Capítulo 24: Ch.24
"Well as you know the Deep is extremely stupid and very impressionable. I've become 'friends' with him and I believe we can bring him to our side," Lamplighter says and after the last couple of years, he has gained Stockholm syndrome. Lamplighter is now more of a fellow 'Boy' at least he believes he is.
"Ok, but the issue is the fact that you said the Deep is a complete moron, how could he be useful? Hell, he might just fuck everything up, plus what would you do? Walk up to him and ask him to follow you here and then we are supposed to brainwash him into joining us?" I say to Lamplighter who opens his mouth but closes it to think.
"You really fucked this one Butcher," MM says snorting after hearing Lamplighter's plan.
"I didn't know that was it! I thought he had a more thought-out one!" Butcher says defending himself.
"The Deep has been telling me how much he has come to hate the Seven… You guys have no idea what Homelander is really like. The rest of the Seven bully the Deep and force him to do all these stupid things. I really think he would join us if it meant getting back at them," Lamplighter says trying to justify his reasons.
"No, the Deep is too much of an idiot to bring into our group… What about Queen Maeve? I thought she was someone we might be able to bring to our side?" I say to him as everyone turns to Lamplighter.
"I don't know enough about her other than what I already told you. She is very distant and cold to everyone, only Homelander being the one she is cordial to. Every time I try to talk to her she threatens to tear my balls off," Lamplighter says as Frenchie chuckles hearing him.
"What do you want us to do?" MM says turning to me.
"For now we do nothing… Lamplighter you will do everything you can to learn more about Queen Maeve and try to befriend her. She is our second attempt into the Seven," I say as Lamplighter grumbles but nods his head.
"Fine… I just hope she doesn't really take my balls off," Lamplighter says walking off.
"Butcher, next time that jackass has a plan. You learn what it is and then inform us before moving forward," I say after Lamplighter leaves.
"Yeah, yeah, my bad," Butcher says walking off too.
Over the next several months Lamplighter tried his best to grow closer to Queen Maeve but failed to do so. Then toward the end of 2018, Lamplighter called an emergency meeting at the Warehouse. Everyone arrived there, even Grace as Lamplighter has never called an emergency meeting until now.
"What is this about?" Grace asks Butcher as we are waiting for Lamplighter to arrive.
"No idea, he was just super panicked and freaking out. Wouldn't elaborate over the phone," Butcher says shrugging.
"They found out!!" Lamplighter says yelling as he enters. Everyone then immediately grabs guns and points them at him making him come to a complete stop holding his hands up.
"Found out about us?!" Grace says ready to blow up Lamplighter's head.
"No! About me and my… urges," Lamplighter says correcting himself and we all let out a sigh before Grace motions for MM and Frenchie to secure the area just in case.
"Explain," Grace says as Lamplighter nods his head nervously.
"I think Black Noir was looking into me, thinking I was betraying them… which I mean I am, but anyway he only found out about my interests. They called a meeting today with me and gave me an ultimatum. Said I have to retire or be publicly shamed and removed forcibly! You have to help me!" Lamplighter says as Grace rubs her eyebrows in annoyance and Butcher rolls his eyes.
"Not our problem mate, though now you are a loose end," Butcher says as Lamplighter's face pales.
"Wait, where are they sending you? Or are they just making you retire and leaving you to your devices?" I ask before anyone can make a hasty decision.
"They said they have another job for me if I retire… not sure what since they wouldn't tell me unless I agreed. I told them I needed to think about it and they gave me a day to consider it," Lamplighter says while giving me a hopeful look.
"I say we let him retire and see what job they offer him. It might lead us to another place we can use against them. We already gathered a lot on the Seven and should not focus on other areas to bring Vought down," I say giving my thoughts since Grace hasn't given us the OK to move on Vought.
"It could also be a dead end, I say we clean up the mess and move on," Butcher says as Lamplighter looks confused, but we know he means to kill Lamplighter.
"We can always do a deep clean later… I agree with Logan, we should see where this leads us," Grace says as Butcher grunts in annoyance.
"Lamplighter, you are hereby ordered to accept their offer and work at this new job. We want intel on what it is they are going to be having you do," Grace says as Lamplighter looks angry now.
"What?! That–" Lamplighter says but stops when Grace holds up her phone showing the button she can press to make him die.
"Fine!" Lamplighter says angrily walking off.
"Butcher, get Frenchie and watch him. Any sign of betrayal and he dies," Grace says as Butcher nods walking off to find Frenchie.
