Butcher
A ten hour drive. Or close enough to it anyway. Spent a night at a hotel, and then just continued. I'd say a little over ten hours from all the gas stops.
But we finally made it. Portsmouth, fucking Ohio.
"Is that a fucking Beetle on top of that sign?" MM asks, looking up at a sign for a used car lot that we pass on the highway. They got a beat up, and rather poorly maintained Volkswagen Beetle sitting on top of the bloody thing.
"A bloody shame, it is." I throw out the off-handed comment, but I really don't care that much. But MM, however…
"Are they fucking stupid? Such a nice car, wasted." MM says with a sigh, shaking his head irritation as he looks out the window.
It goes silent for a bit as we make our way down the highway. There's a whole bunch of fields sitting under the place, and I can only imagine what the flood damage would be like when the rain hits.
It don't take long before we finally find ourselves driving into a small city, a big blue factory to our left. Osco, it says.
"Take the third right up here." MM says, pointing ahead to the last light in a row of three as he looks at his phone. "Says it's at the end of the road."
Bout time. I don't get out of this fucking van in the next three minutes, I'm gonna be killing some poor bloke. All this driving has me fucking bloomers in a twist.
Of course, just my luck that we're stuck with a red light all bloody three of them.
"This drive better be worth it, Butcher." MM says with a sigh of frustration as we sit at the third light, waiting for the damn thing to turn green. "I had to come up with a hell of an excuse to let Monique know why I wouldn't be home tonight."
"Yeah, yeah. You'll be home in no time." I say, waving off what he says. Though, for different reasons, I do agree with him.
Last thing either of us want is for this trip to be a waste. Any more evidence against Vought is definitely good, but what we really need is some info on the Juggernaut.
Any more information we can find on the kid would be useful. We know his name, and more than likely how he got his powers. We know his powers.
And that's it.
And that's not enough for me.
What evidence and assumptions we do have points to this kid being some sort of Homelander weapon. And unlike Homelander, this kid can heal assuming something actually hurts him.
We need to find a way to bring him down if need be, and we need to find it fast.
Finally, the bleedin' light turns green, and I find myself thanking the big white bastard in the sky that there's no bloody cop a round to see how quickly I take that turn, causing MM to curse at the sudden speed.
"Fuck, Butcher!" MM says in frustration as we go down the street. "You trying to get us killed before we get there?"
"Maybe." Sometimes, I love me smart moments, if the bloody grin on my face don't say it.
MM just rolls his eyes and sighs, but he doesn't relax too much.
The factory is pretty fucking big, and we can see it all the way at the end of the street, just past a pair of train tracks. As we get closer, we see a big hole in the wall that has a bit of police tape over it. Other than that though, nothing much we can see to show any other presence.
Good. Last thing we need is someone here giving us trouble.
Once we get past the train tracks, it's a simple matter of parking the van out in front of the place. Just off the road, you know? No one is around that we can see, and if the look of the neighborhood is any indication, no one's gonna come investigating.
Which is good. Like I said, last thing we need is trouble.
I put the van in park and shut off the engine, before me and MM open our doors and climb out. I shut my door and just look at the factory for a moment, while I hear MM move to the back of the van and open up before rooting through some of the supplies.
Neither of us were really sure what to expect, and better to be safe than sorry.
"Thank god Frenchie managed to snag us some of these weapons." MM says as he comes back into view with two shotguns. He tosses me a one, to which I habitually check to make sure it's loaded, as well as passing me some ammo for it. If things go south, I can't have the bloody thing run out on me. Then I'm right fucked.
"Yeah. Let's just hope he'll still be able to get them someway now that he's burned." I can't help but remark. With Frenchie burned due to that stunt with Popclaw, best thing he can do is stay underground. Hidden.
Out of sight, and bloody danger.
Slowly, me and MM move closer to the big hole in the side of the building. Looks like the kid just bulldozed through the damn wall.
