Chapter 8 Part 2: New Day, Information and Plan

Hideout

Frenchie was watching TV when Kimiko came and sat on the couch to watch the Shark Week documentary. "Mon coeur. Would you like me to change it?" He asks and she shakes her head 'no.'

"I wonder if she lived by the water?" Frenchie questions, then he had an idea. Going towards MM he say down and began to speak softly in order not to get his wife's attention. "You know, you can't fool me." The Frenchman started. "Who is she? What does she want? Why is she here?"

"Listen." Mother's Milk replies. "My life is fucked up and my marriage is falling apart. Those are the last things on my mind."

"But she could be the key to it all." Frenchie reasons.

"That's what you think, huh?" The former prison worker asks.

"It's true." Frenchie replies then adds. "It torments you. It's okay. Listen, I got one word for you. It's a surefire way to solve this puzzle." Pauses for dramatic effect. "Mesmer."

"Mesmer?" Mother's Milk repeats. "You want help from a Supe?"

"He despises Vought, hates them, hates the other Supes." Frenchie reminds him. "And the enemy of your enemy..." He trails off.

"It's a bad idea Frenchie." MM tells him.

"Oh, come on. It's a quick trip. In, out, boom, bing." Frenchie replies.

"Boom, bing?" MM questions then adds Look, I'll tell you what I can do. I can... possibly… maybe..." He trails off. "Tattoo "fuck no" on your ass."

"Daddy said a bad word!" Janine voice exclaimed from out of nowhere.

Frenchie and Mothers Milk look around shocked until they finally see her on the ceiling rafters. "Janine baby how'd you get up there?" The father asked with concern.

"When Wraith possesses me I can do cool things." Janine answers.

"Janine what are you doing up there?" Monique demands to know walking in and seeing her daughter too high.

"Hiding from Elena." She answers.

Speak of the Devil, said girl walks over and points up. "Found you."

Janine then let's go and flips down, much to the horror of her parents. Then when she lands Wraith comes out of her. "I can't believe you did this to us." She reminds her husband.

"Baby please." Mother's Milk tried to reply.

"Don't give me that crap about how you didn't want this." Monique tells him. "Cause if you didn't you should've told that British bastard no."

"That hurt." Butcher replied, announcing his presence. "And I thought we were all just starting to get along."

"Butcher you're back." Hughie said with excitement. "What'd she say?" The newbie wondered, hoping it was a yes.

"Yeah can we get them outta here?" MM asked too.

Butcher sighed. "No go." He told told disappointing them. "Unless..." He adds, getting their attention back, but doesn't finish.

"Unless what?" Hughie wonders.

"Unless." The Brit drags. "We find a way to stop Homelander or kill him." He informs them, fudging some of the facts.

"Butcher!" MM exclaimed.

"It wasn't my condition it was hers." Butcher tells them. "Without that it's too big a risk. Especially since Benji can't you know... finish the job if he could."

Multiple sounds of frustration and disappointment were then heard. "So what now?" Hughie asked.

Butcher smirked then told him. "You're (points to Hughie) coming with me." He orders as he starts to walk away. "Rest of you can fuck off for all I care." He adds as he and Hughie leave.

When they did Frenchie went back to MM. "He gave us the green light." He tells him.

"That's what you got from that?" MM questions.

"Green light for what?" Monique wants to know.

"You know..." Frenchie trails. "I've seen you eat ice cream."

"Oh, my God." MM groans.

"Ice Cream?" Monique questions.

"Chunky Monkey, I believe." Frenchie continues.

"Where is this going?" Elena asks Janine who shrugs her shoulders.

"Well, you know you take a spoonful... a chunk of fudge, perhaps." Frenchie keeps going. "But then I see you with the surface is uneven. So what do you do? You take another scoop, you try to even it out, which, tragically, creates a corresponding divot. Ultimately, there is only but one choice for you, no?" Frenchie explains, while eating the imaginary ice cream. "To consume the entire pint. No, you don't want to, you don't want to. But you must."

"And I tell you why, my friend, because you cannot bear things out of order." Frenchie tells him then pauses to gesture towards the Asian female. "And she... she's out of order."

As MM considers this argument Janine chimes in. "Are we getting ice cream?" She asks, not understanding what Frenchie was talking about.

"No sweetie." Monique tells her daughter. "We can't cause Daddy made it so we can't leave without having a target on our backs."

"Ok that's it!" Wraith pipes in. "Frenchie go with the girls to find Mesmer while I deal with the couple. MM is burned anyway so I don't know why you're asking."

"I was trying to be polite." Frenchie told him.

"Mesmer?" Elena asked. "He's doing a panel, with Shock Wave along with some 90's stars." She informs. Thanks to Chip she basically has a bunch of Vought events in her head."

"My daughter is not leaving this place unless it's by the CIA." Monique tells Wraith.

The ghost then floats towards Monique and narrows his eye. "Fine then she can sneak out by herself when she gets bored and definitely endanger herself."

After a few seconds to consider this Monique relents with a. "Fine." But then adds. "She better be safe."

"Relax mademoiselle Monique we're professionals." Frenchie tells her as everyone but Wraith, MM and Monique leave the hideout.

"Meet me here in twenty minutes." Wraith requests as he goes through a wall.

"And that's the least fucked up thing here." MM says.

With Ben

The ten year old was getting a candy bar from the gas station when he noticed something on the Television.

"So earlier today, you met Shifter is that right?" A talk show host asked the celebrity guest. The celebrity guest was Cardi B.

"That's right, he uh saved my daughter!" She answered, then explained how paparazzi's distracted her and scared her daughter to almost crossing the street.

"And how grateful are you for that?" The host asks.

"So so very grateful." The rapper answers. "If he asked for me to suck his dick I'd do it." She adds rolling her tongue to make an 'rrrrrr' sound.

"What about Offset?"