"Logan, while I'm here I should tell you. I'm retiring in a few weeks and they already have my replacement in mind. She will be informed of our operation here and you will be coordinating with her. However, I will still be there if you need me with my connections," Grace says handing me a file on a woman named Susan Raynor.
"Time, my worst enemy," I say while looking at the file with Grace giving me a sad smile.
"I know… I'm starting to understand why you never settled down," Grace says to me seeing me always leaving my loved ones behind.
"Yet, I still manage to hurt myself by finding friends," I say with a sigh as Grace places a hand on my shoulder.
"So what happened?" MM says walking back.
"Lamplighter has a new assignment, not in the Seven, he is getting removed. Was not happy about it, but understands his position," I say since Grace didn't bring up her retirement to the others, I wasn't going to either.
"Plus I'm retiring in a few weeks. Your new Unit's handler will be Susan Raynor, the new Deputy Director," Grace says handing the file she gave me to MM.
"I see… Well congratulations on the retirement Ma'am," MM says shaking her hand while looking through the file quickly.
"Right, congratulations," I say offering my hand, which Grace moves away and gives me a hug instead. MM looks surprised as Grace never shows much emotion, but always knew we had a bond before the unit.
"Tell the others and destroy that when they are done looking at it," Grace says taking her leave and leaving the file behind for Frenchie and Butcher to look at.
"So, I never did ask but how do you and the Colonel know each other?" MM says now letting his curiosity get the better of him.
"Met years ago before the Unit was made. We worked together for a time too," I say not elaborating further. MM just nods his head and does not pry further.
After the others come back confirming Lamplighter is taking the loose in grace, we inform them of Grace's retirement. Frenchie and Butcher were upset about it since we've been working with her for years. Though they understood and once they read the file on our new boss we burned it. That night we all head to our homes, though I head to the local dive bar nearby.
"The usual?" the bartender asks me since I've been coming here for years now.
I just nod my head as he pulls a new bottle of Lagavulin for me out. He then gives me a glass as I walk over to one of the empty tables after paying him and pouring myself a drink. The place also doesn't care if you smoke inside since basically everyone here does too, so I pull out a new cigar and light it up. I sit in silence enjoying the drink and cigar while coming to terms with beginning to lose another friend to time.
"Fucking bit–" I look over to see a woman headbutt a man who then collapses unconscious.
The other two buddies of his walk over to make more trouble it seems. With a sigh, I stand up as the bartender and I share a look to intervene. However, before we can get involved the woman punches the one in the face and kicks the other in the nuts. Then she grabs the beer bottle from the first man smashing in on the head of the one she punched in the face knocking him out too. Then with a hammer punch, she knocks out the last man who crumbles to the ground.
"Nice hits," I say looking at her and when she looks up I instantly recognize her unlike everyone else it seems, Queen Maeve.
"Thanks," Queen Maeve says sitting back down as the bouncer now walks over dragging them outside after pocketing their money.
"Frank, I want to buy her a drink," I say as she raises an eyebrow.
"Just for the show you put on nothing else," I say though a part of me is now gonna try to become friendly so we can get an informant in the Seven again.
"Alright," Queen Maeve says nodding her head.
"So, haven't seen you in this bar before. New to town?" I say trying to make conversation, which she can easily tell.
"Again not trying to hit on you, just curious why you would pick this tiny bar out of the whole city's choices," I say as Frank gives me a glare.
"You know this is a dive bar, Frank, don't give me that look," I say to him as he rolls his eyes.
"The other ones are too crowded and I like the quiet before those idiots tried to hit on me," Queen Maeve says as I nod my head.
"Well, enjoy your night then," I say not wanting to become pushy and hoping I can see her again.
I then go back over to my table and continue to drink and enjoy my cigar. During that time I feel Queen Maeve look over to me several times. Then after an hour I walked away from her she walked over to me. She takes a seat across from me at the table, I just raise an eyebrow at her.
"I thought you'd try to hit on me like them too," Queen Maeve says giving me a flirtatious smirk.
"I know when I'm not wanted. Plus, you seemed to be wanting to be left alone," I say shrugging.
"True… those bastards almost ruined my night. But you seem nicer and I could use a distraction," Queen Maeve says giving me a look which I believe means she wants to hook up.
"What kind of distraction? One that could keep you occupied the rest of the night?" I say to her with a smirk.
"Depends, are you offering? Plus who knows, I've yet to find anyone who can keep me occupied all night," Queen Maeve says to me with a flirtatious smirk.
"Well my night is open, so I'm interested in having some fun," I say to her as she smiles and stands up.
"Where to?" Queen Maeve says giving me an interested look.
"Follow me," I say grabbing my bottle while tossing a hundred Frank's way on the way out.
