QUANTUM~Billy Butcher

Ring Ring

Hughie nearly fell flat on his face as Quantum landed infront of him, "Where the fuck is Annie?" she questioned, not seeing her anywhere in sight "A-train had a heart attack, she just told me to run so I did." Jesus Christ she didn't expect that response, Athena hadn't seen A-train a lot since his injury and it appears he hadn't recovered fully, but a heart attack? she had a feeling there was more to the story. "Hold on tight Hugh" 

"Wha- Woah!" Hughie practically screamed as Quantum grabbed him and starting flying away, taking him straight back to MM, he was clinging onto her for dear life the whole five minutes it took to get there, she wasn't Homelander fast when it came to flying, but it did the job. Flying wasn't difficult, using the air around her and her own energy to push off the ground she was always fully stable while in the air. Marvin once again had a shocked look slapped across his face as Athena dropped down beside the car with Hughie looking like a scared kitten. "One Hughie, safe and sound." she joked, but MM didn't smile. "Why are you doing this? You're a Vought poster girl, why would you help us?."

"Because I'm a fuckin superhero." and with a wink Athena flew off into the night and back to her house, where she just knew, a very angry cat would be there waiting for her. Prince wasn't interested when his owner first walked through the door,  but sensing her emotional distress, he decided to push his feelings aside, and follow the tired hero upstairs, crawling onto his spot on the bed and waiting for her. The costume made a soft thud as it landed on the floor, she was a mess, but there was no energy left in her to even contemplate going for a shower, it could wait till the morning. There was one thing she could fix however, concentrating solely on her head, Athena willed her hair to fall off into a very stylish pixie cut. Prince meowed in approval, earning pets from his owner, "You always know what to say" she smiled before pulling out her phone and texting Annie, "You okay?" she couldn't put much more, Vought monitored everything and Athena had yet to add Annie to her burner phone, seconds later Annie replied "Yes x" and that was all she needed to know, she finished putting her pyjamas on and climbing into bed, thankful that the whole day was finally over. 

I wish I could say Athena was woken up by the glorious rays of sunshine beaming in through her window, or Prince pawing on her face, whining to be fed, but that wasn't what woke her up. A buzzing came from her bedside table, she wasn't quick to answer it at all, her body was in shambles from healing Frenchie last night, and the scar was sore. Turning her head she saw that it was late afternoon, 13:33pm the alarm clock read, "Thank god its a weekend" She muttered to herself before picking up her private phone, it was a number she didn't recognise or have saved, but something compelled her to answer it anyway. "Hello?" she said cautiously, "You're the last person I wanna be calling right now." the voice on the other end replied, which belonged to "Butcher?" Athena sat up quickly, she expected him to be dead. "Why are you calling me what's wrong?" 

"The boys are burnt I can't contact them I think they got taken-" He started rambling only to be cut off "Yeah I know, I was the fucker to bust them out of Vought's basement, well, me and Starlight." it was almost a flex for her to say that, she saved his team, and she felt so smug about it, even if it was the right thing to do. Butcher was stunned, she hadn't of expected this Supe to help his boys, but that only made him feel more comfertable about asking his question. "Listen, you gave me your dumb card, and I don't have any contacts, I need a favour, I need you to come pick me up." Normally Athena would've laughed at this sort of request off of a man such as himself, but he sounded in need, and as far as she was aware he had just survived a face off with Homelander. "Why me?" She asked "I could just turn you into Vought" A forced laugh came from the other end "We both know you like the look of me too much to let anything happen to me."

He had her there, she didn't really want Vought putting there hands on him, "Where are you?" there was a beat of silence before he responded "Fort Wayne.." She wanted to punch him through the phone, Fort Wayne was a ten hour drive away from Manhattan, at a push she could do it in four if she flew, but flying for eight hours altogether, half of it with a fully grown man in tow, wasn't going to be easy. "Text me your exact location-" a ping came from her other phone, it was a news alert with the headline 'Madelyn Stillwell Murdered' "-But please stay out of sight." And with that she hung up, It wasn't a coincidence that Butchers called her asking for help and Madelyn was dead. To get to him there was no way she was flying, public transport was out of the question, so her only hope was to bring her favourite toy out of storage.

Butcher hid near the bushes near the restaurant, clutching the only piece of paper in his hand that could possibly help him find Becca again, and as he waited six hours for that damn Supe to turn up, he contemplated why he even rang her in the first place, if you asked him with a gun to his head he wouldn't be able to tell you. After six hours of waiting a very expensive looking car pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, he wasn't expecting her for another four or so, but he wasn't complaining. Athena honked her horn for a second, looking around everywhere for Butcher, until she saw him emerge from some bushes and practically sprint to the car and dive through the door. "Hello handsome" Quantum smiled, putting the car back in gear "Fuckin hell, not very inconspicuous" he commented, barely getting enough time to put his seatbelt on but Athena was already driving off, pushing 80mp/h breaking a lot of traffic codes. "It's a Hennessy venom F5.  You wanted fast, I needed this to go fast, had to pull the baby out of storage" she tapped the dashboard lovingly, living so close to work she never really got chance to drive it.

"You're gonna get us bloody arrested." Billy groaned looking over at the speed displayed. "Well it's a good job I rang my office to let them know I had a family emergency and to alert all law enforcement along the route to Fort Wayne that I'd be coming through." There was no response he could give to that, the woman thought of everything, and she had done all of this, just to pick him up? This Supe had saved his men, rescued him, and not told a single soul or sold them out to Vought. 

There was silence for the first hour of the drive, both of them becoming silently acquainted in each others presence, but it seems both of them wanted to break that silence.

"You changed your hair."

"What the fuck is going on?"

Athena looked dumbfounded at him, all this shit, and he's paying attention to her hair? "I needed it out of my way, now tell me what the fuck happened, and why I'm picking you up ten hours away from where I last knew you were." From the corner of her eye she saw him pinch the bridge of his nose, clearly annoyed with her questions,  but she had a right to ask. "I don't have to answer to you." he snapped, taking Athena slightly off guard, this man had a hatred for Supes, that she gathered. But no way in hell was a man giving her attitude in her car.