Chapter 16: The Appearance of A Dead Brother

Butcher's hands were trembling, his mind spinning as he tried to process the whirlwind of emotions flooding him. The man sitting across from him—his brother, but not really his brother—was a stranger in so many ways. He was Lenny, and yet he wasn't. The boy Butcher had known was gone, replaced by a man who had lived through hell, who had been shaped by unimaginable pain and trauma.

"What… what did they do to you?" Butcher finally asked, his voice shaky, even though he wasn't expecting an answer.

Marcus looked down at his hands, as if studying the faint scars that littered his skin, remnants of the experiments that had been conducted on his predecessor's body. As he recounts fragments of what happened.

"But you're alive," Butcher said, his voice laced with confusion. "You're here."

"I'm alive, yes," Marcus replied, his tone bitter. "But I wasn't what they wanted. When they brought me back, they expected something extraordinary—powers, abilities that could make me their weapon. But I didn't have any of that. To them, I was a failure."

Butcher swallowed hard, the enormity of what Marcus was saying weighing heavily on him.

"I survived because I was thrown out like trash," Marcus said, his voice cold and detached. "They left me to die again when they realized I wasn't what they hoped for. They didn't care that I was a person, that I had a life, a history. To them, I was just a failed experiment, a mistake."

Butcher felt his stomach churn. He couldn't imagine the agony, the betrayal Marcus must have felt—to be used, discarded, and left for dead by people who saw him as nothing more than a tool. "What happened after they threw you out?" Butcher asked, his voice softer now, more hesitant.

Marcus sighed, leaning back in his seat as he recalled those dark days. "I was lost, Butcher. Completely and utterly lost. I didn't know who I was, where I was, or what I was supposed to do. All I had were fragmented memories, bits and pieces of a life that didn't make sense to me. And I was in pain—so much pain. Physically, mentally, emotionally. I wandered aimlessly, no idea of where I was going or what I was looking for. I was just… existing."

Butcher remained silent, the weight of Marcus's words pressing down on him. He couldn't fathom what it must have been like, to be so broken, so lost.

"Then the Hayes family found me," Marcus continued, his voice softening slightly. "They were driving late at night, in the middle of nowhere, when they saw me lying by the side of the road. I was covered in dirt, blood, barely conscious. They thought I was dying. But they didn't leave me there. They took me in, nursed me back to health. Gave me a new name, a new identity. They treated me like I was their own."

For a moment, there was a flicker of warmth in Marcus's eyes, a brief glimpse of the gratitude he felt for the Hayes family. But it was quickly overshadowed by the cold reality of his past.

"I tried to build a life with them," Marcus said, weaving lies with truths, his voice tinged with a sadness that Butcher had never heard from him before. "But the memories wouldn't stay buried. No matter how hard I tried, they kept coming back. Little things would trigger them—a name, a place, a face. And eventually, it all came flooding back when I starting developing my powers, Marcus lies attributing his current power to the experiments. The truth, the pain, everything I had tried to forget."

Butcher swallowed, his throat dry. "So that's when you remembered who you really were?"

Marcus nodded slowly. "Yes. It was like a dam broke, and everything came rushing back at once. I remembered who I was, who you were, what had happened to me. And I realized that I couldn't keep pretending to be someone else. I couldn't keep running from the truth."

Butcher's heart ached as he listened to Marcus's story. He had always carried the guilt of leaving Lenny behind, but hearing what had happened to him, how he had suffered, made that guilt almost unbearable. "And you never thought to come find me?" Butcher asked, his voice tinged with a mix of anger and sorrow. "To let me know you were alive?"

Marcus's eyes hardened, feigning a reaction, his jaw tightening. "You think it was that simple? That I could just waltz back into your life after everything that happened? After what you did?"

Butcher flinched, the accusation in Marcus's voice cutting deep. "I didn't know, Lenny. I didn't know what would happen. I thought… I thought you'd be better off without me."

"Don't call me that name ever again. You thought wrong," Marcus said coldly. "You left me to deal with that monster on my own. And when I couldn't take it anymore, I chose death over living without you. But even death wouldn't give me the peace I wanted."

Butcher looked away, unable to meet Marcus's gaze. The weight of his guilt, his shame, was too much. He had always prided himself on being tough, on not letting anything break him. But this… this was breaking him in ways he hadn't thought possible.

"I'm not here to be your brother again, Butcher," Marcus said, his voice steely. "Lenny Butcher is dead, and he's never coming back. I've made my peace with that. But you… you need to understand that the man sitting in front of you isn't the same person you left behind. I've changed. I've had to."

Butcher's eyes flickered with a mixture of sadness and regret. "So what now, then? Why are you here?"

"I'm here because we used to be a family once upon a time, but not anymore and we have a common enemy," Marcus said simply. "Vought. They created this mess, and they're going to pay for it. I don't care about the past, Butcher. I don't care about what happened between us. What matters now is the future—and making sure that what happened to me, what happened to so many others, never happens again."

Butcher nodded slowly, the anger and guilt swirling inside him, mixing with a sense of purpose. He had made mistakes—grave ones—but maybe, just maybe, he could make things right. Maybe, with Marcus by his side, they could finally take down the real enemy.

"Together, then," Butcher said, his voice rough but resolute.

"Together," Marcus agreed, though his eyes remained cold, guarded. "But don't mistake this for a reconciliation, Butcher. I'm not here to make amends. I'm here to finish what they started."

Butcher looked at Marcus, really looked at him, and realized that the boy he had known was truly gone. In his place was a man forged by pain and loss, a man who had learned to survive in a world that had done everything to destroy him.

"Fair enough," Butcher said, his voice heavy with resignation. "Let's just make sure we get the bastards who did this to you—and make 'em pay."

Marcus nodded, his expression unreadable. "They'll pay, Butcher. They'll pay for everything, all the crucial experiments they did to me."

The helicopter continued its steady flight through the night, the city lights below coming into view as they approached their destination. Butcher and Marcus sat in silence, the tension between them still thick, but now tempered with a shared understanding, a common goal. The past couldn't be changed, the wounds couldn't be healed, but the future… the future was still up for grabs.

Marcus felt a certain kind of relief wash over him after his talk with Butcher. He then calls for his system panel as he notices some changes, realizing he had now hit 90% in one of his attributes, bringing a smile to his cold face.This shows that his plan is actually working.

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[SYSTEM STATUS]

Current Ability: Superman (Basic)

•Strength: 85%

•Speed: 87%

•Flight: 88%

•Durability: 86%

•Heat Vision: 87%

•Solar Absorption: 90%

•Mental Ability: 89%

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But it was far from over, because he is in possession of the body of adult Lenny who, although is dead has some lingering spirit hiding in the body because of his past trauma from the memories he received.

Knowing this is quite dangerous for him, he presented himself to Butcher showing himself as Lenny but cutting all ties with this damn fucker...knowing very well that, being with him can even cause your death. It's like being with someone possessing the unlucky attribute but only those around him suffers not the person himself.