The Boys LOVED their new freedom to do what they'd set out to do from the beginning - without actually killing anyone. OK, there were a few hiccups, but honestly it wasn't their fault that Termite sneezed and burst apart that guy's entire lower half from the dick out. Who could have foreseen that?
I ended up being office bound, looking through files - files that I felt certain Victoria Neuman might blow a gasket if she knew I had dug up.
I realized that I had no idea where Neuman had come from. No clue as to her background other than as a rebel rousing new Congresswoman who seemingly knew all of the hottest buttons to push to get herself in the public spotlight in only the best light.
Where did she begin? I knew that all politicians had to undergo a background check, and if she was eyeing the Vice Presidency, then I also knew that the check she'd gone through to get to first base was going to look like a merry-go-round compared to what was coming. So I decided to get that shit started.
Parents were the first one, which were named on the form that she had to have before being put on any ballot. I looked up the names and found - nothing. And not nothing in a way that meant these were law abiding and simple people like she probably waxed on about in townhalls and during her campaign. I mean nothing as it absolutely fuck all. These people didn't exist past the creation of their fucking names.
That meant that she wasn't born in the city and state she put down either, which meant more digging.
Help came in the unlikeliest of places. Hughie Campbell came into the office looking like he'd seen a ghost fucking a unicorn in the middle of Willy Wonka's factory and I pushed him into a chair and locked the door while I waited for him to unleash whatever terror he'd clearly witnessed.
When he let it go, when he told me what he saw as he crouched behind a fucking dumpster, it all started to make sense.
Why she hadn't given two shits that we'd made no progress on finding the identity of the most terrifying supe ever acknowledged. Why nothing in her bio was factual or able to be independently confirmed. Why she wanted Billy and the others focused on supe nuance calls rather than on finding the one supe that might actually be physically worse than Homelander.
"It was Neuman," it came out hushed, not because I felt she was watching or listening, but rather because I hadn't fucking seen it. Fucking shit. "And you saw her in action?" The way poor Hughie swallowed and looked like he'd rather burn out his own fucking retina rather than see it again told me all I really needed to know. "Shit."
"What are we going to do?" He sounded so freaked out that I slid an unopened bottle of water across the desk and shook my head. I might have ideas, but I wasn't touching this one without Billy and the others present.
"I can't go back," Hughie was arguing against a return to the Congresswoman's office and I honestly couldn't disagree with his logic. "If she has even an inkling that I saw her -"
"Poof," Frenchie gestured toward his own head exploding and nodded to acknowledge that Hughie wasn't wrong in the slightest.
The issue wasn't that we wanted him in more danger than he was already by being a part of Billy's group, it was that we weren't sure how to disengage him from service without arousing suspicion from the supe that was clearly fucking dangerous.
"Break my arm," he said with the same casualness that I might ask Billy to hand me a spoon, but the tone belied the fear in his eyes as the words left his mouth. "If I'm incapacitated, then she won't be able to -"
"Permanently incapacitate you." I nodded, but then my eyes widened when I realized he wanted Kimiko to do the honors.
I didn't look away as she took his arm in her hands. I didn't flinch as I heard the crack that told me she'd managed it. I did have to walk to the corner as they discussed how to take care of the result from aiding Hughie in leaving Neuman's office. He was taken to the hospital, then off to the apartment he shared with Starlight.
"You alright?" We were on our way home, Terror between us looking as happy as he always did after spending the day with the grandparents. Billy and I had hardly had a chance to breathe, much less speak since dropping him off.
I considered his question. Was I alright? Let me take stock. Victoria Neuman, a crusader for supe accountability was a supe who hadn't faced any consequences for the actions she'd taken in the use of her powers - aka murdering a shit ton of people, one of whom was my former superior and friend. I was sterile, with god knew what other changes to my very genetic code ready to surprise me at the most inopportune moments. I had a stepson, sort of, who was still stuck in a situation that needed to be ended immediately, but kept getting pushed to the back burner by every other bullshit emergency that came up. And I had a secret, one that I hadn't told Billy and one that seemed to start lurking lately - especially after the email that I glanced at before Hughie came straggling into the office, pale and traumatized.
