Training

"Why did you ask me to come here?"

Starlight glanced at the Asian girl beside them, then turned to Rorschach in confusion.

"To train."

Rorschach had carefully watched some of Vought's documentaries and interviews conducted after heroes confronted robbers.

He had to admit that Vought's combat training was abysmal.

Maeve might have been one of the more diligent ones, and Black Noir's technique was probably decent too.

Or perhaps the petty villains they usually dealt with were so hopeless that Vought only required its superheroes to look good when filming movies.

That was fine when Supes weren't fighting one another, or when the gap in power was enormous.

But with sufficiently strong fighting skills, Starlight might be able to hold her own even against Homelander.

Of course, that was the best-case scenario.

"One question: why can't bullets hurt you superheroes, but another superhero can?"

Rorschach had raised a question Starlight had never considered.

After seeing Wolf Girl smash A-Train hard enough to expose his bones with a single blow from a rod, Rorschach had wondered about that himself.

The rod clearly hadn't been moving anywhere near the speed of sound.

A-Train simply hadn't been paying attention to Kimiko. Before he could activate his super speed, he was down.

"Come on..."

Rorschach took a fighting stance. With Deathstroke's template, he could at least last longer against a superhero than Butcher could.

Starlight looked at him, puzzled. When she had led him out of Vought earlier, his wrist had felt so fragile.

But facing him now felt like being surrounded by dozens of well-trained mercenaries.

After taking a deep breath, Starlight threw a punch at Rorschach.

It wasn't particularly fast, but there was plenty of force behind it.

Rorschach shook his head slightly. Starlight had spent too much time in beauty pageants. When it came to fighting instincts, she was worse than Kimiko.

Rorschach possessed mastery of the world's finest martial arts. He caught Starlight's wrist and pulled in the direction of her punch.

Starlight clearly hadn't expected that. Rorschach sent her flying.

But she had a Supe's body. She braced a hand against the ground and immediately regained her balance.

"That's what I mean."

Rorschach shook out his wrist. Starlight was indeed a little stronger than Kimiko, but that was all she had going for her.

Kimiko at least had something like a beast's instincts. Starlight's fighting technique was painful to watch.

It had been the same when she beat up those thugs earlier. She had simply blinded them with her powers, then overwhelmed them with faster reflexes and greater strength.

Apparently, being a superhero in the United States required no actual competence.

"I think I get it now. You superheroes really have no idea..."

Rorschach had taken a shortcut to this conclusion. He had sensed something faintly strange during his fight with Homelander, but now he understood it completely.

"You Supes all have a Bio-Electric Aura."

Kimiko clearly had no idea what "Bio-Electric Aura" meant, and Starlight looked just as lost. Chen Che sighed.

The education level of these superheroes was worrying too...

"In other words, there's a field extending a very short distance around your bodies."

"When you pick up a weapon, that field extends to whatever's in contact with your body."

"That's why bullets and speeding cars don't hurt you. Your Bio-Electric Aura absorbs most of the impact."

That explained it. Rorschach suspected Vought's Compound V primarily acted on the brain as well.

It seemed Vought's lab work still wasn't quite up to scratch.

"Anyway, all you need to know is that there's an invisible layer around your body."

"When superheroes fight one another, their Bio-Electric Auras cancel each other out."

Rorschach didn't try to explain further to Starlight. She had been attending events since childhood and had debuted early as a teen idol.

It would be a miracle if she could follow his reasoning...

Kimiko, on the other hand, sank into thought after picking out a few words from what Rorschach had said.

"Another round?"

Rorschach had a theory now. Stormfront and Homelander, the only two heroes who could fly without wings, probably used their Bio-Electric Auras to do it.

As the finest specimen, Homelander could likely use his aura without even knowing it existed.

Unfortunately, the amount he had was pitiful compared with Silver Superman.

If Homelander had a lake's worth, Superman had an entire ocean!

Starlight thought this was the most demoralizing day of her superhero career.

She had thought nearly being tricked by The Deep and having to wear the sexy costume the company designed for her were bad enough.

Her mother had lied to her since childhood, and her father had left because she had been injected with Compound V.

She had faced all of it with courage.

But that afternoon, after being thrown to the ground again and again, she questioned her life for the first time.

Kimiko occasionally stepped forward too, giving Starlight time to think and review what had gone wrong.

But compared with Starlight, who was being "treated gently," Kimiko clearly had it worse.

She could usually tear mercenaries apart with her bare hands, yet today she hadn't managed to leave a single scratch on Rorschach.

Not only that, Rorschach had landed numerous heavy blows on her. At times, she had even briefly lost consciousness.

Rorschach knew how far to go, of course. But since Kimiko could heal, it would have been a waste not to test his full strength.

After an afternoon of training, Rorschach, lightly coated in sweat, said goodbye to Starlight and had Frenchie turn on the shower.

"When the hell are we going to make our next move?"

Butcher was growing anxious. Kimiko had gotten a promise from Rorschach, but there was still no news of his Becca.

"You're rushing things, Butcher. Vought's looking for Frenchie right now, and they're trying to uncover whoever's behind him."

"Do I need to remind you? We just killed a former member of The Seven, and you already want to bring down Homelander?"

Butcher fell silent, then let out a heavy sigh.

"It's been eight years. A little longer won't matter."

Frenchie tried to comfort him too. After turning on the shower, he ushered Kimiko, who was covered in dust, inside.

Marvin had left the team that morning. Now their only chance to survive and achieve their goals was to work for Rorschach.

That was precisely why Butcher was so furious.

But when he recalled what he had seen that day, Butcher swallowed his anger.

"My patience has limits." His glare was savage enough to devour someone.

Rorschach picked up the book he hadn't finished and considered his next target.

They might get away with one more ambush. After that, it would likely be all-out war.