2,399Chapter 25 - A New Society
(August 1st 2022)
The rain was heavy and cold, but welcomed as its constant beating on the ground and against the gathered people drowned out the world around them. He wasn't sure who, if anyone, was speaking as his eyes remained fixed on the centre of everyone's focus. He felt warmth grip his hand as he turned slightly to see Annie take his hand and give it a gentle squeeze that he couldn't feel in his numbness. He looked at her face which was still battered, bruised and slightly swollen, his eyes darting down to her other arm which was still in a cast and sling, his vision flicked even lower to the wheelchair she was currently occupying. The numbness he felt quelled any hint in his chest that he knew should be there, as he looked at her broken limbs and bruised face. Nothing at all came to him.
The dull emptiness had been his constant companion ever since it had happened and he wasn't sure what would be worse, its continuing presence or inevitable absence. Its presence rendered him unfeeling, cold and distant to those around him in the time they needed him, needed his warmth, his constant optimism. However, he feared what its departure would bring when whatever shadow had cloaked itself over him fled in the cold light of reality when feeling would return, and it would reveal him, broken, to the world. He scoffed at that thought.
'broken to the world'
The world was the one that was broken. The proof was before his eyes as the coffin lowered into the cold wet earth.
(Kent Family Conglomerate Building - Downtown Los Angeles, California -May 20th 2022)
"Mr. Kent, I understand what you think you want, but this is…risky."
Clark resisted a sigh as the lawyer repeated in slightly modified terms what the other twelve had been saying for the past two weeks. "We would advise that this endeavour be….. placed on hold for a while."
"What we mean, sir," his eyes turned to the lawyer nearest to him who shifted under the piercing gaze of his blue eyes. "Is that this project isn't beneficial to you or your family in any way. You're sinking a huge amount of your capital into it and at its best, it will be merely self-sufficient."
"Gentlemen and ladies, I do understand your concerns," Clark replied, looking over the faces seated at the long conference table and giving them a polite smile. "However, this project is going ahead despite any objections or reservations. So what I want to know is, is it ready?"
There was silence. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the one person in the room who was smiling at the situation. His Aunt Mary was chuckling to herself at the awkward shifting of the team of lawyers she had helped her nephew put together. She let out one last silent laugh before leaning forward and pushing her own folder across the table.
"It's ready. Sign these and, give or take 2 months, it will all be live to borrow a phrase," Mary gave a little smirk as she saw how flustered the lawyers in the room were at her news, "So, we're really doing this?"
"Yes," Clark smiled at her and nodded as he quickly super-speedread the paperwork before him and then signed it. "Thank you for your time. I will be in touch if we need anything further."
The lawyers all either sighed or shook their heads, but no one said anything further as they all quickly left the room leaving Clark and Mary alone. He looked over at his aunt, his eyes examining her head to toe. The two years since losing her sister had not been great for the woman. Outwardly she appeared to have aged a decade, her hair was shorter now and fully grey. She had been a wreck at the funeral and it had taken months for her to pull herself back together, only for her to then throw herself fully into Clark's project. Although he was more than thrilled to have her with him he was worried the stress and the incredibly long days she had committed to weren't doing her any good. That wasn't even mentioning her balancing act between her job at Vought and everything else, although she had stopped toeing the company line which was making her a pariah at work.
"I'll get these filed and contact everyone on your list." Mary stood up grabbed the paperwork that Clark had signed and gave her nephew a deep smile. "I'll also be handing in my resignation to Vought."
"Are you sure?" He asked, looking at his aunt with more than a little concern. "I know everything that happened and I'm not saying to stay but the company has been your life for a hu-"
"They-... he killed Martha." Mary cut off her nephew, who could see her hands tightening on the documents she was holding. "I've only stayed to protect and help you and…... .and I want to do some good in my life before my time is up."
Clark gave his aunt an understandably sad look and was about to say something else when he felt his phone in his pocket starting to vibrate. He quickly withdrew it giving his aunt an apologetic look and just sighed as he saw the text message and accompanying email that had been forwarded to him. He looked at the time and frowned as he tried to work out how to sort out everything else he needed to do today and resolve this new situation.
"Your wife?" Mary's words caused Clark to look up from his phone and give a rueful smile. "The boy or the girl this time?"
