Chapter 160: Chaos

[3rd POV]

"What the hell was that? What the heck is in the sky?!"

Hughie stared wide-eyed at... something in the sky.

It looked like a glowing reddish pattern that seemed endless or at least part of the pattern.

"It's everywhere. From damn Mexico to Alaska..."

Susan said hoarsely.

After the unidentified "Super" flew away, she tried to run, but Butcher punched her in the face and then hit her leg with a crowbar.

They couldn't let her go anymore, especially since she was a Super.

"What's happening? Did Vought plan all this?"

M.M. asked aloud, his voice betraying nervousness.

"Fuck Vought, they couldn't pull this off."

Frenchie pointed to the sky.

"Could this be some kind of religious thing?!"

"He's not a god, just a festering Super."

Butcher cut in sharply.

"Even Homelander couldn't do something like this."

Frenchie argued.

"Mon coeur agrees with me."

"Oh, so she agrees."

Butcher glanced at them.

"Then go and pray, for fuck's sake. So a damn lightning bolt doesn't strike your heads!"

He exclaimed... and at that moment, lightning struck nearby causing everyone to jump in fear.

"Well, fuck me sideways."

Butcher couldn't help but exclaim.

"Holy shit... oh, what do we do? This is... what the fuck?"

Hughie raised his gaze to the sky in a pitiful manner as if he was already tired of all this crap.

"Let her go. You won't get away with this!"

The Super shouted while lying on the ground with her hands tied and her eyes covered with cloth.

"Shut your mouth, or you'll piss off the big guy."

Butcher kicked her in the stomach with his boot.

"What?"

He looked at M.M.

"This isn't funny at all."

M.M. gave a dangerous look at the sky.

"Stormfront can throw electricity too, maybe she flew by and caused the thunder."

Butcher speculated.

Raynor's phone rang, and she picked it up.

"What? Are you fucking kidding me."

She paled even more.

"When? Just a couple of minutes ago... I see... yes, I'll be there soon."

"What?"

Butcher asked when noticing her distress.

"A bloody rain, that's what!"

She exclaimed.

"I've been informed that the main Vought building is now drowning in a rain of red... blood red and not just the main building, but a dozen other places across the city... possibly beyond."

"You've got to be kidding me."

Hughie ran his hands through his hair in disbelief.

A lot of people were filming the strange, long streaks of red in the sky near the Vought Tower on Manhattan.

The blood streaks were too big for most people to take a picture.

They were also interested in the red rain dripping onto the tower to give it a rather unpleasant appearance.

"Can you see this?! It's insane! It's like the heavens are angry at Vought!"

One of the girls exclaimed hosting a live feed on Twitter.

"Maybe it's a new advertising gimmick?"

Another girl was also filming while muttering uncertainly.

...

Vought Tower

"Our stocks have dropped by two point three percent!"

The PR director yelled who was responsible for maintaining the company's positive image.

"Moreover, there's been a lot of negative feedback online especially from the religious groups."

"No problem. Use Ezekiel to push the idea of redemption... that the blood of Christ will cleanse humanity of sins, or come up with any other nonsense, as long as it works."

Stan said firmly.

"Got it."

The PR director nodded and rushed out of the office while sweating profusely.

"What the hell is this bullshit!"

Homelander stormed into the office, covered in blood.

"Did you come up with this to humiliate me using some damn supe?! You know who I am. I'm the Seven! I am..."

"Slow down, John."

Stan said sternly even the mightiest superhero was subdued by his complaints.

"I have nothing to do with this. Do you think it benefits me to cast a shadow on Vought's reputation?"

"Then what is it?"

Homelander's gaze flicked straight into the sky, clearly visible from the eightieth floor through panoramic doors and balcony windows.

"I don't know. It could be a new supe who got a hold of Compound V."

Stan said while continuing to stare down Homelander.

"And don't pretend you're not involved. Your actions have cost us dearly... and continue to do so."

"I didn't..."

"John. Get a grip. As usual, I'll clean up the mess you've left behind... but this time, the mess is proving to be quite bad. Understand?"

A phone rang on his desk in his office, and he pressed the answer button.

"Sir, it turns out this red rain is following the members of the Seven! Stormfront reported it! And not just her. All heroes are encountering this across the continent!"

"I hear you. I have a meeting in five minutes. Gather everyone."

He hung up the phone.

"How... how is this even possible?"

He looked up, especially at the red streaks in the sky.

"I don't know, but our task is to figure this out as soon as possible and minimize the damage."

"I... I will investigate."

Homelander clenched his fists and stepped onto the balcony, swiftly flying upwards.

Soon, his lasers were visible in the sky, but nothing changed... except for one thing.

The thunder roared loudly, a bright lightning bolt briefly illuminated the entire sky, and clouds began filling the heavens...

"..."

Stan remained silent, but he was on edge inside.

That said a lot, considering his nerves were steel.

He had always been the one to lead, who knew what to do and say. He couldn't predict how it would all end for the first time in a long while.

...

[Anthony's POV]

"The world's history is indeed identical."

I said while "Googling" the history of this world and the important dates.

I had suspected this before, but now I've confirmed it. The differences start from World War II and beyond.

There were several teams of superheroes, but the most famous were two — the Seven and Payback.

The Seven replaced Payback, but the latter was particularly well-known in the 1980s.

I began to look for "supers" with cool powers and analyzed their bodies because I was interested in them.

The first one I visited was Mindstorm, a former member of Payback.

He had the ability to hear people's thoughts.

He could immerse them in a kind of nightmare illusion where they would relive the scariest moment of their life repeatedly upon visual contact.

It only took me a minute to use my powers to find him. I was in the middle of a forest and thought he looked like a homeless guy at first.

