A/N: Aaaaand we're back.

Shaking off the rust here, don't mind me.

Also lost my co-writer for this-they retired-so I'm having to improvise.

Finally got around to seeing the Equalizer 3 the other day. Its given this old man some...ideas.

WARNING! Mature story ahead! Well, this is "The Boys" of course, so that's to be expected of course, but there's your disclaimer.

Took some time away to think on things, draw up new character arcs, scrap others. Another year older, wiser, and with even more grey hairs. Makes a man feel proper old. Hard to believe I've been at this for fifteen years...will I still be alive in fifteen more? I'd like to hope so, but there are times when I wonder...

If this chapter gets a ton of feedback -hopefully it will!- then I'll do my best to ensure an earlier update.

In other news depression's starting to hit real hard these days. Sometimes I wonder why I do anything at all. I can't claim to understand what's going wrong with my head. I don't even know why! One moment I'm fine, then my mood craters for a few hours, then I'm back again for a bit, and the cycle repeats. Its rather annoying; as though I've become a prisoner in my own mind sometimes. Sure, what's one more mental problem on the pile. Not like I don't have enough, what with already being this old. Feels like every day is a battle sometimes. My doctor is of no help at all.

I can't find another one. *siiiigh* Don't mind the rambling of this geezer...

So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others.

As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes. They're tributes to legends far greater than I.

I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time.

Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story. Simple as that.

In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~!

Minor verbatim from the Boys.

"You have nine seconds to decide your fate. You know how it is, places to be, stuff to see, people to kill."

...I don't think that's how the saying goes."

"You wanna argue with him, mate?"

"Nope. I'll stay outta this one."

"Oh, there goes an arm...

~?

Phase Two Begins

Popclaw was crying when Naruto found her.

She didn't even hear him enter her room at first; she was too busy bawling her eyes out.

But when she did see him...he felt a flicker of pity in his chest. Just a touch. Just a tad. It was enough.

"Noir! He's dead! dead, dead, dead." she flung herself against him and wailed into his chest. "I saw the news. Please...you have to stay. Don't go. She babbled and clawed at his vest, latching on for dear life. "I don't...I can't...don't leave me alone tonight. You can stay over, right? You will, won't you?"

He almost wanted to sigh. It would make things difficult to explain.

But she looked so sad, so small against him...

At length, he nodded.

(.0.0.0.)

"You're a right cold cunt, you know that?"

Naruto didn't bother to hide his smile as he sank into the bar's seat beside Butcher; Noir's mask did that for him.

And cold? Him? Well...maybe he was, but he certainly didn't regret it. Not for one moment. Sometimes one needed a monster to beat a monster.

Butcher wasn't finished with him; he quaffed his drink and fixed him with a steely stare. "Her lad's not even a day dead and you're already in her bed. Why?"

Because he pitied her, owed her, really. Popclaw had loved A-Train. He'd killed him and she had unwittingly aided him in that endeavor. A bit of pleasure and cold comfort was the least he could give her. So what if his actions were dishonorable? This world wouldn't listen to logic. No, actions spoke louder than words and he'd learned that lesson the first time around. By that logic, what were a few more dead supes? They weren't real heroes after all.

Maybe it was cruel of him to think like that.

Maybe there was another way.

Maybe he didn't care.

Charlotte had her use and so she would live...for now. The moment she became an obstacles or a hindrance, he would cut her loose.

"Could you kill him?"

"I could." He said the words with all the hesitation they deserved, which was to say none at all.

Butcher thumped a fist against the table. "Then why haven't you?! Just feed him his heart and pop the bastard's head like a grape!"

"Ya know why I can't do that...yet." he liked to think his voice conveyed what his mask couldn't; the sheer, undiluted hatred he felt toward Vought's biggest bully. "Homelander has to die not just physically, but in the eyes of the people. All those he's hurt, all those lives he's shattered, murdered, defiled, RUINED, all of them. Otherwise you know Stan and Vought will put a spin on it and he'll come out of this smelling like roses. He slapped a hand against the wall, barring his path. "Are you still with me, Butcher?"

His comrade was silent for a long, agonizing moment "So long as he gets his."

He will. Speaking of which," he delved a hand into one of his many belt pouches. "Got something for you."

"The fuck is this?"

He handed him a vial. "A gift."

After a moment's pause, Butcher held the red liquid up to the light. "This ain't V. Is this what I think it is?"

"Yup." he smacked his lips, producing an audible pop.

"Permanent, is it?"

"In repeated doses. You'll be stronger. Faster. Heal from just about any wound. Hell, ya might even be able to fly if you hit the jackpot...but there's a price...

"There always is." His lips thinned in a familiar grimace. "Balls to it. Lets hear it, then."

"You need to keep your anger in check. Focused. If you lose control...

