Four years ago, Metro-Narrows Bridge, between Metropolis and Gotham
A large armored vehicle rumbled down the bridge, zigging and zagging between vehicles, knocking cars into the barricades, and into each other, as it barreled through traffic, with absolute disregard for the safety of everyone ahead of him. The driver cackled loudly, almost drowning out the roar of the engine powering the vehicle.
"Metropolis thinks they've had problems lately?" The Joker asked rhetorically. "Wait until they get a load of me!"
"Let's show 'em what a coupla clowns can do, Puddin'!" Harley Quinn exclaimed as she backhanded an almost unconscious security officer, someone who'd had the poor luck to be in the vehicle when the clowns hijacked it.
Outside, Nightwing zoomed down the street on his motorcycle, darting between vehicles, ruined and functioning.
"Get me close!" Batgirl bellowed over the wind as she clung to the back of the bike.
"Close as I can!" Nightwing responded as he revved the engine, and pulled beside the armored vehicle. Batgirl jumped from the motorcycle, and grabbed onto the cargo rail at the top, and locked the magnets in her gloves onto the rails.
"Goddamn bats, always ruining our fun!" Harley exclaimed as she grabbed her baseball bat from the floor and climbed up the ladder to the top of the vehicle.
Batgirl climbed up to the roof as Harley emerged from the hatch.
"Oh, great!" Harley spat. "Used to be we'd get Batman on our case, now he's sending the sidekicks after us?"
"Stand down, Quinzell." Batgirl said, her voice a cruel snarl through the suit's vocal processor. "You don't want the big guy on your case right now. His best friend just died, and you put two of my friends in the ICU. He'd tear you to pieces."
"Then let him try!" Harley exclaimed as she swung for Batgirl's head with her bat. "Better than getting you two back in a box!"
Batgirl disappeared in a dramatic flurry of capes. Quinn's overstrike sent her reeling, and Batgirl shattered the bat to splinters with a strike from her gauntlets.
"Trust me," Batgirl snarled. "Tearing you to pieces might be better than what I'd do to you."
"That was a Louisville Slugger!" Harley chided.
"Weapon's a weapon, clown." Batgirl retorted as she withdrew a canister from her belt. "Just like this." She pulled a pin, and dropped a canister of knockout gas into the vehicle.
Harley tossed the shattered handle of the bat at Batgirl, and attempted to tackle her into the vehicle. Batgirl lunged forward herself, and slammed into Harley's shoulder with her armored forearms, drawing blood with the scalloped climbing claws on her wrists, causing Quinn to yell out in pain.
Batgirl swung out of the way and slammed Harley into the roof of the vehicle back-first, then swung her around to face the roof and wrenched her arms behind her back and bound them with a pair of Bat-Cuffs.
"Now now, nobody's allowed to ride that Harley but me!" Joker exclaimed as he swung a bright red crowbar at Batgirl's head. She managed to evade the brunt of the blow, but the claws dislodged the bottom half of her cowl, exposing her mouth to the world, and her lungs to the knockout gas if she attempted to board the armored vehicle.
"Of course you're crazy enough to ghost ride an armored truck." She spat at Joker as she tore off her damaged mouthpiece, allowing her normal voice to blend with the suit's vocal processor.
"And the Dark Knight was crazy enough to send a Batgirl to do a Batman's job after what happened last time." Joker retorted as be allowed the crowbar to rest on his shoulder. "Guess we're even."
Batgirl lunged one way, and Joker darted in that direction as she pulled a Batarang from her belt and flung it at Joker's crowbar hand, sending the tool flying down the bridge behind them.
Joker was momentarily stunned by the diversion, enough for Batgirl to throw a roundhouse kick that connected with Joker's temple, sending the clown rocketing to the roof with a sickening crack against his jaw as he landed belly-first.
"That was for Jason!" Batgirl roared as she brought her leg up in the air and slammed her armored boot against Joker's spine, causing a raspy crack to erupt from Joker's mouth as he exclaimed in pain. "And that was for Barbara!"
"Batgirl, come in!" Nightwing's voice sounded over her commlink. "You're running hot down the bridge and running out of room. I'm topped out trying to catch up, what's the situation?"
"It's bad." Batgirl replied as she Bat-Cuffed Joker and tossed him and Quinn back into the vehicle. "Joker and Harley are down, but he damaged my mask, and the knockout gas I tried on Joker hasn't dissipated."
"Try venting the windshield and backdoor." Nightwing responded. "At the speed you're going it should be gone in about two seconds."
