Hello all, and welcome back! So to add context, this takes place during Season 3 episode 5 "The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies". This is smack dab in the middle of season 3 and will mostly be using the characters that appeared during that time frame. While there will be characters and elements from Gen V and Season 4 don't expect all of it.
Marvel Comics is the property of Disney, and The Boys is the property of Dynamite Entertainment and Amazon.
Soldier Boy walked on the streets of New York, dirty and thick bearded, people around would assume he's just a homeless man. Billboards for Vought Studios' "Dawn of the Seven" along with images of Homelander, people casually using technologies unknown to Soldier Boy, it was a whole new world.
"What the fuck…?" Soldier Boy mumbled, seeing the Seven's image on a bus.
He couldn't help but cringe upon seeing cardboards for electoral candidate Robert Singer, the images of Homelander and Queen Maeve on the wall. Weirdest of all, a gay couple showing public affection. He kept walking but suddenly, everyone else stopped walking. Soldier Boy was confused, until he noticed they were staring up and he looked up, in the sky, was another Earth. A second blue planet orbiting above them closer than the moon ever was. For a second, Soldier Boy wondered if that was normal now and was relieved to know by the crowd's reactions that it was not.
Soldier Boy's attention was cut short when he heard Russian music playing. Everyone was too distracted to notice the man with the glowing chest preceding the disaster.
The people in the public park looked bewildered at the red sky where a second planet Earth was. They stopped their bikes and picnics to look and their attention was caught when they saw something coming from the second planet: A green spaceship was bouncing on the sky and turning around several times as it failed to properly land.
Rather than run, a few fools stood right there, ready to be crushed, just so they could film it with their cellphones. The spaceship crashed on the top of the lower half of a man who made sure to take a selfie before dying. A man in a space suit came out of the ship and caused the remaining fools to run in fear. He looked at the corpse of the man and checked his phone, he noticed the Brave Maeve phone cover and used the man's finger to unlock it. He googled the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Avengers and got no results. He dropped his helmet on the grass and moved towards the city.
Mother's Milk walked to the front door. He pushed back everything that had been going on into the back of his mind: Butcher, the V24, Kimiko's condition, and Soldier Boy. He knocked on the door, but no one answered, much to his surprise. Until he heard the sound of screaming coming from behind. MM looked behind and soon saw the reason: there was another Earth in the sky.
"Marvin!" He heard Todd call out.
MM looked back and saw Todd standing by the door. He rushed over to the door and got inside the house. VNN was playing in the background, reporting on whatever was happening.
"Where's Janine?" MM asked.
"She's in her room." Todd stated.
"What the fuck is going on?" MM asked incredulously.
Shockingly, Todd seemed to have an idea.
"I have an idea." Todd said.
"What is it?" MM asked.
"Supervillains, probably one of them with the power to create an illusion in the sky. Just to distract people from what Homelander is saying." Todd said.
MM silently looked at Todd and reflected on how he said it all with a straight face.
"Todd… That's just… I need to see Janine." MM told him.
Todd was silent, obviously seeing MM's disapproval of the subject. MM's eyes looked back at the TV, and he saw another news report. Indicating that at least 19 people died from an explosion in Manhattan. On any other day, it would have made the front page, but today was not that day. MM knew who was responsible for that event, and memories from his childhood started to flood his mind—the bleeding corpses of his grandparents.
"Well, even then, I know Homelander knows what to do." Todd stated.
Homelander looked out the window of Vought Tower, perfectly observing the other Earth in the sky. He stood there motionless, he was practically a statue at this moment, his blue eyes wide open, refusing to blink, as his breathing hitched. It was perfectly clear to Homelander, that he had no idea what was happening let alone on what to do.
"Homelander? Did you hear me?" Starlight's voice asked.
"Sorry, what?" Homelander asked.
"I said we need to handle this. Now." Starlight told him.
"Uh, yeah, of course we do. Okay." Homelander said as turned to face them.