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya." He pocketed the vial. "I'll be careful." a small, sardonic smirk touched his beaded visage. "Shall we toast to it, then?"

"Don't really got anythin' ta toast to, there...

"Course we do." Butcher scoffed. "To the fallen A-Train. May he rot in hell."

"To Reggie." Naruto clinked his glass against Butcher's. "Good riddance. He won't be missed."

Phase one was well and truly done.

Phase two had just begun.

(.0.0.0.)

Maeve was waiting for him when he returned to the tower.

She'd cleaned up, planned a whole speech, even sobered up for the occasion.

Imagine her surprise then, when he walked right past her. Just...brushed right by, as though she no longer existed.

Oh, no.

She wasn't letting him get away. Not this time.

Scowling, she fell into step with him. "You did something, didn't you?"

Noir was the very picture of innocence. Insomuch as a masked man could be.

She didn't buy it. Not for a single solitary second. "I know it was you." her eyes didn't meet his as they walked side by side, didn't have to. Her words spoke for themselves. "John's was grinning like an idiot all morning before he flew off, saying it was all part of the plan." he tried to increased his pace and she linked her arm with his, holding him back. Her lips brushed his ear. "You goaded him into this, didn't you? Or got him to accept it, somehow."

Noir looked to her, touched a hand to his heart and tugged himself free from her From there he stepped back, as though to say "Who, me?"

Maeve absolutely hissed. "Yes, you! Don't give me that silent treatment you arrogant little-

Noir held up his notepad again. "Cope. Seethe. Mald."

Maeve felt her face flush furiously. "Why you...!"

Noir waltzed away with a whistle.

(.0.0.0.)

Annie wasn't surprised when Noir came to call.

The secure, sound-proofed room sealed tighter than a sardine can? Slightly less so, but she was beginning to expect such things with him these days. He'd gone to great lengths to conceal his identity from the rest of the Seve-more like the Five a the moment, after the Deep's ejection, A-Train's viscerally unexpected demise, and Shockwave's pending acceptance-and she suspected he'd go to greater lengths still to keep it that way. Really, the fact that he trusted her at all was something of miracle already.

She knew why.

The fact was, she was in too deep to back out now.

Even so, his actions shocked her. "I still can't believe you did that."

"I?" Naruto lounged in his seat, reveling in a rare moment without his mask. "I didn't do anything." his smug smile said otherwise. "The doctors found a cocktail of class A drugs in Reggie's bloodstream. Really, he should have known better than to run in his condition. A month ago Vought would've tried to cover this up...

"But you made sure they didn't." It wasn't a question and they both knew it. "Did you do something?"

Noir-Naruto!- shrugged one shoulder. "A-Train was a disgrace, and he'll die as a disgrace."

She frowned. "Due to events that you caused."

The silence was telling.

"Oh god," she turned away from him, running both hands through her hair. "You really killed him, didn't you?" Panic bleated in her brain, rendering her thoughts so much static. "I'm an accessory to murder."

"John knows I offed Reggie, and he doesn't care."

Of course he didn't. She rounded on him with a keening whine. "That's even worse!"

Naruto tilted his head, rather reminding her of a fox. "Is it, though? Is really?"

Annie pinched his cheek and growled at him.

Rather than retort, the whiskered warrior sat there and let her rant for the better part of five minutes, knowing she had to get it out of her system. By the end, he finally gave her what she wanted. Advice. Proper advice, if not necessarily the kind she'd been expecting from him. "You don't need to do anything. Just be you. Everything will work out."

"Easy for you to say!" she rounded on him, only to find him donning his mask and making for the door. "Where are you going?!"

"Nowhere special." He strode past her. "Just need to clear our a gang that's gotten too big for its britches."

Annie looked his way, eyes glowing but a little. "Want some backup?"

He shook his head. "No, this is something I have to do alone."

...why did she have a bad feeling about this?

(.0.0.0.)

They called themselves the Red Cleavers.

Childish. Asinine. Idiotic. They were boys and girls with more bullets than sense, really. He wasn't surprised they'd lasted this long in the city. Real heroes would've rooted them out long ago and mounted their heads on a spike as a warning. But there were No Heroes Here and so they had been allowed to persist as people were paid off, as the authorities turned a blind eye to it all. They trafficked in guns, drugs...and people. The first two he could've ignored, but the last? Not a chance in hell.

It wasn't hard to track them to their warehouse on the docks or their...merchandise.

They were waiting for him, of course. A whole squad. Surprising, but not a problem. That suggested they had a mole within Vought or were being bankrolled by them for some reason or another.

He walked right up to them without a flicker of fear.

A barrel pressed against his head. "Not a step further, hero."

Naruto took him in at a glance behind his mask. Bald man, wearing black and red just like the red. Heavy accent. Tattoos.

"Don't move."