"Right!" Batgirl replied as she pulled her grapnel from her utility belt. She ran across the roof and fired the hook into the windshield and yanked the bullet resistant glass from its' mounting.
The knockout gas wafted up through the roof hatch, but not enough to dissipate it enough for Batgirl to drive the vehicle safely, so she crossed back to the rear of the vehicle, and made to wrench the door open, just as whatever Joker had rigged up to keep the vehicle driving straight broke down, and the armored vehicle swerved into the barrier at full speed, smashing through steel and concrete like it was plaster and balsa wood.
"Katie!" Nightwing exclaimed over their comms as Batgirl was flung forward over the roof of the vehicle back-first as she and the truck flew towards the depths of Gotham Harbor far below as a sonic boom CRACKED across the air.
In an instant, Batgirl's descent halted in a strong, blue-clad arm, as softly as if she'd fell on a stack of pillows. The owner's other hand grasped the armored truck's front bumper, and halted its' descent.
Katie caught her breath in an instant as she realized she was safe, and looked to her savior in the blue and red suit. It was the younger of the two Superboys, the one with the bright blue eyes.
"Are you alright?" He asked as he flew them back up to the bridge, and set her down.
"Uh, yeah." Kate replied, still in shock, and a little dazzled by her rescuer's appearance. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Superboy set the truck down on the road in front of them, and shot Batgirl a shy smile. "I'm glad. I've never done anything that fast before, I was afraid I was going to hurt someone."
"I don't think you could." She replied. "You were very gentle."
Superboy blushed at her compliment as Nightwing pulled up in his motorcycle.
"Thanks for the help, Superboy." Nightwing said. "Batgirl, where are the clowns?"
"In the truck." She replied. "They're cuffed, and they should still be out after the gas."
"Fantastic." Nightwing replied. "Let's get them back to Arkham and get the bridge repaired."
"Hey, Superboy, right?" Batgirl said to Superboy.
He turned to her, and nodded bashfully.
"That's pretty good for never doing it before." She said as casually as she could. "Have you given any thought to joining the Titans? We could stand to have someone like you around."
"Really?" He asked, palming the back of his head bashfully as he considered it. "I mean… Sure. I'd be honored."
Nightwing snickered at the sight. If only Clark could see him now.
Four years later, Vought Tower, a world far away…
Homelander touched down on the landing pad, and stormed through the building to Stan Edgar's office.
John burst through Edgar's door only barely restraining himself from ripping the doors off.
"'Superman and Homelander?'" He demanded, incensed.
"Please, come right in." Edgar said. "Make yourself at home."
"You know, it's bad enough you changed the name, you had to put his name first, and break it to me while I was live?!" Homelander said, practically sputtering with contempt.
Edgar shrugged as he stood up from his desk.
"The title tested better with his name first." Edgar said smoothly. "Don't worry, Antony will get first billing, and you're still getting top billing for the 'Based on the real life adventures of' credit at the end. But, we estimate that putting Superman first on the title will gain us an additional several hundred million dollars in the international market."
"Since when do we care about that?" Homelander demanded.
"Since we signed a deal with the Armed Forces to have you on international missions." Edgar retorted. "What's good for our movies is good for your public perception, whether you're in the movie, or not."
John seethed inside, and his face and jaw twitched involuntarily, partially because he knew Edgar was absolutely right.
"Fine." He replied. "You're right. Hey, it's not like he's here to capitalize on the billing or anything."
Ashley exploded into the room behind John, and he and Edgar turned to look at her perplexed at the haste of her entry into the office.
"Mister Edgar." Ashley said, panting as she caught her breath. "I'm so sorry about this, but I have extremely urgent news."
"What's another unexpected visitor?" Edgar asked rhetorically.
"Sir, this is… Crisis territory." Ashley said insistently.
"Calm down," John said, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing a little bit too hard to be reassuring. "And start from the beginning."
"There was a civil war in Nairomi." She said. "The warlord, Amajagh, stole government equipment and started shelling the capital city."
"Fighting in the middle-east?" Edgar asked, rolling his eyes. "Whatever will we do? Next, you'll have to tell me that water is wet!"
"For about fifteen minutes." She continued. "It was ended. Just like the one in Bialya was."
"The one Superman stopped?" Homelander asked.
"You did ensure he returned home, didn't you?" Edgar asked.
"Of course I did!" Homelander snapped, as he began to recant his fake story. "We went to his Earth and everything!"
