Just before Butcher could incinerate the Boys, something immediately launched him out of the house, much to the bewilderment of Lex Luthor, who was presently watching this unfold in first person pov back at his base.
"What?!" Luthor questioned.
The culprit was none other than Manchester Black.
"Sorry to have to do this to you mate, but orders are orders." Manchester Black said before unleashing a telekinetic assault on Butcher's brain.
However, Luthor was unaffected, instead, he was irritated.
"Waller." He simply said.
Luthor got up from his chair and went to his armory. He picked up a high-tech-looking rifle with a scope and two laser pistols. Lex let out an annoyed sigh.
"If you want something done right, you do it yourself." Luthor told himself.
A holographic display showcased Butcher's coordinates, not a second later, Luthor teleported to Earth Seven.
He pressed a button on his belt, which seemingly did nothing. For some reason, Amanda Waller had lost all connection to her squad.
Butcher stopped moving, as if his entire body went numb. Black didn't understand what happened, suddenly, Luthor shot at the ground next to him, stopping his assault on Butcher. Manchester Black looked up and saw Luthor. For a moment, he was shocked, but he managed to regain his wits.
"Well, I'll be damned, Lex Luthor. As I live and breathe." Black said.
"Manchester Black, I don't believe we've ever had the privilege to meet." Luthor said.
Black lit up a cigarette.
"Butcher wasn't his usual talkative self. I take it that's your fault." Manchester Black said.
"What if it were?" Luthor asked.
"Then I'm guessing you made that formula the CIA is testing out." Black said.
"You do realize you are digging the peerless hole of all time, right?" Luthor said.
"Yes, I am. If you plan on asking me to join you, shove it. When I started out it was to kill smug pricks like you. Plus I'm looking forward to Big Blue's reaction when I show him the corpse of his "greatest" enemy." Black told him.
Lex rolled his eyes.
"Unfortunate, but not surprising." Luthor said.
It was at this point, Black realized something.
"Where is it?" Black asked.
"You'll have to be more specific." Luthor said.
"Your power suit or whatever you call it." Black said.
Luthor smiled.
"I am not fond of overkill." Luthor said.
Black used his telekinesis on Luthor only for him to let out a scream of pain before falling down on the ground.
"Anti-psionic shielding. I had the Martian in mind when I created it, but I wonder how much it hurts you." Luthor explained.
Butcher got up, still under Luthor's control.
"Kill your former compatriots. I can handle whatever convicts Waller sent to kill you all." He ordered Butcher.
"Understood, sir." Butcher said, his voice devoid of any emotion.
Butcher marched up back to the house in a machine-like manner.
Maeve and Circe were in Earth One, traversing the forest of an island in the Aegean Sea.
"What is this place called?" Maeve asked.
"It's the Island of Aeaea. It's ruled by a powerful and beautiful sorceress." Circe told her.
She stopped at an altar on it was a sword and a large one at that.
"A big sword, really?" Maeve asked.
"This sword was used by Ares, the God of War. Ares' influence on the mortal plane has waned considerably thanks to a certain princess. Still, I can enchant the sword with my own sorcery." She told her.
"Why do you have the sword?" Maeve asked.
"We had a history together. Now if you wouldn't mind." Circe replied.
Two beams of purple energy fired from her hand. After a few minutes, it stopped, the sword now had a purple glow.
"Take it." Circe told her.
Maeve went up to the sword, cautiously. She reached out for the sword but hesitated.
"Come now it won't bite. Think of Elena." Circe told her.
That was all the convincing Maeve needed. She grabbed the sword and felt its power flow through her. It was as though the blood in her veins was electricity. The deep scars running from her cheek to her neck and torso lit purple like neon. Her eyes were glowing too. With a gentle sword tap, she split the altar into two. Circe rolled her eyes at this.
"If you're finished, I believe, you have a certain videotape to hand over." Circe said.
"Bring me to that fucker." Maeve said.
