Maeve slowly woke up, she was in the medical wing. She turned to her right and saw A-Train his legs were in a cast, but still unconscious. She turned to the left and was briefly startled by what she saw in the mirror. Her face was now heavily scarred, and memories of her encounter with Cheetah came back to her. Maeve could still feel her claws cutting into her skin. She lifted her gown and saw that her torso already had scars too.
"Hey… Glad to see you are awake." She heard Ashley gently call out as she walked into the room. There was a noticeable bald patch on her head, which Maeve awkwardly stared at.
Maeve walked around the room and saw her teammates. Noir seemed to be doing well the most, he only had a respirator. The Deep was missing an arm, with bandages wrapped around his sides, and was on a respirator. All but one of Stormfronts' limbs were in stents and she also had a bandage over her eye.
Stormfront woke up not long after.
"Where's Homelander?" She demanded.
"He's up on the roof…" Ashley said.
Stormfront looked into the mirror beside her bed. She moved her hand up to the bandage.
"No, Stormfront, you need to know something…" Ashley cautioned.
Stormfront removed the bandage, and what Maeve and Stormfront saw shocked both of them. Stormfront screamed as she realized she lost one of her eyes.
"You put up a hell of a fight for a guy with a bomb in his head." Deadshot told an irritated MM with a swollen eye.
Earlier that day, MM attempted to bypass the Belle Reve guards and try to get to where Soldier Boy was. It took four guards to put him down before MM got hit in the eye with a baton. Now he was sitting at a table with Deadshot and Scarlet. They moved tables after King Shark vomited and the clear liquid hit their feet.
"Goddammit, Nanaue!"
"S-Sorry." King Shark answered and spit Gunpowder's helmet out his throat.
"Hey, Milk, are you planning to keep on with that?"
"Got a reason to fight." MM answered.
"What about a reason to live? A guy like you, hanging out with guys like that, it's easy to assume you have no family."
"That's none of your business."
"He has a daughter." Scarlet said and was answered with curious looks from both men. "I heard you talking to your friends."
"Well," Deadshot said. "She's probably better off."
"You don't know what you're talking about." MM angrily replied.
"I have a daughter too. I also had a son. Had. I know she's better off, what about yours? If she's not better off, why would you pick a fight with a guy who can rip your head off? Or disobey the sociopath who put a bomb in your head? Men with nothing to lose are dangerous, that's not your case." Floyd told him.
MM didn't know how to respond to that but his thoughts were cut when he saw the footage being played on TV. He demanded the volume be turned up and watched the footage of the Seven getting rushed to the hospital. A-Train's legs were blurred for TV, Homelander's face was swollen and he angrily got up and refused help. The anchor described how the Legion of Doom was back and appeared on Earth Seven just to be arrested by the Justice League of America.
"Goddamn, those motherfuckers couldn't just let the Seven die?" MM said.
"Why do you think Waller uses us?" Deadshot asked. "The US government can't rely on the Justice League to do the dirty stuff, so she uses monsters."
"Right now, we need monsters."
"He's a fucking powder keg!" Butcher told Waller who was sitting at her desk. Soldier Boy was next to Butcher wearing a new collar designed to suppress his abilities. Nex to Butcher, was Hughie, Frenchie, Boomerang, and Manchester Black.
"It was an accident." Soldier Boy said.
"Mate you literally nuked RiStryker's Island. The Boy Scout and his friends are not going to like that one bit." Black said.
"Plus you've already gotten two of us killed." Boomerang said.
"Fuck all of you!" Soldier Boy said.
"Look it's obvious that Soldier Boy has PTSD." Hughie said.
"Fuck you, I don't have Shell Shock." Soldier Boy said getting into Hughie's face.
"Enough, Mr. Campbell's assessment appears to be true. As of this moment, you will be attending counseling." Waller said.
"Do I look like a pussy to you, cooze?" Soldier Boy asked.
"No, people with PTSD are not cowards. However, they can be a danger to others and themselves." Waller sternly told him. "I want to make something clear to you, Benjamin. I am not Vought. The only thing we have in common is that we are both willing to cut you off when you start to cause us headaches. You're expendable. So unless you shape up you can consider your vendetta off the table." She said.
Soldier Boy was about to speak up when the door opened up two guards.
"Take him to Professor Strange." Waller said.
Soldier Boy begrudgingly followed the guards.
"Fucking bitch." He said before the door closed.
"Professor Strange? The super-villain." Frenchie asked.
"Former super-villain, yes." Waller corrected.
"You're letting a former super-villain dig around in that cunt's brain?" Butcher asked.
