AN: Hi Everyone!
I have been informed that Shockwave is actually dead. That doesn't really matter for this story since he's not a big part of it. You can replace his name with another speedster something like Blue Bolt and it won't make any difference for the story.
I hope you enjoy the chapter.
TIMELINE & DATE:
I think Season 3 happens during 2021 with the last few episodes happening after Homelander's Birthday Special which is July 4th. So I put the action for the last few episodes to happen towards the end of August or first week of September.
For this story I am moving the date up by one year so Chapters 1 through 15 happen during the last week of August first week of September 2022.
My reasoning is that in the show they have a presidential election coming up. In the real world the next election is 2024 and campaigning starts around two years before the election so it fits nicely with the real world and makes future date calculations much easier for me.
AS I'm starting the time skip I won't be providing exact dates only months and years and sometimes only years as we get further along the timeline.
Chapter 23
Date: August 2023
Mallory felt bored indifference as she watched the analyst go over the video of Homelander turning the forest floor into play dough.
"…up and down the ten mile length four times in under forty five minutes…"
She fought the urge to slouch and yawn only out of sheer professionalism as everyone present, every agent, special agent, lieutenant, analyst, special analyst and all other fancy useless titles were sitting straight as rods absorbing or pretending to absorb every single word.
"….if we consider the additional trenches on the sides to contain the fire then it becomes much…."
Mallory also felt old as she looked around the conference table at the faces that made up this little task force. Oh, the higher ups were around her age sure but everyone else was twenty years younger at least. Not a bad thing necessarily, new blood was always good, hopefully new ideas and new perspectives.
"….the sheer destruction capabilities in such a short amount of time means we have to updated our…"
She was supposed to be retired but it seemed there was always something that pulled her back in.
The government had always kept a close eye on Homelander, well at least when the extent his capabilities started to sink in to the brains of the national security types.
She knew there were contingencies in place, plans to secure VIPs, the president, cabinet, important senators and other types in case 'Big Blue' finally snapped.
She didn't know what they were specifically but she knew there was nothing like a politician trying to save their ass.
"Yes, yes enough about updating the dam matrix response level." Special Director Bart Brown interrupted the presentation.
'Special Director' because the only thing he was directing was this task force which officially didn't exist and technically no one on it was his direct employee, technically.
Practically he could make or break most of these people's careers. One word from him and off to Antarctica you go for bird watching.
"What I want to know is how come we didn't know about this? I thought we knew all his capabilities?" He asked the room at large.
"Well sir" the analyst…or was it special analyst or was it senior analyst, she couldn't remember and frankly didn't care. "Technically he's not using any new powers he's just applying his current powers differently. It's just an application of his flight powers and incredible durability, though we suspect his super and laser vision as well."
"And how come he's never done this before? We've had other terrible forest fires we certainly could have used his help?" One of the NSA reps asked.
"We don't know for sure." The analyst said shrugging his shoulders. "In the interviews he puts blame on the previous Vought leadership not letting him though we suspect it's more likely tied to the changes he underwent in the past year."
"Which brings us to the other part of this little meeting." Brown said. "The psychological and behavioral changes we've observed, Johnson?"
Mallory almost snorted.
"Thank you Sir." Another middle aged man buzz cut man said standing while the previous analyst took a seat.
There were at least four Johnsons in this room alone. Why the agencies attracted people with that name was beyond her.
"In the past year we've observed an increased focus of obsessive behavior focused on work priorities both in the 'hero' and 'corporate' sides…"
Where they all just trying to prove something to make up for something lacking? Or did they feel that because of their names they could fuck the common folk by being spooks.
"…surprising competence in running Vought operations coupled with…"
Metaphorically of course.
Not that the CIA hadn't fucked America before. Christ, the things she did for this agency… all in the name of 'National Security'. What a load of crap. Sins she would never wash out.
"…while showing restraint and exhibiting less narcissistic traits…"
She was practically responsible for the crack epidemic in black communities. Well not only her alone. The agency at large but she had a deadly hand in it. They didn't even let them traffic cocaine but crack instead.
All to make more money, to fight the commies. What a joke she thought. They sold their souls for something as pitiful as money. The soviets who were paper bears to begin with.
"…while more stable and less likely to have an episode we believe that this change in personality coupled with new application of his powers…"
And that was only the crap she was directly involved, the other black-ops nonsense she had at least indirectly touched would fill a whole graveyard of skeletons let alone a closet.
"….which is why we continue to recommend a hands off approach of only observation and clean-up for both Homelander and-"
This time Mallory actually snorted out loud.
"- his son." The analyst finished looking at her. The whole room was looking at her.
"Mallory got something to add?" Brown asked with a scowl on his mouth.
