2,486Chapter 26 - League and Beginnings
(Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs Manhattan Office - New York City, New York - Late 14th June 2022)
Hughie was long past feeling the weight of the day pressing down on him as he lifted his eyes from the screen he was working on and saw what the time was. He sighed as he picked up his phone and texted Annie that he would be running late again. Not that it mattered much Annie was currently across the country attending a meeting Clark had organised but it did mean he would miss their scheduled video call. He let out a sigh at that, in between Annie's rising fame, Clark's project and his own job the two of them were spending less and less time together.
In truth, he wasn't anywhere near finished sorting out the mess Butcher had made with the whole Termite situation and with sorting out the paperwork for the arraignment for the supes Vought had handed over for Termite. However, he was completely out of any drive or energy to continue going through the hurdles and nonsense of bureaucracy so he decided that he would call it for tonight. He let out a small yawn as he got up from his desk and headed out of his office, his assistant's desk was empty as was the entire floor, which was no surprise it was basically midnight. He was the only one who worked this late, well him and Vicky, but she was on a whole other level, it was like she didn't need sleep. She had actually been in the office not too long ago but had just left needing to get ready for an interview she had to defend the increased budget their bureau had just been given.
As he walked through the deserted office building he decided to go out the back through the service exit, it was closer to the subway station and it was a simple swipe of his card instead of a whole check by security at the front desk. It didn't take him long to reach the exit and the only person he encountered on his route was Al the janitor, who just gave him a brief nod and friendly smile. His tiredness was somewhat dispelled as he swiped his card and exited the building, the powerful aroma of garbage assaulting him as he stepped into the backstreet. He picked up his pace as he headed towards his station which was just a few blocks north and fairly quick if he took the backstreet.
"NADIA! TALK TO ME!"
Hughie's head snapped towards a side street he had just passed as the clearly angry voice sounded from it. Normally he would think first before heading towards shouting in a dark back alley in the middle of the night, but what caused him to move was both the voice and the name being called. He recognised the voice as belonging to the man who had been hanging around the offices the last few days. The name was also the same one he had been calling Vicky by and had heeled about when Hughie had ejected from the building the other day.
As he rounded a corner, he crouched down behind a dumpster. His position obscured him from view but gave him an excellent angle of the alley. He could see Vicky standing in the middle of the alley, her back to him, as she spoke to the slightly dishevelled-looking man in front of her. However, she clearly wasn't distressed or concerned her arms were crossed the way she always did when she was annoyed but not quite angry.
"Tony, you've simply got to stop this." Victoria Neuman's voice had a slight edge to it as she shifted her eyes, taking in the man who had once been her only friend in the world when she was younger. "You can't keep coming around here; I'm not Nadia anymore."
"We were best friends!" Tony shot back his voice both angry and devastated at the same time. "I need you, I need you to help me convince people, tell them the truth about Red River, the tests, the experiments, all of it…. please, I need people to know."
"It's not that simple Tony, I can't just….." Neuman just released a sigh as she uncrossed her eyes and brought a hand up to her eyes rubbing them in frustration. "How are you even here, how did you get out?"
"That's what you worried about?!" The fight between Tony's anger and devastation was decided as his anger one out. "HOW I GOT OUT?! I WAS ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU NADIA, ALWAYS!"
"Okay, Okay, you're right," Neuman's voice went soft as her body language changed as she moved closer to Tony, placing her hands gently on him. "We should talk, we should tell people."
"Yeah?" Tony's anger seemingly left him as Neuman looked him in the eyes before pulling him into a hug. "Thank yo-... ARGH! You bitch!"
Tony's sudden curse was accompanied by him pushing Neuman as hard as he could away from him, sending her smashing into the dumpster that Hughie was hiding behind. He managed to move swiftly enough that the shunted dumpster didn't hit him and still managed to stay hidden. As he regrouped he saw that Tony's nose and eyes were bleeding as he looked like he was fighting off a migraine as he rushed forward at superhuman speed. Tony wasted no time leaping on top of the floored Neuman, he quickly flipped her over and started to smash her head violently into the floor.
CRACK! SMASH! CRACK! SMASH!
