Chapter 9

I walked in the 7 meeting room to Maeve watching the replay of my and Cameron's interview.

"You think it really was Edgar and the mayor? Maybe Jake Tapper."

"Trying to fսck with me? Make me look ridiculous?" I asked her.

She turned to me and turned off the TV.

"Or maybe you're just a paranoid, malignant narcissist who thinks everything is about you." She responded with a fake smile. I could sense the slight disgust in her tone.

"Mm, it's not paranoia if they're really out to get you, though."

"And you, Maeve. You're out to get me, aren't you?" Her smile gently extinguished.

She stood from her chair and walked to me her body automatically denying the accusation with her posture.

"What are you talking about?"

"William Butcher." I responded tensely. "I can smell him all over you."

"You really will do anything to hurt me, won't you?" I continued. She just gave me the 'I can't believe you're asking me that' look.

"So, what are you and William cooking up? Maybe you two brought that 'supervillain' to town?"

She automatically fake chuckled like I was crazy.

"Oh, John." She started, her frame getting closer to mine.

"John, come one. You're talking crazy."

"I'm not cooking anything up with Butcher" She chuckled softly. I could smell her strongly now, aside from Butcher's faint residue, a tiny amount of adrenaline released, an inkling of sweat readying in the pores, fear.

"Let's talk about this." She finished softly.

'LIAR!'

The scream almost made me twitch.

I felt the betrayal physically. Homelander still had conflicting feelings for Maeve.

The urge to punish her…to make her mine again…physically…was almost overwhelming.

'She's ours. Take her!'

I know Echo; I know but calm your shit down. I'm the one in charge so fuck off.

Saner heads prevailed.

I let out a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry. You're right." That took her by surprise.

I walked away from her proximity lest the urges come again.

"You're sorry and I'm right?" she asked incredulously. "First you want to clean house on the heroes, giving Starlight go ahead on recruiting and training not to mention this new mysterious direction you want to take the company on, what is going on, now you think everyone's out to get you?" she asked with exasperation in her tone.

"Then you're acting like yourself with Cameron. It's like you're a different person form one moment to the next."

"Like, what, what is going on with you? Talk to me!"

I strongly resisted the urge to smile.

She almost sounded concerned but that was more likely due to me being more unpredictable in the last few days. Homelander was scary but fairly predictable. He wanted to be loved and hated being questioned. But his plans and schemes for the most part were fairly simple, effective but simple.

One track type of thinking.

He wanted Vought to be his to take the shackles of Edgar off and to make it back into a superhero company so he could be loved for being the greatest hero ever.

Simple to follow, simple to understand.

"I don't know. I guess this whole taking over Vought thing isn't what I thought it would be." I say solemnly.

"Everyone's looking at me for everything. Things I hadn't even considered, the auditors want to talk to me something about the Voughtland revenue recognition and setting up a new internal control committee." I said incredulously and shook my head.

I started pacing around a bit faster.

"Meeting after meeting, email after email, it's just non fucking stop. Can't everyone just do their fucking jobs!" I practically shouted.

"And now this, this, supervillain, the fucking media won't let up on it." I stopped and turned back to her.

"Look I'm sorry. I think I'm just feeling cooped up."

"All I've done the past two days is just be in meetings." I said exasperatedly. I raise my hands over my head and subtly started stretching as if I'd been a desk monkey for the last twenty years.

"Yea, well not sure what you were expecting? What did you think Stan and Ashley did all day? It's all the boring paperwork we never wanted to do."

I just gave her the patented Homlander look.

"I thought the lackeys would take care of most of it…besides Vought is almost 100% paperless…it's all about digital signing. Got it boomer?" I said jokingly.

"Funny." Her response is sharp but snarky toned.

"Can you do me a favour?" I ask changing tones and make my way towards her.

She looks at me expectantly.

"I have about an hour and 15. Do you want to get a quick spar in?" I ask hopefully.

She looks at me like I got hit in the head with a nuke.

"A spar? Me and you?" she pauses.

"Yea a spar." I repeat.

"We haven't sparred in like a decade…and a half? You don't spar!" she affirmed strongly.

I roll my eyes at her.

"Yes, yes, I know. But look, unless that 'supervillain'" I said using air quotes "comes out and blows another taco place or something I'm not going to get out of the office until" I fake looked at my hand for a nonexistent watch " next Tuesday."

She scowls at me.

I know she's trying to think what my plan is so I push forward.

"Maeve, I'm losing my mind here. I need to get some movement in or else I might just laser in half the next person that asks me if I've read their email."

"Come, one. Noir is busy so you're the only one that can reasonably take a punch. Unless you want me to go break a bunch of interns in half, them and fucking IT." I said only half-jokingly.

She stared at me intently.

"Fine."

I let a wide smile reach my ears.

"Excellent, meet me in the training room in 15!" I said and quickly shuffled out the door.

Scene Break

'A spar? A fucking spar?' She couldn't help but think. 'He's up to something. But what?'

Something was wrong with Homelander…more wrong than the 'wrong' that was Homelander and it made her uneasy.

Homelander had always been unpredictable. 'Kind of' she thought. When you were around him you just weren't sure when he would react with violence especially if you were in private.

But the last two days have been weird.

The new initiative, giving Starlight free hand on the Heroes, him taking seriously the Vought office work, his actual plan for Soldier Boy, hell the only think she could understand was him wanting to 'break' the other heroes.

That made sense. That was classic Homelander, he didn't give a shit about anyone and he hated to be questioned.

'Does he know about, Butcher and Soldier Boy?' she asked herself. 'No, if he did he would have pushed the conversation on it.'

The knot of anxiety in her chest was growing. He was up to something and she needed to find out.

She hated how he had controlled her for what he did to her…to everyone.

