Annie backed up against the wall. She breathed out; she hadn't realised how damn strong that Hero Killer was.

The other woman faced her, red eyes glowing. She approached, slowly; a wolf on the hunt. Annie's heart rate ticked faster and faster.

She swallowed. She couldn't stay sitting, like a coward. She had to at least try to fight back.

She slowly stood up, facing the other woman. The two circled each other, holding their arms up.

"What have you been doing to Hughie?" Annie demanded.

Hero Killer didn't respond. Annie swallowed. She had to calm down.

3, 2, 1…

And… then Hero Killer was gone. She had suddenly vanished, right out of thin air.

Annie blinked. What had just…?

SLASH

She gasped. Standing in front of her was none other than Engen. He held up his hand, clasping something in the air. Suddenly, Hero Killer's wrist appeared in his grasp.

She was… invisible?

Hero Killer looked surprised for just a moment, before her neutral expression returned. Engen tossed her aside like a rag doll. She crashed against the wall, her eyes going white.

"You…?" Annie asked, standing up.

Engen gave her a crooked smile. "Hello there, Starlight. Good to catch up."

"What are you doing here?!" Annie demanded, storming over to him.

"Monitoring your progress," Engen replied, "and here to share some information. I have something in mind for a plan."

Annie shivered. "What now?"

Rachel Sinclair emerged from seemingly out of nowhere, with John Nash and Vector in tow.

"Annie!" Rachel grinned, kneeling down to give her friend a hug.

Annie awkwardly patted her head, still side-eyeing Engen. Vector gave Annie a small wave, whereas John just stared at her, blankly. Yeah, he wasn't exactly the most welcoming type.

Eventually, Annie managed to pry herself away from Rachel's grasp. She gazed up at Engen, crossing her arms.

"Well?" she asked.

Engen tilted his head. "It starts with that boyfriend of yours."

Mother's Milk, aka Marvin, was not surprised, but definitely disappointed. He was used to Butcher and his ridiculous ideas. He had low tolerance for them. He could say no to them. He told himself he could.

Yeah, well, that usually fell through. He hated being dragged along by Butcher so much, but it was what it was. There was no escaping the man's conviction. Despite that, Butcher still surprised him.

Just when Marvin thought Butcher couldn't get any worse, he'd brought in one of the most dangerous Supes he'd ever seen… alongside a pretty ordinary guy.

And because of this girl, this supe - Butcher had a terrible new plan.

"You'll infiltrate Vought, as one of their heroes," Butcher said.

Martin was used to these ridiculous plans. He was used to Butcher taking the stupidest risks he could imagine.

But he wasn't prepared for what came next.

"If you could get into the Seven," Butcher tapped his chin. "Well, you could give that Homelander a run for his money."

"No way, Butcher," Marvin spoke up, "how will she-"

"Hold on," Butcher interrupted. "I'm not planning to send our bird in alone. You'll be going too, son."

He was facing Hughie, who had just gone white in the face.

"M-me?" Hughie stammered. "But I'm not- I'm not a supe!"

"Someone needs to keep an eye on her," Butcher told him, a glint in his eye. "And you're the man. She trusts ya."

" Butcher," Martin spoke up. "I get HK's powerful, but this is just stupid. Letting her out around all those heroes is like letting a wild dog run loose. And Hughie can barely hold onto that leash."

"I'm not a dog owner," Hughie muttered.

Hero Killer herself had no expression change. She just stared at Butcher, her eyes blank.

"You'll control yourself, won't 'cha love?" Butcher asked her. "You want your money."

Hero Killer nodded vigorously.

"And you want your justice," Butcher told Hughie.

The man in question clenched his fists. He was still sweating terribly, though.

Frenchie looked like he wanted to say something, but instead muttered something under his breath in French.

"This is perfect for all of us," Butcher grinned. "Diabolical."

Marvin prayed to whatever was listening, but he had a feeling not even that could stop Butcher's cunning rampage.

Sharpshooter breathed in, slowly. She adjusted her crossbow, peeing at the small humans in the world below her.

She was waiting… waiting…

She had seen her mentor. Hadn't she?

She had seen him, looking at her, a distant smile in his eyes. He'd waved at her.

No way, that wasn't true. She didn't need him anymore.

"You okay?"

She looked up. A-Train was standing beside her. She couldn't see his eyes behind his sunglasses, but she saw his raised brow.

"It's fine," she sighed.

He looked away, shaking his head. He reached out, holding her shoulder.

"You can tell me," he assured her.

Sharpshooter hunched closer to herself. She hadn't met a good friend like him in a while - at least, a real, true friend she could be herself with. No, she was smarter than that. She couldn't trust anyone, not really. But she enjoyed his company at the very least.

"Hey, Sharpshooter!"

Sharpshooter groaned. Claymore was standing above them. He was a small, green-clad guy with a big sword and a bigger temper.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Standing around will make the 17th Division look bad."

"Shut up," Sharpshooter snapped, "I'm coming now, so lay off."

Claymore huffed, and took off.

A-Train reappeared by her side. "What a pain in the ass."

Sharpshooter shook her head. "Just tell me what you can find."

A-Train sped away, reaching ground level. A woman dressed in black leather and a black baseball cap was roaming around. She wielded a baseball cap in a tight fist.

She hissed something under her breath, holding her ear. An earpiece! Yep, she was bad news.

A-Train charged towards her. Her red eyes widened for just a moment, before she dodged.

A mask was over her face, but A-Train had a sneaking suspicion the girl was grimacing.

"Another power from the Seven already," she said. "I'm getting lucky."

"What the hell does that mean?" A-Train asked.

Then he gasped, putting it together. The red eyes…

"You're the one who killed Translucent!" he spat.

He remembered now - the notorious villain known as Hero Killer.

"She clearly just got lucky," Homelander had said. "Find her, and bring her in."

But he hasn't asked The Seven to kill her, though. Perhaps, he had some sort of sadistic idea up his sleeve. Yeah, A-Train didn't want to hear about that.

In the meantime, however, he could handle this girl. Even if she actually proved to be too much, he could easily slip away. No way was she getting her hands on his power.

Hero Killer's nails turned into deadly, sharp claws. That power was familiar; who had she taken that from? She slashed towards A-Train, who easily avoided the attack. He breathed out; she couldn't even hit him! This would be easier than he thought. As long as he kept her distracted, Sharpshooter would get her with a hit.

Or so he thought. Suddenly, Hero Killer backed away, listening to her ear piece.

"Later," she told A-Train, before disappearing into thin air.

A-Train raised a brow. What the hell?

He heard Sharpshooter call out, but before he could respond, security alarms went off. Windows exploded, roaring fire racing out.

He cursed. She'd been a distraction, and now he was in deep shit.