บท 24: The reveal: Milk’s POV

"..Are you recording."

"Yes."

"As you know, the subject's skin has demonstrated remarkable durability. Which includes internal tissue."

"BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!"

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!!"

I continued to watch with a complicated look as the man who had haunted my waking and sleeping moments underwent torture way beyond anything I could have imagined.

'How was he able to survive this?'

Despite feeling sick, I could not pull my eyes away from the horrors on screen. Maybe it was a morbid fascination, a sense of victory or even perhaps a speck of sympathy.

"How the fuck's that cunt still breathin'," Butcher suddenly interrupted from behind me.

After everything he had done, I didn't bother giving him the satisfaction of a reply.

"Twenty sieverts of radiation, sulphuric acid cocktails. More or less shoved Chernobyl right up 'is arse." He continued whilst watching over my shoulder, "I'll wager that's how he got 'em nasty new powers."

'Fucking hypocrite.'

I stayed silent and stared intently at the video before me for what felt like the millionth time.

'He deserves this.'

Or that's what I kept telling myself as I analysed every piece of footage repeatedly. The acts were so disgusting that only the most fucked up person would wish this on anyone, and before today, I would've watched it all with a smile.

'It would have been so much easier just to carry on hating him. Why did he have to apologise? Why.'

After he looked at me with those eyes of fire, I could not deny the guilt and pain they held.

'Have you really changed?'

"What am I thinking? Of course, that racist piece of shit hasn't changed," I angrily whispered as my eyes grew stern.

'I almost fell for that motherfucker's bullshit.'

I was shaken from my thoughts by Butcher patting me on the shoulder.

"Listen, mate. Don't let 'im get in your 'ead. He's the Ivan's problem now," he said with false concern as if we hadn't just made the world a worse place.

'How can he act like this?'

"You don't give a shit about who gets hurt, do you? All you care about is Homelander. Fuck anyone who gets in your way, right?" I bitterly said as I paused the video and shrugged his hand off me.

'I always knew he was an asshole, but never thought he was a cruel one.'

"Oh, come off it, mate. You and I are two fuckin' peas in a pod. The only difference is I'm willin' to do what it takes. So it all went belly up, and I took a fuckin' drug? In case you forgot, I saved your ungrateful arse," He replied with a smug look.

His response and how easily he used his abilities made me come to one very quick conclusion.

'This isn't the first time he's done this.'

With that realisation, I finally stood up and gave Butcher a hard look.

"You killed gunpowder, didn't you." I spat with some disbelief before adopting a sneer of disgust, "Did you use your little laser eyes?"

"You're too fuckin' right I did, an' it felt good," Butcher arrogantly said as he leaned in close, "For once, I levelled the fuckin' playin' field."

'Does he not get it.'

"Butcher, the whole point of what we do, the whole goddamn point. Is that no one should have all that power," I said as I looked him in the eyes, hoping to get him to understand that compound V should never be an option.

We can't allow ourselves to stoop to their level. It would be spitting on the memory of my father and everyone we've lost if I ever permitted us to cross that line.

"Well, ain't that just fuckin' fairies and dancin' dildos. You fuckin' saw how easily that cunt took us out. Now, imagine if I weren't suped up. I happen to live right down 'ere, mate, on planet Earth." He angrily said before walking out of the room.

I stood there for a few minutes, staring at the door whilst a battle raged inside my head. A part of me knew that without compound V, we would have been dead. Another part was scared of what a man like Butcher could become with that power, or worse, who I could become if I ever let temptation take its hold.

'Am I wrong about compound V?'

Letting out a sigh of frustration, I was about to sit down to watch more of the torture fest when a slight noise in the corner caught my attention.

'I'm surprised I didn't notice the smelly frog and his newly neutered puppy sooner. He's gotten better at snooping.'

"How long have you been there, Frenchie." I slowly said as I sat back down and rubbed my head at the headache that was this clusterfuck of a day.

"Long enough, mon ami. Do not let Monsieur Charcutier get to you," Frenchie warmly stated as he and Kimiko came out from behind the side door they had been leaning against, "He's a stubborn imbécile. Trust ton cœur and you will find a way."

