Homelander came down from the helipad atop Vought Tower and entered on the 99th floor. He walked past the broken Seven table in the boardroom and entered the elevator, pressing the button for the 96th floor. The elevator whirred down to his destination and he walked out, ignoring the smiles and surprised looks of the nurses in the hallway. He opened the door of the room marked "Intensive Care". The nurse inside, perhaps used to the sound of opening doors, did not look up and continued scribbling something on her keyboard.
"Ahem," Homelander cleared his throat. The nurse looked up and her eyes instantly widened. Homelander smiled his fakest, most threatening smile as the nurse hurried out of the room. He closed the door behind her and walked up to the patient in the bed.
"My old friend, how are you?" he asked.
Black Noir stirred in his bed, his raspy breathing answering the question more than any words ever could. His mask was pulled up over his nose, revealing a set of putrefied lips through which a row of yellowed teeth peeked out as he breathed. Homelander knew that Noir had no control of any of his limbs and couldn't feel anything from his neck down. A sudden urge came over him to see Noir's face. He would be the only person in the entire world to know what Black Noir looked like under the mask. Maybe that would take his mind off the pain a little bit?
Homelander shook his head, perhaps forcing away the thought of unmasking his loyal friend. Now more than ever, he needed people in his life, even if they were in a vegetative state.
"I'm going to avenge you, my friend. That bitch Starlight will suffer just as much as you are suffering. Her and all her little troupe of clowns will all feel your pain. And mine. They will know what it's like to have everything snatched from you without warning, without being able to do anything about it. They will know real pain."
Noir continued his ragged breathing, gently tilting his head to one side. Homelander could not tell how much of what he said was understood, but he didn't much care. At this point, it was about talking to someone he trusted. Besides, Noir had never been much of a talker anyway. It wasn't too different and in fact, in a way, it was a very familiar feeling and those seem to be in short supply these days.
"Butcher," he said slowly, "Butcher will have to pay."
Noir's breathing suddenly became frantic, accompanied by a low grunting noise. The machines hooked up to him started beeping loudly, as a nurse burst in through the door at the heightened vitals. Homelander raised a hand without turning around, as the nurse's fear for her own life triumphed over her worry for the patient and she shut the door once again.
"You want Butcher dead too, don't you?" Homelander asked.
Noir's loud breathing continued, his heart rate rising by the minute. A clear sense of rage emanated from his vegetative body.
"You're right, Butcher is the root of all this. If it weren't for him and his little pet, that bitch Starlight would never have escaped her cell and done this to you. I'll get them all for you, old friend. All of them." Homelander's eyes were fixed on the eye sockets of Noir's mask. He could not be sure, but he knew that Noir too was looking directly into his eyes.
A brief knock sounded on the door, followed by a sheepish looking nurse poking her head into the room.
"I'm sorry Homelander, but I really need to take a look at the patient. This much heightening of his vitals isn't good for him in this stage. His lungs are a bit sensitive, especially after all that smoke he inhaled during his previous mission," the nurse stuttered through fearful eyes.
In a flash, a thought crossed Homelander's mind. He looked at Noir and clasped the warrior's hand.
"Thank you, my friend. You've once again come good."
He smiled his trademark Homelander smile at the nurse and walked out of the room, leaving a softly growling Black Noir behind.
Homelander strode down the hallway and entered into the elevator. As the elevator whirred down, he looked at the side panel where he'd slammed Annie against it.
God, I should've killed that bitch right here. Maybe Stormfront would still be here if I had.
The elevator door opened at its destination, helping Homelander shake off the surge of emotions coming up in his mind. He strode into the Surveillance room and walked straight up to Anika.
"Homelander!" Anika's surprised yet nervous laugh through a mouthful of Almond Joy was another sense of familiarity for Homelander.
"Hi. I need some information from you. You helped Black Noir on his last unofficial assignment, didn't you?" Homelander said as he gripped the back of Anika's chair.
Anika nervously nodded, as she set her Almond Joy down. Homelander picked it up and threw it in the trash. Anika made a mental note of keep her Almond Joys hidden when Supes came to visit her.
"I'd like to know where he went, please," Homelander asked with his trademark smile.
