𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗡𝗔 | the boys 3

ix. 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇

~𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲? 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲, 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀~

'Is Butcher sick?' Ryan whispered in Rowan's ear as they watched the man re-enter the living room where the others were waiting, Mallory pacing out the anxiety that her mistakes had brought as they were finally unearthed.

'Just fragile,' snickered Rowan. 'Can you tell just like that?'

'His blood smells all funny. Actually, it smells more like yours.'

Her face darkened. 'What do you mean?'

'His heart's going really fast, too. I used to think everyone's blood smells different but I think it's just the different types.'

'No...' Rowan whimpered as a sick feeling stirred within her.

IT'LL ALL BE OVER SOON, PRINCESS.

THIS WON'T HURT FOR MUCH LONGER.

'What is it?' Ryan was stood against the wall in the hallway.

'Who else's blood smells like mine?'

'Uh... I don't know exactly-'

'Ryan, I cannot stress how important this is to me.'

He wracked his memory. 'Uh... Kimiko, I guess.'

'What about your Dad?' she guessed uneasily.

Amazement came over Ryan, 'How did you know that?'

Rowan didn't answer - she stormed into the main gathering quarters and pointed an accusatory finger at Grace. Her voice wavered as she spoke, 'I need to speak with you.'

'Can it wait until after story time?' M.M. suggested. It had been made established since Mallory began talking that his respect has not only run dry for her, but that he'd become less and less amused by the minute.

Awkwardly, she sighed, 'Yes.'

Mallory glared at her a bit before picking back up on the tale. 'To the surprise of no one, Swatto went for another joy flight, giving away our position. Even better, the Sandanistas brought Russian special forces with them. Though, that didn't matter much to the supes. Crimson Countess was so dumb she couldn't tell our side from theirs – ended up obliterating half a dozen of my men. Black Noir even fought a few without his mask on.'

'What was he like?'

'Thoroughly underwhelming. He got badly burned in the fight, I suspect that's why he wears it now.'

'Boring.'

'Thank you, Fields. Would you like me to resume?'

'What? Oh, yeah. Go ahead, continue your betrayal.'

'If I remember correctly, Swatto flew too high into the air, got torn apart by a missile in the end. Gunpowder got remarkably trigger happy with one of our machine guns, ended up blowing up the ammunitions camp. Countess told me the Russians had some kind of gun that killed Soldier Boy, but I never saw it with my own eyes. One of their helicopters took his body back.' Grace stared out of the window at nothing in particular. 'I lost 116 men and Vought got full immunity. That was the day I decided to make them pay.'

'Well, ain't that a wonderful story? Tell me, Grace, where did the Ivans take this supe gun?'

'The trail went cold behind the iron curtain. It's the truth. My reach only goes so far.'