Chapter 29 : Big Child
Mark climbed back into the van and immediately noticed the atmosphere had changed.
Mother’s Milk was staring at him with an expression that could politely be described as hostile.
Mark followed his gaze toward the monitor and saw the paused surveillance footage from the convenience store.
Ah.
So the secret was out.
"Well," Mark said while stepping fully inside, "looks like the cat’s out of the bag."
Nobody answered immediately.
Mark looked between all of them before shrugging lightly.
"And judging by the faces in here, I’m assuming the group opinion on me is currently somewhere between ’dangerous mistake’ and ’please die elsewhere.’"
Mother’s Milk still didn’t say anything.
Mark sighed softly and bent down to grab his bag from the side of the van.
"I get it," he said while pulling the strap over his shoulder. "You probably feel tricked because of Butcher."
Then he glanced toward Butcher without missing the opportunity.
"To be fair, that part’s valid. The guy is human garbage."
"Oi," Butcher muttered.
"So let’s make life easier for everyone," Mark continued. "You lot clearly hate supes, I clearly attract problems, and this arrangement already sounds one argument away from becoming a stabbing incident."
He moved toward the van door.
"So yeah," he said casually, "bye-bye. Let’s part ways here and pretend we never met."
But before he could step out, Butcher’s voice stopped him.
"No need to overreact, sunshine."
Mark looked back.
"Nobody here’s losing sleep over what you are," Butcher said. "Only thing that matters is whether you’re useful."
Mark paused near the van door and looked back at them with genuine confusion.
"Wait," he said slowly, "so you guys didn’t immediately start fighting each other and disband the team?"
Mother’s Milk stared at him blankly.
"No."
Mark frowned slightly at that.
Honestly, he had fully expected Mother’s Milk to lose his mind after finding out there was a supe working with them. The guy practically radiated anti-supe energy every time the subject came up.
Which meant Mark had already started mentally preparing to leave while the inevitable argument destroyed the group from inside.
"Huh," he muttered. "I really thought this was my chance to disappear peacefully."
Butcher let out a rough laugh from his seat.
"And go where exactly, sunshine?"
Mark shrugged lightly.
"Anywhere that isn’t a moving psychological support group for traumatized anti-corporate criminals."
Frenchie nodded thoughtfully.
"That is fair description, actually."
Butcher ignored him and pointed toward Mark.
"Besides," he continued, "you’re still useful."
"That is a deeply unhealthy way to describe human relationships."
"Oi, don’t get emotional on me now."
Mark sighed and slowly let go of the van door before sitting back down.
It seemed he really wasn’t getting out of this mess now.
At this point, staying around Butcher long enough probably changed people eventually. The man dragged everyone around him deeper into trouble until one day crimes and insanity somehow started feeling normal.
***
After the convenience store incident, the public finally gave the masked attacker a name.
The Devil.
And the name spread frighteningly fast.
News stations started using it openly after the footage from the store leaked online because at that point nobody could deny it anymore.
This wasn’t some random violent supe causing damage in the background. Someone was actively targeting members of The Seven in public and surviving afterward.
That alone was enough to turn the entire country obsessive.
The Deep had already been humiliated in broad daylight.
Then A-Train, the so-called fastest man alive, nearly got buried under a collapsing building after getting blasted through an entire convenience store.
Two members of The Seven had now been beaten publicly within days.
The internet exploded because of it.
Entire forums and websites appeared overnight dedicated solely to tracking The Devil’s appearances, analyzing footage frame by frame, and arguing over his powers. People clipped videos, slowed down the beams, compared impacts, and built theories around every movement he made.
What interested people most was the comparison to Homelander.
Both had glowing eyes.
Both fired destructive beams.
But the effects looked completely different.
Homelander’s heat vision burned clean through targets like a blade.
The Devil’s attacks looked brutal.
The beams smashed through walls, shattered shelves, cracked concrete, and launched people through structures with pure force. Watching the footage frame by frame, people could literally see the impact waves tearing through the store around A-Train.
That difference made the discussions even worse.
Some people became convinced Homelander would kill him instantly if they fought.
Others argued the opposite.
And because internet culture was internet culture, fan edits and fake fight videos started appearing almost immediately, turning the entire thing into entertainment for millions of people.
Inside Vought Tower, Homelander sat in the Seven meeting room while the news played footage from the attack again across the large screens.
One headline flashed across the broadcast.
COULD THE DEVIL CHALLENGE HOMELANDER?
Another segment immediately started comparing their eye powers side by side while analysts speculated about whether the mysterious villain might actually be strong enough to threaten members of The Seven directly.
Homelander’s expression slowly changed.
The phone in his hand began cracking beneath his grip while the anchors kept talking. Then he suddenly hurled the fucking thing across the room before storming away, sulking like an angry child who had just been told no.
***
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