Chapter 10

I was in the seven meeting room going over different radio equipment Noir had brought that we could use in the field.

I got to love the guy he was very efficient, unlike the other dipshit heroes.

'Useless!'

Of course they are Echo, of course they are.

Noir couldn't talk but he brought a little package with information on each of the different equipment. Though while I appreciate his effort he should have just brought the IT team it would have gone faster.

The doors open and Deep, Ashley and a brown guy holding a laptop burst in.

"Homelander"

"John"

They stop and steal a quick glance at each other.

"We have a problem." Deep takes the lead.

"A big problem." Ashley said scared.

I give them the patented look of 'You fucked up'. That stops them in their tracks.

"Ok what is it?"

Deep motions for the brown guy to step forward.

"This is Raj from Crime Analytics. Go ahead show him!"

Raj sets the laptop in front of me.

"I found this from one of the old camera's set up around Chimp Country. It's was local only so I had to go get the data in person." He started talking. "I think it's the guy you're looking for."

The video showed me Soldier Boy briefly then a fragment of the aftermath of the explosion which killed Crimson Countess.

"We think it's Soldier Boy!" Ashley said.

I looked at her then Deep.

"No, that's impossible. He died like 40 years ago!" he retorted. "Someone's cosplaying?"

"Look at his face. It's him!" She said exhasperated.

"Or maybe it's CGI." Deep replied.

"It's a fucking monkey cam, it's not CGI. You don't even know what CGI stands for!"

I stopped Deep before he could reply and get things out of hand.

"Enough you two!" I turned to the technical expert.

"Raj could this be CGI." Being put on the spot the man handled it pretty well.

"Sure, technically, but like I said this was an old style camera with a brick hard drive in a forgotten security desk. It's highly unlikely."

I nodded at him.

"Ok so it's unlikely that it's CGI. So"

Raj interrupted and I felt a twitch of annoyance.

"But" he started and we all turned to him. "It could be someone cosplaying!"

Now we all looked at him like he was dumb.

"Don't look at me like that. Look, asian guys look alike, brown guys look alike. I get it." He said using air quotations.

"But so do white guys! I mean look at him. He's what, a muscled up, square jawed white guy with dark hair and a beard? You take any of the 'Bachelors' from the last twenty seasons put them in the suit and they'll look like that!"

Wow! Shots Fired! Someone is salty about the 'The Bachelor' choices of, well, bachelors.

We all just stared at him for a moment.

"Plus it doesn't make sense, Soldier Boy never had that death ray power." He said finally.

"Ok. That weirdly made sense." I finally said. "So we need to verify first. I don't want to go on the news and tell America that Soldier Boy is back from the dead after 40 years and he is terrorizing Midtown."

"It will make us look like morons if it's not true. Raj, have you shown this to anyone else?"

"No. Came straight to Deep the moment I got it." Hot dam! Deep socializing with CA is paying dividends. I was already prepared to oust Soldier Boy but this is definitely a plus.

"And is the laptop the only copy there is?"

"Yes, well no, there's the USB at my desk as well."

"Ok. I'm classifying this as a company secret for now. Can I count on you to not share this until we have verified it's actually Soldier Boy?"

"Yes of course sir!" He said proudly. People loved to be included in secret shit.

"Excellent and call me John! You and Deep will work together closely to follow up on any other leads, any videos any images. Got it?"

They nodded.

"What do we do if it's actually Soldier Boy?" Ashley asked.

"Nothing." I replied sharply. "Same plans as before. We tell the public the truth and we try to capture him. But we need information first. How did he survive? What has he been doing? Has the government covered this up? Has Vought covered this up? So Ashley I want you to dig up anything we might have on Soldier Boy anything at all." She nodded as well.

"We also need to know why the hell, if it's him, he just killed Crimson Countess…and a bunch of chimps?"

They all looked at me, 'like what bruh?'.

"It said Chimp Country I assume there's a bunch of chimps there? Ok, never mind that. Noir any insight? He's your old team leader."

He didn't move.

"Ok good point. Go dig up whatever old files you have on him as well. I want to know everything. Now move it folks!" I finished and I ushered them out of the office.

I had to prepare for a very eventful day.

