×Chapter 5×Among The Ants

~~~~

*The Boys Universe*

*Great Country America*

*Hughie's House*

."Billy Butcher, nice to meet ya mate."Butcher said with a slight smirk on his face.

Haile also held out his hand accepting the handshake."Haile Supreme, good meeting you as well."He said with a calm smile on his face.

Highie looked at this scene shocked, he glanced back and forth between Haile and Butcher.'Why didn't I get a handshake.'He thought.

Haile and Butcher continued to shake hands with smiles, till eventually Butcher grimaced slightly and withdrew his hand first.

."A young strong chap aren't ya, come along then, could use ya just incase shite gets bloody."Butcher said casually, then he glanced at Hughie."Good work lad."

Hughie nodded, then he looked at Haile and mouthed thank you, Haile just smiled."Alright, so lead the way then my guy Butcher."He said.

."Well, follow me."Butcher said as he took off leading the way with Haile and Hughie following closely behind him.

Soon after walking for a quick bit through town they came to a dark and cold alley way, Hughie while nervous just stuck close to Haile who seemed calm.

Butcher glanced around before going up to a door, Hughie opened his mouth to say something but Haile placed a finger on his lips.

*Bang*

*Bang*

*Bang*

Butcher heavily knocked on the door, not even a second after a slide flap on the door opened and a man peeked through with aggrieved eyes.

Butcher smirked."Harry, got your message, and quite thankful you for being an upstanding citizen."He said with obvious mocking.

."This is police brutality, an abuse of power, you have any idea what they'll do to me if they found out about me letting you in."The door Keeper said legitimately worried for his life.

Haile smiled gently."Don't worry about all that, you'll be fine, let us through."He said with a collected tone that carried a strange sort of majesty and charm.

The door keeper's eyes widened as his jaws dropped, he glanced at Butcher then back at Haile."Are you, i-is he a, no, I-I didn't!."He was frightened as he saw Haile.

Butcher glanced at Haile who shrugged, then he looked back the door keeper."You don't need to know, are we in?."He said with a stern expression.

."Y-yes, please don't kill me sir."The door keeper said scared as he opened the door, whether it was directed to Butcher or Haile was unknown and unneeded.

With that Butcher entered with a smiling Haile and a nervous Hughie, the door keeper kept his head low as he discretely followed them just to keep an eye.

Walking futher they saw people drinking and having fun but the very first scene was already quite shocking and completely different than what both Haile and Hughie expected.

."Now this is something else."Haile said with a bit of surprise but his smile remained unaltered.

Hughie on the other hand was stunned silly, up in the air were floating people having sex in the ceiling, but even more shocking was that they were all heroes.

.""Holy Shit"".

Butcher glanced at Haile then Hughie."Holy shit indeed, but try not to let your ballslessness be shown and blend in alright lad."He said as he strut forward calmly, his walk had a peculiar style and riddim to it.

Haile and Hughie followed him, but this time Hughie was even closer to Haile almost touching."W-what is this place, are these all..?."He said letting the last line trail off.

."Damn right they are, this is the only place where the supes can scratch their filthy herpes like itch without the paparats taking snaps."Butcher said calm and in a low voice.

At the same time Haile noticed a small little man on the table running towards a woman with open legs, safe to say they were having fun.

.'Interesting, I might have to try that with the girls back home, Aika'll love that for sure.'Haile thought with intrigue as his smile widened a bit, he didn't really see the problem with all this, just people having fun.

Hughie on the other hand was looking at someone different with shock, a blonde haired man sitting with a cloud-walking-hippie-experiencing look, he held the head of a man next to him and brought it down to his lap.

."No way, that's Ezekiel."Hughie said, he patted Haile's arms with a flustered expression as he motioned to the blondy called Ezekiel.

Suddenly Ezekiel's body did a weird stretching and flexy movement as his top half grew long as it passed them headed to two men sitting on the opposite side of the room.

On the way Ezekiel glanced over at Haile and paused."Oh, hey, care to join me to a feast worthy of Gods?."He asked Haile as he gazed him up and down.

."Nah I'm good, not into whatever you have going on, enjoy though."Haile said casually as he placed his hand behind his back magnifying his handsome and dignified Visage.

Ezekiel stared at him for a bit more before he nodded, he thought that if Haile were a normal human he could've just force himself on him.

In Ezekiel's mind he saw Haile as another super so he didn't want to do anything dangerous since he doesn't know of Haile's power.

So he chose the smartest option and backed off, he looked at the two men he was going towards and suddenly felt like they lacked something.

Ezekiel unstretched himself as he closed his eyes, at the same time he was very high so he simply dosed off.

Butcher stood in thought for a moment before he continued motioning the other's to followed him as he allowed his mind to circulate.

