For those wondering why I haven't added your characters to the fic yet, it's because instead of just slapping your name on a random guard and calling it a day, I'm planning to make you a memorable part of the story. I don't want it to be some offhanded name mention that feels totally out of place.
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"No, please, please! I have a family!" Fernandez begged.
His gun clicked empty. The entire magazine was already spent on the bloodied, calm boy walking toward him. Fernandez was easily towering the boy, but standing in front of a supe of this caliber, he had never felt smaller. Dropping the useless weapon, Fernandez threw his hands into the air, his whole body trembling.
He wanted to run, but his legs were rooted to the floor by pure terror. It felt as if the invisible hands of his dead colleagues were reaching up from the blood, anchoring his ankles, dragging him down to join them.
The bloodied boy stepped right into his space. Slowly, calmly, he reached out his arms, wrapping one behind Fernandez's back and the other around his shoulders, as he rested his face on his chest, drawing the terrified guard into a tight, quiet embrace.
"I really, really miss my mother," the boy whispered, his voice completely hollow. "I don't know why I do what I do. I just feel so alone... some days I feel so lonely I could cry if I could cry. But I don't. I never do. Because what would be the point? Not a single person in the entire universe would care."
The boy's grip tightened, the crushing pressure slowly beginning to increase against Fernandez's ribs.
"N... no..."
Inside the far corner of the holding cell, Starlight stood frozen. She could hear the chaotic noise and the screams right through the heavy door. She muffled her own breathing as hard as she could, her heart hammering against her ribs, until suddenly, the screaming stopped.
A set of wet, heavy footsteps started getting closer and closer. Then, they stopped right outside.
A sharp, deafening sound exploded through room causing her to cover her ears as the outer handle was deformed, crushing the metal like tinfoil. Before she could even gasp, a high-pitched, agonizing SKREEEECH tore through the room. The deadbolt and strike plate inside the frame were pulverized, spitting metal shrapnel inward.
When she opened her eyes, she was staring directly at her worst nightmare.
Standing right in front of her was the monster that had mercilessly slaughtered and tortured her childhood crush and friend. She had burned with a desire to avenge him once.
But now? Looking at the raw, terrifying power radiating off him, she realized there was absolutely nothing she could do. The vengeful fire inside her instantly evaporated, replaced by a hollow, paralyzing dread of what about to come next.
"Starlight?"
The sheer shock of hearing her name caught her completely off guard. Paralyzed by fear, her voice acted on pure survival instinct, "Yes?."
The bloodied boy extended his right arm, offering a sticky, crimson-stained palm for a handshake. Starlight hesitated, her chest heaving as she stared at the fresh blood coating his skin, before she slowly, reached out and took his hand.
"I'm Aldrich," he said. "Tell Hughie that I owe him nothing anymore. Tell MM I'm sorry. And tell Butcher...…I said fuck him."
"Y-You... you know Hughie?" she choked out, her eyes wide with a desperate, confused hope. "How do you even know I know them? Did Hughie send you? Did he send you to save me?"
"I smelled him all over you," Aldrich said. "And no, he didn't send me. I have my own thing to take care of today. But I owed him a debt. Might as well clear the ledger while I'm here."
From the quiet security of his monitors in his office, Stan Edgar observed the collapse of Vought Tower and stocks in real time. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Miss January and her associates had far more cards up their sleeve than anyone had anticipated.
The Compound V leak. The smuggled supe terrorist on the coast. They had all been bait. It was a tactical perfect setup designed to get Vought to send their supes away, leaving the tower completely defenseless.
It was a remarkably elegant piece of bait, designed for him personally. They had dangled a shiny threat, and he, driven entirely by his need to control the situation and stop the CIA from acquiring the smuggled supe, had taken it hook, line, and sinker.
But no matter how much he thought about it, there was still one thing Edgar could not understand.
How? And why?
How was a ragtag group of four ordinary humans and Starlight able to procure the help of such a powerful supe? Billy Butcher's crude, disorganized cell of four baseline humans and one disillusioned corporate defector like Starlight should not have this kind of leverage.
This Leviathan was not some Russian or communist threat. Vought had completely made that story up for the public, and Edgar had personally checked their deep-black records multiple times to be certain.
Why would he do any of this? What had Vought ever even done to him?
The boy possessed a level of power second only to, or maybe even equal to Homelander or Vanguard. And yet, he wasn't running. He had to know that those two would be back at the tower any second now.