Scene break

"So, you think that Soldier Boy is going after the rest of Payback?" Annie asked M.M.

"Countess wasn't strong enough to fսck him over on her own. She had help. Soldier Boy is just getting started." He affirmed in his gruff tone.

"Do you know where any of them are?" She asked.

"Those shady-ass TNT Twins, got an address in Vermont."

"Okay. Does Butcher have it?"

"No, but he'll get it." M.M replied and picked up another gun to inspect.

"I think Soldier Boy is bulletproof." She remarked.

"This ain't for Soldier Boy." M.M said with snark in his tone.

"Look, I'm pissed at those guys, too, but we have to keep our heads on." Annie begged.

"Why? Why do I always have to take the high road? You know, when white folks get mad, y'all mοthеrfսckеrs go berserk, but I got to turn the other cheek? Fսck the high road, fսck Butcher, and fսck Hughie!" he said clearly upset.

Hughie is not himself right now." She said coming to his defense.

"Hughie is a grown-ass man that's made his own choices."

M.M.! Please! Soldier Boy is gonna kill more people. I mean, fսck. Kimiko is in the hospital. She lost her powers. Frenchie isn't answering, Alex is dead, and Maeve's in a medically induced coma. Homelander concussed her and broke every rib in her body."

M.M looked at her questioningly.

Annie sighed. "They said it was a training accident."

"And you believe them?"

"Of course not! But her injuries are real. I saw them myself. Her whole side of the head was bruised and swollen."

"Huh, so he finally snapped at her." He replied coldly. "I'm surprised he didn't just kill her. Is the cover up gonna hold?"

Annie didn't say anything for a moment. M.M saw her fall deep in thought.

"Annie?"

She looked at him.

"That's the thing. It was really weird. They didn't threaten me, didn't block access to let me see her Ashley even showed me the video when I challenged her on it. It looked like they were actually training."

"Training?" he asked skeptically.

"Yea, they were sparring. It didn't really look like a beat down, no flying, no laser eyes. It was kind of like a weird but beautiful dance, right before, well, he ends it they were moving so fast they started to blur."

"So, maybe he just used training as an excuse to beat her up. She's too high profile to simply get rid of."

"Yea but then why go through the trouble of actually sparring? They could have just lied and blocked access to Maeve…but that's not all." She continued

"What? What is it?" M.M asked curious.

"I can't exactly place it how, but, Homelander's changed. Something's wrong with him."

M.M just raised his eyebrows. "Oh, you don't say? What gave you that idea?" he asked sarcastically.

Annie let frustration color her face and gave him a look.

"It's not like that. Tsk," she started pacing around the room. "Ever since he took over Vought, he's been different."

"Different how?"

"He went on a big rant about how he wants to 'clean up' all the heroes that he won't allow insubordination under his watch." She said and paused.

"Get this, he wants me and A-Train to put together a training program and evaluate everyone. He said I have free hand not only to train but to suspend anyone that I want. He's also got the whole executive team working on some new initiative for Vought. Something super top secret."

"He even has a plan and a back up plan to deal with Soldier Boy." She continued.

"He does? He knows about Soldier Boy?"

"No, not that he's Soldier Boy. His plan is for me or Maeve, or I guess just me now, to approach him and get him surrender and if that doesn't work and Soldier Boy starts glowing he'll swoop in and flying him up to 'avoid casualties'."

She finished with air quotations.

M.M snarked at her. "Convenient. Let's you take all the risk and he sits back. And what's his back up?"

"A-Train grabs Soldier Boy runs him in the ocean where hopefully Deep will be able to drown him. He hopes it will throw Soldier Boy unconscious if he can't breathe."

M.M eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Dam, that's actually not a bad plan. It might not kill him but it could work. The man still needs to breath."

"And not only that but he's involved himself deeply into Vought day to day stuff. From morning till night he's basically in meetings, Marketing, PR, Finance. It's like he's suddenly a workaholic." She said almost exhasperated.

M.M put down his gun and looked at her.

"He's a control freak. All psychopaths are and he's the king of them. You're reading too much into it he's probably just putting up a show. You know very well that motherfucker knows how to work the PR game."

She looked unsure.