"I don't care he can join or grab a camera ha ha!" Cardi replies with a smile and getting a reaction from the crowd.

Ben then decides to take out his phone and types a few keys.

"Oh that's me sorry." Cardi says when an alert is sounded in her phone.

"Is it from Shifter?" The host asks with hope.

"It is!" Cardi replies excited. "He's saying no to the dick sucking but wants me to meet some fans. Maybe he wants me to suck their's." She tells the host then gets another alert. "Oops." She says. "Sorry I didn't know they were your daughters."

'Why would she think that?" Ben thinks, then realizes nobody knows his age and he messaged her that he knows some fans and then their ages and gender. He was gonna add that they weren't his daughters, they were just friends. But he got another message.

"Help!" A message read for his DM's. Ordinarily he'd ignore them since a few times people requested help just so they could meet him. But it was one of the girls from the Herogasm thing. So with one last message to Cardi B he rushed out, nearly forgetting to pay.

"What's going on?" Ben asks.

"Turns out me and a bunch of other girls got hired to entertain Jack from Jupiter." The message read. "Just him." Another. "He's a fucking sexist that thinks women are his personal servant and sex toys."

"Need an address." Ben requests then when he gets it asks for some time. With the Omnitrix being used so much he needed time to recharge.

With Butcher and Hughie

"All right. You want to tell me where we're going?" Hughie requested, as he Butcher were walking.

"You don't do it anymore." Butcher tells Hughie.

Curious as to what he was talking about Hughie asks. "What?"

"You know that feeling you get when you tip your chair back too far, and you catch yourself just before you fall?" Butcher replies.

"Yeah?" Hughie answered, not sure where he was going with this.

"You used to look like that all day long." The Brit tells him, then adds. "But now look at you, neck-deep in shit, cool as a cucumber." Pats his shoulder. "You ain't half the twat I thought you were, Hughie." He finishes with his version of a compliment.

"You know, you're always calling people "cunts" or "twats." But I just... I never really got how that's an insult?" Hughie replies. "They're flexible, take a pounding, and they're the reason behind, like, 98% of my life decisions." He adds.

"You're doing good, Hughie. And you're a good cunt." Butcher tells him as they arrive at their destination. "Well, here we are."

Confused that they were outside a church and knowing Butcher's stance on God Hughie replies. "Church?"

"Seek and ye shall find, me son. Come on." He instructs as they go inside.

Once inside they found themselves in a meeting of people who were considered by Vought as collateral damage. Like AA for supe victims. One woman in a wheelchair just finishing up about her experience involving Tek-Knight.

"Hi everyone I'm Seth." A guy who had no visual injuries greeted. "Many of you know about my uh injury down there." He begins while gesturing towards his crotch to indicate some idea. "Not exactly sure if I should say this but I can't say it anywhere else so um."

He seems to be nervous to speak until he finally says. "The Hero who did it to me and convinced Vought to pay for my surgery to uh replace it."

Pause.

"I just wanted to say thank you for your support, I'm lucky to have you and luckier then everyone here." He says with a bit of guilt, knowing that the other victims weren't injured by heroes more like Ice Princess.

"He should bloody thank the kid." Butcher whispers to Hughie, knowing he was responsible for her attitude adjustment. "But imagine what Starlight will do to ya when she finds out." He adds.

"You have something you'd like to share?" A woman asks, likely the head of the group.

"No, no. A-Apologies." Butcher say's. "Please do, uh, continue the sausage surgery." He adds.

"We don't make jokes or judgments here." The woman tells him. "Why don't you take the talking stick and tell us your story?" She requests.

"Nah, I'm good." Butcher replies with a hint of amusement.

"You know, I've seen guys like you before." She informs him.

"Oh, I seriously doubt that." Responds.

"The smirk, the jokes, it's all a defense mechanism." She lists off, likely using examples of her previous experience. "But you don't have to do that here. This is a safe space."

"I said I'm good." Butcher tells her, any sort of humor lost from his tone. "Time to move on."

"Go ahead, Seth. Give him the stick." She instructs Seth, who does just that.

But as he's about to pass it to Butcher, the brit rises up quickly with anger that his chair falls to the ground. "You, back off, or I'll shove this stick where your new dick is gonna be." He threatens with a murderous look and grabs the stick.

"You're a bunch of pathetic Supe-worshipping cunts." He tells the group. "I bet you'd thank a Supe if they shit on your mum's best china." He accuses. "Did it ever occur to you that they split your spine, chop your leg, or your arm or whatever the fuck just for a laugh?" He asks.

"Where's your fucking rage?! Your self-respect?!" He demands to know. "These cunts ain't God, they just a bunch of junkie twats who think they can get away with anything. And it's cause the lot of you are sitting here in your little share circle. Having a little whinge and a moan." He mocks.

"Fuck "letting go." You should be out there with a fucking chain saw, going after 'em!" He exclaims.

"Just a bunch of scared fucking rabbits." He tells them while throwing the stick to the ground. Then goes toward Hughie.

"Supes are all the same. Every fucking one of 'em." He tells him in low tone so only Hughie hears, then picks up his jacket as he leaves.

"Uh, he's, um... I'm sorry." Hughie tells with a stutter as he gets up then adds. "But he's kinda got a point." He leaves.

Outside

As Butcher and Hughie leave to go somewhere else Butcher gets a phone call. Seeing that it's Ben he picks it up and answers. "We're in the middle of something here."

"Are you beating someone up?" The ten year old asks.

Butcher takes a moment to reply. "...Not yet."

"Listen, what can you tell me about a guy called Jack from Jupiter?" Ben requests.

Butcher simply answers. "He's a right cunt."

Even though they can't see it Ben rolls his eyes. "Besides that."

"Talk to Hughie." Butcher suggests, then tosses his phone. "Jack from Jupiter Wikipedia page."

Hughie then starts to list off his powers. "Ok um he's pretty strong, can fly and has like a force field thing when he says carpo." He tells him.

