Free Web NovelChapter 69: Chapter 69: Becca Is Still Alive...
"What if I told you..."
Adana watched Mallory’s back as he slowly said, "Vought International... is still running human trials with Compound V on people all over the world. Still creating god knows how many Supervillains."
Mallory stopped walking.
Kimiko’s face changed instantly. She whipped around and locked her eyes on him.
For Kimiko, the one she hated was Vought. She hated Vought for turning her and her brother into what they were.
Even now, she still had not found her brother...
And there was a very real chance her brother had already been wiped out by Vought’s superheroes as a Supervillain.
"What do you mean?" Mallory frowned slightly. "Just a few days ago, Soldier Boy publicly announced at a press conference that Vought acknowledged its past crimes and promised it had completely stopped every Compound V experiment. He said all remaining doses had been collected and destroyed. My sources don’t feed me bullshit."
"Come on, all of you."
Adana spread his hands theatrically, as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.
"You people actually believe the bullshit coming out of those two bastards’ mouths?"
Butcher and Mother’s Milk exchanged a look.
Deep suspicion and anger flashed in both their eyes.
True enough, they had never believed a single whitewashed statement from Vought.
Adana smiled with absolute confidence.
He snapped his fingers, and a bodyguard behind him immediately handed over a black waterproof tablet.
He tossed the tablet onto a pew.
"And besides, I have intel and leads. When it comes to gathering information, the Church of the Collective is no worse than you people." ƒrēewebnovel.com
The screen lit up.
Several highly secretive night-vision surveillance clips appeared on it.
In the footage, out on the rough open sea, several unmarked fishing boats were carrying out a handoff.
Crate after crate was unloaded and moved onto another fishing boat. The people on the receiving side opened them to inspect the contents. Inside were vials of blue liquid... Compound V.
"Those goddamn animals. I knew it!"
Mother’s Milk’s voice shook with hatred and rage.
"Compound V... that damn shit destroyed my family! Soldier Boy... that bastard was doing one of his street-show stunts back then. Just to catch some robber, he threw a car and crushed my family to death! Exactly. How the hell could he ever become a real superhero? This whole thing is just a fucking show put on by that father and son!"
The more Mother’s Milk spoke, the angrier he got.
He looked ready to charge straight into Vought Tower and tear Soldier Boy apart with his bare hands.
Mother’s Milk had hated Soldier Boy from the start, so of course he could not believe Soldier Boy had chosen to become a real superhero, and he sure as hell did not believe Vought’s PR spin.
Beside him, Butcher patted Mother’s Milk on the shoulder, holding his brother back.
Then he shot back, "Videos can be faked. How the fuck am I supposed to know this isn’t just some story you cooked up to con us, you cult prick?"
"Because it makes sense, Mr. Butcher. You know that better than anyone."
Adana stepped in front of Butcher, looked him straight in the eye, and said softly, "Mother’s Milk’s family was killed by Soldier Boy. And you, Mr. Butcher... your beloved wife, Becca, was raped by that animal Homelander."
"So tell me. Do you really think two pieces of shit with that much blood on their hands would suddenly grow a conscience, go legit, and become real superheroes who save the world? Don’t make me laugh..."
"You’re a piece of shit too."
Mallory stared at him coldly.
"So what the hell do you want?"
Mallory cut Adana off.
"I’m just a poor man of the Church trying to protect his life’s work."
Adana straightened his tie and continued, "Rather than letting that lawless father-and-son pair at Vought rule the world, wouldn’t it be better for the Church of the Collective to take their place? Our influence on society would be much gentler, don’t you think?"
"What do you need us to do?"
Butcher’s eyes turned dangerously cold. If it meant killing Homelander, he was willing to make a deal.
"Simple."
Adana smiled.
"I’ll use every intelligence network and resource the Church has left to support you fully. And your ’The Boys’ will use my intel to bring down Vought by any means necessary. Of course, if you need it, I can even provide you with a few doses of Compound V..."
Mallory fell into thought.
...
A few minutes later, Mallory led The Boys out of the abandoned church without looking back, disappearing into the night.
The empty church fell deathly silent again.
The warmth on Alastair’s face vanished, replaced by smug satisfaction.
He turned and walked toward the broken cross.
His situation had indeed been terrible lately.
Fortunately, before his death, Stan Edgar, the former CEO of Vought, had left behind plenty of intelligence and contingency plans.
According to that intelligence, he knew Vought would soon carry out a full purge of the Church.
And thanks to some of the backup plans Edgar had left him, Alastair had gotten his hands on quite a few things.
In that case, why not strike first?
After all, Vought was going to settle accounts with him sooner or later...
And according to Edgar, Soldier Boy actually seemed to want to become a real superhero. That was the most absurd, hilarious part of all, but Adana had no choice but to believe it.
Alastair muttered to himself, "Soldier Boy, he said you might really want to become a true superhero. But that won’t work... wouldn’t that get in the way of my Church’s growth?"
...
The black van drove along the highway.
Inside, a heavy, oppressive silence filled the cabin.
"Colonel..."
Frenchie, sitting in the back, could not help asking, "Are we really gonna work with trash like that?"
"We don’t have a choice, Frenchie."
Mallory sat in the passenger seat, her voice cold and decisive.
"In this shit pit, we don’t get to pick clean allies."
"If Alastair’s intel is true, if Vought is really still running experiments in secret and creating Supervillains, then we have to stop them no matter what it takes. That charlatan was right about one thing. Letting a money-grubbing cult cling to life is still a hell of a lot better than letting those superheroes take over the world."
In the driver’s seat, William Butcher’s eyes stayed calm, his thoughts unreadable.
"Listen, Butcher."
Mallory turned her head.
"I just intercepted a piece of intel. A Supervillain has appeared in Newark, New Jersey."
Her tone sharpened as she continued.
"If you can lead the team in and capture him alive, then combine that with the smuggling evidence from the Church of the Collective... we can bring that Supervillain to the upcoming congressional hearing as living, ironclad proof that Vought is still conducting human experiments, and shove it right in the global media’s face. Understand?"
"On top of that, we have plenty of dirt on superheroes. If all of it comes out at the hearing, it’ll crush Vought."
Butcher did not react. He kept driving.
"If you pull this off, I’ll give you Becca’s address."
"Screech!"
With a piercing scream of tires, the speeding van slammed to a halt on the dark highway.
Everyone inside was violently thrown forward by the force.
"What did you say?"
Butcher stared at Mallory.
"Becca is still alive. Get this done, and I’ll give you Becca’s address so the two of you can reunite."
