Chương 23

A-Train stood in front of Homelander with his head low, rubbing his fingers together while Popclaw's face stayed stuck in his mind. He was trying not to shake. The order was finished now, and her body had stopped moving in that hotel room, but the feeling had followed him all the way back. Homelander did not care. He looked at A-Train and asked, "Is it done?" A-Train swallowed once.

"Yeah. It's done." Homelander watched him without blinking. A-Train forced himself to keep talking.

"Some unknown people found out about Compound V. They may be the same people who took that Asian girl from the basement. The police report said no girl was found there." Homelander's face tightened as he stepped closer and placed a hand on A-Train's shoulder.

"Do you know what is happening right now, A-Train? Our own company is investigating us, and Vought is looking into us." A-Train looked at him and saw anger on his face, along with pressure. Homelander removed his hand from A-Train's shoulder.

"Now tell me what is true here, and how much of this mess is real. We did everything Vought wanted because they wanted it done." The words sounded like he was blaming Vought and A-Train at the same time. A-Train stayed quiet. Homelander's voice dropped.

"Find that girl and find the masked man before anyone else reaches them." A-Train nodded.

"I will." The scene shifted to the hideout. Adam returned there and saw Butcher first. M. M. stood near him, while Frenchie and Hughie were also inside. The girl was there too, kept away from the center of the room. M. M. and Frenchie both stared when they saw Adam. Frenchie was the first to speak.

"Pretty Adam, I did not know you could do that." Adam opened his mouth to answer, but his eyes moved to the girl. He understood what had happened. They had found her. Butcher stepped forward.

"What happened out there? I sent you for that job." Adam smiled a little.

"That work was done. But on the way back, I saw the news. I could not let those people die." M. M. looked toward Butcher. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Before Butcher could speak, Adam continued, "When I was stopping that flight, I had a confrontation." Everyone looked at him. Even Hughie, who had been standing quietly until now, lifted his head. M. M. asked, "Confrontation with who?" Butcher answered before Adam could.

"Homelander." M. M.'s eyes widened.

"Then how the hell are you standing here alive?" Butcher looked at M. M.

"Didn't I tell you he can handle Homelander?" Frenchie leaned forward.

"So that means we can fight back against him. Why don't we kidnap Homelander too, like we did with Translucent?" Adam knew why Frenchie thought that way. After seeing the news, it was easy to think Adam could walk in, grab Homelander, and end the whole thing. But Adam did not want that. The original road still mattered. He wanted the road to stay near the ending he remembered from the book. He also wanted to experience the characters who had not entered the story yet.

Soldier Boy was still one of his favorites, and Adam did not want to crush the road before reaching him. If he pushed now, the road could bend away from the story he knew. Adam could take risks. He did not want to break the future before he could use it. So Adam shook his head.

"No," he said.

"I said I had a confrontation with him. I never said I could beat him. I can hold him back, but beating him is different." Butcher smiled.

"And even if you beat Homelander, Vought will just make you the next Homelander. Then we will come after you." Adam smiled back.

"Don't worry. I have no plan to become the next Homelander. I am not joining any company to play superhero." Hughie looked at Adam.

"But you saved all those people. That's what a real hero is supposed to do. The Supes forgot that." Butcher waved the talk away.

"Leave that. We have the next plan." Adam looked at him. Butcher said, "We go to Believe Expo. There is a stretchy bastard there named Ezekiel. We need to interrogate him." Adam blinked.

"You are going to interrogate him? I don't even understand how you plan to survive that." M. M. added, "Starlight and Homelander will also be at Believe Expo." Butcher nodded.

"And to get near Ezekiel, we need VIP passes. Regular tickets won't get us close enough." Adam understood before Butcher said the rest. The pass was the clean entry.

"So you want Starlight to get those passes," Adam said.

"Through me."

"Exactly," Butcher said.

"And you will also deal with Homelander if he becomes a problem. After what you did, there is pressure on him. We put you in front of him, keep his eyes away from us, and pull what we need from Ezekiel." Butcher spoke like he had already placed Adam on the board. Adam let out a slow breath.

"You know Starlight is a good girl, right? You are forcing me to look like a villain in her eyes." Butcher looked slightly surprised. M. M. raised an eyebrow.

"You catching feelings for her?" Adam did not answer that. He only said, "Fine. I will arrange it." Later, at Believe Expo, the whole team was present. The plan was simple. Adam would get the VIP pass through Starlight. Hughie would go near Ezekiel when the chance came. Since Adam had already crossed Homelander more than once, he would stay away from Homelander's path until he had to face him himself. Adam moved through the Expo while looking for Starlight.

He kept his pace calm, but his eyes kept searching the crowd. He knew he had to talk to her carefully. One wrong line could make her pull away from him. After some time, he found her. She was walking through the crowd in her old costume. Adam stopped when he saw her.