"Professor Strange is a highly-skilled psychologist, now leave." Waller said.
"They were set up." Batman told the members of the League.
"What makes you say that?" Green Lantern asked.
"Clayface was undercover at Vought as an executive. Said executive originally did not have clearance to certain levels." Batman explained.
"So Vought finally managed to, and I say this loosely, beat a group of supervillains?" Flash said.
"No, I think Edgar has been working with someone or more criminals behind our backs. I also think they helped make V-24." Batman said.
"Does this run in conjunction with your power nullification weapon?" Martian Manhunter asked.
Soldier Boy was escorted to an office sitting at the desk was a middle-aged balding man with a large beard wearing reflective glasses. He turned on a recording device.
"Good morning, Mr. Thomson." Professor Strange greeted, his tone neutral.
"First of all, doc. It's Soldier Boy, and try not to get too comfortable. I don't need any help." Soldier Boy said.
Strange was silent observing Soldier Boy.
"Yes I was quite aware that you would be your response to my inquiry, Mr. Thomson. I've read your file, you are a man of many insecurities." Strange said.
This got Soldier Boy's attention.
"I don't have any goddamn insecurities. That file doesn't know jack shit about me." Soldier Boy said.
"Real name Benjamin Thomson Junior. Son to Benjamin Thomson Senior, CEO of Thomson Steel from 1919 until his death in 1979. You were born in Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania." Strange told Soldier Boy.
Soldier Boy was stunned upon hearing that.
"Miss Waller's task force infiltrated a Vought Database shortly after the Multiversal Event occurred." Strange explained.
"Fuck this. I'm not telling you a fucking thing." Soldier Boy said.
"Then perhaps I should tell Miss Waller of your refusal, which would likely lead to the cancellation of your vendetta." Strange told Soldier Boy not even moving from the chair he sat on. Soldier Boy stopped and sat back in the chair.
"What do you want?" Soldier Boy questioned.
"To help you cope with your neurosis." Strange said.
"Alright and what is your theory, Doc?" Soldier Boy asked.
"Professor." Strange corrected him.
"Fine, Professor? What's your current theory on me?" Soldier Boy asked.
"Your refusal to acknowledge your post-traumatic stress disorder is entirely rooted in your extreme masculinist ideas. Your father, what was your relationship with him?" Strange questioned.
Soldier Boy saw that he had no way out of this, so he relented.
"My father never thought much of me." He simply said.
"He took over the company around the same time as your birth, yes?" Strange asked.
"Yes." Soldier Boy bluntly said.
"When you were a boy your father sent you to numerous boarding schools. You flunked out of all of them. How did your father react to this?" Strange asked.
"He said I was a disappointment." Soldier Boy said.
"Those words stuck with you for years. You wanted to prove yourself to him, so you decided to enlist in the military. Using your father's connections you managed to become the test subject for Frederick Vought's Compound V formula. Thus, Soldier Boy was born." Strange said.
Soldier Boy simply nodded.
"I take it that your father was proud of you then?" Strange asked though Soldier Boy could tell on some level Strange knew that question was wrong.
"He said I took a shortcut, that a real man wouldn't have taken it." Soldier Boy bitterly said.
"And there we have it, the root cause of your psychology. Your fathers' words of being "A real man" follow you to this day." Strange said.
"What's so wrong about that?" Soldier Boy questioned.
"Simple, you refuse to acknowledge your emotions. Instead, you repress them, seeing them as a weakness. Giving you very little compassion towards others." Strange said.
"Bullshit." Soldier Boy said.
"Tell me, are you familiar with Marvin Milk? Your history?" Strange asked.
"No, who's that?" Soldier Boy asked.
"Marvin Milk was a member of William Butcher's gang. When he was a boy you murdered his grandfather by throwing a car at their apartment." Strange explained.
Soldier Boy pondered this, the information seemed familiar to him.
"It was probably an accident." Soldier Boy unconcernedly replied.
"Your lack of compassion made you a terrible leader, which led to their betrayal." Strange said.
"I treated them well, sure I could be a little rough on them, but I was their leader." Soldier Boy said.
"Gunpowder once filed a complaint form to Vought's Human Resources about your habitual abuse towards him." Strange said.
"I was just hazing the kid." Soldier Boy said defensively.
"You frequently had affairs with other women despite your relationship with Crimson Countess." Strange added.
"Those meant nothing, it was just sex. I loved her." Soldier Boy said, his voice actually managing to crack.
"Yet it appears she did not return those feelings, seeing as how when the rest of your teammates turned on you, she was not present in helping you?" Strange asked.
