QUANTUM~Billy Butcher

Mr Butcher

Athena slammed on the breaks, sending Billy flying forward, just narrowly missing slamming his head on the dashboard. "The hell was that for?" He yelled, caught off guard by the sudden stop, glaring at the woman who glared straight back. "I know you think Supes are the scum of the earth, but were you not someone who figured it out that it is not our fault. We were newborns. Do you think we had a say!" Butcher scoffed at her words, "Still fucking Supes though ain't ya."

This was unbelievable, Athena unlocked the door, the 'click' making Butcher turn his head to look, then look back.  "If you hate Supes so much, there's the door." She was being completely serious, looking straight ahead as she let him make his decision, and after a few seconds of waiting she didn't hear the door open, that's when she started driving again. "Good choice." She commented sarcastically, turning the radio on as an attempt to drown out the awkward air that was now between them. Athena didn't regret it, he needed to be told. Another hour passed before the pair spoke again, after much deliberation Billy initiated another conversation, he reached over and turned the radio down slightly, gaining Athenas attention. "Listen, I'm sorry about before-" the woman scoffed at his words but quickly tried to disguise it as a cough "-but, I went to Stillwells gaff to blow the bitch up, but Homelander was there...he killed her, not me"

She couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth, Homelander, the man who had some weird infatuation with Madelyn, killed her. "Jesus, I knew he had a few screws loose but that is fucked up. But the news said that there was an explosion, if he killed her and you still set the C4 off, how are you alive?" it made no sense, Butcher wasn't super-abled, he would've been blown to pieces, unless..."Homelander pulled me out of there, I passed out, woke up in some hallmark movie type neighbourhood where I saw-" this time he cut himself off, his breathe hitching in his throat as he tried to muster the words to explain something that he himself hadn't completely wrapped his head around. "I saw my wife-well my presume dead/missing wife of eight years, with a son, Homelander's son." Athena could not believe what she was hearing, first she felt her chest fill with guilt, as he was married and she had not held back with her flirting, but then again, she had been missing for nearly a decade, so it wasn't exactly life she was intentionally trying to split up a marriage "He raped her no question about that, then what I'm guessing is Vought stashed her and that kid."

"That bastard." Billy watched as Athena seethed, her hands gripping the steering wheel so hard that there was a squeak as the wheel dented. "Easy Love" he reached over and grabbed her hands, taking it off the wheel, unintentionally holding the woman's hand as she drove, her hands were soft, a direct contrast to his own, which were course and rough. The two realised their position and let go quickly, both Athenas hands now back on the wheel "So, where am I dropping you off?" Butcher had no idea, he had no plan, the only thing he could think of to do now was lie low, solo, and try and gather intel about Becca whereabouts, going off of whatever scribbles he made when he woke up. Athena took his silence as his answer "You can crash at my place?" She offers, it was stupid thing to do, but he had no where to go, he was a wanted man. Butcher thought for a few moments, Athena wasn't exactly in the Seven meaning the risk of Homelander finding him was a low one, and it was pretty fucking  diabolical if he started hiding right under Voughts nose. "Fuck it" he agreed with a smirk that reflected those words"I've been through worse." a smile crept its way onto her face, something about his smirk was contagious. "Well we've got around four more hours to go, so why don't you get some shut eye, you look like you need it" She nodded to he bags under his eyes and overall fatigued look. "Oh ha ha" Butcher gave a sarcastic laugh before moving his seat back and shuffling down to get more comfortable.

The soft snoring from Butcher came not even five minutes after he settled down, it was almost relaxing as Athena drove the winding roads across the country, it was serene, peaceful, for a few hours that is. It almost seemed that Starlight had sensed when her sister had entered the Manhattan area and called her, the ring tone came through the bluetooth of the car, waking Butcher up, he shuddered awake, being in an initial state of shock, forgetting where he was until he turned to look at Athena and remembered. She answered the phone and Annies voice came from the other end, "Hi Sis-I mean-Athena, I erm just wanted to check in because you didn't come into work today." Athena winced, Butcher definitely heard that. "I'm fine, I did call in saying I was taking a day off." 

"Well, some news, A-train is in hospital, it was a heart attack, and I also spoke to Ashley about you potentially changing jobs and she said, that you should probably speak to Mr Edgar about it, but she's cool with it." Fuck, she really didn't want to have to speak to Stan about, well about anything in general, but to be closer to Annie she would.  "I'll sort it all out when I'm back in work tomorrow okay hunny?" Annie 'Okay'd and the pair ended the phone call with a sweet goodbye. Athena could feel Butchers eyes on her, he had caught onto the sister thing, he wasn't stupid. "Fine, she's my sister, we didn't find out until recently." she admitted frustrated. Billy put his hands up in surrender, "Take it easy Darlin, I don't need to know your family shite." that's true, he didn't, but he had told her a lot, she could tell he wasn't one to open up, but here he was, telling her about his wife and agreeing to stay at her home as a refuge. 

"Well here we are." Butcher looked out the window to what had to be the poshest house he had ever seen, it was a gorgeous town house, right at the end of the block where the street turned into a park with large fields and trees. "I mean this is one place to hide." He shrugged, climbing out of the car, making sure his head was buried in his collar as Athena guided him to the door and inside.