At the Vought Tower, Madelyn sat with a confident smile across from Susan Raynor.
"Do you know what this is?" Susan held up a vial of Compound V.
"Ms. Raynor, I'm aware of the unfortunate incident involving an organization affiliated with Vought and the involvement of Ezekiel, whom we've hosted for so long," Madelyn replied with finished sadness and anger.
"Unfortunate?" Susan scoffed. "Madelyn Stillwell, I can't believe you can sit here and call such a monstrosity 'unfortunate.' They took this strange drug that causes genetic alterations and administered it to thousands of babies!"
Madelyn remained silent. "Excuse me, am I under arrest? I don't believe the Deputy Director of the CIA uses such cheap tricks to confront me."
The CIA had uncovered the distribution network of Samaritan's Embrace or rather, Butcher had informed them. In a single day, there were raids across the country, seizing a lot of Compound V and arresting thousands of employees.
However, Samaritan's Embrace wasn't directly connected to Vought, allowing them to claim that it was the fault of Ezekiel and his people.
Of course, that was nonsense. Even elementary school children could see the blatant connection between Samaritan's Embrace and Vought.
"You know that in less than ten minutes I could have hundreds of agents raiding every Vought facility..."
As Susan spoke, Madelyn remained calm. There was the threat of mutual destruction, but that didn't seem to be what gave Madelyn her confidence. Susan sensed there was something more beneath Madelyn Stillwell's mask of condescension.
At that moment, Susan received an urgent message and stood up.
"We'll continue this conversation..."
"I hope it's nothing serious," Madelyn said with a smile that made Susan frown.
...
Back at the CIA, Susan entered a special operations center.
"Someone explain to me what's happening. If the President isn't hiding a bomb in his toilet, someone's getting fired!"
"You need to see this," one of her subordinates replied. "A Navy SEAL team was on a mission to eliminate the terrorist Abu Ressam, 80 miles from Damascus."
"I know, the bastard responsible for Flight 37."
The man pointed to the screen, and the SEAL recordings started to play. It was a classic operation: they entered silently in the dead of night, eliminating all terrorists until they reached Abu Ressam.
"Okay, we have the target. What happened next?"
"Keep watching..."
On the screen, as the soldiers were securing the area, a shirtless man appeared with the word "Naqib" on his chest, which means 'captain.'
Susan watched in astonishment as Naqib exploded, destroying everything around him, and then walked away unharmed from the blast.
"They have a super-terrorist," Susan said, her frustration mounting. According to Butcher, this was Homelander's doing. "Do those bastards have any idea what they've done?!"
...
In her office, Madelyn was breastfeeding Teddy. She still remembered Stan Edgar's order: "Make them need us..."
Yes, Vought was filled with bastards and inhumane people who injected Compound V into babies. Vought was responsible for the existence of supervillains and, worse, super-terrorists. But at the same time, they were the only ones capable of stopping those supervillains.
Everyone would have to swallow a bitter worm. The real "need" for superheroes made supers untouchable until many things were resolved.
Dismantling Vought International and facing the supervillains created by Vought or letting them go and holding them responsible for the supervillains.
Butcher knew he had chosen the Pentagon, which is why Susan called Butcher and told him they couldn't take down Vought just yet.
...
Kimiko looked out the window at the dazzling red of the sunset.
The wind gently came through the window, moving her hair slightly. She was overcome by a pleasant sense of comfort.
There was no fear of someone stabbing her from behind; she didn't feel paranoid that someone would burst through the door at any moment.
Kimiko had forgotten the feeling of security and hadn't even realized it until she reclaimed it here. Oddly enough, even if Allen wasn't present, she felt calm in this place. It was like a sanctuary where the demons of Vought couldn't reach.
Kimiko's feelings were not misplaced. Since Esdeath had destroyed Allen's apartment, he had turned his home into a fortress.
The walls were reinforced and protected by three different defensive layers. Even if Homelander came in person, he wouldn't be able to breach it. The apartment had a feature that prevented anyone without authorization from entering, and Allen could immediately know if someone tried to enter his home and respond instantly. Of course, this was something the girls still didn't know.
Kimiko sighed and lay down on the couch. She then got up and went to the kitchen to make some coffee. It was getting late, it was a bit cold, and Allen hadn't returned from accompanying Annie to see her parents. Kimiko knew it was a complicated situation and it was better that it wasn't her involved.
Kimiko sighed, returned to the couch, set her coffee on the side table, and hugged a pillow while watching the news.
She got bored and started flipping through the channels until she found a Korean drama. Kimiko was intrigued when she saw the male protagonist being slapped by the female lead.
The plot is simple: a young heir from a wealthy family falls in love with a poor girl, and the story revolves around the obstacles created by the protagonist's family and his wealthy fiancée's family, who doesn't love him.