Circe smiled as she prepared to bring Maeve to the Joker, until, for some reason, she couldn't. Something was shielding not just him, but also Harley Quinn and Elena too. Her smile turned into a frown.
"What's the holdup?" Maeve asked.
"It's nothing." She lied.
Instead, she opted to teleport her to Joker's hideout. This likely wasn't too much of a setback, she assumed. After all, Maeve was now firmly in her control. It's not like the Clown being alive or dead mattered to her.
The Boys watched as Butcher's body was thrown out of the house. They knew it was their chance to run.
"Do you think that was Waller, Vought, or the Justice League?" Hughie asked MM.
"I don't know, we just need to run." MM said.
"What about Butcher?" Hughie asked.
"There's no Butcher, not now." Frenchie solemnly told him.
Kimiko broke down the front door.
"We just can't leave him like this! Who knows what Luthor is going to do with him?" Hughie protested.
MM grabbed Hughie and pressed him against a tree.
"Hughie I don't like this any more than you do, but I sure as hell am not going to wait twenty-two hours for Butcher to snap out of this." MM said, sternly.
"The Justice League maybe they can help him." Hughie said.
MM sighed as they headed into the forest.
"Yeah they probably can, but I feel he's not going to be happy about that." MM said.
Seconds later, an energy blast hit one of the trees reducing it to splinters. They turned and saw it was Butcher.
"Butcher if you can hear us in there stop!" MM told him.
Butcher walked forward.
"Come on, you're not going to let that bald piece of shit control you like this, es-tu?" Frenchie asked.
"Butcher for fuck's sake think of Becca?" Hughie said.
This seemed to work, as Butcher stopped, before his eyes started to light up once more. Only for Butcher to get blasted by something that knocked him back several feet. He struggled to get up. They looked at the assailant and saw it was Soldier Boy, carrying some sort of glowing energy pistol.
"You cock gobblers really pissed the cooze off, you know that right? Had to get lectured like I was a fucking child." Soldier Boy told them.
MM defiantly glared at her.
"Go fuck yourself, you racist piece of shit." MM said.
Soldier Boy seemed to be taken aback by this.
"Fuck me?" Soldier Boy said. "I'll fuck you. I'll fuck you so hard my shield is going up your ass out of your throat."
He was shot by an energy blast courtesy of one of Luthors' guns.
"Muscle-headed cretin." Luthor remarked. "Now, where were we?" He asked.
Kimiko lunged at Luthor, but he caught her with one hand, much to her surprise.
"The suit I'm wearing enhances my strength." Luthor explained.
With a simple squeeze, he broke her neck before throwing her limp body onto the ground. Frenchie shot Luthor, but the bullets bounced off of his forcefield. Lex pulled out one of his guns and aimed at them. MM turned to Hughie with a look of desperation on his face.
"Hughie! RUN!" He told him.
Hughie ran away deep into the woods.
"How noble. Unfortunately, you've delayed the inevitable for the boy." Luthor told him, a smirk on his face.
Just as he was about to shoot them, Luthor was picked up off the ground by King Shark. Nanaue tried to bite Luthor, but his shielding protected Luthor, so he threw him far away. Luthor crashed into several trees and rocks before he stopped some miles away. An angered Luthor got up from the ground, and soon green and purple nanomachines encompassed his body from the symbol on his chest. Within seconds, Luthor was wearing his war suit. Luthor flew at King Shark, tackling the beast and crashing it into the mountainside. As King Shark tried to get up, Luthor blasted above him, causing several rocks to fall on him. Luthor noticed something appearing on his HUD, a Zeta Beam was activated nearby. Angered, but still able to think clearly, Luthor contacted someone.
"Professor, it's me. I need you to gather William Butcher and his gang. Take them somewhere a thousand miles from within this hundred-mile radius." Luthor told him.
"I'm on my way." Thawne said.
