On the street of Queens, Lucian has released its mimicry and is walking towards the subway like a college student rushing to class.
The phone in my pocket vibrated.
The caller ID is Hughie.
Lucian pressed the answer button. Hughie's urgent voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Lu! Help me! A-Train arrested my dad!" Hughie said the content of the phone call incoherently, "He asked me to go alone for twenty minutes! I don't know what to do at all. If you can..."
"Sorry, I can't help you," Lucian interrupted him.
There was dead silence on the other end of the phone.
Lucian does not plan to intervene directly. He knows the direction of the plot very well. Kimiko will follow. A-Train cannot kill Hughie today. If A-Train really gets wise and discovers Kimiko, then for the time being, he can only wish him good luck. It is almost impossible for a cautious speedster to be caught.
"Listen, Hughie." Lucian stopped, "I'm not your goon on call. A-Train is a Supe, and you're just an electrical appliance salesman. But you don't have everything."
"What do I have? I can't even hold a gun!" Hughie shouted.
"You have a brain." Lucian lowered his voice, "Think carefully, A-Train is an addict, Hughie. He is addicted to Compound V. And you have exactly what he desires most in your hands."
Hughie was stunned.
"Exchange your father's life with the compound." Lucian finished speaking and directly pressed the hang up button.
In Safe House, the atmosphere was extremely depressing.
Hughie stared at the blacked-out screen in his hand. Compound V. Yes, that was the only bargaining chip. He turned around suddenly, rushed to the chemical reagents Frenchie was playing with on the table, grabbed the bottle containing the blue liquid and stuffed it into his pocket, and rushed towards the stairs without looking back.
"Hughie! What are you doing!" Frenchie shouted from behind, but Hughie had already pushed open the iron door and ran out.
Mother's Milk did not stop Hughie. He was staring at the bank APP on the screen.
There is a line of dazzling red letters below: The account is abnormal and has been frozen by Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"Fuck!" Mother's Milk punched the wall hard.
Vought International moved too fast. Their social relationships have been completely blocked.
"I have to go home." Mother's Milk grabbed the car keys on the table, "Monica and Jenny are still at home. They will definitely send someone over. I have to take them away."
Frenchie looked at Mother's Milk's hurried away figure and scratched his hair irritably. He himself didn't care, he had been wanted for a long time. But Hughie would definitely die if he faced A-Train alone.
He turned his head and looked at Kimiko who was huddled in the corner.
Frenchie walked up to her and squatted down, "That tall and skinny guy is in trouble. Big trouble."
Kimiko raised his head and stared at Frenchie with clear black and white eyes.
Frenchie pointed to the door, "Hughie is a good man. He didn't deserve to die in the hands of that bastard. Can you go and help him?"
Kimiko was silent for a few seconds. She stood up, ran up the stairs like a light cat, and disappeared outside the door.
Frenchie breathed a sigh of relief. He took out another anonymous mobile phone and dialed the number Butcher.
Inside the CIA secret office.
Butcher slapped a thick stack of documents on the desk. The paper slipped, revealing several blurry photos and complex transfer records.
"Look at these, Susan." Butcher put his hands on the table, leaned forward, and stared at the woman behind the desk, "Vought International is manufactured all over the world Supe terrorists. They smuggled Compound V out of the country and injected it into those extremist militants. This is what they call 'anti-terrorism'! They are creating their own enemies, and then send Homelander to be the savior!"
Susan picked up a document, flipped through two pages, and frowned.
"This is big news, right?" Butcher's eyes flashed with fanaticism, "With this, you can file a case. You can slap the search warrant directly on the face of that bitch Madelyn. You can tear Homelander off the altar!"
Susan put down the file and looked at Butcher.
"That's not enough, Billy."
Butcher's smile froze on his face.
"What did you say?"
"I said this is not enough." Susan pointed to the documents on the table, "These evidences can indeed prove that Vought International is smuggling Compound V. But can you prove that it was Madelyn who gave the order? Can you prove that Is Homelander involved? Vought only needs to introduce a few scapegoats to get rid of this matter. And once we take action, we will face Vought's huge legal team and the politicians in Congress who have been bribed by them."
Susan sighed, "Billy, I can't declare war on Homelander based on these alone. That would destroy the entire CIA."
"Fuck!" Butcher stood up suddenly and kicked over the chair next to him.
The agent outside the door immediately opened the door and came in, his hand already on the holster of his gun.
Susan waved his hand, signaling the agent to go out.
"The negotiation broke down, Deputy Director." Butcher grabbed the documents on the table and walked out, "I'm going to find someone else. There will always be someone who dares to take this hot potato."