Kimiko watched with interest, and when the female lead slapped the male protagonist at a high-class party, Kimiko nearly attacked the TV.
After an hour, Kimiko had a slight smile. She didn't often smile much in front of others, giving an impression of being expressionless, but that wasn't the case. She had just spent too much time isolated from normal interactions with others, and her past as little more than a tool for killing made it difficult for her to communicate properly.
At first, she watched with envy the interactions between Allen and Annie. However, it was only a slight irritation. It wasn't until Cate arrived, sticky like gum and never leaving Allen's side, that Kimiko truly began to feel jealous. She wasn't sure what she wanted in this situation, but Kimiko had something that the other two didn't.
Kimiko could communicate with Allen directly, and the best part was that Allen spoke Japanese perfectly, without even an accent. Kimiko wouldn't say it, but this made her feel a level of comfort and ease in this place.
Kimiko smiled as she remembered how she had made Allen uncomfortable when she saw Cate clinging to him, 'Are you flirting with her again? Aren't you afraid of getting arrested?' Allen nearly spat out the water he was drinking.
Kimiko softened her gaze as she hugged the pillow tighter. The Kimiko now was completely different from the one a week ago, and Allen was the main reason for that.
...
Kimiko recalled the first night she was here. She was unable to sleep and got up, finding Allen sitting in the living room reading a book.
"Hi," she said with a smile and then invited Kimiko to sit with her.
Kimiko looked at him with suspicion but decided to join him. Allen said nothing, and Kimiko remained silent as well, but it helped her relax.
At that moment, Kimiko noticed the green tea on the table next to Allen's coffee. Kimiko took the warm tea and realized that Allen had prepared it for her as if anticipating she wouldn't be able to sleep, so he came to the living room to wait for her.
She looked at Allen in silence before relaxing and felt that the apartment was a refuge for the first time.
...
Kimiko snapped out of her memories when the door opened. It was Cate, who had gone shopping.
She entered and leaned against the door.
Kimiko appeared in front of her and wrote on a phone, then showed it. "Are you okay?"
Cate was surprised by Kimiko's kindness, as she had the impression that Kimiko didn't like her, and wouldn't have been shocked if Kimiko had tried to hit her.
"I'm fine, it's just that going to the mall was a very challenging experience for me alone."
Cate had to get used to being around people; it was a delicate process that needed to be done slowly. After all, Allen had no intention of manipulating her like Indira Shetty. They started with something simple: Cate accompanied Allen to the store in the morning. During breakfast, they discussed Annie's parents. Allen decided to accompany her.
Cate hesitated for a moment before asking for permission to go out on her own. Given Cate's age, Allen was required to act as her guardian for the next two months. He gave her a questioning look but agreed; he wasn't going to keep her captive.
As for whether letting Cate go out alone was dangerous, there was a risk, but currently, she was not being pursued despite her frightening power.
In the letter Stan Edgar left for Allen in his office, it was mentioned, among other things, that in exchange for Allen not destroying the Vought building, Stan would not target Annie, Kimiko, and Cate in the future.
Allen didn't plan to take Stan Edgar's words at face value. He provided "gifts" to the girls; it was true that the three were supers and that shooting them wouldn't hurt them, but Stan Edgar knew that. If he targeted them, it would be with enough power to capture or kill them.
Of course, Allen wasn't going to let Cate go out alone, so he assigned a reliable guard to her.
Cate smiled as Timcampy perched on her head.
"I'm sorry, Tim. I know you're upset, but there were too many people at McDonald's, and I panicked."
Allen gave her a pair of gloves that restricted her powers to a certain level. They were still blue-grade artifacts, so Cate hated that she couldn't even touch others without potentially brainwashing them, but it was more of a psychological issue, and it was unlikely Cate would stop having people quickly.
Kimiko wrote a note and showed it to Cate with a thumbs-up. "You did well."
Cate felt overwhelmed, but Kimiko's kindness didn't come out of nowhere. Allen had explained to both girls the situation with Cate, and as a fellow survivor who was also older than Cate, Kimiko felt compelled to support her.
Cate felt a bit awkward. "Thank you... Kimiko?"
Kimiko gave a slight smile, and then both girls laughed together. It was getting late, and Allen hadn't returned. They faced a new challenge: cooking.
Cate, having spent her entire life in a room, understandably didn't know how to cook. Kimiko, having been treated as a living weapon, was lucky if she could catch something in the forest and eat it raw.
"Come on, Kimiko. It shouldn't be that hard," Cate encouraged, and Kimiko nodded. Both girls walked toward the kitchen.
...
Allen had just changed clothes when he felt a chill as if he was about to lose his home again. He decided to hurry back but received a message from Mother's Milk at that moment.
"Frenchie is in danger!"
