𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘰𝘺, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙮𝙨

𝙩𝙚𝙣

"DID I EVER TELL YOU ABOUT MY RECURRING DREAM?" MALLORY WAS BLUNT WITH HER CONVERSATION STARTERS, GLANCING BACK AT BILLY. They both stood outside of the memorial made for the apartment building, Billy with his hood up. "I'm on stage alone, at Carnegie Hall. The audience is made up of every poor bastard who got killed by the superheroes." She explained, sighing.

"What are they doing?" Billy asked, Mallory shaking her head. "Nothing. They're all just watching me. Waiting for me to do something." She answered, Billy watching her. "We hit a dead end on Raynor. I'm sorry." He spoke up, Mallory huffing to herself. "Christ, I don't want to hear sorry. Sorry's not an option. We can't have anonymous skull-exploding assassins walking around." She let out, brows furrowed.

"What if they hit the speaker next? Or the president?" She asked, Billy glancing down at the ground. Grabbing a file from her bag, she held it out, Billy taking it quickly. Opening it with care, he pulled out a laminated copy of a poster, containing- "Liberty. You mentioned her before." He spoke, looking at the poster. "Second-tier Supe, active in the '70s. She was all over Susan's private server. Get Marvin to talk to this Liberty." She explained, pointing underneath the file.

"Address on the back. North Carolina." She ordered, Billy nodding at the woman. "All right, we'll see what we can find." Billy started to leave- "Wait." He turned back, Mallory holding a smaller envelope. "I found Becca. Or at least, our best guess where she is. Vought facility, armed to the teeth. Won't be easy." She explained quietly, Billy glancing down at the envelope.

"We had a deal. I didn't come through-" "Jesus, Butcher, I'm just giving it to you. It's my fault you stopped searching for her." He was interrupted by Mallory, the woman gulping to herself. "I put a tarfet on Homelander's back and pointed you right at him. I didn't know Becca was still-" She paused herself. "It'd be good to have one less person in that audience staring at me." She smiled lightly, Billy taking the envelope from her before leaving her alone.

∞

"STORMING AN OFF-THE-BOOKS VOUGHT COMPOUND ALONE?" M.M. ASKED, WATCHING BILLY PUT HIS JACKET ON. "Butcher, how is it possible that you're dumber than you look?" He asked, Billy cocking a gun. "Mate, it's Becca." He defended, M.M. nodding. "No shit. But win or lose, you ain't coming back." M.M. spoke, Billy nodding. "Course I am. Look, it's not like Vought's gonna let us settle down in Orlando. We got to get gone and stay gone." Billy hummed out, M.M. shrugging.

"What about us, hm? We're the Spice Girls, right?" M.M. met eyes with Billy, the man stepping forward. "You're in charge now. Mazel tov." The man joked, smiling as he moved past M.M. "Motherfucker, I don't want to be in charge. Matter of fact, I don't even want to be here." The man followed Billy, hand raised. "I gave up my family for this. For you. When do I get them back?" He asked, Billy nodding.

"You find this Liberty slag. See what you can rumble. You jump through a few hoops for the colonel, and she'll help you the same way she helped me." Billy shrugged, M.M. having his brows furrowed. "She always liked you more, anyway-" "What about Frenchie?" M.M. interrupted. "He's been high as a kite for days. He won't even notice I'm gone." Billy nodded, M.M. doing the same.

"Okay... and Sammy? What about him?" M.M. shrugged, Billy huffing. "I don't know, take him with you, get him some fresh air-" "He's gonna notice you're gone." M.M. spoke up, Billy's jaw tensing. "That kid doesn't like me anymore." He shrugged, M.M. rolling his eyes quickly. "He caught an anchor for you. I don't think he hates you." Billy waved off the sentences, nodding. "Bob's your uncle. He's been drugging it up with Frenchie, they have each other."