Hughie would have moved to help if he hadn't noticed the two most bizarre aspects of the assault that caused him to freeze. The first was that Vicky wasn't bleeding, not even scratched, the sheer force of her head being slammed into the ground should have caused it to crack like an egg but there wasn't a mark. The other was that Tony was covering Vicky's eyes, his grip on her head was actually quite weak as he was putting all of his effort into keeping his hands on her face and digging into her eyes.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"
Tony's voice was equal parts anger and panic, with the latter growing as suddenly Neuman's head stopped as she raised a hand and started to pull one of Tony's hands away from her face. The man's desperation grew as he put everything he possibly had into keeping his hand on her face but it was all for nothing. Neuman pulled Tony's hand off, revealing a look of pure fury as her arm strained just enough so that she could…
POP!
Hughie's eyes widened with shock as the man's hand suddenly exploded in a way that was chillingly familiar. Tony let out a scream as he reeled back stumbling as he looked in horror at the bloody stump which had just recently been his hand. However, it only took him a second before the screaming stopped and his own eyes widened in realisation at what he had just done, his head snapped back to Neuman. He found that with him off of her, Vicky had turned onto her back and was just looking at him, her face no longer angry but just resigned.
"You should have stayed away," Neuman sighed as her eyes flashed white for a second as she looked at her friend one last time.
POP!
Tony's head exploded in a geyser of blood for a few seconds before it stopped as his decapitated body fell over but not before covering Neuman in a shower of gore. Hughie stumbled a little at what he was seeing and was about to knock into a garbage can revealing himself when he found a hand over his mouth. He was about to panic when he turned his head and saw a very familiar face which had all the standard Lane features, however, it wasn't Lois but her younger sister Lucy. She was dressed in dark casual men's clothing with a baseball cap over her face, if he hadn't been right next to her he would likely have thought she was a man.
The younger Lane sister just lifted a single finger to her mouth to keep him silent as she frowned first at him and then over at Neuman. The congresswoman was recomposing herself as she glanced at Tony's body again causing it to explode with a sickening pop into a puddle of bloody goo. Vicky took a few deep calming breaths before reaching her hand into her inside coat pocket and pulling out a phone Hughie had never seen before. Lucy removed her hand from his mouth giving him a nod before she turned her attention to Neuman.
"It's me, I'm in trouble." Neuman's voice was a little shaky as she took a few more breaths as she calmed herself down, "Fuck, I need a team. Do you need my location or….Okay, I'll wait, just please hurry."
"Stay fucking quiet and follow me," Lucy's voice was barely above a whisper as she gestured for him to follow her, she waited for the right moment before moving.
Hughie was in a haze as he quietly followed Lucy first from the alley and then through the streets of New York onto the subway train where they sat separately and then finally into an apartment. It took him sitting down on the couch before he realised that he was in his own apartment, looking around he saw that Lucy had led him home. He took a few moments trying to get his head straight but suddenly heard his fridge door opening and slamming shut, as he turned he saw Lucy walking towards him with a beer in one hand and the sandwich he made for his lunch tomorrow in the other. She took a deep sip of the beer and then a bite of his sandwich as she sat in the apartment's only armchair.
"She's a supe," Hughie was the first to speak looking at Lucy who looked a lot more like Butcher than Lois since the last time he had seen her "She's the head popper, she murdered Raynor and all those people at the hearing"
"Yeah, no shit," Lucy scoffed as she finished off the beer, before pulling out another one uncapping it and taking a swig before giving Hughie a little shake of her head "You really know how to pick them"
"You knew?" Hughie's eyes narrowed at Lucy, who had just laid back in the and grinned as his question brought a chuckle out of her.
"Knew, no." Lucy gave Hughie a slight scoff at his attempt to look imposing, glaring at her with narrowed eyes. "We suspected though,"
"We? Who's we?" Lucy just raised an eyebrow at Hughie's question causing him to exhale with a grimace as he figured out what was obvious, "Your father, of course. How long have you suspected Vic-...Neuman was a supe?"
"I'm not sure how long the old man suspected it, but I'd guess at least since the hearing attack, It was fucking weird she didn't get her head popped like the rest of the committee" Lucy replied, her tone sounding bored as she finished off his sandwich and her second beer. "Tonight was a bit more of a confirmation than I would have liked, but hey, results are results."
"You sent that guy after Neuman!" Hughie shook his head as he rubbed his eyes, Neuman being a supe was a nightmare but one he didn't need to be made worse by Sam Lane gunning for her. "This is what you've been doing for the last few years?"
"Firstly, sent is a strong word, alls I did was get him out of the shithole Vought stuck him in he did the rest all on his own" Lucy let out a snort as if the idiot supe getting himself killed was her fault, "Secondly, no this isn't what I've been doing, it's…a trail to hopefully get me on the right path."