Once we get the hole, we stop for a moment, taking a look through the police tape. But it's so dark in there, we can barely see anything more than another hole in a wall opposite of this one.
"Did you bring a flashlight? I ask, turning to look at MM. MM rolls his eyes in response, and quickly pulls out a flashlight, turning it on.
"Of course I did." He moves past me as he says it, shining the light into the hole so we can see better.
As we both look inside, MM's eyes widen just like mine do at what we see.
I'm beginning to wonder if this kid just didn't care, if he just wanted to get out that bad. Because what we're looking at are a couple of different walls, each with holes just as big as the one we're currently looking through. Like the kid just said 'bollocks to it all' and started running through walls.
What the hell went on here?
"What do you think they did to him?" MM asks me, pointing the flashlight at the edges of each hole, where the bricks look like they're fixing to fall to the ground at any moment.
"Don't know, but he clearly didn't like it." Which makes sense. Vought don't care about anyone. They don't care about making victims, hurting people, lives getting ruined. Only thing they care about is their heroes damned image. Making new ones, making money.
It's the reason all heroes are nothing more than bloody cunts.
Still… gotta wonder what the hell they did to the kid.
"So, how are we getting in?" MM asks, looking over at me. "Taking the tape off is gonna let people know we were here."
"But they ain't gonna know who we are." I respond as I reach up and just start ripping the tape off. If it's that big a deal, tough tits. Not like they'll be able to figure out who the hell did it in the first place.
MM rolls his eyes once more, but he doesn't say a word as I finish up with the police tape and and aim the shotgun. It's hard to see, but there's some light provided enough that I should be able to make use of the weapon if there's anyone in here.
Or anything.
MM stays behind me, doing a sweep with his own shotgun as well as we make our way through the walls. Better safe than sorry in this case.
Once he feels that it's safe, MM goes back to aiming the flashlight so we can see.
We slowly step through each wall, making sure there's nothing to surprise us. First is the hallway, then a couple of what probably were offices at some point.
Clearly the kid cared for nothing, considering the mangled desks that lay on the ground of each office. Looks like the kid accidentally side-swiped them or something.
Probably didn't even feel it. Lucky it wasn't some poor bloke who just happened to stand a little bit too close.
Finally, we make our way through the fourth wall, and there's no more holes to step through.
"A locker room?" MM can't help but to question as we look around the room. It's a locker room alright, but it doesn't look like the kind of locker you would expect in a factory. Rather than tiny little cubby holes, there's a bunch of almost person sized lockers staring at us, along with a couple benches.
"Looks more like what you'd find in a school gym." Which makes me feel more certain that whatever this place used to be was definitely a Vought lab. Looks like they cleared their tracks.
"Butcher, if this is Vought, don't you think they might have some kind of security measure in case people come looking?" MM asks me. Usually I'd agree, but there's just one little thing.
"That wall would've been fixed instead of covered with police tape if they thought they left something that would harm their image." And that's true. When it comes to Vought, they pull out all the bleeding stops. If there was something here that they thought would hurt the image, getting in here would've been a whole helluva a lot harder.
Which makes me wonder if we'll find anything at all really. But if we can find anything on the Juggernaut, then this search is damn well worth it.
There's a few lockers behind us smashed to bits from where I'm still assuming the kid rushed through the walls like paper, but there's no other holes in any walls for us to follow.
"If the kid left in a hurry, he might've left a trail of destruction." Gee, why didn't I think of that MM?! "Maybe he found something here, that's why it's not as destroyed." Ah, I get it.
We turn towards the exit to the room, the proper one anyway, and we can see a few finger shaped dents in the frame when MM puts the light on it. Prolly ripped the door off.
Slowly, still keeping cautious, me and MM move out of the room and into the hall, where we find exactly what we're looking for.
Here and there are a bunch of dents in the brick walls, like the kid was getting frustrated or something. But something's off.