"I don't know. Maybe you're right. But there's still something off about him. But that's why everything is up to us now." She's interrupted by her phone ringing.

"Shit. 1 Sec. This is Starlight."

"…yea of course Ashley I'll be right there."

"I got to go up to the Tower for a little bit." She said turning to M.M

"Now?"

"If I don't go, they're gonna know something's up. I'll be one hour. Do I need to worry about you?"

M.M shakes his head and checks his gun.

"Okay."

Scene Break

I was on my way up to my penthouse when Deep and his wife caught up to me.

"Homelander!"

"What?" I replied turning around.

"Couple things. Uh... Noir, he's, uh, he's gone."

"What do you mean, he's gone?" I asked feigning confusion.

"He cut out his tracking chip." He said handing me the plastic bag with it.

"Fuck! Now's not the time to go rogue." I said with annoyance in my voice.

"Tell him... what we figured out." The little minx encouraged Deep.

"Right. We think Crimson Countess was just the start. We think, if this is Soldier Boy,... he's going after his whole team, including Noir. The good news is, that means we know where he's probably headed next. The twins. TNT. They're the closest. Vermont."

"Okay."

Okay? Really? Homelander, thank you so much."

"Okay" I said again. "I need you to help me. Can I count on you?" I said leaning and lowering my voice.

"Yea!' he replied.

"You go there, and you check it out. And if our suspect shows up whether its Soldier Boy or not, if he does show up, then, ... you call me. Don't try to engage

"Yeah. Uh... what should I tell the twins?"

"That they might be in danger, you need to hang around there for a bit, but don't say anything about Soldier Boy, not until we confirm it's him. Got it?"

"Yea of course!" He confirmed.

"And one more thing, your buddy in CA Raj, can he be trusted?" I asked him.

"Oh, yea, he's a total bro. We bonded at the social, played Edward 40-hands!"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. What are you in college? But hey at least his socializing was paying off dividends.

"Excellent. Keep up the good work! And call me first thing you find out." I said and started walking away.

Even though my back was turned to him I could literally feel the bounce in his step.

Oh Deep, if only the rest were as simple as you.

Scene Break

"I'm really glad you're here." I said as I took hold of Starlight's hand. She turned her head towards me and our eyes locked. "I missed you." I whispered softly and lacing warmth in words.

She did well to hide it but I could sense her discomfort. She almost said something but then reconsidered and turned her head back to the other empty chair.

I should get an award for acting.

"Who's joining us?" Starlight asked.

"They didn't tell you?" the host replied.

"Hey there!" Victoria Neuman answered her question while taking a seat.

"Hey, lady!" Starlight replied.

Wow! Starlight can you be anymore awkward?

The interview went pretty much as expected. I held Starlight's hand the whole time and we acted like the supporting couple that we supposedly are.

"The mayor can say anything she wants, but Homelander is the one working to catch the guy." She affirmed and I nodded. "We're about to turn a corner here."

"Absolutely, we are. Thank you, honey." I chime in.

"Of course, sweetheart." She replies sweetly. Oh she plays her part really good. I'll have to find a way to reward her for this.

'With our tongue!' Images popped in my brain and I felt flood to my lower regions.

Not now Echo!...Ah fuck it, so my junk will appear even more massive than usual.

"That's reassuring." The host said. "But there are 19 dead and dozens wounded. Congresswoman Neuman, what do you say to the Americans who are watching right now and feeling scared?"

Unlike the show I didn't interrupt or act aggressive to the sexy blond hostess. Not only did I have a thing for blonds so I was going to fuck her later I was only curious to see how Neuman would answer. I knew from the show that she wanted Starlight's public support to further her political career.

"Yeah, look, it's understandable they would feel that way. This is of course a very tragic situation and I would like to re-assure everyone at home at we at FBSA are working tirelessly and collaborating fully with our police officers and our heroes to apprehend this individual."

"It's normal to be scared of course however like Homelander and Starlight have affirmed we can't simply shut everything down, we have to live our lives. Be cautions and report anything suspicious, we are following up on all leads and I fully trust both Starlight and Homelander that this situation will be resolved." She continued.

I have to admit, she was pretty good. The interview continued and we mostly stuck to the talking points in re-assuring the public that while they should be cautious they should continue business as usual.

