Hughie Campbell

  "Hughie, we can't get involved," Butcher told him, and the rest of the Boys gathered around the Brit. They hadn't left the arena, having been trapped as well, and were forced to simply talk in a corridor away from anyone else.

  "We have to!" Hughie said. "They don't have enough people for this. Look, there are other civilians helping, and the badniks aren't that tough!"

  "Tough enough to beat the shit out of Black Noir," MM pointed out, the fatherly black man sounding exasperated. "Hughie, we can't be out here fighting fucking robots next to supes!"

  "It does seem slightly against our mission, eh?" Frenchie pointed out with a joint in his hand.

  "Is it?" Hughie snapped. "I thought we were in this to help people! Well, people need help. We don't need to do much! Just go to the bombs, shoot some robots, then follow the instructions to disable the bombs."

  Butcher rolled his eyes. "Hughie. We can't be showing up on Vought's radar. Bad enough you're getting all moon-eyed at Starlight, now you want to be a supe?"

  "No," Hughie snapped his mouth closed, looking at the other three men. He took a deep breath. "Look, you guys don't have to do this," Hughie reached into a bag and pulled out a gun, a handgun. He hesitantly looked at it, then swallowed. "Just a few robots. You guys can do what you want. Okay?"

  He looked them over. Butcher was eyeing him with an unreadable expression on his face. Frenchie took a deep pull of his joint, staring at the gun in Hughie's hand. MM stroked his beard, looking over at Butcher.

  Hughie put the gun into his pants and was about to walk away when MM spoke. "Fuck. Fine. Just to keep your dumb ass from blowing your dick off."

  "Really?" Hughie tried not to sound excited, before the rest of MM's sentence caught up. "Wait, blow my-"

  "Safety, you bleeding idiot," Butcher pulled the gun from Hughie's pants, flicked on the safety, then pulled a holster from the bag, handing the gun to him. "Seriously kid, you're American. Crying shame for you not knowing how to handle these things."

  "He's right, wee Hughie, it's in yer blood," Frenchie teased while pulling out a handgun of his own.

  "My family is Scottish," Hughie said hesitantly, watching the other Boys gear up. "You guys are all going to help?"

  "Help? Nah," Butcher said even as he grabbed a crowbar from the bag. He gave Hughie his signature savage smile. "But fucking hell, if this phone app you got can tap into Eggman's network, maybe we can get some murderbots of our own. Get our own soup fucking robo-cunts."

  "Good idea," Frenchie said cheerily. "And if we impress enough, maybe Starlight will give our Hughie some pussy, no?"

  "That's not why-"

  "Sure, I'm doing all this to let the kid get his dick wet," Mother's Milk said sarcastically, cutting off the banter to begin walking. "Now come on fuckers. Let's get this done before I regret it."

  Starlight

  "Sometimes I wish you could talk," Starlight said to Black Noir as they ran through the halls.

  Black Noir glanced at her, then nodded, before going back to sprinting. Starlight sighed with some exasperation.

  They turned a corner, and Black Noir got shot in the face with a ball of light.

  "Shit!" Starlight ducked another light attack, sliding across the floor until she slammed against the opposite wall. She looked over the attackers. A polar bear robot like the one she'd fought with the Deep, some of those MotoBugs that Eggman seemed to love using, and a pair of praying mantis ones. Behind her, Black Noir flipped up, pulling his sword out of its sheath.

  Behind them was a very big and obvious cylinder with a massive red logo in the shape of Eggman's face on a screen in the center. Starlight's phone helpfully sang out to confirm what she could already see.

  "Got one of the bombs!" Starlight shouted, leaping out of the way of another Motobug's fire and back into cover. "What's next!?"

  "One sec," Julian Ivo announced. "Once you get close enough, I can interfere with it. You just have to, well-"

  "Fight through the small army?" Starlight asked sarcastically.

  "Hey, you're the superhero. Do something super, hero."