"So, book slots on all the Sunday shows. Tell them that, uh, there's nothing to worry about, not a thing. We got everything under control." Homelander stated.
"That's smart." Ashley told him.
"So smart." Other Ashley added as she started to jot down notes on her clipboard.
"Jesus, I meant that we need to stop this guy!" Starlight protested.
Homelander seemed almost confused by her protest until Annie pointed at the TV that now displayed the news regarding Soldier Boy's detonation. Homelander, seemed to be unintimidated considering what was going on.
"Sorry, darling, but right now we have more important problems. No one gives two fucks about that explosion, that thing out there, that's world-wide news." Homelander told her. "Why don't you go out there and save the day. Let us grown-ups worry about the share price and EBITDA margins, okay?" He added.
Annie knew why Homelander said that. He was obviously scared not just about the Earth, but also Soldier Boy. So he was going to send her out, wanting to put her life at risk. As Annie walked away she received a text message from an anonymous number. It was a set of coordinates.
Little Nina's men smoked cigarettes at the alley and watched the other Earth in the sky. They argued about what it was. One of them theorized it was a reflection of their own planet in the sky, while the other disagreed but had no better idea. The man in a spacesuit approached them. They laughed, seeing what he was wearing.
"Ground control to Major Tom, your circuit is dead, there's something wrong!" One of them mockingly sang in a broken Russian accent.
The spaceman hit his friend on the throat, pulled him closer, and broke his neck with ease. The other one was on the ground recuperating from the strike on his throat. He pulled out his gun but immediately felt something on the back of his head.
"Drop it." The spaceman ordered, armed with his dead partner's gun.
"Ok." He obeyed. "Who do you work for? Is this about sending a message to the boss?"
"No, I just crippled a couple of drug dealers who said you two were their bosses. Now I wanna know who your boss is, and I need clothes."
"We're heading over to the site now." Hughie called Annie from his phone. "Can your crime analytics people look for him?" He asked.
"I'm on it just be careful Hughie." Annie told him as she rushed over to the crime lab. When she got a phone call from the same phone number that just texted her earlier. Annie hung up, but they soon called again.
"What?!" She angrily asked, trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible in case Homelander could hear.
"Sorry to bother, ma'am, but I'm here to help." The voice on the other end stated. It belonged to a man. He didn't seem bothered by her anger at all, if anything he seemed to sound understanding.
"Who is this?" Annie asked.
"I can't say so right now, but I have all the information you'll need about Soldier Boy and the other Earth." The voice stated.
Annie was surprised to hear about this.
"How do you…" She was about to ask.
"Like I said, I'll explain everything to you in person. Although I think you might get word about the incursion soon." The man informed her.
"Incursion?" Annie asked.
Butcher and Hughie made it to the site of the explosion. A small group gathered around the aftermath of the explosion. Most people ignored it and focused on the other planet in the sky.
"Fuckin' hell." Butcher stated as he took off his glasses.
"Hughie?" someone addressed Hughie.
Hughie turned and saw that it was Ivy, another member of the FBSA.
"Ivy. Morning, morning." He was, surprised by her appearance.
"Hey uh… Is Vicky here?" Hughie asked, sounding nervous that his head might get popped soon.
"She's on her way. Didn't you break your arm?" She asked her eyes now on his formerly broken arm.
"Yeah, um… It turns out it's a bad sprain. See you later." He lied trying to rush out of the conversation.
Butcher was looking over the damage with a geiger counter. When Hughie got up to him they saw MM walk onto the scene. A look of displeasure on his face, but hints of uncertainty.
"Oi." Butcher addressed as he walked over to him
"Save it!" MM angrily told him.
"You think I know about what the fuck is going on 'ere? I'm just as fuckin' clueless about that as you are." Butcher stated pointing at the sky..
"This ain't about the other fucking Earth! I'm going after that motherfucker on my own!" MM told him.
"And what're you gonna do when you find him, eh? He's well out of your league, son. You need 'elp. You need us. Not to mention no one knows what's happening up there." Butcher told him.
