"You all have been told that you are born with your powers!" Nolan started, holding the vial in the air for all to see.
He noticed that some of those in the audience were pulling out their phones, beginning to record as he made his speech.
Good.
Vought wanted to try to lie about him? Then he'd reveal one of their secrets.
"But this is a lie!"
"What are you talking about?" Madelyn asked, hoping to at least disprove Nolan's credibility. "Our heroes are all born, chosen by god! What makes you think that-"
"Because I know the truth." Nolan stated simply. "You don't simply hire heroes. You create them!"
"Omni-Man, I'm going to have to ask you to cease your actions and peacefully turn yourself in." Homelander stated, trying to fall into his hero persona, hoping that people will buy it.
Nolan ignored him altogether.
"All supes were administered this drug as infants!" Nolan revealed, causing most of the audience to gasp. "They were either drugged in secret, or parents were offered cash in exchange."
"That's a lie!" Madelyn exclaimed, stepping forward. "Now I don't know who you think you are, but-"
Once again, Nolan interrupted her.
"And it's not the only thing they've lied about!"
"Every year, thousands of people are murdered from the misuse or complete incompetence of these… so called superheroes."
Sam gasped as she realized just what Nolan was planning. He was revealing Vought secrets.
Vought tried to push him.
They didn't expect him to push back.
"Most of you know about the incident a week ago where A-Train brutally murdered a girl."
A-Train could feel himself sweating. He knew what this was leading to.
Either way, his life was pretty much over.
"What you were lead to believe, was that this was because he was pursuing bank robbers. But this couldn't be further from the truth."
Evan's eyes widened when he realized exactly where this was leading.
"Good luck, Nolan."
"He was not pursuing bank robbers. Instead, he was high, using extra doses of this stuff to act as an enhancer, while he delivered a batch of the stuff to an as of yet unknown location!"
Nathan felt tears prickling at his eyes, his wife hugging him from the side as his kids stood in the kitchen.
His brother? Who he had trained so hard so that he could have a good life for himself?
He was an addict? A criminal?
"The man known as Translucent! Many of you know who he is! What is also known, albeit less commonly, is that he was a sexual predator!"
Maverick felt his entire world shatter at that revelation. He knew about his dad's crimes, but he was always a good man.
At least, good to him.
But with A-Train's reveal, what else could Vought be hiding about his dad?
"But he is not the one with the most hidden secrets at Vought!"
Ellis felt himself gulping a little as he realized where Nolan was going with this. He could only hope Nolan truly was powerful enough to stop Homelander.
"No, that one… goes to the leader of the Seven."
Maeve felt her stomach drop. What was he doing?!
Sure, he could most likely take down Homelander, but what would happen if he set off Homelander in such a public area?!
She took off away from the TV, gunning it towards the stadium.
She could only hope that she would make it in time.
"To many of you, the name of Becca Butcher means nothing to you."
Billy's eyes shot wide as he watched the broadcast.
He didn't know whether to grin or growl, and most of the Boys were looking at him in concern.
"Looks like our work may take less effort than we thought." MM remarked as he turned back to the screen.
Butcher didn't say anything, but he silently agreed.
"Eight years ago, she was a Digital Marketing director for Vought. Until Homelander took an interest in her."
Starlight gulped as she watched. She didn't know the details behind Homelander's apparent crimes.
She wasn't sure she wanted to. Her stomach was already squeamish.
Nolan was slowly circling the stadium, looking at the audience as he spoke. "Homelander raped her! And Vought covered it up! Leaving her husband to-"
"SHUT UP!"
The sudden voice wouldn't have surprised Nolan much, if it weren't for the sheer volume of it.
Pain shot through his ears as he felt them begin bleeding, and he was too distracted to react to the red and blue blur slamming into him.
Was that… Homelander?
He felt his back get slammed against something, the stadium wall if he had to guess. His eyes slowly opened as he tried to refocus them, and he looked at Homelander…
Just in time for nothing but red to fill his vision.
"DO YOU KNOW WHO THE FUCK I AM?! I AM THE HOMELANDER!" He heard as he felt an immense heat in his eyes.
All at once, around the stadium and the world, everyone gasped, different emotions running through them, as for the first time, they saw the true Homelander.
Sam gasped, watching Nolan get lasered. "NOLAN!"
Evan watched in disbelief.
Ellis brought a hand up to his mouth, unable to take in the site.
Butcher's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.
MM gritted his teeth.
Frenchie stared, gripping his hand in frustration.
Hughie watched, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Starlight gasped as tears pricked her eyes.
Maeve could hear the screaming as she hurried to the stadium.
Madelyn stared, horrified at what Omni-Man had caused.
Stan Edgar slammed his hands into his desk, finally losing his composure, yelling in anger.
And in a separate area, apart from the timeline, Clockwork smirked.
"And so it begins."
Despite the immense heat blasting into his face, Nolan was able to gain his bearings pretty easily.