  Starlight clenched her fist, then went spinning around the corner. Black Noir met the two praying mantis robots in battle, his sword parrying and slicing as the three of them put on a dramatic display of swordsmanship. Starlight ran past him, blocking a Motobug shot on one of her new gauntlets, then smashed apart the badnik with a punch.

  The giant polar bear robot met her charge, Starlight barely avoiding his claws as the lights around them began to flicker while she absorbed the ambient electricity around them. When she punched the polar bear, it was with a fist powered by light, the explosive force of it sending the polar bear stumbling.

  It caught itself, spinning back around to throw an elbow at her. She barely blocked it, gritting her teeth. The Polar Bear threw a punch, hook, uppercut, pushing her back as she parried and blocked the superpowered blows.

  Starlight was trained in several martial arts. Enough to recognize them being used… by a metal polar bear?

  "What the hell!?" Starlight shouted, ducking back and blocking a shot from one of the Motobugs on her gauntlet, focusing on the martial arts robot bear… and what a sentence that was. "Since when could these fight like this?"

  Julian hummed over the line. "Clearly this Eggman's robots are either learning or receiving new programming. Fascinating. A safe bet then that you should expect harder fights than mere punching bags in the future Starlight."

  Starlight growled under her breath. Rather than answering, she rushed forward. All around, the machines, the lights, even the bomb, flickered, electricity filling the air, the bear freezing up briefly.

  "RAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" She roared like a raging demon as she reared her arm back then fired it forth. When she hit the polar bear this time, her fist slammed through its chest in an explosion of light. Behind her, the sound of metal shearing through metal was followed by a pair of mantis bodies sliding across the floor.

  A Motobug squeaked, turning to run, before she blasted it, sending chunks across the floor.

  Black Noir finished off the last of the Motobugs while Starlight kicked the remains of the polar bear badnik aside. The blonde found herself smiling. That had been exhilarating. Hard, but worth doing.

  "Well done," Julian said over the earpiece. "I'll let you know when I'm ready. Just waiting on the other teams."

  "Should one of us go help them?" Starlight asked, looking over at Black Noir as he… bowed before the bodies of the praying mantises? Did he consider them worthy opponents or something?

  "No need. They have it handled."

  "They do? I mean, Maeve obviously, but Hughie-"

  "He's doing fine. Have faith in your boyfriend, Starlight," Julian said, sounding amused.

  "He's not my boyfriend, I just… UGH. It doesn't matter," Starlight groaned, looking back at Black Noir.

  "..." Black Noir waved at her with a pair of the praying mantis scythes in his hands, the bladed edges of them shining in the light.

  "Least somebody is happy…" Starlight mumbled, crossing her arms to wait.

  Hughie Campbell

  Running through the stadium halls, Hughie unknowingly had a problem that Starlight and Black Noir didn't need to deal with.

  When heroes ran somewhere, people parted for them. They weren't cops, but people tended to think of them on an elevated level. Only an idiot stopped a hero who was clearly running to a problem, especially in a crisis.

  Hughie, on the other hand, did not wear a fancy costume. None of the Boys did. So when they rushed through the crowds filling the hallways, they had to do it with some… creativity.

  "Move, goddamnit!" Mother's Milk shoved his way around a group of guys trying to complain to a very exhausted looking stadium worker, only to have to move around a family.

  "Come on you fucking wankers, move!" Butcher shouted, pushed a group of fans wearing A-Train's merchandise aside with a growl. "These cunts-"

  Hughie didn't hear the rest of the swearing that followed, focused as he was on the phone in his hand. "Down that hall, about, I don't know, thirty feet down?"

  "You don't know?" Mother's Milk asked.

  "It's using the metric system!" Hughie shouted. "I have to translate it!"

  "Putain d'américains, give it," Frenchie took the phone, running along with Hughie. "Oh, he's right, 9 meters."

  They reached a set of double doors, Butcher kicking them open and pulling a crowbar out from under his coat. The group ran down the blank white hallway beyond the doors, reaching another pair. Butcher stopped them at the door, turning to grin. "All right Boys. Let's go be heroes, eh?"