"The right path to what?" Hughie scoffed in disbelief at Lucy's callous attitude towards
"Classified," Lucy responded curtly. She stood up looking at the watch on her wrist.
"You're not in the CIA anymore Lucy, you went AWOL. Technically you're wanted for desertion, and you're…" Hughie trailed off and blinked as Lucy stood up making no effort to clean up the beers or crumbs she had left all over the place "Where the fuck are you going?"
"See who's coming to clean up her shit. I've got an asset keeping tabs. They should be done by now. The whole point was to find out who's pulling her strings" Lucy gave a shrug as she quickly looked in the mirror by the door making sure she still wasn't easily recognised "Anyway, say hi to Lois for me, and…ha, have fun telling Butcher you've been working for Supe for the last two years. He's going to fucking love it."
Lucy just departed without waiting for a response, letting his front door slam shut behind her his mind taking a few moments to catch up with what had just happened. Neuman's a supe, Lucy's on some weird quest shit that involves her, Neuman just popped a guy like a balloon because she's a supe, the Bureau is bullshit, Neuman's a supe, I've wasted two years working for Vought and oh yeah, Neuman's a Supe.
"FUCK!" Hughie cursed as another thought lodged itself in his brain, "Butcher's never going to let me live this down,"
(Recently Repurposed US Air Force Testing Facility - Outskirts of Los Angeles - 14th June 2022)
Annie looked down at her phone, smiling slightly at Hughie's message, even though he knew she wouldn't have time for their scheduled chat he still wanted to let her know he was working late. However, her smile dropped a little as she looked up at the wide-open conference room that Clark had prepared for this meeting. He had converted the entire facility he had purchased a few years ago into what was to be their new headquarters and had clearly spared no expense.
It was the most impressive thing she had ever seen. The hangar was now a massive meeting room with a round table that could easily seat a hundred people, the monitors gave them live updates across not just the country but the world and that was just the one building the others on site made the conference look tame. The reason for her smile dropping however was plain to see, this was supposed to be the pre-launch of the new team, Clark's project's first big step into the light, a new better way of doing hero work, a shining beacon for future generatio-
"Clark, there are 12 people here," Annie looked over the room and just let out a sigh as she didn't see the champions of justice she had been hoping for "And 6 of them, not including Diana, are Super-Duper."
Annie's eyes drifted to the superhero team where Bobby was laughing at something so hard he looked like he was about to wet himself, something that Joy, Diana's number two was clearly trying to avoid. She felt a lump forming in her as she saw that the only other attendees who were not Diana, Meave, herself or Clark were Alex, their old teammate and to her surprise Groundhawk. However, the latter was slumped in a chair and looked to be either just starting a hangover or was still drunk and about to pass out.
"Yeah, there was slightly less turnout than I hoped, but it's still a start." Clark stood next to her, his hands on his hips, a confident smile on his face.
"You said there were going to be 40 to 50 people," Annoe couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips as she stood up. Groundhawk slumped forward in his seat, his head hitting the table as he started to snore. "What happened?"
"A lot dropped out when they realised I was serious about the whole not being paid part aside from a reasonable standing of a living wage." Clark shifted although he kept his confident smile Annie could tell he was slightly embarrassed by the situation and was just trying to make the best of it "The rest well…uh, Vought it was Vought, most were spies turns out I was not as successful keeping this secret as I thought, so they were a no go, and the rest…..they got bribed to stay away."
"Sooooooo, not great," Annie released another sigh shaking her head at the less-than-stellar start of the project.
"It could be worse we've Groundhawk, a solid established household name, he's also a good gu-" Clark pointed to the hero who had hammers for hands who let out a loud drunken snore that startled him awake undercutting Clark's point about him. "...We have Alex at least, it's a start."
Annie didn't respond beyond a resigned sigh and moved forward as Clark took his place at the large round table, which looked comically big now due to the lack of people. Instead of spacing out everyone just sort of took the same edge as Clark and turned to face him as he cleared his throat. Annie took a brief moment to look at the entire establishing roster of their new team, all of whom were in costume for the occasion, and hoped they would look back on this as funny when this all eventually worked out….she hoped.
"Thank you all for coming, I want to cut through all the pageantry and speech-making as that isn't why we are here," Clark's calm commanding voice forced Annie out of her worries for a moment, as he looked over the people he hoped would help him fix the system "We all know Vought's broken, the superhuman society is less than ideal, in fact, it is downright corrupt. So this is our new way of doing things, I want to welcome you all to our League."