"That's not funny." MM angrily told him.
"I wasn't tryin' to make you laugh." Butcher told him. "You need our help to find Soldier Boy. We find him and I don't ever have to chat again. What do ya say?" Butcher asked.
MM grit his teeth before looking at Hughie who nodded. MM reluctantly agreed.
"Knowing you, you've probably got a lead?" Butcher asked.
"Of course I fucking do look at where we are." MM said.
Butcher looked around at their surroundings and recognized the location.
"The Legend." Butcher guessed.
"Want to bet Soldier Boy paid him a visit?" MM asked.
"You came in at a bad moment." Anika told Annie. They were at the crime analytics department, just them, the rest of the room was empty but for Anika and another worker looking at their computers. "The Deep fired most of the department."
"What? Why?" Annie, very concerned, asked.
"Tweets over the years criticizing Homelander. But even if we were at full capacity, I couldn't help you, we're focusing on something bigger."
"19 people are dead; I know that thing is big, but we can't drop everything else to focus on it."
"Take a look." Anika opened a file on the computer and presented images of the other planet in the sky, zoomed images in which crowds were visible.
"What am I looking at?" Annie asked.
"Vought satellite footage. Footage of the inhabitants of that planet."
Annie's blood froze upon hearing that. It couldn't be real, aliens? Was it possible?
"What if it's really just a reflection? A mirror to our planet."
"That's not our planet, looks a lot like it but… Here, check it out." Anika presented two pictures comparing their Earth with the other one. "In Africa and the Balkans, large bodies of land that don't exist here. They also have way more satellites than us."
"That means…"
"That they're more advanced."
Anika ate half of her Almond Joy.
"Can I have that half?" Annie asked.
"No." Anika replied and ate the rest.
Meanwhile, in Trenton, A-Train arrived at the building where his brother, Nathan, was. The brothers hugged each other.
"How you feeling?" A-Train asked his brother, genuine concern in his tone.
"Stressed." Nathan stated before his look of anxiety turned to a slight smile. "I'm glad you came despite whatever the fuck this is." He added.
A-Train smiled at his older brother.
"Of course, man." A-Train said.
Just then another visitor arrived with a set of cameramen behind him. His reception was much more frostier than A-Train's: Blue Hawk. Nathan looked at his sheepish younger brother.
"What's he doing here?" Nathan asked.
"He wants to apologize." A-Train said.
"With a camera crew?" Nathan asked rhetorically. "Come on man." He said.
"You get a public apology. Vought gets some publicity. You wanted me to use my platform to help the community. It's a win-win." A-Train explained.
Nathan was unconvinced but held his tongue.
Blue Hawk stood behind the podium as he was about to speak. It did not go as well as expected, a name came up, Raymond Tucker, one of Blue Hawk's victims. The argument erupted, and tensions rose. A-Train tried to break it off, but the crowds started chanting 'Black lives matter' to which Blue Hawk angrily answered:
"Supe lives matter!"
At that moment, Blue Hawk lost his cool and started throwing those in attendance around.
"Stop! Stop!" A-Train yelled, grabbing Blue Hawk.
Blue Hawk calmed down, but it was too little, too late. Those in attendance fled, but that was not what caught A-Train's eye. Rather, it was the man lying down on the floor completely motionless on a set of chairs.
"Nathan?" A-Train asked, seeing it was his older brother.
"Just leave it." An old man answered after MM knocked on the door.
"What?" MM asked.
He, Butcher, and Hughie stood in the building's hallway as MM knocked.
"Leave the goddamn clams casino at the door!" The old man said.
"This ain't Grubhub, motherfucker. Open up."
He finally opened the door. It was the Legend, an old white man wearing designer sunglasses, his eyes were visible through the purple lenses. He was very unhappy but his demeanor changed the second he saw MM.
"Haven't you seen… Marvin, hey." The Legend said with a smile and hugged MM. His anger quickly returned upon seeing Butcher. "So you still got this piece of dog shit stuck to your boot."