  He kicked the next door. And a coconut slammed into his stomach.

  "Guh!" Butcher stumbled back, leaning over in shock. "What the fu-!?"

  Mother's Milk pulled him aside before another one could smash into Butcher's head. Hughie had time to realize both coconuts were metal. And… were… ticking?

  "Baise-moi!" Frenchie shouted, grabbing the closest coconut and throwing it, then tossing himself over Hughie before both coconuts-

  BABABOOM!

  Exploded!? "What the fuck!?" Hughie shouted, shocked.

  "Fuckin hell!" When Hughie looked up, he met eyes with Butcher. Who was grinning. "Exploding goddamn coconuts!"

  He then lifted up his crowbar and ran into the room.

  "Goddamn it, you crazy British bastard!" Mother's Milk shouted, running in after him.

  "Come on, wee Hughie!" Frenchie lifted him up and pulled him along, Hughie yelping.

  The room they entered was big and covered in lockers. Not for athletes, but for employees, just big blue metal ones arranged in rows, with wooden benches in the aisles between them.

  On top of the lockers were monkeys. Fucking robot monkeys. Throwing metal coconuts.

  "Ha!" Butcher used his crowbar to smack one of the exploding coconuts back at a monkey, laughing maniacally. "Fucking DIABOLICAL!"

  An explosion punctuated his shout, which only seemed to make him more excited.

  "Oho, he's happy!" Frenchie yelled, getting into cover and bringing Hughie with him.

  Mother's Milk was more professional. He leaned out of cover, firing two shots with the pistol in his hand, taking out one of the monkey's in a cloud of sparks and metal. He then ducked back into cover before a coconut exploded on his cover, blowing open the lockers beside him. "Hughie, you owe me for this shit!"

  "Sorry!" Hughie shouted.

  "Less sorree, more shootee!" Frenchie shouted back, leaning out of cover to fire back at the monkeys. They were making robotic monkey noises, hopping from lockers, hanging off the pipes above, swinging as they tossed coconuts and dodged bullets.

  They were monkeying around.

  Hughie swallowed and pulled out the handgun he'd borrowed. After a hesitant moment, he leaned out of cover, only to pull back when a coconut came flying at him from a monkey swinging past. The explosion that followed shook the locker Frenchie and he were using as cover. "JESUS CHRIST!"

  "Calm down, they're basically fireworks!" Butcher shouted. He fired his hand gun with one hand and swung his crowbar at approaching coconuts, grinning all the while.

  "Fireworks can still kill people you fucking limey!" Mother's Milk jumped up and grabbed a monkey as it swung past, dropping to the ground and bashing its robotic brains in against a wooden bench.

  Hughie still appreciated the support. He leaned out of cover again and fired wildly. He missed five shots, hit a monkey in the chest, then missed another two before ducking back into cover.

  "I got one!"

  Frenchie turned to look at him as four of the monkey's he'd destroyed fell into the aisle beside them. "Good job, wee Hughie!"

  Hughie grinned excitedly.

  "Okay!" Butcher grabbed a monkey off a locker and smashed it with his crowbar, grinning. "If this all Eggman's got, we've got an easy job!"

  That was when a locker was lifted up and tossed in their direction like a child throwing a toy. Butcher barely dodged it, while the others fell to the ground as the locker sent all the others tipping over, destroying some of the monkeys. Hughie looked up, coughing up dust, to see who had attacked them.

  "Ah, shit…" He mumbled, scrabbling to his feet.

  Out of the dust, a tall being stepped forward. His silhouette was familiar, a round upper body, and a pair of glowing red eyes. Until Hughie noticed the metal gray skin, the round joints, and massive fucking gun in it's right hand.

  "An Eggman… robot?" Hughie squeaked.

  "INDEE-Oh. Hm," On a screen in the center of the robot's chest, Eggman stared out at The Boys. "You aren't supes? What commendable bravery! Eggrobo, set blaster to stun. PAINFUL STUN! I want to see if they're worth the effort!"

