The Boys: Ultimate Multiversal Lifeform

The next morning,

In the president’s office on the ninety-ninth floor of Vought Tower in the middle of Manhattan’s busy commercial district, Stan Edgar calmly took the gold-rimmed glasses off the left pocket of his suit and put them on.

With the glasses he looked more like a refined professor than the man who ran Vought.

"Late last night a bizarre fire burned the Supe nightclub to ash. By the time police and firefighters arrived the flames had already swallowed the place. Fire crews contained the blaze quickly, but there is grim news.

No survivors have been found. Based on the number of remains recovered at the scene, authorities put the death toll at one hundred twenty-six. Behind that cold number are one hundred twenty-six lives. Let us take a moment for the dead.

Further investigation showed most of the dead were supes. They had powers. They should not have all burned. Witnesses reported gunshots inside the club before the fire started.

We have reason to believe the killer was also a supe, and a powerful one. A supe terrorist.

That raises the question: will attacks like this keep happening? Who is going to protect us?"

"Next we go to Congresswoman Neuman. She will try to answer that for us."

The giant screen on the wall was playing New York morning news.

"What happened to your eyes?" Edgar glanced at Homelander on the sofa.

Besides Edgar and Homelander, Greevs and Stormfront were in the office too.

"You don’t know?" Homelander touched the scar at the corner of his eye.

Last night after he fired that overloaded laser both eyes went blind and left scars that would not heal easily. At first the scars had been far worse, raw red cracks like spiderwebs around his eyes.

The blindness only lasted under a minute. The wounds around his eyes closed under his healing.

"Hmm?" Edgar frowned. "How would I know? I don’t have cameras on you. My guess is the mystery man. I don’t think anyone else could hurt you."

Homelander’s face stayed dark. He said nothing.

Edgar looked at Stormfront. "You brought them here. Tell us what happened."

Stormfront watched both men while she recapped last night. Their reactions looked natural. She could not read anything off them.

Hiding it from Edgar would not have mattered anyway. If the mystery man really was Edgar or Ivan, she and Homelander could not do a thing about it.

When Stormfront finished, Edgar’s face was heavy. "No wonder you suspected me. That man’s power is special. He can copy people like a doppelganger. He could be the same doppelganger who used to hide around Madelyn."

Edgar picked up his phone and called Ashley.

"Get me the Doppelganger. If he’s still in the States, I want him at Vought as fast as possible."

While they waited. On the screen Congresswoman Neuman looked grim. "Our Superhuman Affairs office will do everything to find out what really happened in that fire. If a supe did this, I promise every American I will bring him in no matter the cost and put him in front of a court."

Hughie stood behind her, face complicated. The scale in his head kept tipping between friendship and justice.

Last night MM had told him everything. When Hughie heard what Billy had done he sat there stunned for a full half minute. Then he drove straight to Billy and tore into him. They split on bad terms.

Billy walked out of the Boys on his own and went back to killing supes.

He and Hughie were two sides of the same coin. Billy wanted every supe dead, a clean world. That idea had never changed. He had just been holding it back. Now Becca was gone. Billy had nothing left to lose and could throw himself into hunting them.

Hughie wanted the Superhuman Affairs office to manage and limit them. He still believed you could do it the quieter way.

"Fuck! That supe girl get you off that good? Don’t forget what killed your poor little precious Robin." That was Billy’s parting shot.

Beep beep beep.

"Sorry, Mr. Edgar. I can’t reach the Doppelganger. He has no family, no friends. There’s no way to find him." Ashley sounded tense on the other end.

"Got it."

Edgar was not surprised. He looked at Ivan. "The mystery man is a real problem for Vought. He broke the trust between us and he hurt Homelander. We need him found and identified as fast as possible."

"You sure about that?"

Homelander, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. "I don’t think that’s what you really think."

He was right. Everything Edgar had just said was filler. If they could not get rid of the mystery man there was no point digging deeper.

Edgar even suspected the man had ties to the U.S. government. Their hands were no cleaner than his. Edgar would never believe they were not quietly working on Compound V behind closed doors.

That was as funny as a cat that would not steal cream.

And letting Homelander take a hit was not all bad. It made him easier to manage.

"I’ve got things to do." Homelander stood and left the office. Now he finally understood how A-Train had felt. Homelander would not allow anyone stronger than him. He was the strongest supe.

"Is he thinking about injecting Compound V?" They say a father knows his son. Edgar had watched Homelander grow up and knew his temper cold. "His powers already leveled off. Another dose would only harden his veins. The tiny boost is not worth the cost."

Stormfront shook her head. "The mystery man hit him hard. The thought is normal. But he knows what it would cost. He will not inject Compound V unless he has no other choice."

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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69