𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄'𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐊𝐄 // 𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐎𝐘

CHAPTER 10, new world, new rules

Of course, a confrontation followed this. MM was freaked out, scolding Butcher for being reckless, the word 'fuck' flying around so many times that Vi couldn't even count. She stood next to Hughie, who was smiling down at his cast that he got for his broken arm. The thing was, it wasn't broken anymore.

"So you're a supe now?" Vi quietly asks, her hands placed on a nearby table palm-down, leaning backwards. She even thought about sitting up there, but this was still a lab. Contrary to MM, she wasn't mad at Hughie and Butcher. Okay, maybe a bit at Butcher, but not at Hughie. Yes, she was rude with him at times, that she had to admit, but isn't she the same with everybody else?

After a few hums and a moment of silence, the boy answers.

"Looks like it. But only for 24 hours if I'm right. So no big deal," he sighs joyfully. He didn't understand his power, and that was the problem. Vi was alright with Hughie being a supe for more than 24 hours, but only if he is able to control his abilities.

"You seemed surprised when you took my move. You never killed anyone with your bare hands, did you?" She said as sympathetically as possible. If Butcher is not going to have the superpower version of 'The Talk' with Hughie, then likely nobody else will. So, she took it upon herself.

Hughie glances down at his hand, some stains of blood still visible on it even though he wiped his hands so aggressively into his jumpsuit some minutes before.

"It felt so... weird. I mean, my hand was literally in his chest, I could feel his blood and organs on my hands, it creeps me out and disgusts me, I didn't plan on doing it, my body just... well, you know. But I did it, and helped MM and you with it, so, I'd say it was worth it," he replies.

So he really didn't know what he was doing.

"Therefore you're saying you don't have control over it," she states, looking Hughie straight in the eye.

"I... I don't think so. But it's going to wear off tomorrow, and I won't use it anymore, I swear," he rambles, talking incessantly.

"Still, you need to know how to use your powers, at least the basics. If you go and use it unprepared, it can cause more damage than good. I've seen it with my own eyes. I was there since the first supe, and it's just going all off the rails nowadays. Supes are getting too much creativity and free time on their hands, and they don't usually leave their powers out of it."

Hughie's brows furrow for a second, like he has a question but is just too afraid to ask it. He shuts his eyes tightly, letting a chuckle escape his lips.

"I don't mean this in a bad way, but how uh, old are you exactly? I mean, you've been here since the first superhero?"

"Some supes just don't age. Liberty, or now Stormfront, Soldier Boy, and then there's me. Nowadays, it's less common, that's why you don't really hear about non-aging superheroes. Hell, I'd bet Noir is too, that has to be the only way he's still kicking and is alive and well. Maybe not well, but who am I to judge?" She exhales, a smile creeping its way onto her face.

Hughie stands still for a few seconds as if he's stunned, sucking up all the information. Back at the van, she said she keeps up with the news, and guessing by the fact that she was aware of the Liberty-Stormfront situation, she wasn't lying. The Ghost, even if Butcher didn't plan on it, could be a serious source of intel from the supes, with so many years of insight and experience.

"Doesn't it get... y'know, boring after a while? Living for so long?" He manages to ask.

Vi didn't answer right then and there. She was trying to find the right words, but with MM and Butcher's quarrel still ongoing in the background, it wasn't an easy task.

"After a while, you will feel miserable. Knowing you can't die. You know the feeling when you get a surprise scare, and as a reaction you flinch? It's a defense mechanism when you feel threatened, even if you're not aware of it. I don't do that. Instead, I change density. The attack goes through me. Or I just refuse to let go of my life, hoping for something, anything."

This was the best way to describe it. Sometimes, she was glad that she got to live for so long. At times, she wished that it would have been her in Nicaragua instead of Ben.

"I want to leave the world better. For so long, I thought that was what I was doing. But now, I'm afraid that I have no purpose here. They've got Homelander and the other Vought marionettes.

"So you're not one of the bad supes?" Hughie asks hopefully.

"No supe is good. We all killed people, even if we managed to save some. You go to a fight, you have to kill enemies there. For your side, that might be good, but those soldiers you just killed, they had a family too, a life. On their side, you're just a cold-blooded murderer. It all just depends on whose side you're on."

Hughie slowly, very slowly nods at what she was saying. In a way, he understood. He never killed anybody up until he detonated Translucent to shreds. At that point, it was the worst that could happen, he thought. Then Annie told him that Translucent had a son. And this is exactly what Vi was talking about right now. A-Train might have killed Robin, but he still cared for his brother and family. These are things he wouldn't know from just the surface of things. He got hold of all this information by descending into the rabbit hole, and Butcher was the rabbit that dragged him down in the first place.

"I can tell by that look on your face that to some extent, you understand what I'm saying. Back in World War 2, there was a man I saved, before I got the V. He later on had a son. I got to meet him, the boy ended up working for the CIA. Then they deployed him in the War on Terror. Needless to say he died somewhere in Panjshir Valley. I was mad at whoever killed him, but then again, I did the same. I also killed people, their relatives probably viewed me in a similar way I view whoever got to him," she recalls. After so many years, she was still in contact with the one-legged man, up until his death in the 80s. "But enough yapping, let's see what the others are up to!"

Hughie got jumpscared by the sudden mood change. One moment she's talking about the War on Terror, the next she's patting his shoulder with a smile.