Chương 38

Starlight could not understand what Adam had just said. She stared at him like the words had reached her, but the meaning had not. Her whole life had rested on one answer. Adam had just broken it with one sentence.

"No," she said.

"What are you saying?" Adam looked at her and kept his voice low.

"I know you did not know the truth. But if you go and talk to your mother, you will find out many things." Annie shook her head a little. She did not know if Adam was telling the truth or lying again. Every thought led back to one ugly question. What had Vought done to her? A lie from Adam would be cruel. The truth would be worse, because it would mean people she trusted had controlled her childhood. Adam saw her confusion and started to leave. Annie pushed the shock down and stepped after him.

She caught his hand, holding him harder than she meant to.

"I will not let you go," she said.

"Your life is in danger. Homelander is your enemy now. He is the enemy of all of you." Adam looked down at her hand, then smiled faintly.

"I forgot to tell you one thing," he said.

"Just like you are a Supe, I am one too." Annie froze. Adam pulled his hand free. It should not have been easy. Annie was not weak. She had strength, and she had stopped people without effort before. Still, Adam freed his hand like her grip was nothing. That told her enough. She had tried to hold him with Supe strength, yet Adam did not strain at all. He had only stopped holding back against her grip. Annie understood then that his claim was not empty.

He had been hiding this side of himself the whole time, and now he had shown only enough to make her let go. Before she could speak, Butcher appeared a few steps behind him. His face said enough. Adam had to move.

"Adam." Adam heard the tone and understood that it was time to go. He turned away again. Annie's voice broke through the park.

"If you keep walking on this road, you will die. You know that, right?" Her face looked hurt. Anger was there, but fear was stronger. She knew Homelander would not forgive Adam for this. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Adam looked back while still walking.

"I love you," he said. Then he touched his fingers to his lips and sent her a small flying kiss. After that, he left with Butcher. The scene shifted to an interrogation room. Deputy Director Susan Raynor sat across from Madelyn Stillwell. Raynor had the evidence spread in front of her. All of it still pointed back to Compound V. Raynor leaned forward.

"Your game is over. Vought's game is over. You people were using drugs to create superheroes. Your dream of sending the Seven into the military ends here." Madelyn sat calmly across from her. She did not look frightened. Stillwell's calm made Raynor uneasy. Raynor's phone rang. She looked at the screen and frowned. Then she stood. Madelyn watched her.

"What happened? Is everything all right?" Raynor stopped for half a second. That question was too smooth. She said nothing and left the room. Raynor entered the control room. Several agents stood around the main screen. The room had gone quiet. Raynor had expected a small update. Their faces told her it was worse than that. One of them turned toward her as soon as she came in.

"Deputy Director, look at this." The screen showed a military operation. Soldiers moved in with rifles raised. Then one man walked into the open. He walked straight in. Energy burst out of his body. The blast swallowed the soldiers around him. The camera shook. The screen filled with smoke. Voices shouted through the recording before they cut off. The recording caught enough of it. Men who had been moving a second ago were on the ground now. For a few seconds, no one in the room spoke. Then the smoke cleared.

The man was still standing. His clothes were damaged, but his body looked fine. He turned his head and looked straight toward the camera. Raynor stared at the screen. One of the agents beside her swallowed.

"The rebels have Supes now." Raynor understood what it meant. If armed groups had people like this, the argument against Vought had just become much harder. The evidence still mattered, but fear could drown it. Every frightened official would ask the same question now: who could stop a Supe terrorist? She understood why Stillwell had been calm. The interrogation room was no longer the center of the fight. A short while later, Madelyn sat in front of a U. S. Secretary.

The room looked more official than the interrogation room. Madelyn sat straight, like the last hour had given her a stronger place to stand. The Secretary held a vial of Compound V in his hand and placed it on the table between them. His grip was tight enough that the small bottle clicked against the wood. The vial looked too light for the mess it had created.

"The government gave Vought responsibility for this," he said.

"You were supposed to make it and control every shipment. So tell me, how did Compound V reach them?" Madelyn looked at the vial. Then she picked it up, turning it once in her fingers as if it belonged to her more than it belonged to the government.

"That is exactly why you need us now," she said. The Secretary's eyes narrowed. Madelyn continued, "They have Supes. Normal soldiers cannot fight them. If you send ordinary units, you will lose too many people. You need the Seven. You need Vought. You can hate how this happened, but you cannot ignore what is standing in front of you now." The Secretary looked at her with open anger. He looked ready to blame her. Madelyn did not look away. She knew he had no clean answer anymore. He said nothing.