  "Order Acknowledged. Unconsciousness commencing." The robot raised his gun and blasted it at Mother's Milk, who desperately dodged the blue beam that came out. The energy splashed across the concrete wall behind him, sending up bursts of smoke as the concrete briefly burned.

  "FUCKING HELL!" Mother's Milk rolled behind a broken locker, shooting a monkey out of the air. "That's stun?"

  "I don't know. But I want it," Butcher said, grinning as he joined Mother's Milk.

  "What, are you starting a collection?" Hughie asked, barely able to keep any sort of calm as he popped out of cover to shoot at the Eggrobo.

  Only for the bullets to bounce off, mostly, one sinking into a soft red shoulder pad before stopping.

  "Its bulletproof?" Hughie yelped, ducking back down just as the beam passed overhead, the smell of his own hair burning following the pass.

  "Bullet resistant, mon ami," Frenchie rose up and tossed, of all things, one of the coconuts the monkeys had been throwing, the explosion that followed sending the Eggrobo back a step. "We simply need better bullets."

  "We need a better plan. Kid, you said that app told you where the bomb is?" Mother's Milk asked.

  "Yeah, yeah, let me just-" Hughie excitedly pulled out the phone. He stared at it. Then he waved it around, making sure it was pointing the right way, before staring in the direction of the Eggrobo.

  Mother's Milk, seeing that, groaned, closing his eyes tight. "Don't tell me."

  "It's in that guy."

  "FUCK!" Mother's Milk barked. "So if we destroy it, that thing might blow up?"

  "I guarantee you it will," Eggman's voice was followed by a hand grabbing the top of their cover and lifting it off the ground, tossing it aside. The group scattered as the Eggrobo came at them. Frenchie and Hughie ended up beside each other while Butcher faced the Eggrobo.

  "Ah, don't worry," Butcher grinned, reaching into his coat. "Watch this, boys."

  Then he pulled out the laser gun and spun out of cover. "Open wide, sunshine!"

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The beam that blasted out smashed into the Eggrobo's left arm. The robot stumbled, spinning to aim that massive gun at Butcher, who fired another shot.

  "The fuck is that!?" Mother's Milk shouted.

  "His laser gun!" Hughie shouted back.

  "What moron gave Butcher a goddamn laser gun!?"

  A cough came from the Eggrobo's chest screen that went ignored.

  "Butcher, be careful!" Frenchie shouted. "Do not blow up un robot!"

  "I'm being car-FUCKING HELL!" Butcher ducked under a retaliatory shot that nearly blasted him in the chest.

  Then the Eggrobo activated rockets in its back, blasting forward to slam into Butcher. It lifted him with it's left hand and slammed him into a brick wall.

  "Gaaaaah!" Butcher screamed. He grabbed at the steel arm pressing him against the brick, only to scream again as the Eggrobo crushed him against the wall.

  "Butcher!" Mother's Milk ran forward, grabbing a piece of one of the benches that had been destroyed by the chaos, and slammed it into the Eggrobo's back. Which did nothing. "Ah, fuck me-"

  The Eggrobo's right gun arm twisted around on its joint in an inhuman way to point at Mother's Milk.

  Hughie was tackling him out of the way before he even thought about it. The beam from Eggrobo's gun sliced across Hughie's back, scorching him with pain.

  "Ahhhhh!" Hugh screamed, instinctively grabbing at his burning back. "FU-"

  The Eggrobo kicked a foot back, hitting Mother's Milk and Hughie. Hughie felt something in his chest crack, while Mother's Milk let out a groan of pain next to him.

  "I…fucking hate this job," Mother's Milk groaned, rolling over on his back.

  Hughie saw the laser gun then, fallen from where Butcher dropped it. Near Frenchie.

  "Frenchie!" Hughie screamed. When the other man looked over, Hughie pointed at the gun.