"Oh, go do one, you withered old cunt." Butcher answered.
"This is…" MM was about to say but the Legend quickly returned to his apartment and started frantically packing his bags again. "... Hughie. What are you doing?"
"It was nice to see you but I'm not sure you noticed the big fucking celestial body about to hit this side of the globe."
"I'm sorry, who is he?" Hughie asked.
"Doesn't know who I am. Read a fucking book, kid!" The Legend said, offended.
"This is the Legend." MM explained.
"That's, uh, quite a nickname." Hughie said.
"Not a nickname, it's a level." The Legend grabbed his bags and was about to leave. "Nice to see you boys, except for this sack of English shit, but I gotta go."
"We need to talk." MM said.
"I'm off to Thailand, can't stop for a chat."
"Come on, Legend, you own me."
In fact, he did. Soon the boys were sitting with the Legend in his living surrounded by pictures of him with celebrities from the second half of the 20th century while he bragged about his times with Shannon Tweed and Kelly LeBrock. Eventually he came around, at first it was easy to believe he snorted all that coke by himself, of course he would've considering the terror out the window. Once MM threatened to check the fingerprints, he admitted Soldier Boy went there to pick up his super suit and didn't age a day.
"He also came for his girlfriend's address, he's headed there." The Legend said.
"Crimson Countess? Why?" Butcher asked.
"Fuck if I know, go ask him. Now, I'm leaving."
As The Legend was about to go, Hughie asked him.
"Do you really think that thing is going to collide with Earth?"
"Don't know, kid. But if it does, I'm getting as far from it as possible."
Little Nina hid behind a wall at her restaurant. A man walked in and started shooting her men. That was the spaceman, now wearing late Aleksey's clothes. Little Nina's henchmen dropped like flies, she yelled at the remaining ones in Russian.
"He's just one man! Why can't you kill him?!"
"He came out of nowhere!"
The henchman grabbed his shotgun and went to look out. The second he peeked out, a butcher knife went through his eyeball and reached his brain. The assailant used his body as a shield as Little Nina shot, he took the shotgun and blew her fingers away. He kicked her knee and she fell on the ground in pain. He checked her for more guns, but nothing, he was also disappointed to find the gun she used was destroyed by the shotgun he used.
"Where do you keep your arsenal?" He coldly asked.
"That's why you did all this?! To get my guns?! Do you even know who I am?!" Nina yelled.
"Somebody I'll feel fine killing." He said and pulled the butcher knife out the corpse's skull. He positioned the blade under her ear and made a tiny cut. "Where do you keep your guns?"
After cutting her ear almost halfway off, he got her arsenal's location and safe combination. He left with a bag full of guns and a bulletproof vest. The last thing Little Nina saw before he smashed her brain with his boot.
Homelander sat with Cameron Coleman for his show.
"How great a threat is America facing?" Cameron Coleman asked Homelander.
"Oh, no threat whatsoever. This whole other Earth in the sky may look bad but it's probably just a reflection." Homelander said, letting out a slight chuckle to hide his fears.
"What do you say about the rumors that this supposed other planet is inhabited? Since every loser with a telescope at home claims so." Coleman brought up.
Homelander chuckled again.
"Little green men, Cameron? As far as I care it's pure lunacy, God only created one world. Who knows, these rumors might be fed from my enemies. The moment we free Vought from the lies and corruption, this happens. I mean the timing is very convenient. " Homelander stated.
"Smells like a false flag?" Coleman asked with a cheeky grin on his face.
"Well you said it pal not me." Homelander joked, raising his hands, a grin on his face.
"What do you say…"
Before Coleman could finish, the cameras stopped rolling. The screen behind them changed to static. Homelander got up, the camera crew also saw the same static from their cameras. An angered and fearful Coleman was about to yell at the production crew when he noticed that it wasn't just the show's equipment.