"Cabo?" Ben replied.

"Carpo." Hughie tells him. "CA-ARP-OH" He emphasizes.

"That's it?" Ben asks, unimpressed. "No telekinesis or shapeshifting powers?"

"Uh no." Hughie answers.

Butcher then takes the phone back. "The cunt is a self centered bloke who who only cares about getting himself off. He's the reason Hefner died."

"He killed him?!" Hughie replies in shock.

"No." Butcher tells him. "Just convinced the old bloke to have more fun then he could handle. But what a way to go."

"Don't know who that is but okay." Ben hangs up and after Butcher and Hughie continue on.

Hideout

Monique and Mother's Milk were sitting on opposite ends of the couch while Wraith sat in a chair across from them. He was wearing a grey turtleneck and a brown sports coat, trying to look like a therapists.

"I'd like to thank you both for agreeing to come to this emergency couples thearpy session." Wraith tells them.

Monique just gives him a look. "How are you qualified for this?"

"I never said was qualified" The ghost like extra terrestrial answers.

This causes MM puts his hand on his face and sigh. "Why are you wearing a turtleneck and a sport's coat, but no pants?" He asks, once he uncovers his face.

"Well this is what therapists wear and I have no legs." He answers, the outs on a monocle. "They also don't make one eye'd eye glasses." Leans forward and takes off his monocle. "Let's talk."

"But the first thing to remember is that we need to keep calm and use our words." He tells them then looks towards Monique and adds. "There's no yelling here."

Monique noticed this and points it out. "You looked at me when you said that."

"Baby he only has one eye." MM reasons.

"I was also looking at her because she's the one who does all the yelling." Wraith informs them with honestly.

"I DON'T-." Monique begins then took a deep breath. "Do all the yelling." She finishes calmly.

Wraith picks up a notebook and writes in it before saying. "Now let us begin with a simple question who's mad and why?"

"That's two questions." Monique points out.

"You're avoiding the question." Wraith responds while writing in his notebook.

Monique sighs and answers. "I am mad because my husband lied to me."

Wraith nods approvingly. "Good we're getting somewhere. Mothers Milk." Turns to the husband. "Why did you lie to her?"

MM replies. "I wanted to protect her and Janine. I know how dangerous this stuff can be."

Monique scoffs at this. "Then why did you get back into it? For christ sake? Butcher apearing wasn't enough of a red flag?"

"He said things were different this time" The husband reasons.

"And you believed him!?" Monique exclaims, baffled by this.

"No yelling." Wraith reminds her.

"It was, is." MM answers. "We finally had a chance to fight fire with fire."

"Marvin, when you fight fire with fire." Monique begins to reply but pauses. "You just make more fire!" She adds as if it was obvious.

"Not necessarily." Wraith disagreed. "According to Ben when he accidentally started a forest fire when he first got the watch and he made another forest fire which burned each other out." He told them.

"You're point?" Monique asked.

"Fire doesn't create fire from fire, it burns things, things that are flammable, which creates more fire. There are two ways to stop a forest fire, put it out with water, earth or foam, or make another fire and both burn each other out." He tells them.

"You think I'm gonna burn myself to burn Vought?" MM asked.

"Well you're definitely checking off the list for the path of self destruction, but that only correlates when you experienced a traumatic event." Wraith tells him. This response causes a small subtle shift in posture. "Which you did and obviously Vought is responsible." He adds.

"He gave up that vendetta cause of what happened last time." Monique tells Wraith.

"But with his OCD he can't." Wraith begins to reply, then adds. "And you shouldn't stop him."

This gets a reaction from both of them. "What?" Monique asks. "Shouldn't he avoid the path of self destruction."

"Yes he should avoid self destruction, but him not stopping Vought is worse." Wraith tells her. "He'll keep obsessing over this and agonizing about what he could've done differently and eventually get back in this." Gestures to the room. "But instead of setting a fire he should find water instead and you need to help him, otherwise you're just making him burn."

"ME!?" Monique exclaims.

"Fuck no!" MM rejects.

"Ok leave him then." Wraith dismisses with a shrug. "If you can't handle his involvement in this crusade he joined then anytime he quits before it's resolved is only gonna be temporary." He reasons. "He knows you don't approve so he did it secret, so it's not like he doesn't love you, he wants to take Vought down and protect his family."

"So either help him or leave him. Your choice." Wraith tells her.

"What if I just stop?" MM questions. "For good."

"Can you?" Monique questions with skepticism. She thought he gave up this crusade years ago, then he joined Butcher again. "What do I have to do to get you to stop?"

"Interesting..." Wraith drags as he writes yet another note about Monique. "You have control issues."

"Excuse me?" Monique asked.

"I can't believe I didn't think of this before." Wraith berates himself. "I mean no wonder you and Tamikia don't get along. You're-"

"A psycho control freak?" Monique finished.

"I was gonna leave out the 'psycho' and 'freak' and just call you 'controlling.'" Wraith responded, while writing down in his notebook. "Shows you're insecure about the topic. Let's talk about this." He adds getting a huff of frustration.

Scene Cut

At a Vought panel featuring Vought heroes the former child star Mesmer was signing autographs from his show in the 90's. The Mesmerizer. He was also taking photos with his signature catchphrase "There are no secrets from me." But after a while he needed to use the bathroom so he went.

Whistling as he washed his hands he heard the door open. "Bonjour." A man greeted with a small wave and a smile.

"Uh hi?" Mesmer replied.

"Mesmer right?" The Frenchman guessed accurately. "You still do that mind thing no?" He asked.

"Yeah?" Mesmer responded, hoping for someone to come in. Little did he know the Frenchman placed an out of order sign on the door before walking in. He had weird fans, some of them he even liked, but this was new.

"I need you to read someone for me." The French guy told him.