As we finished the interview I couldn't help but listen in to Neuman and Starlight's little conversation. Controlled super hearing was fantastic. I could hear almost everything that went on in the tower if I concentrated enough. It was a skill to not me drowned out by hearing everything all at once.

Luckily Homelander's had 40 years to perfect this skill.

Annie just turned down Neuman's team up offer.

It's admirable that she finally found her balls and plans to strike out on her own however I do think America would benefit more from Neuman's education reform bill. God knows the students could use smaller class sizes.

Now then, I had a little Asian minx to find.

Scene Break

I have to say Kimiko was a badass.

It didn't take me long to find the warehouse they were in. Super vision and see through vision is great, coupled with super speed I was able to cover most of the city fairly quick. Plus I was looking for a run-down warehouse which narrowed down the search quite a bit.

The scene was absolutely bloody. Had I not had Homelander's memories and constitution I would have been horrified.

The amount of damage Kimiko took and still stood was also outstanding. She supposedly lost her powers but no normal human would have been able to whist stand the pain, blood loss and do what she did. Not to mention she was already recovering from a pretty bad injury before.

I suspected the V wasn't quite as gone as she thought from her system, either that or it the compound changed you so much that even when you weren't 'super' anymore you were still enhanced.

Maeve did survive a skyscraper fall after supposedly she lost her powers from Soldier Boy exploding in her face, which should have killed her in the first place.

Still these were only assumptions I was making, it will be up to Martin to figure it out.

This is why I was securing Kimiko. She was incredibly precious. She had Wolverine like regenerative abilities, come back from the dead bullshit basically.

It was the type of power that I wanted to get my hands on personally and of course the type of power that will help advance the evolution of mankind.

Hers was an ocean but if we could take only one cupful of that power then maybe it will be enough to allow humans to adapt to living in space and hopefully other environments.

Or so I theorized with Martin. Whether it help true or not remains to be seen but we would never find out without appropriate live samples.

"Mon coeur, mon Coeur."

"She's gone. Nina's gone."

"It's over." I heard Frenchie's trembling voice softly whisper.

Cue me.

"Well, well, well. I've missed a hell of a party."

Their eyes turned towards me in horror.

"You, what,…what…what are you doing here?" Frenchie asked in his shitty accent.

"I feel like I should be the ones asking that question." I said skeptically pointing at them. "But if you insist, I was looking for the terrorist that blew up midtown…when I came across, well, this."

"I'm not one to kink shame but this is a bit much. "And you little lady are in terrible condition."

I took out a spray bottle I had inside my suit and walked to where Kimiko was lying covered in blood on body of a dead Russian.

"What are you doing? Leave her alone,…leave her alone!" He cried.

She tried to fight me but really she mostly just toppled over in pain. Just a few forced sprays and she was fully passed out.

"Leave her alone! Where are you taking her?" He shouted desperately as I picked her up and walked to the exit.

'Laser him in half!' I twitched as his accent really grated me.

"Oh would you shut the hell up!" I snapped at him my eyes glowing red.

I unleashed a precise laser strike which melted the lock keeping him tethered to the post.

"She's bleeding internally and externally very badly. It's a god dam miracle she's even alive, no thanks to you." I said sharply.

Guilt immediately filled his face.

"I'm taking her to Vought tower. The medical team there knows how to deal with supes."

"No, no! Leave her alone! She doesn't even have powers anymore!" he made to lunge towards me and I lasered the ground in front of him.

"Yea we'll see about that." I mumbled.

"If you ever want to see her alive then listen carefully. A Vought security team and the police should be here in a few minutes. Wait for them. They will help you out. Once you give your statement to the police to clear up whatever the hell this is…the Vought team will bring you to the tower."

He looked at me shocked. And he could now also hear the sirens approaching.

"Now if no more questions I'm going to save her life. Take care of your other friend until they come."

It was then that he remembered Cherie and rushed to her.

I swiftly took off to the tower.

Martin was waiting for me.

Scene Break

After I had to kick Frenchie out of the tower and made him come back tomorrow for making a scene about Kimiko, the dude just could not get it through his head that we were not going to release a barely alive woman in his 'capable hands', plus Martin needed to collect samples, I received the call from Deep about Soldier Boy.