She couldn't help but spite him so she took her time getting to the training room.

When she got there she was surprised to find him Homelander there, topples, in a stance, punching the air and dodging imaginary strikes.

But even more surprising was his new accessory.

"Are you wearing a pink hair bandana?" she asked mockingly making a reference to the plastic accessory holding his hair back.

"Ha, ha. Come on get it out of your system." He said. "It's Ashley's…the mini-me. I'm almost out of hair product, didn't want to waste it on this."

"Now, need to warm up?" he said as he stood relaxed, chest out in front of her.

Maeve just chuckled and shook her head.

"Sure"

"How about you punch me as hard as you can to start off? I won't fight back."

Maeve just looked at him.

"You're joking right?" she asked not believing him. 'What are you playing at?' she thought.

"Come on. I know you want to punch me. After everything I've done. For Elena? I know you want to." He said sheepishly.

That triggered her rage.

"What's your fucking problem? What is this some fucked up way to try to absolve you?" She asked angrily. Whatever game he was playing she was not going to let him get to her.

"Oh please." He said dismissively. "You think I can't feel the tension between us? There's something up your ass as much as there is mine. So let's have it, punch me as strong as you can. I know you want to. I won't block I won't fight back. Then we can have an actual spar."

He said and put his hands up in surrender.

"Come one time's ticking here. I have a meeting after this to prepare for the meeting after the next meeting." Homelander said his tone oozing with exasperation.

'Fine if this is what he wants' she will make him regret it she thought.

She grounded he stance, twisted the hips and launched a straight right connecting right with his perfect nose.

The strength of her punch launched Homelander of his feet bouncing him on the floor.

'That did make me feel better' She's been wanting to do that forever.

"AHH FUCK! That hurt like a mother fucker!" she heard him say as he got up. His hands checking his nose and face.

"Am I bleeding?" He asked her. He wasn't. "No of course not." He answered his own question. "Still that fucking hurt." He said scrunching his face.

"Now you got that out of your system? Can we have a spar?" he asked.

"Well if you want to continue, staying to course. I can do this all day." She said with a smirk.

"Cute. But no." He dropped into a boxing stance.

She did as well.

Maeve saw Homelander take the initiative throwing right jabs.

She dodged and jabbed left in response.

'Was he always south paw?' she couldn't help but think. 'He wasn't…was he?'

Her thoughts were broke as she blocked a left roundhouse kick to her head. She launched her right leg up only to have his hand block it.

She saw her opportunity as he leaned in to block and hit a straight left only his right hand moved up faster blocking her punch upwards and throwing her balance off.

She saw him step in her guard, she couldn't dodge. His left hand, open palm, made contact right above her stomach.

'Thud!'

She hit the floor hard, gasping for breath.

"Are you alright? That shouldn't have been that hard." His tone disappointed.

She took his hand and lifted herself back up.

"I'm fine."

"Again." He commanded. Maeve felt herself fall back in a stance. Homelander did the same.

They started much as before, jabs to test the distance and reaction.

Roundhouse kicks blocked and returned in kind. She stepped in jabbed with her left the followed with a straight right hitting his guard.

She felt him absorb her punch then saw him weave to the right almost waist level and spring out with a hook at her mid-section.

Her quick reflexes allowed her to crunch and block. She felt herself rattle from the strength.

'Since when does he fight so technical?'

He allowed her a second to recover then burst back in action like a lion on the hunt.

They circled each other exchanging kicks and blows, feints and traps.

As the brutal dance continued the tempo increased, the next blow a little bit faster a little bit harder.

'He can go faster but he's matching me. Why?'

The exchange continued.

She was him sport a wicked grin and increased his speed. Caught up in the dance she matched, adrenaline fueling her movements, sheen of sweat building.

Their movements now bordered on blurry.

She didn't think she just acted. To think was to make a mistake. She hadn't pushed herself like this in years.

'Since the last time…'

That was a mistake. A stray thought was all it took.

A mistake.

In slow motion, unable to react to his speed, she saw Homelander step in her guard again.

His powerful left hit her above the stomach the same spot as the first time. She felt his punch burrow into her, lifting her off the ground.

As her insides crunched and eyes bulged in pain she only barely registered the right hook speeding at her head.

As she hit the mat and darkness took her she vaguely heard through fuzzy vision.

"Medic…team…now!"

Scene Break

"Everything is prepared?" I asked Schultz as I watched the medic team take the unconscious Maeve away.

"It is."

"Good, I need her out for about three days, maybe four if you can stretch it. The broken ribs and plexus should take about a day right?"

He nodded. "Shouldn't be a problem. We'll have to keep her in to scan her head…just in case. That hit looked pretty bad."

I shrugged.

"It's been a while since I sparred." I said.

He just raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

We shortly went our separate ways.

He had work to do.

Maeve may never let me near her fiery muff again willingly but that will not stop me from saving her previous eggs. I agreed with Homelander she was too precious to simply let waste.

Later that evening, after a god-awful long ass day full of meeting, because unlike Homelander I did want to actually know what the fuck was going on in Vought, I was half a mile up in the air watching Soldier Boy blow up the Crimson Countess.

"…you weren't supposed to be here" I head Hughie say.

Fifteen seconds, no, twelve seconds. I had twelve seconds before Soldier Boy could fire up his supe death ray.

"…, so no more secrets, huh?" I heard Annie reply

…

"….Hughie please don't go!" Her trembling voice and higher heart beat were clear as day to me.

Betrayal, deep into her core.

A fissure into her heart.

You fucked up Hughie.

I'm going to take this tiny crack and rip it wide open.

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AN: I'm terrible at writing fight scenes. I also have no idea how to fight anyone so I hope it makes sense.

Thank you for reading.