"Our League?" The question came from Joy who leaned forward her red costume with a grey Domino mask looked the most practical compared to the other members of her team.
"Yes, our league, anyone who joins will have an equal say in how we run things, how we operate and how we are going to change things." "The League is outside of Vought's direct influence but still with the full legal protections Superheroes operate under, so we won't be sued into oblivion on our first save."
"Will we be working for the government?" Groundhawk's gruff voice caused Stool Shadow to jump as the lumbering slightly out-of-shape man sounded much more sober than his previous state had implied. "I'm all for getting away from Vought's shit after making me the heel to the Nubian and the fucked up situation I walked myself into with them, but I don't want to trade private sector assholes in nice suits for public sector ones in cheap suits."
"We won't, we answer only to ourselves and who we want to." Diana drew every eye in the room as she leaned forward to address Groundhawk's question "We've structured ourselves, so dealing with us will be complicated for everyone involved. Legally speaking we are something new, nothing else like us. We can present ourselves as something different to anyone who comes at us; a non-profit organisation, a charity, a security firm, or even a PMC if we have to, and that is only listing a few. "
Diana was seated directly to Clark's right and it wasn't just her explaining their new independence or how they were legally ambiguous that drew focus, no it was her costume. Diana was not here as Aunt Sis but as Wonder Woman, she looked somehow equal parts stunning and imposing in a manner that Annie had never encountered before. She couldn't help but glance at Meave whose own costume now looked like a teenage girl's Halloween parody costume, it was clear that Vought had styled Maeve's look on Diana's. However, Maeve's costume was slightly more revealing and its colour scheme was very muted compared to Wonder Woman. Diana's costume had the evidently patriotic colour scheme of red, gold and blue complete with a shield bearing a very American-looking eagle on the front of it.
The rest of the meeting went by fairly quickly with Clark showing them the specifics of how the League would operate. In truth it wasn't overly complicated, the only things Clark had to explain were the systems he had set up so they could respond to real emergencies and protocols all members would have to follow. Most of it went over the core members of Super Duper who were clearly only there because Diana was and they were more to be protected than used. Amazingly the only real complaint that was raised was Groundhawk's resistance to going into rehab for his alcoholism before Clark said he could operate, however, the man did acquiesce fairly quickly.
Eventually, the core briefing ended, and the newly created team split up to discuss ideas, introduce themselves to people they had not met, or just explore the facility. Annie drifted over to the Super Dupers, specifically Lady Fold who was shifting a little uncomfortably as Groundhawk tried to introduce himself to the woman he towered over. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Maeve glance at Diana and take a few steps towards her before losing her nerve and going off to look at the facility. Annie chuckled a little at the sight of the usually confident self-assured powerhouse of a woman securing off like a shy superfan.
As Annie moved off she also spotted Alex walking over to Clark, however, where Maeve's nerves had stopped her Alex pushed through the clear discomfort he was feeling to speak to the source of his nerves. Clark turned to face Alex; he could have sensed the man's nervousness even without his enhanced senses, as the two men faced each other Clark put on a polite smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. For Alex's part, he managed a nervous smile as he pulled down a gulp into his stomach as he tried to settle his nerves as he spoke to Clark.
"Some team you've got here," Alex broke the ice after a few awkward moments of the two superheroes just looking at each other. "You are going to do a lot of good with them, you've got my full support,"
Clark just released a sigh as he looked at the man he hadn't seen in person in six years, not since the incident with the orphanage. "It's not my team, like I said this is our league, this isn't Superman and friends, it isn't a support act, it's ... .change."
"I know, I know." Alex quickly blurted out shifting as scratched the back of his head trying to keep calm. "I just meant, you set it up and you're going to be the leader, chairman or whatever so…"
"Alex I want you here, part of this but not….." Clark took another moment and released another sigh taking a moment to get his words right before addressing the worry he had about Alex's presence "But not if this is all out of some sort of sense of debt to me"
Alex was silent for a good few minutes as he just looked at Clark, his face unreadable even to the man of steel with all of his enhanced abilities. Just as Clark was about to say something Alex's voice sounded out barely above a whisper.