So I was flying to Vermont while keeping an eye out for a certain quarrelling naked couple.

Easy to do with super vision and super hearing.

"I thought the drug had fսckеd you up, Hughie, but... this is you. This is all you!" I heard Starlight say.

Bingo!

I rush and land with a big Thud in the classic superhero pose. Startling both of them.

"Oh my God! Uh, Homelander!"

"Shit!"

"Starlight, honey!" I say with a cold smile. "Mind telling me what you are doing here, arguing, with you 'ex'…in the middle of the street…naked?"

I slowly walked over to the trunk of their car.

"Uh, we were just, uh, mm, uh..." she started stuttering.

"Streaking, uh, camping, naked. Enjoying nature. It's not a crime!" Hughie muttered out.

I popped open the trunk, took the clothes bag and threw it at Annie.

"Right, right. And it just so happens it's next to the house where Deep was following up on a lead for our mid-town terrorist? Who by the way Deep swears it's Soldier Boy…back from the dead."

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" I said approaching his naked self. I let my eyes turn red.

'Slice him!'

Soon Echo! Soon.

"Uh, well. That's just a big coincidence…" he started trying to explain.

"Look Homelander we were just…" I turn to her. She paused looking conflicted for a moment "the terrorist is actually"

"Annie don't!" Hughie says suddenly finding his balls.

"Enough you two!" I snap at them.

"Whatever this is" I motioned my hands at them. "It ends right now!" I walk towards Annie.

"Soldier Boy or not our, our suspect is supposedly on that estate over there. He is dangerous and a lot of people could die. Now you have to make a choice stay with Free Willy over here to come with me and prevent more deaths." I say extending my hand to her.

She looks conflicted for a moment. I get it, the no brainer move was to go and save lives which she was going to do beforehand anyway but now the scenario changed.

Homelander was asking her to go save lives with him. If she took my hand it was almost like betraying Hughie. Not quite like sleeping with the enemy but close enough.

She made to say something when KWAABOOM! We all heard the sounds of shouting, screaming and saw a red beam in the distance.

Ah good old Soldier Boy having PTSD.

"Annie" I said with as much heartfelt as I could muster. "People are dying. I need your help."

She took one last look at Hughie and steeled her resolve. She grabbed my hand and I pulled her in close to me.

"No! I won't let you!" Hughie shouted. He took a step and tried to make a hop to teleport and catch me by surprise but I already knew about his power.

"No! Annie! No!" He shouted when he realized he grabbed air.

We were already gone when he I saw his foot lift off the ground.

Scene Break

We landed in front of the house. What was left of it that is.

"Oh my god!" Annie said as I put her down.

It was horrifying, massive destruction, people bleeding, burning, screaming.

I unclasped my cape from my shoulders and gave it to her.

"Here use this to bandage people up. I'm going in. He's still here. Try to get the people as far away as possible." I said and walked in.

Hopefully she'll do the smart thing and stay away.

I ventured deeper into the torn house, down the stair, round the corner and instantly rage swelled up from deep within.

'Kill them both! Kill them now!'

We need a cool head to deal with this Echo! I don't want to accidentally get killed by Soldier Boy's death beam.

As much as I was playing it cool and restricting Homelander's impulses it was a blend of his memories, ego and future knowledge that allowed me to even be in this situation.

I was a fairly normal guy before. The most death and destruction that I'd seen before was on TV. This was the real deal with real danger. People were about to try to kill me.

So cooler heads were needed.

"William Butcher and Soldier Boy! You are behind this, this whole thing really is about me. Huh, I had a big fight with Maeve about it. She called me crazy." I said slyly. "But it really is all about me."

"William, we made a deal to fight to the death, you and me. This is cheating. Deal's off."

This here is the part where Homelander would laser Butcher casually. Butcher would take it like a champ and Homelander would be stuck fighting two opponents.

I could see Butcher was tense ready for me to make a move. So I decided to throw a curve ball his way.

"William Butcher, by the power invested in me by the United States Government I am placing you under arrest for accessory to murder, manslaughter, property destruction, terrorism."

"You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future."