Capítulo 25: Ch.25
I bring Queen Maeve to my place where she quickly grabs me pulling me in for a kiss. From the way she is quickly using me, I can tell she is doing this for an outlet as she appears to be very stressed. The night is a very long one, for both of us as neither wanted to concede first.
We ended up enjoying ourselves for several hours finishing long after sunrise, before we both came to a silent agreement to not continue. Queen Maeve then stood up and began to put on her clothes. Out of all the women I've been with, she was by far the best one in the bedroom because she like me has superhuman endurance.
"Not many men or women have satisfied me like that… You should pat yourself on the back," Queen Maeve says to me with a smirk as she grabs my cigarette from my mouth to smoke it herself.
"I could say the same to you… The women part at least, I don't swing the other way," I say correcting myself before she believes I'm Bi or anything similar.
"So, you just gonna leave?" I say to her curious as she finishes dressing herself.
"Don't tell me you want to cuddle? Plus I have to get to work, if I'm any later, it might make my boss call for me and I'd rather avoid that," Queen Maeve says to me and I believe she is referring to Homelander.
"Well, can I atleast get your name before you go," I say to her to see if she would tell me her name without me having to somehow know it already.
"Maggie… You can call me Maggie," Queen Maeve or Maggie, says to me with a hesitant face.
"Oh, before you go… take this," I say standing up and I can feel her gaze on my body as I'm still naked. I then hand her a piece of paper with my phone number.
"Call if you are looking for another stress reliever, anytime," I say as she gives me a hard look before pocketing it.
"How'd you know?" Maggie asks me just before she leaves, stopping at the door.
"Cause I've been there before too," I say to her while putting on some boxers. Maggie just takes her leave not saying anything else.
'Well, now we might have another way into the Seven… Now I just hope she reaches out to me again,' I think to myself as I watch her quickly walk toward the city center from the streets below.
In the next few weeks, I hear nothing from Queen Maeve/ Maggie, but Grace does officially retire. Then Susan Raynor takes over, coming out to meet us, and seems already annoyed by us. As Butcher was a vengeful loose cannon, only held in check by me, with Frenchie a loaded Gun ready to strike at my call, MM the field medic and unregistered group therapist.
Then one day as I was smoking in the corner of our warehouse with MM and talking with Frenchie who was having a bad day, Butcher walked in with an excited look on his face. I raise an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to speak, as Frenchie and MM turn toward him too curious about his behavior.
"You have our attention," I say motioning for Butcher to start.
"Seems, A-Train fucked up. Check this out," Butcher says and walks over to the ghost laptop and plugs in a flash drive. He then opens up a video file.
"This is now the only copy I believe. I was able to get it before Vought made it disappear," Butcher says and presses play.
The video shows just another street on the outskirts of the city, with people going about their day. Then Butcher points to a couple walking on the sidewalk, one is a tall lanky white man who appears to be the embodiment of a nerdy 90s high school kid all grown up. The woman was a fairly attractive lighter-skinned black woman with shoulder-length curly hair and wearing a yellow shirt and blue jean overalls.
The couple appeared to be talking about something, and then the woman stepped into the street, just off the curb of the sidewalk. Two seconds after she stepped off the curb, a blur passed through her and sent her body exploding outward in all directions. The blur came to a stop a few dozen feet down the road and showed it to be A-Train.
A-Train said a few words to the young man who appeared to be still holding the young woman's hands in his before A-Train just as quickly left. The young man then let out a scream as other people ran over and called the emergency services. Butcher then stops the video since the rest doesn't matter.
"A-Train could be our next way into the Seven," Butcher says since I didn't mention my one-night stand with Maggie to the group in case it turned into nothing which appears to be the case.
"Possibly… I want to know more about the victims. Butcher, MM, go find out more about this unfortunate couple. See what you can learn and if you can convince this young man to not take Vought's hush money but potentially come forward. We can then maybe force A-Train's hand," I say to them as Butcher and MM nod their heads before quickly leaving.
"Frenchie, you and I are friends right?" I say to Frenchie wanting to talk to someone about my one-night stand with Maggie.
"Oui," Frenchie says to me since he and I've grown the closest over the years due to our similar upbringings.
"Don't tell the others, but a few weeks ago I met up with Queen Maeve. We hooked up and I gave her my number in case she wanted to do it again. She hasn't contacted me since, though I just wanted to tell you since it might be a way for us into the Seven. Though at the same time, it might blow up in our faces… should I tell the others?" I say to him as his eyes widen hearing the part we hooked up, and then he turns serious as he thinks.
