THE BOYS: The Wrong Main Character

Then Mother’s Milk and Hughie headed inside the building posing as internet service workers offering a "free Wi-Fi speed upgrade."

Which worked immediately.

Because nobody rejected free internet improvement.

Popclaw had let them inside without much suspicion.

Back in the box van, Butcher watched the surveillance feeds while Frenchie monitored the equipment beside him.

Then movement on one of the street cameras caught Butcher’s eye.

"Well, well..."

A-Train had appeared on the next street over.

Just casually walking into a convenience store and grabbing drinks from the cooler like a completely normal person despite being one of the most dangerous supes alive.

Butcher leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing.

"Seems this fucker really came," he muttered.

Frenchie looked toward the screen immediately while Mark opened one eye from the back of the van.

"If he heads upstairs while Hughie and M.M. are still in there," Frenchie said, "things become very bad very quickly."

Butcher kept watching A-Train through the camera feed.

"M.M," he said into the comms, "you’ve got company nearby, mate."

Then Butcher looked toward Mark.

"How much time can you buy us?" he asked.

Mark stretched his neck slightly while watching A-Train through the monitor.

"Ten minutes," he said. "That’s the limit. Any longer than that and I can’t guarantee anything."

Frenchie frowned immediately. "Ten minutes against A-Train?"

"Well, sorry I’m not Superman yet."

Mark pulled the mask up over his mouth, then adjusted the hood over his head until most of his face disappeared into shadow.

He opened the van door before pausing briefly.

"So make sure they finish inside that time," he said without turning around. "Otherwise I’m walking away and you people can explain yourselves to the speed crackhead personally."

Butcher smirked slightly.

"Always encouragin’ hearin’ team spirit from you, mate."

Mark ignored him and stepped out of the van.

Then he stepped out of the van and started walking calmly toward the convenience store where A-Train.

Inside the van, Frenchie kept staring after him for a second before looking toward Butcher.

"Who is Superman?"

Butcher lit his cigarette and snorted.

"How the fuck should I know?" he said in annoyance. "What do I look like, some nerdy cunt from Comic-Con?"

***

A-Train stepped out of the convenience store carrying drinks in one hand.

Then two red beams slammed straight into his face.

The impact hit hard enough to launch him backward through the glass entrance, shattering the doors as he crashed back into the store and smashed through shelves behind him.

People inside immediately started screaming.

Before the panic could fully set in, Mark calmly stepped through the broken entrance, eyes glowing beneath the hood.

"Hello, dear customers," he announced casually. "This store has officially been hijacked by me."

He glanced toward the wrecked aisle where A-Train was already starting to move again.

"And I’m not exactly a peaceful person, so if you stay here, there’s a pretty high chance of collateral damage."

That was all the motivation people needed.

Customers immediately bolted toward the emergency exit in full panic while workers ducked behind counters trying not to die.

One middle-aged man near the register looked like he was having a spiritual crisis watching his entire store explode around him.

Mark looked at him briefly.

"You own this place?"

The man nodded shakily.

Mark tilted his head slightly.

"You got insurance?"

Another terrified nod.

"Perfect," Mark replied. "Then congratulations in advance on the incoming payout."

At that exact moment—

Blue blur.

A-Train appeared directly in front of him moving at super speed, fist already swinging.

But Mark’s eyes had already shifted before the hit came.

His fist punched forward into empty air—

and connected directly with A-Train’s face the instant the speedster entered range.

The impact blasted A-Train sideways through another shelf, metal bending violently as products exploded across the floor.

Before A-Train could recover, Mark’s eyes lit up again.

The optic blast erupted instantly.

BUZZZZ

Red energy slammed into A-Train hard enough to drive him across the store and into the back wall while the beam kept pushing forward without stopping.

Glass shattered everywhere.

Shelves ripped apart from the pressure.

The wall behind A-Train cracked loudly while the beam continued forcing him deeper into it, the entire store shaking from the impact.

Then the ceiling above him finally gave out.

Concrete and debris collapsed onto A-Train’s position in a violent crash that shook the entire store.

Only then did Mark stop firing.

The red glow faded from his eyes while dust and smoke spread through the ruined aisles, alarms screaming somewhere overhead from damaged electronics.

Mark stared at the pile of rubble silently.

Honestly?

Part of him was considering finishing it right there.

A-Train becoming "better" later in the future didn’t really mean much to him. People changed, timelines shifted, situations got worse. Waiting around hoping dangerous people magically developed morals sounded like a great way to end up dead.

And A-Train wasn’t harmless.

The guy was unstable, reckless, addicted to Compound V, and strong enough to turn normal people into red stains without slowing down.

Removing him now would solve a lot of future problems.

Unfortunately actually killing him wasn’t going to be easy.

Mark looked at the collapsed concrete again.

To finish the job, he’d have to move the debris himself or keep attacking blindly through the rubble.

And he wasn’t physically strong enough for the first option.

"Pity," he muttered quietly.

"You’ve got to be kidding me," Frenchie said while staring at the surveillance feed.

On the monitor, Mark stood in the middle of the destroyed convenience store with red light still fading from his eyes while smoke and debris filled the air around him.

Frenchie slowly looked toward Butcher.

"He is that supe?"

Butcher looked almost amused by the reaction.

"Yeah," he replied casually. "And ain’t we fuckin’ lucky we’ve got a strong supe on our side for once?"

***

A/N: Advanced Chapters are available on Patreon.

👉 /Mark841

Currently, 18 advanced Chapters are available