Free Web NovelChapter 76: Chapter 76: Homelander and Butcher
Toward the end, The Deep hesitated, then said, "A-Train. The way he looked just now, I think his heart might be in bad shape... but he still went after them.
And it was the same when he and I were looking into the Church of the Collective. A-Train had several moments where his heart seemed to be acting up..."
Whether he was trying to dodge responsibility or was genuinely worried, The Deep brought up A-Train’s heart condition.
Benjamin frowned slightly. A-Train’s heart problem really had never been fixed. For a speedster Supe, being unable to run was basically the same as being half-useless. Add in The Deep, another useless piece of shit, and letting them get away was hardly surprising.
"Fuck. This was your home turf, and you still let me down."
Benjamin sighed, shook his head, and cursed.
"Split up and search."
Benjamin shouted to the others.
Still, Benjamin wasn’t counting on Maeve or Starlight, whose speed was nothing special. He wasn’t counting on The Deep to find anyone, either, and he definitely wasn’t counting on A-Train with his bad heart.
Most likely, Stormfront and Homelander would find them first. And who knew whether Stormfront would actually listen to him if she passed through a Black neighborhood.
Better to beat them to it and find the target first.
The group quickly entered the maze-like flood control tunnels.
...
...
The inside of the flood control tunnel was dark and damp, thick with the stench of sewage and the rotten smell of decaying moss.
The huge concrete pipes were like the guts of a labyrinth, branching in every direction and stretching down into darkness.
The moment the seven entered the passage, they split up.
Homelander and Stormfront, the two Supes who could fly and move at extreme speed, turned into two blurs almost instantly. With a sharp crack of displaced air, they vanished into the pitch-black depths of the tunnel, searching nonstop for the Supervillain.
Benjamin, meanwhile, stayed behind and jogged at an easy pace.
He carried the heavy White Eagle shield in one hand, his military boots splashing through the standing water with dull, wet slaps.
...
At the other end of the passage, Butcher was leading The Boys in a frantic escape through the maze.
Suddenly, two crimson points of light flared in the darkness ahead.
A figure slowly emerged, blocking their only way out.
Homelander.
He stood there casually, hands clasped behind his back, head tilted slightly, his red-glowing eyes studying the mortals in front of him like a bunch of rats.
When Homelander’s gaze finally landed on the bearded man holding a gun, the red glow in his eyes slowly faded.
He paused for a second, then the corner of his mouth curled into a deeply amused smile.
Butcher, too, didn’t back away in fear when he saw Homelander. Instead, he stopped.
The two archenemies finally faced each other head-on for the first time in that dark, stinking sewer.
"William Butcher..."
Homelander’s voice echoed through the empty passage.
"Former CIA agent. The man who blew up my colleague Translucent. I finally get to meet you."
Homelander took a small step forward, his voice growing a little excited.
"But... your target was never Vought, was it? It was me."
"You went through all that trouble, wrecking shit everywhere, even killing Translucent, one of The Seven, even putting your own life on the line."
"What do you want from me? Money? Fame? Or are you trying to prove something to me with this incredibly stupid little stunt?"
Facing one of the strongest Supes on Earth, Butcher not only refused to lower his gun, he gave him a wicked grin.
"What do I want from you?"
Butcher raised an eyebrow, smiling at Homelander.
"You think way too much of yourself, you caped freak. I’ve only got one goal..."
"To hurt you. To hurt you right down to the fucking bone."
Homelander froze for a moment.
Ever since he was a child, in this world...
No ordinary mortal had ever dared challenge him to his face with such pure, undisguised malice, so intense it almost felt fanatical.
Aside from his father Benjamin, aside from the now-dead Stan Edgar and Vogelbaum, almost everyone in the world either blindly worshipped and feared Homelander, or looked up to him with the same reverent awe as the common people.
He was used to being feared. Used to fake praise.
So when hatred this pure, without a single trace of anything else, appeared in front of him...
Homelander didn’t feel the immediate urge to slice the man in half with his lasers.
He had always respected people who weren’t afraid of him.
Edgar before. Vogelbaum. And now, Butcher.
And this was the first time anyone had dared face him this honestly.
"BOOM!!!"
A deafening crash shattered the standoff.
Kenji, who had been hiding behind The Boys, suddenly rushed out of the shadows. He threw both hands upward.
He wasn’t attacking Homelander at all.
He was attacking the sewer itself.
As his terrifying Telekinesis erupted, the massive concrete slab beneath Homelander’s feet instantly collapsed and caved in.
At the same time, the support pillars above the passage were snapped apart by psychic force. Hundreds, even thousands of tons of rubble, rebar, and dirt came crashing down like a violent landslide.
Before Homelander could take flight, the mountain-heavy debris buried him underground.
The violent collapse didn’t just bury Homelander. It also smashed a massive hole through the ceiling of the passage, opening a direct path to the surface.
Blinding sunlight poured in through the opening. freewebnovel.cσ๓
Without the slightest hesitation, Kenji seized that split-second chance, leaped upward, and escaped from The Boys.
