Breaking into the hospital wasn’t particularly difficult, especially with all the experience Butcher had under his belt.
Breaking into heavily guarded facilities and slipping into places where he wasn’t supposed to be was the kind of experience you didn’t forget after only a couple of years.
The same could be said for M.M.
Finding the restricted area was even easier.
All they had to do was steal a nurse’s access badge and walk into a room that was off-limits to unauthorized personnel.
The important thing was to act like they belonged there long enough to buy themselves some time.
After that, they just needed to get out before security arrived.
“Just like the good old days, huh?” Billy grinned.
“Better shut up. I already feel sick enough,” M.M. muttered, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.
He had a bad feeling about all of this.
That was how things always went with Butcher.
Someone always ended up suffering, and this time would probably be no different.
“Fine, stop whining. We’ll take what we came for and get the hell out,” Billy said, frowning as he looked around.
His eyes immediately landed on a baby lying inside a transparent neonatal incubator.
The infant was hooked up to an IV containing Compound V.
It was the only baby in the room, although the presence of five more empty incubators made it obvious that this wasn’t the first child to go through something like this.
Butcher stared at the blue liquid in the IV bag and tried to estimate how much Compound V was being pumped into the child’s veins.
Even Popclaw had already started losing her mind from a relatively small dose of the stuff.
Who the hell could survive something like this?
“They’re pumping that shit straight into their veins… Fucking hell,” Butcher muttered succinctly as he followed the tube with his eyes.
At that exact moment, the baby opened its eyes.
Two blue beams shot from them and struck the ceiling, making both men recoil in shock.
Fortunately, the incubator appeared to be made from something considerably stronger than ordinary glass.
It withstood the direct blast without breaking.
“So this is God’s work, huh?” Butcher spat, staring at the infant with disgust.
“These little bastards are being manufactured in a laboratory.”
“Butcher, take what we came for and let’s get out of here,” M.M. interrupted him before the half-mad bastard could decide to strangle the baby like it was a toddler-sized Hitler.
“Yeah, yeah. Give me a second.”
Butcher looked around and spotted a collection of syringes and a container used for collecting blood samples.
“That’ll do.”
The whole thing took less than a minute.
They didn’t need much, only a little less than half the container they had brought with them.
It would be more than enough to prove that Vought was involved in creating superheroes and conducting illegal experiments aimed at altering human DNA.
“That’s it. We’re leaving,” Butcher said with a grunt, casting one last glance at the baby.
“Hey!”
A shout came from behind them, giving the two men barely a second to find cover.
Gunfire erupted.
Glass shattered behind them as they barely managed to duck behind a pillar.
Thankfully, the pillar was thick enough to keep their bodies from being turned into Swiss cheese.
“Draw their attention,” Butcher ordered.
M.M. nodded grimly.
He pulled out his gun and started firing at the guards.
At the same time, Billy reached for the incubator’s power cable and yanked it from the outlet.
“Watch and learn,” he said to his confused partner, holding up the plug before giving it another hard pull.
The incubator began sliding toward them.
The guards were momentarily distracted, and that was all the time Butcher needed.
The incubator finally made it behind the pillar, allowing Butcher to grab the baby.
He held the infant facing outward so he wouldn’t end up being barbecued himself.
That was the fate he had in mind for the guards.
With a shameless grin, Butcher stepped out from behind the pillar, ready to give them a little surprise.
“And what happens next, William?” Homelander asked with a smile as he stood surrounded by unconscious guards.
“You gonna make it burp on me?”
“He has a much more suitable trick in his arsenal,” Butcher replied with an almost disturbingly insane grin. Get faster updates on g.com.
Then he shook the baby.
Blue beams immediately shot from the infant’s eyes and struck Homelander directly in the chest.
They tried desperately to burn through his body, but the beams accomplished absolutely nothing.
Much to Billy’s annoyance, the blond superhero simply watched with interest.
“Not bad. The little one’s got potential,” Homelander said with a warm smile.
“Looks like we have a pretty good replacement growing up here… assuming nobody gives her a bad influence.”
He gently stroked the baby’s cheek.
The infant stared at the strange man in front of her in complete bewilderment.
Homelander’s eyes shifted toward the pistol M.M. was pointing at him.
“Maybe you should put the baby back?”
Butcher narrowed his eyes.
For a long moment, he stared directly into Homelander’s eyes without blinking.
Homelander continued smiling, showing no irritation at having to wait.
Eventually, Billy nodded and carried the baby back to the incubator himself.
“What now?” M.M. asked, tightening his grip on his gun.
It was painfully obvious that the two sides weren’t even remotely equal.
A firearm wasn’t going to help them here.
“I need to change my suit,” Homelander sighed, glancing down at the scorched fabric.
“Oh, we’re terribly sorry,” Butcher replied with obvious sarcasm.
Homelander looked him directly in the eyes.
“You know, yesterday I thought you were scared. I thought you were terrified when you saw me, and that your heart was about to burst out of your chest.”
He paused.
“But now… now I see that wasn’t fear.”
