The Boys: Ultimate Multiversal Lifeform

"What are you planning to do next? Head straight back to work?"

Butcher pulled the silver lighter that used to belong to Lamplighter out of his pocket and flicked the lid open and shut, the metal clicking loud in the quiet.

Lamplighter kept his head down and said nothing.

Butcher kept going. "In ten minutes Mallory will be here. You need to understand this is the only chance you’ve got to make things right."

...

The next morning,

Right after absorbing a fresh dose of Compound V, Ivan walked to the fridge, pulled out a bag of instant oatmeal and a carton of milk.

He tore the packaging open, dumped both into a bowl, and stirred. Crude as hell, but it tasted fine.

Breakfast in hand, he dropped onto the couch in front of the TV and hit the remote.

He watched the congresswoman on screen ranting while spooning oatmeal into his mouth.

Every so often he flicked his eyes to the panel.

[Supersonic... Fusion in progress, current progress 51%]

[Fantasy Points: 2550 (Event still ongoing, unable to tally... Expand for details?)]

"Hmm.. Expand."

It was a hidden function on the Fantasy Points tab. The panel never came with a manual. Ivan had figured it out by accident. Because the original plot kept shifting, points usually trickled in twenty or thirty at a time.

He’d wondered if he could settle everything in one go and found out he could.

The panel offered two options. First was keep the status quo: any change to the original plot, no matter how small, triggered an immediate deposit. The upside was a constant drip of points with no waiting for settlement.

The second option worked differently. Points wouldn’t drop in real time. Settlement only happened when an event ended or a full month passed.

Think of it like an idle game where the rewards only got claimed every so often.

Ivan chose Expand.

First thing that popped up was The Deep, already sitting on 270 accumulated Fantasy Points.

Next came Homelander and Ryan with 225 and 120 respectively.

The rest of the Seven had barely scraped anything together.

That tracked: The Deep still had the nuclear pollution mess hanging over him, Homelander had the racial protest circus, and Ryan had the superhero tryouts.

"Speaking of which, the tryouts are almost at the finals. I’ll have to show up in person for that."

On top of those, Butcher and Stormfront were both churning out Fantasy Points like machines.

At this rate, ten thousand points was starting to look realistic.

Meanwhile on the TV, Congresswoman Victoria Neuman was delivering a fiery speech right outside Vought Tower.

"Vought must be held accountable for Paige’s death. We will not allow this company to pretend nothing happened. The Declaration of Independence, signed in 1776, states that all men are created equal. The Civil Rights Act and the Equal Rights legislation already recognize Immigrant Americans as free citizens of this country."

Victoria’s words at the microphone drew thunderous applause.

The protestors packed in front of the building wiped tears and waved their arms, cheering.

"I’m white, but I fully understand how you feel. We need to stand together and deliver a deafening warning to Vought!"

...

High above in the top-floor conference room of Vought Tower, Stan Edgar stood at the massive floor-to-ceiling windows in a black suit, listening to the speech playing on the television behind him.

"Hm.." The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. Beside him Homelander’s face was pure thunder.

"Look at the size of the mess you’ve dragged Vought into. Our stock has already lost tens of billions. The board is furious. They want me to pick a new superhero to lead the Seven."

Edgar dropped the smile and fixed Homelander with a cold stare.

"But given how much you’ve done for this company over the years, I buried it."

Needling Homelander had become part of Edgar’s daily routine.

"So you dragged me up here just to lecture me?" Homelander’s face was tight, like a lion deciding who to eat first.

Red light flickered in his eyes. The fists at his sides could crush steel. "Don’t forget only I can lead the Seven. I’m the Homelander. Everyone else exists to kneel at my feet!"

"Calm down first. Fixing the hole you’re in right now is what actually matters."

Edgar’s voice stayed completely even in the face of Homelander’s rage.

He walked over to the sofa. "Anger solves nothing. Keep this up and your fans will abandon you one by one and run straight into someone else’s arms."

Homelander said nothing. He turned and walked out of the conference room.

Down on the stage Victoria raised the microphone higher.

"I refuse to bury my head in the sand like an ostrich. I cannot ignore this injustice. If I choose to look away I won’t be able to face myself. I won’t be able to look my daughter in her pure little eyes when I get home. And I won’t be able to face any of you!"

The applause was deafening. Someone in the crowd shouted, "You, Victoria! You’re the real hero! Our hero! I love you!"

"Take down Vought!" one man roared, arm raised high.

In seconds the entire crowd took up the chant.

"Take down Vought! Punish the killers! We can’t breathe! We want freedom!"

"Take down Vought..."

"We can’t breathe! We oppose racial discrimination!"

On stage Victoria pressed her hands downward. "I hear your anger. But compared to Vought we have nothing. They have power. They can silence every news outlet in America and make every judge keep their mouth shut. So how do we fight?"

"Quite the circus," Hughie muttered. He’d been woken up way too early. He was happily working his way through a sandwich, standing on tiptoe to peer over the dense crowd. "I’d bet there’s at least five thousand people here."

"More than five thousand," MM said, black baseball cap pulled low.

"Either way, Vought’s in deep shit now."

Hughie sounded almost cheerful about it.

"Their problems are only getting started." Butcher’s eyes stayed locked on Victoria through his sunglasses.

"Ms. Neuman, how do we fight then?" someone in the crowd called out.

"Unite! We have to stand together. I will help you. The House Judiciary Committee will help you! Right here, right now, I am announcing that we will hold hearings on Vought. Their crimes are enough to fill an entire book! I need your support if we’re going to win!"

Victoria’s voice climbed higher and higher. The speech was pure fire.

____

[]~(￣▽￣)~*

Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69