Luthor then noticed something else, his control of Butcher had just ceased. Lex soon realized the gun that shot Butcher was a gravity gun that sped up Butcher's biological clock. Gravitational time dilation, he realized. Lex flew over to where he had been and saw Butcher struggling to free himself under Soldier Boy's boot.
"Really should have just stayed with the Task Force." Soldier Boy said.
Luthor's war suit retracted, gaining Soldier Boy's attention.
"I don't suppose I'm interrupting something." Luthor said.
"Who the fuck are you?" Soldier Boy asked.
"My name is Lex Luthor." Lex introduced himself.
Butcher looked at Luthor. Luthor examined Butcher's confused stare and smiled. He had no idea who he was, let alone that he was under Luthor's control.
"Do I look like I should give a shit?" Soldier Boy asked and proceeded to point his gravity gun at Luthor.
Luthor simply rolled his eyes.
"Soldier Boy, I suppose, I've read about you. In fact, I know much more about you than you realize." Luthor said.
"Oh really, like what?" Soldier Boy asked.
"The real reason why Vought had you sent away." Luthor said.
This caught the attention of both Soldier Boy and Butcher. Soldier Boy slowly put his gun down.
"Why?" Soldier Boy asked.
"Do you remember being a part of one of Jonah Vogelbaum's… experiments?" Luthor said though he hesitated with that last word.
"Yeah, some sort of genetic experiment in 1980. He just had me beat my meat into a cup." Soldier Boy said.
Luthor pinched his temples and rolled his eyes, all while letting out a sigh.
"Yes, well, Vogelbaum wanted to understand your genetics, using this sperm to create your son." Luthor said.
Soldier Boy removed his boot from Butcher's chest. Butcher coughed as he clutched his chest.
"My son?" Soldier Boy asked.
"You just met him recently. Homelander." Luthor explained.
Soldier Boy and Butcher were caught off guard by this revelation.
"Vought feared that you wouldn't take the idea of a potential successor, so they opted to replace you." Luthor said.
"Guessin' the turd doesn't fall far from the arse." Butcher spat.
Soldier Boy lifted his foot and hovered it over Butcher's head. Butcher looked defiantly at him before he could crush his skull Luthor spoke up.
"Actually, I'd recommend you hold off on what you are about to do." He said.
"Really, who's going to stop me, cueball. You?" Soldier Boy asked.
Luthor smirked.
"Yes, in fact. Although, do you really want to be following Waller's orders for the rest of your life?" Luthor asked.
"I have nowhere else to go." Soldier Boy said.
"That's what I'm offering. I'm the smartest man on both Earth One and yours. Not only that, I can give you Payback, I can give you the heads of your old team." Luthor told him.
Soldier Boy was tempted. Butcher tried to escape, but Soldier Boy stepped on his body and kept him on the ground.
"Despite Mister Butcher's vulgarity, Vought has done a terrible job raising your son. If I might add, of course." Luthor said.
"What do you mean?" Soldier Boy asked.
"He's an egomaniac with more insecurities than all the water in the four oceans. A cocktail mixture of a god complex and oedipal tendencies. Being raised and isolated by scientists has given him a need for love, but he has little to no empathy towards others." Luthor said.
"He's a pussy." Soldier Boy said.
"You've met him before, shouldn't you know it well?" Luthor asked rhetorically.
Soldier Boy thought back to his fight with Homelander. He could see the insecurities and all.
"How bad is it?" Soldier Boy asked.
Luthor sighed and showed him the video of Homelander drinking Stillwell's bottled breast milk. Soldier Boy looked horrified by it.
"Oh, Jesus Christ. Those fuckers ruined him." He muttered to himself
"Yes, to put it bluntly. However, your grandson still has potential. He even has superpowers on par with his father." Luthor brought up.
"Grandson? Are you trying to tell me that he and Liberty had a kid?" Soldier Boy asked. His disbelief was noticeable.
"No, not her." Luthor said.
"Well, then who?" Soldier Boy asked.
Luthor looked at Butcher, who seemed angered and surprised by what Luthor knew.