There had to be at least three dozen like him, if not more behind those doors.

His head tilted the right with barely a sound. Interesting.

"I said don't move!" The leader snarled at him. "I've done my research on you. You're not so tough. Just a glorified vigilante on Vought's payroll. They own you, just as much as they own us. Turn around, hero."

On the payroll after all, then. Naruto blew out a sigh. He did so love being underestimated.

His earpiece began to ring. He ignored it.

Instead he pulsed his chakra, triggering a device in his belt. A wall of white noise went up, drawing a wince from all present. He spoke over it. "Yes, well, your research may have been a little...inadequate."

...you can talk? Wait, no, no. No!" They stumbled back, balking at what they'd assumed to be a mute man. "You shouldn't be able to taaaaaaaaaargh?!

Their please pitched into a shriek as his face pulped their face. He grabbed them, spun them around, using them as a shield.

"Hurts, doesn't it." he reached around and crushed their fist in his hand. Broke their fingers. "What do you feel?" One. "Confusion?" Two. "Disgust?" Three. "Terror?" Four, now. "I wonder if that's what they felt before they died." Five finally, leaving them a screaming mess. "I mean, it can be quite jarring to discover someone's actually a monster." He grabbed them by their broken hand, pinching their median nerve. "Are you a monster?"

A wail was his reward. "No, no, please...

Naruto inhaled sharply through his nose. "I believe you. Really, I do. But you know what they say."

"What-no! Wait, wait, waaaaaiiiit-

Those whimpering words died in a gurgle as he tore their head clean off their shoulders.

"Dead men tell no tales."

One of the gunmen shrank back, brandishing his rifle as though it would save him. "You don't do this! You're supposed to be good! You're a hero!"

Hero. Pah! What did they know of heroes?!

"Good?" He cocked his head. "Me? No. I...am not a good person. I haven't been one for a very long time."

He waded in. Bullets bounced off his chest. He grabbed the first man in reach.

"Y'see, that was you mistake. Thinking I'm good. I'm not. Not anymore."

Blood fountained forth as he tore them in half and cast them aside.

"Let me tell you aaaaaalll about the definition of insanity..."

He drove his heel down, obliterating a woman's knee.

...and how it broke what you'd call a "good" man...

His knife flicked out, opening a throat.

...just like...I'm about...

Off went arms.

...to break...

Legs, now.

...YOU."

His shoulders shook with silent mirth. He flicked a device on his belt and the lights died. Cries of shock went up.

A flashbang followed, dazing them yet further. Then he was upon them.

Rifles barked. Muzzles flashed briefly lightning the dark.

It was freeing to fight as he wished, to crush and ill men and women before him, knowing they wouldn't be able to tell a soul much less live to see tomorrow. Criminals went to prison. Dogs got put down. That rationale hadn't failed him before, and it didn't now. A clumsy right hook swept past him, its owner still dazed by the flashbang. He swayed aside, diverted it with one hand, and struck where the joint was the weakest. Bone burst through skin in a wet red pop and his foe fell with scream. He was still screaming when a knife pierced his chin and nailed his tongue to the roof of his mouth, piercing his brain. He let the gawping little shit drop and flowed onto the next, striking like a living shadow.

On and on he went, breaking and bending idiots, folding them in half and cracking skulls.

There were more of them than he'd expected. How tiresome.

This was taking too long, he needed to hurry up before-

The lights snapped back on with a rush.

A shadow fell over him.

"Evening, boys...!"

Homelander.

Of course the big bully would notice the melee. And help?! Him!?

He needed none at all...but he could hardly say that now, could he?

He alighted beside him and cocked his head to the left. "You look nervous, Noir."

A lie, of course. He had perfect control of his heartbeat. Anxious? Bah! If anything, he was furious.

"Seems there's a price on your head, pal. You've ruffled a few feathers. Whaddya say? I've got a few minutes."

That blank facade stared at him for a long moment.

"Great!" Homelander mistook his silence for acceptance and clapped him on the back, grinning like the idiot boy he still was at heart. "You and me, cracking some skulls. It'll be just like old times."

John clapped his back and turned away, casually lancing a gunman in half with his heat vision. Naruto twitched. Cocky little shit. Wring his neck. You know you can. He could. Homelander was many things, but he wasn't Invincible. It would be so easy. Just grab John's head and twist. Or mob him with shadow clones. The idiot wouldn't be able to stop him in time. He'd die...and millions across the world would mourn him as a fallen hero, not the monster he was at heart. With a deep breath he let the anger go...for now.

Phase One was done.

Phase Two had just begun.

Phase Three would see Homelander ruined.

A/N: Aaaand scene.

It a delight to write this merry madness again.

Hope you're enjoying the madness! Its really about to ramp up!