"The boy," Clark gave a small chuckle, he always did forget that Mary had raised her own children and so was very good at recognising all the looks parents have.
"Go," Mary said firmly enough that Clark knew that there would be no arguing with her. "I've got everything else here covered and besides, I don't want to deal with a pissed-off Lois. I'm good but not that good."
Clark smiled and thanked his aunt with a quick hug, an act that she still only begrudgingly accepted before he turned around and left via the window. Mary shook her head. Despite living around supes all her life and having been a fixture in Clark's life she would never get used to him jumping out of windows to leave. She went to double-check all the paperwork she had, making sure none had gone unsigned. This project had so many moving parts that all needed to go off at once that one missed signature could cause it to grind to a halt before it launched.
Just as she was about to leave the office for another day of balancing Vought, her nephew's agency and his new project she felt her own phone ring. She pulled it out and when saw who it was her own eyes narrowed. That man somehow always managed to call just after Clark left to deal with something. For a moment, she considered ignoring the call, but she knew that would only result in her phone buzzing at her for the rest of the day until she answered it.
"Yes?" Mary slammed the accepted call button before plastering the phone to her ear as she power walked to her office in her nephew's building. "What do you want?"
"Such an aggressive tone" Stan Edgar's calm monotone voice sounded out on the other end of the line, just causing Mary to snarl "Why such hostility? We are partners after all, and you did come to me for help when this all began."
Stan Edgar was still the CEO of Vought and despite the speed bumps the company had suffered over the past few years he was still one of the most powerful men in the world. However, whilst before he had always been a behind-the-scenes backroom dealer, now the enigmatic businessman had gone full-blown deep-state shadow broker. Hardly anyone had seen the man since he briefly fell off the radar two years ago and started running the company by teleconferences and emails. Mary had been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what game he was playing as he was still no closer to figuring out what his true agenda was.
"I'll say again," Mary reached her office and slammed the door behind her as she placed her phone on speaker and deposited the paperwork. "What do you want?"
"Doctor Shetty has experienced a delay in her Woods project and is going to need additional support. I would suggest you move funds through the Martha Kent Foundation." The Vought CEO was as casual as ever, and the professionalism Mary had admired before now just raised her blood pressure. "Furthermore, I wanted to see how you were getting on with your nephew's bold new project."
"Firstly, if Shetty needs funding I will sort it out however I deem fit. I can't keep using the foundation, Clark will notice" Mary tried to keep her voice as calm as possible knowing that getting angry with the CEO would accomplish nothing "And secondly how the fuck do you know about the project?"
"It's one of the very few options left to a man with his morality, although the odds of it succeeding are very low, but you know that. It's why you reached out to me" Stan Egdar's words caused her to frown as he was being as cryptic as ever. "I'll leave you to it then, if you need anything please do call. Also, one last thing. I wish to thank you for your many years of service. I will be sorry to see you leave Vought, you were a very useful asset to the company."
The line went dead before she could say anything. She felt her right hand turn into a fist that she slammed into the table to release the pent-up rage inside of her. She hated that he somehow was always five steps ahead of everyone and nothing she did could ever catch him off guard. She felt her eyes drift to the few photos that she had in her office, over the ones of her children and grandchildren before settling on the one she had spent the most time reflecting on in recent years. The picture was from Smallville's Corn Festival and showed Martha who had just won the Miss Sweet Corn beauty pageant with her arm wrapped around her little sister. Mary felt a weird mixture of rage, regret, sadness and longing as she looked at the photo, her eyes focusing on her sister.
"I miss you so much. I miss you. I miss you." Mary whispered the words like a mantra as she released the tension from her hand, unmaking the fist she had balled it up into. "I know what you'd say, I love Clark but he's the only one, the only good one and he's not really…..he's not…..he got you killed…they have to go….…all of them."
She just stared at the picture wanting a sign, anything that told her that Martha would bless the path she had decided to take. It was all her fault anyway, she had let her sister keep the V'ed up baby she found, and it had all led to this. She desperately tried to put it out of her mind as she focused on the paperwork in front of her, knowing full well all of this would be a waste of time. What Clark wanted to build would never work, not in the real world, so there really was only one option left. Her eyes glanced back at her sister as she felt her heart turn cold and sink in her chest.
