"You three, open the cage before you leave."
Ivan didn't wait for a reply. A transparent tendril shot out from his palm, stabbed straight into Kimiko's right shoulder, and sucked out exactly one hundred milliliters of blood. A few seconds later, the condition was met.
"Grr!" Kimiko snarled in pain, dropping to all fours like a wounded wildcat and baring her teeth at him.
Ivan had what he wanted. Without another word, he turned and walked out under the stunned stares of Hughie, Frenchie, and MM.
The second he disappeared down the corridor, the heavy silence in the dungeon broke.
"We should still grab the Compound V first, then open the cage on our way out," Hughie said.
But Frenchie had already unlocked the cage.
The instant the door swung open, Kimiko exploded out like a feral animal and lunged at MM. He threw his arm up on instinct. Her claws ripped through his sleeve with a wet tearing sound, carving three deep gashes into his forearm. Blood sprayed.
Then she lost interest in him and bolted toward the piles of fresh meat on the floor, tearing into the corpses like a starving beast.
"Fuck… I think I just let a monster loose," Frenchie muttered.
When Kimiko suddenly turned her hungry gaze toward them, all three men scrambled backward into the now-empty cage.
MM slammed the door shut and held it with everything he had. Kimiko slammed against the bars a few times, then gave up and sprinted toward the exit.
Only after she was gone did they finally breathe again.
"No Compound V, but we let some unknown supe run free. Goddamn, that girl's nails are sharp as razors," MM growled through clenched teeth. He peeled away the torn fabric stuck to his wounds, then ripped a clean strip from his other sleeve and wrapped his arm tight.
"At least they're not too deep. They'll heal in a few days."
Once he was patched up, the three of them searched Kimiko's room. Frenchie quickly found a bus ticket under her pillow. One-way from Florida to New York. Name on it: Marie.
At the same time, MM hit paydirt. He pulled a used syringe out of a shipping package. Blue residue still clung to the inside.
"Pretty sure this is Compound V," he said, holding it up.
"I think I missed the part where terrorists blew this place up," Butcher said as he finally stepped into the dungeon, staring at the piles of shredded meat scattered across the floor.
"Was this the girl?"
Hughie, standing by the doorway, shook his head. "No. That was the guy who killed Translucent."
"How the fuck does he know what we're doing?" The more Butcher learned about Ivan, the less he understood. The Frenchman was wrapped in fog. "Never mind. Not important right now."
Butcher walked into the room. MM handed him the syringe they'd found.
Butcher held it up to the light, studying the glowing blue residue. "Compound V. So A-Train was delivering it here. These bastards were shooting the girl full of it."
"Before they got turned into hamburger," MM added, still pressing on his bandaged arm.
"But why?" Hughie asked. "Is this Vought's side hustle or what?"
"We didn't find anything that directly ties this to Vought," Frenchie said. "Can't pin the human experiments on them yet."
"Let's get the hell out of here," Butcher ordered. "Cops could show up any minute, and I don't feel like explaining a room full of minced meat."
The Boys grabbed the shipping label from the Compound V package and left the dungeon fast.
Once they were clear, MM used one of his contacts to trace the package. It came from "Samaria's Embrace," one of Vought's annual supe charity events.
Back in their safe house, Butcher scowled at the label. "The guy running those charity shows is Ezekiel. That rubbery, Bible-thumping fuck. This has his fingerprints all over it. We need to find the girl before Vought and Homelander do."
...
"Hi, Mr. Greevs. Good afternoon."
Ivan had just reached his office door when Doppelganger came walking down the hallway toward him.
"Hmm.. Good afternoon," Ivan replied with a polite smile, shaking the man's hand.
"Been feeling a lot of pressure lately. My heart keeps acting up. Doctor says I just need some rest."
"You should take care of yourself," Ivan replied, pulling his hand back with a friendly smile. "But like the doctor said, it's temporary. You'll be fine soon."
"Thanks." After talking in code words, Doppelganger let out a visible breath of relief and quickly walked away.
Back in his office, Ivan dropped into his chair and placed the fresh USB drive on the desk. He ran a quick check to make sure it was clean, then slipped it into his pocket.
...
At the same time, Madeline took a call. A plane flying from Paris to Chicago had been hijacked over international waters. NORAD wanted Vought to send supes.
She immediately pulled Queen Maeve and Homelander into the Seven's briefing room. The massive screen on the wall showed real-time flight tracking.
"This is perfect," Madeline said, unable to hide her excitement as she looked at Homelander. "You're not allowed to operate on foreign soil, but this plane is over international waters. If you intercept it, nobody can complain."
"Bring those passengers home safe and no congressman will dare vote against our military bill."
If they pulled this off clean, Madeline was confident she could ram her defense integration bill through Congress.
After Homelander left, she called Ivan and Ashley in and told them to prep the PR machine. The second the rescue succeeded, they needed to flood every platform with it.
"Focus everything on this. No mistakes allowed," she ordered.
"On it," Ashley said, already rushing out.
"You have something to say?" Madeline asked when Ivan stayed seated.
"I'm just thinking we should have a backup plan. In case something goes wrong, we—"
"He's Homelander. There is no 'something goes wrong.' Okay?" Madeline cut him off, clearly annoyed. "Forget it. Let Ashley handle this one. Take some time off. I'll call you when I need you."
___
[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69