"I CAN DO WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT! THESE MUD PEOPLE ARE MINE TO PLAY WITH!"
Nolan gritted his teeth as Homelander yelled.
"No." His hand shot up to Homelander's head, cutting off his heat vision as Homelander tried to claw at his hand. "They're not."
And then Nolan blasted off, dragging Homelander with him.
He could feel the man clawing at his hand, and his heat vision was still going, though it wasn't having much effect on him.
Once he poked above the clouds, Nolan brought Homelander up, switching his grip from his face to his throat as he cocked his fist back.
"You think you're so powerful."
Nolan's fist slammed into Homelander's face, cracking his nose with a powerful shockwave as blood began spurting all over the place.
Homelander went silent, his hand reaching up to his nose slowly, gasping when he felt the blood.
"No…" His voice quivered. Nolan's hand was gloveless, so there was no way he could blame the gloves. "That's… that's impossible!" Gritting his teeth, he raised his legs up, kicking Nolan square in the stomach with all his strength.
Nolan let go of him as he did so, and Homelander slammed into him, dragging him through the clouds.
Nolan grinned. Homelander snarled.
And Nolan could only laugh as he realized that he was going to make Homelander regret all of his choices.
"Enjoying yourself?" He taunted as Homelander glared at him, gritting his teeth.
"I'll kill you!"
Nolan chuckled. "Good luck."
He ripped Homelander's hands off of him, and clapped his hands hard onto Homlander's ears, as payback for the earlier pain.
Homelander's hands shot up to his ears, yelling in pain, as Nolan kicked him, sending Homelander flying directly into the air.
Homelander gasped from the force of the kick, and was unable to right himself in time before Nolan had grabbed him by the head, pinning his hands his head.
"Let's get rid of that pesky laser vision."
Without remorse, Nolan dug his thumbs into Homelander's eyes, effectively gouging them out, unfazed by the man's screams of pain.
Nolan let go and quickly put some distance between him and Homelander, watching with satisfaction as the man screamed and flailed, his hands moving to his eyes as he yelled.
"I can't see!"
Nolan snorted. "Yeah, that's the point."
Homelander tried to use his impaired hearing to help him, flying towards Omni-Man with his fist pulled back, ready to punch him…
Only to slam into Nolan, having misjudged the distance between them.
"I think you jumped too far." Nolan chuckled, before blasting Homelander with a powerful punching that sent him flying back at immense speeds.
Effortlessly, Nolan caught up to him and hit him again, hitting him with the same amount of force into a different direction.
It was like a game, bouncing Homelander around like a toy. See how many times he could hit his target.
Before he launched him into the atmosphere.
Flying up after him, this time, Nolan grabbed him, dragging him into space and away from the planet, with one goal in his mind.
"Let's see how much you can take!"
Flying quickly, he blasted off towards the moon, Homelander in his grip, slamming him into the surface of the moon in seconds.
Nolan couldn't describe the satisfaction he felt when the surface cracked, the force slamming into the moon and shattering it miles wide.
He couldn't describe the feeling of joy upon seeing the immense pain on Homelander's bloody face, his broken body hovering slightly.
The psychopath had little relief, as Nolan quickly snatched him up, rocketting off towards the planet, reaching it in seconds.
He grinned, and looked at Homelander, whose face was wracked with pain, and he could only smile as the man began whining like a child.
"Please… no more! No more! Please!"
Nolan chuckled, before gripping Homelander's throat tightly, silencing him as he whispered into his ear.
"Did Becca Butcher beg for you to stop? Beg for you to quit hurting her?" When he heard nothing, he loosened his grip, before growling. "Did she?!"
"Y-Yes!"
Nolan growled. "So why should I stop hurting you?" He grabbed Homelander's arm with his free hand, and snapped it with no hesitation.
He wanted to make sure that Homelander would be in too much pain to do anything.
Butcher was a little disappointed when Nolan took Homelander out of view. He really wanted to see the smug bastard get his face smashed in, but Nolan had a noble heart.
He wasn't going to risk innocents just so he could beat Homelander on live TV.
With a sigh, Butcher stood up away from the TV.
"Alright lads, we got a job to do."
Everyone looked at him, confused.
"What?" Hughie asked, confused.
"It looks like this supe of yours is about to do our job for us, what do we have to do?"
"Every little bit of evidence we find that paints Vought as a piece of shit company is evidence we need. Otherwise they may spin it so that only Homelander takes the fall." Butcher explained, before sighing. "Plus, I wanted to watch Homelander get his ass kicked, but since that ain't happening, we got something we can do." When he noticed everyone looking at him, he grinned. "Let's check out that Noodle Palace place A-Train was blabbing about."
Maeve landed at the entrance to Vought tower, storming inside without a care in the world. Omni-Man and Homelander were already gone, and luckily, the damage was minimal to the stadium.
She decided then and there that she was taking a stand.
And she was standing with Omni-Man.
