Unwelcome Visitors

"Yes, we want to emphasize once again that supervillains do exist."

"One hundred percent. We're absolutely certain."

Homelander smiled into the camera, speaking with complete confidence.

After all, those monsters were practically his own creations.

"But we're working hard to stop them. That's what matters."

When Homelander finished, Maeve nodded from her seat beside him on the sofa and added,

"The Seven will protect everyone."

No matter how much she hated it, she had no choice but to appear on-screen with Homelander now.

"All right, let's turn to a more pointed question: why are most superheroes white?"

"The figures are striking. White people make up 92 percent, Black people 6 percent, and Latino and Asian people 1 percent each."

Homelander's expression stiffened at the question.

Still, he went on with the lines Madelyne had prepared for him.

"That really is a pointed question."

"But if you look at The Seven, we're quite diverse. A-Train, who used to be on the team, is Black, while Black Noir doesn't consider himself part of any race."

"And as you can see, we've achieved a balance between men and women, too..."

Rorschach listened to Homelander drone on, then simply turned off the television.

More and more of them could no longer show their faces in public in New York, so they had moved their base somewhere remote.

Fortunately, electronic devices kept Ryan occupied, and everyone had more or less settled into their dull new routine.

Their last operation had been so intense that even Butcher, a hardened extremist, felt a lingering chill.

Rorschach used the terminal he had gotten from Mallory to connect to the dark web.

Nearly half a week's work had at least produced one successful result. That was worth celebrating.

As he thought about it, another call came in from Starlight.

"Are you in New York?"

She sounded relaxed. She seemed to have been doing all right lately.

"Just got back."

Rorschach pulled his door shut and headed to a quiet spot farther away.

After all, no one knew when Homelander might switch on his super-hearing and catch something he wasn't supposed to hear.

"Um... My mom came to see me in New York again, but we still couldn't work things out..."

Hearing the voice of the man she loved, Starlight finally opened up.

"You need time. It's a lot to process."

Rorschach kept his voice as gentle as he could, hoping to end the conversation soon.

It wasn't that he didn't understand Starlight's feelings.

But with important work underway, Rorschach had no intention of starting a relationship.

Women would only slow down my draw.

"I'm still tired, so I'm going to get some rest tonight. How about we pick another time?"

"Okay. I'll text you to arrange something." Starlight sounded disappointed.

"Good night." Rorschach hung up without hesitation. His resolve held firm.

He thought of someone he hadn't called on in a long time and pressed a button on his watch.

Half an hour later, in an alley off a city street.

"I thought you might take a gamble and trust Homelander to remove those Nanobots from your stomach."

Translucent rolled his eyes.

"I'm not that stupid. If they're just Nanobots, but you can make me shit myself on schedule every day, then you've definitely hidden other functions from me."

Translucent gave a cold laugh.

"Now I need you. I'm taking on all of Vought. If you join me, I'll do my best to get you house arrest so you can spend more time with your son."

Rorschach's words sent a surge of emotion through Translucent, and he dropped his invisibility.

One kick later, he obediently made everything but his head invisible again.

"Are you insane? That's Homelander!"

Even someone with Translucent's abilities was deeply afraid of Homelander.

"If you refuse, I'll kill you. Right now."

Rorschach gave him no choice. He never had.

"So what's it going to be? Ready to expose me and die a glorious death like a hero?"

"Or will you behave and wait for me to take those things out of your gut?"

Translucent nodded with difficulty, but Rorschach didn't need to guess how badly he wanted to kill him on the spot.

"First, I need some information."

After things had gone wrong with Becca's past, Rorschach had learned a lesson: this world might not follow the original story of The Boys exactly.

His own arrival was a deviation, and this world itself wasn't entirely reliable.

Caution was best.

Rorschach did get quite a bit out of Translucent. Vought really was monitoring him with sensors.

But there were secrets known throughout the company that no one would bother hiding from Translucent, a veteran member of The Seven.

Once he confirmed that everything else was more or less as he expected, Rorschach politely ended their conversation.

Translucent returned home drenched in sweat. He had just put on clothes to see his son when a message finally let him breathe easier.

"Cooperation went well enough. We'll do it again."

It seemed he wouldn't have to worry about being reduced to an empty shell today.

"There's still some time before the final mission is due, but I haven't got the slightest idea how to establish Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

Giving up would mean passing on a full five thousand points. Besides, once the supply of compound V was cut off, the Supes would need somewhere to go.

But Rorschach wasn't much of a teacher, either.

And building a school from scratch sounded all but impossible.

When Rorschach returned to their base, Ryan was asleep, still clutching his game console.

Butcher and Becca had let themselves go completely, just like they used to every night.

Frenchie and Marvin stood watch, while Kimiko held her brother tight, afraid he would be gone when she woke.

Seeing them make it through the night in relative peace, Rorschach felt a little relieved.

An all-out war was inevitable, but it would be nice if that day came a little later...

While Rorschach stood lost in thought, a news story shot up the trending lists.

The footage was shaky, but what it showed was simple—

Homelander landed and killed a supervillain with his lasers, along with an innocent man behind him. Then he flew away.

Because the video had been posted late at night, it took Vought's PR department more than ten minutes to wipe it from the internet.

But plenty of viewers had a habit of saving whatever they watched.

That morning, Homelander was about to join Stormfront for another round of street-side heroics.

Then came bad news from Madelyne: his approval rating had fallen by nine and a half percentage points!

"Don't worry, darling." Stormfront gently stroked his cheek, then led him toward her trailer.

"I have a great way to help you turn things around."

Homelander was puzzled. He had always thought he and Stormfront were simply using each other, with no real affection between them.

But now, perhaps she really could help him recover?

Homelander hated the arrangements Madelyne made for him, especially now.

As he looked through the images on Stormfront's computer, each designed to spread like wildfire, a smile crept across his face.

It wasn't his usual fake smile. It was real, heartfelt, and chilling.