However, that's exactly how he looked.

"Wh-what?!"

He exclaimed, wide-eyed at the sight of me.

"Hello, Dan. Your power is quite interesting..."

I said, already analyzing him.

"How... I can't hear your thoughts?"

He was clearly surprised.

He suffers from bipolar disorder because of his powers.

Moreover, he stopped controlling them properly due to the same bipolar disorder and preferred to isolate away from people and the "voice" in his head.

"Forcing girls to do what you like regardless of their age... rape, murder..."

I said while reading his most "heavy" sins.

"It's obvious."

After my words, he simply collapsed with rolled-up eyes.

I put him into a terrible illusion that he deserved for his sins using magic.

In a second, he lived through fifty years in the illusion... although his mind broke literally in the first month of torment.

"Apparently, everything here is with a shade of darkness."

I whispered while turning his body into dust.

Compound V greatly developed his brain, so much so that a tumor appeared which helped him control his powers.

It also served as an amplifier for all mental abilities, and he should have telekinesis.

"Here are all the dark dealings of Vought."

I pulled out my phone and began reviewing the documents obtained through the Cortana program.

I managed to get everything on electronic devices and in the cloud connected to Vought.

This was the "dirty laundry" of many heroes, and Vought quickly covered it up.

How they intimidated people and families of CIA agents, and how some heroes worked as killers to get rid of troublesome individuals.

"Now we need to get rid of Vought's dirtiest shareholders and directors, and people will do it themselves."

I smirked.

Of course, leaking everything altogether makes no sense otherwise Vought will definitely cease to exist.

Over the years, the company has grown to be very important to the world economy. If it "breaks down," millions of people worldwide will be unemployed. 

This is not the worst that can happen.

...

[3rd POV]

Vought Tower

Three hours had passed since the beginning of the bloody rain, and a lot had happened during this time.

Vought's shares had already dropped by fifteen percent which was truly "horrifying" for the directors.

Ezekiel's online performance didn't help much especially when lightning struck him live on air... which immediately put him into a coma, and people began to simply fear approaching the "heroes."

"We can't disperse these clouds."

Stan's people reported to him.

"Understood."

He said this while still looking at the tablet, which showed an image of the Earth from a satellite's height.

A photo was taken two hours ago to clearly see what these huge glowing signs were.

What he saw stirred fear in him.

Who could create such things over the entire continent?

The fact that Homelander was struck by lightning when he flew for the second time to "clear" the lines with his laser vision didn't particularly bother him.

More accurately, he had burns all over his back that disappeared completely in half an hour, but the fact remained.

"S-sir...

"Yes?"

Stan raised his gaze to the nervous IT department employee.

"Secret Vought documents appeared on the network a minute ago."

He said, swallowing nervously.

"W-We've started working on removing them, but they keep reappearing..."

"..."

Stan silently folded his hands in front of him and sighed.

This was clearly a coordinated attack on Vought.

He needed to quickly make a statement and closely monitor the actions of their "assets."

...

"Everything will be hunky-dory. These bastards will get what's coming to them."

Butcher clearly relished what was happening.

Meanwhile, chaos continues on the news.

"There's footage of A-Train... how he... ran through Robin."

Hughie swallowed.

"And also his words in the club... everyone's seeing it."

He smiled too.

"Watch your mouth."

M.M. said while settling onto the couch.

"Things are going too well. We just need to find this super-terrorist."

"Yeah... we need to finish this."

Frenchie said, then glanced at the Asian woman who drew the word "boy" and pointed to the inscription and then at herself.

"I don't understand you."

He said with clear regret in his voice, and Kimiko Miyashiro sighed and closed her eyes.

"If we catch this fucking super-terrorist now, then everything will be sorted. Raynor will definitely cover our asses then. Vought clearly has bigger fish to fry right now. They're drowning in their own mess."

Butcher said while grinning.

"Don't forget about the signs from above."

Frenchie looked at the others.

"Since when did you get all religious? If there's some big shot in the sky, it's more likely to be Homelander."

Butcher waved his hand dismissively.

"Don't talk like that... you can see for yourself what's happening outside. I don't think Vought's behind this. They have enough problems because of it."

Frenchie shook his head.

"And there was that super... who introduced himself as a god."

Hughie swallowed.

"And you believed that asshole?"

Butcher snorted.

"There are tons more of these supers, so..."

"Let's stop talking about this. Did you see Ezekiel get struck by lightning? Live on air when they were trying their usual crap on people."

MM said while showing them a video on his phone.

"I need to contact Annie."

Hughie said quietly.

"Oh, damn, when did you become a believer, M.M.?"

Butcher's look clearly showed what he thought about all of this.

"Hey, asshole up there, can you hear me?! I fucking prayed to you so many times, practically begged you for an answer, begged for help! But you sent me to hell!"

He shouted at the ceiling, showing how little he cared.

"So fuck you, I'm sending you to hell now. See? Everything's fine, what are you all freaking out about?"

"That was very stupid..."

Frenchie shook his head.

They were sitting in their hideout, and it was unexpected when an unfamiliar voice echoed.

"Indeed, it was stupid."

The voice came from seemingly everywhere.

"Oh fuck!"

Hughie exclaimed and jumped in fright.

The next moment, everyone stood up as if preparing for a fight and... couldn't move anymore.

Butcher saw even Kimiko frozen and unable to move.

"God cannot answer everyone. Otherwise people would always rely only on him, not on themselves."

A figure appeared in the center of the room with glowing hair and eyes.

"God can give hope when surrounded by darkness while pointing the way, but not hold everyone's hand to lead them to what they want. Yes, William, I heard you."

He looked at the scruffy man whose mind seemed to have gone blank.

...

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