"Come in," Edgar called out, breaking away from his thoughts.
The door opened, and the bloodied boy stood there on the threshold. Edgar had already dismissed all his guards and assistants from the upper floors; there was no need for unnecessary bloodshed. Edgar knew what mindless killers looked like, and he could tell this boy was something else entirely.
"Please, have a seat," Edgar said, calmly sliding a box of tissues across the his desk.
Aldrich stepped further into the room, his bare feet leaving sticky, red prints across the expensive floor. He pulled out the chair and sat down directly across from Edgar.
"I would have poured you a drink," Edgar started, a small, polite smile appearing on his face. "But you seem a bit underage. Your name is Aldrich, right? Is that a German name?"
"Why didn't you run or hide? Aren't you afraid I will kill you?"
"There is zero chance I will die today," Edgar replied smoothly. "Of that, I am entirely certain."
"What makes you so sure?" Aldrich asked, tilting his head. "What if I didn't even want to kill you, but now I do it simply to prove you wrong?"
Edgar didn't flinch. He leaned back in his chair, his eyes locking onto the boy's.
"Because I've studied your pattern, Aldrich. From the very first moment you appeared back in Hertfort, you killed a man named Michael Myers simply because you wanted his phone and his money. What followed just collateral damage. But you didn't flee after that. No, you went and visited his widow, Sarah. You didn't harm her. You just wanted her to teach you how to use the phone, and how to get food. And even after she alerted Vought to your location, you still didn't kill her."
Edgar paused, letting the words hang in the air before continuing.
"Then, you broke into one of our administrative facilities with Billy Butcher. You had two of my guards cornered. You could have killed them yourself, or you could have easily let Butcher pull the trigger. But you didn't. You let them go.
You see, Aldrich, I know mindless killers. And you are not one.
I think you're just a child who awakened his powers, and it resulted in a tragic accident. Somehow, you reached the conclusion that attacking Vought will fix whatever happened. Let me tell you this, it won't. If I die, someone else just takes my place. If you destroy this tower, ten more will be built.
But you won't destroy it. Because despite whatever is haunting you, you have shown far greater control than supes who are actually supposed to be trained and restrained.
I can help you, Aldrich. If you let me."
Sonic booms ripped through the clouds as the three figures tore through the sky, pushing their flight to the absolute limit. Homelander, Stormfront, and Vanguard were a blur of terrifying speed, rushing back to New York.
"Homelander!" Stormfront shouted over the deafening roar of the rushing wind.
"WHAT?!" Homelander snapped back, his voice thick with frustration and annoyance. But beneath the anger, deep down in his chest, it wasn't just ordinary fear. It was terror. Pure, suffocating terror.
"Let me talk to him first!" Stormfront shouted, her voice thick with desperation.
She was interested in Aldrich, more than interested, she was completely obsessed. He had defeated Homelander, the "most powerful being on the planet," making him beg and crawl in the dirt. To her, this boy wasn't a threat to be destroyed.
He and Erasmus were two sides of the same coin, the ubermensch, the perfect realization of what a supe was actually supposed to be.
And even better, he was a total blank slate. He had no loyalty to Vought, no corporate handlers, and no rules. He wasn't bound to a father like Erasmus was. She didn't want to fight him at all; she wanted to give him a purpose.
Homelander went quiet as he thought about it. For the first time in his life, he wasn't flying into a confrontation as the overwhelming force. He was flying toward a monster who had already humiliated him, beaten him, and almost killed him.
He was trying to convince himself that it would be different this time. It had to be. He wasn't alone. He had Stormfront, and more importantly, he had his son.
But deep inside, an all-out fight was the last thing he wanted. He was a god, and gods weren't supposed to bleed. What if he got permanently injured? What if his beautiful boy got hurt? Or even worse?
The mere thought of Vanguard being mutilated or killed by that coward made his stomach turn. He wanted to turn around. He wanted to fly away. But he couldn't.
He just kept his eyes glued to the distant, smoking spire of Vought Tower, his heart hammering against his ribs as they closed the distance.
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Hey everyone! The author here.
I wanted to let you know that I've officially set up a Patreon. If anyone feels like supporting me and the story, you can check it out! Just a heads-up: there won't be any advanced chapters or special perks locked behind a paywall. It is strictly a tip jar for pure donations if you want to support my writing journey.
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Go to patreon . com and search for my username: Abysswalker22
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