"Ronnie?" Shit, I'd taken too long. Our house was alight with the timed outdoor lights, along with the few inside that were also scheduled to turn on before we came home. "Are you ok?"
He parked the car and waited. Terror was panting between us, the call of the rabbits and whatever else he chased as soon as he was set loose in our yard almost making him vibrate with need.
"Let Terror out before he makes a break for it and jumps through the unopened window?" His soft chuckle told me he completely understood the worry, Terror wasn't known for his patience. "I'll let you know how I am when we get inside."
Dinner wasn't fancy or complicated. I gave in and nuked some Hot Pockets - comfort food, and I poured us both drinks, stronger than beer for him, since I had a feeling he was going to need it.
We ate without the television, and I told him that I thought we should get Ryan out. He nodded, listening and for once agreeing with me on the plight that was Becca's son.
"That's not all that has you looking as taut as a tightrope." He pulled me close and leaned back into the sofa cushions. "Tell me."
So I did, or at least the easier parts. I told him how I felt idiotic for not figuring out Neuman's real role in the mess that created our office and my post. Which he assured me wasn't something I should take guilt on for, after all no one knew, not even the assholes who helped her get elected. I told him that I wasn't as upset about being unable to have kids as I thought he might think I was, which seemed to make him relax a little more.
"But what else is lurking inside me, Billy?" He kissed me and promised we'd figure it out, and he'd be right beside me when we did.
Cuddling close, I braced myself for the final shoe to drop, so to speak. "I got an email today," he snorted, knowing that I got dozens if not more emails daily. "It was one that had a name that I didn't think I'd see -" I couldn't say again, but definitely not this soon.
"Who?" He was listening while his hands took a tour, Billy could multitask better than most men, I'd give him that.
"Joe Kessler," his fingers stilled and I felt curious. Did he know Joe? If he did, this was going to be a total shit show. "Do you know him?"
"Kessler?" I nodded and he sighed. "Yeah, I know him. I think the real question is how do you know him?"
Fuck. "Is it really so strange that I know another agent?" I didn't dare look up at him, if anyone could call my bluff it was the man holding me. I contemplated leaving it at that, but of course he asked me why I hadn't thought I'd see his name so soon. "I told you I was married before right?"
"Kessler?" His voice didn't really change, but his hands were still and his body stiff. "You were married to Kessler?" Shit, fuck, shit.
"Yes," why not BandAid it? Just rip it off, and hope the hell it doesn't sting as bad as it could have.
The silence grew and I was worried. I mean, he knew I'd been married before. And he knew it ended. Sure I left out the part where I'd married a colleague, a man who was older and more experienced than me - at least in the CIA. OK, let's be honest, Joe Kessler was more experienced everywhere - he also managed to get on my parents' bad side almost from moment one, and they convinced me that when he looked at me he only saw dollar signs. Which I believed, and a part of me knew it could be true. I mean, it wasn't as if my parents were modest with displays of their wealth. And he'd challenged me about my need to rebel, yet please them.
So leaving, ending things, had seemed reasonable. Logical even.
"Why did he email you?" Oh, he assumed - well damn it.
"He didn't." I felt safe to look up at him now that I knew why he'd grown so tense and quiet. "I just received an email letting me know that he's being assigned to the local agency." He waited, eyes locked on me. "There are a few people in the office that know about our past, they like to give me a head's up if he's coming close."
"That bad?" I shook my head. It wasn't bad, just fucking awkward. I mean, how do you face a man who you married in haste and then divorced without warning? "Felt like you had to let me know though?"
"I don't want us to have secrets," something crossed his face, but it was gone before I could decipher it. "I didn't leave out his name on purpose, it's just -" I sighed and rubbed my face against his shirt, breathing him in like he did to my neck or hair when he needed reassurance. "I feel so stupid for being as impulsive as I was in marrying him."
"You were impulsive and stupid?" His tone was heavy in disbelief and it caused me to look up and find him shaking his head as he drank me in. "Impossible."
And now that my shoulders were unburdened, Billy decided he'd release me from every scrap of unnecessary material that might add unneeded weight to me, and then he reminded me of how slow and steady the two of us were, before he showed me how fast and furious we could be as well.
