4.7

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The gory scene seemed to awaken my teammates as Jordan weaved multiple handsigns, and spat out a large fireball at the enemy team.

In response, one of them jumped in front of it, and managed to deviate the fireball away.

Soldier Boy and I looked at each other with narrowed eyes, both of us contemplating whether we should retreat or not.

For him, while he was a rather cold person, I believe he still held some modicum of respect for Butcher, and even if that wasn't the case, he should be able to see that fighting me wasn't necessarily worth it.

Of course he still had his nuclear power thingy, but not only would that not differentiate between ally and enemy, it was also more of a finishing move against a defeated enemy than anything else. It was easy to dodge in the show, and probably here too, since he hadn't used it.

As for me, I was weighing both options in my mind. My first intention had been to go easy on them, to only kill one or two of their weaker members and leave them the impression that I was strong, but not strong enough to force them to ally with the Seven.

But things had gone a little differently from what I had expected. Butcher was in a critical condition, and I might already appear too strong to the enemy team.

The Force was good for an approximation of someone's strength, but it wasn't very precise, leaving me a little helpless as I tried to guess how strong the two strongest members of the enemy Team were.

But after a moment, I sighed as I calmed myself, bringing my light side up. The real reason I hesitated on attacking, was because of the potential rewards Butcher's death would grant me. I had soloed him, and would thus get the entirety of his bounty.

So it was mostly greed, coming from my Dark Side. All in all, it wasn't worth it to press on.

So with a small internal sigh, I gave my order, "We've got Mindstorm, we're retreating."

My Team did not say anything as they started walking away, still watching the enemy team carefully.

On the opposite side, Hughie was the one to speak up as he said, "Come on, we've got to bring Butcher to a doctor!"

Team Northern Africa immediately started moving, carrying Butcher away, sending a few regretful looks at the remains of their Curse user. They didn't even spare a glance at the speedster I had decapitated, however.

But while Team Northern Africa hadn't hesitated to leave, Soldier Boy hadn't moved yet, and was still looking at me. The Witcher guy of Team Northern Africa moved up to him, and said loud enough for me to hear, "Come on, you two will dance another day."

Soldier Boy's expression underwent a shift as he suddenly slapped Witcher guy in the face, sending him to the ground as he spat out, "You shut the fuck up, you goddamn fag!"

Witcher Guy looked resentful, but he kept his mouth shut, while I backed away.

Before I could leave though, Soldier Boy sent a last look at me, pointing a finger at me as he said, "I'm going to kill you."

I did not satisfy him with any kind of answer as we quickly left the woods, for the meeting point with the rest of the team.

But as we left, Maria, the only survivor of the three newbies I had brought, the overweight girl, asked, "Are we just going to leave them here?"

Not even turning to look at her, I asked, "What would you want to do with their bodies?"

She did not answer.

But once we got out of earshot for Soldier Boy and his enhanced senses, Mindstorm asked, "Who are you working for?"

Seeing no reason not to answer him, I replied, "Stan Edgar."

Mindstorm looked like he had been fed a lemon as he spat out, "We had a deal, he was supposed to leave me alone."

"Would you have preferred for us not to come save you from Soldier Boy?"

Mindstorm frowned, but ended up remaining silent.

So I added, "Don't expect Stan Edgar to continue protecting you however. He is in a tough situation himself, so protecting you isn't anywhere near the top of his priority list."

"Like I care. I'll just go hide by myself."

"Do you really think you could escape them on your own? With their resources? Not to mention, Soldier Boy knows about all your safe houses. You really think that with your condition, you could hide anywhere else?"

I felt a strong spiritual rise from Mindstorm as he angrily spat out, "Fuck you!"

Moving faster than Mindstorm could follow, I grabbed his shoulder, just hard enough to keep him in place, but not to hurt him, and growled, "Calm down."

Mindstorm and I looked at each other in the eye, and I felt him try to attack me. But I did not budge, looking deep into his soul, fighting back with my own skills.

I felt memories of my past jolt up at the stimulation, and they tried to pull me in, to trap me in an infinite loop of me reliving my regrets.

The pull was not strong enough, however.

Since my memories were being used, I picked some of the more gruesome ones, such as the murder of Becky from In the Tall Grass, and sent them to Mindstorm.

His eyes glazed a little as he was forced to watch my memories, and his face paled rapidly. His attack quickly stopped as he looked at me with fearful eyes and muttered, "You monster."

Letting go of his shoulder, I said, "You should be glad this monster is keen on protecting you. You won't be going anywhere. You will be coming with us to face Soldier Boy's group."

Mindstorm meekly nodded, lowering his head.

After that, we managed to reach the rest of the Team without any more hiccup.

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We gathered underground, with Mindstorm and the newbies out of the room.

Asher asked, "So, we currently have the advantage. We lost two newbies, while Team Northern Africa lost at least a veteran, and possibly two. That's good."

Sarah leaned against the wall as she refuted, "But they have a good idea of how strong Alexander is. Nearly killing Butcher while being under attack from Soldier Boy, they surely are going to think he is even stronger than Homelander."

Johnathan sat on a transfigured chair, made from the concrete beneath them, and looked oddly calm, "But from what you guys told us, Team Northern Africa is a little lackluster. If we really had to fight, as long as Alexander manages to hold The Boys, we should be able to take care of them."

Eric mumbled, "But that still leaves Team Oceania. They might be even weaker, but they could still tilt the balance, not to mention they have the Seven with them."

Jordan, who was playing with a kunai, leaning against the back of Johnathan's transfigured chair, asked, "Should we try to blitz them then?"

At that I shook my head, replying, "Our main enemy are the Seven, not the Boys. Our mission is to reinstate Stan Edgar as CEO, not kill everyone."

Claire looked at me and questioned, "Do 1000 Points really matter to us? There is already the Team Score. If it's negative, all our newbies will die and so will some of us. And if it is positive, then everyone survives. That changes things."

Sarah nodded, "If we keep someone next to Stan Edgar, we can send the rest of the Team to blitz Team Northern Africa and The Boys, and the moment we fall into danger, we kill Stan Edgar. That will get us out of here, and we will still get a ton of Points."

Everyone nodded at the proposal, that sounded like a good plan. However, I still advised, "We don't know what will happen until we face off however. They might already be contacting Team Oceania, so if we go at them, we need to make sure we aren't jumping into a trap. If both Teams ally against us, we will lose."

Sarah raised an eyebrow and said, "You sound like you have an idea."

I grinned, and took off my mask.