Transmigrated into The Boys, Starting as Soldier Boy

But Benjamin had already worked out the next step in his head.

Butcher was not an ordinary prisoner.

In the original series, even Starlight had managed to escape after being locked up. And Butcher was a protagonist. What if he got out too?

So the problem had to be solved in a more fundamental way.

And Benjamin had already found the best solution.

He turned and looked at Becca, who was standing behind Homelander.

The woman had been crying, screaming, and begging for that Brit ever since this started.

"Becca," Benjamin said slowly, his voice cold and hard, "you’ve been making a scene this whole time, right? Fine. Then let’s hand everything between Butcher and Homelander, along with Ryan’s special identity, over to the American legal system."

"The Supreme Court, a congressional hearing, whatever works. You want justice, don’t you? Let the law give you justice."

"We’ll see whether Ryan gets awarded to you, or to Homelander."

Ryan did not know what the law was, but he knew Benjamin might take his mother away from him, so he glared at Benjamin in anger.

Becca’s lips trembled. Before she could speak, Benjamin had already walked over to Butcher, grabbed the shackles with one hand, and hauled the unconscious Butcher up off the ground.

The Vought transport had already appeared at the far end of the road.

"No!"

Becca finally cried out again, her voice hoarse and desperate. "You can’t take him away!"

Benjamin stopped.

He slowly turned around and said, "The fact that I’m not crushing Butcher’s skull in public is already me doing you a fucking favor."

"No. More accurately, I’m doing Ryan a favor."

His gaze left Becca’s face and swept over Ryan, who was still standing in front of her with his arms spread wide, glaring furiously at him.

The little shit was practically hissing at him.

Benjamin knew Ryan might hate him now.

Seeing that, he almost had trouble keeping it together again.

Homelander did not know what to say either. His feelings were complicated.

Becca covered her mouth, staring at the scene in agony.

But she did not scream again, because she had seen the answer in Benjamin’s eyes.

He was not trying to scare her.

This man was Soldier Boy. He meant what he said.

Ryan still stood in front of his mother with his arms spread wide.

His blue eyes stayed locked on Benjamin. Then he shot Homelander an unhappy look.

...

Soon, Butcher and the other two were locked inside Vought’s underground cells.

These cells were not meant for ordinary criminals. Each one had multilayer composite walls specifically designed to contain Supes.

A lead layer blocked X-Ray Vision, carbon-fiber mesh absorbed physical impact, and an independent air circulation system made sure that even if the person inside could manipulate air molecules, they would not be able to stir up a damn thing.

Mother’s Milk and Frenchie were locked in solitary cells next to Butcher’s. The three cells sat side by side, and each one contained only an iron-framed bed bolted to the floor, a stainless-steel toilet, and a drinking tap built into the wall.

The lights never went out. That pale white glare stayed on twenty-four hours a day, stripping the prisoners of any sense of time.

But once the effects of V24 had fully worn off, Butcher no longer had any Superpowers. This level of security was not so much necessary as it was Benjamin making a point.

He was taking these three seriously.

As for Becca and Ryan, they were treated much better.

On the top floor of Vought Tower, there was an apartment suite prepared specifically for the families of Supes. Two bedrooms, one living room, a separate kitchen and bathroom, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Manhattan skyline.

It sounded like an executive suite in a five-star hotel, but Becca soon discovered that every window was sealed bulletproof glass, and two uniformed security guards stood outside the door in round-the-clock shifts.

Maybe it was just a more respectable cage.

Ryan did not think that much about it.

For him, the past seven days had not been too bad.

The apartment had a TV, LEGO, all kinds of snacks and drinks, and most importantly, his mom was always by his side.

He did not have to worry anymore that his mom might suddenly be taken away by a bunch of people in black. He did not have to wake up in the middle of the night and find that she was not in the room.

As long as he was with his mom, it did not matter where they lived.

During those seven days, he even finished building a LEGO spaceship taller than he was. Deep had brought it over two days earlier, saying it had been "arranged by Mr. Soldier Boy." Ryan even forgave Soldier Boy for being mean to his mom before.

