Chapter Text
"What do you mean we're taking A-Train back!?," Stormfront demanded.
"Exactly what I said," Edgar replied, "I know you've been pushing for Blue Hawk to join the team, but his recent exposure for his racist hate crimes will only alienate a great number of people, and not just those of color."
He pointed to himself when he said this, reminding Stormfront that she was talking to a black man.
"You do remember A-Train killed someone while on a drug binge," Stormfront pointed out.
"And the court gave me community service as a sentence since I pled guilty," A-Train retorted, "After which I checked into an official Hero Association office to get an accredited hero license to fulfill that community service. I figure a lifetime worth of saving people might not make up for Robin's death, but it'd be a start."
"Both her family and boyfriend agreed to it," Edgar added, "In fact it was their idea. Plus, having a more multinational group will add to an 'American Dream Team', which is ultimately more marketable in the long-term."
Stormfront turned to Homelander, hoping to get his approval, only for him to shrug.
"A-Train's just more proven as a hero. Hate to say it, but nobody likes Blue Hawk."
Stormfront stormed off, muttering to herself in German.
"Don't let the door hit you on the way out," Soldier Boy quipped.
He then turned to his son.
"Ruin his career, huh?"
"Guess I underestimated the American people," Homelander admitted, "Welcome back, Reggie."
A-Train smirked, giving a knowing look to Queen Maeve, who winked in response. Things were going well for their planned reform of The Seven.
Stormfront got on her smartphone.
"I'm heading for Berlin. We need to stage a major heroic intervention. I need the cred to move up in The Seven."
'The Insurgency is ready to help,' came a voice from the other end, 'Just like we did your grandmother, the previous Stormfront.'
"TNT! DETONATE!"
The TNT Twins tried using their powers as The Boys and Midorang interrupted their Herogasm, only for nothing but sparks to appear, causing Midorang to facepalm.
"I warned you that we were out of practice," Tommy said.
Nearby, The Female was easily knocking out a number of fake heroes, including one with an extremely large member.
"What was this one called?," she wondered.
Frenchie groaned in annoyance.
"He calls himself... Love Sausage..."
Female looked disgusted as she turned to Tommy and Tessa for an explanation.
"He's a regular here," Tessa said sheepishly.
Butcher sighed in annoyance.
"Hughie, bag 'em."
"Right," Hughie said.
He walked up to the twins, grabbed them, then teleported to the telekill police van to throw them inside.
"I just a report from Bridgette's MTF team," Midorang said, "Gunpowder's been arrested and de-powered for numerous gun crimes."
"Which just leaves Black Noir and Soldier Boy," Mother's Milk noted, "Black Noir deserves a redemption, but how are we handling Soldier Boy?"
"That's the easy part," Midorang said, "Now let's get to the nearest motel. It's time you guys got introduced to the headquarters of the SCP Foundation."
The Boys looked at each other, now interested.
The members of Payback had all been de-powered and brought to a small motel called the Oceanside.
"Kinda small for your base," Mindstorm noted.
He was actually feeling refreshed from not hearing everyone's thoughts in his head all the time. Which was good because a large amount of Foundation agents were with them as a police force.
"We getting anyone else?," Midorang asked.
"We detained another Vought hero named Blue Hawk at 1400 hours for outstanding hate crimes," one of the operatives said, "He's already been taken to the Oldest House for detainment."
"What's the Oldest House?," Butcher asked.
"A place that few villains can ever penetrate," Midorang explained, "The only one that immediately comes to mind is your cousin Waldo."
"Damn, Wally," Butcher muttered as they all entered the motel, "What kinda shit do you get up to...?"
"Most of the rooms inside are normal motel rooms," the operative explained, "But there's one marked with the Foundation's insignia. We'll be going in by groups of three, with one hitting the light switch on the inside three times. You'll know it when you see it, it'll be the only one there. That will take you to the Oldest House via spatial warp. The physical location is in Saitama, Japan."
Butcher, Hughie, and MM were the last ones to enter, making sure to watch the others to double check how to do it. For Hughie, it was weird to see the concept of teleportation from an outside perspective.
"Is it that clean when I do it?," he asked.
"Sure is," Butcher said, "Three times, right? Five's right out, obviously."
He hit the only light switch in the room as instructed, and instantly the trio found themselves in a large building with a bright white interior. The sight of the SCP Foundation insignia told them they had done it right.
"Right then," Butcher said, "Let's go see how the magic happens."
Later in Berlin, it was double date night for two of Japan's hottest hero couples, both from the Heights Alliance. First was Red Riot and Alien Queen, second was Real Steel and Lizardy. All four of them were confronting the new STG unit that had been holed up there. And best of all, the whole thing was getting live streamed to millions across the world. Alien Queen slammed down on Acid Cloud with her gogo boots.
"Leave the acid-spitting to someone who won't melt people's faces off," she quipped.
She punctuated her point by using her Acid Veil attack to block an ice blast from Ice Ring, before leaping through it to slam into his head with a quick heel drop.
"Years of using my own Quirk have made me completely acid-proof!," she cheered.
Jackhammer tried to come up behind her to attack, only to get blocked by Red Riot. Even worse, he was in Unbreakable mode.
"I'm harder than concrete right now!," he declared, "You're not getting through me! Granite Upper!"