Oh he was one of those. A way Mesmer made money after his show was over, was to read people for a price. First it was small stuff like a wife who wanted to know if her husband was cheating, or answers to a test. Now a few months ago he read a stock broker and now the DOJ was on him.

"No way I don't do that stuff." Mesmer denied. Even though he got away with it, it was always better to deny unless he was sure. Especially since he wasn't a kid anymore.

"You will if you want to see your little one again." The French guy tells him as he was walking out.

Stopping dead in his tracks Mesmer asked. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Come with me and find out." Was the reply. "Unless you never want to your little girl again?"

Hotel Martinez

At a penthouse suite costing over 40,000 a night Jack from Jupiter spent at least three times that on entertainment. First for all the alcohol, next was the drugs modified so to give him a better high and last was the women. All were top quality. Apart from the Vought Supe there were no men, so the women were either drinking, smoking, doing drugs, engaging with the others or a combination.

"That fucking Bitch!" He grunted, as he thrusted into the back of an Asian girl, who was leaning forward on the back of a couch. "I should've... been... in the... Seven!" He added, not letting up.

"Oh ow oh!" The girl exclaimed, at least in partial pain.

"That's..." Jack grunts. "FUCK!" He grunts again as he finishes, then pushes her to the side with a thud. Not caring at all about the girl. The orange skinned supe then looks around the suite, where at least a dozen women he 'invited' are doing one thing or another.

As a naked red headed girl is walking by he roughly grabs her and forces her down to her knee's. She is then forced to suck him off as he places his hand on her head. "Fucking Bitch." He grunts again. "That spot should've been mine." He adds.

The girl's response is a series of. "Ugh ugh ugh." As her mouth is occupied.

"Yeah that's it." Jack tells her, leaning back. He then reaches for some pills and bottle of whiskey and swallows. "Faster." He orders and the girl tries to speed up. "Fuuuuuck!" He grunts as he thrusts into her mouth faster.

The girl tries to break away but her choked screams were ignored. "Uh!" Jack grunts as he releases and only pulls out when he see's a smiling bleach blonde girl with large breasts snorting powder off the chest of another. Both giggle before making out and the blonde guides her partner further down.

The girl he just threw down then coughs for several moments. "Are you okay?" Another girl, brunette this time, asks in concern.

"Fine." The red head replies. "You said he was gonna be here."

"He will." The brunette tells her.

"Tell me that spot should've been mine!" Jack requests as he aggressively lifts the girl to a nearby wall and thrusts.

"That spot... should be... ugh... yours! Oh!" The blonde obeyed.

"Fucking shiiiit!" Jack From Jupiter groans, still thrusting. "Who's the best?!" He asks, but he doesn't get a response as he starts choking her.

Just then the door bursts as Diamondhead runs in and pulls Jack off and throws him out on the balcony. "Get in the bedrooms." He orders as he runs out, and the girls immediately comply.

Outside

"THE FUCK!" Jack From Jupiter exclaims in anger. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!?" He shouts.

"Gee I don't know." The diamond alien shrugs. "Maybe cause you were gonna choke someone to death so you can get on!" He adds, then thinks over what he said. "Was it get on or get off?" He asks himself. "Never mind!"

"What do you want?" The orange man asked. "You wanna do some of them too? Cause I don't mind sharing if we can get back in there."

"Look can you just put some pants on please." Ben requests, putting a hand to cover his vision of the lower half of Jack from Jupiter's body. "I'm tired of looking at you posers with those dumb costumes, but's it's even worse with nothing on."

"What? Think you're bigger than me?" Jack from Jupiter asked, feeling insulted.

"Dude it's obvious I'm bigger than you." Diamondhead replies, not knowing Jack is talking about a specific body part.

This angers the orange skinned supe, who flies at the Alien hero with a roar and tries to punch him. But this was easily caught by a left green crystalized hand. "Yes cause that always works." Ben says sarcastically then punches Jack with his free hand.

Jack is sent back farther than his previous position and is on the ground. As he recovers he see's Diamondhead charging at him. In response he claps his hands together and shouts. "CARPO!" And he becomes surrounded in a red toned force field that blocks the Petrosapien's attack.

"Ha!" Jack cheers. "Take that that fucker." He mocks.

"I can take it." Ben responded. "How long can you though?" He asks, before beginning a series of punches. Who's stamina would wear out first, Jack from Jupiter's or Shifter's?

Hideout

"I think that about covers today's session." Wraith said with a pleased expression, getting a scoff from Monique. "We discussed you his trauma and why he lied to you as well as your control issues and such. I'm sure Janine is happy you're not mad at her." He adds, going over his notes and reading it with his monocle.

"Has she been feeling that way?" Monique asks, suddenly concerned for her baby girl.

"Is this why you did all this?" Mother's Milk asks.

"That and I wanted to test out my methods before publishing my book." Wraith answers. "I'll send you a copy." He tells them as he takes off his therapist outfit.

"Where did you even get those?" MM asks.

"Borrowed them from a store." Wraith answers as he folds them.

"So you stole them." Monique clarified.

"Nooooo." Wraith dragged. "I borrowed them, that's why I left a note saying I was gonna return them." He tells her, then floats to a part of the room where a phone was placed.

"Were you recording us!?" Monique demanded to know.

"No of course not." Wraith replies. "This was giving live footage to Janine, who's in her room and was watching the whole thing." Ignoring their shocked expressions he adds. "Did you really think I would let her leave when Vought is after her. That'll be 150 dollars, by the way."

"You expect us to pay you?" Mother's Milk questions.

"You didn't think I was gonna do this for free did you?" Wraith replies, texting Janine. "I'm cheaper than anyone else, especially in this economy."

Mesmer's House

"So... she can't talk or won't talk?" Mesmer asked, taking off his jacket as he, Frenchie, the Female and Elena walked in.

"That is what you're gonna tell us." Frenchie answered.

"Anything in particular you want to know?" Mesmer questioned.

"Everything." Frenchie simply say's.

