Free Web NovelChapter 78: Chapter 78: Super Tracking
"My God... Ben, I honestly have no idea how you pulled that off."
Stormfront stepped forward, looking at the two captives, neither of whom showed even the slightest sign of having resisted.
"You don’t have Super Speed, and you can’t fly. So why is it that every time we’re on a mission, you always find the target before I do, then wrap up the fight so damn cleanly? How the hell does that work?"
Benjamin had no idea what to say. It wasn’t like he could tell her he had super tracking powers.
"You useless idiots are slow as hell. Where’s Homelander?"
A short while later, Homelander finally drifted down from the sky at an unhurried pace.
Right now, he looked pretty damn rough.
His iconic Supersuit was covered in sewer dust and sludge.
Clearly, getting buried alive under Kenji’s rubble down below had taken him some effort to crawl out of, leaving him filthy and disheveled.
When he saw that Benjamin was not only unharmed, but had already captured the targets alive with flawless efficiency, Homelander froze in place, suddenly at a loss for words.
Stormfront glanced at the Black spectators watching nearby, irritation stirring in her chest.
But with Benjamin standing there, she had no choice but to hold back.
Soon, Queen Maeve, Starlight, A-Train, and The Deep arrived one after another.
The Seven were all present.
Benjamin looked at the team in front of him, supposedly the strongest fighting force on Earth, yet every single one of them was more useless than the last.
He shook his head in disgust.
In the end, it still came down to him, an old man over a century old, stepping in personally.
The Deep and A-Train really were a pair of worthless idiots. A-Train was at least a little understandable, with the heart condition and all. But The Deep was just worthless beyond saving.
"I don’t even know what the hell to say to you people... Fuck, you’re a bunch of deadweight morons."
Benjamin sighed and cursed.
At Benjamin’s scolding, Homelander actually looked a little hurt. He wasn’t sure whether he had disappointed Benjamin.
He wanted Benjamin’s approval, but now he had screwed everything up...
Starlight and Maeve exchanged a look. The two of them had basically been bystanders the entire time too, but there was nothing they could do about it. They were not exactly fast, after all.
"Alright. Let’s head back," Benjamin said.
...
A dozen minutes later.
A beat-up black van pulled up discreetly at the corner of the street.
Butcher, Mother’s Milk, and Frenchie slipped out and moved in quietly.
But when they saw the empty parking lot, along with the wreckage of cars that had been flipped and crushed into scrap by terrifying force, despair sank deep into all three of them.
"Shit..."
Frenchie dropped to his knees, staring at the pool of blood that belonged to Kimiko, both hands gripping his hair in anguish.
"Kimiko and Kenji were running this way. I know they were. But now there’s not a damn soul here. Everything’s wrecked... They must have been taken." fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
The thought of that girl, savage as a wild animal on the outside but fragile and kind underneath, falling into the hands of Vought’s bunch of freaks made Frenchie feel a sharp pain in his chest.
"Those goddamn Supe siblings! All they do is fuck everything up!"
Butcher cursed, pissed off. If Kenji had not butted in halfway through, he might still have had a chance to grab that bastard and trade him to Mallory for Becca’s location.
Now he had nothing.
"Kimiko is not some goddamn Supe!"
Hearing Butcher insult her, Frenchie shot back, "She’s a victim! She was just trying to save her brother!"
"All Supes deserve to die!" Butcher snapped.
"Shut up. Both of you, stop it."
Mother’s Milk, who had been silent the whole time, stood at the edge of the ruins.
Even though he had stopped his two teammates from arguing, he himself had fallen deep into hatred.
Mother’s Milk clenched his fists.
"Soldier Boy..."
...
Vought Tower, the highest-level Supe detention facility.
There were no cold iron bars here, only minimalist pure-white walls and reinforced glass, the kind of place that made it easy to lose all sense of time.
Benjamin walked down the white corridor with steady steps.
Behind him, Vice President Anika followed closely in her high heels, carrying a top-secret PR proposal she had just drafted.
To be fair, Anika had striking features, especially her beautiful large eyes. Dressed as a vice president...
"Sir, this capture operation was a huge success!"
Anika was visibly excited.
"The Seven deployed in full force, and with you personally leading the team, this is absolutely major news. I suggest we immediately hold a globally broadcast press conference and show the public these two captured Super-terrorists."
"Not only would this send a powerful warning to the enemies hiding in the shadows, it could double Vought’s stock price this quarter!"
"Save your bullshit, Anika. If you want that, go find Homelander and the others."
Benjamin did not even look back, dousing her enthusiasm without mercy.
"And another thing. Vought isn’t a Hollywood talent agency anymore. I don’t need to act like some circus clown, wagging my tail in front of the cameras begging for praise just because I caught a couple of rats."
Anika went rigid and lowered her head respectfully.
"Yes, sir."
Anika watched Soldier Boy’s back as he walked away, admiration shining in her eyes.
...
He pushed open the heavy door to pure-white Cell No. 1.
Kimiko was bound tightly to an interrogation chair with specially made ultra-strong alloy chains.
At the sound of the door opening, she snapped her head up and glared viciously at Benjamin as he walked in.
Benjamin stopped in front of her and looked down at the girl, whose face was full of hostility.
He did not use violence. He simply waved a hand. With a click, the electronic lock restraining Kimiko’s right hand opened. Then he tossed a folder and a black marker onto the metal table in front of her.
"I know you’re mute. So unless you want this to hurt, we’ll talk this way."
Benjamin pulled over a chair, sat down, and lit a cigar.
Kimiko rubbed her wrist, which had turned purple from the restraints, and gave him a cold look.
The next second, she grabbed the marker, yanked off the cap, and, fueled by rage, wrote seven huge English letters across the clean A4 paper. Then she slapped it down in front of Benjamin.
[FUCK YOU!]
"Huh."
Benjamin did not get angry. Instead, he shrugged, looking almost speechless.
The girl’s temper really was a little like his own.
Come to think of it, once she could talk, that thunderous mouth of hers was pretty similar to his too.
Then again, plenty of people had pretty damn foul mouths...
"Save your strength, kid. I don’t have time to waste on this."
Benjamin exhaled a mouthful of smoke, his deep eyes fixed on Kimiko.
"I’m not going to feed you a bunch of useless crap either. I know your background, and I know your abilities. I know your Superpowers came from that bullshit terrorist organization, the Shining Light Liberation Army, forcibly injecting you with Vought’s drug."
At the mention of "Shining Light Liberation Army," the hand Kimiko held the pen with trembled hard, and shock and hatred flashed through her eyes.