Most people made a path for her immediately. Not only was she second to Homelander in terms of power, well, third now that Omni-Man was in the picture, but she was actually a trained martial artist.
She knew how to fight. Now one wanted to know what a superpowered headlock felt like.
Without fail, she marched straight to the office of CEO Stan Edgar.
"You stupid son of a bitch." She said as she slammed the doors open, walking right up to his desk.
Edgar looked up at her, and she could see the look of unease on his face, something that was a far cry from the cold and calculating look she had only ever seen.
"Maeve. What can I do for-"
She silenced him immediately, slamming her fist into his desk, cracking it. "What were you thinking?! You knew Omni-Man was more powerful than Homelander!"
Edgar sighed. "And? He attacked us. We needed to get the public on our side."
"Did you take into account that he may not care about public opinion?!" She yelled, glaring at him.
Edgar looked at Maeve, rolling his eyes. "What's your problem?"
Meave gritted her teeth and picked up Edgar's desk, throwing it against the wall as she wrapped her hand around the collar of his shirt.
"Let me go, or it'll be your job."
"Fuck my job!"
Edgar's eyes widened. He was losing control, quickly.
"I don't give a damn about my job anymore! I let this company get away with too much, let it control me! Homelander has used me just like he has used so many other poor souls!" Maeve snarled, pulling Edgar so that he was inches from her face. "I came here to help people, and you turned me into a fucking model, and a toy for Homelander."
She threw Edgar back against the far window, cracking it in the process as she snarled in disgust.
Edgar stuttered. "Y-You can't do this! You're our product! We own you!"
Maeve scoffed. "You sign our paychecks. It doesn't matter how you try to spin it, you don't own anything. You just think you do."
Maeve turned around and stomped out of the room, but not without leaving some final words for Edgar.
"You're done, Edgar. You don't control me anymore."
As Maeve walked down the hallway, she stopped when she spotted a site that she wasn't sure what to make of.
Black Noir.
On the ground, back against the wall.
Crying.
Now she and Black Noir didn't really know much about each other, hell he hadn't ever spoken a word to her and she had barely said a word to him in the entire time that she'd been on the Seven.
But she had never seen him make a sound, let alone seen his crying.
In his hands, he held a phone.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what he was watching.
She was just trying to figure out why he was crying.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked, causing the masked man to look up at her.
Noir didn't respond, and she couldn't see what he was thinking with that mask on his face.
She walked up to him, eyebrow raised. "Since when do you cry?"
She actually heard Noir snort, before looking back down at the phone.
Though his body was trembling, he was oddly quiet now.
Then she saw his grip tightening on his phone.
Even though she was stronger than him, she actually jumped when he threw his phone at the adjacent wall with a grunt, shattering it completely.
She looked at the spot where the phone hit the wall, before looking back down at Noir, who was curled up into a ball.
Before Omni-Man, Maeve most likely would've ignored it if she came across someone like this. Especially Black Noir.
But after Omni-Man?
Well, Maeve could safely say she surprised herself when she took a seat next to Noir.
"So, what's got you worked up?" She asked with a sigh, leaning her head back against the wall.
Noir looked up at her, and despite the mask, she could practically sense the surprise on him.
She snorted. "I know, we barely know each other… why would I care?" She looked at Noir. "I guess… now that I have some hope, I feel like I can be the girl I wanted to be."
Noir looked at Maeve for a few seconds, before pulling out his notepad.
Maeve watched him write down something, before handing it to her.
My LifE AL ie.
sCAr s meaNiNgLESs
From the way he was trembling next to her, his normally perfect writing being so scrambled made some sense.
With a sigh, she flipped a page, and wrote something herself, before passing it back to Noir.
So make them mean something.
Noir looked at Maeve, his head tilted in confusion.
Maeve smiled. "Don't let your scars mean nothing. Make them worth something."
Noir looked down at his notepad.
Maeve watched him write something else. She was surprised when she read what he wrote.
Are we rEally juSt products?
With a deep sigh, Maeve nodded. "That's all they see us as."
Noir looked down at his hands, letting his notepad rest in his lap.
Maeve had no idea what he was thinking. Honestly, she had no clue why she was even talking to him.
But she was.
She watched Noir clench his fists, before he began writing something else on the notepad.
She wasn't sure what to think of what was written.
I've always hated this mask.
Maeve snorted. "Then take it off."
Black Noir shook his head.
Too scared. Haven't removed it in decades.
She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Too many scars.
Maeve chuckled. "From what?"
His response shocked her.
Sandinistas. 1984.
Maeve looked at him in shock. "When Soldier Boy was killed?"
Noir nodded.
Maeve looked at him for a moment, before sighing. "I'm going to help Omni-Man against Vought." She stated.
Noir looked at her for a moment.
She wasn't sure what she was expecting him to do. Get angry, get ready to fight. Run off to tell Edgar.
What she got though, was extremely unexpected.
How do I help?