"I would prefer not to say, it was a rather ugly situation between the two. I'm certain you can guess what I am implying." Luthor said.
"Don't you even mention that!" Butcher snapped at Luthor.
"I apologize, Mister Butcher. You have my pity." Luthor said.
Soldier Boy seemed to realize what Luthor was implying, judging by Butcher's reaction, though he was not as offended.
"His girl?" Soldier Boy asked, pointing down at Butcher.
"Wife, actually." Luthor corrected him.
"Oh fuck…" Soldier Boy muttered.
"Yes, such a disappointment." Luthor said.
"Why are you telling me all of this?" Soldier Boy asked.
"Simple, really, I told you the truth." Luthor said.
"So I owe you a favor." Soldier Boy said.
"Do we have a deal?" Luthor asked.
Soldier Boy pondered Luthor's offer.
"As much as I hate the bitch, I can't really leave her. She saved me from the Reds after thirty years." Soldier Boy said.
"Don't worry, I never intended to poach you for your services. In fact, I am about to give you some time to do what you want." Luthor said.
"What do you mean?" Soldier Boy asked.
Luthor showed him a device depicting a recording of the Task Force X command center. Waller appeared to be angrily looking at a console.
"Hand over Butcher, and you can have some freedom." Luthor said.
"Deal." Soldier Boy said.
He grabbed Butcher and handed him over to Luthor.
"Smart man." Luthor said as he pressed the button.
Waller was electrocuted from the console as she fell to the ground.
"She's not dead?" Soldier Boy asked, bemused.
"No, and as much as I'd like that, worst case scenario, she was touching the equipment at the wrong moment and was electrocuted. Though I'm guessing she has about a week at most until she recovers." Luthor told him.
"Right." Soldier Boy said.
"Thank you, and here. It will allow you to personally call him." Luthor said, handing Soldier Boy a device of sorts.
"I could have just used a phone book." Soldier Boy said.
"You'll find that those have become obsolete. In fact, it'll also give you the locations of Crimson Countess and Mindstorm. Noir has gone off the reserve from what I've gathered." Luthor told him.
Soldier Boy nodded and walked away. Butcher tried to hit Luthor with his crowbar from behind, only for Lex to effortlessly stop him by grabbing it. Luthor grabbed him by the throat and hoisted him in the air.
Maeve was in a dark warehouse.
"Joker!" Maeve yelled. "Get your fucking ass out here now!"
She heard an intercom turn on.
"Yeesh, calm down! There's no need for such harsh language." Joker said. He appeared wearing a pink satin robe with the faces of harlequins all over it, his hair was messy as he pulled out a comb to straighten it out.
"Where's Elena?" She asked.
"Where's the video?" Joker asked.
Maeve was silent.
"I can tell you are a bit upset, and I get that. The wicked witch did a good job at that." Joker said.
"Wicked witch?" Maeve asked.
"Ya know, Circe. Blunder Woman's main arch these days now that Ares is no longer here." He said and yawned.
Just then, Circe teleported in and startled the Joker.
"You insolent trickster!" Circe said.
"You stab my back, I stab yours." Joker said.
"You got her kidnapped?" Maeve asked, the betrayal clearly stung her heart.
Circe rolled her eyes.
"Fine yes, I did, but it was to help you get out of your shell. I even made sure that the clowns didn't hurt her." Circe defended herself.
"Bullshit. I should have known!" Maeve said.
"I had your best interests at heart. I mean, look at you now. You are strong, brave...
"Brave Maeve." Joker said.
"Shut it!" Circe told him, eliciting a chuckle from Joker.
"Now, there's a chance for you to kill the one man who has hurt you for so long." Circe told her, eyeing the sword in her grip.
"Homelander." Maeve said.
"Yes." Circe said.
"But the Justice League?" Maeve asked.
"I will not sugarcoat it for you, but it's inevitable. However, killing Homelander would make it so much worth it. I mean, everyone here knows that you have been dreaming of this moment for years." Circe told her.
