Chương 88

Annie wanted to say something, but Adam rested his palm on her shoulder before she could speak.

"I just wanted to tell you," he said.

"Don't worry about the rest." Then he rose into the air and flew away. Everyone at the shoot watched him disappear. Homelander watched as well, saying nothing. For several days, a man had been appearing at the FBSA office and claiming that he was Victoria's friend. What first caught Hughie's attention was the name he used whenever he asked for her.

"Nadia. I need to see Nadia." The man, Tony, returned often enough that Hughie finally followed him. Hughie kept out of sight and learned the truth when Tony confronted Victoria. Before the meeting ended, Victoria killed him, unaware that Hughie had secretly witnessed it. Hughie returned to the FBSA and began searching from inside the department. When he found a chance to access Victoria's computer, he copied its data and discovered a file connecting her to Edgar. His first thought was to take it to the Boys.

Then he considered telling his girlfriend before doing anything else. Shana sat at her desk, completely focused on her work. Hughie looked at her, then abandoned the thought. He could not drag her into this. She would be safer if she remained unaware. He had wanted a normal life, and he finally had one. Becoming closely involved with the Boys again could destroy it and pull Shana into the danger with him. Hughie decided that he would not return to that life.

Even so, he took the copied documents and went to the Boys. The next day, Adam stood across from Victoria on the roof of a building. She looked worried.

"You are forgetting that I--" A beam of heat vision struck her shoulder before she could finish. Had Victoria been human, the shoulder would have vanished and her arm would have fallen beside her. Her Supe body endured enough to keep it attached, but the beam burned deep into her flesh. Adam stopped before she had a chance to react. Victoria dropped to the rooftop floor and clutched her shoulder. Her skin was already recovering, but blood continued to run from the wide wound.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Everyone chased power, and Homelander's was absolute. People wanted to control him for that reason, and he knew exactly what it meant. Adam had resisted becoming like him, but now he needed to borrow that part of Homelander's personality. Adam spoke coldly.

"I told you that you had two days, and today your time is over. Even after that, you kept coming after me. Victoria... or should I call you by your real name?" Victoria clenched her teeth. She heard him, but most of her attention remained trapped inside the pain burning through her shoulder. Adam walked forward until he stood directly in front of her. Victoria looked up at him, afraid.

"Next time, you won't have a shoulder. You people forced me to give up on my morality. It seems you didn't understand that." He had given those around him too much room because he wanted the final outcome to be better for everyone. Vought and the government had seen that restraint and mistaken it for inability. Adam was bound by the law and society only for as long as he chose to be. He worked with Vought and the FBSA on the same terms.

Their campaigns and public opinion could not alter what absolute strength allowed. Homelander was free to kill someone on the street if he wanted. The government might send the police or ask Supes to fight him, but everyone already knew how that would end. Adam had always understood the danger, yet he had still allowed them to exploit his refusal to cross his moral limits. They had taken full advantage of that choice. Now he would reveal the consequence of losing their control over him.

He stepped off the roof and flew away. By the time Victoria could stand again, the wound had almost closed. Only a small hole remained in her shoulder, releasing a thin trace of blood. She contacted Edgar. Edgar was sitting in his office when the call arrived. He had expected it because he knew what day it was. Victoria's voice shook slightly when he answered.

"So he left, didn't he?" Edgar asked.

"I think we pushed our luck too far," Victoria said.

"The thing that separated Adam from Homelander... I think it has broken." A faint crease appeared between Edgar's brows.

"What do you mean?"

"Our greatest fear has always been Homelander going rogue. Now I feel that same fear when I think about Adam." Edgar's expression became serious.

"Tell me exactly what happened." Victoria told him how she had tried to keep Adam in the FBSA. She also explained how quickly they had expanded the campaign around him. Interviews and positive public reviews had been spread across social media and television. Documentaries and emotional footage had been pushed before the public until Adam appeared necessary everywhere. They wanted pressure to follow him everywhere.

If people believed only Adam could protect them, he would begin to see their safety as a moral duty he could never leave behind.

"But his actions today show that we achieved the opposite," Victoria said.

"The morality binding him has broken. If that is true, controlling him is impossible." Edgar pressed his palm to his forehead and thought.

"Fine. I'll do something." He ended the call and reached for the bell on his desk. Before anyone could answer it, the office window shattered. Something crashed through the glass, and Edgar threw himself to the side. He waited for the impact to settle before lifting his head. After the call he had just received, only two people could have entered his office that way: Homelander or Adam. The latter seemed far more likely. Edgar turned toward the broken window. Adam stood inside the dust thrown up by the crash.

His shape could be seen, but his face remained blurred. Two red eyes were all that could be seen through the dust.