"No… As you said, it appears to be a one-time thing. No need to make a big deal out of it, plus if it blows up in our faces, we can deal with it then," Frenchie says to me as I nod my head thankful for his input and coming clean to someone finally.
A few hours later, as Frenchie and I shoot the shit, MM comes back but not with Butcher. MM says Butcher is staying back since he believes he can convince the kid to join our cause. We all then head home, the following morning Butcher walks in with a nervous-looking skinny white kid, the one we learned was called Hugh Campbell Jr.
"Guess who I got to join us!" Butcher says while patting the shoulder of Hughie who finches at the touch.
"Hey kid," I say as he nods his head to me nervously while Frenchie is giving him a look over. With MM smiling at him, happy he agreed to help us.
"So, did Butcher tell you what we want from you?" I ask him curious as to what Butcher told him to get him to join us.
"Uhm… Butcher said you guys are a group that takes down Supes and makes sure they become exposed to the world for who they really are," Hughie says as I shrug my shoulders.
"Close, though we haven't exposed anyone yet. Mostly because we need to get solid evidence against them. Plus we technically don't have the government's backing, only off-the-books support. So until we get something solid, we have to be very careful about how we operate," I say to him as he nods his head.
"Though now with you here, we might be able to force A-Train to come forward about what he did. However, we will first need to set up a meeting with him. There you can bug A-Train, with this," I say as Frenchie brings over a small circular bug that Hughie can use to place in the headquarters of the Seven.
"Wow, wow, wow! I don't think I can do that! I mean I'm not a spy, plus can't you guys find someone else to do that?!" Hughie says as his nervousness reaches even higher levels.
"We used to have someone on the inside, but they were removed for different reasons. Now we are blind in the ongoings of the Seven, so we need to get ears in there. Plus none of us can get inside since we don't have a reason to be there… You have a reason to be there if you force their hand to give you the reason," I say to him as Butcher nods his head while patting Hughie's shoulder in reassurance.
"Robin would want this, she deserves the revenge," Butcher says playing on his feelings for his recently deceased girlfriend. Hughie gives him a nervous look, before letting out a deep breath and nodding his head.
"Ok, I'll do it," Hughie says as everyone smiles and pats his shoulder bringing up his confidence.
"Then you need to call a meeting with the lawyer, saying you want to meet A-Train in person at the Tower. That you want him to take a few pictures and sign some things, then you will sign the NDA and move on," I say to him as Hughie gives another nervous look but nods his head.
"Butcher and MM will be watching over you, so don't stress too much," I say to him as he nods his head looking slightly more confident.
Then Hughie pulls out his phone and calls the lawyer, he then does as I say, making the arrangement with the lawyer. The next day Butcher and MM go with Hughie to the tower, dropping him off. Then once everything was done, Butcher dropped Hughie back off to his work, since we didn't want to include the kid in the rest of the work. However, an hour later Butcher called me as Frenchie and I were closing up the warehouse.
"Code Red! We have Translucent, he found out about Hughie and we managed to subdue him. Though we have to bring him back," Butcher says as Frenchie and I quickly open the warehouse back up and prepare for their arrival.
Butcher then drives into the Warehouse, with MM and Hughie getting out of the car quickly too. I motion for MM and Frenchie to secure the area, as Butcher walks over grabbing a stun gun and motioning me over. Hughie and Butcher looked beat up, Butcher looking at the trunk with bloodthirst eyes and Hughie like he was about to throw up in nervousness.
"He's inside it," Butcher says opening the trunk and inside we see nothing, but I can smell and hear the heartbeat of Translucent inside the trunk. I then grab him as Butcher runs over to a cage opening it and we throw Translucent inside.
"Hughie, says Homelander can't see through Zinc. So we grabbed a bunch of Zinc rolls," Butcher says as Hughie grabs a bunch of rolls with Butcher while I drag the cage into a smaller room used for interrogation.
We then quickly cover the room in the thin foil Zinc everywhere making sure there is no opening. Then Hughie and Butcher make the cage bars electrical by connecting them to several car batteries. MM and Frenchie come back after securing the area, and MM, Butcher, and Hughie catch us up to speed about what happened.
"So our operation is burned and now the Seven knows someone is watching them… Fuck! Ok,... what do we do with him?" I say as we look into the room with Translucent inside.
"Get some answers to our questions… Then dispose of him, there is no way he won't rat us out once loose, then Homelander will be on our asses," Butcher says as Frenchie nods his head.
"Fine, wake him up then we ask some questions before disposing of him," I say as Frenchie grabs a cattle prod. Butcher smiles hearing my order, while MM steals his emotions and Hughie looks extremely stressed hearing them.
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