"All this talk about dreaming of killing someone is inspiring, and whatnot, but can I please get the video?" Joker asked.
Maeve eyed the go-pro in her hand.
"You really want to hurt him, right? Give it to me. Hell, I might actually hold off, on the whole, releasing it instantly part. Truthfully, I am more than willing to hang it over milk sop's head for a bit." Joker said.
"As annoying as he is, Joker raises an excellent point." Circe said.
It was wrong, Maeve knew that. She was prepared to crush it when she heard a voice from the sword speak.
"Give it to him."
"It's yours." Maeve said.
For some reason, unknown to Maeve, he had a plant around his neck, only then she noticed it. Circe only looked annoyed. Maeve handed over the tape.
"Thanks!" He said. "Harley!"
Out from the back of the truck was Elena tied to a wheelchair with the same duct tape with a smile drawn on it. Harley pushed her.
"Wheeeeee!" Quinn cried out.
Maeve freed Elena and hugged her. As the Joker and Harley Quinn walked away.
Elena looked at Maeve with a look of concern.
"What have you done?" She asked.
Maeve smiled.
"I'm about to ensure Homelander can never hurt us again." Maeve told her, a smile on her face.
Circe watched all of this unfold with a satisfied grin.
Outside, Harley and the Joker walked to the Jokermobile.
"Guessin' I won't be needin' this!" Harley said, throwing away the herb.
As the two drove away, Batman landed where Harley threw the herb away. He examined it soon realizing what it was.
"Diana, it's me, I found something you might find interesting." Batman said.
"What is it?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Harley was wearing a herb, Molly." He said.
Wonder Woman knew instantly what this meant and figured out what that meant. Especially who that stranger she saw at Vought tower.
"Circe." She said.
MM, Frenchie, and Kimiko were running through the forest. Now they were slowly trekking through.
"Are you certain that Petit Hughie will be safe?" Frenchie asked.
"I hope so." MM said, his doubts were evident.
"Do you think he is alone?" Frenchie asked.
"They want Butcher, not Hughie." MM told him.
"Not him, I meant Luthor." Frenchie clarified.
"Why would anyone work with him?" MM asked.
"I've read that the villains on Earth One admire Lex Luthor." Frenchie said.
"Yeah, yeah, sure, excuse me, but I didn't find anything admirable about that sanctimonious piece of shit." MM said.
"That's a good view, probably because we are not supervillains." Frenchie encouraged.
"Shit, why couldn't he be like the tech billionaires in our world and just happen to know how to look smart, not actually be smart!" MM said.
Frenchie and Kimiko let out a chuckle.
"I take it the two of you have experience surviving in the woods?" MM asked.
Kimiko and Frenchie nodded.
"Alright, first things first we…" MM said until he noticed that Frenchie disappeared.
"The hell?" He asked.
Kimiko turned her head and saw that Frenchie was gone. She angrily looked around the forest to see who had taken him.
"Kimiko, easy! Keep your back against mine." MM said as they went back to back, looking around the forest.
"I'm not seeing anything, are you?" He asked before falling down on the leaves.
Kimiko was gone just like Frenchie, a panicked MM got up. He ran before all of a sudden, he was in a new area of the forest with Kimiko and Frenchie. Their hands and legs were bound. Standing in front of them was the Reverse Flash. He was talking to someone, but they could not hear who was on the other end.
"I've got them, Campbell wasn't with them. I'll extract a confession." Professor Zoom said.
He turned to them a smug and sadistic smile on his face. His hand started to vibrate just before he could stick into Frenchie. He stopped, looking mildly annoyed.
"A Zeta Beam, are you sure?" Thawne asked, sounding concerned.
"I'll look for him now." He said.
Thawne turned to them and smiled, he struck his hand inside of Frenchie's gut. It was only for a second, but Frenchie screamed in pain. It was probably one of the most pained screams MM had ever heard. Frenchie collapsed onto the ground, dry heaving. With a smirk, Thawne ran deep into the forest.
