KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
Butcher hammered his fist against the slab of rusted metal. A moment later, the heavy slide of a bolt, and the door creaked open.
"Morning, love. Frenchie about?" Butcher asked, already trying to look past her.
She didn't move out of the way. Instead, she looked at Hughie, then her blue eyes locked onto me. She didn't blink. She reached out a hand, her fingers brushing the burn scar on my cheek.
I could sense some pity, way less than the usual, but it was still something.
She went back inside without a word. Hughie looked at Butcher, terrified, and I looked at him as well. These people didn't seem normal.
Going inside, my auditory senses were assaulted by a loud, annoying sound, making me cover my ears.
"Frenchie! Oi, Frenchie!"
Thankfully, the human female turned the noise off.
The man named Frenchie looked at Butcher and said something in a language I couldn't understand.
"This is a surprise," he said, his accent thick and annoying. "Good to see you, mon ami."
"Good to see you too, mate," Butcher replied, his voice dripping with fake warmth.
Fake warmth. I dislike it. It tastes like nothing, if nothing ever had a taste.
"Are you here to pay me the forty thousand dollars you borrowed? Why else would I see your face?"
"Because I've got something better. How'd you like to double your money?"
The idea seemed interesting to them, as both began fake laughing after that.
"Double of zero is still zero," Frenchie snapped, his eyes moving to us. "Who are they?"
Double of zero is still zero. Noted.
"This is Hughie Campbell. We're on a job together."
"A job?" Frenchie's eyes narrowed as they landed on me. "And the petit? The kid?"
"The kid? He's Hughie's cousin," Butcher lied without a second of hesitation. The ease of it shocked Hughie, and even me, for a second.
"WHAT? HE ISNT MY COUSIN! I DONT EVEN KNOW HIS NAME!" Hughie shouted, finally snapping out of his daze.
Butcher didn't look embarrassed. He just let out a long, heavy sigh and cursed under his breath, looking at Hughie like he was a fresh disappointment he was unfortunately stuck with.
Frenchie looked at me, then back at Butcher. His face hardened. "You bring a child to a place like this, Butcher? Into our world? that's a new low even for you"
"Stow the lecture, Frenchie," Butcher snapped, dismissive. "The kid's a Supe. And he's the only reason Hughie's brains aren't currently decorating a shop front."
Frenchie's eyes went wide. He looked at me with a look of pure, vibrating horror, grabbing his coat and jerking him forward.
"You bring a Supe here? Into my home?" Frenchie's voice hit a frantic, high-pitched frequency. "He could be chipped! Vought tactical teams could have already locked onto this location because of you!"
The female didn't wait to hear the rest. She snatched a gun from the workbench and went out the back door to check the perimeter.
"Calm down, mate," Butcher said, his voice flat and steady. "That's another reason why I need your help. He was a stray. We both know Vought don't put trackers on all their freaks, just the expensive money cows. But I need you to check him anyway, just in case. Now stop freaking around. Do you want to know what the job is or not?"
We followed him out into the humid, oil filled air of the alleyway. Butcher led the way with that arrogant, heavy stride, while Hughie trailed behind like a man walking to his own execution.
Butcher stopped at the rear of the car. He didn't look at the neighborhood; he looked at Frenchie.
"Open it," Butcher said.
"Who is in there?" Frenchie asked.
"Where's your sense of adventure, Frenchie?" Butcher grinned, pulling out a cattle prod and dangling the car keys.
Frenchie took the car keys and used them to open the trunk. As soon as it opened, Frenchie was met with a storm of shouting and insults from the empty air in the truck.
"You dumb fucks are fucking dead! Have you any" Translucent's voice roared from the seemingly empty trunk.
Before he could finish, Butcher shoved the cattle prod into the air where the voice came from. A crackle of blue electricity filled the trunk, and Translucent screamed as he was knocked back into unconsciousness.
Frenchie, pale and shocked, realized who was in the trunk. He placed his hands on his head. "That's Translucent. You've got Translucent in your trunk!"
"Nothing gets past you, mate," Butcher said, his voice flat.
Click.
Frenchie placed the gun again, this time pressing the barrel hard up under Butcher's chin.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Hughie shouted, stumbling back in terror. I just stood there. I didn't move. I wanted to see how he would talk his way out of a bullet.
"Go away! Get him out of here!"
"Alright, easy," Butcher said, his voice flat.
"He's chipped! The Supes could be on their way here right now. Homelander could be in the air! You bring this to my doorstep? This is not my problem!"
"Well, it is now," Butcher said, leaning into the gun instead of pulling away. "He's seen my face. He's seen Hughie's. And he's seen the kid."
Butcher looked him dead in the eye. "I need your help, and I'm not leaving until I get it."
The Deep stood on the dock, saltwater pooling at his boots. Behind him, the Vought recovery team in hazmat suits hoisted a black body bag onto a gurney.
He pulled out his phone, his wet thumb sliding over the screen before he finally hit the contact.
"Ashley?"
"Kevin, I am in the middle of a literal stroke," Ashley's voice screamed through the speaker. "Unless you have some god news, hang up."
"I found Wonder corpse," Deep said, watching the team zip the bag tight. "I've got him. They're bagging him now."
"Finally. Okay. Okay, we can work with this. Get him to the Tower. I'll call the vice president."
"Ashley, wait," Deep said, looking at the bag as the recovery team threw it into the back of a black van like it was empty luggage. "We might have a problem."
"What problem? He's dead, Kevin. That's the end of the problem."
"He's... he's empty. Ashley, there's nothing inside him. His rib cage was opened, there is no blood or heart. It was fucking disgusting. I threw up in the water; it was a fucking nightmare."
There was a long silence on the other end.
"Come to the Tower," she finally answered.