It had been a week since the downfall of Vought, and many things had changed. Some changes were obvious, some not so obvious.
It hadn't taken Nolan long to pick the founding recruits for the new supe team. Outside of Black Noir, Queen Maeve, and Starlight, he'd also chosen Supersonic, previously known as Drummer Boy, and he'd chosen Silver Kincaid. Both of these two, he had chosen because of their similarities to Starlight and Queen Maeve, Supersonic having a past with Starlight, and Kincaid being rather relaxed as long as she wasn't on a mission.
Another one he'd chosen, though, after some immense thought, was Ice Princess. At first glance, he'd assumed that she might have been a liability, considering her reckless history, but he changed his mind after discovering that after an accident with a lover, she had become much more focused on minimizing damage and controlling her abilities. In fact, she had a history of teaching newer supes some control over their abilities. Plus, at negative 365 degrees celsius? Definitely good for immobilizing supes.
His seventh pick had actually been a recommendation from Butcher and Frenchie. A mute woman named Kimiko. Apparently, when MM, Frenchie, and Hughie had investigated Noodle Palace, the poor girl was locked in a cage. While MM had been understandably weary, Frenchie had been unable to leave the girl chained.And since Homelander's crimes were now public, it was most likely that she was experimented on with V before she was smuggled into the country. While her physical abilities were average among supes, she had a regeneration ability unlike any he had ever seen. Even a bullet to the head from an assault rifle and a broken neck were unable to kill her.
Admittedly, he was just happy she was okay, considering those particular stats were discovered when she saved the Boys from getting killed.
His eighth and final choice had been one he hadn't expected to make, if he was honest.
Vasilii Vorishikin.
Love Sausage.
A part of him wished that was a nickname, but it wasn't.
There were two Love Sausages, both Russian, funnily enough, in the U.S. One was a former patient at the illegal Sage Grove Vought used to test Compound V variants, and one the other was a former cop and Russian military tank commander.
Both Love Sausages got their names from their penis, if it wasn't clear enough.
However, the Sage Grove Center Love Sausage actually had a penis that could stretch to great lengths and be used as a tentacle to strangle people… yeah, when he read, he made it crystal clear that he better never meet that one.
But Vasilii, or as everyone called him, Vas, actually had experience, not only as a regular lawman, as a superhero. His name literally just came from his penis, which was literally a foot long, and could be seen quite clearly through the tights of his pants.
He was actually pretty qualified, and many of the accounts Nolan could find on him pretty much all labeled him as a kind, likable guy, if a bit of a clown. He was one of the few people who were given abilities outside of the U.S, like Kimiko and Kincaid.
But they were the ones who would make up the founding members of the new international superhero team.
Omni-Man.
Queen Maeve.
Black Noir.
Starlight.
Silver Kincaid.
Supersonic.
Ice Princess.
Kimiko, or The Female.
Love Sausage… they really needed to change that name.
And after much thought, and much internal debate, Nolan had decided on a name.
The Guardians of the Globe.
Nolan stood in a room overlooking a massive gymnasium. In it, it was filled with a bunch of exercise equipment, all specifically built to test the limits of a supe. Nolan was looking out the window into the gym, where the future guardians stood, conversing with each other.
Next to him, Billy Butcher stood, watching over the group as well, a legitimate smile on his face.
"Who'd have thought that I'd ever be here, head of a superhero cop group, working with the best superhero in the world?" He asked with a chuckle.
Nolan couldn't help the smile on his own face. "After everything I did, I never thought I'd be leading a team called the Guardians of the Globe."
"They were your friends, right?" Billy asked, glancing at the superhero next to him, who nodded.
"The best heroes to ever defend the Earth. And despite what I did, I was truly honored to work alongside them." Nolan said, a sad smile on his face.
Billy rested a hand on Nolan's shoulder. "I can't say they'd be happy with you, mate. But I'd imagine they appreciate the gesture, at the least."
Nolan smiled, and nodded. "I hope so."
"Butcher!"
Both men turned at the sound of the voice, and suddenly, a small shape crashed into Billy, causing the man to grunt.
"Oi, what'd I tell you about running into people like that?" Billy admonished Ryan, though he had a smile on his face as he gladly returned the hug.
"Not to, but you left without us!" Ryan said, stepping back from the man as he looked up at him with an excited gaze. "I thought you said you would take us with you!"
"I think you both made that promise."
The voice of Sam echoing into the room and both men looking at it's entrance, where the blonde was walking in with a small smirk, Becca in tow.