  Frenchie didn't hesitate, rushing over and picking up the gun. He fired the last at the Eggrobo's leg, sending it stumbling enough for him to get a clear shot at the arm crushing Butcher.

  The Eggrobo dropped Butcher, spinning around to face Frenchie. The robot stomped towards him.

  "Hughie!" Frenchie dived aside as the robot swung its arm at him, tossing the laser gun to Hughie, who grabbed it and shot the robot in the same leg Frenchie had. This time, the blast shattered the limb, the robot falling over and catching itself on an arm. It twisted an arm to face Hughie, which was when a thought blasted into his brain.

  It was a robot. It had an AI program. Which meant it had programming. Including on how it targeted people. Everytime one of them attacked it, it had targeted its attacker. Over and over, it prioritized its attacker.

  "We need to draw its aggro!" Hughie shouted, barely avoiding the next shot. He tossed the laser gun at the same time, the chonky metal landing in the hands of Mother's Milk.

  "Aggro?" Frenchie said questioningly.

  "Fucking gamer talk," Mother's Milk grumbled. Still, he fired the gun next, aiming at the robot's left arm, this time shattering it to pieces. When the Eggrobo faced him, he was already tossing the gun to Butcher and ducking into cover. He was a second too slow, the Eggrobo's beam firing and scything across the air to aim towards him.

  Thankfully, Frenchie shot the robot from behind, drawing its attention from Mother's Milk before the beam of light could slice across his chest. The Eggrobo spun to face Frenchie, who couldn't get out of the way before it used its rockets to fly across the room and smash its metal head into him. Frenchie slammed into a locker, the metal bending, portions slicing into his skin.

  "Oy, roboshit!" Butcher shouted. This time, when he shot, it was multiple times. He hit the remaining leg twice, shattering it into pieces and leaving the robot to fall over. It tried to rise up with its remaining arm, letting go of its gun, but Butcher fired twice more, destroying it and leaving the Eggrobo as just a torso rolling on the ground.

  Together, the Boys, bruised, bleeding, and broken, gathered around the Eggrobo, looking down at it, Eggman's face laughing from the screen in the center.

  "Look at that," Eggman chuckled. "Just need a red moon in the background."

  "Ey?" Frenchie asked, brow furrowing.

  "Nothing to worry about. I must say, this all went swimmingly. I've always wondered how it would go, fighting the Boys."

  Butcher, Frenchie, Mother's Milk, and Hughie all stared down at the screen with varying levels of shock and surprise.

  "The government is very bad at hiding secrets," Eggman grinned under his massive mustache, his pince-nez glasses glittering. "I guess I'll see you later. And Butcher? Keep the gun safe. You've given me some incredible data for the future."

  The screen cut out, leaving The Boys looking down at their own reflections.

  "W…W-what does that mean?" Hughie looked over at the others. "This guy knows who we are?"

  "No, he knows who The Boys are," Butcher corrected. "Maybe the bloke worked in the CIA. Maybe he hacked them. Doesn't matter."

  Mother's Milk stared at him like he was crazy. To be fair, Hughie was doing the same. "How could it not matter, Butcher? Some robo building son of a bitch knows who we are!"

  "Yeah," Butcher gave him a grin. "And he doesn't give a shit. You heard him. He wants to play his games with supes. So let him."

  Then Butcher leaned down and lifted up the gun the Eggrobo had been using, grinning savagely as he looked it over. "And we'll keep picking up these fun little toys of his when we can."

  Hughie sighed, staring down at the Eggrobo, then at the phone app Julian had installed. Well. They'd done their part. Now they just had to hope Starlight and Maeve had done the same.

  Queen Maeve

  When Maeve entered the gym, a whole host of badniks turned to look at her. She trailed her eyes across them. Lady bugs, praying mantises, bumblebees, and a big bear too, all dotted around a room filled with exercise equipment, various shades of metal shining under the bright lights. Maeve walked over to a squat rack and lifted a barbell off of it, spinning the metal pole like it was a wooden staff.