"Oh, nothing…"she started with derision. She was old and she wasn't even supposed to be here anymore, there was nothing Brown could do to her outside of killing her. "…Just that we had the perfect opportunity to take out Homelander over a year ago…"she said looking around the room. "…but in true government fashion the operation was botched from the beginning."
She immediately saw some of the gathered men puff up in indignation.
"That was an unsanctioned, unauthorized operation by rogue agents. Justice and disciplinary action were swiftly applied upon their capture." One of the other Johnson's said.
"Oh, cut the bullshit. You had the chance of a lifetime and botched it." She was tired of the games and she was tired of the amateur bullshit. "You all knew what Noir was capable off and you went in half-cocked and under armed you should have-"
"What the Hell were we supposed to do?" The other man exploded his face red. "Bring down the whole fucking building! Hundreds if not thousands more could have died!"
She felt bitter inside.
He was right of course but she couldn't stop feeling the bitterness. Leave it to the agency to grow fucking Heart now! Where was this when pregnant women were dying of crack or when armed guerrilla fighters raped their way through in installing banana dictators?
"You do what it takes. You finish the fucking-"
BANG!
The loud noise startled them all.
"ENOUGH!" Brown yelled. "If you don't have anything constructive to say then keep quiet. BOTH OF YOU!"
Mallory saw the other man relent and lean back in his chair while she rolled her eyes.
"Now if we are done with the psych profile we move on to the next topic." Brown said his gaze intense. The presenter sat down. "Mallory, please, your report."
She hated this.
Not because she was technically spying on Ryan but because of what she had to report.
"Ryan is doing well and as far as I can tell he is developing as a normal child for that age would. Homelander has…" and she hated to say admit this "…proven to be a competent parent. His approach to Ryan has been well thought out and in line with what would be considered a normal working parent. If anything I would say he is being somewhat strict." She paused and took a breath.
"He has restricted access to social media and the internet in general it seems Homelander wants him to have as little screen time as possible. His days are filled mostly with tutors trying to bring his academic level. Like every kid ever he both hates it and likes it. He'd rather play video games than do homework." She paused once again.
"Is he adjusting well to the new situation? Are they getting along well? Is he happy?" One of the old timers asked.
She knew what he was getting at. Can Ryan be used against Homelander or is he turning into him?
"He is adjusting as well as any kid could in this situation. His complaints about his father are" she really hated to say this "trivial in nature, typical of what any kid would have. Their overall relationship I would say is pretty good. I doubt any plans to turn him away from his would work at this point."
"And his powers?" This time Brown asked.
"He practices them regularly with Homelander. I'm sure you've all seen him break the sound barrier in under twelve seconds?" A chorus of nods was the response from the room. "He loves flying and likes to practice it the most. Homelander has put him through various training programs at Vought to help him control his increasing strength. He's undergoing combat training with Noir and speed training with A-Train he even spent a few sessions with Silver Kinkaid. He says Homelander makes him regularly do target practice with his laser vision." She couldn't help but smile at her next sentence. "Says he's better since his father is missing and eye."
"Hopefully that will be enough to keep the body count down." Brown said.
The rest of the room agreed with him and she did as well. Ryan was growing fast and so were his powers. She could barely compare him to how he was when they were together. Back then he could scarcely use his powers both because he was afraid of what he could do and because he didn't know how to do it.
Though it was also likely because he was now a year older and thus more grown up and stronger overall.
"We will have to adjust our contingencies to take him into consideration as well." Mallory didn't like the sound of that but knew it was necessary. While she couldn't see Ryan turning into his father it didn't mean that the boy wouldn't help his father whether it would be out of love or manipulation the possibility as still there.
"Anything else to report?" Brown asked pointedly.
"No." she said coldly. "Nothing else." That is all she will give them for now, not that there was much else to report, outside of Ryan's wish to attend school. But 'fuck them', she thought let the others earn their paycheck.
"Good. And the last thing on the agenda." Brown said moving things along. "We have an update on Compound-V research facilities across the globe. Becker take it away."
Ever since the idiot Homelander spread V around the globe to terrorist cells it was only a matter before countries got their hands on them and started their own research facilities.
"As discussed in our last presentation out of the nations of concern China and Iran have managed to synthesize stable formulas and are approaching human trials if they haven't already started."
'What an imbecilic move that was.' She thought.
The idiot might have doomed them all.
God only knows what commies or the religious nutjobs will do with V.
Scene Break
Ash fell on her skin.
Dark clouds illuminated by the red hue of the wildfire blanketed the sky.
Light covered her face and a mingling of voices carried by shadowy figures moving all around filled her ears.
She blinked, it felt like an eternity.
Two men were on the floor breathing heavily.
Their colorful costumes were torn, burnt and melted, their skin glistening with sweat and dirt.
Another blink another eternity.
She felt his presence.
He descended from the sky, hair wild and dirty.