"This wasn't Superman." Ashley interjected. "There's no footage of the incident, but local intel said that Amajagh's assault was halted mid-flight by what the locals described as a black angel. It cut the shells in half and sliced all of Amajagh's men to bits with laser precision. Like…" Ashley hesitated as she glanced at Homelander. "Just like it was using Homelander's laser-vision."
Homelander's face twitched involuntarily at the information.
"You're not suggesting that I had anything to do with that?" He demanded. "I was on live television earlier! I came straight from the studio to the tower!"
"As I'm well aware." Edgar said, pointedly.
"I'm not saying you had anything to do with this!" Ashley exclaimed. "But whatever that thing was, the report described it like they were-"
"Thank you, Ashley." Edgar interjected. "I'll use this information to get out ahead of this situation."
"You think this will interfere with our deal with the military?" John asked Edgar.
"We're too far in for them to back out." Edgar said. "As long as they can't link us to the situation, which, as long as Compound V isn't leaking out into the public," Edgar flicked his eyes at Homelander. "They shouldn't be able to. But, to the best of my knowledge, with the departure of Superman, Homelander is the only one who has the kinds of abilities displayed in this incident, aside from possibly Stormfront, and I have every bit of faith that she wouldn't be behind this outcome, so either we didn't catch every visitor we had from off-planet, or someone administered Compound V to an off-books subject, or… And this might be both the least likely and worst possible answer… Someone has spontaneously developed new abilities."
"Is that possible?" Homelander asked. "Could someone really get all of my abilities just by chance like that?"
Edgar: Whether we know it to be possible or not, it appears to be the case. At this time, it would be beyond our capabilities as engineers. Your creation required very specific sperm and egg samples, and further genetic modifications to create the ultimate hero. Whatever this is… It could represent the same sort of paradigm shift as the appearance of Superman did. Which means that The Seven must be at full capacity for both situational readiness and publicity purposes.
"After the murder of Translucent, and the... Sudden departure of The Deep, The Seven finds itself reduced to five members." Edgar said. "It doesn't take a genius to know that something must be done about this situation. Thankfully, the Board of Directors has had ample opportunity to choose Translucent's replacement."
"Th-the board?" Homelander said with a scoff. "Stan, those guys picked goddamn Lamplighter, just because he was friends with Mister Marathon! They suggested I put Jack from Jupiter back on the team. Th-they put The Deep on the team just because we 'needed an aquatic presence.' I swear, if I have to put up with more of their idiotic suggestions-"
Edgar smirked.
"Yes, and we determined that, of the two openings in the team, we're willing to let you pick a replacement for The Deep. Our other candidate has been on a short-list to step in for quite a while, and we don't want to keep her waiting any longer."
Homelander raised an eyebrow.
"'She?'" He asked. "You're putting another one on the team?"
Edgar's smirk remained.
"Wait until you meet her before you make any judgements. That aside, we'd like to make the most of this opportunity, and televise your process in the form of a competition television program. It doesn't matter if you've already made up your mind on who to pick, make sure he or she is on the show. Pick whatever rules you want, just make sure it's dramatic for the cameras, we want to get at least ten episodes out of picking a brand new American hero!"
Homelander purses his lips and blew out a disappointed whistle as he crossed his arms defiantly.
"...Fine." He said finally. A sly grin grew across his face. "I needed to broaden my radar and expand my horizons anyway." He said, flinging his arms wide in faux-acceptance of the terms. "Let's do it Idol style! Open auditions and everything!"
Edgar smirked.
"Glad you could see the opportunity before us. It'll be a much-needed distraction from… Recent events. We'll get the concept to the marketing department, and filming can begin shortly. In fact, we should get you, A-Train and Maeve down to the studio right now so we can film the promotional material. They'll be your co-judges."
Homelander sighed, and rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Fine, let's get this over with." He said. "I suppose I don't have any say about them being in the show?"
Edgar smirked. "Not unless you want to replace one of them with Starlight. Noir won't be a particularly interesting judge, and you said you wanted to do it like Idol."
Homelander groaned as he realized he'd essentially dug his own grave.
"Right..." He said, placing his hands in his hips. "Maeve and A-Train it is!"
The Boys jumped up from where they'd sat when they caught sight of Billy in the air above the Flatiron building.
"Where the hell did you go?" Hughie demanded as Billy touched down on the roof. "I ran all around the city looking for you!"
"Out there." Billy said, pointing to the twilight sky as stars began to appear across the darkening skyline. "Up there with the planes, in the clouds, past 'em, even."
