Chapter 55: Two Top-Tier Temporary Superhuman Abilities

"I've never heard of you."

Russell glanced at her with a blank expression.

"Impossible!"

Stormfront froze, lowering her arms in disbelief.

Could it be that after all these years, her children still harbored such deep resentment that they never even mentioned her? That among the younger generation of the Vought family, no one even knew she existed?

"You're mistaken—I don't carry the Vought name."

"An illegitimate child?"

Stormfront raised an eyebrow, clearly misunderstanding, and sneered coldly.

"Well, that explains it..."

She was about to follow up with a sarcastic remark when Edgar abruptly raised his hand to silence her.

"Mrs. Vought, you may join The Seven, but only after a test. I have no idea whether, after all these decades, you still have what it takes to bear this kind of responsibility."

Two cold and imposing men emerged from the woods.

One was built like a tank, covered in colorful tattoos, with fierce eyes like a mafia enforcer—one of those who could kill without blinking. His fists clenched with cracking sounds.

The other was tall and skinny, with monolids and narrow eyes behind plain glasses. His skeletal frame resembled a dried-up corpse, his face expressionless, hands in his pockets—he looked like a high-IQ serial killer straight out of a documentary.

"Just the two of them?"

Stormfront scoffed, clearly unfazed, waving at them dismissively.

This wasn't about testing her acting chops for some superhero PR campaign. They were clearly testing her for something else—something more serious.

No matter. It wouldn't take her long.

As the first superhuman in history, there were fewer than three individuals stronger than her—she was absolutely confident in her own power.

The test was Edgar's idea, a pretense to get her to cooperate.

Russell went along with it and waved his hand to signal the start.

Edgar gave the two men a signal. They each took out a vial of Compound V5 and injected it into the veins in their necks. With a low growl, their bodies began a drastic transformation.

"Compound V5?"

Stormfront's eyes narrowed in shock. Vought's experiments had succeeded this quickly?

Not long ago, Vought had suddenly poured massive resources into research on Compound V5—could this mean they'd made a critical breakthrough?

Her expression darkened. This was not good news for her plan to build a superhuman army to cleanse the world.

ROAR!

The burly man's veins bulged all over his body as he let out a beast-like growl and leapt into the air. A fiery red aura enveloped him, making him look like a missile in flight—his momentum terrifying.

CRACKLE!

Stormfront responded instantly, releasing a powerful bolt of lightning. A thick thunderbolt blasted toward the incoming man, its residual arcs incinerating nearby trees into charred husks.

But to her surprise, the man powered through the lightning and closed the distance, swinging a massive fist down at her.

BOOM!

The ground shook violently. Stormfront barely evaded in time, and the place she had just been standing collapsed into a massive crater over ten meters wide—as if hit by an actual missile. Her expression shifted.

She hadn't held back on that lightning strike, yet it hadn't even scratched him.

Worse, that single punch from him seemed even stronger than her full-power attacks.

BANG!

His first strike missed, but the brute immediately kicked off the ground, launching himself toward her again like a heat-seeking missile.

"Sir, allow me to introduce you to Red Missile," Edgar said calmly, standing beside Russell who sat watching from inside the car like a Roman emperor at the coliseum.

"He used to be a gang enforcer responsible for over a dozen murders. After using Compound V5, he gained immense strength and body durability. His leaping power is astonishing—he can travel kilometers in a single bound. In close combat, he's like a walking high-yield missile."

Up above, Stormfront was under siege as Red Missile came crashing toward her again.

"STOP! Make him stop!"

Her lightning struck him again mid-air, only managing to make his skin slightly red. His fists cut through the air like cannonballs, grazing her cheek and drawing blood.

Stormfront barely avoided the attack thanks to her aerial agility. But Red Missile, defying expectations for someone his size, twisted mid-air with alarming speed and struck again—this time with his elbow.

It shattered her nose, sent blood spraying, and launched her into the air.

CRASH CRASH CRASH!

She flew back dozens of meters, snapping over ten trees, before crashing heavily into a crater. Her whole body trembled in pain. She struggled to her feet, wiped her face, and found her hand covered in blood—shocked and enraged.

She had never been injured so badly—and in just seconds.

Red Missile's blow had broken her nose and left her face a bloody mess. Yet Russell remained expressionless, clearly dissatisfied.

"His strength is just barely passable. Agility-wise, he's like a supersized cricket—not much use."

If raw power were enough to beat Homelander, Russell would've done it himself by now.

To fight someone like Homelander, he still had to be the main force. No one else had that level of power.

He didn't expect these temporary supers to be the core fighters—just enough to act as a distraction.

Red Missile leaned more toward direct offense.

Still, Russell thought, he counts as another body for the anti-Homelander team.

"Sir, there's still the other one," Edgar said carefully, noting Russell's disinterest.

From the car, Russell's superhuman hearing picked up the conversation. Meanwhile, Stormfront sensed something was wrong.

This didn't feel like a test for her. It felt like she was being used—as a disposable tool to test them.

Red Missile leapt toward her again.

"Edgar! What the hell are you doing? I'm done playing!" A chill ran down her spine. She felt genuine fear, dodged his grab by flying higher, and tried to escape.

Unlike the brute-force Red Missile, the other man—the tall, thin one—had quietly studied the fight. He moved only once he'd seen enough and saw she was trying to flee.

Suddenly, his arm stretched like a rubber band, extending hundreds of meters to grab her leg mid-flight.

"Let me go! What kind of freak are you?!"

Stormfront screamed as she looked back in horror. Her hands blasted lightning at the elongated limb, but it did no damage at all.

Then came the force.

The world flipped upside down.

The lanky man yanked her down like a sparrow on a string and slammed her into the surrounding trees.

"Sir, this is Rubber Killer—a sadistic murderer who targeted physically weaker women. After assaulting them, he would suffocate them to death.

"After using Compound V5, he gained body deformation abilities. His defense and strength are both extraordinary—especially against blunt force.

"Even Red Missile can't hurt him."

Edgar timed his introduction perfectly.

"This one's a bit sneaky," Russell said, seeing right through Rubber Killer's calculating behavior.

...

[300PS = 1 Bonus chapter]

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