His costume gone, his cape wrapped around his waist.
An avalanche of heat engulfed her as he landed.
He leaned in. His scars seemed to ripple in the red tinted light.
Her heart skipped and she blinked.
Less than an eternity.
She saw metal walls and felt pressure in her stomach.
She was scared.
A canine smile and sharp blue eyes met hers. Not one but two. They were cold and furious.
His face was unmarked, perfect.
She blinked again.
Faster than an eternity.
Two eyes turned into one, boring down on her.
She felt heat.
He'd just landed.
Her heart skipped again.
She blinked.
Faster this time.
A mocking smile met her. It was cold.
She blinked, the image changed again.
She felt heat.
He was landing again.
His gaze only on her and hers on him.
She blinked.
Blood drip drops splashing, blocking her view as is falling on a screen in front of her.
Alex's face flashes in front of her and then the disembodied parts.
"AAAH!"
She wakes with a scream.
Her chest is heaving heavily and she's covered in sweat.
She only hopes she hadn't messed the power to the tower this time.
Every time she's had this dream her powers had activated and something had blown up somewhere.
She regained her breath and steadied herself.
A dream…no, this was a nightmare.
How can she possibly think of 'him', of all people, 'like that'.
The 'heat' was more than just from the fire.
Scene Break
Dina watched with curious fascination through the giant glass walls how Homelander was aggressively flailing around a plethora of diapers, closing and opening them while gesticulating wildly towards the crowd in what could only be anger and frustration.
She wasn't the only one watching of course, everyone was doing their best to be inconspicuous from their desks, but she was the only one actually standing outside the giant see through glass of the board room walls. That was only of course because she was early for The Seven's weekly stand up meeting.
Normally they would use 'The Seven' meeting room on the top floor however Homelander had made it an unofficial policy to once in a while schedule their meetings in other floors of the company 'so the employees can see us!' his reasoning was.
Smart move she thought. It's always good to connect with the rest of the company, the rest of the people.
Ever since she'd join 'The Seven' she'd seen a lot of smart moves not only from Vought but specifically Homelander. He wasn't quite the man she'd seen in Maeve's memories though he could simply be doing a better job at hiding it…or as maybe as Maeve said and something was 'wrong' with him.
Today's meeting wasn't one of those smart moves. The videoconferencing system had crapped out in 'The Seven' meeting room so they had to re-schedule to a different room.
Whatever was happening was bad. Well bad enough that Homelander was actually throwing a fit in public.
"Hey Silver Kinkaid!" She was broken out of her thoughts. "Any idea what is going on in there?" Golden Boy asked.
"No clue." She said looking at the golden costumed young man.
He was Maeve's maternity leave replacement, fresh out of Godolkin.
The newbie settled into a crossed armed position next to her.
She had to admit, he looked good, no not just good he looked 'Golden'.
Top of the class at GoDU graduating one year early with honours, dean's list, the works and with charm and looks that made him a teenage girl's wet dream.
It was another smart move by Homelander to snatch him up early.
"It's seven past ten." He said slowly. "Should we go in there or is our meeting canceled?"
Before she could answer she saw Homelander turn to them and motion for them to join the room.
"Guess their meeting is over." She said and opened the door but Homelander wasn't actually done talking.
"Well don't care how they either change their production or we change supplier. I don't care how much it costs!" She saw him say to Josh the head of product for Queen Maeve as a portion of the room shuffled out.
"There are contracts we'd be breaking here. We can't simply change it on a dime and even if we can make a change this fast there's already hundreds of thousands if not millions of units shipped. We'd have to-"
"No, no, no." Homelander answered frustrated. "I don't want to hear this. We've already had this meeting with the ELT and the board. Every-thing related to 'The Seven' has to be of superior quality no generic crap and especially and I cannot stress this enough everything related to Queen Maeve's baby brand, things that we are charging an atrocious amount of premium on." He paused briefly.
"These are good quality diapers." Josh said defensively.
"No they aren't, you see how flimsy they are size four and up! It's a completely different fucking diaper." Homelander continued.
She and Golden Boy took a seat at the far end of the table.
"I can see this and so can the fucking customers! You weren't the one that was just assaulted by a Korean grandmother in a grocery store and berated for ten minutes on changing the dam diapers!" Homelander said and threw the diapers in his hand on the table.
Josh looked repentant, ashamed and sighed.
"We still have to take it to Ashley. This could cost us quite a bit depending on how we handle it."
"You let me worry about Ashley. I'll get in touch with her after she lands."
Ashley was gone to deal with some issues with the park in Hong Kong, Dina remembered.
Josh nodded and left the room, leaving them with Homelander.
"Where the hell is everyone? It's almost ten past." He said as he turned to them. "I've got five launches to do today and first one starts at eleven."
Before she could answer the door opened with Deep rushing in phone in hand.