"I got children killed CK," Alex's face fell into such sombreness that he looked like he aged a decade. His breathing turned heavy and he suddenly couldn't meet Clark's eye. "I got fucking high and, and…I owe something I can't ever repay, I need to do this,"
"Alex, the orphanage wasn't you're fau-" Clark tried to console his friend over the incident which had clear
"DON'T" Alex's sudden raised voice caused a few people to glance at them as the sonic supe met Clark's eyes again with a resolve he had never truly thought him capable of. "Don't let me off, I dragged you to that club because I was fucking junkie who wanted to impress strangers and when I could have saved lives I was too fucked up to help and…"
Alex trailed off as he felt his anger and rage at himself flare up again before releasing a deep breath to centre himself. He had spent every waking moment since Annie had signed him into the rehab centre after the incident trying to be better. He hadn't touched a drop of alcohol, a pill or anything else in six years, he was stone sober and had done everything he could to repent for the biggest mistake he had ever made.
"Alex why did you never come to me," Clark's eyes lost the slight hardness they had been observing Alex with seeing just how different his friend now was.
"Because you're you Clark, you're near perfect and it's hard to talk to walking perfection when you're messed up."
Alex gave the much taller superhero a rueful smile as he shook his head at the situation he was in, trying to explain to Clark the flaws other people had.
"Hell, I was a coked-up loser whose only redeeming qualities were powers that turned out to be another drug, a mild singing voice wasted on Vought garbage and his friends which I also did my best to fuck up. Even before I tried milking your fame, I screwed my relationship with Annie by sleeping with Patricia, she didn't even use her powers, I was just an idiot"
"You were more than that Alex, I know you had your struggles but you were a good friend" Clark placed a hand on his friend's shoulder hoping he could remind him of the good times they had had. "Remember after our first team photoshoot, you took us all to your family's ranch? That BBQ we had, you tried to teach Annie to ride a horse."
"Jesus Clark, you are something" Alex just chuckled at Clark, the man could find the good in anyone before his mood turned sombre again "...I still hear them CK, the children upstairs, the flickering of the light and when I dream it's the same dream…..I do owe a debt, Clark, and it's why I'm here, but not out of guilt."
"Then what is it?" Clark's eyes narrowed as he looked at Alex not out of suspicion but curiosity at what the man was and had gone through.
"To be better, to make things better so no one else makes the same mistake I did, to be more like the boy who held up the ceiling and not the one who stumbled in through the front door out of his mind on drugs."
Alex's eyes, although looking at Clark, were seeing something beyond the man in front of him as he tried to explain why he was here abandoning Vought and the life he had always known.
"After I got clean I tried to set up an AA program within Vought, help you know but no one cared, it didn't get past my manager. I'm not making an excuse but when I struggled with life, with everything, the people around me just gave a young kid what he asked for, then gave him pills, then needles and it spiralled from there. I just…..I just think maybe if that young boy I was had been given a slightly different path with different people around would the orphanage ever have happened? "
"I don't know Alex," Clark sighed as the man's focus returned to him as he asked a question that Clark just couldn't answer with complete certainty "I would like to think it wouldn't and that's what I hope we can achieve here."
"Me too that's why I'm here because I want to make a world that creates supes like you instead of ones like me " Alex's face became a broad smile as he truly looked at Clark feeling the weight he had in his chest not pulling him down for once but giving him a foundation to stand on. "When you fly overhead Clark you don't do it to overshadow the little people below like others do; you do it to inspire everyone to look up and reach for a better tomorrow. To believe just for a moment that we can join you in the sun."
"...I'm not a savior Alex," Clark shifted although he was glad Alex was here for the right reasons he was worried about the almost worshipping look Alex was giving him. "I'm just a man trying to do the right thing."
"Christ, I know CK, I ain't going to pray to you or anything" Alex let out a very genuine chuckle as he moved next to Clark as the two started walking towards Annie, Groundhawk and Super Duper "You forget I was there for whole the hamburger incident, you certainly no saviour"
"You caused it!" Clark let out his own laugh as he shook his head at Alex as the two approached Annie who had moved towards them with her phone pressed to her ear.
"No, I didn't" Alex gave a coy smile shaking his as he pretended to think hard about it. "I don't remember it like that at all,"
"Oh yes you did, Annie, back me up on thi-" Clark cut himself off as he saw the look on Annie's face as she lowered the phone down from her ear. "What's wrong?"
"We need to get to New York," Annie glanced at Alex who just looked confused as he glanced between his two oldest friends. "Like now."