With a hard uppercut, he knocked out Jackhammer. He then noticed that something was trying to light him on fire, and turned to spot Bunsen Burner, who was shocked that his powers weren't working.
"You can't set stone on fire," Red Riot pointed out, "But you can use them to put one out!"
He landed a double hammer fist right on Bunsen Burner's head, leaving him out cold. He then clotheslined Multi Moon has he tried to sneak up behind him, Alien Queen doing the same to Sleight Hand. Nearby, Lizardy had her body split to its maximum and was flying around Reflection, Hard Rock, and Bass Cannon, confusing them with how bizarre it was.
"And now that I've got your attention," Lizardy said, "It's time for my ultimate attack... Fifth of Dismember!"
With a hard shockwave, Lizardy's body parts struck the trio before reforming her body. She grinned when she saw the attack had knocked them all out. Nearby, Real Steel was ready to take on Ground Zero, Liquid Metal, and Red Dust with his own ultimate attack.
"This is the technique I made to be the opposite to Red Riot's Unbreakable. Here we go... Unstoppable!"
His chrome steel body seemed to harden with sharp points along the limbs, making him look like a metal golem. This was the ultimate offensive form, pushing Real Steel's strength to great heights without sacrificing speed, all while adding a potent weapon to his body. Luckily, his most recent meal included enough iron to use this technique twice in one day, for several minutes each. The three insurgents got bowled over by the steel charge, tears appearing on their uniforms.
"And that's how you do it!," he called out, as the three insurgents dropped to the ground unconscious.
He and Red Riot did a bro fist together.
"THAT'S MANLY!"
Their girlfriends did a dramatic swoon for comedic effect.
"What the hell have you done!?," called out a female voice.
The four of them turned to see Stormfront flying down, electricity dancing from her eyes as she growled in rage.
"I was supposed to be the one to take these guys out! We had the whole thing planned! They'd take a fall, maybe make it look good, and I'd come away a hero for dealing with a group of terrorists. All to push my agenda for a team of heroes that were secretly Nazi sympathizers. I mean, I know Grandma never liked using the term 'Nazi', but I think it's pretty clear we're Nazis. Of course I could tolerate being bossed around by a black man, but working with two of them on the same level? And what's the big deal with Blue Hawk dealing with black crimes? Seriously, you verdammt Japanisch can go fick dich selbst!"
"Whoa whoa whoa!," Red Riot called out, "You can't use language like that on live stream! Some of our viewers might speak German!"
Stormfront quickly deflated, the electricity in her eyes instantly fading.
"This was all live streamed...?"
"Yeah," Real Steel said, "We were kicking ass for charity. Our followers pledged 13,000 yen so far."
"And a lot of American viewers are suddenly shocked that you outed yourself as a Nazi," Alien Queen noted as she checked the live comments, "Many are disappointed that the 'feminist' hero they counted on to save them turned out to hate everyone who isn't white."
Stormfront sighed as she dropped down to the ground.
"Fine then. Guess I'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way. Hostile takeover it is. I'd say 'no offence', but that'd be hypocritical of me."
She started charging up her electrical energy again, aiming to blast Lizardy first. The Dividing Hero quickly split herself apart, though she did lose an eye in the process.
"Aw man! That'll take me half an hour to grow back!"
She launched her fists, to slam into Stormfront's stomach, knocking the wind out of her.
"I hear you have a decent healing factor," Alien Queen said, "Hope you don't mind if I test it!"
Stormfront yelled in pain as a splash of acid hit her face. She launched a bolt of lightning to retaliate, only for Alien Queen to dodge.
"Lady, I have a lightning thrower for a best friend. And your bolts ain't got nothing on him."
Stormfront then found herself slammed in the back of the head, and the front too, by Red Riot and Real Steel. The Sturdy Hero then got the Nazi into an arm lock as Lizardy pulled herself together and got out a vial of Antidote V.
"I hope this hurts you as much as the phantom pain in my eye does, bitch."
She injected the needle into Stormfront's skin, at a point where the acid had worn it down. Stormfront started to scream harder as the real pain hit her with the loss of her powers. Red Riot got her to her feet.
"Klara Risinger, you are under arrest."
"Yes, make sure everyone's records are checked for outstanding criminal activity," Edgar said on his Bluetooth, "Those that have none should sell all their Vought International stock. I get the feeling our company will be getting extremely overhauled in the near future. I just cut a deal with the Foundation to have Translucent reinstated on The Seven. But between him, Queen Maeve, Starlight, and A-Train, I suspect it won't be a corporate hero team for much longer."
He listened for a moment.
"Yes, Stormfront's mother married one of our executives, Risinger, in order to maintain a foothold in Vought's controlling interest. We're purging that now. To be honest, I think the idea of scraping Compound V and shifting away from superhero-based profit is in our best interest if we hope to survive. As for Homelander... I'm certain once he learns Mister Butcher is seeking out his wife and stepson, John will try to intercept them. But I doubt we'll have to worry about loss of life. Especially since it seems Midorang was seen at the sight of each arrest of Payback's members."
He looked out the window with a serious look on his, which quickly turned to confusion with the next thing said to him.
"No, we're not canceling the company bowling trip. I still haven't gotten a perfect 300 yet."