'So he's come to a decision.'

"When are you leaving?" I questioned as his face twisted due to guilt. Before he could say anything more, I stood up and grabbed him in a crushing hug, "Don't let that motherfucker convince you to stay. This has never been about what's right. It's about what's right for him."

A few moments passed before I pulled back and gave him a weak smile, "Don't be like me and lose what makes you happy. Especially for a fight that's not yours."

'If only I could do the same and get that racist fucker out of my head.'

I turned away but was stopped by Frenchie pulling me back into the hug.

"I know that you have lost a lot, mon ami. But not all is perdu. Your daughter is waiting for you," Frenchie slowly said as he held me tightly, "Leave this all behind and be with your daughter while you still can. You owe nothing to anyone. The dead are gone. It is the living we must protect."

'Forgive me, Janine, I wish I were strong enough.'

"I-I-I can't Frenchie. I just can't. You don't understand. That motherfucker didn't just take my grandad that night. He also took me and my dad," I shakily responded as I separated from the hug and locked eyes with him, "Now, I'm just a fucking dead man walking. I won't put this on Janine. I won't let that piece of shit curse her too."

Frenchie gave me a sad look, and I could tell he wanted to say more.

"I appreciate your help, Frenchie. But just like you've made your decision. This is a choice I made long ago," I stated firmly towards him.

I nodded at the slightly injured Kimiko hiding behind him and patted Frenchie gently on the shoulder before sitting back on the chair. As I was going to continue my research, I noticed that a sombre Kimiko began signing intensely at Frenchie.

"No. I will not tell him. It will only upset him and won't change anything. S'il te plaît, Mon cœur leave it alone." Frenchie softly replied as he cupped her face in his hands.

She responded by slapping his hands away in frustration.

'Monique used to do the same thing when I riled her up.'

Reminiscing about a life I once had, I failed to notice that Kimiko had walked off and returned excitedly with a pad of paper and a mangy, chewed-up pencil.

I realised that some tears had begun to well in my eyes and quickly wiped them away before either of them noticed.

'I've made my choices. I don't deserve any pity.'

Suppressing the thoughts of what could have been, I turned to Frenchie to see if he could explain what the fuck was happening with his women. Surprisingly, he wouldn't look me in the eyes and even tried to stop Kimiko in her path.

'I'm not in the mood for some domestic shit.'

Whilst no longer a supe, Kimiko had no issue pushing past the flustered and concerned croissant muncher. Once in front of me, she grabbed a chair and sat down. A few seconds went by as she wrote something on a piece of paper, and then, with a warm smile, she gently placed it into my hands.

'She's a weird one.'

Tentatively smiling back, I took the paper and immediately felt the smile drop from my face.

"Is this a joke?" I asked her slowly as I reread the piece of paper.

She had written on it, 'Soldier Boy has changed. His eyes were nice even when fighting us. Maybe you could speak to him and be free like I am.'

She shook her head and reached for the pad again. However, not wanting to entertain the conversation any longer, I threw it to the side.

"It doesn't matter what you think. What I know is that we just unleashed that motherfucker on the world. Whatever happens next is on all our hands, even yours," I growled before glaring at an apologetic Frenchie to take her away.

'Does she think that because he didn't kill us? That his hands are wiped clean. That the blood and tears of everyone he has hurt, killed, tortured and broken just disappear? Standards are fucking low.'

A now agitated Kimiko tried to once again reach for the pad. However, this time, Frenchie grabbed her and gently pulled her to the side.

"Leave it be, Mon cœur. It's not our business anymore. Once we get to New York, we'll take our things and leave for Marseille. You have your freedom now, your humanité." Frenchie gently whispered in her ear, calming her down and getting a reluctant nod of agreement.

I ignored the rest of their conversation, and with my mood now soured, I focused on watching videos of the tests the Russians had performed.

'I need to find a way to fight Soldier Boy on my terms. Dad would have wanted that. There must be something that will work.'

