A Big Problem

"Everything is prepared?" I asked Schultz as I watched the medic team take the unconscious Maeve away.

"It is."

"Good, I need her out for about three days, maybe four if you can stretch it. The broken ribs and plexus should take about a day right?"

He nodded. "Shouldn't be a problem. We'll have to keep her in to scan her head…just in case. That hit looked pretty bad."

I shrugged.

"It's been a while since I sparred." I said.

He just raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

We shortly went our separate ways.

He had work to do.

Maeve may never let me near her fiery muff again willingly but that will not stop me from saving her previous eggs. I agreed with Homelander she was too precious to simply let waste.

Later that evening, after a god-awful long ass day full of meeting, because unlike Homelander I did want to actually know what the fuck was going on in Vought, I was half a mile up in the air watching Soldier Boy blow up the Crimson Countess.

"…you weren't supposed to be here" I head Hughie say.

Fifteen seconds, no, twelve seconds. I had twelve seconds before Soldier Boy could fire up his supe death ray.

"…, so no more secrets, huh?" I heard Annie reply

…

"….Hughie please don't go!" Her trembling voice and higher heart beat were clear as day to me.

Betrayal, deep into her core.

A fissure into her heart.

You fucked up Hughie.

I'm going to take this tiny crack and rip it wide open.

-

I was in the seven meeting room going over different radio equipment Noir had brought that we could use in the field.

I got to love the guy he was very efficient, unlike the other dipshit heroes.

'Useless!'

Of course they are Echo, of course they are.

Noir couldn't talk but he brought a little package with information on each of the different equipment. Though while I appreciate his effort he should have just brought the IT team it would have gone faster.

The doors open and Deep, Ashley and a brown guy holding a laptop burst in.

"Homelander"

"John"

They stop and steal a quick glance at each other.

"We have a problem." Deep takes the lead.

"A big problem." Ashley said scared.

I give them the patented look of 'You fucked up'. That stops them in their tracks.

"Ok what is it?"

Deep motions for the brown guy to step forward.

"This is Raj from Crime Analytics. Go ahead show him!"

Raj sets the laptop in front of me.

"I found this from one of the old camera's set up around Chimp Country. It's was local only so I had to go get the data in person." He started talking. "I think it's the guy you're looking for."

The video showed me Soldier Boy briefly then a fragment of the aftermath of the explosion which killed Crimson Countess.

"We think it's Soldier Boy!" Ashley said.

I looked at her then Deep.

"No, that's impossible. He died like 40 years ago!" he retorted. "Someone's cosplaying?"

"Look at his face. It's him!" She said exhasperated.

"Or maybe it's CGI." Deep replied.

"It's a fucking monkey cam, it's not CGI. You don't even know what CGI stands for!"

I stopped Deep before he could reply and get things out of hand.

"Enough you two!" I turned to the technical expert.

"Raj could this be CGI." Being put on the spot the man handled it pretty well.

"Sure, technically, but like I said this was an old style camera with a brick hard drive in a forgotten security desk. It's highly unlikely."

I nodded at him.

"Ok so it's unlikely that it's CGI. So"

Raj interrupted and I felt a twitch of annoyance.

"But" he started and we all turned to him. "It could be someone cosplaying!"

Now we all looked at him like he was dumb.

"Don't look at me like that. Look, asian guys look alike, brown guys look alike. I get it." He said using air quotations.

"But so do white guys! I mean look at him. He's what, a muscled up, square jawed white guy with dark hair and a beard? You take any of the 'Bachelors' from the last twenty seasons put them in the suit and they'll look like that!"

Wow! Shots Fired! Someone is salty about the 'The Bachelor' choices of, well, bachelors.

We all just stared at him for a moment.

"Plus it doesn't make sense, Soldier Boy never had that death ray power." He said finally.

"Ok. That weirdly made sense." I finally said. "So we need to verify first. I don't want to go on the news and tell America that Soldier Boy is back from the dead after 40 years and he is terrorizing Midtown."

"It will make us look like morons if it's not true. Raj, have you shown this to anyone else?"

"No. Came straight to Deep the moment I got it." Hot dam! Deep socializing with CA is paying dividends. I was already prepared to oust Soldier Boy but this is definitely a plus.

"And is the laptop the only copy there is?"

"Yes, well no, there's the USB at my desk as well."

"Ok. I'm classifying this as a company secret for now. Can I count on you to not share this until we have verified it's actually Soldier Boy?"

"Yes of course sir!" He said proudly. People loved to be included in secret shit.

"Excellent and call me John! You and Deep will work together closely to follow up on any other leads, any videos any images. Got it?"

They nodded.

"What do we do if it's actually Soldier Boy?" Ashley asked.

"Nothing." I replied sharply. "Same plans as before. We tell the public the truth and we try to capture him. But we need information first. How did he survive? What has he been doing? Has the government covered this up? Has Vought covered this up? So Ashley I want you to dig up anything we might have on Soldier Boy anything at all." She nodded as well.

"We also need to know why the hell, if it's him, he just killed Crimson Countess…and a bunch of chimps?"

They all looked at me, 'like what bruh?'.

"It said Chimp Country I assume there's a bunch of chimps there? Ok, never mind that. Noir any insight? He's your old team leader."

He didn't move.

"Ok good point. Go dig up whatever old files you have on him as well. I want to know everything. Now move it folks!" I finished and I ushered them out of the office.

I had to prepare for a very eventful day.