Starlight, meanwhile, had been assigned a special job as Becca and Ryan’s "emotional support specialist."

To be honest, Ashley had been the one to suggest it in the first place. She believed they needed a female Supe to stay with the mother and son, in case either of them had an emotional breakdown before the hearing.

The main reason they wanted Becca soothed was Ryan. After all, Ryan was Homelander’s lifeline.

To everyone’s surprise, Starlight did a pretty damn good job. She actually managed to calm them down.

Because she was worried about Butcher, Becca had cried, broken down, and even tried to go on a hunger strike during those seven days. But every time, Starlight managed to pull her back from the edge.

It was not that her words were especially brilliant. Maybe it was just that Becca could see real kindness in her eyes.

Stable Becca meant stable Ryan. Stable Ryan meant Homelander could relax.

So Starlight’s role in calming her down was actually important.

...

A week later, Benjamin walked up to Butcher’s cell with his shield in one hand and two bottles of whiskey in the other. Through the one-way glass, he looked over the scruffy, bearded man sitting on the iron-framed bed.

"Oi, shield-carrying cunt," Butcher called out.

He had recognized who it was just from the footsteps.

Butcher’s voice was hoarse and dry. A week without normal water had made his vocal cords sound like they had been scraped raw with sandpaper.

But that mocking tone was still pure Butcher.

Still, Butcher did not know why he was not dead yet, or why Benjamin had spared his life.

Benjamin did not respond to the jab.

He entered the access code, and the heavy metal door slid open. Then he set one bottle of whiskey on the iron-framed bed by Butcher’s feet.

Benjamin twisted open the other bottle himself, leaned against the cell wall, and tipped his head back for a drink.

Butcher froze for a moment.

After a week without food or water, he reached out, grabbed the bottle, bit the cap open with his teeth, and took his first long swig.

The alcohol poured into his stomach, empty for an entire week, bringing a burning sting before quickly spreading into a warm current that rushed through his veins and out into his limbs.

Color returned to his face at a visible speed under the alcohol’s effect.

A spark came back into those cloudy eyes, dulled by dehydration and hunger.

Butcher drained the entire bottle without stopping for breath.

He set the empty bottle by his feet, wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, then looked up and stared at Benjamin again.

His eyes were much clearer than before.

"Why didn’t you kill me? Because of Becca? Because of Ryan? Or because of Homelander?"

Benjamin rested the bottle in his hand on his knee and turned it slightly, watching the amber liquid swirl inside the glass.

He did not answer directly. Instead, he asked casually, "Butcher, if I said I could reunite you with Becca, would you still go after Homelander?"

The cell suddenly went quiet.

Butcher did not speak. He just sat there, staring into Benjamin’s eyes.

A complicated flicker of emotion passed through those bloodshot eyes. Shock, suspicion, and longing.

The silence lasted a full minute.

Then Butcher said, "All I want is my Becca. But Becca wants Ryan, so she won’t come with me. You get that? Without Ryan, Becca isn’t going anywhere."

"Homelander only cares about Ryan," Benjamin said slowly. "He doesn’t care about you or Becca. To him, you’re the British bastard who tried to steal his son, and Becca is the traitor who hid Ryan for eight years."

"He hates you both, but he doesn’t need you dead. He just needs Ryan."

"Honestly, if it weren’t for Ryan, he probably would’ve lasered your heads open a long time ago."

Butcher wanted to argue, because Homelander was the one who had caused this whole goddamn disaster.

But Benjamin kept going.

"So you need to attend tomorrow’s hearing."

"When the time comes, you and Homelander both have to be there. In front of the judge and all the media, Ryan’s custody has to be settled once and for all."

"If the hearing rules that Ryan belongs with Homelander, then Becca has no reason to keep staying by Ryan’s side. She’ll come back to you, because she won’t have anywhere else to go."

Butcher reacted much faster than Benjamin had expected, and much more violently.

