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"You said you saw another you in the mirror?"
In the evening, Kevin held Annie in bed, frowning as he asked after she told him what had happened during the day.
Annie recalled the scene she had seen in the mirror that afternoon and said, somewhat bewildered:
"I… I don't know, I'm not really sure, mainly because the me in the mirror… was too… too…"
"Too… what?"
"…She was dressed too revealingly. The hero uniform she was wearing was completely different from mine. It was like… like a school swimsuit, do you understand? Looking at her felt like looking at an escort preparing to go to a nightclub…"
"..."
"And she was in a very bad mood, I could tell. She was sad, just as sad as I was. Her makeup was a bit smudged…"
Annie was trying her best to organize her words and tell Kevin.
Seeing another herself in the mirror that afternoon didn't scare Annie; instead, she felt a bit of sympathy for that other self.
She didn't know what the 'her' in the mirror had gone through, but Annie understood herself and knew very well that the 'her' in the mirror was sad.
Annie wasn't sure if it was an illusion caused by her emotional fluctuations when her mother came to find her, or if another 'her' truly existed.
That's why she brought it up with Kevin.
Kevin was a Transmigrator; perhaps he would know something.
Unfortunately, Kevin couldn't answer her doubts.
"Don't think too much about it. You've just been too tired lately. Your mother Donna's matter has made your thoughts agitated, which is why you're having hallucinations… I'll find time to talk to your mother."
"No, no need. My mother… she's a very snobbish person. I know it sounds harsh to say that, but it's the truth. I don't want her to misunderstand anything because of you."
"But she is your mother, Annie. Although I don't like Stormfront, I agree with her on that point. The relationship between mother and daughter shouldn't be so stiff."
Kevin held Annie, his fingers running through her long hair, caressing her cheek.
Actually, if Annie could truly harden her heart and cut ties with Donna, Kevin wouldn't be unable to help her, making sure Donna could never find her.
But Kevin could see that Annie still loved her mother. She just couldn't accept what her mother had done to her and what she had hidden from her for a while.
After all, from childhood, after her father left, Annie grew up with her mother.
For Annie, the closest person was her mother, Donna.
Temporary anger and departure couldn't compare to so many years of affection.
It wouldn't be long before Annie would understand and reconcile with Donna, which is why Kevin decided to talk to Donna.
Besides helping the mother-daughter relationship reconcile as soon as possible, he also wanted to meet his nominal mother-in-law.
Because Donna was mentioned, Annie stopped thinking about the other 'her' she saw that afternoon.
Moreover, Annie also knew that if Kevin truly understood something, he would definitely tell her. Since Kevin wasn't saying anything now, it meant he either didn't know about it or… needed to keep it from her.
Annie had always been a very obedient girl in front of Kevin; she never probed into unnecessary matters.
The conversation ended there for now, and Annie quickly fell asleep with Kevin by her side.
But Kevin wasn't asleep; he was still thinking about what Annie had said.
The other 'her' that Annie saw was clearly the Annie from the original worldline, who was forcibly assigned a new work uniform by Vought to do 'social' and 'networking' types of work.
In this worldline, Kevin protected Annie and didn't let her come into much contact with the dark side of the world, nor did he let Vought give Annie a new uniform, so Annie couldn't possibly know the original appearance of that uniform.
In other words, it wasn't Annie's hallucination at all.
She really saw another version of herself.
But how was that possible?
Kevin, who had traveled to the Marvel World, naturally knew that the world he was currently in was a multiverse composed of different universes.
At least the Marvel World was like that.
There were countless universes in just the what if world, and then there was the Wolverine 3 world that Kevin had been to later, which had even more different timelines.
So, it was normal for the The Boys world to have different worldlines.
If the original worldline is called Worldline A, and Kevin's current worldline is called Worldline B, then the branching point is whether The Deep was transmigrated and whether he did those disgusting things to Annie.
Kevin in Worldline B protected Annie and made this world completely different from the original.
Worldline A was still maintaining the original plot, and Annie there was still forced to wear that very seductive hero uniform, just like in the original work.
And normally, the two worldlines should not intersect at all.
They were like two parallel lines that would never intersect, and they shouldn't affect each other.
But now, Annie saw herself from Worldline A.
What was the reason?
Was it because his frequent travels caused some changes in the The Boys world as well?
Were the multiverses of Black Robe colliding and merging?
Kevin didn't know if this change was good or bad, but he had watched Loki and understood the Time Variance Authority's setting for worldlines.
If the timeline of the The Boys world also followed the laws of the Time Variance Authority, what would happen when the timeline was affected and began to expand infinitely?
"Damn it, it seems I need to go back to the Marvel World sometime and ask the Time Variance Authority about the situation."