"Well, that narrows it down." Mesmer sighs, knowing that this could take a while. He sits down in front of a chair, presumably where the Female would sit.

"Mon coeur. Will you come? Have a seat." Frenchie requests gently, gesturing to the chair.

The Asian hesitates until Elena grabs her hand. "It's okay." She tries to reassure. "It's scary, but it will help."

The Female still hesitates. "Here I'll go first." Elena says as she sits down and grabs Mesmer's hand to show it wasn't painful.

Flashback

"Get off me!" Elena exclaimed while struggling to get a couple of Vought guards to let go of her. But they weren't budging one but, as she was being dragged to one of the labs.

"Then tell me how did you activate the chip." Her mother told her as punched in a passcode to the door.

"I don't know! He just turned on!" Elena tells her and as the grip on her tightens and she's pulled into the lab she exclaims. "Suéltame, me estás lastimando!" Just then Chip appears out of nowhere and goes the one of hands hurting her. Following this Elena runs out and Chip breaks the panel automatically locking the door.

Flashback over

"Woah." Mesmer say's impressed.

"See." Elena tells the Female. "Doesn't hurt." She simply shrugs.

The Female replies by pointing to her own eyes. Elena then realizes she started crying a little. "Might make you sad or mad." Elena tells her wiping away the tears.

The Female then takes a seat where Elena was, but before they could continue a knock was heard. All eyes are directed to where the door is as Frenchie asks. "Are you expecting company?"

"Oi cunts!" A familiar voice spoke. "I know you're in there so open the fucking door you good for nothing muppets."

Frenchie went to the door and opened it, revealing an annoyed Butcher and a confused Hughie. "What are you doing here?" Frenchie asks.

"Fuck what I'm doing do here. What the fuck are you doing here?" Butcher replied. As Frenchie was about to answer Butcher interrupted. "Fuck that actually cause I figured you would try something like this, so I bugged all your phones."

"Even mine?" Hughie asks, but doesn't get a reply as Butcher walks in.

With Ben

A series of grunts were heard as Diamondhead was till punching Jack from Jupiter's red shield. But while Diamondhead seemed fresh as a daisy, Jack was sweating bullets. Under normal circumstances the shield was difficult enough to hold for a long period of time. But with constant attacks it becomes a herculean after a short time.

So now it started to visibly crack after a while. "Sweet dreams Joke from Jupiter." The Petrosapien said, before delivering one final punch with all his might. This breaks the shield and sends Jack to the terrace wall, while creating a small trench on the floor, rendering him unconscious.

After this Diamondhead proceeded to walk back inside, where he saw the girls huddled around the windows, where his Jack laid unmoving. "Sorry I'm late, my watch was off. Everyone ok?"

"Yes." One answers.

"Totally." Another adds.

"Thank you." Another one says.

"How can we repay you?" Someone asks.

"No need, just doing my job." Diamondhead tries to dismiss, while keeping his eyes on their eyes, rather than below.

The blonde with the large assets that Jack nearly choked then approaches. "Seriously I'll do anything to show how grateful." She insists, running her hands on him. "Anything." She repeats with a bite of her lip and a bat of her eyes.

"Uhhhhhhhh." Ben drags not knowing how to respond. It was almost as bad as the Kix Cave.

"Let's go." The girl who called for Ben ordered, while dragging her friend/co-worker.

"Oh come on." The blonde whined. "Is he small or something?"

"Not in the way you're thinking." Turns to Ben. "Thanks again, but you might wanna leave before anyone shows up."

"If he's short that won't bother me." The Blonde still insists.

"Just call the wife of that CFO guy back." Was the response.

"Can't today she's with the nanny who's gonna give her pictures so she can keep the house, the Benz and her." The blonde explains, and their voice fade out as they and the rest of the girls retire to rooms to change and plunder.

"Guess I'm done." Ben comments and as he leaves he see's a maid come in. "Uhhhhhh." He drags again then see's her holding out her hand and he gives her diamond of himself. "Come back in an hour." She nods and turns to leave, but not before grabbing some of the high priced decorations.

After that Ben leaves.

Mesmer's House

After discovering the Female's name, Kimiko, and that she was in the "Shining Light Liberation army" they assumed she was a terrorist. It was later discovered that she was kidnapped as a child and forced into it. Along with her brother. Following this she was taken by Vought and injected with Compound V in the hopes of making a supe terrorist. Giving reason to allow Vought 'hero's' in the armed forces.

"So in order to get their cunts in the army, the Vought cunts are creating suped up cunts so the political cunts can send the Vought cunts to take care of them." Butcher summarizes.

"Holy fuck, this is just... fuck." Hughie responds, absorbing.

"Should there really be a kid listening to this?" Mesmer asks, nursing his bruised hand. The first read with Kimiko she nearly broke it, but Elena was able to calm her down.

"Used to it." Elena tells him as she color's with Kimiko. "What's Ben doing, shouldn't he be here for this?" She asks.

"I'm sure he's doing something important." Hughie assumed.

With Ben

Wildmutt was running through the streets of Queens with an important cargo on his back. Heading to a place Ben would never dared to go, even for all the sumo slammer cards in the world. School.

"Take it easy, you don't come with seatbelts." His passenger, a young female middle schooler told him. Ben replied with a small roar as they approached their destination.

With an extra boost Wildmutt rushed to the doors and skidded to a stop. "Thanks." The middle schooler said before running inside for a science fair or whatever.

Scene Cut

Ben, as Fourarms, was taking a couch up the stairs of an apartment. "Ok pivot. Pivot." He says gently.

"PIVOT!" Someone randomly says, as if in a mocking tone.

"It's not that serious." Fourarms tells the guy he's helping. "No need to yell."

"Friends?" The guy says as they continue to struggle.

"Ok stop, let's take off the cushions and the little legs. That should be easier. Worse case scenario I break down all the walls." The Tetramand replies.