Almost the instant Benjamin finished speaking, he shook his head and said, "If Ryan goes to Homelander, Becca won’t come back to me. She’ll kill herself."

"You understand me? You really think she’s the kind of woman who can abandon her son and just keep living on her own?"

"You think she’s gonna leave Ryan with that fucking lunatic, then come with me to some little backwater town and play happy family? You don’t know a damn thing about who she is."

Though Butcher desperately wanted Becca to give up Ryan and leave with him.

The pain in his eyes as he said those words was real.

Seven days without food or water was nothing to a man like him.

What truly tortured him were those thoughts. Becca’s face. That little bastard Ryan’s face.

And the reality that even after giving everything he had, he had still lost completely.

He leaned against the cold metal wall and tipped his head back.

"I’ll give Becca a chance to see Ryan once a week," Benjamin said. "I won’t make her lose her son completely. I’ll just turn her from Ryan’s mother back into your wife."

"She can visit Ryan one day every week. The rest of the time, she lives with you. Now we just see whether she’s willing to accept that arrangement."

Butcher opened his eyes.

He stared at Benjamin for a long time. During that long silence, the hostility and wariness in his gaze loosened little by little.

Then Butcher became a little confused.

The man in front of him was Soldier Boy, the most powerful Supe in Vought.

He was supposed to be the enemy. Yet now this enemy was sitting in his cell, handing him a bottle of liquor, and telling him he could reunite with Becca.

"Why are you helping me?" Butcher asked.

Benjamin looked down at Butcher, sitting on the iron-framed bed.

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. "Maybe because of that pussy son of mine. Maybe because you’re a real man. And because, fuck it, you gave me a damn good fight."

Benjamin did not give him time to sort through his feelings. He stepped forward, looked down at Butcher, and said, "But you have to swear to me on Becca’s life that you won’t go after Homelander again, and you won’t go after any Supe again."

"You, your revenge, all this shit. It ends here."

"Oh, right. You’ll still have to be sentenced when the time comes. After all, you killed Translucent."

The cell fell silent for the third time.

This silence lasted longer than the first two.

Butcher sat motionless on the iron-framed bed as images from all those years flashed through his mind like a slideshow.

Becca’s smile. Becca’s tears.

That night when he had been told Becca was dead, when he drank an entire bottle of vodka alone and then puked all over himself.

And his feud with Homelander.

Then Butcher slowly closed his eyes and said, "I swear it. On Becca’s life."

"Good."

Benjamin soon left the cell.

...

The next day, the hearing began as scheduled.

The venue was a federal hearing hall on Capitol Hill that could hold three hundred people.

When Benjamin made that decision, Ashley had nearly dropped the coffee cup in her hand.

After all, Butcher’s case involved a Vought scandal.

It also involved Homelander’s private life, and the sensitive issue of custody over a Supe’s child, an area where the law was practically blank.

If the media latched onto any part of it and blew it up, it could turn into a PR disaster.

After listening to her long rant, Benjamin had said only one thing.

"We’re making the whole fucking thing public. Let all of America watch and see who’s playing by the rules."

Ashley had no choice.

Benjamin was the boss, after all.

So on the day of the hearing, the media seats in the hearing hall were packed with reporters from New York, Washington, and Los Angeles. Cameras with long lenses and heavy rigs filled two whole rows behind the public gallery, and the live feed was broadcast in real time through at least six national news networks.

Vought’s PR department even opened an official livestream on social media. Ten minutes before the hearing began, the comment feed had already passed a hundred thousand posts.

...

Sitting on the bench was a silver-haired veteran Supreme Court justice known for his iron-faced reputation.

Of course, he was also one of Neuman’s people.

Neuman sat at the counsel table on Homelander’s side.

She had passed the bar before, and she had studied law.

A thick stack of documents related to the case lay spread out in front of her, but she had barely looked through them.

There was no need.

Homelander was guaranteed to win.

Her gaze calmly swept over Butcher and Becca, seated across from her.