What Annie saw gave Kevin a sense of crisis.
He was worried that the world would undergo some bad changes due to his existence, so he decided to go to the Time Variance Authority to check.
But the problem was, Kevin didn't know what stage the Time Variance Authority in the Marvel World was currently in.
"...It's also fine to ask Ancient One."
Leaving the Time Variance Authority aside for now, there was also Ancient One, who had studied time. If he couldn't find the Time Variance Authority, it wasn't impossible to make do with Ancient One.
It was just that Ancient One always wanted to trick Kevin into becoming the Supreme Mage now, which made Kevin a little unbearable, so he was slightly resistant to meeting Ancient One.
Moreover, returning to the Marvel World required skill points, and Kevin had only accumulated four skill points these days.
That was just enough to pay for the 'travel ticket' to the Marvel World.
He still wanted to save skill points for his second class advancement!
The matters of the Marvel World were not urgent for now. Besides, Annie seeing her from Worldline A might just be an occasional Vision.
Just like some people suddenly feel that certain experiences are familiar, that might be the result of their consciousness connecting with their parallel world self.
One or two occurrences occasionally are nothing.
It wouldn't be too late to go back to the Marvel World and ask someone for clarification if it happened more often in the future.
Anyway, time in the The Boys world could be paused.
But having said that, some things that needed to be done could be put on the agenda.
At least, before things got troublesome, all unstable factors that needed to be dealt with should be handled.
While Annie was still sound asleep, and he couldn't sleep because he was thinking about Annie, Kevin simply put on his bathrobe and went to the living room to call Butcher's The Boys.
A few days ago, Kevin gave Valerie Hunter's contact information to The Boys, telling them to start investigating Liberty, who was active in the 1970s, and try to find dirt on Stormfront.
He believed they had already found what they were looking for.
And now, it was time for them to proceed to the next step.
...
"So, Stormfront is an old woman who has lived for at least seventy or eighty years?"
The Boys, who learned Stormfront's true age from the victim, were still somewhat incredulous about the intelligence they had gathered.
Hughie felt even stranger. If Stormfront's age was really that old, then according to her seniority, Stormfront's position in Vought should not be low.
But why had they never heard of this person before?
Or was Stormfront only responsible for hero activities?
"Apparently." Butcher threw the gathered intelligence onto the table and said to everyone:
"Our current Vought CEO, he doesn't like Stormfront, and he can't control Stormfront, that's why he wants us to investigate this old woman who has lived for who knows how many years.
"And what we need to do now is to find a way to investigate more, to pull out Stormfront's tail, and make her completely disappear from the world."
"But it seems we have no other leads."
Frenchie said.
They only found these clues about Stormfront. The victim named Valerie only knew this much.
Even knowing that Stormfront was Liberty didn't seem to be of much use. This single piece of information didn't seem enough to bring down Stormfront.
Let alone The Seven.
Butcher's lips curled into a smile, and he said with great confidence:
"Don't worry, it won't be long before our boss assigns us a new mission."
Butcher could now see that Kevin's idea of dealing with The Seven was accurate and true. On this point, they stood on a united front.
Therefore, Butcher was willing to help Kevin, and he knew that Kevin would definitely arrange the next step of work for him.
Although obeying the orders of a Supe, and the CEO of Vought at that, made Butcher slightly displeased.
But as long as the goal could be achieved, Butcher wouldn't fuss over these details.
No matter the process, as long as the result was to take down Homelander, Butcher was willing to give his life.
Butcher's guess about Kevin was correct. Not long after he finished speaking, the single-line phone on the table vibrated.
Kevin called him.
"Yo, boss, if you don't call soon, we'll really have no work to do."
Answering the phone, Butcher jokingly said to Kevin.
"I think you've probably completed my request by now, so… I'll tell you what to do next."
"Please tell me."
"Do you know The Collective Church?"
"I've probably heard of it."
"Stormfront used to be a member there, many years ago, and within The Collective Church, there is information about Stormfront. As long as you get that information, you can take care of Stormfront."
Kevin told The Boys about The Collective Church.
Butcher narrowed his eyes slightly, noting down the name of The Collective Church and their contact information, then asked Kevin:
"Just take care of Stormfront? What about Homelander?"
"Don't rush, you have to eat one bite at a time, and walk one step at a time. First deal with Stormfront, then deal with Homelander. We have plenty of time."
Kevin said meaningfully, then added:
"By the way, to get the information from The Collective Church, you'll need to make a little 'sacrifice'. If Hughie has time tomorrow, have him meet me at Godolkin University."
After saying one last thing to Butcher, Kevin hung up the phone.
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