...
Frenchie had struck Golden Boy, pushing him away. He ripped off his shirt, which was in tatters, and looked towards Charlotte.
"Get out of here!!"
As if hit by an electric shock, Charlotte jumped out of the car window and ran into an alley. Sam looked at Popclaw and Frenchie and decided not to follow Charlotte. After all, she has a tracker and they could always find her.
Frenchie didn't wait. He grabbed a motorcycle and threw it at Sam, but the young man with curly hair easily stopped it.
Frenchie swallowed hard as he was engulfed in an explosion and was thrown against a wall. In the sky, Golden Boy hovered with bright, terrifying eyes.
Frenchie felt the pain only in his arm and had suffered burns. His body should have been super resistant, but he was still burned by Golden Boy.
"An ordinary person would be incinerated by that..."
Frenchie had extensive experience with Supes, even before he was recruited by Mallory. He had seen the true face of supers. Degenerate pigs, that's what Frenchie thought when he saw one of their super orgies.
There was no doubt that Vought's superheroes were raised in hedonism.
However, that wasn't the case here... Looking at the eyes of both brothers, Frenchie could only feel chills. What the hell were they thinking when they raised these two?
Sam and Luke had always been among the strongest supers in The Boys TV series, but their potential was never developed. On one hand, Sam's schizophrenia prevented him from controlling his power and often resulted in killing people. Not to mention, he was sedated most of the time.
Stan knew he had limited time to help Sam with his schizophrenia, so Dr. Vogelbaum undertook an extreme procedure.
They installed a device connected directly to his brain, which would allow them to control him, albeit at the cost of affecting some physical functions such as speech.
Golden Boy had been receiving blood transfusions from Homelander since childhood to enhance his power. However, Stan Edgar didn't stop there and helped the brothers grow significantly. But this had a catch: Stan Edgar wasn't helping them without a purpose. They were part of a contingency plan in case both Homelander and his clone became uncontrollable despite all the preparations.
...
Luke descended to the ground with Sam. Frenchie looked at the pair of brothers approaching him with horror.
In a moment of desperation. A chain wrapped around both of them.
"What?!"
Sam tried to break free but couldn't, while Luke tried to melt it, but like with Frenchie's baseball bat, he couldn't.
"HEY, BASTARDS!" MM appeared, grabbing one side of the chain. With muscles strained to the limit of his super strength, he pulled with all his might on the chain and hurled the pair of brothers like a cannonball miles away.
"Are you okay?!" MM shouted, approaching Frenchie, who was on the ground.
"I'm fine, but we need to get out of here!"
"That kid is Golden Boy!"
"You know him?!"
"It doesn't matter, Frenchie. We just need to leave."
Both got up, but Frenchie went first for the adamantium bat. Unfortunately, the chain would be lost because Mother's Milk had thrown them too far.
[Adamantium Chain, Green Grade]
The pair ran quickly, but soon Golden Boy appeared in the sky. It was difficult to escape someone who could fly.
"Let's go underground!"
"We can't. We won't make it in time."
This time, the heat around them was so intense that it began to ignite some trees.
"Damn it..." MM muttered. These two weren't playing around; they had come to kill them.
...
Once he understood the strength of Frenchie and MM, Golden Boy prepared a sphere of fire, hot enough to finish them both off.
But...
In front of Golden Boy appeared a figure, which relieved MM and Frenchie.
"Who are you?!– "
Allen didn't let the flaming boy finish his sentence before hitting him. Allen's fist was faster than anything Golden Boy had ever seen and the force behind it was enough to knock him unconscious for an instant.
"Urgh!"
Golden Boy vanished in chaos from the impact and crashed onto the street, creating a large crater.
"Sorry for the delay..." Allen said, hovering in the sky with one hand in his pocket.
...
...
...
In a huge mansion that belonged to one of the men who was instrumental in Vought.
Jonah Vogelbaum was involved in the "creation" of Homelander, but unlike Madelyn, he never likes to bring up feelings in his "subjects".
Vogelbaum is a cold and logical man. At that moment he received a package with a letter. As he looked at the seal Dr. Vogelbaum's calm, cool eyes were disturbed.
He took the package and the letter to his office, and with trembling hands he opened the letter.
"Hi Jonah we've known each other for decades...I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate and respect you for everything you did."
Vogelbaum sat staring into the void for a while, but then he opened the package and it was a bottle of wine over fifty years old. Vogelbaum smiled, this man who seemed to lack humanity smiled.
Later, Homelander arrived at the mansion and found Vogelbaum feeding some dogs.
"Dr. Vogelbaum... are these your pets?"
"No, I'm just taking care of them. I don't like sentimentalism, so I avoid forming attachments to my subjects."
Homelander smiled. "That's right... you're always like this..."
===
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