"Why just dents?" MM voices the thoughts before I can as we move to examine the closest one. There's a fair bit of distance between them. If he was in a hurry, and he can bust through these walls, there's prolly be a straight path to whatever we might be searching for.
"Maybe he wasn't in a hurry, just got annoyed." I wager, glancing over at MM. "He must've been searching for something before he left. After that, no reason to be any sort of careful."
MM meets my eyes and stares at me for a moment, before nodding in agreement. With that, we make our way down the hall, following the dents as best we can. The way they're spaced out, we actually have to keep an eye out any time we come to a split path.
Slowly, we realize that every door along the path is open, while any path without dents only has closed doors. So, when the dents eventually stop, at least we still have a trail to follow.
We're still careful. At this point, I think we're entirely alone. But looks can be deceiving, and I'd rather not be surprised by some Vought cunt or worse, a bloody supe.
As we keep following our makeshift trail, I can't help it when my nose twitches. The stench of old, dried blood is slowly becoming apparent, and I can see with a glance that MM smells it too.
Me and MM keep following the doors, hoping that we'll eventually find something. But when we turn a corner, we stop in our tracks in surprise.
Up ahead is a doorway, and it's different from every other door we've seen so far. How, you say? Well, because the bloody thing is entirely mechanical, and it looks like the bloody doors attached to it by some way were supposed to slide open. Now, they're a mangled mesh of metal, looking like an explosion forced them open.
But what really gets us is the fact that there's light coming from in the room.
"You still think nobody else is here?" MM asks me, sounding like he's getting a bit smart. I turn and give him a smart smile in response, before turning back towards the doorway and slowly moving forward.
I peer around the closest mangled door, intent on using it for cover if there's someone inside.
However, caution quickly fades away in place of surprise.
The room… it looks so different from the rest of this factory, to the point that it's almost comical. There's a computer situated on the far end of the room, and it looks like it's got a bit of damage. But it's not so bad that it's inoperable. It's got a couple of screens, and they're pretty decent size. One of them is destroyed though, looking like somebody punched, and that wouldn't mean much if it weren't for the hole in the concrete wall behind it.
Hell, it looks like a bloody scuffle happened, between supes I'll add. There's a few dents and dings here and there, but there's a large hole in the wall to the left. Like something got thrown through it.
But what really catches me attention is at the center of the room.
There's what remains of a large metal table sitting there. A pillar that's bolted to the ground, mechanical, stands with the top of it busted completely. I can see exposed wires sticking out of the metal.
Off to the side, the table that once sat atop of the pillar sets. Based on the metal pieces with nails in them scattered around the room and the holes at specific spots of the table, the damn thing had restraints on them, most likely meant for holding poor suckers onto it.
As I slowly step further into the room, off to the left, I see another table sitting. This one's a simple wooden one with a metal frame. The metal's all bent, and the wood is as well from whatever scuffle happened here.
What really makes me uncomfortable though? Me of all people?
There's a bunch of different tools scattered nearby the wooden table, and every single one of them is caked in dry, old blood. Some of them look surgical in nature, like a scalpel or bonecutters. Others however, make this look like something from a horror film. Kitchen knives, pocket knives, and industrial equipment like buzzsaws and a sawzall sit.
Now I really want to know. What did they do to the kid?
Based on the dried blood stained onto the table, nothing pretty.
MM slowly walks in behind me, and I don't have to see his face to see the disgusted shock. I know him well enough.
"What the fuck?" MM sounds almost horrified, in disbelief. "What the hell did they do to him?"
"Experiments, obviously." I can't help but to respond. "But it looks like he got free somehow. Maybe the V kicked in."
"Well, it looks like all of the blood is his." MM says, his OCD and analytical mind working in overdrive. "Makes me wonder how the hell he didn't kill anybody."
"Must've gotten out before he got free." At least, that's my guess. I turn to look at MM, and gesture to the computer. "I'm gonna take a look at the computer. See if you can figure out what happened here."
