"Alright, people, let’s look sharp! Everyone, move to your positions! Remember not to let any of the reporters get too close and keep an eye out for civilians!"
The agents all around them sped up and began to move in a massive rush once Juliet called out to them while Juliet and Liam followed Jason out of the SMD building to face off against the rabid reporters. And damn, were they fucking rabid!
Ka-cha! Ka-cha! Ka-cha! Ka-cha! Ka-cha!
The number of flashes that illuminated the area in front of Jason the moment he stepped out of the building was innumerable! It was almost like an entire floodlight of camera flashes had been turned on at the same time, and Jason felt himself squinting slightly as the bright lights almost overloaded his sensitive vision! And along with the white flashes, the reporters immediately broke out into questions as they tried to speak over one another!
"Mr. Jason! Mr. Jason, over here!"
"Please look over here, Mr. Jason!"
"Mr. Jason, over here!"
"Mr Jaosn, a question! What made you agree to the interview!?"
"Please smile for the camera! Everyone is watching this live!"
It was like they all wanted to try and get the best shot of Jason, but Jason wasn’t interested in talking to any of them as he just raised his hand to try and cover his gaze from the innumerable flashes that were trying to blind him! There was a podium with enough space for two people in front of the building, and Juliet moved towards the podium first and spoke into the microphone there.
"Hello everyone, thank you for coming today. Please, I’d like to ask you all to save your questions for after we begin the conference, and please turn off your flashes. As you all know, superhumans have very sensitive eyesight, so the bright lights are irritating to their senses! If anyone is found not obeying the simple rules, then we will have you escorted out by the police!"
Juliet’s simple but effective announcement managed to make most of the reporters calm down immediately! They could all see the police officers around the street, and they knew that Juliet wasn’t joking at all! After all, what would they lose by taking out one reporter from the scene? The other news channels would still show the conference, and only that one reporter would miss out! The flashes all died out immediately, and the reporters reduced their voices until there was a deafening silence across the grounds. Juliet nodded to them in thanks before she finally moved out of the way and allowed both Jason and Liam to take the stands!
Juliet knew that putting only Jason up on the stands would make a lot of the reporters tailor their questions in a way that would paint him badly, so she had asked Liam if he would be willing to give her a representative from the SMD to stand with Jason so that the people would know the government was on Jason’s side! But Juliet had been shocked when Liam himself offered to take the stand! This was the best possible outcome that Juliet could have hoped for because now she knew that the headlines tomorrow would read that the strongest superhuman in the city, along with the Director of the Superhuman Management Department, partook in an interview together! That one statement would be enough to make everyone understand that Jason’s relationship with the city was very good!
Jason stood at the podium with a slightly bored expression on his face, and he leaned forward into the mic and spoke up calmly.
"Hi, I understand you all have questions you want to ask, but you see, I just came back from a Yellow Gate raid, so I’m pretty tired. So if you don’t mind, try to keep your questions as short as possible. Thank you."
"Mr. Jason, do you not want to talk to the press!?"
"Is there any other reason why you’re trying to keep the interview short!?"
"Have you gone online to see any of the statements written about you, Mr. Jason!? Are you really considering using the souls of the dead as eternal servants!?"
"Mr. Jason...!"
"Mr. Jason...!"
Jason sighed calmly as he looked around at all the rabid reporters who had started shouting the moment he asked them not to waste his time, and he was one moment away from simply leaving this place and going back home, but Liam spoke up to calm the situation.
"Okay everyone, please calm down. Mr. Jason has been through a lot in the Yellow Gate, and as you can see from his attire, he hasn’t even been home to rest yet. Let’s try to consider his time and make this as quick as possible. You over there, yes, you can go first."
The person that Liam had called was a pretty young woman with red hair and a kind smile. She brightened up once she saw that she was the one being called, and she quickly stood up and asked her question.
"Mr. Jason, please, what do you have to say about the recent online rumors that you are planning to resurrect the souls of the dead to use in your army?"
Jason wasn’t surprised by the question since he already knew about it from his subordinates’ memories, so he just shrugged and answered nonchalantly.
"It’s nonsense. I only resurrect the souls of those that I kill, and if I killed you, then you can be sure that it was for a fucking good reason."
"Mr. Jason! Mr. Jason! So you’re saying that the reason you don’t resurrect the souls of your allies is because you don’t have a good reason to kill them yourself? What sort of message are you trying to pass with that statement? Are you saying that others shouldn’t cross you so they aren’t subjected to your powers?"
One of the journalists there quickly raised her hand and stood up when she heard Jason’s answer, and Jason raised a calm brow at the woman before speaking.
"No, that isn’t what I’m saying. I was simply answering the previous question. If there are people out there who want to attack me because of my power, then they are more than welcome to try. But I will not be held accountable for what happens to them afterwards."
A chilling pressure passed through the gathered reporters when they heard that response, and some of them even swallowed in slight nervousness as they realized that they were standing in front of someone who had stared death in the face many times and taken the lives of more people than they could count! This was a man who wasn’t afraid of his relationship with death! In fact, he was proud of it!
The next journalist raised their hand and this line of questioning continued for a few more minutes with Jason calmly answering all of them. Liam stood beside Jason, and he only interjected every now and then when it looked like a journalist was getting a little too aggressive with their question or if the journalist looked like they were getting on Jason’s nerves with a question that was a little too personal.
The journalists asked Jason about his home life, his mother and father, his sister, his girlfriend, his school — everything! It was getting to the point when they even started to ask Jason about his sex life, and Liam had to interrupt when one of them even brought up the topic of how long Jason could last in bed because of his powers! These journalists were fucking animals!
But finally, after things had gone on for a few minutes, a man raised his hand, and Jason felt his eyes narrow when he saw the man stand up and give Jason a calculating look! Jason knew this man! This was the same bastard who had brought up the topic of Jason using his powers to resurrect the bodies of superhumans and using them as slaves! This was Darius, the reporter who made Griselda lose her cool during the previous interview.