"I'm not shaking your hand. Just so you don't get the idea that I'm going to twist your mind again."
After what happened last time, Raven felt she needed to leave some space for mutual trust between herself and Superman.
That said, it wasn't as if she could casually warp someone's mind whenever she wanted. To forcibly extinguish a blazing fire of vengeance like that, she herself would have to be burned to ashes along with it.
"The vast majority of demons are actually very easy to destroy. Whether in the Hell dimension or in the physical universe, once their physical form is destroyed, they're gone for good. But beings like my father aren't necessarily the same."
Raven's hatred for Hell was no less than Superman's, yet she had never dared to imagine completely eradicating it:
"Trigon and the Hell dimension itself are impossible to destroy. Hell is the dark reflection of the real universe. You can't eliminate your shadow without first eliminating yourself."
"There has to be a way. Whether it's your father or Hell itself…"
Raven decided not to interrupt Superman's train of thought any further. She drew her cloak around her body, gradually fading from the sky:
"I look forward to the day we find it together."
Superman had once again drilled himself into another dead end, but for Raven, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Because what if there really was such a way?
Raven, like her father, was a near-immortal being. She had long grown tired of Trigon's endless pursuit and yearned for true freedom.
Deep down, she couldn't help but believe that there must be some method capable of ending this eternal hunt—one that had lasted countless eons and spanned innumerable worlds.
Perhaps, at his core, she wasn't that different from Superman… or from those people who believed in bananas.
---
Hughie felt like he was more badass than 007, because he had actually planted a bug inside Vought Tower right under the noses of extremely dangerous supes and heavily armed guards—and walked away in one piece.
It wasn't until he got back into Butcher's car that the adrenaline finally kicked in. Like he was high, he started yelling excitedly from the passenger seat:
"Woohoo! This feels fucking amazing!"
Butcher didn't say a word. He simply drove Hughie back to the electronics store where Hughie worked. All of his previous advice and moral lectures had been aimed solely at achieving this final result.
He dropped Hughie off at the entrance and told him bluntly:
"Kid, go back in and keep working. I'll let you know if there's any news."
Butcher had no intention of notifying him—Vought discovering the bug was only a matter of time. What he needed to do now was cut ties as quickly as possible so Vought couldn't trace things back to him.
As for Hughie? Butcher could only wish him good luck. Informants were meant to be used up—this had always been his way of doing business with the CIA.
Hughie got out of the car reluctantly and walked toward the store, but suddenly remembered something.
Something extremely important.
So he called out to Butcher:
"Wait, Butcher. Let me show you how to make forty-five thousand dollars disappear instantly~"
Hughie pulled out the check he had gotten from Vought's legal department and tore it cleanly in half without the slightest hesitation.
Forty-five thousand dollars wasn't a small amount for someone working in an electronics store, but he would never accept money stained with blood.
Only then did Butcher truly take a serious look at Hughie.
He stopped him, his thoughts churning, but when it came time to speak, he found himself at a loss for words. In the end, all he could say was:
"You're a genuinely good person, Hughie."
After watching Butcher drive away, Hughie walked back into the store. Even though he had just pulled off an infiltration worthy of a movie, he was still going to be squeezed dry by his unscrupulous boss tonight.
The moment closing time arrived, Hughie's boss practically sprang out of his chair and vanished, leaving Hughie alone to clean up and lock the place.
Hughie was just about to tidy up the cabinets, turn off the lights, and close the door when the customer bell rang.
"Sorry, we're closed."
Without lifting his head, Hughie continued clearing the counter, glancing toward the door out of the corner of his eye—only to find no one there.
Assuming he hadn't misheard or run into a ghost, Hughie could think of only one possibility.
That possibility quickly became reality. The bug he had hidden in Vought's conference room that morning was now floating in front of him in midair, and Hughie heard a familiar voice:
"Who are you?"
A voice without a body. Hughie's breathing became rapid. He knew exactly who had come knocking—one of the Seven: Translucent.
The completely invisible Translucent grabbed Hughie by the collar and slammed him into the floor, followed by a brutal round of memory-refreshing punches:
"Who was the guy you were with in the car just now?!"
Translucent already flew into a rage over piracy alone, eager to wipe it out entirely—let alone someone who had directly infiltrated the company and planted a listening device.
He had already decided: beat him half to death first, get the answers, then beat him all the way to death.
All of this was clearly witnessed by Butcher, who had quietly doubled back and was staking out the store from outside.
Butcher didn't know what had possessed him today, though ever since his partner who worked at Vought had disappeared, he hadn't had a single sane day.
He had expected Vought to find the bug, but not this quickly—and certainly not with one of the Seven personally showing up.
He could have done what he always did: abandon the kid, disappear, then find another victim of a supe to serve as a new informant. That was the safest option.
But he didn't.
He decided that today, he'd keep being insane—and face one of the most powerful superhero teams head-on: the Seven's Translucent.
He slammed the accelerator. His car charged forward, smashing straight through the glass storefront and crashing squarely into the invisible bastard who was beating Hughie.
"Hughie, run!"
Butcher kicked the car door open, crowbar in hand, ready to settle things with Translucent right then and there.
He followed the trail left by where Translucent had been sent flying and swung down hard—but unexpectedly hit nothing. These superpowered assholes really were far tougher than normal people.
What followed was almost entirely a one-sided beating. Even if you're trading wild punches, you still have to be able to see your target. Fortunately, Butcher had his own solution.
He had no idea how many punches he'd taken to the face. His mouth was full of blood. Seizing an opening, he spat violently in the general direction of Translucent.
Instantly, the invisible man was quite literally splattered with blood.
Now it was fair.
The Butcher finally had something to unload on. He pummeled the blurry, blood-red silhouette in front of him—but then he was forced to face an undeniable reality:
Supes truly were superior to ordinary humans. The brutal techniques he'd honed during his CIA days couldn't harm the other man at all.
The fight didn't last long before ending in Translucent's absolute dominance. Translucent had no intention of handing Butcher over to law enforcement or any organization.
Butcher understood these scum all too well. Translucent wanted to pry out his background—and enjoy torturing him along the way.
Just as Butcher felt his path of revenge was about to end tonight, Hughie—who had fled earlier—quietly snuck back in. From Translucent's blind spot, he picked up a severed electrical cable.
Butcher instantly caught on. He started spouting nonsense to distract Translucent, buying Hughie time.
The moment the exposed end of the wire touched Translucent's ass—delivering a ass-splitting shock—the man who had just beaten them half to death collapsed stiffly and passed out on the spot.
Translucent being afraid of electricity was something Hughie had realized in a flash while running away.
He'd always paid attention to information about superheroes. He remembered Translucent mentioning once on the Fallon Show that his invisibility came from his carbon-based skin that refracted light.
And carbon, quite obviously, was an excellent conductor of electricity.
"Is he dead?"
Hughie stared at the blurry figure on the ground, breathing heavily, his heart still pounding. His only thought was how insanely wild his day had been.
Sneaking into Vought in the morning. Electrocuting Translucent—one of the world's strongest superheroes—at night.
Butcher didn't know whether Translucent was dead either. All he knew was that the shock had been vicious. He'd even kicked the guy a few times afterward, and the texture felt about as lifeless as a dead pig.
But now he and Hughie had to face a new problem—because anyone who's killed before knows this:
Killing someone is easy.
Getting rid of the body is not.