Scene Cut

"The stolen funds from Vladimir's Putin's secret account in Cyprus along with funds from Yevgeny Prigozhin have been sent to the clinic." Grey Matter tells Lily during a video chat.

"You think they won't notice?" The lawyer asks with skepticism.

"They will when Putin invades Ukraine again, but it was just bribe money anyway." Grey Matter replies. "Plus Putin's health is deteriorating so he likely won't be mentally or physically stable long enough to find out." He reasons.

"Still we could be investigated." Lily reminds him.

"Of course." The shapeshifter tells her. "But none of them know and you're not obligated to tell anyone because it's protected by privilege. Even if I'm not being sued."

"That only applies to legal situations. Are you in one?" 

"Yes actually. I recently stole hundreds of millions of dollars, but it was for a good cause and kept like less than 1% of it. What are my legal options to not go to jail?" The alien sarcastically asks.

"What was the cause?" Lily humors with a chuckle.

Scene Cut

Ben was sipping a soda as he walked away from a pair of criminals hung in the air, via Stinkfly goop, when he received a call. "Sussie how's it going?"

"I have your grandpa's file." Raynor tells him."

"Where is he then?" Ben asks.

"He was killed in Vietnam at the end of the war, during an ambush.." He hears, making him stop dead in his tracks. "I'm sorry." She tells him then hangs up.

Ben resumes walking.

Hideout

After getting the information about Kimiko, then destroying Mesmer's camera and the pictures of them and threatening him before breaking his arm they left. Now the Boys and 2 girls were just waiting for Ben.

"Hey." He simply greets as he walks in with a somber tone.

"You okay kid?" Butcher wonders. "You look like someone ran over your dog and took a piss on it."

"Yeah I just uh." Ben struggled to say. "I just found out that my grandpa Max here died." He informed.

"Sorry to hear that." Elena told him.

"Sorry kid." MM added.

"Je vous adresse mes condoléances."  Frenchie spoke.

Kimiko just gave a sympathetic look.

"Sorry man." Hughie offered.

"How'd he go out?" Butcher asks out of curiosity.

"During some kind of ambush." Ben answers.

Butcher thinks this over for a second before saying. "Too bad. So what have you been up to." To distract him. Ben then recaps his day for them.

"What is wrong with you!?" Frenchie exclaims as Ben tells him about what transpired after beating Jack from Jupiter. "That is my dream." He adds.

"To punch some orange phony?" Ben questions.

As Frenchie was about to correct him Butcher stepped in. "Yeah but like the orange wanker Frenchie can't keep it up." He says with a chuckle, then checks his phone when it starts ringing. "It's Raynor." Picks up. "What?" He asks.

"I have something for you. Put me on speaker." She tells him.

"Raynor's got something for us." Butcher speaks, getting their attention.

"Is it the helicopter?" Ben asks.

"And the plane?" Elena adds.

"It's on Homelander." She clarifies, stunning them. "I gotta do this fast, so listen. In the 1950's Fredrick Vought himself decided he needed to make basically a supe file room for all his heroes. And since then they've been putting files on every supe ever created, only one not in there is Wrench. On the 10th floor there's a secret entrance public enough so nobody would think to look there. Usually marketing stuff happens there, restaurant chains, sports drink and whatever. But one door leads to a secret staircase to the upper floors and hidden lower ones."

A pause sets in as some rustling is heard.

"That was close. Anyway go up ten or twelve flights and it should be there. Maybe further, the files are old as shit so who know's if it leads you to a fucking bathroom. Good luck." She says before it cuts off.

"That was weird." Ben commented.

"Yeah she didn't say goodbye." Elena said.

"That's what was weird too you?" MM asks.

"Well that and the secret entrance. I already knew about the file room. It's under the research area which is the fiftieth floor, so it's a bit higher than where Sussie said." Elena informed. "Ashley showed me once when she had to find some old files on Liberty that needed to be digitized."

"Think that entrance still works, it has to be years old and sealed up." Hughie points out.

"Maybe the entrance, but if they were cheap the stairwell is probably still open." Ben suggested. "Wouldn't that mess with the structural stuff and what not."

"Structural integrity." Elena corrects, then her eyes glow blue as Chip communicates with her. "According to Chip it would cost them millions to completely rebuild those as part of Vought, so they were just incorporated into the emergency stairwells."

"So it's a bust?" Ben asks.

"Not necessarily." Elena replies, relating what Chip is telling her. "The stairs aren't used often, there's only a few camera's and should take us to the floor of the file room, or at least close to it." She informs.

"If the entrance is closed?" Frenchie asked.

"Well if she said it was a secret entrance maybe it's still opened?" Ben suggested.

"Say, on the fraction of a percentage point, all that works in our favor completely, how are we gonna get inside, get the information and get out without anyone knowing?" MM asks. "I'm burned, they could recognize Hughie, they'd definitely know Elena and we need her and Chip."

"You can just remote control him from here can't you? You did it at Cunt Casa del Kix." Butcher reminded.

"Yeah but I was still close. Plus Chip won't go more than 50-60 Meters from me without coming back." Elena explains. "So I have to be there."

"So it's a bust." MM concludes.

"Whoopi Goldberg!" Frenchie exclaims, as if having eureka moment. "We just walk through the door and pretend we have an appointment. Then we go up." He tells them.

"Classic." Ben comments.

"Frenchie they check for that stuff." MM told him.

"I can hack us an appoint with a good computer." Elena suggests.

"And I can go Upgrade to give it to her." Ben adds.

"They'll flag us. Remember I'm burned, Hughie they know, plus ya'll (gestures to Butcher, Frenchie and Ben) don't look like the business type." MM said.

"No but I can see someone who does." Frenchie replies and looks towards Kimiko who is still drawing.

"In case you forgotten Vought's looking our former terrorist conscript." Butcher reminded.

"She also can't talk." Ben adds.

