Butcher slammed his back into a nearby concrete wall and shook his head, letting a breath out through pursed lips as he rubbed his hands up his face, then through his shaggy black hair.
Annie looked at the building Superman and Homelander entered, the one with the burning men inside... I have to go in... She shook her head, and turned to Hughie and the others.
"Stay here." She said. "I have to go help them." Annie turned away, and made to leave for the building, but Hughie gently put his fingers on her shoulder, and stopped her.
"Like hell you're going in there alone." He said softly.
Annie looked over her shoulder at Hughie.
"Hughie, it's dangerous in there."
"I know. That's my life now. It's yours, too."
"That's-"
"Different? Do you want to have this conversation, or do you want to help the people who need it?"
Guilt crossed Annie's face, and she nodded. She and Hughie made to leave, but Butcher pushed away from the wall, and grabbed Hughie's arm roughly.
"What the hell do you think you're gonna get out of this, Hughie?" Butcher asked in a growling whisper. "You remember what people like us are to people like them! Do you want to be the guy who died helping Homelander when he didn't need it? Or worse, the guy who's crippled helping him?"
"I don't care what you think right now." Hughie said, coldly, his eyes ablaze with fury. "There's more going on right now than that! It's not about 'getting something out of it!' It's not about him, her or me, or what I want!" Hughie jabbed a finger at the scorched building. "It's about them! Every single person in that building who needs the kind of help even a guy like me can give!"
"What, for people like those sad fuckers at the church?"
"For people like me, when Translucent came to the store and you saved my ass. Like you, when I saved yours." Hughie poked Butcher in the chest with his finger. "Like both of us when Superman helped us. Now let go, or I'm going to do something we'll both regret."
Butcher stood speechless, but loosened his grip. Hughie yanked his arm out of Butcher's hand, and dashed away into the building.
Frenchie just shook his head as Hughie and Annie left... But his look of glum acceptance shifted into disbelief as Kimiko followed them.
Marvin and Butcher exchanged a glance. Marvin knew without even exchanging a word what Butcher was thinking. He looked over at the building, then back at Butcher.
"Dammit, Butcher, he's your lost puppy. Why the hell you makin' me look after him?" MM asked as he reluctantly strode after the group.
Frenchie looked at the departing group, then back at Butcher.
"Just go..." Butcher said, shaking his head.
Frenchie nodded, and ran after the group.
Superman made it to the basement just as Homelander did. There were two guards at both entrances, but Superman incapacitated the ones by the stairs with stuff, but careful chops to the sides of their necks, then grabbed them by the shoulders and lowered them to the ground without a sound. Homelander followed suit, but allowed the ones by the vehicle entrance to slam into each other and crumple into a heap at his feet.
"Hey!" A voice shouted from across the parking garage, where four groups of eight of the terrorists each were gathered around the steel beams that held up the foundation, where they bombarded the metal with white-hot flames.
"They're trying to take out the support structures!" Homelander exclaimed as a handful of the terrorists broke off to follow the one who'd spoken.
"You take the groups on the left, I'll take the ones on the right." Superman said. Homelander nodded, and the two of them snapped into action.
"What's the plan?" Frenchie asked Hughie as he opened the now shattered glass door and the group entered.
"Stick together, find everyone we can and get them out the nearest exit." Hughie replied. "Clear the lobby, try to get up the stairs if we can and get anyone up there to ground level."
"Took the words right out of my mouth." Annie said as they scanned the building.
"It's..." Hughie said, somewhat ashamed. "It's what Tek Knight did in his movie."
"I don't give a damn, let's do this shit and get out before things get worse." MM replied in a whisper. "Kimiko!" He said urgently as he spotted someone pinned underneath a pile of debris. "Give me some help over here!"
Homelander dodged one fireball, allowing it to wash across the wall behind him, where it melted a glass window and scorched the concrete. The next one, he smacked out of the air. One of the men who'd broken off to fight him and Superman was charging up a heavy attack, so he zoomed across and punched the man in the jaw with enough force to shatter his teeth and crack the mandible. The blow sent the unconscious man tumbling backward into his allies, knocking two of them to the ground like bowling pins.