MM nods and moves the shotgun so that it's hanging off his back as he begins to look around the room. I do the same to me own shotgun as I move up to the computer console.
I happen to glance up towards the ceiling, and I see a camera hanging from the ceiling.
Whatever was happening here, they were probably recording it.
One thing I don't get… why is the computer still on?
One screen doesn't look like it's connected to the computer, but something else. It's a vital monitor, reading blood pressure, heart-rate, all that stuff. I'm assuming a sensor of some sort, considering it's all reading zero and there's nothing set up near the table or anywhere in the room that I can see.
The computer is still logged on to whoever last accessed it. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to figure out what the hell happened here.
The center most screen looks like it's connected to the computer, and I open up the files to see what all I might be able to find.
The most recently accessed folders from what I can see are labeled 'Possible Subjects', 'Video Diaries', and 'Sessions'.
I open up the subjects folder, and it contains more folders, all of them with what looks like images. The most recent one is labeled 'J Gallagher'.
John. The Juggernaut.
I open up the folder to take a peak, and I find a couple of different photos.
And when I take a look at the first one, I'm honestly surprised by what I see.
It's the Juggernaut alright, the outfit, hair, and face are dead giveaway. He's standing there with that little blonde that was in that video going about, but he looks… different.
He don't look as muscular, let's say. He's big for sure, still 6'5", but he looks more like farmboy. A bit of a guy, and a lot more visible flab than what I expected.
But superheroes don't change like that with their powers. Quite frankly, if the kid looked like that before, he should still look like that now,
I look through a few different photos. Some were taken at what looks like a small garage out in the country, some look like they were taken at school, and some look like they were taken while the lad was just going about his business.
I'm not really interested in the other targets, but the fact that there are so many folders make me wonder how many people Vought went through for what I assume was their little Homelander failsafe project.
I leave both of these folders and decide to take a look at the video diaries. Maybe that'll tell me what I need to know.
When I open the video diaries, I find well over a thousand videos, each one numbered, each one with the same man. Some guy with short cut blond hair, and a small bit of scruff around the mouth. He looks rather good at hygiene.
Probably a Vought scientist. A lead researcher I'm willing to bet. Let's see what he has to say.
I scroll back up and click on the latest one to see what it says.
The video comes on with the guy having just started it, and he looks frustrated.
"Day one-thousand-fifty-three. We're about three weeks in with the latest subject. He's… more resilient. That's good. It's why he's survived so much longer than most other subjects. So long as we don't nick heart, we run no risk of killing him.
Each day, he heals quicker than before. Not by much though. I've just awoken, and the time suggests that it's been eight hours. He's still got a little bit left to heal.
I don't like doing this to fellow superhuman. I hate it. But… I know we can force a second power. It's how the gene works."
"Gene?" I can't help but to mumble under my breath. What the hell does he mean by that? Gene? Like the genes in human DNA? I know that's not where supes come from.
"But it's been a little over three years now. Most people would've given up already. I'm glad Jack is so loyal. He was done after the first six months.
Maybe he's right. Maybe I have gone too far.
But if we can figure out how to consistently force a mutation, force a second power, we could help so many superhumans.
Stop so much suffering."
I pause the video for a moment as I turn to look at MM. "MM! Come here, take a look at this!" I say as I wave him over when he looks at me.
He makes his way over until he's right next to me, looking curious. "What's this?"
"Video diaries. But something's not adding up." I say as I turn to glance back at the screen. "This guy is saying that supes powers come from a gene of some sort. And apparently, the goal of this experiment is to give a second power." I explain what little he missed. "Whatever this project was, it lasted for a little over three years. This is the last video before what I'm assuming was the breakout."
"But we know supes are made with V." MM says, brows furrowed in confusion. "So that doesn't make sense. Do some Vought scientists really believe it's a gene?"