Nolan laughed as he closed the distance, hugging his friend. "I promised that you'd be here for the recognition ceremony. I never said I'd fly you."
The two had bonded much in the past week. They had gone on another date, this time able to actually finish it with no interruptions, and it was Sam who had helped him decide on who would be a part of the Guardians of the Globe. They weren't really sure what they were to each other, yet, but they were content to just call each other friends.
He had taken her to meet Billy and Becca the day after Mallory had dropped off the files he'd needed. She had hit it off quite well with Becca.
She'd taken quite the shine to Billy as well, despite the fact that the two were polar opposites.
Sam smacked Nolan's chest in response to his quip. "How dare you, I'm offended that you would leave me to ride on that jet."
"Hey, at least you have the option of a flight with a supe." MM's voice echoed as he entered the room, followed by Frenchie and Hughie.
"Marvin! It's good to see you." Nolan said, a grin on his face. MM nodded, grinning slightly.
"You too, Nolan."
"How is mon coeur, Monsieur Nolan?" Frenchie asked as he shook the man's hand. Nolan nodded towards the window.
"Well, she seems to be getting along well with Ice Princess and Love Sausage." Nolan remarked with a smile as Frenchie stepped towards the window, watching all the supes in the room.
Ryan smiled at the site of MM. "Uncle Marvin!" He said, rushing to give the big man a hug.
MM grinned as he laughed gladly picking the boy up off the ground. "How's my favorite nephew doing, huh?"
Ryan smiled as he gladly returned the hug from MM. "I made another lego video!" He said excitedly as MM sat him back down on the ground.
"Really? What movie?"
"Death Wish." Becca answered for the boy in a deadpan tone, eyeing Billy.
"Oi, it's not a bad movie!"
"Butcher, what the fuck man? Death Wish?" MM said with a shake of his head.
"It was just the scene where he's saving everybody at the beginning." Billy exclaimed with an eye roll. "Besides, it's not like calling someone a cu-"
""""BUTCHER!!""""
Almost everyone in the room shouted Billy's name as MM put his hands over Ryan's ears, glaring at the bearded man.
"Oi, alright, I get it! No saying the c-word in front of the lad."
"And no more movies above PG-13." Becca said sternly as MM removed his hands from Ryan's ears.
"What?" Ryan asked innocently. "Cunt's not a bad word."
The glares that Billy got were legendary.
"You should not corrupt Ryan's innocence so quickly, Butcher." Frenchie admonished.
"Alright, I get it, watch my language and my movies around the lad." Billy said, waving his hands in surrender.
Nolan rolled his eyes as he looked at Hughie. "So, how's your father doing, Hughie?"
Hughie smiled. "About as well as you'd expect. He still thinks we should've stayed in our old home."
Nolan chuckled. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to stay where you've been for so long."
Hughie nodded. "That's fair, but I guess I don't share that opinion."
"By the way, Frenchie?" Sam spoke as she looked at the frenchmen. "What are the chances I can con you into getting me some alcohol for the Fourth of July party next week?"
Frenchie smiled. "Throw about 15 dollars my way, and I can get you the finest vodka to last you the night." His eyes wandered over towards Nolan. "And then maybe a little extra to make the man happy."
Sam blushed at the tease, everyone laughing at her expense. "You guys are jerks."
"Have you met us, luv?" Billy remarked with a chuckle. "Assholes of the century."
"No need to bring yourself down to our level, Butcher." MM said with a smirk. "You're the king of assholes."
"Oi, screw you!" Billy said with a frown, turning towards Becca. "Becky…" He whined, only for the woman to shake her head with a smirk.
"Nope, he's right on this one."
Seeing that he was outnumbered, he turned to look at Ryan. "Least you're on my side, right, buddy?"
"Of course!"
Nolan chuckled at the scene, glancing at a clock above the entrance. "Well, it's about time to introduce myself, explain things." He turned his gaze towards Billy. "You ready, Butcher?"
Billy grinned. "Let's go, mate."
Everyone in the gym stood at attention when the doors opened, and Billy Butcher and Omni-Man walked into the room.
"Hello, everyone. I hope you all have made yourselves comfortable." Omni-Man spoke as he stepped up to the group, none of them completely sure why they were here.
"Can you tell us why we're here? We were invited here for an important meeting, but we weren't told what it was about." Maeve said, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Omni-Man, Black Noir nodding in agreement next to her.
"It's simple. You all know of Vought, and what the company was truly like." Many of the people in the room shuddered or grimaced at his words. "And though it's very nearly destroyed, it has so far been saved from complete bankruptcy by James Stillwell."