I knew I would have to sort through hours of footage and files to find something to take him down for good. However, I was more than prepared to do so.

'It can't be a coincidence that Soldier Boy developed the ability to remove powers.'

.....

A few hours passed, and I barely got anywhere with what we had grabbed from the lab. All I knew was that they had used a form of gas, potentially halothane, to sedate and weaken him.

'Shouldn't be too hard. We used it on Kimiko easily enough.'

However, a more pressing issue was plaguing my mind. As much as I tried not to let it get to me, Kimiko's insistence on Soldier Boy had watered a seed of doubt and led to one nagging thought.

'What if he has changed.'

Fortunately, my self-torment was interrupted by Butcher returning to the room all high and mighty, telling us he got us a jet home.

'Finally, I can get back to Janine.'

It didn't take us long to reach the airfield and board a surprisingly luxurious jet. Butcher tried to speak to me, but I walked past him. I had nothing left to say to the hypocrite.

The flight was initially uneventful, with mostly everyone sleeping and keeping to themselves.

However, as we flew across the Atlantic, a small decision would uncover disturbing news.

Out of curiosity and to get my mind off of Soldier Boy, I decided to look up anything they had on his supposed daughter and their suped-up hamster.

To start, I decided to go through what they did to the hamster. As expected, it was a case of standard animal testing taken to new, disturbing heights. I knew our government had probably done worse, but I would never understand the cruel treatment of animals beyond what was necessary. Astonishingly, their vigorous tests led to them creating a version of compound V that worked on animals.

'Knowing our luck, this will bite us in the ass at some point. '

Finished with what little I could find on the hamster, I decided to read up on the child, Aurora. The scientists named her after the fable of sleeping beauty due to her never waking up, only ever stirring in the presence of Soldier Boy or Compound V.

'I wonder what is causing her to be like that.'

From what I was reading, she was indeed the daughter of Soldier Boy and was the product of the Russian's most ambitious goal, Project Scion.

'This doesn't mean he hasn't lied about the rest.'

Pushing aside my doubts, I continued to rifle through more of the files. I noticed that while Aurora had the body of a 4-year-old, she was, in fact, only two years old. The science was beyond me, but I quickly understood that they had used Soldier Boy's fun time juice to forcefully impregnate a female supe prisoner in an outpost outside Russia. Alongside this disgusting act, they somehow manipulated the pregnancy to occur within only a month whilst she was in an induced coma.

'Fucking white people.'

From the notes, I could see that Project Scion aimed to create a supe army using the genes of two immensely powerful supes. A big loss for their project was the escape of the female prisoner, who seemed to be the only viable 'Broodmother' they could find, with their attempts at IVF failing and every other female subject combusting immediately after fertilisation.

'Broodmother? What the fuck is wrong with these people?'

Unfortunately for them, Aurora only grew rapidly to the biological age of 2 before ageing at a regular 'chronological rate'. From what I read in their reports, the scientists would usually terminate a failure. However, with the escape of the female prisoner, Aurora was their only chance at a future project.

'That's fucking disgusting. The scientists were waiting for her to be 'fertile'.'

Fortunately, according to their documents, alongside being permanently asleep, there was also some form of golden light protecting Aurora from harm. This meant that any disgusting act they had in mind was impossible.

'Is that her ability?'

Everything I read was disturbing, exciting and distracting, just like I had hoped. However, that all changed when a seemingly insignificant file fell from the pile. Picking up the document, I casually skimmed through it. My partial interest quickly turned into shock, and that got progressively worse the more I read. On the smudged report, I could see the summarised medical information of the child, and on the top left corner, next to Soldier Boy's information, was the description of the Mother.

'Motherfucker!!'

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Authors note

Hey everyone,

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I would love to know if you want me to do more POV chapters as we move along.

The next chapter will be an interesting POV from an OC, and then it's back to good old SB.

If you have any ideas or plot points you think could be fun, let me know, and I might consider including them in the story.

I would also like to thank the reader evolution-500 for pointing out that I had been spelling Vought as Vaught. That should now be fixed throughout. If not, please let me know.

Once again, thanks for reading :)