I paused and took a breath as they both looked at me confused. "You have the right…well you get the point William."

"Surrender yourself peacefully and you will not be hurt." I said cheerfully.

"You off your rocker mate! There's only one way this ends."

Well no one could say I didn't try the peaceful way.

At the first sign of his eyes turning yellow I made my move.

I ducked low and launched myself at super speed to him. His laser beam hit air. He wasn't prepared for me to go that low nor was he prepared when I yanked him by his feet.

I twisted my body to avoid smacking into the wall head first. Being prepared for it I ignored the pain, Homelander was pretty dam invulnerable but he still felt pain, and burst through the rubble straight up carrying him with me by the ankles.

I violently crashed through the upstairs floors and ceiling. The instant we were outside I spun him around gathering momentum and chucked him at super speed hopefully halfway across the state.

If he's lucky he will fall in a field and not on someone killing them.

It didn't really matter in less than a second and a half he was out of the fight. By the time he lands and makes his way back this fight will be over hopefully.

I flew back inside and landed a few meters away from Soldier Boy.

"Now that I've gotten rid of the rubble it's just you and me." I said taking in his appearance.

Soldier Boy looked relaxed and barely impressed with my super acrobatics.

"Tell me" I started casually. "Are you really Soldier Boy?" I obviously knew he was but I needed to play the ignorant part, you never know who might be listening.

"In the Flesh." He responded confidently.

"Amazing, I have so many questions for you. We all thought you died. What happened? How did you come back from the dead? Why are you hunting your old team? Is it a sex worker thing?" I couldn't help myself but ask. A little trolling never hurt anyone.

That threw him off. He looked confused.

"Is it a sex worker thing? Are you killing them because they were sex workers?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Crimson Countess was video calling with a client jerking off, pay for play style right before you burned her to a crisp. And this" I said pointing all around me "is obviously an orgy. I assume the twins were hosting a Herogasm event. So is it a sex thing? Are you trying to kill them for being gay or for their kinks?"

"What? Buddy I invented Herogasm in 52'. The Countess and the Twins had to die. They betrayed me, ungrateful fucks."

"Is that so? So what happened how did you survive the nuclear meltdown?"

"There was no nuclear meltdown. It was a covert op in Nicaragua, CIA black ops shit. Vought tried to get rid of me so the team betrayed me, attacked me sold me off to the Russians." He replied and I could see he was a bit emotional about it.

"So what are you a Russian agent now?" That seemed to trigger him.

"I'm not fucking traitor!" He spat out angrily. "I'll get to those fucks as well but first my team then Vought."

I smiled.

"Hmh, see now usually I'm a sucker for a revenge plot and considering you were my here growing up I'm even inclined to help you but there is just a small problem."

He casually raised an eyebrow.

"I am Vought" I said dropping the smile. "And as the greatest hero in the world I can't simply let you do as you please. I'm offering you the same deal as Butcher. Surrender peacefully."

He chuckled.

"Buddy I don't know what you think you are but you look like a giant blue dildo."

'KILL HIM!' instant rage surged.

But I have to admit that was a pretty good one. Without my cape I did kind of look like a big ass blue dildo.

"Violence it is."

I burst into action flying straight at him, a split of a second for me to make contact but he's already prepared. The crash into the wall is not nearly strong enough to rattle him.

I fucked up I should have gone faster, harder but even Homelander needs space to fully accelerate.

I don't try to laser him like in the show I go straight for punching but his hand is already up blocking me.

His left makes contact with my cheek.

'Fuck!'

His right punch to my gut almost knocks the air out of me but it also pushes me back a bit. This gives him more space for a more powerful strike but it gives me a split of a second to recover as well.

Block his incoming left and retaliate with my own right in his, almost as perfect as mine, nose.

We exchange a flurry of blows half being blocked and half connecting almost as a game to see who can take more punishment.

His blows hurt unlike anything I've experienced since my late teens when my powers matured.

I'm supposed to be his son, the better version of him but his blows hurt. More than that it damaged me, it fatigued me. I knew from the show he was able to actually injure me.

It's the fucking radiation that he's leaking. Like Kryptonite it's slowly weakening me. Whatever radiation the Russian's hit him with in their experiments Soldier Boy's V enhanced body evolved, adapted to it and made it a strength.

