Maeve's Approval

"Fuck you!!!!!"

Maeve angrily grabbed Butcher by the collar and lifted him into the air!

"Calm down, Maeve."

"Soldier Boy is different from Homelander. They're both assholes, but Soldier Boy is an asshole you can reason with."

"He can definitely help us take Homelander down."

Butcher tightly gripped Maeve's arms for support, his face flushed as red as liver as he hurriedly explained.

After all,

his Temporary Compound V had nearly worn off.

If Maeve threw him, he'd be crippled even if it didn't kill him.

"You'd better be telling the truth!" Maeve gritted her teeth and threw Butcher onto the couch before asking, "So what's the price you have to pay?"

"Not me. You."

A wicked smile curled across Butcher's lips.

"Me?"

Maeve pointed at herself in confusion, then suddenly understood. Her pupils contracted sharply. "You sold me to Soldier Boy as the price?"

"That's right."

"The price of getting Soldier Boy to agree to kill Homelander is you, Maeve."

"You should be happy about it. This is our one and only chance, the closest we've ever come to slaughtering that Homelander bastard."

"The only price is that you keep our secret weapon entertained during this time."

"You won't even need to join the fight. How safe and worthwhile is that?"

Butcher kept his trademark wicked grin as he laid out the pros and cons for Maeve with apparent reason.

"Heh..."

Maeve gave a cold laugh, feeling ice-cold all over. "Butcher, I think you're an even bigger bastard than Homelander and Soldier Boy now. Are you even human?"

"After I saw the ugly truth behind you supposedly righteous superheroes, I stopped thinking of myself as human a long time ago."

"Because humans can't kill demons!"

With that said,

Butcher suddenly sat up from the couch, grabbed a bottle of champagne from the coffee table, drained it in one gulp, then viciously smashed the empty bottle on the floor.

"One question. Are you in or not?"

"Fuck!"

Maeve smashed the coffee table in front of her with one punch. Her entire body trembled with rage, but under Butcher's unrelenting stare, she ultimately nodded, furious and helpless.

Because,

after betraying Homelander, she had no way back. If she wanted to live, she could only keep walking this dark road. Besides, it wasn't her first time. She'd just treat it like getting bitten by a dog.

Maeve thought to herself, then shot Butcher a fierce glare.

"When do I go see him?"

"Now."

Butcher's trademark wicked smile returned.

Downstairs at the hotel.

Frenchie, high out of his mind, kept circling the Motorcycle Mode Arcee Leon had driven back, excitedly babbling nonstop.

"Holy shit!"

"This is absolutely the most beautiful motorcycle I've ever seen in my life, Stark. Where the hell did you swipe her from?"

"I want one too..."

Under the Correction of the system's power, Leon simply used his real name. He got off the bike, patted Frenchie on the shoulder, and gave him the same excuse he had used to brush off Tony.

"Picked her up off the side of the road."

"Then you really stepped in dog shit."

Frenchie, so high that his mind was foggy, didn't doubt Leon's excuse in the slightest. Instead, he reached out, wanting to touch Arcee's headlight.

Was Arcee going to put up with that?

Vroooom!

She started her engine herself, and a fresh blast of exhaust sent Frenchie flying far away. His whole body landed in a dumpster.

He didn't die, but all his hair was burned off.

This scene

was witnessed by Butcher, who had just finished arranging the deal, and Maeve, whose expression was like that of a resentful wife.

"What happened, mate?"

Butcher walked over and asked.

"Nothing."

Leon shrugged. "That guy just made my beauty angry."

"Your beauty?"

"You mean this motorcycle?"

Butcher looked at the futuristic Motorcycle Mode Arcee. He wanted to touch her too, but with Frenchie's fate right in front of him, he wasn't stupid enough to try.

"Doesn't look like something you picked up off the street."

Butcher raised an eyebrow.

"Of course not."

Leon lovingly placed a hand on Arcee's headlight and stroked it as he casually spun a tale.

"To make up for my weakness of not being able to fly, the Avengers specially built this Jet Glider vehicle for me. I named her Arcee."

"You mean she can fly?"

Butcher couldn't help exchanging a glance with Maeve.

For them, this was both good news and bad news. The good news was that they had a better chance against Homelander. The bad news was... hopefully things wouldn't reach that point.

Although Butcher had plans for what he intended to do from the beginning, he wasn't insane enough to go that far yet.

Putting everything else aside,

even for the sake of his bargain-bin son Ryan, he wouldn't choose to wipe out all Superhumans.

At least, that was how it was for now...

With the topic of Arcee over,

Leon turned his interested gaze toward Maeve beside Butcher.

Like Starlight,

Maeve was also wearing casual clothes to conceal her identity, only hers were far more seductive.

She wore nothing but a loose gray off-the-shoulder sweater that barely covered her ass, along with translucent black stockings and bright brown thigh-high heeled boots.

"Wow~"

Leon whistled with interest, then casually draped an arm around Maeve's shoulders like they were old friends, not treating himself like an outsider at all.

"W-wait, I'm not ready yet..."

Although Leon was much more handsome than Maeve had imagined, so she didn't seem to be losing out and might even be getting a good deal, she hadn't expected him to be so direct. She instinctively wanted to push him away, but Leon leaned close to her ear and softly said,

"Shh~"

"Time waits for no one, beautiful lady."

"After all,"

"you wouldn't want to miss this perfect chance to deal with Homelander just because you kept me waiting too long, would you?"

"..."

Leon's words made Maeve feel that something was off, though she couldn't say what.

She hurriedly took a deep breath to calm herself, then put on a composed and charming smile as she challenged him without backing down.

"After all these decades, can you still do it? Don't tell me you can't even beat a woman like me."

"Heh."

"Who do you think I am?"

"I'm fucking Soldier Boy, fuck you!"

Twenty-five hours later.

Leon's room door opened.

Maeve supported herself against the wall as she headed to the bathroom. Butcher, who hadn't slept all night in the next room, saw this and followed her with heavy dark circles under his eyes.

Inside the bathroom,

Butcher discovered that after so much time had passed, Maeve not only looked completely fine, but her complexion was positively glowing. She was humming a little tune while touching up her makeup in the mirror above the sink.

"What do you think of him?"

Butcher asked with a somewhat twisted expression.

Although he and Maeve had no substantive relationship and were merely partners in taking down Homelander, after this night, Butcher felt strangely empty inside. He hadn't slept all night, and the feeling was inexplicably similar to when he had first watched the video of Homelander and his wife.

"He's not bad, much better than I expected. Oh, I mean personality-wise. You know about the other aspect."

"And unlike that giant baby Homelander, he seems like a normal person. I know that sounds strange too, but that's the truth."

Maeve didn't turn to look at Butcher standing in the bathroom doorway. She answered while applying her makeup.

"A normal person?"

Butcher fell into thought.