In the Vought Secret Community, beneath an abandoned overpass hidden in a surveillance blind spot.
Butcher pressed himself against the bridge pier’s cold concrete wall.
With the extraordinary counter-surveillance skills of a forr top CIA agent, he had forced his way into this unmonitored blind spot inside a steel cage so secure that not even a fly should have been able to get in.
Before long, the sound of a car approached.
Becca drove up.
"Be... Becca..."
Butcher was shaking with emotion.
The mont Becca got out of the car, she threw herself at him without a second thought and crashed into Butcher’s broad, warm embrace.
The two of them held each other tightly beneath the cold overpass.
Eight years.
A full eight years of hell, living like the walking dead.
In this mont, she was finally free.
"I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Billy. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have kept it from you..."
Becca buried her face against Butcher’s chest, sobbing as she poured out eight years of fear and pain.
"No. This ain’t your fault. It’s mine. I should’ve protected you. I should’ve been there for you."
Butcher held Becca’s thin face in his hands, his eyes bloodshot.
He had thought he would never cry again in his life.
But now, hot tears poured down his cheeks.
After that brief mont of warmth, Butcher wanted to take Becca away.
"Billy, I... I can’t go with you."
Becca took a step back, her eyes full of pain and inner struggle.
"Why?"
Butcher froze, then said urgently, "That cape-wearing freak locked you up here! Vought’s a complete ss right now. This is our only shot at getting out. You have to co with !"
Butcher still did not know that if Becca were just one woman, Vought would never have bothered building such a massive secret community to imprison her.
At that mont, Butcher still believed Holander had locked Becca away here purely to satisfy his own desires.
"Because... because I still have Ryan..."
Becca took a deep breath, as if using up every last bit of strength she had, and finally told the cruel truth to the husband she loved most.
"Billy, I’ve been living here for eight years, and I gave birth to a child. His na is Ryan. He’s Holander’s biological son."
When Butcher heard that, he went completely blank.
Ryan?
Holander’s kid?
For eight years, he had lived like a ghost, searching for his wife.
Every single day, he had planned how to carve Holander into pieces.
But his wife? Not only was she alive, she had spent eight whole years in this pretty little secret community, raising the bastard child of the enemy who raped her, the sick freak who ruined everything they had.
All Butcher felt was rage... and grief...
Yet when he lowered his head and saw Becca’s terrified, helpless eyes, like a startled deer’s, his heart twisted again.
"It’s okay... Becca, it’s okay."
Butcher stepped forward and pulled Becca back into his arms, comforting her in a hoarse voice.
"I told you, it wasn’t your fault. It was an accident. You’ve been locked up in this shithole the whole ti. You didn’t have a choice. You’ve suffered enough."
Butcher also understood now why Becca had been kept here. It was not because of Becca, but because of Holander’s child. Vought wanted to raise a new little Holander.
Hearing her husband comfort her, Becca’s tears fell even harder.
"Then... why don’t we take the boy, Ryan, with us?"
Butcher knew Becca. Once she made up her mind, nothing could change it.
If he tried to drag her away without Ryan, she would absolutely kill herself on the spot.
So they had no choice but to take Ryan too.
"Go get him. Then I’ll take both of you out of here. We’ll get the hell away and start over. From now on, I’ll be Ryan’s dad."
Butcher did not an those words willingly.
After all, that ant taking his enemy’s bastard child with them.
More than that, the thing he hated most in the world was Supes.
But for Becca, he could only compromise. Becca was his whole world.
When Becca heard that Butcher was actually willing to accept Ryan, joy appeared on her face.
"Really? Billy, you’re really willing to take us both? You don’t mind who Ryan is?"
"Of course not. He’s your child. How could I mind?"
Butcher said.
But when a woman becos a mother, her instincts are razor sharp.
Even though Butcher’s voice was gentle and his act was almost perfect, Becca still caught the disgust buried deep in those bloodshot eyes.
Besides, what kind of man was Butcher?
He was a rabid dog who would do anything to kill Supes. How could he truly accept a superpowered monster with Holander’s blood running through his veins?
Becca knew it would not work.
"You’re lying to ... Billy, you can’t accept him..."
"Becca! Listen to !"
Butcher said anxiously.
...
anwhile.
In a small cabin a few kiloters from the overpass.
Holander opened the door with an eager smile on his face, holding an extrely delicate limited-edition "Soldier Boy" figure in his hand.
He had specially brought it from Vought headquarters today, planning to use it as a gift to repair his father-son relationship with Ryan.
"Ryan! Look what Daddy brought you..."
Holander’s voice cut off abruptly.
In the spacious living room, Ryan was the only one there, lying on the carpet and drawing.
"Ryan, where’s your mom?"
Holander’s brow furrowed slightly. His instincts told him sothing was wrong.
"Mom said she was going out to throw away the trash and take a walk. She’s been gone for a while, Dad."
Ryan answered obediently.
He had already stopped being angry. It was the sa as always. Kids got mad fast and cooled off just as fast.
The smile vanished from Holander’s face in an instant.
A walk in the middle of the night?
Becca, that woman who guarded Ryan like he was her whole damn life, would never leave him ho alone when she knew Holander could show up at any mont.
"Oh, yeah? Then you keep playing. Daddy’s going to pick up Mom."
"Thanks, Dad!"
Ryan said happily.
Holander gently handed the figure to Ryan, then turned and walked out of the cabin.
The instant the door closed, Holander’s pupils widened, red light flickering in his eyes as he activated Super Hearing and Super Sight.
For him, the strongest god-human on Earth, finding soone inside this closed community of only a few square kiloters was easier than drinking water.
Holander shot into the air and began searching.
Within seconds, his Super Hearing caught two heartbeats and a familiar voice beneath the overpass in the distance.
"Heh. So a rat really did sneak in."
User Comments
0 comments from readers