Butterflies Volume II

Chapter 19

Violet sat in the dull conference room, flashing cameras capturing her paled expression as she stood beside Homelander. She was still in her clothes from that day, after being taken to makeup to hide her cuts and bruises her brother gave to her. She tried to be in the moment but she had an invisible grip on her neck, tightening as she stared at camera after camera. What did Billy think watching her there? He'd be so confused, and she could do nothing. Permanently shaking, she squeezed her hands at her sides as Homelander introduced her, explaining the story he constructed.

It was an awful plan, infiltrating Vought whilst being a pretty bird in Homelander's cage. So many cameras, she'd never escape this new lens the world had on her. She had a story they'd never know, it had all been fed to them and they'd believe it because they trusted the news. To bite her tongue as Homelander spoke of her liberation, like she was Billy's prisoner. She was a prisoner to the idea of freedom, and Billy was her inmate with the idea of escape, but now she'd said the wrong thing and had been fed to the guards. All she could hope was that the people could see through her plain eyes and to the truth.

They were deflecting what Annie had said on her Instagram only a few hours prior. She was Vought's tool to shuffle past what Annie had brought to the light. Another tool. Annie had strength that inspired her, and she hoped that she could see through the whole facade. Annie wasn't afraid of the truth and wasn't afraid to reap the consequences. And for that she stood next to Homelander thinking about how he was to feel when she betrayed his trust in her. If she could find what truly could kill him, then they have the upper hand for good. As she turned her head to him, questions bursting from every reporter in the room, she plastered the fakest smile she could muster.

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To say he was angry was an understatement. It had been five days, and in all that time not even a call, not even a cryptic text to let him know she was okay. Billy was worried, that was another understatement. All he knew to do was read every single news article about her, scouring every social media desperately just to see what they were doing to her. She was painted as a victim, but not to Vought, to him, and the guilt seeped in like she hadn't helped him slowly squash it.

Across the five days he'd become a hermit to his feelings all over again, unable to speak to Hughie when he brought up her name. Homelander wanted her like he wanted Ryan, and in all his attempts to keep them away, he hadn't expected them to walk right to him. At least that was the fear, that somehow she willingly went to him, that she wanted to. That in all the times he stood beside her watching and feeling her fear radiate off of her, that it was a myth. He kept his sunglasses on to hide the fog as it graced his eyes, hiding his speculation as Soldier Boy made his own comments.

As he entered The Legends second home which had become their hiding zone, he could only see him and Hughie. The mansion was the same as the apartment, but just a lot easier to hide from the rest of New York. And five days knowing nothing on what to do was getting to them.

"Oh fuck me. Is he still at it?" Billy questioned when he saw only Legend and Hughie.

Hughie reluctantly nodded and the three of them descended into the basement to find Soldier Boy and two older women Billy assumed were just the cleaners. The two women were naked but Soldier Boy kept his flowery bathrobe. His eyes were already tainted enough that it wasn't enough to even make him cringe.

"Got a minute?"

"Oh good. Lube? Huh?" Soldier Boy requested, "come on, I can't go in raw."

Hughie stared at the rug, "please don't make eye contact-"

"Hughie listen, these women they're like fine wine," he continued to touch himself, "okay, the older they get, the more delicious, but the drier."

The Legend burst through them, "Mary, Lucille, come on chop chop. Break times over. That shag's not gonna vacuum itself."