FORGERY . . . THE BOYS ! [1]

epilogue.

Billy Butcher stands on Grace Mallory's porch with another Super kid by his side.

She will turn him away.

He did not know where else to go.

He is dying, and did not know where else to go.

Anastasia Anderson is silent at his side. She, admittedly, has not been a bad roommate. At least, in his eyes. She has been reserved and compliant. She does not get squeamish when he's hurling or freak out when he passes out, or when he's shooting Temp-V to try and counteract the effects, or that time he tried Compound V to reverse it all.

She's, if anything, an extremely quiet observer.

Plus, she helps him clean up his messes. So automatically, Anastasia was a great companion to have at his side.

He would never claim to be her caretaker. In normal instances, he would even say he was glad to be rid of her. And he was. But he was sad to see her go for those reasons alone.

Grace would never forgive him for this. Among many other things, but especially for this one.

Wherever Rose Quartz was hauled off to, she would never forgive him, either.

It was a good thing that he was not going to live long enough to see those grudges fester into a need for vengeance.

Vengeance was becoming tiring to him, too. It still festered in him like that tumor in his brain but was wearing on his body. Everything was wearing on his body.

Anastasia was looking up at him.

She was so small. It was almost comical that she was probably the one thing that could kill Homelander with Soldier Boy missing and Rose Quartz missing and everyone else fucking missing.

"Where are you heading?" She asks, her voice soft and curious, always so curious.

He tilts his head. "Ah," he hums, debating on a fabrication or the truth. They've had a civil allyship, haven't they? It's best to settle for the truth. "Home, I reckon."

"Why do you leave me here?" There is so much accusation and none at all at the same time in her small, faintly Russian accented voice.

Billy chews on the inside of his cheek. "Because who will be around to care for you when I die, aye?"

She says nothing else. Only faces forward again and waits as Billy knocks on the door.

He hears the locks click, click, click, and the door begins to crack, and his plan has already been made up in his head. Grace will see Anastasia first. She will bring her into the house. By the time she starts to reprimand Billy, he will be halfway to the car.

Explanations are nought anyways; he does not owe one to her. Or to Anastasia.

Grace sees Anastasia, though, in the crack of the doorway, and blinks in surprise. "What are you doing here, sweetheart? How did you–"

She pulls the door open the rest of the way, and as Billy is turning on his heel, he hears, "Billy."

In the doorway is Grace, arms crossed firmly over her chest.

"What are you doing?" She sounds exhausted. Truthfully, she didn't know exhausted. Not like Billy did right now, with his brain half gone and the other half forced to chug along full speed for the rest of it.

Billy threw his hands up in a grand gesture. "Bringing you another Super to watch after for me, what's it look like?" He plays for a charismatic grin but it falls flat; he can't bring any sort of joy to himself, even fabricated.

"Soldier Boy and Rose Quartz left her with you before they disappeared," Grace reprimands, like he knew she would, "brought her to you and made you promise–"

"I can't bloody do it anymore, alright?" It was true. She couldn't know why fully, but it was. "All of these Supe kids, dropped in my lap. It is not the job that I signed up for. Not part of the description."

Grace stares at him long and hard. She can be angry at him, has been for so, so long, but she has always been able to read him.

She can tell the half truths from his full truths.

He waves his hand toward the house. Anastasia is somewhere inside already. Turns out that even if he wanted to, he would not get a chance for an explanation or a goodbye. "Just make sure Homelander doesn't get his hands on this one."

"I–"

"Do not say that you won't." He fixes her with a firm stare. He's leaning heavier on the cane he limped over with, even though he nearly didn't bring it. "Do not say anything. Just don't let it happen."

Grace's mouth pinches in an irritated thin line. She nods once, though, which is enough for Billy.

"If Homelander even gets wind that he's got a sister out here, you know what he'll do."

Grace nods again. "She will be safe under my care."

"And you better damn well make sure of it," Billy turns on his heel, this time not stopping, calling over his shoulder on the way back to his car, "because if you don't, her mother will come back from wherever she is and fry my nutsack off."