"Wasn't that you guys? There are already Redditors calling for you to step up and claim credit." Ivan pulled out the leftover Compound V from last time while answering in a completely calm voice.
"What the fuck? That shit had nothing to do with us. We think Vought did it."
Hughie on the other end sounded speechless. Why did every black pot end up on their heads?
He felt like a turtle carrying a black pot on its back, and the number of pots kept growing. At least the leader of the criminal group was Butcher.
The guy's fame was as low as his status in the group: completely forgettable.
"Just kidding. Don't take it to heart."
"Mate, that joke isn't funny at all. And do you actually know anything about the Church of the Collective?" If Butcher hadn't been completely stumped about why Vought would wipe out the Church, he never would have thought of contacting this mysterious man.
Butcher could vaguely sense there was some connection between the Church of the Collective and Vought, but he knew none of the details.
Ivan hesitated for a second, then decided the Fantasy Points were worth it. "The Church of the Collective has a long history. Stormfront used to be one of its members. That's all I can tell you. As for more information, dig it up yourselves. One last reminder: look further ahead. Homelander is not an invincible existence."
"Homelander isn't invincible? What does that mean? Is there a supe stronger than him? Hello? Hello?" Hughie looked down and realized the call had been cut. When he dialed back, he only got the mechanical voice saying no one was answering.
In the basement Butcher looked at Hughie.
"Did he tell you anything about the Church of the Collective?" Truthfully he hadn't expected Ivan to reveal much. The guy was pure mystery, coming and going without a trace.
Butcher had used every channel he had and still couldn't dig up a single scrap of information. The mysterious man was like a ghost in this world: hard to see and harder to touch.
Hughie put the phone down, face full of shock. "He said the Church of the Collective has a long history, and Stormfront, one of Vought's current top seven, used to be a member."
"Stormfront? Liberty?"
Butcher frowned in thought. "So maybe the Church of cunts had blackmail material on Stormfront, and that's why she attacked them herself, trying to bury the dirt for good? That would explain why the Church got erased by Vought."
He pressed his lips together, excitement lighting up his eyes.
"In other words, if we find that blackmail on Stormfront, we can finally destroy her completely."
"With Vought's PR machine, trying to take Stormfront down with dirt is way too hard. We've failed a few times already. No one can say this time will be different."
Frenchie shook his head and poured cold water on the idea.
"No, no, no. This time is completely different. I bet the dirt is something unexpectedly important, otherwise Stormfront wouldn't have handled it personally." Butcher rejected Frenchie's view.
In reality the whole thing had nothing to do with Stormfront, but under Ivan's guidance Butcher's crew had, as expected, gone down the wrong path. Still, they had stumbled onto the key point by accident.
"Wake up. Did you get high and fry your brain?" Seeing Hughie still wearing that stunned expression, Butcher couldn't help mocking him.
Hughie snapped out of it, swallowed hard, and said in disbelief, "The mysterious man also said we should look further ahead. Homelander is not an invincible existence."
"What!"
That piece of news genuinely shocked everyone present, including Starlight who had only recently joined the team. Her mouth opened slightly, as if she could fit half an egg inside.
Their whole lives they had been told Homelander was the strongest superhero, and Homelander's actual performance had always proved it. Butcher and the others had never doubted that.
But now they were suddenly told Homelander wasn't the strongest supe. Every single one of them froze. What the hell? Was there actually a supe stronger than Homelander?
Butcher finally managed to digest the bombshell of a statement.
"Did he tell you anything else? Like who that guy is? Where he is right now?"
It wasn't that Ivan was deliberately speaking in riddles. The truth was even he didn't know where Soldier Boy was. Rather than waste time searching for the man himself, it was better to hand the dirty work over to Butcher and his crew.
"No. That's all he said, then he hung up. When I called back no one answered. Looks like he wants us to figure it out ourselves." Hughie frowned as well.
"What does he mean by 'look further ahead'?" Hughie asked, still confused.
The atmosphere in the basement dropped into silence.
Everyone racked their brains, analyzing every single word Ivan had spoken.
"You guys remember the supe team Vought had before they created The Seven?" Butcher's eyes suddenly lit up. He quickly borrowed Mother's Milk's computer and started searching.
A few light keystrokes later he actually found a lead.
"Payback. That was Vought's first superhero team. Unfortunately I can't dig up anything more useful. All I know is they also went by another name, the Blood-for-Blood Squad. After The Seven rose they lost popularity fast and got abandoned by Vought. Their leader, Soldier Boy, died in a war."
Butcher's group immediately hit a wall.
From the online descriptions of Payback's members, none of them looked capable of beating Homelander.
"The way I see it, the mysterious man is just bullshitting us. If that guy was really stronger than Homelander he wouldn't still be completely unknown." Frenchie shrugged. Like Butcher, he couldn't trust a stranger. In his view Butcher was just letting the hunger for revenge cloud his judgment.
"What if he's from before this century?"
Butcher straightened his back and gave Frenchie a meaningful look.
"If this person really exists and is that powerful, then there's only one possibility: Soldier Boy's cause of death is a lie. To check whether my theory is right, I need help from two people."
"Who?" Hughie asked at once, curiosity written all over his face.
"Lamplighter and Queen Maeve. Heeh~ They're closest to the center of Vought. They should be able to dig up detailed information on Soldier Boy without much trouble. If his cause of death really is suspicious, then next we turn our attention to his teammates."
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69