(The Boys Office - Flatiron Building, New York City - June 18th 2022)
The office was ice-cold as the boys along with Annie, Clark, Lois and Diana sat in a makeshift circle whilst Ryan looked after Mia in a corner the two were distracted by a game that Kelex was projecting between them. Everyone present was in their civilian clothing as Clark looked at Kimiko and Frenchie he could see bruising, new scars and at least one broken rib he could tell they had not been ideal. Neither had anyone else, in the four days since Hughie had learnt about Neuman or Nadia as she really was called, everyone in the room had dug into her life as much as possible.
Clark had gone through every public record, financial statement, campaign trail, speech, and even high school photos to find a thread he could pull at. Lois had gone through her contacts, old news articles and files at the planet looking for anyone remotely fitting Neuman's description involved in anything super-related. Diana had asked around the supe community as quietly as she could about anyone named Nadia who would be around Neuman's age.
What they had found was very telling. Nothing. Well nearly nothing, Hughie had managed to find something from his Red River lead but everyone else had come up short. Which told Clark and everyone else one thing. Someone very powerful and very skilled was protecting Neuman, someone related to Vought, which at one point would have narrowed the field to only a few people but now narrowed it down to one. Stan Edgar.
"So I managed to get into Red River posing as a potential adoptive parent" Hughie stood in front of everyone, his right hand in a cast as he turned a monitor so everyone could see it. "There was basically nothing to find but like Lois taught me systems are only as good as the people using them. Found this in a computer folder with a load of other random files, someone had just dumped files."
The video wasn't of great quality and showed a very young girl about 12 Clark guessed sitting in what looked like more of an interview than an adoption meeting. She looked different from the woman they knew as Neuman but it was undeniably her. The quality of the video and its slightly off-kilter angle showed that this video wasn't meant to have been taken and was likely a result of someone hitting
record either by accident or auto-pilot.
"Please give us the room," Stan Edgar appeared on the screen gesturing both to the Red River staff and his own to leave, only turning his attention to the girl in front of him when he was sure they were alone. "Hello, Nadia. I have a proposal for you that will take you from here and give you a wonderful life. Would you like to hear it?"
Nadia sat for a few seconds with mistrust on her face as she narrowed her eyes at the strangely calm man whose voice didn't seem to change tone or have a hint of emotion. "...What kind of proposal?"
"Well, first I will get you out of here, second your past will be gone, all the mistakes, all the bodies vanished like it never happened and from there well, let us discuss an agreement…" Stan Edgar moved from his position towering over the young girl to being sat down in front of her, a purely business smile on her face.
Lois' focus shifted slightly from the video that was engrossing everyone else in the room as it turned first to Frenchie and Kimiko who she had heard had gone to see Crimson Countess, resulting in the woman disappearing after running through Vought and firing blasts of energy everywhere. She made a note to follow up on that before she moved a little to stand next to Butcher who in her opinion looked like he was fighting off the strangest hangover ever. The man twitched a little every time he moved even a little, his eyes were bloodshot and he looked to be fighting a constant headache, however apart from that he was physically fine.
As she assessed what parts of him she could see, there wasn't a scratch, bruise, or even a bump present. Her eyes narrowed however at his right arm where he had scratched a very particular spot a couple of times since they had started the meeting. The twitching, headaches, bloodshot eyes and scratching of his right arm were actions that Lois had all seen before it was all consistent with heavy drug use. However, Butcher didn't look to be impaired or getting physically weaker and drug use wasn't consistent with what she knew about the man, he would get himself absolutely black-out drunk but drugs were one thing he never touched.
"Butcher, what's going on?" Lois whispered as she kept her eyes on the video in front of her as Stan Edgar made an offer to unofficially adopt Nadia in exchange for her doing certain actions in the future.
"The big slapper's been playing both sides is what, and Hughie the fucking idiots been working for the cunts for the last two years," Butcher grunted back shifting a little as he glanced at Hughie his eyes narrowing.
"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it." "I know my dad came to see you, after which Frenchie and Kimiko created a shit show with Crimson Countess, and I also hear Gunpowder's dead. What the fuck has he got you doing?"
"He just gave me a lead, that's all." Butcher's whispered voice turned slightly venomous before he released a deep breath and turned his head slightly to look at Lois "What I want to know is what the fuck is Lucy doing? Hughie said she told him that Neuman was just something to get her on the right trail. "
"I don't know, I haven't seen her since…that day," Lois' face dropped as she glanced towards Mia and Ryan who were completely distracted by the strange game Kelex was projecting for them. "Whatever my dad has got you looking into… I was about to say drop it but this is fucking you. Just be careful."
