The Seven's HQ while he's accepting A-Train's "apology," but the amateur is rumbled by Vought's resident invisible pervert, Translucent. After a confrontation with Butcher and Hughie, Translucent is apprehended by The Boys, and eventually splattered across the walls of a dingy basement when Hughie detonates a stick of dynamite lodged up Translucent's anal age.
Butcher leaves Translucent's remains for Vought to find, and the corporation spend the rest of The Boys season 1 publicly trying to avoid itting that one of their top guys was killed by an electronics salesman with an explosive butt plug. Vought make clear that the death of a Seven member would be a big deal, causing both the company and Homelander's mob of superheroes to lose face, so their PR experts are concoct a cover story. Ultimately, they go with the "covert mission" line, but Vought were only ever going to be able to avoid the truth for so long.
In the premier episode of The Boys season 2, Homelander is presiding over Translucent's public funeral. This scene pays off several throwaway lines from the first season. Translucent's son Maverick is introduced after Starlight mentioned the boy during her first date with Hughie, and mourners are encouraged to listen to a tribute playlist on "Voughtify" which continues the lampooning of real life companies The Boys has become famous for. But the funeral scene also explains how Vought are going to be covering up Translucent's demise going forward. As far as the public are concerned, the carbon-skinned superhero was killed by El Diablo while investigating the cartel.
While this might seem like a simple enough cover story at first, there are a few nuances beneath the surface that hark back to The Boys' debut season. For instance, why do Vought blame Translucent's death on El Diablo instead of The Boys? After all, Butcher's gang are already wanted for the murder of Vought's Madelyn Stillwell, why not (accurately) pin Translucent's death on them too? For one, Vought probably prefer to it Translucent was beaten by another superhero than by a British guy in a long coat, but it's also possible that Vought's chosen scapegoat plays into season 2's wider themes. Eric Kripke has revealed that The Boys season 2 would explore white supremacy and racism in a commentary relating to real-world events, while The Seven's new recruit, Stormfront, is infamously a Nazi in the comic books. It perhaps isn't a coincidence that Translucent's death is being blamed on "El Diablo" and the cartel.
Another interesting wrinkle is how in The Boys season 1, Homelander desperately wants to find Translucent because to lose a member of The Seven would be a sign of weakness for his group - so why change approach in the season 2 premiere? Vought's new intention appears to be stoking fear in the public. Homelander is currently using super-powered terrorists to drive Vought's expansion into the U.S. military. While the death of Translucent does show vulnerability in The Seven, pinning the crime on another supe serves Homelander's cause of building a culture of fear around "supervillains," as he loves to call them.
The final cherry on the cake of covering up The Boys season 2, from maintaining an image of invincibility to generating fear.