The next morning...
[Washington, the White House]
[Inside the President's Office]
Mallory finally met President Rick Archibald as she had wished.
The President smiled, "You look very well."
Mallory, her face flushed, said, "I'm doing all right."
"Mr. President, let's get to the point."
"But before that..."
She took out a device and pressed a button.
The entire White House surveillance system immediately went down. Even the communications system was cut off, and electronic noise sounded in the Bluetooth earpieces of many people, including the President's secretary.
The President glanced at his secretary, who quietly said, "My earpiece is malfunctioning."
Then there was a knock on the door, followed by the head of White House security entering and saying, "Mr. President, our surveillance and communications systems have both been cut off."
The President immediately looked toward Mallory, his gaze falling on the remote control in her hand.
Mallory placed the remote on the table and said, "Just in case."
"Don't forget how former Secretary of Defense Mr. Wilson was forced out."
"His conversation with Homelander was monitored and stolen. I'm just worried the same thing will happen again."
"This is also why I wanted to speak with the President face to face, so Homelander won't find out."
Rick Archibald nodded, "Your concern is justified."
"So, what did Soldier Boy say?"
Mallory got straight to the point, "He hopes he can speak with you face to face, just like we're doing now."
Before the President could respond, General McKee beside him had already stood up and said, "No!"
"That's too dangerous!"
"Soldier Boy can easily destroy a building. If you let him meet the President face to face, it would be as dangerous as facing Homelander."
Mallory nodded, "That's what I said too, but Soldier Boy insists. This is a prerequisite for him agreeing to the deal."
Thinking of Soldier Boy's "second condition," Mallory suddenly felt an urge to return to New York as soon as possible.
She hadn't been this happy in a long time.
The President, however, was straightforward. He nodded and said, "All right. I'll have someone arrange the location and time for the meeting with Soldier Boy."
"Once it's decided, I'll have someone notify you."
General McKee and the other officials immediately looked at the President.
"Mr. President, this is too dangerous. No one knows what Soldier Boy might do."
"Yes, Mr. President. What if you're put in danger?"
Rick Archibald raised his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet, then said, "War requires taking risks."
"There is no war in this world where victory is guaranteed."
"Right now, we're fighting a secret war with Homelander. If I'm unwilling to take even this little risk, then how are we supposed to defeat Homelander?"
"Right now, we can only place our hopes on Soldier Boy."
"That's all."
Seeing that the President had already made his decision, the others had no choice but to give up trying to persuade him.
Mallory picked up the remote, restored the White House's surveillance and communications systems, and left after saying goodbye.
Outside the President's office, several sparrows landed on the windowsill, chirping.
No one inside the office paid any attention. The President had already begun discussing the meeting with Soldier Boy with General McKee and the others.
Outside the window, no matter what one sparrow was doing, its little head was always turned toward the office.
If someone used a magnifying glass to observe this sparrow, they would discover that the creature's eyes were actually extremely tiny precision machines.
———
Meanwhile, far away in New York, Homelander was in his room, looking at the President and the others inside the White House office on his phone screen.
"Secret war? That's only the case for you."
"For me, there's nothing secret about it."
"You want to use Soldier Boy to deal with me."
"I guess that's the only method you have left."
"You're going to meet in Yellowstone National Park?"
"You really came up with that?"
Homelander chuckled.
Mallory was indeed cautious and careful.
But she could never have imagined it.
The last time he went to Washington to attend the medal ceremony, Homelander had already used the "modified vision" he had taken from Starro to leave quite a few spies around the White House.
Many birds and other small animals had already been transformed by him into mechanical lifeforms.
These things faithfully monitored everything happening around the White House for him twenty-four hours a day.
Mallory going to meet the President was something he immediately knew about.
After hearing from the screen that the President had set the meeting time for Friday morning.
Homelander called Ashley over.
"Help me organize a press conference," Homelander said.
Ashley looked at Homelander in surprise.
"What? Is there a problem?", Homelander asked.
Ashley hurriedly said, "No, no, there's no problem."
"I was just a little surprised."
"Then, sir, what will the theme of this press conference be?"
Homelander smiled, "The issue of the deep cooperation between me and the Federation going forward."
"Wow, that will definitely attract attention."
Ashley quickly took out a notebook and wrote it down, "When are you planning to hold it?"
"This Friday morning."
"Hmm, right."
"Have several helicopters prepared for me when the time comes," Homelander didn't forget to give the order.
Ashley was stunned for a moment, "Helicopters?"
"Do we need helicopters for a press conference?"
Homelander nodded, "Of course. We'll use them then. As for what they're for, I'll keep that a secret for now."
Ashley laughed, "That sounds very mysterious and interesting."
"No problem. I'll prepare them in advance."
"Anything else?"
Homelander shook his head, "That's all."
———
After Ashley left, Homelander left downtown New York and came to his Eden base.
The place had already begun to take shape, and some of its facilities had already been put into use.
For example, a superhuman training ground.
When Homelander passed by, he saw Ryan and Cindy conducting combat training in the training ground.
In the blink of an eye, Homelander arrived at the laboratory building.
This building was the heart of Eden. Different fields of research were being conducted on every floor.
From unlimited energy to biological weapons, it had everything.
The alien lifeform "Black Skull," which had been captured by Angelina during the previous New York battle, had been thrown into the biological weapons research center to serve as a research subject.
Every day, a group of experts in biological fields surrounded it and worked on it.
With the support of Angelina's group and Homelander, the Eden base had already gathered a large number of experts and talented people from various fields throughout the Federation.
This base would become the world's top research center, while Homelander would be its strongest backing!
[🙇🏻 You Can Support through P@tr3on—AmbitiousTranslator. It also has 40+ advanced chapters of all the novels and fanfics. It gets updated daily. Thanks for reading, have a great day~]