96 4.8

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[Anas' POV]

Being a Team Leader was never easy. And facing an overwhelmingly stronger Team in a Team battle wasn't either.

I hadn't told anything to my teammates so as to not crush their spirits, but Team Western Europe weren't just strong, they were top tier for God's Game.

God's Game operates in cycles, and I myself had arrived at the end of the last cycle. I had been unlucky enough that my first mission was a Team Fight, and not just any, as all the strongest Teams fought for hegemony over God's Game.

Our Team, Team Northern Africa, was one of the strongest, with our leader having even unlocked the Fourth Genetic Constraint, although I had no idea what that meant at the time. But facing us were the strongest Teams, including Team Devil and Team Celestial.

That mission was disastrous. Just like every other iteration, there had been no winner as it only ended in a gigantic bloodbath, and only a few people remained across all Teams. And the only reason we survived, was because the top contenders of every Team had killed each other.

And ti was precisely because of that Team fight that I understood that the current Team Western Europe wasn't just any Team, but one at the level of Team Celestial and Team Devil.

What they had shown wasn't enough to put them there. They only had one strong Leader after all, and while he was absurdly strong, that wasn't enough to equal Team Celestial or Team Devil.

However, my instincts, which had been strongly enhanced both by my enhancements and my Genetic Constraint, told me they hadn't shown everything. I could feel I was missing something, and that made me uneasy. After all, Oni, their Team Leader, had almost killed Butcher while facing all of us.

That was even better than what Homelander had done.

From what he had shown us, Oni wasn't as strong as Homelander in terms of raw power, but he certainly was much more dangerous, and if what he had shown us wasn't the entirety of it, we were in deep shit.

"What are you thinking?" Maaiz, my second in command, brought me out of my thoughts as he asked me a question.

I sighed in response, "I don't see any other way for us to win other than contacting Team Oceania."

Maaiz frowned, clearly doubting the decision, "Do you really think they will listen to us? That woman looked quite antagonistic."

I shook my head, "We don't have a choice. You faced Oni. As an assassin, you should know our chances against him, not to mention his Team."

Maaiz narrowed his eyes, "So you noticed too. Those were definitely newbies he brought along. Three of them, at least."

I nodded, "Two of them were probably veterans, by the way they dodged Butcher's lasers. But the two that dodged and the piggy were definitely newbies. The two that got killed didn't even try to dodge, and the other one only got lucky. Besides, I had a feeling that if we tried to follow them, we would get team wiped."

Maaiz kept silent, mulling over our options, before sighing himself, "Fine, I'll get Naseem."

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[Aya's POV]

My Team had arrived first in this mission, and while this was my first Team Fight, I knew it wasn't good. And us having a group so strong to support us wasn't good news.

So when I received a communication from Team Northern Africa they wanted to Team up, I felt conflicted.

I had already met with Team Northern Africa, and they weren't a bunch of weaklings. Well, personally, I could crack the skull of any of them, but as a Team, they definitely were stronger than mine.

We hadn't exactly left on the best of terms, so for them to come back, practically crawling, asking for us to ally, the threat had to be that much more dangerous.

So I did not hesitate too much before deciding to accept Team Northern Africa's offer, and headed to the Seven's floor.

One good thing about having the side of The Boys was that we had all gotten living quarters within Vought's tower.

Closing my eyes, I searched for Homelander's presence. Thankfully, he was in the tower, on floor 99. That makes things easier.

I quickly headed for floor 99, and approached the room of the Seven.

But as I did, I was surprised to hear laughter coming from the room. That wasn't a very common sight, especially in this room.

Walking in, I spotted Homelander, sitting in his chair, a large smile on his face, and facing him was a technician, also a smile on his face.

As I walked in, Homelander already seemed to be looking at me, so he probably had heard me coming. The technician, on the other hand, was still unaware of my presence as he said, "Sometimes it feels like dealing with monkeys!"

Homelander chuckled like a kid, and didn't look like he was about to address my presence, so I cleared my throat.

The technician turned to look at me, and his eyes widened. We had already been here for weeks, and although we weren't part of the Seven, everyone knew we were Supes working for the Seven.

He looked between Homelander and me quickly, looking embarrassed and a little scared as he tried to excuse himself, "Sorry, I'll be leaving you."

I narrowed my eyes at him, as if I wasn't sure about it before, seeing his reaction now, I knew who he was calling monkeys. Me and my Team.

I'm a Maori.

But Homelander looked at me with an innocent smile as he said, "No, Julius, stay here."

I could see it clear as day, Homelander didn't give a fuck about Justin the technician. He just liked to feel superior about people, and he knew I knew they were talking about me. He was keeping Julius in the room to piss me off.

But compared to the Nazi bitch, this was child's play.

Completely ignoring the technician, I said, "A new player has come into play. A dangerous one."

Homelander rolled his eyes and asked, "What now? A super villain?"

Handling the tablet I had brought over, I transferred the image I had gotten from Team Northern Africa to the screens within the room.

Homelander glanced at the image of Team Western Europe, and his gaze lingering on their leader, he asked, "What am I seeing?"

"This is the group that faced William Butcher's group just a few hours ago."

"And?"

Feeling a little excited in the anticipation of his reaction, I revealed, "Their leader, code named Oni, has faced Soldier Boy, William Butcher, Hugh Campbell as well as a speedster almost as fast as A-Train, the last three all being on Temporary V. The results? Oni was not even injured, while the speedster was decapitated, William Butcher had one of his lungs pierced through and Soldier Boy was manhandled."

Homelander abruptly got up, the light of the sun shining on his face and making the makeup covering the bruise he had received from that exact group stick out. He looked at me with steel cold eyes as he asked, "How sure are you of this information?"

"100%. And we suspect the rest of his group to be very dangerous too."

Homelander turned to look at the technician, whose presence I had almost forgotten, and asked coldly, "How do we not know about this group?"

The technician held his own tablet a little tighter as he replied, "Because of the recent changes in OUR Crime Analytics Team, Sir."

Homelander did not like the answer, as he asked in a low, threatening tone, "Are you doubting my decisions, Julius?"

The technician could clearly feel that his life was in danger, but thankfully for him, someone else arrived.

"Isn't this a merry reunion? Why wasn't I invited?"

Without even looking or using my Haki, I already knew who this was, and felt myself seething.

Homelander was still frowning as he explained, "Someone new appeared. Someone stronger than Soldier Boy, apparently. Have you ever seen him, Stormfront?"

The Nazi bitch walked past me, purposefully knocking into me as she looked at the screen, and expressed her distaste, "Is he a fucking Ching Chong?"