"H.L did you see the video!" The Deep went straight to Homelander.
"What video?" Golden Boy asked.
"Shit it's out already?" Homelander asked leaning in over The Deep.
Both her and Golden Boy joined him.
They saw a portrait phone video of an old Asian lady yelling at Homelander in a grocery store while holding two small boxes of diapers.
The words were explicit and embarrassing.
"Wow." Dina couldn't help but say. "That old lady is really letting you have it."
"Fuck. And all I wanted was to buy some dam Gatorade." They all looked at him. "I like the taste." He said rolling his eye.
"So the previous meeting was about this video?" Golden Boy asked.
"Yes, yes it was. Now never mind that. Where the hell is everyone else? Are they online?" Dina saw him go start the Tv screens. "I thought everyone replied to be in to-."
The door burst open again.
"Did you guys see the video?" A-Train burst in.
"Ajuma vs. Homelander?" The Deep asked.
"Yea old feisty Korean lady. That is going mad viral!" A-Train said. "Not a good look." He said with an amused smile.
Dina could see Homelander was getting annoyed now, differently than his previous frustration.
"Yes they saw the stupid video. Now why are you late?" He asked annoyed. "No, how are you late? You're the fastest man alive!"
A-Train looked sheepishly and said. "I…may have stopped for an extra bagel in the cafeteria."
"Of for fucks sake. Where the hell are Starlight and Noir? It's almost a quarter after-"
Homelander was interrupted by his cellphone ringing.
"It's Ashley." He said and took the call.
"Hey Ashley….yes I saw the stupid fucking video!" Dina saw him pause and heard rapid fire talking from the other side.
"So you just talked with product and legal?..."
"No…no…I don't care. We talked about this before." He continued while pacing.
Dina could tell Ashley was trying not to lose her shit on the other side of that line.
"I don't give a shit how much it's going to cost…well." He said and turned back to them holding the phone down to his chest. "I've got to go." He simply said and headed to the door.
"Where? I'm going to pull them out of whatever meetings they are in now so they can tell me that to my face!" He said doing everything he could not to fully shout in the phone.
Dina could see Starlight just turning the corner coffee cup and laptop in hand. Homelander bumped into her making her spill a bit of the coffee on herself.
"Captain get your fucking team in order!" Dina heard Homelander say without skipping a beat or stopping at all.
"No Ashley I don't care…!" Dina heard him say as he rounded the corner.
"What the hell was that?" Starlight asked confused as she entered the room. "What's up his ass and where is he going?" She made a move to get the napkins in the middle of the table.
Before any of them could answer the conference room door burst open once more.
Noir silently strode in one hand holding his phone and the other pointing at it.
Starlight looked even more confused.
"You have to watch this video." The Deep said.
Scene Break
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AN:
I have gotten questions on whether Gen V will play a role in my story. My story has the diverged too much from cannon so GEN V WILL NOT BE HAPPENING but I might use characters and powers from there. Here's why:
1. All the shady stuff like research and cover-ups at GoDU are happening with Vought help and funding. HL(SI) would be on top of this stuff as soon as he found out about it, which would be early on in the SI's time and shut it all down while blaming previous administration for it (Stan and previous execs, board members etc.). Not only because he wants the popularity boost and to play the PR game but also because HL(SI) is consolidating all of the V- Related research under Martin and severely restricting access.
2. Because of the point above any deaths, suicides or others would be taken very seriously by HL(SI). He would immediately be all up in everyone's ass at GoDU to find out the real reasons and actually solve the problem. HL(SI) would get rid of a lot of the professors that are fucking around as well. Additionally HL(SI) sees GoDU as a funnel for Vought, which it is in everything but name, so he already sees those supes as under his purview and his 'house'/'kingdom'. As mentioned in other chapters HL(SI) will not have disorder in his house.
3. I'm imagining Golden Boy to have a different background than Gen V. In my story Golden Boy will be an actual 'Golden Boy'. He comes from upper class America. Single child. Lower end rich parents, partners in law firms or something like that, that love him and raised him right. He's popular, kind and charming and well adjusted. Most people whether at school or outside like him. He's a top student. He's had the best training money can buy. He's never been experimented on like in Gen V he's just naturally powerful. He's everything Homelander could have been if only he'd had loving parents…or any parents at all.
As for this chapter I wanted to show a few things:
The Government being well the government. Both capable and incompetent.
Other countries progressing into V research. OG HL should have never spread V around the globe. It was only a matter of time before governments would get their hands on samples and try to recreate it. Long way to go until they get the magic juice right.
Mallory constantly being dragged back into the game. This time because of her relationship with Ryan.
Starlight having weird dreams ;).
And lastly that no matter how 'super' and capable Homelander is sometimes things just don't go his way.
Let me know what you think in the reviews.
Thank you for reading!