All over the world, every single device with a screen was hijacked. From the billboards in Tokyo and Times Square to the iPads of children playing games, they all became static. Just for a few seconds, a red and yellow metal man appeared in front of a gray wall, a white light shined on the triangle on his chest. People gathered to hear his message. Soldier Boy stopped walking and watched it from the TVs displayed in a store, Frenchie and Kimiko watched from their computer, Victoria Neuman hugged her daughter on their couch as they watched it. Hughie, Butcher, and MM were watching from Hughie's phone in the alleyway where the car was parked.
"Do not be scared; I come from the planet you now see in your sky, and I have answers. I am Iron Man."
He removed his helmet. Much to the expectation of the billions watching, they were waiting for green or blue skin, maybe feelers, but Hughie sighed relieved, it was just a man. A caucasian man in his late 40s with black hair, goatee and mustache.
"But I am also Tony Stark. See? I'm human like you, not a scary alien. Like you, I am from Earth, just not your Earth. I speak on behalf of Earth 616, my universe's version of your world. What we are both experiencing right now is called an Incursion, a phenomenon where two worlds from separate universes clash, causing an explosion that wipes out their entire universes. I promise you, this is not going to happen. Our solution might shock you, but it's for your own safety. We're going to evacuate your Earth so that it can be destroyed. I'm sorry, but it's the only way."
Soldier Boy froze. This couldn't be happening, not now, not when he was finally free. Anger, sadness, he was about to cry but just as he was about to break in tears he held down his feelings, like a man does, instead he grabbed the nearest car and tossed it away as he screamed in rage.
"But you all are going to live. That's the only way to prevent the Incursion from destroying both universes. Please remain calm and collaborate. Iron Man out."
Queen Maeve packed her bags in her apartment. She snapped back into focus upon seeing Homelander face to face. Despite his angry look she could tell he was bothered by it too.
"What are you doing?" Homelander asked.
"You heard Iron Man, I'm getting ready to enter the spaceship, teleporter, whatever the fuck they have to take us out of here." She said.
Homelander smirked.
"Uhm… Is William Butcher going with you? To start a new life, riding towards the sun? I can smell him all over you. You really will do anything to hurt me, won't you?" Homelander told her.
"Oh, fuck Butcher!"
"I know you did."
"I mean it, fuck him, forget about him, John. Something big is coming." Maeve questioned.
"Don't you John me. Our world is not going to fucking end. I don't care what some asshole wearing a CGI suit said, there's no record of a Tony Stark anywhere. It's a fucking joke. However, that supervillain has both of you written all over it. So what's your plan?" Homelander said.
Maeve chuckled.
"You have supervision." Maeve bluntly told him, a grin on her face.
"So?"
"You could just look at the window and see the other world, see the people in it. You knew it, from the beginning you knew it was inhabited."
Homelander hesitated for a second before answering.
"Yes! I saw it from the get go! You know what I saw? I saw New York, the same city, a few supes flying around, a few different buildings, that was it! No spaceships or teleporters, they're just like us! Except we're going to fucking live!"
"All these years after being under Stan's thumb and once you finally break free from it. The world fucking ends on you. You know what, I buy it, so guess what. Seeing as how the world might end, let me tell you how I really feel about you. I have always hated you, but what's more I fucking pitied you." Maeve told him. The confession made her grin.
Homelander tried his best to hide his anger, his body trying to hold still.
"Well I loved you. In my own way of course, so don't worry. I'm not going to kill you. No, once this blows over, I have some ideas." Homelander admitted he glanced past Maeve. All of a sudden, Maeve felt herself fall down the floor, despite standing on solid ground. She looked up and saw an orange, fire-like hole above her. In the hole she recognized the ceiling artwork from the conference room before it closed.
Butcher surprised the Crimson Countess in her trailer where he jumped her and restrained her. He chained her arms and covered her hands with tape.
"Nice to catch you here, love." Butcher told her. "We were afraid you'd be far gone by now based on recent news."