Superman flew directly into a jet of flame, and spun the hand from which it spouted down at the ground with a roll of his own. In a flash, he was at the man's back, and had tapped the nerve cluster on the side of his neck, knocking him out cold. The rest of the group put both hands up, and pumped out as much flame as they could muster into one giant ball of white plasma that boiled the moisture off of Superman's skin, but otherwise left him unscathed as it licked across his body. He levitated into the air, above where the group had aimed the flames long enough to take a lungful of fresh air, and put out the flames with a single chilled breath that caused the men to shiver in shock.
Like lightning, Superman tapped every single one of them on the neck, rendering them unconscious.
Homelander saw what Superman had done out of the corner of his eye, and kept his expression neutral. Maybe I could do something like that... He thought as the two he'd knocked down got up.
As the remaining terrorists loosed more flame his way, Homelander took a deep breath, as deep as he could. Then, he unleashed it, and the flames flickered out as a gust of air chilled to below zero spouted from his lungs and mouth, and caused the moisture in the air, and the men's bodies, to freeze. Their skin turned red, and blistered as they struggled to remain standing while Homelander emptied his lungs.
"REGROUP!" One of the men remaining at the supports said. "Concentrate!" The others all rushed to his position, and began to focus all their energy on a single support.
"That's enough!" Superman said loudly, snapping Homelander out of his reverie over the newfound ability. He stopped, then chopped each of the men in the neck, sending them careening to the floor.
"What?!" Homelander demanded. "What's wrong?"
"I said to follow my lead!" Superman said, loudly. "They're done, let's take care of the rest!"
"Fine!" Homelander exclaimed. Then, one of the men exploded, and the detonation rocked the building, sending chunks of concrete and metal flying.
"Dammit!" Superman swore, and jumped across the parking garage in an instant, landing nearby the group as another charged up to detonation.
Homelander turned toward the source of the explosion, and snapped across the room as well. He made to chop one of the remaining terrorists in the neck, but he, too, exploded in a ball of blinding light that caused Homelander's eyes to shut involuntarily with the brightness.
"AUGH!" Homelander exclaimed so loudly even Superman winced. The terrorists might have heard him, but they were beyond the point anyone could discern their features through the glow. Superman tried to incapacitate another two men, but they exploded as well, tearing out more of the structure, and sending chunks of concrete crashing down upon John and Kal. In a fit of rage, Homelander shot his heat-vision at three of the remaining terrorists, severing their heads from their bodies before they could explode as well. The light of their bodies died out as the heat singed the paint on the floor. In a fit of desperation, Superman took another breath and blew it across the remaining men, hoping to cool them down. It worked for the ones closest to him, who were chilled significantly, but the ones further away merely detonated as smaller explosions, destroying more of the building's foundation.
Homelander tossed a chunk of rubble away from him as the ceiling began to rumble.
"Is that all of them?" John asked Superman.
Superman shook his head disappointedly. "I think so!" He said over the rumbling as he scanned the building with his X-Ray vision. "They did enough damage to the foundation it's compromised the upper floors. I don't know how much longer it'll hold up!"
Homelander scanned the floor above them with his own X-Ray vision. It looked like Starlight was getting the last person out of the lobby (What the hell is she doing here?)
"They lobby is clear!" Homelander said, "But first floors and above still have civilians present!"
"If one of us pushes this corner up to the first floor, maybe even above, it'll buy emergency rescue enough time to bring in hydraulics to shore up the building!" Superman said, gesturing to the sagging edge of the roof. "Put your hands here, and here, and fly straight up as slowly as possible! I'll evacuate the upper floors!"
Homelander looked over at Superman in disbelief. He's putting a lot of trust in me for someone who hates my guts. John thought. "You sure I can do it?" He asked. The bridge wasn't nearly this heavy...
"I'm sure there's nobody else here who could." Superman said.
Homelander raised an eyebrow, but nodded. He flew over to the roof, placed his hands where Superman told him to, and began to push.