Hughie ran through the forest back to the house. He figured that Mallory at least had a safe room he could use. Despite his fear, he hated leaving the others behind. Hughie entered the house and locked it before finding his way into the basement. He had no idea, but he could not shake off the feeling something was after him. Something fast. Although ever since A-Train ran through Robin. Locking the door, he pulled out his phone and recorded a message. He could feel the tears drip down his eyes and the lump in his throat.
"Annie, it's me. I want to let you know that I'm sorry for everything. Lex Luthor, he's controlling Butcher. I don't know what he has planned, but it's not good, you need to tell someone please! We're being hunted down by supervillains and Soldier Boy too! I want to let you know I love you." Hughie was cut off.
He saw that he was somewhere far away and not alone.
"Mr. Campbell, we want to talk." The Flash said.
With him were Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, and Black Canary.
Hughie cried tears of joy, as he collapsed onto the ground before getting brought to the Watchtower.
"Kid! Hey, kid! Are you alright? Can you hear me?" Green Arrow asked.
"Looks like he's been through a lot." Canary said.
"What about the others?" Green Lantern asked.
"I can't find them." J'onn said.
"You two take him back, I'll look around. They could not have gotten far." Flash said.
"I will join you." Martian Manhunter said.
Unbeknown to them, Thawne was watching this unfold. With a distasteful scowl, he started to run back to where he was supposed to meet Luthor.
Homelander was lying down on his bed, numb. He blankly looked at the ceiling.
"Hey!" He heard a familiar voice call out.
He got up from the bed and saw him in the mirror.
"Look at you, giving up already." Homelander told himself.
"I don't know what to do." John pleaded.
"Well, I do: We follow what the clown told us." Homelander said.
John was mortified to hear that.
"I…I can't." John said.
"Of course, you can't, but I can. Haven't I always pulled through for us both?" Homelander told him.
"The Justice League, they'll…" John said.
"Yes, the Justice League will stop us, but so what? Locking us up won't bring back all the people I killed before they stop me. It's not about winning it's about sending a message, those people would have still been alive if they hadn't decided to mess with our world. We might as well make their victory bitter-fucking-sweet." Homelander said.
John pondered this when he heard his phone go off. It was from an unknown number. He answered it.
"Hello?" John asked.
"Sir, I apologize for disturbing you, but you have a call." A Vought employee said. "And he says he… Well, he's claiming to be Soldier Boy."
"P-Put him through." Homelander said.
"Hey." Soldier Boy said. "The situation changed. I thought we should have a conversation."
John was surprised to hear this.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Homelander asked.
"Fall 1980, I get called into Vogelbaum's lab for an experiment. Some shit about genetics. I still remember the Penthouse I used, June, Danielle Deneux, bushed like a pomeranian.
"What?" John asked.
"I beat my meat into a cup. Turns out… Vogelbaum made a kid, born in spring 1981. A boy." Soldier Boy said.
Despite the vulgarity of his words, John was happy to hear about this.
"You know what the bitch of it is? If they kept me around, I would've let you take the spotlight, what father wouldn't want that for his son? So they went to Noir, and he convinced the rest of the team to stab me in the back." Soldier Boy said.
"Noir left." John simply replied.
"Yeah, I heard, doesn't surprise me that he flaked when I got out. That pussy." Soldier Boy remarked with a slight chuckle.
There was a slight pause.
"You know, maybe if I had raised you, you wouldn't have become such a fucking disappointment." Soldier Boy told him.
John's smile practically shattered.
"What?" He weakly asked.
"You heard me, I know all about you. You are a weak, sniveling pussy who needs affection from everyone like it is fucking air. I saw you get your ass kicked by that retarded Superman clone. I even saw the video of you drinking the milk from Edgar's old assistant, maybe straight from the source would be okay, but that? What the fuck is wrong with you?" Soldier Boy said.
"That was CGI." John lied, he could feel a lump in his throat. Soldier Boy was confused with the explanation.