His smile widened.
“No. It was rage. You wanted nothing more than to tear me apart.”
His eyes began glowing red.
“How… unusual.”
“Come on, you little shit,” Billy growled with a vicious grin.
“Butcher?” M.M. called out uneasily.
There was no desire whatsoever in his voice to find out what Homelander’s laser vision felt like.
The red glow in Homelander’s eyes intensified, promising a quick but excruciating death.
M.M. accepted his fate and quietly closed his eyes.
He could already feel the heat against his skin.
This wasn’t how he’d imagined he would die.
When I returned to the festival, I noticed someone standing away from the others.
My vision easily told me that the girl wasn’t doing particularly well.
Apparently, being honest had been harder on the young woman than she’d expected.
She still depended heavily on the public’s opinion of her, after all.
I landed quietly behind her, making sure she heard me.
Starlight froze like a rabbit that had just heard a predator approaching.
I smiled and wrapped my arms around her from behind, pulling her against me.
She didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.
“Bad performance?” I asked, gently rubbing her shoulders.
She relaxed slightly beneath my touch.
“I just… really let Mom down,” Annie breathed, overwhelmed by everything she was feeling.
“Her friends were there. People she knew… and I stood in front of everyone and said I didn’t believe in all this… bullshit.”
She suddenly turned around and looked me straight in the eyes.
“Am I a terrible daughter? She isn’t going to have a heart attack from being so embarrassed by me, is she?”
“I certainly hope not,” I said with a smile at her ridiculous joke.
If it made her feel even a little better, why not play along?
“How are you feeling?”
“Surprisingly good. Actually, I feel great,” she said with a smile.
“What else could I do? I couldn’t just leave a beautiful girl like you in trouble.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. You weren’t even there,” she said, lightly punching me in the chest.
“Maybe not. But I’m here now, Annie.”
I grinned and pulled her closer by the waist, looking into her eyes, which were still glistening with restrained tears.
The girl suddenly leaned toward me and kissed me before I could make the first move.
I decided to enjoy the moment.
My hands slipped from her waist to her firm buttocks, squeezing them gently in my palms.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go any further.
The timing simply wasn’t right.
I had to admit that I was still a complete amateur when it came to romance.
Most of what I relied on came from natural instincts and the limited experience I’d gained in my previous life.
Relying on Homelander’s memories wasn’t much help either.
Most of what he’d learned about romance had come from movies and television shows, which weren’t exactly the best source of information.
In the end, Starlight flew through the night sky with me for the first time.
It could almost have been called romantic.
Almost.
The freezing air at that altitude ruined any chance of that.
By the time we landed, the blonde could barely speak because her teeth were chattering so badly.
She was far more sensitive to the cold than Maeve, whom Homelander usually flew around with.
Annie accepted my apology for the uncomfortable flight, then hugged me tightly.
I suspected she was doing it partly to warm herself up.
After that, she headed home to her rented apartment.
I stayed outside for a while before eventually making my way toward Vought Tower.
I didn’t enter immediately.
Instead, I stood near the entrance, where my eyes inevitably settled on the statue of Soldier Boy.
He was pointing away from the tower, a Thompson submachine gun held in his hands.
He was dressed almost exactly like a soldier, except for the mask covering his face.
Not that the mask actually concealed much.
He had died in ’82 and had been considered the strongest superhero in the world before Homelander appeared.
The funny part was that he had already been seventy years old at the time.
Yet there had been absolutely no visible change in his appearance since his first appearances on the country’s television screens.
He had supposedly died while saving the world from a nuclear catastrophe.
But something about that story bothered me.
More specifically, the year of his death.
That was the same year America’s Favorite, the Strongest and Greatest Superhero, and an absolute fraud in practice, Homelander, was born.
I had no idea exactly what Soldier Boy had done to piss off Vought.
But if the company had managed to get rid of even him…
It was probably a good idea to stay cautious.
I gave a quiet grunt, then shot straight into the sky and immediately headed out of the city.
I landed near a forest, directly in front of the country house I’d purchased not long ago.
It wasn’t exactly isolated from civilization, but the endless noise of the city was nowhere to be heard, not even with Homelander’s enhanced hearing.
It was the perfect place to train Ryan’s abilities before we eventually moved into the quiet little town where I’d already bought another house.
Still, I needed to make absolutely certain that the boy wouldn’t hurt anyone while learning to control himself.
I really didn’t want things to follow the same path as that movie I’d watched in my previous life.
As I remembered it, the boy with Superman’s powers eventually went insane and started brutally killing everyone who had ever wronged him, beginning with complete strangers and eventually turning on his own parents.
I didn’t need that kind of future.
I really didn’t want to have to snap my own… son’s neck.
I gave another dissatisfied grunt at the unpleasant thought, then entered the house and headed for the bedroom.
Once I had taken off the uncomfortable suit, I finally went to sleep.
I needed to get plenty of rest.
Tomorrow was going to be extremely busy, and much of that workload was thanks to my own actions.
Big changes were coming.
And this was only the beginning.