"Gone to where, asshole? It's the whole world ending." She said and noticed the golden glare in Butcher's eyes. "What the fuck is up with him?" She asked MM.
"We ain't here to hurt you." MM said. "But I am gonna tell you something and I don't want you to lose your shit."
"Your lover boy is on his way here." Butcher added.
"Soldier Boy, he's alive."
The Crimson Countess smirked, despair and irony in her face.
"Now? He escapes from Russia now?"
"Well, that's interesting. You knew the Ivans had him all this time?"
She begged for her freedom, and pleaded that Soldier Boy would kill them all. She still refused to tell MM what she did to make Soldier Boy that mad but kept insisting they were all as good as dead if they didn't let her go. Butcher didn't care, he told her:
"Don't you worry, darling. We got a big fish to hook, and you're the worm."
Later, Butcher, MM and Hughie prepared the halogen for Soldier Boy, based on the Russians' footage of their experiments, it appeared as if they could knock him out. Annie arrived, MM had called her for some backup.
"You shouldn't be here, alright? It's dangerous." Hughie told her.
"It's too dangerous for me? What about you?"
"Oi," Butcher chimed in. "You lot take your little tiff somewhere else, we're on the job here."
Hughie and Annie left for some private time. Moments later, MM noticed their geiger counter detecting radiation, Soldier Boy was close. However, as he prepared to fight, he felt a sudden weakness and fell to the ground, he looked at his water bottle, and looked at Butcher, knowing what had happened. He took his remaining strength to take Butcher by the collar and stare in his eyes.
"What'd do?" MM angrily asked.
"I know that you're never gonna forgive but you left me no choice."
"Why?"
"I can't draw no line, M, not with what I got to do. I'm sorry, you'll be right in a moment."
Last thing MM saw before passing out: Soldier Boy arriving, his boots, his belt, his dagger, his shield and the eagle on his chest, all there like a blast from the past standing right there as he was in the past.
"You're that asshole from the lab." Soldier Boy told Butcher.
MM could still hear them talking, Butcher offering the Crimson Countess as a gesture of good faith and proposing to Soldier Boy what supes call a team up.
Meanwhile, Hughie and Annie were still arguing as Hughie put his clothes back on after showing her his temporary powers. He pleaded for her to end the fight.
"Annie, please just go. Let us handle this. You can yell in the…"
His sentence was cut short by the wind wave that was created by the loud explosion. They ran back to the trailer and found Butcher putting an unconscious MM on the ground. Butcher quickly admitted drugging MM and Soldier Boy followed behind him. Annie was ready for a fight, her eyes lit up but Hughie stood between her and Soldier Boy.
"Annie, listen, we wanted a weapon, Soldier Boy's our weapon." Hughie argued. "He's how we kill Homelander, and Neuman maybe, if anyone's strong enough, he is."
Their debate was short, Hughie asked her to come with them and Butcher called for Hughie.
"Please don't go." Annie begged him.
Still, he left with Butcher and Soldier Boy.
Hughie woke up the next morning in the car with Soldier Boy and Butcher driving away from New York. He thought of Annie, a feeling of guilt, Butcher could tell.
"Don't worry about her lad." Butcher assured him.
"I know it's just…" Hughie said.
"I understand you. I do, but do you want her to end up like my Becca." Butcher told Hughie, an actually solemn look in his eyes.
Hughie was silent.
"No, I don't." Hughie told him.
"Good." Butcher said.
Just then, a flare went off, blinding them all; Butcher stopped the car to avoid a collision. The window on Soldier Boy's side of the car broke, he felt something cold and metallic get placed around his head. There was a loud ringing in his ears, as his head started to hurt. He collapsed and was pulled out of the car by a metal wire. Unknown to the assailants, Hughie and Butcher recovered. The latter handed the former a device. Hughie teleported and followed the assailants. They were wearing blue and white bodysuits unlike anything he had seen before. They loaded Soldier Boy into some van and drove off.
"Jesus, they're fast." Hughie said.
"I still have this." Butcher remarked, holding the Geiger counter.