  "Okay, Eggman. Let's see what you got."

  The shots started firing, but Maeve was already moving. She swung the barbell in her hand outwards, smashing apart a motobug. She ducked under a bumblebee robot as it tried to shoot her in the face, she came back up with a single stabbing thrust that drove the barbell through the bumblebee's thorax.

  Running through the room, she leaped over a bench to smash a knee into a praying mantis robot, blocking its blades on her barbell before kicking it back to shatter the mirrored wall behind it.

  Then a bear punched her in the face, metal claws scraping across her skin and sending her flying. The world's strongest woman smashed through a set of weights, landing in a roll as metal bent and shattered against her.

  "RAAAGH!" She roared, thrusting her makeshift weapon through the badnik bear's head. A series of blasts from some of the motobugs and buzzers around her landed across her skin, sending bursts of pain through her. Using the bear at the end of her barbell like a makeshift missile, she spun around and sent the sparking hulk at a group of badniks, destroying them.

  "Ha!" Maeve grinned, her hair waving behind her. "Gonna need more than these shitty mechs."

  "You're right," That was when one of the walls shattered apart, a wave of cement flying at her like bullets from a gun. Maeve lifted her arms up, blocking the stones. It was a good thing she did. It meant she blocked the hammer that smashed into her.

  Queen Maeve was sent flying through one wall, then another, then one more, destroying desks, tables, and computers on the way, before suddenly she was in the open air. She landed on grass, sliding back and creating a big divot in the ground.

  "...F-" She coughed painfully, grabbing at her ribs as she rolled over. "F-Fuck me."

  "Hello!" From the hole she had created, her attacker stepped out.

  It was around ten feet in height, with massive shoulders and arms, stocky legs, and a pair of green eyes over a false mouth of sharp teeth. It was also carrying a giant fuck-off hammer, which it hefted easily. The end of it was the size of her torso across, and the whole of it was the same purple and red coloration as the robot.

  "Allow me to introduce the Egg Hammer!" Eggman's hologram appeared behind the robot. "One of a new line of beatsticks. For those updating the wiki, any of my badniks with the name Egg attached is an elite unit!" He laughed, slapping his rotund belly as he did. "Ah, and I want this to be a one on one, boys and girls! So no Homelander, no Black Noir. Or this baby goes BOOM! HAHAHA!"

  The Egg Hammer approached Queen Maeve. She swallowed and raised her fists up.

  With a roar of hydraulics and thrusters on its back, the Egg Hammer sped towards her. Maeve gritted her teeth and rushed towards it as well, the two titans smashing together in a shockwave of power.

  Madelyn Stillwell

  Julian Ivo was, if nothing else, immensely smart.

  He'd been working at the computers ever since they entered, working quickly. First he'd connected the computers of the stadium to Vought's own computers, allowing Vought's support network to chip in and help with their own technology. From there, he'd begun using the cameras to coordinate teams, keeping those in the stadium calm and collected despite the madness.

  Watching him work was fascinating. He manipulated technology like it was his own body. Suspiciously so.

  Madelyn's main job had been to use the Vought name and Homelander to help with that. Homelander was speaking to people with that All-American smile plastered on his face, reassuring them that the Seven had things in hand. Vought was keeping cops from rushing in and triggering the bombs, while food had been distributed to the civilians inside to keep them calm.

  That job got harder when Maeve was suddenly fighting a giant robot in the center of the stadium.

  "God fucking damnit," Madelyn swore. "Can she beat that thing?"

  "You would know better than me," Julian hummed. "It doesn't matter. The bomb is inside it. I have two of the bombs in my grasp thanks to Hughie and Starlight. Once Maeve has kept in close to that thing long enough, I can deactivate all three. But that still leaves your speedsters."

