Having reached the tower A-Train made his way up to the labs as quick as he could without destroying the stairs and doors.
In the hallway he could see a small crowd of people gathered outside the hallway doors murmuring to themselves, some of the scientist in lab attire, Ashley and her assistant, Rhonda the head of HR, Shauna the head of legal and Martin the CSO along with a few goons from the security force.
"Ashley what's going on?" He asked getting their attention.
"Oh A-Train you're here!" She turned around surprised. "Uh Homelander's handling the situation."
Just as she finished the lights flickered accompanied by a blinding flash of light and loud BANG!
"ENOUGH!" They all heard Homelander shout from inside.
Homelander had beaten him by maybe one or two minutes to the tower.
A-Train pushed past all of them and went inside to see what was happening.
"Dammit Annie! Are you trying to bring the whole fucking tower down?"
He saw Homelander holding Starlight's hands up restraining her by the wrists with the woman struggling to break free.
"LET ME GO!" She shouted. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU KILLED ALEX AND NOW HUGHIE IS DYING BECAUSE OF YOU! IT'S YOU IT'S ALWAYS YOU!"
With a burst of energy she tried pulling her hands free once more but it was a futile attempt Homelander's grip didn't falter one bit.
"Let me GO!" she screamed once more.
"NO!" came his equally loud reply.
A-Train saw she was about to speak but Homelander continued in his aggressive tone.
"What did I say that night?" he asked firmly. "I told you if Hughie keeps playing Butcher's game he would get himself killed. I told you Butcher will get him killed! He doesn't care about anyone one of you he's just using you to get to me!" He paused for a moment as a reluctant Starlight absorbed his words.
"They stole 24-V and they chose to use it freely without knowing the consequences. No one at Vought made them do that!" Homelander continued. "Why do you think neither I nor Edgar released 24-V for use?" he asked. "The compound wasn't ready." He state flatly.
That seemed to deflate the young heroine but not fully.
"V made him like this then V can fix him. Give me a dose it's all I'm asking." She stated softer.
A-Train now understood the situation. Starlight came to get a shot of compound V hoping to save Hughie, problem was all V samples were now under lock and key somewhere in the building known only to a few of the scientists, execs and security team.
No unauthorized personnel were allowed to touch the stuff under threat of retribution from the big guy himself.
Another change in Homelander when compared to over a year ago when he stole a bunch of old samples and made him spread it around the globe.
"No."
A-Train immediately saw Starlight's face scrunch up.
"You bastard! You want him dead! You knew and you said nothing! You-"
"I couldn't care less about Hughie." Homelander interrupted her. "Dead or alive he means nothing to me. He never posed a threat to me it wasn't him I was ever worried about."
"Then let me save him!" She said exasperated and struggled against his might grip once more.
A-Train saw Homelander look at her pondering her requests.
"How bad is he?" The question threw her off and she stopped struggling.
"He fell in a coma. The doctors said it could be a week or it could be a month they don't know."
He saw Homelander's shoulders slump and the man let out a small sigh.
"I can see why you're so desperate." He finally said. "I'm going to let you go if you promise you won't attack anymore."
Starlight nodded and he released his grip.
"A-Train can you bring Dr. Schultz back in here."
The speedster was almost startled as he was addressed for the first time since intruding on this private yet not so private argument.
"No need. I'm here." The man said from behind him who in fact did actually startle him this time, luckily his reaction was all internal.
"Well, can V save Hughie?" Homelander asked the old scientist.
"No." he answered flatly.
"How can you know? You haven't tried!" Starlight exclaimed.
"No, but I have spent my whole life studying V." the old man said firmly. "I know how the compound works. From what you described your friend's situation is terminal already and as I was trying to explain to you earlier giving him V now would likely kill him outright his body won't be able to handle the stress and that's assuming he is compatible." He paused.
"V and 24-V are related but not quite the same. They are not exactly interchangeable." The CSO said. "I'm sorry but as Homelander said there is a reason why it's in the testing stage still, even small amounts have proven to be deadly, much more so than V."
"But there has to be something you can do. I know you're working on some new compounds." She insisted.
"Sure, maybe in a year or three or five or maybe tomorrow." Martin said with a tinge of sarcasm. "Our research is progressing in several avenues that could potentially help your friend and millions of others but scientific progress is slow." He paused.
"There is a component of luck in everything we do. It could be tomorrow it could be ten years from now. I'm truly sorry but there is nothing we can do for your friend right now."
A-Train saw Starlight deflate completely as hope vanished from her eyes and sadness crept in. To his surprise he saw Homelander gently put his arms on her shoulder.
"Annie, I'm sorry. I understand he means a lot to you and you want to help him but there is nothing we can do. The only thing you can do is to go and be there for him in his final moments." He said and paused.
"Come on. I'll take you home for now." He continued and gently nudged the now cooperative heroine into moving by putting his arm around her.
As the two captains silently moved past him and Martin, A-Train couldn't help but notice as Starlight seemed to sink deeper into Homelander's embrace.
-
Author Note:
I know Starlight might seem out of character however she is going through a lot of psychological and emotional changes right now.
Just because Hughie was being an ass doesn't mean she hates him or stopped caring about him. She's still processing those feelings and she just learned that Hughie is dying, as the doctors eventually finished their tests.
Coupled that with Hughie actually succumbing to the symptoms…well it's a lot to process.
You may think that V would cure him because A-Train used it to heal his broken leg but A-Train is a speedster and juicing on V simply put his healing factor power into overdrive. It's the same for Kimiko where her main power is a Wolverine like healing factor.
Hughie is screwed and so is Butcher. There will be a Butcher/Maeve scene in the next chapter.
And no, neither the SI or Martin are stupid enough to mention the experimental Black – V.
Once again thank you for reading and reviewing. Ya'll have given me some great ideas in the reviews keep them coming.