"Forgive me,"
(Kripke Academy - Los Angeles, California - Mid-Evening May 20th 2022)
Clark shifted in his seat as he held the now 2-year-old Mia in one arm trying to keep her from getting away as she twisted and turned to look at the new environment she was in. He glanced over to Lois who kept smiling at Mia and placing a finger to her lips to keep her black haired superpowered daughter quiet. His eyes quickly looked back to the person who had called them to this meeting, the dean of Kripke Academy, one of America's top private schools, Dean Garth Ennis.
"Thank you for coming," Dean Ennis gave a polite smile, his eyes glancing to Mia who just looked at him for a moment before her eyes however drifted away as something else took her interest. "She can wait outside with Ryan if you want. I understand this is probably very boring for her."
"No, it's best if she stays with us," Lois replied briefly glancing at Clark, whose tight grip on Mia was the only reason she was floating around the room to look at things "So you called this to talk about Ryan?"
"Yes, as you know here at Kripke we are dedicated to not only academic development but social and mental development as well." The dean shifted slightly as he looked at the two guardians who shared a quick frowning glance to each other. "We've been having issues with young Mr. Butcher."
"Has Ryan been getting into trouble?" Clark quickly glanced at the wall next to him, his sight penetrating it to see Ryan who was sitting just outside the office reading a very heavy book.
"No, not exactly." The dean sighed as he scratched the back of his head, feeling this was one of the most awkward conversations he was ever going to have. "Although getting into trouble is at the heart of the issue here."
"Sorry, I'm not following," Lois stepped in leaning forward and fixing the educator with one of her most critical gazes "If Ryan isn't getting into trouble what is the issue?"
"Ryan has been involving himself whenever a student has any kind of issue or problem." Dean Ennis met the woman's gaze being no stranger to the type of high-powered mothers the children of his school had. "Now, we fully encourage our students to be civic-minded and help out but Ryan has been, shall we say…overly enthusiastic"
"So Ryan is being too helpful?" Clark raised an eyebrow at the man's words
"Too helpful is an understatement. He doesn't let any of his fellow students try to solve their own problems or come up with solutions. He never lets anyone else carry heavy sports equipment, he always is the one leading study sessions during the lunch hour, he has practically ended bullying in the school, and he has been lecturing students on safety. " The dean looked between the two adults sitting in front of him, his eyes however focused more on Clark than Lois "Whilst we are thrilled he likes to help, he has become…overbearing. Many students are in fact afraid of him, and he doesn't really socialise with others, he just protects them. It's not healthy, "
"Okay, so what do you suggest?" Lois asked her eyes briefly looking over to Mia before focusing back on the dean.
"Ryan is not in trouble, and we don't want him to lose his sense of purpose, helping people is a noble goal." Dean Ennis' words were clearly rehearsed and was doing everything he could to prevent a confrontation or misunderstanding over the school's intentions "What the guidance counsellor and our resident psychologist have suggested is that Ryan just needs a little change of perspective. To know that he doesn't need to jump in every time, to let other students try even if they fail."
"And how do you think we can effect this change?" Lois' tone was slightly hostile and suspicious as her eyes narrowed at the man.
"The psychiatrist had a few ideas, some group sessions, one-on-one appointments and the like. But honestly, I was thinking the best person to talk to Ryan and show him would be you, Mr. Kent." The educator shifted so he was looking directly at Clark and avoiding the steely gaze Lois was giving him.
"Me?" It was Clark's turn for his eyes to narrow at the man.
"Yes, whilst the faculty and the other parents aren't aware of the details. I do know who you are, Mr. Kent." The dean gave Clark a wide smile and shifted awkwardly a little. "I'm a big fan, always have been. I think if you show Ryan how you do things, show him how you see people, that it is okay to help but not every single time. It might help make him a little…."
"Less overbearing?" Clark finished the sentence nodding a little as he believed he understood what the dean was saying.
The meeting didn't last much longer after the rest of their conversation turned towards the particulars of Ryan's situation and what else could be done to support his growth. Apart from his apparent overbearing helpful nature, he was doing quite well academically; he was excelling in all of his classes and his teachers described him as bright. Clark's mind was already firing with ideas and had a general idea of what he would do as the meeting finished. As they exited the dean's office Ryan just looked up from his book at his guardians with a hesitant smile as if he wasn't sure if he was in trouble or not.