"Vought is a curse upon this Earth." Love Sausage spoke, disdain clear in his voice.
"I can attest to that." Maeve remarked, agreeing with the large supe.
"As many of you know, Vought no longer has any control or access to any of the heroes out there today. All of their official teams have essentially been disbanded, as they saw no reason to stay together without a paycheck.
"I think I'm fine not being in a boyband anymore." Supersonic remarked with a chuckle, garnering laughs from everyone in the room.
Omni-Man chuckled as well. "Fair enough. But the government wanted an active team of true superheroes." He explained, his eyes running across everyone in the room. "They wanted me to lead, and I agreed, under a few conditions."
"Are you the reason we were all called here?" Silver Kincaid asked. "I've noticed that it's specific people, including three members of the now defunct Seven." It didn't escape anyone's notice how she glared at Noir.
Omni-Man smiled, nodding. "In fact, I am. Everyone here has been handpicked by me, to be the highest ranking members of what will be an international superhero team."
"International?" Starlight questioned, surprised. "Like, worldwide?"
Omni-Man nodded. "Yes. We will not operate only in the U.S. We will operate all around the world, and we have the approval of the United Nations to operate like this. So should you accept, there will be times where you travel to other countries."
"Why us?" Ice Princess asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why all of us specifically? You said you handpicked each and every one of us."
"The ice girl is right, Omni-Man. Why is it that you have picked all of us?"
Omni-Man's eyes glided across everyone there, his expression serious.
"Every single person here has the traits needed of a true hero." He spoke seriously. "All of you take the protection of innocents very seriously, and though you may not all know each other, many of you are similar in ways you don't realize."
Kimiko stepped forward, a curious gaze on her face as she pulled out her phone, typing something on it before showing it to Nolan.
'How am I a hero? I'm a killer.'
The guilty look on her face was enough for Nolan to know she regretted it.
Omni-Man raised an eyebrow, and looked around the room. "I want everyone to be honest. Who all in this room, outside of Black Noir, has blood on their hands?"
When he saw many of them hesitant to raise their hands, Omni-Man sighed.
"Okay, I'll go first." He said, raising his own hand. "I'm the person who killed Homelander. Back on my homeworld of Viltrum, I was also forced to fight for survival. Unfortunately, this means that I have many, many, lives on my ledger."
After his admission, shocking many of the people, slowly, hesitantly, Maeve, Love Sausage, Ice Princess, and Kimiko raised their hands.
Omni-Man looked at each of them. "All of you know what you did. And I can see clear guilt over it when I look at you."
Suddenly Omni-Man hovered in the air, looking down on them. "Don't let the situation fool you. Being a hero is not as lighthearted as you like to believe. People will die. Collateral damage will occur. And you will be forced to kill at one point."
"Are you saying that we'll have to kill our enemies?" Starlight spoke up, raising an eyebrow.
Omni-Man shook his head. "You may not have too. But there will be a time when it's the life of your enemy vs the lives of innocents, or even your own."
He landed back on the ground. "I handpicked all of you, but I will not force you to stay."
"What about secret identities?" Maeve said with a furrowed brow.
Omni-Man sighed as he got to that particular topic. "I won't lie to any of you. I know all of your real names, as does Mister Butcher, here," Omni-Man gestured over to Butcher, who grinned as he gave a small wave. "And so does his entire organization, and high ranking government officials."
Many of them looked uncomfortable with the news, and Omni-Man couldn't blame them.
"But if we will work as a team, especially us as founders, we have to trust each other."
"But how can we trust him?" Silver Kincaid growled, jerking a finger in Noir's direction.
Omni-Man turned, and looked at Black Noir. "Earving." He said with a nod.
Black Noir nodded, and then, to everyone's surprise…
He casually removed his mask.
The scarred, burned, shredded face of Earving Mitchell was seen by all of them.
"Meet Erving Mitchell." Omni-Man said, gesturing to Noir. "He's our stealth expert, and he is incapable of speech, so he carries around a notepad and knows minimal sign language."
Kimikio made a rapid gesture in Noir's direction.
She looked surprised when he nodded, seeming to understand what she'd said.
"He has bared his secrets to you all, exposed his past willingly to you, and has shown you his greatest fear."
The good eye of the poor guy hovered down as he put his mask back on.
"He has nothing left to hide."
Everyone still looked hesitant, so Omni-Man sighed. "I guess I'll go next." Stepping forward, he looked at them all seriously. "When I am not being a hero, I am a security guard at a movie theater, Black Noir knows this. My name is Nolan Grayson."
They looked surprised that he revealed that to them. Many were unable to believe that he'd taken such a leap of faith.