"MM, I'm not entirely sure Vought's behind this anymore." The way the cunt's talking, it sounds like a personal experiment. Like he's working with just a couple of friends. "Here, just watch."
I press play once more, and the video starts back up.
"I do regret bringing Tibe to the project though. He's twisted. He only wants to help because he can cause pain. He's a sadist, and a sick one at that.
I think the only reason he hasn't turned on me is because he knows he can't outwit me. And my powers would have him dead in an instant before he could even use the earth to help.
As dangerous as Tibe is, he's no tougher than a mere human."
"So he's not a scientist, but a supe." MM says when I pause the video once more. "And I don't like the sound of this Tibe guy."
"Neither do I." Now I know Vought isn't behind it, but what kind of bollocks research has this bastard done to think the supes get their powers from their DNA? And just what kind of experiment was this? "He's talking like he regrets these experiments. Like he hates them, but feels that it's the best for supes. Says it'll stop a lot of suffering."
"For who, supes?" MM asks in disbelief, before his eyes narrow. "Supes are never the ones who suffer."
As I remember what Homelander did to Becca, I can't help the dark look on my face as I turn back to the video and press play.
"John's healing has proven to be exceedingly useful. It's the only reason he's still alive. As slow as it is, you'd think he'd still bleed out, but you'd be wrong. Thanks to our sessions and his vital signs, we've discovered that his heart rate slows considerably, giving his body time to heal the fatal wounds first before moving onto non-fatal ones.
Though I've begun to wonder… even if we make ground with him, how do we know we haven't broken him completely?
Mere humans break under torture far less than this. And John's come to the point where he expects them. He's silent. He hasn't said a word since the third day of his participation.
Even if we succeed… will John be in any condition to join us?"
"Something tells me he wasn't." MM mutters under his breath at that.
"But… at least with John, we'll make ground. I'm sure of it.
Once we finally get it done, we can focus on how to activate the gene without causing so much pain.
If it weren't for the… emotional detachment I force upon myself, I'd have stopped this long ago.
I never wanted to cause this much pain. To kill so many poor souls. But… trial and error."
The man goes silent for a moment, before glancing up at the camera. He slowly leans in, until his face takes up most of the screen, his expression one of resolution.
"I promise, Mom. I'll make sure no innocent superhuman will ever be hurt by humans again. I'm sorry that Alex and I didn't save you. And Dad? I hope you're burning in Hell where you belong."
And with that, the video ends.
"Innocent supes?" I can't help but to ask in disbelief. "You cunts have the bloody superpowers, and it's the normal people who suffer!"
"Maybe his mom didn't have that strong of a power." MM guesses. "But either way, we know this definitely wasn't Vought. Sounds personal in some sense. I'm guessing his dad was a normal guy and killed his mom."
"Don't matter." I say with a shake of my head. "Supes cause the problems. Cunt probably went mad, and the poor bloke got lucky defending himself." Because what else would it be? No normal person is gonna try and attack a supe. Not without preparation of some sort.
It's suicide. Hell, we struggle as it is.
"Is there anything else?" MM asks me, turning his gaze to me. "Anything that might tell us the specifics of this little experiment?"
"There was another folder." I answer with a nod, turning back to the computer as I exit the video diary folder. "It looks like the cunt recorded each session." I tell him as I go back to the sessions folder.
There's so much in the little screen that I honestly can't tell what's about to happen in the session, but each one looks to be about thirty to forty minutes.
"Click on the latest one." MM says, and I move to do so.
And the moment I do, I'm not ashamed to admit that I jump right with MM at the sudden sound of intense, agonized screaming. My eyes go wide as I jump up, my instincts immediately searching for a threat before realizing there isn't one, and it takes a second to process what the hell is happening in the video.
And even I gotta admit, if what I'm seeing is the experiment… then anyone involved are a bunch of sick puppies.
The camera's pointed right at the kid, so there's nothing in the way.