Clark just nodded and handed him Mia, who clapped with happiness at being given over to her 'honorary' big brother. The two-year-old quickly engaged in a much more comprehensive conversation than she should have been able to. As they walked out of the academy, the two adults trailed a little behind, watching the children interact, Ryan saying something that caused Mia to burst into giggles.
Clark frowned a little as he watched. He was starting to worry at how fast Mia was developing. While he had no real reference to how quickly Kryptonians developed, he knew he had developed faster than most children, which meant Mia was something else. He wasn't sure if it was because he had been using Kelex's early learning programs he had found in the Fortress's archive that were geared towards aiding young children's fundamental knowledge. When he had first used it he had found it far too complex for a child of barely two, but Mia had taken to it like a fish to water and was starting to outpace her peers at school.
"So, what's the plan for Ryan?" Lois asked, slipping her hand into her husband's and giving him a little nudge to break him out of his deep thoughts "You going to take him on patrol? Introduce him to some cops that you work with. Stick him with Diana for a weekend?"
"I'm going to take him to the Fortress." Clark's answer caused Lois to almost freeze, she knew what the fortress was but as far as she knew Clark had never taken anyone else there. "I still can't do much with it, but the archives are very instructive, as are the personality matrices."
"I thought you told me that all you could do with the personality matrices was play the pre-recorded messages your biological parents left you?" Lois frowned remembering how Clark told her that his biggest frustration with Kryptonian technology was the personal holograms of parents
"Well…. yes. But they're supposed to do more." Clark shifted a little as they reached Lois' car which Ryan and Mia were already inside "Even those messages are very enlightening." He turned his head away. "And I'm… also going to take him on patrol and maybe leave him with Diana for a long weekend/"
"Soooooo, the 'do-everything and hope something works' technique?" Lois raised an eyebrow at Clark who gave an embarrassed shrug. Even the Man of Steel sometimes made things up as he went along.
"Yeah, pretty much." Clark moved into the passenger seat fixing his seatbelt before looking at the children in the back seat with a smile, before looking back at his wife. "Mary's getting the project launched, says a month or two and it'll be up."
"That's good," Lois gave a nod as she stayed focused on the road, winding her way through the LA traffic. "Does that mean we can skip that stupid premiere in New York?"
"Mary thinks it's best if I still go. Keep up appearances and stop Vought looking too closely before it all goes live." Clark looked out of the car window at the quiet sunny streets of LA, which for the moment didn't need his assistance. "I can go by myself, you don't have to attend. Besides, we have to get Diana out here to watch the kids, and it's a long flight for her."
"And leave you alone with Lana Lang for the night? I don't think so, buddy." Lois' tease caused Clark to chuckle as she gave him a quick glance, "Besides, it'd be nice to see Hughie and Annie again in person. Haven't been in the same room as either of them since the wedding."
"I'll tell Mary it'll be the two of us then." Clark gave his wife a quick smile as he also thought about the opportunity "Maybe, a dinner with Annie and Hughie as well."
"Sounds lovely." Lois gave her own smile back, although it quickly took a mischievous turn "Although, I suppose it is a high-profile show… You are buying me a new dress for this, right? I'm not having the big fashion designer and movie star Miss Lang upstaging me."
"Oh, of course." Clark just shook his head a little at Lois' competitive side.
"We couldn't have that."
(Vought Tower's Lamplighter Memorial Theater - New York City, New York - May 31st 2022)
For the first time, Clark scorned his body's inability to fall asleep due to tiredness or boredom. He tried not to nudge Lois, but she'd dozed off about an hour ago having long since given up trying to follow the plot of the movie. Clark for his part turned his attention to the crowd who were the usual mixture of company bigwigs, heroes, and celebrities that attended these types of events. However, two people took his interest tonight, the first was easy to spot given he was the film's star and the fact he was wearing a bright blue suit with a flag draped across his back.