Soon the three arrive somewhere in the back, away from the crazy party going on out front, the door keeper man that was following them from the shadows came out and brought them to a room.

It was so routine that Haile and even Hughie knew that it happened many times before, especially with Butcher's complete lack of surprise when the door keeper began scrolling through the footage.

Haile seeing this couldn't help but chuckle."No one is ever safe it seems, there's always that one cowered that sells them out."He said casually as he smiled.

The door keeper cleared his throat with embarrassment feeling that the jab was thrown at him."Sir I-I'm a victim."He said almost wanting to cry.

Same as everyone else he believed that Haile was a supe, the man was just so perfect after all, only the supes were perfect like that.

Of course not all supes were perfect as he and many others clearly knew, but if someone had to be perfect then it would definitely be a supe, normal humans couldn't match it.

Butcher glanced at Haile from the corner of his eyes as he squinted just slightly.'Look at this, all seem to consider this chap a supe, maybe we could use that couldn't we.'He thought as a smirk appeared on his face.

He then looked back at the computer."There stop, that's it right there."He said calmly as he saw A-Train sitting in a private booth drinking by himself.

."What, w-wait A-Train is here right now, is he here!."Hughie said jittery, he looked over to Haile with a pleading expression, his eyes were desperate and wanted revenge.

Butcher shook his head."Don't get ahead of yourself lad, this is from last night."He said, then he patted the door keeper's shoulder."Turn it up, full."

At the same time on the footage another man joined A-Train, he wore a mask, an underwear and a nightgown like shirt.

.""*I can't believe you ran through a bitch*"".

The masked man spoke casually like he wasn't talking about the murder of someone, Hughie suddenly felt sick to his stomach as his eyes held disbelief.

.""*You wanna hear something crazy, I ran so fast through this bitch that I swallowed one of her molars, like a bug on the fucking freeway*"".

.""*Dude, that's nasty*"".

Both A-Train and the mask man looked at each other for a moment, before they both broke out into a sudden bout of laughter.

Haile glanced at Hughie, he could see from his expression the fury that he felt, the seething rage.

."Look at that, that's yours they're laughing at, took yours now laugh, wonder what you'll do about it."Butcher said calmly as he glanced at Hughie.

Hughie clenched his teeth as he stared at the footage, then he looked up at Haile.

~~

*Vought Tower*

Vought Tower, the headquarters of the greatest and only superhero company in the entire world, it is a place where only the strongest of hoes could come and go at will.

Also the stronghold of the greatest 7, the bravest, the most righteous, the most bulshit worthy group of heroes, The Seven.

It was made up of Black Noir, The Deep, Queen Maeve, Translucent, A-Train, Homelander their leader and their very new edition after their former member Lamplighter "retired", Starlight.

Starlight was definitely more than excited to start her journey as the newest member of the prestigious family, The Seven.

*Vomit*

.""AGhhghH"".

In the bathroom starlight could be seen hunched over the toilet bowl vomiting our every single thing she ate that day and futher.

Today which was supposed to be her brightest and most exciting day, turned out to be...not so great.

First day of her arrival she was already sextual harassed by her childhood crush growing up, The Deep, it completely turned her entire world upside down.

She thought heroes were supposed to be kind, righteous and heroic, but she couldn't be more wrong about The Deep, he forced her to service his lower half.

And now she couldn't live with herself, Starlight stood up, her face a complete mess with mascara and makeup smudged from her tears.

Flushing the toilet she walked out only to see Queen Maeve using the sink, she paused for a moment feeling deep shame, but she continued on going next to her to wash her hands.

Queen Maeve glanced over at her and appeared to hesitate for a moment before she took up some tissue and held it out to Starlight.

."Clean yourself up."Queen Maeve said as Starlight took it."Never let them see you like this, we're perfect."

After saying that Queen Maeve turned to leave before she paused and glanced to a particular corner."Translucent you're a Goddamn pervert."She said before walking out.

By some curious standing pee cubicles in the women's bathroom a man suddenly appeared from thin air naked as the day he was born.

Starlight glanced back and immediately turned back around with horror.

The man was Translucent the invisible man, he appeared speechless as he smiled."Uh, I'll just go."He said not even bothering to cover his junk as he walked away.

."*Sigh*."Starlight looked at herself in the mirror."What have I gotten myself into, can I really do this."

Starlight stared into her own eyes, eventually she smacked her own cheeks with firm determination."This is what you've always wanted since a little girl, come on Starlight."She said, then the next second her face turned green.

She quickly rushed back over to the toilet and vomited again."AgggG, no I can't do it."She said giving up again, tears streamed down her face.

~~

*Random Bar*

After that little bout of shock, the three decided to settle the days business in a bar, of course Haile didn't refuse free drinks on Butcher, he was broke after all.