Some guy, someone different from the man in the diaries, has a running sawzall jammed into the kid's chest. Right in his sternum.
And he's dragging it down.
That thing's gotta be going through so much more than just bone.
Me and MM just sit there and watch. Neither of us are really sure what to say, how to really respond to what we're watching.
It's not long before two other guys join the first one. One of them looks like the guy in the diaries, and the other one is some gangly, skinny looking guy who looks like he's having way too much fun.
At some point, they get him cut up enough, and they quite literally peel back the skin of his frontside and expose the organs within.
And the kid is still screaming through all of this.
Bloody hell…
Is this how the kid got his powers? Was Vought really uninvolved? No V?
There's… there's no way.
He must've gotten V as a kid. His power has to be developing abilities as an adaptation.
But… that don't explain why the scientist cunt or whatever he was believes that some DNA jumbo is what gives supes their powers…
What the hell are we missing here?
I'd say about ten minutes in, after the bastards have nicked a good amount of his organ with a bunch of different tools, is when I stop the video and back away from the console with MM.
"What the fuck?" MM can't help but to say when the video stops, turning to look at me. "What the hell did they do to him?"
"It's pretty fucking obvious what they did to him, wouldn't you say?" I spit out with a hint of sarcasm. "They decided to dissect him while he was still alive."
"That is sick." MM says with a shake of his head. "I don't like Vought anymore than you do, but I doubt they've done something like this." He says as he goes back to staring at the video.
I don't doubt they would do something like this. I've found out about Vought covering for a lot of stuff. But clearly, me and MM have differing opinions on that one.
I pull out my phone and start running back through the videos and pictures we have watched, taking a few pictures since we didn't bring a thumb drive and I don't see where they have the actual computer console.
I get a picture of the lead scientist, the experiment, and a couple more pictures of the Juggernaut himself before he became the Juggernaut.
"We need to get this to Raynor, along with all that shit about Vought." I say as I turn to look at MM. "I don't know if she'll be able to help us with this one, but if there's something to be find, she oughta be able to find it."
"I fucking hope so." MM says, still wide-eyed. I think the experiment video has really gotten to him.
If I had a lesser stomach, it probably would've gotten to me too.
"Since we're up here, is there anything else we should check?" MM asks, looking over at me with a questioning glance. "Kid's from around here. Maybe we can check on his family."
"Did you get his address?" I ask as I look over at MM. "If you did, we might be able to find out more about the kid directly."
MM nods his head in response. "I got his address. But are we sure that's a risk worth taking?" He asks, looking more than uncomfortable with the idea. "We did what we came to do, and we still got plenty of useful information. Going after the kid's family might bring him down on us harder than anything else Vought can do."
MM's got a point. It's never stopped me in the past… but we've also never dealt directly with supes quite like the Juggernaut.
If he really is the Homelander weapon I think he's supposed to be, then the we have absolutely no way of bringing the kid down at the moment. Not a single way. Clearly, he's nowhere near as weak as he was when these experiments took place, and while we've had supes coming after us in the past, we really don't need someone like that gunning for us.
"Hold onto the address." I say as I begin to make my way out of the room, MM following behind me as we backtrack the path we took to get here. "It might come in handy in the future, but you're right. Not worth the risk for the moment."
MM nods his head, happy to see I actually agree with him on this one, and he follows me back out.
We load our weapons back into the van, and in no time, we're in the bloody thing and the engine's running.
I do find myself wondering why it seems like everything was left exactly as it was. Shouldn't an investigation have taken place? I mean, one had to at some point, or the police tape wouldn't be over the wall. And what about the guys involved in this experiment? They were supes, and they think their powers are genetic for some reason.
The Juggernaut might've still been chosen as a defense against Homelander... but that clearly wasn't the intention of these experiments.
What are we missing?
Either way, I'm ready to get back and let the others know what we've found, and I'm ready to get this shit to Raynor.
Time to nail those cunts.