Homelander wasn't moving; he was just staring blankly as the Seven teamed up to defeat Stormfront onscreen. Clark's eyes narrowed. For obvious reasons, they had not interacted much over the past 2 years, beyond Clark appearing every now and again to keep the man in check. According to Meave and Annie, he was like a caged animal: quiet and respectful to everyone, but they could see something smouldering just behind his eyes screaming for release. He was also aware that the man had been spending a lot of time searching for Kara, utilising every contact and resource he had to find her, all without success. Although Clark had much more to go on than just the face and description the other superhero had, he too had found no trace of Kara since that day. It was like she had vanished into thin air.
Still, he put that unpleasant topic out of his mind as his eyes turned to the other man who was drawing his attention. Stan Edgar was making a rare public appearance for tonight and was seated a few rows behind Clark which meant he had to turn fully to look at the man, who basically had an entire row to himself. The CEO wasn't watching the movie, instead he was directly looking at Clark, unemotionally staring as if gazing right through him, and for a second he thought he saw something flash across his eyes. The moment passed, and the businessman gave him a polite nod before returning his attention to the movie as if nothing was amiss. Clark frowned as he turned to look at the seat next to the CEO which was empty but he knew from looking at the guest list it should have been occupied by Victoria Neuman.
The congresswoman had in the last few years become a major political force and was head of the congressional oversight committee for the Bureau of Superhuman Affairs. Yet despite her prominence in policing the superhuman community, aiding the Boys in Congress and being Hughie's technically-boss for two years, Clark had never met the woman in person. Every time their paths were supposed to cross, something always came up, and the closest he had ever got to her was a series of phone calls they shared where she tried to convince him to basically become the Bureau's enforcer. Even that had felt half-hearted and when Clark turned her down she seemed to accept it far too easily.
As Clark turned back to face the front he put Neuman from his mind for the moment and refocused on his project. He wasn't naive enough not to recognise that what he was attempting to do was pretty radical and all of the scenarios Kelex had run showed that it was a long shot at best. But his options were this or face a few hundred million dead in the next couple of decades when the superhuman issue exploded into a conflict for control. His biggest issue at the moment was membership in the organisation he was creating, he had done his research and there were quite a few supes that would work however convincing them would be a problem. He knew Annie would sign up and so would Maeve, but that was because of their experiences with Vought, an experience many other Supes didn't have. Anyone who joined, he was asking to cut ties with an organisation that fed, clothed and paid all of them for their entire lives, Vought might be monsters but for Supes, they were the monsters they knew and monsters who were on their side.
The clapping that signalled the end of the movie caused Clark to refocus on the world around him as he politely clapped as well. He chuckled a little as Lois startled herself awake and blinked hard as she saw the movie she could only describe as eye murder was over. He had to give her credit though she managed to put on a smile that nearly convinced him that she was genuinely thrilled to be here rather than what she actually felt, which was disgust and one degree away from murdering a Vought executive. Just before they exited the cinema to do the obligatory photo-op and answer a few questions they spotted Annie and Hughie getting ready themselves.
"French Blue looks good on you Hughie," Lois managed to surprise him by approaching in his blind spot causing him to jump a little, although he smiled when he saw it was her. "Although, I think a Double-Breasted suit would work better. Don't you think Annie?"
"Don't listen to her Hughie you look great as is," Clark shook his head as he stood next to his wife, his appearance earning a smile from Hughie and a friendly hug from Annie. "My wife has the unfortunate habit of always wanting to improve people's clothing choices."
"Says the man wearing basically the Primary colour collection and a cape." Lois shot back with a slap to Clark's chest, "If you listen to my husband you'll end up wearing a colourful costume and calling yourself something stupid like the Mighty Hughie or the Super Bureaucrat."
"I've missed you, Lois," Anne chuckled as she looked at her best friend's wife, who she hadn't seen in over a year due to their busy schedules. "I guess you got Diana babysitting Mia again? She must love that."
"Oh yes, although she is pacified by the fact that Clark gives her his credit card and so she basically has unlimited takeout and a free LA shopping spree." Lois gave Clark a knowing glance, the last time Diana babysat for them she had basically bought out several shops on the LA strip "She also knows it is either her or Mallory and the Colonel is busy running the CIA's off-the-books stuff. "
"I'm guessing things still weird between you, your dad and your sister?" Hughie's question caused Lois' eyebrow to raise slightly, Hughie was getting more confident it seemed and less afraid of upsetting people.
