Chapter 194: We have to check out this Sage Grove place!
On the other side, Starlight hadn’t been sitting idle either.
By pure chance she ended up in Stormfront’s room. She had no idea where Stormfront had gone, but she knew she had to move fast. It didn’t take long before she spotted Stormfront’s laptop sitting on a desk.
She crept over and carefully powered it on.
She typed in several wrong passwords. Then her eyes landed on a photo frame nearby. Inside was a picture of Stormfront with an older woman. The two of them looked close, heads pressed together like mother and daughter.
Starlight pried the frame open. On the back of the photo was a name: Adele.
Could it be that simple?
She put the frame back together and tried the password again. This time she was in.
Within minutes she found the email chain between Stormfront and Sage Grove. She carefully noted the address and was about to open one when Ashley’s voice suddenly came from the hallway.
"Okay, okay, I’ll bring Stormfront’s laptop right over." Ashley was still on the phone as she pushed the door open. She scanned the room and finally spotted the laptop on the desk.
The second the door clicked shut, Starlight let out a quiet breath behind it. Close call. She’d almost been caught.
What surprised her more was that Stormfront clearly hadn’t been blown to pieces like Hughie claimed. From the way Ashley talked, the woman just wasn’t staying here.
Injured maybe? That would explain why she wasn’t showing her face.
Starlight took a deep breath and started searching the room. She was careful, putting every single item back exactly where she found it. In the end she came up empty.
She cracked the door open, checked both ends of the hallway, and only then slipped out.
...
Ever since the Stormfront mess, Hughie and the others had been in pretty good spirits. Everyone except Butcher.
"Shit! That fucking bastard. When his mum squeezed him out she must’ve stuck his head where his arse should be, because every time he opens his mouth pure shit comes out. No, wait. A freak like him never had a mum. He’s just some deformed lab rat Vought cooked up in a petri dish!"
Hughie had just left his room, heading for lunch, when Butcher’s cursing hit him full force.
He pulled out a chair at the table, eyed the plate of spaghetti bolognese, and asked, "He text you back?"
Bang! Butcher slammed his phone down on the table. Good thing he was too broke for the newest model and still carried an old Motorola. Solid little brick.
"I should never have believed a single fucking word that cunt said. His promises aren’t even worth the toilet paper I wipe my arse with."
"What’d he say?" Hughie asked around a mouthful of noodles.
"That arsehole Greevs said Homelander’s pissed about our little operation. Blames us for getting those two supes Homelander sent over killed. So the deal’s off. As compensation he’s willing to pay us three thousand dollars." Butcher was fuming. He should’ve known Homelander would fuck them over the second it was convenient.
If the bastard had even half of Frenchie’s loyalty... forget it. If he had half of Frenchie’s loyalty Butcher wouldn’t be sitting here eating with this lot in the first place.
"He’s not wrong, though. You did get those two supes killed," Hughie said, taking a sip of water.
"That just means their luck was shit. They ran into that cunt Stormfront. Nothing to do with me."
Butcher leaned back in his chair and curled his lip.
Frenchie raised his beer. "Alright, Homelander going back on his word was always in the cards. Anyway, let’s drink to Stormfront being dead. Again."
"Cheers!" Mention of Stormfront actually improved Butcher’s mood a little.
"Seriously, why hasn’t Vought announced Stormfront’s death yet? Are they just planning to drag this out forever? The online noise about her is already huge. I refuse to believe the company can take that kind of pressure and keep stonewalling."
Hughie bent down and picked up a can of beer with The Deep’s face printed on it.
"Let them drag it. Stormfront’s dead. Sooner or later they’ll have to hold a press conference and watch their stock price turn into a straight red line." Butcher gave a cold laugh.
Beep-beep!!!
Hughie’s phone went off. He pulled it out. Starlight.
"Hey, good afternoon."
"What?! Say that again." The smile on Hughie’s face vanished. His expression locked up tight, eyebrows almost touching. When he finally set the phone down he just stared at his plate like the soul had left his body.
MM, sitting beside him, asked, "What did Starlight say? You look like somebody just ripped your heart out."
Hughie pressed his lips together. "She... she said Stormfront isn’t dead."
"Bullshit!"
The fireball from that night’s explosion had been visible for miles. Under a blast like that even steel would’ve melted, never mind a human.
Butcher leaned in. "If she’s not dead, why the hell hasn’t she shown her face? Could this be some smoke screen Vought’s putting out?"
Hughie shook his head.
"Starlight overheard it by accident. She’s pretty sure. She also said she found a location in Stormfront’s laptop called Sage Grove. Odds are that’s where the bitch is hiding."
"You guys eat. I’m heading out." Hughie stood and walked toward the iron door.
The basement went quiet as they watched him leave. MM crushed the beer can in his fist, not ready to accept it. Frenchie looked across the table at Kimiko.
Kimiko’s eyes had gone from shock to pure murder. She signed to Frenchie that even if Stormfront was still breathing, they were going to kill her again.
"We will. But first priority is finding her. No way she walked away from that explosion without getting torn up."
Frenchie’s words clicked something for Butcher.
"Exactly. Stormfront’s hurt. Hurt bad. Otherwise she’d already be out there proving she’s fine. Staying hidden this long means whatever she looks like right now can’t be shown to the public. My money’s on her face being wrecked or her ending up a cripple."
Butcher’s guess was dead on. One step away from the truth.
"Looks like we’ve got no choice. We have to check out this Sage Grove place." Even MM wasn’t willing to let it go, and Butcher was the one who’d started the whole damn thing.
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69