I hope those same genes were passed on down to me as well. That could become very useful.

And while it was very impressive it also meant that I was fighting a losing battle the longer I took to knock him out.

Each blow I took damaged me, while mine only rattled him. The closer I stood to him the weaker I became.

I needed to finish this quickly.

I blocked his right hook with my left and caught his left fist in my right hand. I made to punch him with my left but he reciprocated and caught it as well.

For a second we stayed locked in a contest of strength, one I was slowly winning. Ha! I'm stronger in the moment.

To his further surprised I kicked straight with my left leg sending him crashing into the wall again.

Homelander's raging instincts urged me to follow after him and choke him out while he was rattled.

But fuck that I'm not going to risk it.

I took the few seconds of respite to calm down and gathered my energy, my eyes turning red.

I needed my aim to be precise and powerful.

My vision zeroed in on him like an eagle.

He caught his breath and shook of whatever pain he was feeling. I know he was expecting me to rush him so curiously why I didn't his head lifted and his eyes met mine.

That was it. I unleashed all the gathered energy in a powerful blast catching him straight in the eyes.

"ACHHH!" He yelped, his hands clutching his eyes.

I knew that this blinding was only temporary but this was it, his guard was fully down.

I super speeded plunging my left in his unprotected gut. He toppled over in pain.

Taking a hit that you expect is one thing but a hit that you don't is a lot more damaging.

Next my right, then my left.

Right, left, right, left. Punch after punch I tried to re-arrange his insides.

My right hook plunged him into the ground; he was pretty out of it now I could tell his eyes looked disoriented.

I jumped on him ground and pound style.

Blow after blow I rained on his perfect cheeks. A raging fury swallowing me whole.

'Kill him! Kill him!'

I'm FUCKING trying Echo! I'm trying!

Break god dam it fucking break already!

If he was breaking I couldn't tell, he was out of it but I hadn't drawn blood yet. If anything with each punch I felt my arms hurting, my fists going numb and not in the good way.

Fucking radiation!

"AAHH!" I screamed as I tried to up the intensity of my blows.

I was so into my rage that I didn't notice Hughie teleporting in until I my punch hit empty ground causing a little crater and a shockwave.

"FUUUUCK!" I looked at the forested area around me. "That fucking little prick! I'm going to kill him!"

I flew straight up and looked around. The breeze felt cool on my skin and it hit me that I was naked.

"God damit!" Luckily the house wasn't far away.

I contemplated trying to find them but realized it wouldn't do me any good. My adrenaline boosted rage was wearing off and I was starting to feel my fatigue and injuries.

Plus I'd lost momentum. Soldier Boy would have recovered by now and I didn't want to fight him and Hughie at the same time.

I took a few deep breaths and calmed myself. I also had to go back and deal with Starlight. I can't let her talk shit about me to America.

I flew back to the house, admittedly at a leisurely pace, and landed buck as naked right in front of Starlight and M.M who were helping triage a bunch of barely alive folks.

They were both instantly on guard and confused.

"Homelander? What happened?" Annie asked reluctantly.

I gave her a very displeased smile. "I was winning, until an 'Unknown' teleporter came and whisked me away. Literally stopped me from pounding Soldier Boy back into the grave. Letting him go free so he can continue killing." I said spitefully.

She didn't know what to say and neither did M.M.

I let out a big sigh.

"We can talk about it later. There are a lot of people here that need our help. I'll get dressed and we can triage who I should fly to the hospital directly and who can wait for ambulances to show. I can hear them they are close by."

For the rest of the night I worked quietly and efficiently side by side with Starlight and M.M in helping the injured. They didn't trust me and I didn't trust them but we had a sort of neutral ground understanding.

She didn't go on insta live to talk shit about me and I made no threats to her or M.M nor did I try to cover up the existence of Soldier Boy in the initial police report.

I think she also liked that I didn't mention Hughie in it either.

I wasn't going to anyway I wanted Hughie to dig his own grave both figuratively and literally, after all 24-V is very deadly.

For now it was an uneasy understanding between us.

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AN: Episode 6 done!

Thank you for reading.