"Oh, why would they be weird, just because my dad is running a PMC that is secretly contracted by the CIA to help contain supes and that he turned out to be a failed supersoldier that he never thought to mention?" Lois "Or that my sister skipped my wedding, thinks her niece is a hybrid freak and vanished into some secret mission that I can't find out about."
"Yeah that," Hughie gave his best non-fazed shrug earning a laugh from Lois as she gave her a teasing grin "So not weird then."
"Okay, okay, before we unpack any more pent-up resentment, trauma or anything else let's get this over with" Clark stepped in to end the good natured ribbing as he gestured to the doors as the quartet exited together causing the paparazzi outside to go into a frenzy.
It didn't take long for Annie and Clark to become separated from their respective partners as the media wanted single or joint shots of the two heroes. Although he could see that Hughie was a little irritated and snubbed by the event, Lois didn't seem bothered at all, not caring for the limelight in the least. However, he did see her frown a little when Lana Lang and him did a few photos together, his ex was dressed in a very tight outfit that left little to the imagination and was pressing up against him very closely. Luckily there were only a handful of photos before Clark excused himself and ended up standing next to Lois and Hughie, his eyes darting to Homelander whose eyes twitched as he saw the attention Annie was receiving.
Clark suddenly turned his head, causing both Hughie and Lois to look at him, as his eyes narrowed at a seemingly blank section of wall. He let out an audible sigh, as he could see Butcher was waiting in the wings obviously to sneak up on Hughie and ask permission to conduct an operation. Butcher was working off the books for the Bureau of Superhuman Affairs, and his job was to track down supes, find evidence of their crimes and report to Hughie. Although very simple and he was incredibly effective at it he had heard from Lois that Butcher was being used less and less, something about his toxic personality
"Hughie, Butcher's waiting for you in the male restroom," Clark said, leaning over to Hughie. He turned his head away from the cameras to prevent anyone from lip-reading him, just in case.
"Great," Hughie sighed before plastering a smile on his face due to all the cameras around. "Must be the Termite situation. I'll catch you later."
Clark, Lois and Annie were eventually free from the media's grip and walked off of the staged red carpet to a small after-screening reception that had been set up. Annie wasted no time in grabbing one of the double chocolate muffins from the buffet that had been set up, earning her a grin from Clark. Before he could relax however his vision spotted Stan Edgar again the man was alone but he was again staring at Clark, however the second he noticed it the CEO looked away. What made it even more strange was that Clark hadn't even looked at the man, his own advanced sense had told him what was going on but the second they had the CEO had stopped staring.
"So I got the message for Mary," Annie's slightly mumbled words caused him to refocus on his friend as she finished her doughnut "We're really doing it?"
"Yes," Clark gave a happy nod as he focused on the project so close to his heart "I believe about mid-July we will go public."
"So, you, me, Meave, Diana obviously, and who else do you have?" Annie looked around the room, noticing Maeve was present with her girlfriend, both looked as happy as Lois to be here. "You think Dwight or Cameron would be interested? They were both solid when we were in the Young Americans together"
"Dwight had a small mental breakdown a few years ago, he lives in rural North Dakota in a log cabin and believes the government is currently people through pudding." Clark released a deep sigh remembering his former teammate who had never been all too stable "He actually shot me when I showed up to talk and rambled on about me being part of it."
"Oh, shit." Annie blinked in surprise, Dwight had always been a bit too gun-happy for liking but never thought he would lose it like that. "And Cameron?"
"He's in Montreal studying with Cirque du Vought, I asked him if was interested in a change and to do something new." Clark's face told Annie that her other former teammate wasn't going to impress her.
"And?" Annie pressed readying herself for disappointment from her old teammate.
"He asked how much the new gig would be." Clark gave a mirthless chuckle remembering how concerned Cameron had been about finding the right part and how much it would pay. "And that he couldn't do less than 650K plus."
"At least Alex is willing to come to the meeting," Annie tried to find a silver lining remembering how excited the sonic superhero had been to get a call from Clark. "He's really looking forward to it."
"Didn't you guys have another team mate?" Lois' question caused both superheroes to look at her as she tried to remember the name Hughie had told her once "She had that weird religious gimmick didn't she? Holy Mary wasn't it? What about he-"
"NO/NO!" Both Clark and Annie refused at the same time, Annie being slightly too loud whilst Clark gave an involuntary scowl.