"You know me, always am." Butcher whispered before turning his attention fully back to the room as the video of Neuman's adoption finished. "Okay, so Neuman's more of a cunt than I already thought, so let's fucking end the bitch"
"Butcher, we are not killing anyone," Clark stated bluntly, his eyes narrowing at the man whose blood chemistry was a little strange, although it was normal now Clark could tell the man had taken something in the last few days that had done something to him. "We need to establish the full extent of what this means."
"It means the bitch killed Raynor, the fucking committee, including your friend and god knows who else." Butcher wheeled around to face Clark moving forward so that he was nearly nose to nose with the man as his anger flared up to a near-unprecedented level. "It means the last two years meant shit, we are at war and we are fucking losing. And your super friends, happy everything's going to work out, because your team isn't going to solve SHIT! IT MEANS RYAN IS IN FUCKING DANGER BECAUSE YOU CAN'T DO WHAT ALL KNOW NEED TO BE DO-"
"Butcher that's enough!" MM stepped forward pulling the man back as Clark just stood silently taking all the abuse thrown at him.
The room went silent for a few moments as everyone just looked between Clark and Butcher. The former standing calmly unfazed by what had happened whilst the former didn't look to be cooling off anytime soon. Even Mia and Ryan had taken notice in the corner despite Kelex trying to distract them from the situation that looked to be dangerously close to turning violent.
"You done being an ass?" Diana's voice ran out as she scoffed at the scene, shaking her head at Butcher before standing up from a position leaning against one of the tables. "The Bureau's out of the question now as a solution, it's a Vought play to control both sides. What we need to know is why?"
"Why?" Hughie asked the question with a frown thinking the answer was obvious.
"Why Neuman? What makes her special? Why play both sides? Why not take over the country with a Supe army like Stormfront planned? Why was Kara kept alive and safe? Why any of this? And who the fuck planned it. It's all too…. perfect to be random or chance."
Diana frowned as she looked around the room at the people who knew the most in the world about this but still didn't have a clue.
"This took a level of forethought and planning that borders on fucking omniscience. Neuman's position in this country is a master play but it's one small part of a whole game. So…who the fuck are we actually playing against?"
The room fell silent again as everyone considered the questions that Diana had voiced. Clark's frown only deepened, it wasn't anything new that he hadn't asked himself a million times. Neuman being a supe and double agent for Vought had caught him by surprise but after the initial shock had worn off he wasn't truly surprised. It was a great play, control both sides, keep supes in line with the Bureau and the government off your back by still having the trump card of having superpowered people on your side. The only issue was Clark had no idea what the play was ultimately for, he felt he was playing a game he didn't know the rules to in the dark with headphones on against a master.
"Clark" Ryan's voice broke the silence and Clark was out of his thoughts as he turned to face the young man who was pointing at a projection that Kelex was showing.
Clark's eyes along with everyone else widened as they saw the news announcement that Kelex was displaying. It was Kara as bright as day standing on a stage in a more formalised version of the costume she had created with Ryan with a smile on her face as she had her hands proudly on her hips. Clark waved a hand causing the previously muted audio to come to life, as his eyes narrowed as a familiar figure took the podium next to Kara.
"Thank you all for coming today, I have a couple of announcements today, but let us start with the main reason we are gathered today, to introduce the newest member of the Seven." Stan Edgar gave a wide smile that was clearly just for show as he gestured to Kara who started to float off the ground but as he turned back to the camera there was a glint in his eyes "Ladies and gentlemen let me introduce, Power Girl…now any questions?"
The room was filled with the flashing of cameras and dozens of reporters trying to ask questions all at once. Lois turned to look at Clark but blinked as she found that he was suddenly gone, a small shifting of air along with an open window the only indication that he had suddenly left. However, it didn't take long to figure out where he had headed as barely a second passed before Lois' eyes shot back to the press conference. Clark appeared on the screen in his full Superman Costume, hovering in the air next to Kara as a blast of air accompanied his sudden arrival
"Ah, who better to introduce their newest team members than their own cousin, Superman" Stan Edgar's words caused a few seconds of silence in the room before it exploded again into camera flashes and questions being hurled at the stage. "Ladies and Gentleman, Superman and Power Girl, the next era and the hope of tomorrow."