so twitchy, but decided against it.
The woman led him up and through the tower, babbling constantly about this and that, saying he was up two points, giving him statistics of who loved him… Nolan was finding it harder and harder not to be a Viltrumite. Just this once.
'If this woman doesn't shut up…'
Luck seemed to be on his side as they stopped near a door, with Ashley turning to face him. "Anyway, here's Stillwell's office. She's already been notified of your presence." She explained. "Just go on in."
Nolan nodded, happy to be rid of this irritating girl. "Thank you. I appreciate the trip."
No he did not.
Ashley smiled, and nodded enthusiastically, before walking off.
With a sigh, placed his hand on the door, stopping for a moment to listen for Hughie.
Hughie's heartbeat had evened out a little, but he was still clearly nervous. He had enhanced senses, but he didn't have X-Ray vision like Homelander did, so he couldn't just look through the walls to see if he was alright.
But he wasn't hurt, and Omni-Man would spring into action if that had any chance of changing.
With a sigh, he walked through the door, coming into a well decorated office that just screamed 'upper class', with an aging blonde woman sitting at the desk in the room.
The woman smiled at him as he walked in, and Nolan could already tell it was fake.
"Omni-Man! So glad you decided to agree to our offer." She said, smiling at him in a way that was just wrong.
Nolan shook his head, chuckling. "I haven't anything, yet. I want to know what your offering, first. Only reason I knew to show up at all was because a friend was watching the news."
He made it clear right out of the gate that he wasn't going to immediately buy into their bullshit.
Madelyn's eyes widened at his sudden tone. "You're not… here to join the Seven?"
Nolan looked at her, smiling. "Like I said, let's see what you have to offer, before I make any decisions."
Madelyn cleared her throat, and Nolan could tell she was going into saleswoman mode.
"Okay, so, you debuted yesterday, and already, you're nearly as popular as Homelander. You're up by about 16 points, and caucasion families love you, especially women." Nolan rolled his eyes at that. "We want to offer you a position on the Seven, where you will be able to save the world much more efficiently, especially with the help of your team.
Nolan nodded as he listened.
"Your contract, should you accept, will last for the next five months, and in that time, you will be supervised by Homelander, to be sure that you are okay with your position."
'More like to keep me on a leash.'
"So, what do you say?"
Nolan was quiet for a moment. "How do you plan on fitting me on the team?"
Madelyn looked at him, tilting her head, and her face fell at the question in such a microscopic way that Nolan probably wouldn't have noticed without his enhanced sight.
"I'm sorry?"
"There's already seven heroes on the team. If hop on, are you still calling it The Seven? The Eight doesn't have the same ring to it." Nolan clarified, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
Madelyn was quiet for a moment, trying to process what she had just said. "We can rebrand, come up with a new name." She reasoned, smiling at him once more. "So?"
"Let me meet them."
Madelyn's eyes widened. "Huh?"
"I want to know my teammates, not just their names and reputations, but their actual selves, before I decide whether I join."
Nolan could see the frustration growing in the woman from the little things she did, but her wrist twitching, to her teeth ever so slightly grinding against each other.
"I'm afraid we can't do that."
Nolan stood up promptly, surprising Madelyn.
"Then I am afraid I must refuse your offer. I won't work with strangers." Nolan began making his way to the door, more than ready to leave.
He wouldn't let anyone control him, and if the company thought they could set the terms for him joining, they were sorely mistaken.
"Good day, Miss Stillwell."
"Wait!"
Nolan stopped right as his hand was on the door, and turned around.
"Yes?"
Stillwell sighed, and smiled at Nolan.
"I can arrange a meeting for the Seven to be held in a few hours, where you can meet the team." Madelyn relented.
Nolan nodded, and moved to sit back down.
They wanted him bad.
That was good.
It meant they were desperate.
It meant he was in control.
'Good.'
A/N: And chapter. Sorry if this one seemed short, but the last chapter was actually pretty long compared to what I usually do for this story.
So, The Plan is put into place, and Stillwell and Omni-Man meet.
Even without prior knowledge, I could see Omni-Man not being fooled by Stillwell's bullshit, and he definitely wouldn't let the company control him, or anyone for that matter. Not to mention he's an unmarked supe who rose to popularity in no time, coming close to Homelander in terms of popularity. They want him, they want him close so they can watch him, and they want him bad. If there's a chance in hell they can get him, they'll take it. Nolan has them by the balls.
Next chapter, Nolan meets the Seven, and then Translucent finds himself in over his head confronting a young man from a tech store.
As always, please review, I love hearing your thoughts, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Stay safe, and I will see all of you in the next chapter.