"Okay, I'm guessing there is some bad blood there." Lois looked between her husband and his best friend, she knew enough about supes that whatever it was she didn't want to know "I won't pry,"
"Hey, sorry that took longer than I thought," Hughie arrived smiling as he walked up to the group kissing Annie on the cheek as he moved next to her. "So what are we talking about?"
"Well I know what I want to talk about" Lois' tone turned deadly serious as she looked at the group intensely. "When will Vought stop making endless superhero movies, seriously the VCU is done to death now, they need to stop."
Clark couldn't help but let out a laugh that was joined by Hughie and Annie, as Lois broke out into a wide grin. For the moment Clark wasn't worried about the future, the conflict he was trying to avoid or the League he was trying to build from the ground up. No, for tonight he was going to enjoy himself and have a good time with his friends.
(The Boys Office - Flatiron Building, New York City - June 3rd 2022)
Butcher was alone in the office. He glanced around the empty room as he threw another dart at the board he had placed on the wall. Kimiko and Frenchie were out doing who knew what, not that he fucking cared, MM had left them to go play pretend house whilst his wife was seeing another man, Hughie had fucking turned pencil pushed and Lois. He wasn't sure if Lois' decision to go play mommy pissed him off the most or least.
On one hand, she had seemingly traded in her exceptional skills and a chance to do what she was best at to change diapers and pretend to be normal as if she didn't still dream of the night her friends died. On the other hand, though, she was raising the future, there was no argument the two most powerful beings in the world were going to be the kids she was raising and he wasn't sure there was another person he would trust to do that. That thought made him think of Ryan, he had largely kept his distance from the lad not wanting to fuck the boy up with his own personal shit. However, he did pop in on occasion to play the odd game and made sure Lois' boy toy wasn't turning him into a cunt.
"I heard Termite is going to walk," Butcher froze. He turned to see the approaching figure of Sam Lane, a thick black eye patch over one of his eyes wearing a trenchcoat, gloves and a suit. "Maeve's intel was solid, and she hates the man. Surprised she's not here."
"Yeah, well, she's busy running around with that steel-headed idiot you have for a son-in-law." Butcher grunted not bothering to ask how Lois' father knew the termite op had gone bad, apparently trapping a shrinking supe in a bag of coke to save a life was extreme and unnecessary "It seems no one really cares about punishing supes anymore, or that they almost killed a member of my team. Fucking Hughie and his new pals traded him away for fucking talking points."
"Yes, I hear supe collateral damage is down a whole 60%" Sam Lane joked without any joy as he moved next to Butcher and picked up a dart from the table throwing it perfectly for a bullseye "Would be better if supes were down by 60%, don't you think?"
"Haven't you heard guv, it's peacetime, we're winning apparently." Butcher grunted as he shot the man a look before throwing another dart "Not that I don't enjoy you popping in all James Bond and shit but…..I don't enjoy it. So what the fuck do you want?"
"Same thing as you," Sam Lane responded moving over to the board to pull out the darts, then walking back over to Butcher offering the darts as if they were an olive branch
"I doubt that," Butcher ignored the offered darts and instead moved over to grab some coffee. "You forget I know what you are. In my books, you are the same as them."
"Well, be that as it may, I have something for you." The former General deposited the darts on Butcher's desk before his hand reached into his trenchcoat and pulled out a thick file.
Butcher took the file and gave it a quick flip through. It was originally from Vought. Based on the photos, the handwritten nature of the info and dates he was seeing it was pre-1990 and had never meant to be seen again once shoved in a locker in a vault somewhere. The entire file was about Soldier Boy and his former teammates in Vought's previous number-one hero team Payback.
"Soldier Boy, and Payback, so what?" Butcher glanced up from the file, his eyes narrowing at the ex-general.
"You remember how Solder Boy reportedly died?" Lois' father just crossed his arms, completely unfazed by Butcher's withering gaze.
"Stopping a nuclear meltdown in Ohio. 83, 84 I think. Got buried beneath the reactor" Butcher grunted out, he only knew this piece of Supe history because of MM's obsession with the dead hero. "Always thought it was a bunch of bollocks."