"Listen we dress her up, tell them she is a foreign businesswoman for a company, I'm her translator." Frenchie begins. "You two are her personal security." Points to Butcher and Mother's Milk. "Miss Elena is her ward, and petit Hughie is her personal pack mule." He finishes explaining with an opened mouth smile.

"Let's say by some miracle it works." Mother's Milk starts. "What about the other Supes?"

"MM's right, besides Homelander there's a building full of those cunts. Not all of them are daft enough for us to do what we need to do. Plus if get made we'll be in a shitload of trouble." Butcher adds. "And no way Benji can take them all on."

"Plus Vought hasn't been going after me lately." Ben tells them. "Kinda lame if you ask me." Tilts his back on his hands.

"Well not physically." Hughie says. "They're still trying to make him look bad on Instagram and Twitter." He informs seeing several memes with Shifter being portrayed as a bad character.

"Then we do that." Elena suggests. "Ben goes around far and wide a smears a bunch of Vought hero's. Then Stillwell, or whoever will send them on some sort of PR tour. It worked with Eagle the Archer."

"And Vought also has some announcement going on at Central Park so we can use that." Hughie adds, seeing the add. "Homelander and most of the Seven are gonna be there."

"And that's when go Hero on those Zero's!" Ben exclaims, punching the air in front of him. "How should I pound them? Fourarms, Diamondhead?"

"Hold your horses kid." Butcher tells him. "You don't need to actually win, we just need you to keep them and everyone's attention away from the tower. Put on a show and it needs to be a long one."

"So use someone more versatile. Like XLR8." Elena told him.

"Nah if I need to put on a show it can't be a repeat performance. Maybe I'll go Diamondhead or Fourarms. I'll think of something." Ben replied, while looking at the watch.

"This could work." Butcher comments, thinking everything over.

"One small little snag left." Elena chimed. "Unfortunately we still need a code to get to the files.

"Can't you just hack it?" Hughie asks.

"Well yeah, but that'll take longer since my Dad also made that security system specifically for that room." Elena answers. "Hacking it without the alarms will take forever and it's not a guarantee."

"So it's just easier for us to get the code." Ben concludes.

"How is that easier?" Hughie wonders.

"Ashley has it and I know her favorite place she likes to go after a stressful day, which is everyday." Elena informs, causing Butcher to smile.

Gun Range

At an indoor gun range, that was paid extra by Ashley to stay open late, Ashley fired a shotgun at a picture of Madelyn which was next to hole riddled pictures of other members of Vought, the Seven and the supes that helped Shifter beat Chimera.

After destroying Stillwells photo she laid the shotgun down and picked up the illegal machine gun from the establishments secret menu. As she was about to fire at a picture of Edgar she heard a thud.

Turning around she saw a scruffy looking guy of questionable descent (Frenchie, we know he's French or Algerian but the average person wouldn't guess either at first glance.) waving to her. "Bonjour." He spoke through the intercom in a French accent.

"The fuck." Was all Ashley had time to say before someone used her distracted state to grab her and place a cloth on her face.

"Night night." Was the last thing she heard before falling into unconsciousness.

Scene Cut

On the roof of a high building Ashley woke with a start. Looking around she knew she wasn't at the gun range, but didn't know where she was. Her head was throbbing and she felt stiff. So far the only plus side is that she's not tied up.

"Morning love." She hears and looks to see Butcher. "Have a nice little nap?" He asks, leaning on top one of the HVAC units and staring out towards the city.

Ashley looks at him, trying to seem confident and unafraid. "What is this? You're making a big mistake. Do you know who I work for?" She say's.

Butcher looks straight at the city with a neutral expression. "As a matter of fact I do. Thats why your here."

"Whatever this is I have powerful friends and they will-" Ashley begins to say when Butcher cuts her off.

"Do you like dogs?" The brit asks.

Ashley blinks and replies. "What?"

"Dogs?" Butcher repeats, then turns to her. "Barking, dragging their arses on the carpet little wankers. Do you like em?" He clarifies with some

Ashley just gives him a confused expression. "... Sure. Who doesnt?" She replies.

Butcher grins widely like the Grinch, before putting two fingers in his mouth and letting out a sharp, high pitched whistle. From behind the door rushs Wildmutt and charges at Ashley who screams and she crawls back in fear.

Wildmutt stops just short of her face and let's put a prolonged. "RAAAAAAAAAAH!" Roar in her face, shooting out some spit in her face.

"What do you say, best in show?" Butcher asked with a smile.

"You're-you're." Ashley stammered.

"In cahoots, yup and he'll do anything I say." Butcher says as he walks next to Wildmutt. "After all why do you think the Invisible Cunt hasn't been around?"

"Wha-wha-what do you want?" Ashley's asks. "I can get you money." She offers.

"This ain't about the money." Butcher replied with annoyance. "You see, a little birdie told me you know a code to get inside the supe file room below the research floor."

"How do you know about that?" Ashely's asks.

"What are you deaf?" Butcher asks with a raised eyebrow. "Told you a little birdie. What's the code?" He demanded.

"They'll kill me." She tells him in the vain hope he releases her on that.

"Yeah, but they ain't here and that's if they find out." Butcher reminds her. "So imagine what'll happen to you if you don't give us the code." He tells her.

It was then the old Ashley started making her appearance. "You Fucking idiot if you wanted to do something you would've done it by now. So let me tell you something-"

"RAAAAAH!" Wildmutt interrupted as he grabbed her with one of paws and threw her in the air. She screamed as she flailed her arms and screamed even more as she began to fall towards the pavement. Only to still scream as the Vulpimancer bit down on the back of her shirt. Ashley kept screaming as she flailed her arms and legs.

"Let me tell you something you sniveling Vought gofer cunt." Butcher began, while walking over by the edge. "In case you haven't noticed he works for me, now killing a bunch of you yahoo's in public don't do me any good. But we ain't in public, we could drop you and have the ole bill think it's a suicide. And Vought would be none the wiser about what happened and what you said."