  Madelyn looked at the monitors currently watching A-Train and Shockwave. Julian had set up four of them. Two were showing real-time footage, while the others showed it slowed down. Currently, the speedster heroes were fighting badniks that had taken over an apartment complex. On the real-time screens, badniks could be seen simply getting turned to scrap, while on the others, A-Train and Shockwave slowly smashed apart the robots, taking care to protect the civilians.

  "A-Train is doing well," Julian hummed. "He's rather faster than I expected… no. He's more efficient I should say. He may not be as quick as Shockwave on the straight-line, but he's by far the better fighter."

  "You got a point to make here?" Madelyn asked, arms crossed when she looked over at the Arabian tech mogul.

  Julian gave her a smirk. "Do I need one? We're done."

  "What do you mean we're done?" One of Madelyn's guards asked.

  "There is nothing else we can do," Julian leaned back in his seat while his assistant, Mechelle, took a position behind him and to his right. "I've already connected what I have to, and the only fight left is Maeve's. Your people are doing their job as well. At this point, it's up to the superheroes."

  "We actually don't call them that," Madelyn mumbled. "There's a right's issue."

  "Really? Huh?" Julian then leaned back to rest in his seat.

  "You're oddly calm." Madelyn noted.

  "Am I?" Julian smiled at her, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Someone once told me 'In the midst of a crisis, you can either scream or fight.' I've fought. Now I must wait… and contemplate how irrelevant I've become."

  Madelyn blinked. That hadn't been something she'd expected from him. Julian seemed to notice. He chuckled.

  "Eggman is… a child. A child with too much power."

  Madelyn thought of Homelander.

  "He has created the most advanced technology on the planet. Bar none. Nothing anyone has ever created comes close. I was feeling very confident in my own intelligence. But now, I'll need to steal his technology just to start catching up. And he uses it to make cartoon animals that fight supes."

  Julian rubbed his eyes with one hand. "I've got government contracts to fulfill, and most of them are complaining that I can't give them anything as advanced as Eggman's tech. It's infuriating. I imagine it's how athletes and celebrities feel competing with supes for attention and sponsorships."

  Madelyn stared at him. If he was trying to sell that Eggman was a different person from him, he was doing a good job of it. At the very least, he was painting himself as a lesser rival to him. Still, she kept her thoughts to herself, instead focusing on A-Train and Shockwave.

  The speedsters had left the apartment, and were currently rushing to the last location. A-Train, to her surprise, was ahead on points. She genuinely didn't think he had it in him. Now, to see if he could keep that up.

  Leaning back, she briefly noted Mechelle's eyes on her. When she glanced over, the other woman didn't turn away. For a brief moment, Madelyn and Mechelle eyed each other. When Madelyn finally turned away, she felt… unnerved.

  She had been nervous before. But the only person who ever made her feel that way was Homelander… no. There was another person. Stan Edgar.

  That was who Mechelle reminded her of. It was in the set of her jaw, the narrowing of her eyes. The same look like… like whatever she was looking at had been judged, and found lacking.

  Madelyn clenched her arms around herself and glared at the screens before her. This was a bad, bad day.

  Julian Ivo

  Pretending to be an idiot was exhausting. Granted, even if I tried to be as idiotic as possible I'd still be a genius, but pretending to be jealous of my own work was both hilarious and annoying. There was a part of me that wanted to crow my achievements to the world. Usually, I could slip into the Eggman persona to feed my need for validation, but without that option, I was simply stewing.

  "...Julian," Mechelle whispered. I glanced over at her. She gave the briefest smile, which might as well have been a hug. I smiled back and turned back to focus on the work in front of me.

  It was easy, if constant, keeping Vought's eyes in the right place. I needed to keep The Boys off any cameras, make sure that they couldn't see where my badniks were coming from, and interfere with police so they wouldn't accidentally run into the badniks before A-Train and Shockwave could fight them.

  One day, I'd reveal who I was to the world. It would be the day the world had no choice but to become mine. Funny. For most, the idea of ruling the world was a last step. For me, it was just the point where things would get easy.

  For now. A-Train and Shockwave would soon run into the area boss. That would be fun.