"Well you're right. Last set of documents, read them" The temperature around Sam Lane seemed to drop as he nodded
"What the fuck is this?" Butcher pulled out the documents in question his eyes widened and then frowned as he read what he was holding in his hands "What's B.C.L Red?"
"According to every rumour and conspiracy about Soldier Boy that I've heard for the last 4 decades. It's the weapon that killed him." "He died in 84 in Nicaragua, during a CIA-backed operation, called Charly. Soviet special forces showed up with B.C.L Red, killed him and took the body."
"How do you know that?" Butcher closed the file he had been given, placing it on the desk next to him and narrowing his eyes.
"I was there, part of the CIA forces but the truth is I don't really remember much of it." The ex-General's face fell into a painful scowl as he recalled one of the worst events of his life. "I spent nearly 2 years in the hospital after the fiasco. My team was dead and the last thing I remember was Black Noir, ripping one of my teammates' spines out before smashing my head in with it. Everything before that is blurry at best"
"You think this weapon could be used on Homelander?" Butcher pushed past the bleak snippet of Sam Lane's story, he had no interest in sympathy for the man, not after the things he had seen him do.
"It's a possibility, after Homelander, Soldier Boy was the strongest hero Vought ever had." Sam Lane uncrossed his arms and then reached back into his jacket pulling out a set of vials filled with green liquid "If I were you I would start with Payback, they were there too and Soldier Boy was their leader. Use these in case something goes wrong"
"What the fuck is this?" Butcher moved over and took one of the vials.
"I got it from my source in Vought along with the files." Lane responded with his eyes looking from Butcher to the vial the man was holding "It's called V24; it's supposed to give an ordinary person Superpowers for about 24 hours."
"Supposed to?" Butcher scoffed putting the vial down on the desk
"It's apparently still in R , high chance it works though" Lane responded without any hint of concern before sighing and looking Butcher in the eye. "Look, Payback may be a bunch of degenerate idiots like all other Supes but they were some of the strongest people on the planet once. They are dangerous and you'll need this to go up against them."
"And what makes you think that me of all people would want to be like them or you?" Buther moved so that he was standing in front of the man fixing him a disgusted snarl "I'm not a fucking sellout."
"Tools of your enemy Butcher. Despite what people think, the war is still raging." Sam Lane didn't react instead he turned around and started heading towards the door "We have to use whatever we can to win. Use it or don't, I don't care. But keep in mind, this is likely your best shot to kill Homelander"
"Why the fuck do you care? About Homelander?" Butcher called out to the back of the man who stopped at the exit "You hate Supes but never tried to off that particular cunt. Why now?"
"Multiple fronts Butcher, you fight a war on multiple fronts," Sam Lane evenly, still unemotional as ever. "You kill Homelander and it makes things easier."
Butcher just watched as the man left, his eyes lingering on the door for a moment before looking back down at the set of files and the temp V shit he had been given. He felt disgusted at the thought of becoming anything like the people he hated, however, he pushed that down for a moment. He flipped open the files he had been given, searching through them until he saw what he was looking for, Payback's weakest links, Crimson Countess and Gunpowder. Those two idiots had been closest to Solider Boy so if anyone knew what had killed them it was one of them.
As Butcher started putting a plan together in his head, Sam Lane was busy riding the elevator down to the car waiting outside. He was confident that Butcher would follow down the path that he had laid before him, the man's biggest weakness was his hatred of Homelander. However, in the rare chance he was wrong it wouldn't be the end of the world, the other projects under way were the real focus, this was something he was doing on the side to hedge his bets. Although he had to be careful, most of his colleagues had been against this route and one in particular wouldn't be pleased, they had been adamantly against it.
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ
"Miss Clark, how can I help you?" He answered his secure phone, pulling it out of his pocket and silencing its buzzing as he listened to the woman's request. "More funding for the Woods, I can deal with that, I'll route it through my holdings in Panama….Yes, I gave him the file…Well, if Mr. Stan Edgar doesn't like he can go fuck himself….Take care Mary call if you need anything else."
As he hung up he felt his grip tighten on the phone for a second before he relaxed, he was working with people he hated but it was necessary. Supes were going to destroy the world and he needed to stop that for the sake of his daughters, even if it meant killing the ones one of them loved the most.