Ashley just takes fast ragged breaths.

"Preferably I'd rather you take door number two. Tell us the code, we leave you alive and Vought is none the wiser." Butcher explains. "This way you get to leave, go back to your fucking crappy life like before with a sense of gratitude for each minute of life."

"You better decide quick cause this is getting pretty tiresome. In fact-." Butcher continues, making a rolling motion at Wildmutt that Ashley can't see. "I think I feel yawn coming on." He then yawns to prove his point.

"Yawn?" Ashley murmers then feels Wildmutt open his jaw just a little so she slides down slightly. "OK OK OK. THE CODE IS 271205. 271205!" She screams and is rewarded with a toss back on top of the roof.

"See that wasn't so hard. Now remember tell anyone about our little chat and I won't have to kill you. Homelander will take care of that." Butcher comments, then briefly whistles again. Wildmutt then again roars, which makes Ashley scramble for the nearest door.

Once she leaves Ben transforms back and begins to laugh hysterically. "Did you see her face! Priceless!" He tells the smiling brit while leaning forward and holding his stomach. "Man that was great, especially making her think about why Translucent hasn't been around."

"Yeah." Butcher chuckled, then asked. "So did you hear the code? Cause I couldn't make out what the hell she was squawking." He asks, using his hand to simulate a mouth and opening and closing it to emphasize his point.

"Yup now let's go I promised Elena and Janine something." Ben told him as they began to leave.

"What was that?" Butcher asked, following.

Cardi B's Hotel Room

"Say 'Bad Bitches!'" The rapper said, lowering herself to wrap her arms around Elena and Janine's shoulders. All while XLR8 took a pictures.

"BAD BITCHES!" They all exclaimed with big smiles.

"Got em'." XLR8 said snapping the photo.

Earlier Ben had been contacted by the rapper for a meet and greet. So he asked if they could meet on the 'DL' and she agreed.

"How'd they come out?" Cardi asked.

"Pretty good." XLR8 answered, then handed the phone back to Elena.

"What should I caption this?" Cardi questions readying a post.

"Nope." XLR8 says in a moment of panic then steals the phone.

"The fuck!" The rapper exclaims.

"Yeah sorry no posting this cause um." XLR8 tried to explain.

"We're wanted by Vought and he's protecting us, but Vought doesn't know that and we wanna keep that a secret." Elena explains.

"Oh for real!?" The Bronx native questioned.

"Yeah." XLR8 added.

"I got attacked in my house and now I can't go back." Janine says a little sad.

"My mom works at Vought wants to kidnap me cause I ran away from the experiments she wanted to do on me?" Elena adds, more casually.

"Oh that's horrible." The rapper replies hugging the girls. "Can I do anything?" She asks, once she lets go of them.

"Just keep it to yourself." XLR8 told her then added. "And maybe share a video of me rapping."

"You can rap?" The three females asked at the same time. Though with different reasons.

"Well no. But I got a message from some guys who wrote some for me and they seem good." XLR8 answered. "Now can I get a photo?"

Vought

It was late and Stan Edgar was finishing up some paper work. The burdens of being the boss. First one in, last one out. As he completed the last bit of work he took a glance at his calendar for coming days. Normally an assistant, or secretary, or intern or any other sniveling underling would remind him of any events or projects. But this was more personal to him.

"This is gonna be a good show." Edgar says with a smile looking at the time and date for Homelander's announcement of Translucent's death, or disappearance.

As passed by the shelf of photo's he paused at the one of his father and Wrench. He then remembered his childhood when his father first told him his favorite story.

Flashback 1969

A much younger Stan Edgar was sitting next to his father as he showed him photos of him in the war. "Why are you wearing this?" The boy of age ten asked as he points to a photo of his father with a bunch of other men with similar skin tones, wearing a mechanics uniform. "I thought you were always a soldier?"

"Well at first I was assigned to repair tanks and cars because we weren't always allowed to fight." Elliot Edgar tells his son. "They didn't trust people who look like you and me."

Stan nodded having been educated by his mother, grandmother, grandfather and the pastor about all the racial inequality that has befallen the nation since before it's birth.

"But as I was fixing the car of some stuck up son of a bitch-" Elliot began to say.

"Language or Abigail is getting your slice of pie." Stan's mother and Elliot's wife, Rachel told him. "I don't wanna hear him talking like that again."

"It was one time, we didn't even know he could talk." Elliot reminded her.

"Yes and everyone who was at my sister's wedding will remember Stanley's first word rhymed with duck." She reminds him.

"Anyhow as I was fixing the car when a bunch of tough looking white boys lined up close by and apparently they were in line to be part of Wrenches unit." Elliot continued.

"What happened next?" Stan wondered.

"Well another mechanic came out, only he wasn't a mechanic he was Wrench." The father told him.

"The hero?" The child asked eagerly, already knowing the answer though.

Elliot smiled at his son. "Yes." He answered. "Instead of choosing them to be part of his unit, he chose me to be his second in command." He informed him.

"I wish I saw their faces." Stan comments with a smile as he looks to another picture. This one of Wrench and Elliot with their arms on the other's shoulders. This time Elliot was wearing the uniform and rank of a sergeant.

"I did. They were like." Elliot responds making a funny over exaggerated shocked expression. They both had a laugh.

Flashback over

"You'd probably be proud of him." Edgar comments to himself before leaving. Leaving the picture of the two smiling war heroes where it was.

How was that? Again sorry for the wait, but I hope I made it worth it. No major fights this chapter, but you can expect some in the future. Also I am a Cardi B fan so that's why I added her. Guess who I'm gonna add in next. Here's a hint: She's the Queen.

Let me know what you think. Also who can tell me what the numbers for the code Ashley gave mean? Imaginary 67 dollars for whoever can tell me what it means.