And then Love Sausage stepped forward, his eyes scanning across the room seriously. "My name is Vasilii Vorishikin. My friends call me Vas. I was a former cop in my homelands, before joining the military. And I truly hope that I can see you all as my comrades."
Everyone looked just as surprised by his own confession as they had Nolan and Erving's.
Then Maeve sighed. "Fuck it, may as well join the crowd." Stepping forward, she looked at them all as well. "My name's Maggie Shaw. Queen Maeve, former member of the Seven, second strongest person on the planet. I don't really have much of a personal life outside of here."
With a nervous sigh, Starlight followed her example.
"I'm Annie January. I grew up in Iowa, and I was a pageant girl growing up. Me and Supersonic were in Capes for Christ."
"And I'm Alex Jones." Supersonic said, following Annie's example. "I uh… well, I had a bad history, did some bad stuff, but I cleaned up my act.
The only people left were Kimiko, Silver Kincaid, and Ice Princess.
With a sigh, Silver Kincaid bit the bullet. "Well, may as well, if I can do some good. I'm Elizabeth Victoria. I volunteered for some Compound V trials back home in England, and now I can create sonic waves with my voice."
Ice Princess and Kimiko were the only two left, and both were extremely hesitant.
But after some time, hesitantly, Ice Princess stepped forward. "I… My name is Eliza. Eliza Rein." She introduced herself. "I can shoot blasts of Ice from my hands, and I can also freeze all the moisture in my body down to subzero temperatures… take on a completely ice form."
That left Kimiko, who was uncomfortable with being in the spotlight. It didn't help that like Noir, she also didn't speak. So she was completely unable to really communicate.
Well, if not for Black Noir, that is.
Walking up to the woman, he pulled out his notepad, and handed it to her.
She took it, and looked up at the silent man, a grateful smile on her face as she nodded.
Everyone watched as she scribbled down some writing on the notepad, before holding it out for everyone to read.
'I am Kimiko Miyashiro. I don't speak. I was taken from my home as a child. My power is that I heal.'
Many looked at her with varying degrees of sympathy as they read what she wrote.
"I know what it is like to be removed from one's home as a child." Vas said, walking up to the woman with a sympathetic gaze. "My father deemed me weak, and threw my home. I grew up harshly. In the cold winters of Moscow."
"You ever just need a friend, I'm here." Eliza spoke up, smiling at Kimiko.
Kimiko turned her gaze up to Noir, who placed his hand on his heart as he nodded. She smiled gratefully at all of them, thankful for the support she had been receiving already.
"Oi, cunts!"
The moment was interrupted, of course, by Billy's rather rude call.
"Yes, Butcher?" Nolan asked with a furrowed brow. The bearded man was looking down at his phone, a serious look on his face.
"You think you can make your first save as a team today?"
Everyone straightened up at his words.
"What's going on?" Maeve asked, her stance serious.
"Plane got hijacked, Transatlantic Flight 97, going Paris to Chicago." Billy explained. "Apparently, there's a supe on board."
The room was quiet as the news settled amongst them.
And then Omni-Man looked at them all.
"Get ready. The Guardians of the Globe make their first mission today."
A/N: To the guest who made the remark about the team name being the Guardians of the Globe, when I read your review, I thought I'd accidentally posted an unfinished chapter.
Anyway, the founding members of this Earth's Guardians of the Globe are established, and this time, Omni-Man is on the team.
Also, think of this universe's Guardians as more like Justice League Unlimited, with an immense number of heroes on the roster. That's how I planned it for this fic anyway, but the main members are the ones I named above.
I chose Supersonic and Silver Kincaid because we actually had some established character traits for them, especially Supersonic.
I chose Ice Princess as a member because she was the only named hero I knew that wasn't necessarily an established villain or piece of shit. Yes, she froze a guy's dick off, but he says it's accidental, and I'm willing to believe him, purely because during the… ahem… scenes with Starlight and Hughie, we see that a supe's powers can activate during an orgasm.
Honestly, I think the one I was most excited to establish, and had planned from the get go, was Love Sausage.
Many of you were probably wondering why I was putting a joke character into the team, unless you follow the comics and knew Vas's name.
Despite the many improvements the show made upon the comic, Vas's character transition was disappointing, and I'd always hated how they'd wasted such a cool character in the show.
Especially since Vas is actually supposed to be one of the decent supes in the Boys.
Anyway, the team is establishd, and they are going on the first save, the delayed terrorist attack on the Flight.
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, don't forget to review, and I'll see you all in the next one.