The phone in my pocket vibrated.
Butcher stopped and took out his mobile phone to answer the call.
"Something happened." Frenchie's voice came from the receiver. We were all exposed. Mother's Milk's account was frozen. He rushed home to save his wife and children. Hughie's father was kidnapped by A-Train. He went to negotiate alone with the compound. We were completely exposed."
Butcher's hand holding the phone tightened suddenly.
If it were him, he wouldn't care about the arrest warrant. He would have his head in his waistband long ago.
But Hughie, Mother's Milk, Frenchie... they can't withstand Vought's all-out strangulation. Without CIA's protection, they won't survive tonight.
He turned around and walked back to his desk.
"What? You didn't find a buyer willing to take over?" Susan looked at him.
"You win." Butcher threw the file back on the table, "I give you all the information. You can use it however you want."
Susan raised his eyebrows. "What are the conditions?"
"I want an absolutely safe Safe House." Butcher raised his finger, "The highest level Witness Protection Program. A legal new identity for each of them, and a pension that is enough for them to spend the rest of their lives."
Butcher stared into Susan's eyes. "Save my team members. These information that can make Vought break an arm are yours."
Susan looked at the documents on the table and pondered for a moment.
"Deal."
Vought Tower, the vice president's office on the 91st floor. Through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, you can have a panoramic view of the prosperity of New York.
"Becca." Homelander said, "Do you still remember her, Madelyn?"
"Becca?" Madelyn raised his head, with just the right amount of confusion on his face, "This name sounds familiar... is it an employee of which department? You know, I have to deal with too many things every day."
"Becca·Butcher, that girl from the marketing department seven or eight years ago, I checked her file and she disappeared, but the police thought it was suicide. I was just wondering if you know what happened to her?"
Madelyn's smile froze for a moment. "Oh, I just thought she had resigned."
She was lying. But Homelander didn't expose it.
He was tired of guessing games. Vogelbaum, that old guy, the man who created him, would tell the truth. Fear was the best tool to make him tell the truth.
Homelander walked to the desk, put his hands on the edge of the table, and leaned close to Madelyn.
"There will be no more secrets between us, right?"
His breath brushed Madelyn's cheek.
Madelyn didn't answer. She stood up, walked around the desk, and took the initiative to greet him. Her body was close to him, she raised her head, and blocked all his unfinished words with a deep kiss.
This kiss was full of soothing meaning, and it was a weapon she had used to calm his anger countless times in the past. Homelander closed her eyes, enjoying this familiar feeling. But this time, he could clearly tell that her lips had a subtle tremor, and her body was stiff.
She is afraid.
After the kiss, Madelyn held his face and said softly, "Of course, there will never be a hero of mine."
Homelander showed a child-like smile of satisfaction.
"That's good."
He turned around and strode out of the office.
Watching Homelander leave, Madelyn breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his temples. The few minutes just now were more energy-consuming than facing the questions from Congress's group of hungry wolves.
Madelyn took out his mobile phone from his bag and dialed a number.
"The Deep?"
A slightly excited male voice came from the other end of the phone. "Madam! How can I help you?"
"Black Noir has lost contact." Madelyn's voice regained its former calmness, "The location where he last sent the signal was in a sea area in the middle of Atlantic Ocean. I want you to go there immediately and find out what happened there."
"I... I'll go right away!" The Deep's voice was full of joy at being entrusted with an important task, "Leave it to me, Madelyn! I will never let you down!"
He thought this was Madelyn's trust in him and a signal for him to return to the inner circle. He did not realize at all that he was just sent to detect an unknown danger that even Black Noir could not cope with.
Madelyn hung up the phone and threw the phone aside. She needed to divert Homelander's attention, and she also needed to know who had the ability to kill Black Noir.
At this moment, in an inconspicuous back alley of Queens.
After Lucian hung up the call from Hughie.
There was a faint squirming sound of skeletal and muscle reorganization.
Lucian's figure changed rapidly in the shadows. His height shortened by a few centimeters, his shoulders narrowed, his facial contours became mediocre, and his black hair turned into brown curly hair. He picked up a discarded hoodie from the trash can at the alley and put it on, and took out a pair of black-rimmed glasses from his pocket to put on.
The person in the mirror is the most common New York passerby. If you throw it into a crowd, you will never find it again.
He walked out of the alley, merged into the crowd, and walked towards Hughie's house.
He chose a seat by the window downstairs at Hughie's house, ordered a cup of coffee, and waited silently.