"Past the clouds?" Hughie asked as he did some mental math. "Past… past twenty-thousand feet? What the hell were you breathing?"
"Nothin'." Billy replied simply, as a small smile crept across his clean-shaven face. "I didn't have to. Didn't even notice until I was out past the atmosphere. It's so… Clear, out there. Like you can see everything and everyone for what they are, where it all fits together. Everything beautiful and ugly in our little corner of space."
Marvin scoffed.
"Didn't expect you to get philosophical on us." He commented wryly. "Can't help but notice you shaved, too."
Billy shrugged.
"Caught a glimpse of myself when I touched down, realized it's been too long." He said as he stroked his freshly laser-shorn face. "So I cut it all off."
"The hell did you use?" Marvin asked. "Looks like you burned yourself he-" MM reached out to point to a red spot on Billy's neck, but stopped as the burn disappeared as he touched it.
"That's new." He said as he withdrew his hand.
"Hey, you were a medic in the Army, right?" Hughie said. "Guess it makes sense. Now you don't have to worry about hurting Monica and Janine, right?"
"If I did that." Marvin replied incredulously. "Could be Butcher has some freaky healing factor."
"Heat vision." Butcher replied. "I lasered my face until it was bare. Burled up a razor edge trying to shave the old-fashioned way, so I burned it off with a mirror. Must've sat in one spot too long."
Frenchie reached out and pulled Butcher's trenchcoat and parted Hawaiian shirt aside, to reveal the rest of the logo on his undershirt.
"You're wearing one of those shirts." He commented.
Billy looked down, and tried to button the shirt back, only to find that he was missing all of his buttons.
"Buttons must've popped off when I was flying across the Atlantic." Billy commented as he went to zip up his trenchcoat. "Probably seems silly. Like I'm wearing a security blanket or something."
Hughie shook his head.
"No, I don't think it's silly at all." He replied. "Although… When you had your beard, I never noticed how much you looked like him."
Billy paused halfway through zipping up his coat.
"Like who?" He asked.
"Him." Hughie said, pointing to the emblem on Billy's chest.
Billy looked down at his chest, then back up at Hughie.
Marvin shook his head.
"Let's go back inside before it drops another ten degrees and we catch a cold, alright?" He said, gesturing for them to go back downstairs.
The Boys walked back inside, leaving the remaining boxes of Homelands merch on the roof.
"So what's the plan?" Hughie asked as The Boys gathered around a conference table in what used to be the newsroom. "I know what we said before… But… The more I think about it, the more I think we could do some good if we took a couple of pages out of Kal-El's book."
Kimiko switched on a TV in the corner and turned the volume down as the others had their discussion.
"Costumes, names, capes?" Marvin asked incredulously.
"Not the whole nine yards." Hughie said. "But… Getting out there, doing stuff. The Seven don't do anything without an okay from Vought. That's why Superman was so effective. He didn't let anyone get in the way of doing what was right. He waded right into a sea of bullets and stopped the war in Bialya. He'd go anywhere, do anything he had to."
"So what, you want us to jet-set across the planet, getting involved in centuries-old fights that don't have an easy solution?" Marvin asked. "The Army's been tryin' that for decades, it ain't worked out too well."
"Seemed to work out pretty well when I did it." Billy replied.
Marvin's eyes shot wide open and he looked at Butcher in disbelief from across the round table.
"Butcher, what the fuck are you talking about?" He demanded.
"When I was out there in space, I saw a sparkle on the surface, in Nairomi." The statement of what Billy had seen alone sent shockwaves through the group. "Before I knew it, I was there. Between innocent people and an artillery line. So I cut the shells to bits and turned the guy in charge over to the people he was bombing."
"Are you nuts?!" Marvin demanded.
Billy shrugged.
"Maybe." He replied. "But when I was up there, I figured if I wasn't going to use what I had to help people, I wasn't any better than Vought."
"Did anyone see you?" Frenchie asked.
"Plenty saw me." Billy said. "Nobody got a picture, and those who saw me close were the general and his men, and they're all dead."
"Guess that means the clock is ticking." Marvin said. "Only a matter of time until someone at Vought puts the pieces together. Then everyone we know could be in danger."
"Then let's make sure to turn up the heat." Hughie said. "Let's make ourselves too big to manipulate. We can tear down Vought while we do what's supposed to be their jobs for them. Like you said," Hughie said, turning to Butcher. "What we can do doesn't change what we have to do, just how we do it. We pick up where Superman left off in more ways than one."