Hughie on the other hand was finding it difficult to come to terms with everything he just witnessed, he looked at Butcher."They're all like that, really, even, even, homelander?."He asked, his eyes holding some disbelief.

Butcher took a breath."Homelander is...the exception, doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, never even took a shit on the pavement, a Saint really."He said calmly but his mind seemed occupied by something else.

Meanwhile Haile was seated in the corner as he drank some alcohol, he wanted to cry a little though, it was too weak to even tickle his bladder, even without his power.

."A disappointment."Haile murmured with that very same disappointment in his eyes, he'd once tasted the liquor of Gods, how could mortal alcohol affect him after that.

He shook his head as he smiled downing the glass in one, he then looked at Butcher who pretended not to feel his gaze.

Butcher cleared his throat and pulled out a set of documents out his ass as he placed them on the table to direct the flow.

And it worked, the documents caught Haile's eyes as it did Hughie."What are these?."Hughie asked confused.

."Police log, from the day that Robin got murdered, couple of bar fights, a few cars got nicked, but guess what's not in there."Butcher said casually."No bank alarms going off."

Hughie tilted his head slowly as he stared at the documents."No bank robbery, then why?."He said even more confused.

."Obviously it's a cover up, maybe he had something to hide, or maybe he was just trying to cover up Robin's death."Haile said calmly, he could see several options.

Butcher clicked his tongue in approval."There we go, the bastards are up to no good, someone is hiding something deep."He said sitting forward."Why couldn't he stop, what was in the bag he had, was he running from someone?."

."Or running to someplace, you feel we can find out what he was up too?."Hughie said in thought.

Butcher smirked."Bingo, now I know you want to help badly don't you, revenge for Robin."He said a bit ominously.

Haile glanced at him, he knew the type like Butcher, but what does it matter to him, he would do the same if he had no choice.

."Yes, of course I want to help, b-but how can I help."Hughie asked awkwardly and a bit confused on how he could help this case.'Could I help the Fbi?'.

Butcher's smirk widened."Here's the plan, Ring Vought, say you'll take the money, sign the NDA, but only if A-Train is there when you do it."He said.

."Why does A-Train need to be there?."Hughie asked uncomfortable, he'd rather not see the man right now and do something he may regret.

Butcher held up a finger."Cause they'll take you into the Seven Tower, Vought, through security where you'll plant a bug, we'll have a little listen."He said with a smile.

."Wait, wait wait, A-am I James bond now, you can't seriously want me to infiltrate THE Seven Tower, BY myself."Hughie said exasperated and distressed.

Butcher clapped his hands softly."You catch on quick, exactly, you're goddamn right, I can't do it but you can, a simple Fbi Warrant isn't enough to get into that place."He said.

."N-no I'm not some kind cool infiltrator guy, my favorite song is about silence, I can't do this, I'm just going to fuck it up as usual, I'll be dead and you'd be at square one."Hughie said shaking his head violently.

Butcher sighed, then he glanced at Haile."...You know what, I just might have another plan, how about you have some help Hughie."He said with an odd underlying tone.

."Someone, who..?."Hughie asked as he followed Butcher's eyes and they both looked at Haile who glanced back.

Haile smiled."Me, what do I have to do with any of this, as far as I know, no one of mine have been killed by them."He said as he played with the glass on his table."I really have no reason to take on something this dangerous."

."You might not have the same conviction as Hughie, but you definitely have a reason, I know you are not very welcomed here, in America I mean."Butcher said casually as he cleaned his fingernails and flicked away the dirt.

Haile's smile dropped slightly as a cold light shun in his eyes."Forgive me for asking, even though I've probably misheard I still want to make sure, but, are you threatening me?."He said, his playful tone all but gone.

Hughie shivered as he ducked his head a bit, he got an instant flashback of when Haile tested him and stopped his punch with his pinky.

."Chap chap, we're on the same side here, I want the best for all of us, the only way that could happen is if we succeed."Butcher said with a serious expression as he stared Haile straight in the eyes.

Right now Haile's rage was building up slowly but surely, usually something like this wouldn't bother him as all ants big and small were just that in his eyes, ants.

But the very fact that the ants could now threaten him and actually prove themselves an actual threat, it frustrated him to no end.

Even back when he was the Supreme General of the Hevsue Empire, not many would dare say anything to him face to face, let alone when he became a God.

He was not one to fall into the divine grandeur of arrogance and narcissism, but a certain pride surely came with the great status and power.

So now with his sudden bout of powerlessness, and mortal beings that he could've once ignored with their baseless talks actually having the power to fight him.

Anyone would be irked by this, Haile sighed.'Is this a test father, is this to show me something, or maybe, have I gotten too comfortable?.'He thought as his eyes glowed golden.