Chapter 28

[Homelander POV]

Within minutes, I was no longer at Stillwell's house, and Doppelgänger's body had been reduced to ash by my heat vision.

It was pointless to consider the extent of this power.

These lasers were so intense that no material had yet withstood them. I smirked as I watched the ash scatter in the wind.

A heavy sigh escaped me as I thought about what to do.

It was definitely wrong to do that.

It wasn't that my actions were spontaneous. I had thought about it for more than ten minutes while everyone left the house.

There were plenty of options other than killing—such as intimidation or money.

The intimidation was only effective initially, and eventually...

The second option was better, but I wasn't that rich, constantly giving out enormous sums of money.

On the other hand, Vought was quite capable of that, especially because of such valuable information.

Doppelganger knew this, and the corporation was very generous with loyal employees.

However, the decisive factor was the blatant lie from that fat super, and that sealed his fate.

I could have found a super who could erase memories as the Multiplier did.

The catch was that such supers were extremely rare, and those who were available were closely monitored and funded.

There was only one known super who could really do that among the known supers.

But as far as I knew, Mindstorm disliked any living creature with intelligence, and approaching a psychotic telepath was not a good choice.

The only possible option was to kill.

I couldn't risk the safety of those close to me who were constantly in danger.

I sighed, closed my eyes, and flew sharply into the sky. 

After a short flight, I landed at the hangar where Butcher's captured associates were kept.

As soon as I walked in, I went straight to the prisoners, leaving their guards confused.

They didn't stop me but let me through as if it were normal.

The prisoners appeared before me in less than ideal condition, sitting in their cells and watching me warily.

There was enough room for all three of them to move around, even though their hands were handcuffed.

There were no signs of beatings on their bodies, and each of them seemed to be in good health.

They could be just not in the best mood, and I would even say it was quite gloomy.

"Please, let us go."

One of the guards was asked, and they complied without questions.

What can I say?

I appreciate efficient people.

Hughie Campbell, the skinny guy, and Marvin T. Milk, the guy who was with Butcher in the hospital, and the third guy I didn't know at all.

As far as I know, he was just among them and hadn't appeared on camera before, unlike the other three.

Meanwhile, M.M. got up from the floor and looked at me with a question.

"Are things bad?"

He asked, under the confused gazes of his companions.

"Not exactly."

I replied, thoughtfully examining them.

"You'll be released today."

"Why?"

Hughie interjected, rising from the floor with a shocked expression.

"Because I want to."

I smiled at them, seeing their faces in justified shock.

"There's some catch, right?"

M.M. suggested, and I could understand his skepticism.

"There's no catch, big guy. I just made an agreement with your leader that obligates me to release you and not pursue you further. Of course, if you don't provoke me."

"Just like that? You're just going to let us go?"

Hughie asked, raising a valid point.

"Where else would you go?"

I scoffed at his words before seriously gazing at the third prisoner.

"But even I'm not omnipotent in the eyes of the law, and as you might have guessed, this applies specifically to you."

"Are they going to lock up Frenchie?"

Hughie asked anxiously, looking even more worried than the person in question.

"So that's what you call him? A rather ordinary nickname for someone with dozens of fake identities."

"I'm Serge."

He finally got up and introduced himself.

"Homelander."

I frowned, not particularly pleased to meet such a person.

"You'll have only one day. After that… the hunt begins for you. That's all I can do, and don't expect more."

"Merci."

He nodded at me.

"So, will you let us out now?"

Hughie asked hopefully.

"There's still something left to do, and then you can go your separate ways."

I muttered to myself, giving them a scrutinizing look.

"Where's the Asian girl?"

"Just today..."

"I let her go."

Serge admitted, interrupting Hughie with a look as if my next step would be to tear him apart.

"I see."

I nodded thoughtfully, considering what to do next.

"Guys, open the cell and remove their handcuffs."

"But sir..."

"Do you think that was a request?"

I snapped, narrowing my eyes at the speaker.

"Open the cell and remove the handcuffs."

"Yes, sir."

They complied.

"You may go. I hope we don't have to meet under such circumstances again."

I said grimly, then escorted the recent prisoners to the exit before flying towards the Vought Tower.

I needed to hurry.

A few minutes later, my feet touched the balcony floor, and within seconds, I was briskly walking through the apartment corridor.

After exiting the fifty-third floor elevator and getting out, I entered the analytics department.

This department had access to two satellites that watched over everything from space twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

They also had access to the city cameras. I immediately approached the pretty girl in glasses sitting at a computer.

"Hello, Homelander."

She was clearly nervous due to my presence.

"Good evening."

I smiled at her.

"What's your name?"

"A-Anika."

"A beautiful name."

"Thank you, sir."

"So, Anika. I need your help urgently."

I said softly, giving her a serious look.

"W-What do you need?"

"I need to find a girl. Asian, black hair, short, about five feet"

I listed her approximate physical features.

"Focus on the eastern districts, and I need information from today."

"This might take a while."

Anika responded uncertainly.

"Then get help from your colleagues. Finding this girl is now a top priority. If you succeed, I'll give each of you a bonus of twenty thousand. Get to work."

I calmly sat down on a chair, watching as the employees hurried to start searching for the Asian girl.

I sighed, closed my eyes, and relaxed, anticipating the results.

I had a feeling that everyone in the analytics department would soon have an extra twenty thousand in their wallets.

In any case, it was no trouble to part with a bit of my billions, and it was a tough job after all.

The first results came in after twenty minutes.

They quickly identified the girl who had dropped her bulky shackles and fled.

She was already captured, and locating her position took a mere ten minutes.

I had to fly out to her immediately, exiting through the window on the floor.

Arriving at the location, I landed near an unfinished five-story building.

"Is anyone here?"

I called out loudly, making my way to the second floor where she was located.

Upon reaching the second floor, I looked around and whistled in surprise.

The floor was stained with blood and scattered with the bodies of people who had been gutted like chickens.

There were fights with the small Asian girl that killed at least five people.

Judging by the smell of blood, they were probably junkies.

The syringes scattered on the floor also hinted at this, but I was more accustomed to trusting my sharp sense of smell.

I smirked and shifted my gaze to the girl, who remained warily frozen in place.

She was standing in the corner, slightly hunched as if preparing for an attack.

It resembled Becky's instincts, but with the Asian girl, it was something wilder.

Her messy hair, dirty clothes, and her entire body covered in blood, with no shoes on her feet, gave her a very accurate appearance, considering her animalistic behavior.

She lunged at me before I could say anything. She grabbed my head with strong hands and tried to twist my neck but without success. 

After that, she tried to scratch my face and then cut out both of my eyes but failed to penetrate me.

At some point, she stopped and started to be curious about me while she tried to hurt me.

It got to the point where she simply broke her fingers on me and was greatly shocked by it.

She was shocked when this happened, even though her cuts healed very quickly. However, she didn't make a sound the whole time.

"First time? You'll get used to it."

I smiled at her, showing my perfectly white teeth.

"My name is John. Nice to meet you, silent one."

...

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