"She must have been knocked out by Mindstorm. He did the same thing to Gunpowder." Soldier Boy said.
"Was she? Tell me what happened on that day." Strange asked.
"I remember them jumping me. The TNT twins hit me from behind, and knocked me down to the ground. Leaving time for them, Noir, and Mindstorm to jump me. I pushed them back not long after, Noir tried to grab me from behind. I broke his hold, and burned his face against a car that was on fire, all before bashing his fucking brains in. I thought I finished him. Mindstorm then managed to scramble my brains when someone from behind put a mask on me. I passed out not long after." Soldier Boy said.
"Now who put that mask on you?" Strange asked.
"I don't know." Soldier Boy said.
"It could not have been Noir." Strange said.
"I told you I don't know." Soldier Boy said, his eyes starting to sting.
"The twins?" Strange asked.
"They were with Mindstorm." Soldier Boy said.
"Then who else could it have been the one who jumped you, leading you to get experimented on for thirty years? Who sat by idly when that happened?" Strange asked.
Soldier Boy felt a tear form in his eyes.
"It was her." He said, realizing.
"Thank you, Soldier Boy. Our session is over for now." Strange said.
The Seven sat at their table, no one uttered a word. Stormfront, now wearing an eyepatch, mindlessly scrolled through her laptop looking for anything that could be of use. The Deep seemed to be the least aware having been doped up on all sorts of painkillers. A-Train was still in the med wing and was in the meeting via Facetime.
"So now what?" A-Train asked.
Homelander glared at A-Train.
"I think I found something!" Stormfront said with a smile on her face.
Homelander looked at her screen. On it were a variety of social media posts of articles, videos, and images of people and their families hiding out in their basement as though it were a bomb shelter or sleeping with a chain wrapped around their ankles.
"They're worried that they will be forced to live on Earth One." Stormfront said. "We can use that to our advantage."
Homelander smiled, when Maeve's phone went off. She smiled and answered it.
"Yes?" She asked, sounding genuinely hopeful. Only for her to dejectedly look at her screen.
"Anything you want to share with us?" Homelander asked.
"It said it was Elena." She said.
"Well, that can wait another time. We have more important matters than your friend." Stormfront derisively said.
Maeve went up to Stormfront until the door opened up.
"Noir, I need to speak with you in private. It's urgent." Edgar said, sounding uncharacteristically worried.
Noir got up from his seat and followed Edgar.
"What? No gloating." Homelander asked.
Only for Stan to look at Homelander like he was about to say something, but stopped himself and left the room.
"He doesn't give a shit anymore..." Homelander said, looking worried.
"Look who cares what that he of all people think of this…" Stormfront said until she looked at A-Train.
"HA!" A-Train laughed.
"Do you have a problem with me?" She asked.
"No, no problem at all. Why would you say that, captain?" A-Train said.
Stormfront looked at Homelander.
"What do you want?" Homelander asked.
"If this is all about unity how do I know I won't be kicked to the curb because of her." A-Train said.
"So that I won't kill your brother's fucking family." Homelander said.
A-Train looked on in horror. He knew that Homelander meant every single word of that last sentence
"Sure." He said.
Maeve was also disturbed by this, she was not fond of A-Train. Far from it. But threatening his brother's family made her blood run cold even if it didn't surprise her.
Mallory sat on her couch after watching the news regarding the Legion of Doom. She let out a disgruntled sigh before turning around and saw Batman waiting for her.
"Yes?" She asked him.
"Waller has coerced your old team into Task Force X." Batman told her.
"Task Force X?" Mallory asked.
"Otherwise known as 'The Suicide Squad.' A Black-Ops team composed of Supervillain inmates being held at Belle Reve Penitentiary." Batman said.
Mallory smiled and laughed.
"That's her squad, letting a bunch of criminals perform government wetwork in those stupid costumes. How have they not blown the lid on themselves?" Mallory said.
"They carry explosives surgically placed in the back of their neck. If they are out of line or compromised the explosive detonates." Batman told her.
Mallory was shocked upon hearing this display of ruthlessness.
"There's something else isn't there?" She asked him.
"Waller also has another resident of Earth Seven working under her now: Soldier Boy." Batman told her.
Mallory was shocked to hear this.
"He's dead." She told him.
"An eyewitness account from Rikers ID'd him. He detonated a small nuclear blast in the cell of the TNT twins." Batman told her.
"Eyewitness accounts mean shit, they could have seen someone wearing his costume. Soldier Boy didn't even have that power." Mallory said.