About an hour later, chaos continued to run rampant on the streets, first because of the twin Earth that loomed over them in the sky and then, seconds later, by a large blast that appeared. Despite this, an innocuous vehicle was driving through the streets, avoiding the rampant civilians. The interior of this vehicle was far from innocuous, as it contained advanced technology that restrained and monitored. Being restrained was the hero formerly known as Soldier Boy. He was looked over by a man and woman wearing a blue skin-tight uniform.
"Attention, we have the target in transit. I repeat, Soldier Boy is in transit, we are taking him to pick off." the SHIELD Agent, a black woman, said.
"Bravo agent." Mission control stated.
There was banging on the sides of the vehicle.
"They're panicking out there, Marsha." Another agent stated, he was an Asian male.
"No kidding. Can't say I blame them though, Hwang. My wife and the kids are probably freaking out right now too." Marsha remarked.
"You've read the file on this guy?" Hwang asked.
"I did. The guy makes John Walker look like Steve Rogers." Marsha stated glaring at the unconscious Soldier Boy.
"Yeah, I can't imagine Agent 13 being fond of this guy." Hwang stated.
"I was gonna say Coulson." Marsha joked.
The car stopped once the driver noticed.
"Attention, Agents Marsha and Hwang. We have eyes on one of the Peak Stations' escapees." The driver said. They read the file and saw who the escapee was. They knew what he was capable of and got scared.
Marsha and Hwang looked at one another.
"Great, now we have to clean Sword's mess. I've got him." Marsha told her partner.
She stepped out the back door and did her best to maneuver some panicking civilians towards her target. Eventually she got behind the target, the spaceman who killed Little Nina, and poked him in the back with her gun. He slowly turned around to face her. His eyes and expression were practically lifeless.
"T-time to go home." She told him, failing to hide her fear.
He seemingly obliged. More civilians ran around the corner towards them. The escapee took advantage of the chaos and pushed Marsha away. She managed to prevent herself from getting stampeded, but lost sight of him.
"Hwang, I've lost sight of him! He was heading towards the van." She told her partner.
"Right." Hwang stated.
He stepped out of the door, but was soon knocked out after getting hit in the head with a crowbar. Billy Butcher looked down at the agent curiously.
"SHIELD?" Butcher said.
"This is new to you?" Hughie asked.
"Yes." Butcher said.
He searched the agent and for his keys, but couldn't find him.
"Freeze!" The driver demanded, holding out his gun at Butcher and Hughie. Butcher glared his eyes and was about to laser him in half but before he did, the driver got choked out from behind by the escapee. Once he was unconscious, the man released him and let him drop.
"They don't use keys." He told them.
"What?" Butcher asked.
"SHIELD Agents usually use a remote for transports. Check the pouches on his belt." The Punisher told him.
Butcher and Hughie examined him head to toe. He was a big man, bigger than Butcher. Black hair brushed back, large jaw and shoulders, military type. He wore a long black coach and carried a bag clearly filled with guns. There were blood on his boots and most striking of all: He spray painted a white skull in his black bulletproof vest. Butcher hesitantly began to look through the agent's belt pouches until he found a remote. Butcher used it to open the door as he worked to free Soldier Boy.
"How did you know all that?" Hughie asked Frank.
"Experience. You go help him out." Frank bluntly told him.
Hughie obliged.
Hughie went up to help Butcher, who glared at him.
"What?" Hughie asked.
Butcher tilted his head back to Frank was, who now held a gun at them.
"Oh." Hughie said, realizing his mistake.
"Easy, mate? Why don't ya put the gun down an' talk it out with us." Butcher stated.
"I know why Shield's after me, about him?" Frank asked.
"Don't you know who this is?" Butcher asked.
"I'm new around here." Frank bluntly told him.
"Well, then, welcome to New York." Butcher joked.
Soldier Boy soon got up. He ripped the gun out of Frank's hand out of pure instinct.
"What the fuck?" He stammered out.
