Meanwhile, in the dim basement, Butcher and the others had already crowded in front of the TV, ready to watch the trial against Vought with their own eyes.
"Anyone want popcorn?"
Frenchie dropped onto the couch with a bucket he'd just bought from the cinema entrance.
Hughie and Starlight sat on his left. Mother's Milk took the right. The narrow couch only held four, so Butcher stood behind it, face hard, eyes locked on the screen. Kimiko squatted on the floor in front of Frenchie, staring just as hard.
"You think this is actually gonna work?" Hughie shoved a hand into the bucket and pulled out a big fistful of popcorn.
"It'd be a hell of a lot better if you'd kept an eye on Lamplighter."
Butcher's voice dripped sarcasm.
"Fine, that was on me. But I still got Starlight out, didn't I?" Hughie knew he'd fucked up, yet with Starlight right there he still tried to defend himself. "I don't think the bastard ever planned to help us. That's why he kept stalling. You see the entertainment news lately? Vought's announcing an old friend is returning to The Seven.
No question that's Lamplighter."
The second the words left his mouth, Butcher let out a cold laugh. "Trading a critical witness for some supe who prances around all day in a tight little costume. Real smart deal. Honestly, if there was a button on your head I'd press it without blinking and flush every last piece of garbage out of that skull of yours."
"Then his brain would be completely empty," Frenchie added, twisting the knife.
"It's starting."
Mother's Milk sounded tense.
Victoria's voice came through the TV almost immediately.
"First, I'm glad all of you could join this bipartisan committee hearing. Today I will present evidence of Vought International's crimes."
She held up a small vial of Compound V. "This is Vought's primary product, the miracle drug that creates both superheroes and super-terrorists.
Our investigation confirms Vought has been illegally administering Compound V. I will now read the testimony…"
She set the vial on the table and adjusted the microphone in front of her.
Most of that testimony came from evidence Susan had collected before she died.
In the front row, Ivan, Homelander, and Stormfront all looked completely calm. Trying to take down Vought with this shit was pure fantasy. Unless the other side produced hard, undeniable proof or a witness Vought couldn't dismiss, the whole hearing would end up as nothing but a circus.
Victoria on the stage knew it too.
"The testimony above is more than enough to show Vought has broken the law and committed multiple felonies. To make these claims even more credible, we have brought in someone who personally witnessed Vought's crimes. He knows the company inside and out, and his position is extremely unique."
She nodded to the clerk beside her.
"We now call Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum, former Chief Strategic Officer of Vought."
Gasp!
The room erupted. Stormfront snapped her head around.
There, in a suit, almost no hair left, sat Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum in a powered wheelchair. He rolled himself slowly into view from the far end of the corridor using the controls on the armrest.
Every face in the chamber froze in shock.
None of them could believe that the former Chief Strategic Officer of Vought had actually shown up to testify against the company.
This was absolute earth-shaking news!
As Vogelbaum rolled past Homelander, the supe's eyes went complicated. He dipped his head slightly and laced his fingers together, restless.
"What the fuck? You said it didn't work!" Hughie stared at Butcher in disbelief.
"Heeeh." A smug grin spread across Butcher's face.
"Vought used his family against him, so I did the same. I don't give a flying fuck about their precious laws or morals."
He leaned right up to the TV, eyes locked on Homelander on the screen. "Die, you piece of shit. Watch me ruin you!"
"Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum, thank you for joining us today. You have five minutes... POP!squelch!"
The clerk was still speaking when his head suddenly detonated like a watermelon, spraying juice everywhere. Victoria stood frozen, face painted in blood, looking completely stunned.
That was only the start.
POP!squelch!
A second later Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum's skull exploded too. The spray forced Homelander to throw up an arm to block it.
The head-popping party wasn't finished. POP!squelch! A third person's head burst open right after, like some kind of chain reaction.
Only then did the rest of the chamber snap out of shock. People screamed, clutched their heads, and stampeded for the exits.
Homelander and Stormfront both stood, scanning the chaos. A thin smile touched Homelander's face. "Quite the performance."
"No argument here."
Ivan glanced at the bloodstains and some yellowish fluid on his sleeve. The expensive suit was completely fucked.
Screams kept rising. All those high-and-mighty big shots now huddled like quails about to hit the pot, shaking violently. They covered their heads and tried to crawl under the chairs for cover. The explosions kept going anyway. The pale floor was dotted with dense blood spots.
The thick copper stink of blood made it hard to breathe.
"You know who did this?" Homelander asked.
"If you don't know, how the fuck would I?"
Ivan shook his head. His eyes accidentally met Victoria's. She was still slumped in her chair, looking dazed, but she was quietly calling up her power, ready to give Ivan a little reminder.
This time, though, her ability seemed to fail. Ivan didn't react at all. He even smiled at her.
Had she overused it so much that it was glitching?
Victoria instinctively cranked the power to maximum and watched his face carefully.
Ivan's brow tightened. He felt an invisible force suddenly appear inside his skull and swell rapidly, like a balloon.
His bloodshot eyes bulged outward. Horrifying cracks split across his face, and through the gaps you could see the bright red muscle fibers underneath.
____
[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69