…
The next morning.
Hughie's room.
"Ah—!"
Hughie jolted upright in bed, drawing startled looks from the rest of The Boys gathered in the room. He immediately tore off his shirt and began frantically patting his chest, searching for a gunshot wound that didn't exist.
"How is this possible?!"
"Where is it?!"
"Annie! Did you sneak out to the woods behind the motel last night?!"
His voice was certain—almost desperate.
"Hughie, what are you talking about? Have you lost your mind?!"
Starlight's voice trembled. To an outsider, it might have sounded like anger.
"But I saw it!" Hughie insisted. "I saw everything!"
"I—I…"
She couldn't even form a full sentence.
At that moment, Leon stepped forward.
"Hughie, my friend," he said calmly, "a real man trusts his woman."
"Annie was with me all night. I can vouch for her."
The room fell silent.
Hughie froze.
The rest of The Boys froze.
Even Starlight froze.
Wait—what?
You're just… saying that outright?!
But before anyone could react—
Leon gestured toward the window.
Outside, Arcee—still parked in Motorcycle Mode—activated her autonomous hover function and rose to window height. A holographic projection flickered to life in midair.
The footage showed Leon personally guiding Starlight through controlled power training.
Only—
The location wasn't the forest.
It was a remote underground parking garage—the same one where Leon had previously summoned Arcee and the Soldier Boy Suit.
Security cameras were visible in the background.
In the footage, the two of them were close—inevitably so, given the nature of hands-on energy training—but there was nothing inappropriate. Nothing beyond professional instruction.
The conversations had been… carefully trimmed.
Arcee had seamlessly edited the visual data, using AI-simulated reconstruction with near-perfect fidelity. The energy training session had been digitally transplanted into the parking garage environment.
A flawless digital mise-en-scène.
Unless an AI with greater computational capacity than Arcee's analyzed it frame by frame, the footage was airtight.
As a bonus, Arcee had also fabricated security footage of Hughie stumbling into the bathroom at midnight, slipping, striking the back of his head, and knocking himself unconscious.
That explained why everyone had gathered in his room in the first place—when they found him, he'd apparently been passed out on the bathroom floor for hours.
Hughie stared at the projection.
Then slowly lowered his gaze.
"I'm sorry, Annie. Leon. I almost misunderstood you."
"I don't know what happened. The dream I had last night felt so real… like it was actually happening in front of me."
He rubbed the back of his head, where a faint ache still lingered.
"It's okay," Leon said earnestly.
"Men understand men."
"I get it, Hughie. I should've been more considerate of your feelings."
"Next time I train Starlight, I'll make sure to invite you."
He looked entirely sincere.
"No, no!" Hughie waved his hands frantically.
"Don't! Please don't! You two just focus on the training. I'd only be in the way—standing there with no powers like some third wheel."
"Don't invite me. Seriously. If anyone invites me, I'll be mad."
With that, he hurried off to shower. After spending half the night unconscious on a bathroom floor, he reeked faintly of stale water.
I'm awful, he thought bitterly.
They're sincere—and I doubted them.
While Hughie was in the shower, Starlight discreetly pulled Leon aside, avoiding the others.
"Leon… how did you do that? We were clearly—"
"Shh."
Seeing no one nearby, Leon slipped an arm around her waist and pressed a finger gently to her lips.
"Annie," he murmured, "I told you. I can do far more than you think."
"Mm—!"
…
After Hughie returned, Butcher gathered everyone.
"I've narrowed down Mindstorm's location," he announced. "This time, I'm only taking Hughie and Leon."
"Why?" Starlight demanded immediately. "I'm coming too."
"Oi, Annie," Hughie said quickly. "This one's different. Fewer people the better. Butcher's the heavy hitter, and I've got teleportation. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me—"
"Who said I was worried about you?"
She stepped back slightly when he tried to take her hand, then unconsciously drifted closer to Leon instead.
"I'm worried about Leon."
Hughie froze.
Ever since his misunderstanding, Starlight had been distant. He assumed she was still angry.
"Annie… I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"It's fine," Leon cut in smoothly, placing an arm around Starlight's shoulders—right in front of Hughie.
"I'll protect Hughie. Don't worry."
As he spoke, Leon subtly repeated a familiar, daring gesture—one reminiscent of Soldier Boy's casual, provocative touch in the original series.
Then he gave Starlight a slow, deliberate wink—one only the two of them would understand.
Her breath caught.
She immediately went silent.
PS : I've been consistently releasing chapters for many days now, and If you want to support my work and read the complete fic (soon all chapters will be added), you can check out
my P@treon. -> patreon.com/Sagamaster789
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789