"In your Earth's Moscow, I found a lab experimenting with Compound V. It doesn't matter if it is Soldier Boy or not, you need to get your former operatives back." Batman said.
"How?" Mallory asked.
Batman handed her a note with a phone number.
"Belle Reeve's phone number, schedule yourself a visit for any of them now. Do not mention me." Batman told her before walking out.
Noir sat in front of Edgar's desk. Edgar pulled off his glasses and pinched his temple.
"One of my contacts at the Kremlin has told me that Soldier Boy is now out." He told Noir.
Noir's body language stiffened, painful memories came back to him. He started to hyperventilate.
"Earving you have my full permission to flee. I'll cover your tracks as long as possible, we don't want Homelander to know the truth." Edgar told him.
Noir got up from his chair and pulled out one of his knives and cut out the tracker. Edgar closed his eyes from the self-mutilation. Noir pulled out the tracker in his wrist and walked out of the room.
"Take car." Stan said.
Noir only nodded before heading out the door.
"I've managed to get Black Noir out of the Seven." Edgar told Luthor.
"Good." Luthor said.
"Do you believe that Soldier Boy will be an issue?" Edgar asked.
"No, as of now he's just another distraction for Superman and the rest of the Justice League." Luthor replied.
MM saw Butcher, Hughie, and Frenchie approach him.
"How was it?" MM asked them.
"We lost Trickster." Frenchie said.
"What about the asshole?" MM asked.
"The cunt caused a small nuclear explosion at Rikers." Frenchie said.
"Soldier Boy apparently has PTSD, Waller sent him to Professor Strange for counseling," Hughie said.
"Counseling?" MM asked.
"They sent him to Strange?" Floyd asked.
"Yeah. Let me guess, it's going to backfire?" Butcher asked.
"Yeah or maybe not depending on how serious Waller is about treating him. Strange is a very good psychologist, so good in fact he can make a person even worse than they already are." Scarlet said.
"Like Hannibal Lecter, but none of the cannibalism?" Frenchie asked.
"Yeah pretty much, the guy opened wounds I thought were buried and also created new ones all within one session." Deadshot said.
"Back at Arkham Asylum, before Batman showed up, the guy had performed all sorts of horrible experiments on the more 'forgettable' patients. When he got busted by Batman, Arkham still had to keep the inmates because they could no longer remember their own names or any other human behavior." Scarlet said.
"I've heard a good number are still in Arkham Asylum." Deadshot said.
The Boys looked at one another in horror upon hearing this.
"You think Waller keeps him around so that you don't even get parole or something?" Hughie asked.
"It's a common theory around here." Deadshot told them.
The intercom turned on.
"Marvin Milk, it is time for your psychiatric evaluation. Armed guards will be escorting you to my office." Hugo Strange's voice announced.
MMs' eyes widened as he saw the guards approach him. The Boys tried to block them, but were overpowered. Seeing no other option, Mother's Milk went with the guards bracing himself for what could happen next.
Grace Mallory sat next to Robert Singer and Stan Edgar at the CIA headquarters. Mallory looked straight at Edgar as she sat.
"I heard you were quitting." She said.
"I was, plans have changed." Edgar replied.
"I don't see how things could have changed enough for you not to be completely screwed. The way I see you don't have a leg to stand on."
"Please, Colonel," Singer said. "Just listen to him."
"I want to have Homelander arrested." Edgar said, there was a second of silence created by the surprise. "Formally, but we all know he wouldn't go willingly and the result of his resistance should be his death."
"You could've done it before, with the League but you knew the shit storm that would unleash would spill on you. What exactly changed?"
"V24." Edgar answered by putting a green flask on the table. "Marketing is still testing names. One dose of this temporary V gives a soldier 24 hours of superpowers, give it or take. I'll provide the necessary evidence for Homelander's formal charges and also the V24 for the troops responsible for taking him down."
"And in exchange for your generous contribution Vought International gets immunity, am I right?"
"Please," Singer told her, afraid of her response. "We have bigger fish to fry here."
"Two, to be precise." Edgar said. "I trust you already know about Soldier Boy."
"I should've known you also knew. Why wouldn't we go to the Justice League?"
"Because they would let Homelander live, and possibly escape as we already know is something that happens too often in their world. Don't be fooled, Colonel, they are a threat to you as well, you believe they'll forgive your part in Operation Charly?"
"I remember you in Nicaragua too."
"That's why you can trust I'm completely on your side. We have a common goal here, kill Homelander and escape the Justice League, what do you say?"
Mallory picked the V24 and stared at it with doubt. She put it in her pocket and walked out.
"I'll have this examined. Better be good, Edgar."