"That shit with computer dolls? Nah, I was at Tron's premiere, I know what that computer stuff looks like, that bottle wasn't CGI. Anyway, where's my grandson?" Soldier Boy asked.
"Your what?" John asked.
"My grandson, I was told you had a son." Soldier Boy said.
At that moment, he realized something, Ryan was missing. The Justice League were his main focus, and they used that to take Ryan away from him.
"I don't know where Ryan is." Homelander told him.
"Jesus, you lost your only son?"
"At least I know he exists."
"Don't tell me he's with those bleeding hearts from Earth One." Soldier Boy said.
"He probably is." Homelander said.
"Oh, Jesus Christ. You are now just a fucking waste of my goddamn time." Soldier Boy muttered.
Homelander was silent.
"I'm a disappointment to you. You know what, good because let me tell you something, Dad. If you think I am a disappointment now, just wait. You, the Justice League, and Butcher." Homelander told him.
"Sure, good luck with that." Soldier Boy said, hanging up.
Homelander looked out at the world, thinking of how to start it.
He no longer cared. Nothing could hurt him anymore.
Luthor dropped Butcher on the ground. Like the others, he had the same bonds wrapped around his arms and legs.
"Butcher?" MM asked, a look of caution on his face.
"MM? Where's Hughie? What 'appened, I can't remember anything?" Butcher asked, confused by MM's demeanor towards him.
"You don't remember?" MM asked.
"Remember what? Last thing I remember is looking for the bug." Butcher said.
"He used the V24 in your blood to control you." MM said angrily looking at Luthor.
"What?" Butcher asked.
"He made you into his puppet and tried to have you kill us." MM said.
Butcher silently absorbed the information MM had told him. Like a volcano, his anger slowly startled to bubble before he tried to lunge at Luthor. Though his binds prevented him from succeeding.
"Bald fuckin' cunt!" Butcher yelled.
Luthor dismissively ignored Butcher's anger. Thawne returned before Luthor could open his mouth, Professor Zoom spoke up.
"The Justice League has Campbell. The Flash is on his way looking for them." Thawne said.
MM, Frenchie, and Kimiko smiled. Butcher turned to look at the others perplexed.
"I overheard Campbell mention he planned to turn himself in. Likely because he was smart enough to know following you would likely end with him dead. Unfortunately, they are not going to save you. The bonds on you act as psionic dampeners, the Martian will be unable to hear your thoughts. Even the Flash will take too long to find you, why do you think I brought him with me. Besides, he hardly knows enough to be a real inconvenience to our plans." Luthor said.
Before Butcher could speak, Thawne stuck his hand inside Butcher's chest. Butcher rolled around on the ground in pain, screaming. Thawne sadistically smiled as he savored Butcher's pain until Luthor spoke up.
"Enough, Thawne! I might require their services!" Luthor said.
Thawne stopped.
"You're kidding me, right?" He asked.
"We already told you, we are not working for you!" MM said.
Luthor ignored MM and spoke to the Reverse Flash.
"Ever since they've gotten here, some force has been helping them all this time. Think about it. Gotham City, Task Force X, and now here. I don't know what's been helping them, but I want it on my side." He said.
Thawne mused Luthor's opinion.
"Alright, only because I know what you are about to do to them is much worse." Thawne said.
Luthor scoffed at this notion.
It didn't take much for the Boys to assume what Luthor planned to do with them, much to the horror of Frenchie and MM. As well as, the icy rage of Butcher and Mother's Milk.
"They'll appreciate what I am about to do for them one day. Whether they would like to admit it or not. In fact, their missing compatriot will, too, considering who you plan on targeting." Luthor said.
"If you think any of us is going to one day think we'll ever kiss your arse, you are out of your fuckin' mind," Butcher seethed.
"Hardly, in fact, you are looking at the man who is about to clear your names." Luthor told them, a smug grin on his face.
All of them teleported away from the forest to the Society's lair.