"S-sure," stammered Anika as she searched in the database. After a few seconds, she pulled up a picture of the house where Black Noir finished his last mission and said, "Here. He was tracking that William Butcher and followed him to this location, before coming back to the Tower."
"Excellent, and can you tell me the address?" Homelander asked.
Anika showed him the address and added, "But it's no good, Homelander. The house was destroyed later that day. The authorities said a gas leak caused a fire, but it was probably something that Black Noir did." Anika tried to balance her nervousness at talking to a Supe at such a length with the feeling that she was actually helping Homelander.
"Really? That's quite unfortunate, because I was hoping to find out visit the people at this house. You wouldn't know who they were, would you?" Homelander replied. Anika could tell that there was a slight shift in his voice, and that his patience was running thin through all this talking. She quickly found the name of the house owner and, anticipating the next question, the owner's last known location.
"Her name is Judy Atkinson, and she was last seen at a street crossing in Washington DC," Anika said, pulling up a picture of the lady from the house.
Homelander rushed off without a word, not even his trademark singsong "Thank you". As he walked away, Anika wondered to what fate had she just consigned the person on her screen.
Judy Atkinson turned the keys on the door of her Airbnb room, and let Terror, the dog, in. Terror darted straight in and began barking aggressively. Confused, Judy followed Terror's path to the back of the apartment. There, in the bedroom, standing among shards of broken glass, stood Homelander. It didn't take Judy a second to realize what this meant for her.
An angry Terror kept nipping at Homelander's heels, but he felt none of it. He stared straight at Judy, his eyes burning with rage.
"I'm going to give you one chance to move the dog, or it dies too," he said, gritting his teeth.
Judy silently pulled on Terror's collar, and dragged him out of the room, and then shut the door. Outside, Terror kept growling and scratching furiously on the cheap wooden door. Judy stood straight in front of Homelander, her chin up and shoulders strong, with a defiant look in her eyes.
"I don't know who you are, but if Billy Butcher came to your house right after he visited Becca, then you must be someone he cares about. And at this point, that's all I need to know," said Homelander.
Terror's growling turned into a low, sad whine when he heard the squelch of human flesh against the bedroom walls. A second later, a deafening boom, and then silence.
Annie walked up to the broken remains of the Seven table in Vought Tower, and rubbed her neck. The memories were still fresh, all of it. She did not think she would ever be back here, but there she was, back at Vought, back in the Seven. Lines had been crossed, lives had been changed, but there she was still. She shook her head and turned around to walk away, only to see Homelander stand in front of her. She took a step back, startled, and then looked into his eyes. There was a familiar rage and satisfaction in them that she knew all too well.
"I have something for you, Starlight. As a token of your wonderful service to Vought for unmasking the Nazi within us," Homelander said. He still could not bring himself to say Stormfront's name out loud, those wounds, much like the ones on Annie's mind, were still fresh.
Annie took another step back, not knowing what to expect. Homelander's hands were behind his back all this time, and he now brought them forward to reveal a small duffel bag. He laid the bag down at Annie's feet, as the scared and confused woman stood still. He beckoned her to open it with his eyes, a steely look of anger in them. Annie bent down slowly, not taking her eyes off Homelander. Once the zipper of the bag touched her fingers, she looked down and unzipped it.
A muffled half-scream escaped Annie's lips as she staggered back to her feet, her eyes wide in shock at the contents of the bag. Homelander smiled, picked up the bag and zipped it up, as the stench of Judy's severed and rotting head that had been bottled inside the bag started to spread around the room. He took another step forward, now inches away from Annie's face, as he thrust the bag into her hands. He leaned in towards her ears and whispered menacingly.
"I want you to call your boyfriend and tell him to be a good dog and run to his master. Tell William Butcher that I have a message for him. He took everyone I loved away from him, and now I will do the same. I'm going to enjoy causing him every bit of the pain he caused me, and there's nothing anyone can do about it."
Finished, Homelander walked away, his hands clasped behind his back. Annie stood in the middle of the wreckage of the Seven table, a look of abject horror plastered across her face. She waited until the faint sounds of Homelander's feet faded away, and pulled out her phone.