(S2, EP:1) Diabolically Invincible

The Bloodbath

Somewhere far away, in a place where nothing should exist, a town stood tall and proud. It seemed normal at first glance. There were malls and restaurants, schools, hospitals, even football stadiums. However, one thing was missing, something important that all towns needed in order to thrive. There were no people.

Until, near the town square, a hidden platform rose out from the ground. Atop it was a mountain of supplies ranging from deadly weapons to neatly-wrapped packages of delicious food.

Twelve more platforms followed suit, appearing in unison around the Cornucopia on all sides. Each carried a pair of tributes. None of them knew where they were nor why they had been summoned. They had no recollection of this place. It was completely foreign to them, and yet, they somehow instinctively knew what to do. Every tribute braced themselves, ready for whatever awaited them.

The horn sounded. The games had begun.

Butcher was the first one to step off his platform. He strolled over to Homelander with a smug grin on his face.

"Well, well, well. If it ain't the star-spangled cu-"

Before he could finish that sentence, Homelander shot towards him like a bullet. Butcher threw his arms up defensively, but he knew there was no point. He readied himself for the impact that would likely result in his undoing.

However, something miraculous happened. Homelander paused midair. No, not paused... he was grabbed!

Monster Girl slammed Vought's superstar into the ground before picking him up and doing it over and over again.

Butcher and Hughie took this opportunity to escape undetected.

As soon as Monster Girl was done swinging him around like a rag doll, Homelander shot a laser beam straight into her eyes. She let out a howl of agony as she stumbled back, but he wasn't done yet. He rammed his fist into her chest, reaching around for a second, before tearing out her still-beating heart.

"MONSTER GIRL!" Robot cried from across the Cornucopia. He and several other Guardians watched on in horror as the vicious Supe murdered their friend.

Letting out an inhuman bellow, Robot fired every rocket and explosive he could at Homelander. Rex Splode joined in by throwing every spare coin he had, while Atom Eve put all her might behind one powerful energy blast.

This did nothing but enrage the so-called "hero." Homelander responded to the assault by cutting Robot clean in half with his laser eyes. Just as he was about to move on to the others, something hit him hard in the back of the head.

He turned around to see Solider Boy marching towards him, shield in hand. The two stared at each other for a moment.

"You're taking their side? You don't even know them! I'm your son! We could easily-"

"No," Soldier Boy interjected with a sternness that commanded attention.

"There is no 'we.' There's just me and a failure that crawled out of a test tube."

Homelander screamed in fury as he attempted to fry Soldier Boy alive with his lasers. This attempt was in vain, however, as the shield absorbed the brunt of the attack, leaving him completely unscathed.

Quickly realizing that he was outnumbered, Homelander reluctantly flew off.

While all this was happening, Frenchie and M.M. searched desperately for anything that could help them. The former mercenary managed to snatch a bag filled with strange chemicals and syringes. He began inspecting the contents to figure out what exactly they were, but M.M. urged him to hurry up. Together, they ran away from the chaos.

War Woman and Queen Maeve both grabbed hold of the same duffel bag. They glared at each other for a moment, neither one letting go.

Then, Maeve quietly muttered, "To hell with it," and ran off, not ready to start conflict just yet.

Everyone else ran away.