Chapter 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.
Chapter 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."