As ever, we're following the Embers Rule here. That's no joke. Really, it isn't. If folks don't like this...well, it won't be continued. Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule -two jobs!- I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!

So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...Review, Would You Kindly?

And enjoy some previews.

SPOILERS AHOY~!

(Previews)

"In today's news, Homelander and Black Noir broke up a human trafficking gang known as the Red Cleavers last night and rescued dozens...

Naruto's brow shot up into his hair. "A date?"

Annie stared him down. "Is that a no?"

"Its a maybe. Why ask me?"

Butcher opened the door. Saw the slaughter. Whistled now.

"Right, those lads are dead...

Bloody diabolical.

Maeve seemed sober, for once. How very refreshing.

And she'd showered! Miracle of miracles!

...can we talk?"

And what would that be?"

"Code to the supes tracking chips."

Hughie shot to his feet. "Say what now?"

We've got a backdoor into the system thanks to him.

"Him?" Mm leaned back. "I've said it before and I'll say it again, I still don't trust no man in a mask. This stinks, Butcher. How do we know you ain't workin' for Vought?"

The silence that followed was nothing short of cold. "Care to rephrase that?"

"Sorry man, went too far. "But I still don't trust this guy-

Enough.

Noir rolled up the cloth part of his mask up and made an odd sign with his fingers. A plume of smoke swelled up around him, consuming his body from head to toe. And then, just because he could, he added a twist to it. As it cleared away, MM found himself staring at the spitting image of...well, himself.

. Frenchie felt out his chair. "Sacrebleu!"

Butcher scoffed. "Not bad, eh?

You knew he could do this shit? He's a freakin shapeshifter! Nah, nah, nah. I didn't sign up for none of this voodoo shit. He could make our lives hell! Who's to say he hasn't already?"

"He will if you don't sit your ass down."

"Change back!"

Frenchie drew him aside.

"Little Nina, she cannot be trused. You know this, no?"

Noir was silent for a long moment. And then.

"Balls to it!" Butcher bellowed across the room. "Just talk. Room's soundproofed."

"I can trust her to act in her own self interests.

"And if she comes after you? Or me?"

Then I will kill her."

Frenchie opened his mouth. Closed it. "Hmm. He bobbed his head instead. "That is fair.

"As for this little Translucent problem of yours," Noir slung an arm around his shoulder and leaned in, "It helps if you think of him like a turtle. Hard on the outside...

Realization broke like the dawn across his face. "Soft on the inside! Brilliant!"

Noir flicked him a thumbs up. "Oui."

"If you weren't wearing that mask, I would kiss you!"

Leave it, MM! That lad over there," Butcher stabbed a finger at him, "Is a man of focus. Commitment. Sheer will. You wanna tussle with him? Be my guest. But you won't come out alive."

...fine."

Kimiko stared at a man in a mask. The man stared back.

He swept an arm toward her cell.

Held out a notepad.

"Open?"

She tilted her head. Wiped a hand across her grimy face. He wasn't speaking. Was he like her?

Kimiko made a gesture.

Noir tilted his head.

Butcher sighed. "Oi, you two. Knock that shit off."

The duo shared a grin.

Butcher grinned down at the crater and the smoldering corpse within. "Ha! Got the bastard."

Nina tilted her head. "And what can you offer me?"

A bag of cash thumped down on the table. Her eyes flicked down to it. Back to him.

"Pity." her lips curled in a coy smile. "And here I had hoped for a glimpse under that mask of yours...

Crimson Countess held out her hands. "Please, Noir. I just need a little more. Just a little...I...I want to stay like this. In my prime."

Noir sighed...and held out the vial. It wasn't blue, or green, but a deep crimson, just like her namesake. She didn't know where he got the stuff. Frankly, she didn't care. All that mattered was that he cared; enough to keep coming back after all these years; enough to visit an old has been like her. A smile fluttered across her face. She surged forward, wrapping her arms around him, and laid a kiss on his chest.

"Thank you...

"I've done my research on you.

"Yes, well, your research may have been a little...inadequate."

...you can talk? Wait, no, no." he stumbled back, balking at the now-bent gun in his hand. "You shouldn't be able to taaaaaaaaaargh?!

"Hurts, doesn't it. What do you feel? Confusion? Disgust? Terror? I wonder if that's what they felt before they died. I mean, it can be quite jarring to discover someone's actually a monster...

"That face...you're not Black Noir. Not the one i know."

"Nope," the man smiled at him and clapped him on the back. "I am not. C'mon. I've got some spare clothes in the trunk."

"Wait." A hand gripped his arm. "Did you kill him?"

"Yup. Which brings me to my next talking point. This is your one and only chance, Soldier Boy."

"Chance for what...?"

"For redemption. For vengeance. Let's make it count."

EDIT: Hope you enjoyed! May you have a great week and lots of luck!

Warm regards,

~Nz.

R&R~!