The Boys exchanged glances across the table, until Frenchie broke the silence.
"I do not know exactly where we must go, but I know that whatever we do must be done together. We rely on each other to keep ourselves in check. We know what happens when we split up."
Marvin threw his hands up in the air.
"I don't know either." He said dejectedly. "I'm turning into something I never wanted to be. Something I never wanted anyone else to be. But like Butcher said, we gotta do what we can with what we got. No turning back now." He clapped a hand to his forehead in defeat. "Butcher, what do you think? At this point, I'm going to have to go along with the group, because my plans are out the window."
Billy contemplated his words carefully as he traced his fingers across a newspaper cutout of Superman holding Transoceanic Flight 37 above his head.
"I don't think there's an easy answer," Billy began. "But… Someone's gotta stand up for truth, Justice and the American way around here. Might as well be us."
Hughie laughed.
"Once upon a time," He began. "You said that there wasn't anyone that pure around here.
Billy nodded as he contemplated the image before him.
"Maybe not, but that don't give us an excuse not to try, eh?"
A loud sound played on the TV as Kimiko scrambled for the remote to mute it. The others turned to the sound of The Seven's signature cinematic fanfare on the television.
"Calling all heroes." Homelander's voice said over a montage of superheroics. "Have you ever wanted to make a difference on a national, or even international scale? Now you can. Starting this week, The Seven will be holding open tryouts for all heroes eighteen and over in the United States and Canada, on a brand new competition series. Vought presents, American Hero, hosted by A-Train, Queen Maeve, and myself!" The footage cut to the trio sitting behind a large desk. "Competitors will have the opportunity to recreate famous saves from the history of The Seven, and use their unique abilities to solve the problems that arise, as well as competing in aptitude and ability testing to see who will be the next great American hero, and the newest member of The Seven! Whether you're competing or not, you won't want to miss it!"
Hughie laughed and shook his head.
"They've got some balls trying that right now."
"They're also makin' a movie out of our little escapades." Billy said. "'Course, they'll probably leave us out and change the ending so it protects Homelander's image."
Hughie scoffed.
"Right. He'll spend a few months filming the movie when he should be out there doing his job. Then we can use that to show them up!"
Billy shook his head.
"They're using a double." He said. "Some actor from New Zealand. He claims he'll be too busy to shoot it. These tryouts are probably part of the reason why.
Marvin smirked, and rocked back in his chair.
"Hell, maybe we should try out." He said, flippantly. "Make some changes right next to 'em. Right there in front, like Hughie's girlfriend did."
Frenchie shook his head.
"Non, that would give away the new game too quickly."
Billy nodded in agreement as Hughie stared intently at the television.
"We'll show 'em who we are in due time." Billy said. "Just gotta strike when the iron is-"
Billy's phone rang, cutting him off mid-sentence.
"...hot." He said as he withdrew the device from his pocket. Why the hell is mum calling me right now?
Marvin caught a glimpse of the screen.
"Take it." MM said. "Don't try and think about it, just take it. You don't wanna be duckin' calls from your mom right now, we're in deeper than we've ever been."
Billy sighed, and answered the call. He's right.
"Mum, what's going on?" Billy asked.
"It's your father." She replied.
"What about the old bastard?" Billy spat.
"He's dead."
Billy froze in place.
"I see." He replied.
"I'm in town, I wanted to see you, Billy." His mum replied through the phone.
"Fine." He replied flatly. "But I ain't going to his funeral. Text me the address, I'll see you soon."
"Thank you, Billy." Mum replied. "I love you. Goodbye."
"Bye."
Billy hung up, and replaced the phone in his pocket, as the others shot him questioning looks.
"Ding dong, the fucker's dead." He replied flatly. "Old man finally kicked the bucket."
"I guess you guys didn't get along." Hughie replied.
Billy shook his head.
"Mean old bastard, he was." Billy said, thinking back to a life he'd left behind long ago. "Bully. Drove my brother to kill himself. Didn't do anything to stop it. His own son, and he let him die." Billy stared off into nothing in particular, then snapped back. "So mum wants to talk, try and get me to see him off. But she knows I'm just as likely to piss on the casket as they put it down."
"You want us to come with you?" Hughie asked.
Billy shook his head.
"No," he replied as his phone buzzed with the text message of the address. It was only a few minutes away… By air.
"I'll only be a few minutes."
Billy walked up to the roof, and took off towards the hotel.