"Easy son. We got you." Butcher said.
"Who are you calling, son?" Soldier Boy stated.
"We're here to get you out." Hughie said.
"I didn't need any help." Soldier Boy told them until he looked at Butcher's face.
As he got out of the van, he looked at Frank and noticed the logo on his vest.
"Neat logo, you with Vought?" Soldier Boy asked.
"No." Frank bluntly replied.
"I'll be damned..." Butcher said, almost amused. "You're from that other Earth up there."
Frank was silent, but Butcher smirked.
"Tell you what helps us out with something and we can protect you for just a little while longer?" Butcher questioned.
"You want to know what's really going on." Punisher stated.
"Guilty." Butcher said, holding his hands up in the air.
"I saw Iron Man's speech. Everything he said was true. All of it. I was arrested at The Peak Orbital Station when the incursion happened, I took an escape pod in the chaos and ended up here." Frank explained.
"What were you in for?" Hughie asked.
"Killing people who don't deserve to be alive." Frank stated.
"Well sounds like we've got that much in common." Butcher remarked. "What's your name?"
"Frank Castle. Punisher." Frank stated.
"Feel free to join in if you want?" Butcher suggested.
"Why should I?" Frank asked.
"You called yourself "Punisher", right? Well I know a cunt you'd ought to punish: Homelander." Butcher said.
"I've heard about him. SHIELD tablet had a file on him." Frank stated.
"So you in?" Butcher asked.
"Are you sure you can trust him?" Hughie asked him.
"I'm sure he's the only one here who knows anything about this dodgy shit going." Butcher remarked. "Trust me, lad, I know his type."
"I'll join." Frank stated.
In the back of his mind, Frank knew that if things were to go haywire he knew exactly who he was going to shoot.
Annie and MM took the flight to the location her contact asked for them to meet. Surprisingly, a small town in the middle of nowhere.
They approached a road diner. Everything carried on normally despite the other Earth in the red sky. They entered the diner and MM questioned if that was really the place he wanted to meet them but there he was. He waved at them and they sat in front of him. He was blonde and had a full beard, the man wore a military jacket, they got glimpses of a bright red and white color under his jacket. He ate his pie and looked surprised as he peaked around and everything looked normal.
"I didn't think places like this would still serve people, still take money." He said. "By now I expected people to be looting or staying with their families."
"This is a red state." MM said. "If Homelander say everything's alright, everything's alright. So you the guy from the other Earth, who are you?"
"I'm Steve Rogers but people call me Captain America."
"You're a supe."
Steve pointed under the table, they looked down and saw a round leather bag. Steve unzipped it and revealed a round shield with the flag colors. MM did not like what he saw.
"That supposed to mean something?" Annie asked.
"Maybe not now. But if this thing drags long enough, my old friends will have images of me everywhere on your Earth. There are powerful people from my world, and they're ready to destroy your world." Cap told them.
"How are you so sure they can?" Annie asked.
"Because they've done it before. If Homelander's followers refuse to go, they won't hesitate to destroy your planet with them in it. We don't have much time, Incursions are only supposed to last 8 hours." Steve told them
"So how come it lasted this long?" Annie asked.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Why should we trust you?" MM finally spoke. Steve chuckled. "Did I say something funny?"
"Where I'm from, people just trust me. They know who I am, I'm Captain America, and know they're safe with me."
"Maybe that's the problem. People shouldn't just trust you for nothing."
"I guess I'll have to earn it."
"Even so, you think you alone can do anything?" Annie asked.
Steve Rogers smiled.
"Come meet my friends."
And there we have our first chapter! To repeat, this takes place in the middle of Season 3. There will be some characters and elements from Season 4. This is because Craftsman and I wait usually start after a season ends to learn more about characters and lore from The Boys to use. This gives us a year or two to work out a plot and then add elements from the current season.
Also for those who want to know, while this is Earth 616. It's not 100% the one from the comics, there are some adjustments to it.
With all that said, thank you for reading!