A World Of Rotten Eggs (Eggman SI/The Boys)
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Happy Birthday hope it's a good one.
Happy Birthday D.C
Welcome to the over 30 club.
Welcome to the over 30 club.
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
Another year you have defeated in mortal combat. Many more lie before you still and each you shall slay and tally as bricks for the bone ziggurat. Rejoice in their screams!
Our traditional birthday greeting out of the way... I hope our good protagonist has some fairly advanced systems taking care of his primary body. Its still made of meat and, well, human bodies don't take neglect well. Even with basic assistance you are going to be wrecked after even a few days playing waldo operator.
And, if your real body goes downhill, you would find yourself using your artificial one even more due to it being an escape. Hopefully you come to terms with the idea that your flesh is a machine, no more special than you make it, because eventually something is going to break and you will have to go machine full time.
You aren't going to be living until you are eighty otherwise, that is for sure.
Our traditional birthday greeting out of the way... I hope our good protagonist has some fairly advanced systems taking care of his primary body. Its still made of meat and, well, human bodies don't take neglect well. Even with basic assistance you are going to be wrecked after even a few days playing waldo operator.
And, if your real body goes downhill, you would find yourself using your artificial one even more due to it being an escape. Hopefully you come to terms with the idea that your flesh is a machine, no more special than you make it, because eventually something is going to break and you will have to go machine full time.
You aren't going to be living until you are eighty otherwise, that is for sure.
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7: Mental Tactics
Author's Note: As some of you may know, this story now has two pieces of art for it! One is by KillerFish , who was kind enough to give me the best birthday gift I have ever gotten. The other is by h1draw, who I commissioned to make art for this story. Both of them knocked it out of the park, and I can't thank them enough. The art is below, and I'll add some links to their various sites as well!
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The Seven
Being a superhero was fucking fantastic.
Money, fame, and all the sex anyone could ever want. It was a damn dream.
A-Train stepped out from a tunnel and into a stadium of cheering fans. The young black man in a blue costume and goggles had a smile stretching from ear to ear.
He looked out at the stands, with people shouting his name, and didn't have to force his smile. He'd had a tough couple weeks after running through that chick. He needed a bit of this, of people cheering on the A-Train.
"Yeah, what's up!" A-Train lifted his hands high, spinning around to face the crowd, throwing some quick playful jabs that the crowd went crazy for. "Yeah, the A-Train is heeere!"
"Would you tone it down?" Translucent said, walking past him, invisible within his superhero outfit.
"Shove it up your ass, Translucent," A-Train hissed at him even as he kept smiling. With A-Train leading them, the rest of the Seven followed.
The Deep, in his green uniform. The beautiful Queen Maeve, long red hair flowing behind her and silver costume shining. Black Noir, covered head to toe in black armor and spandex, barely registering the crowd cheers.
The crowd exploded as A-Train, Translucent, The Deep, Queen Maeve, and Black Noir walked together. They waved at the people in the stands, walking towards a large stage in the center of the field. As they stood in a line, their last member arrived.
Dropping out of the sky, he crashed into the ground just in front of the stage. A-Train felt his smile freeze just a bit as he felt the vibration through his feet. The man who crashed from the sky stood tall, looking around. His white teeth flashed, blue eyes shined, blonde hair almost glowing in the sunlight as the American flag waved about on his neck, muscles barely contained in a blue body suit.
The stadium erupted as Homelander joined the rest of the Seven on stage, a million watt smile shining on his face.
"They really do love him," Queen Maeve mumbled.
A-Train didn't say anything. None of them did. Homelander might hear it if they said anything… negative.
"Hello, ladies and gentlemen!" Homelander moved up to the podium, the mic picking up his voice with ease. "Welcome, one and all! Everybody excited?!"
"WOOOO!"
As the crowd cheered, Homelander chuckled. A-Train heard him mumble under his breath.
"Of course you are, you cocksuckers."
Once the crowd calmed, Homelander continued. "Now, as you know. The Seven hasn't had seven members for a while. Unless you count the janitor who helps keep our office clean."
A polite chuckle rang out. Homelander moved on.
"I'm pleased to announce that this won't be the case for long! For some time now, we've been auditioning to add a new member to the team! A new hero, to join the ranks of the Seven! And soon enough, we'll be announcing someone with the qualities of bravery, strength, and kindness, to stand with us!"
More like another asshole. A-Train shrugged off the thought.
"Next week, we'll be announcing-"
"SCREEEEEEEEK!"
"Gah!" A-Train shouted in pain at the loud squeal of the microphone suddenly getting cut off. Homelander looked around, holding a hand to his own ears.
And then, a giant blue glowing man was standing in the center of the field. An overweight guy with a long mustache and goggles. He grinned down at the Seven.
"...What the fuck?" Translucent asked.
"Hello, Seven!" the giant man said, his hands behind his back. It took a second for A-Train to realize what was going, though Queen Maeve said it first.
"Is that a hologram?"
"Why yes, it is," he bent down to smile. "Thank you for noticing, my dear. A simple one, sadly, but enough for today's little shindig."
"Who the hell are you?" Homelander asked, looking annoyed. "Did Meridith set this up?"
"Oh, my apologies," he stood back up. "Seven? My name is Doctor Eggman. Scientist Supreme. A genius, above any being on Earth. To say I am the smartest man alive doesn't cover it! Why, I-"
"Do you have a fucking point?" Homelander said, looking annoyed.
"Of course I have a point, you flag wearing buffoon!" the hologram laughed. "I'm here to show the world just who their new ruler is! Who will stand above you pathetic imbeciles as I bring humanity to a new level of greatness! Oh."
He raised a finger. "And I'm here to attack you."
A loud rock song suddenly began to play over a speaker in the distance. Lyrics began to play.
"The story begins, but who's gonna win
Knowing the danger lies within
Aboard the ARK, a genius at heart
Wanting to unlock the mysteries of life!"
The doors of the stadium exploded outwards.Something dropped out of the sky. A-Train looked around in shock. "What the-"
"I am the Eggman!" the giant said with the lyrics to his music, laughing. "WAHAHAHAHAHA!
Dozens of things in the sky began shooting at the stage. Bright yellow balls of energy that exploded in brief 'poofs' of light, turning the wooden stage to shrapnel. The Deep and Black Noir were sent flying as the blasts hit their chests, while Queen Maeve and Translucent ducked. A-Train instinctively dived aside at super-speed, glancing up.
He almost fell over in shock. "BEES?!"
Robot bees. Giant, 2 foot tall, robot bees. Firing laser weapons.
"YES! Buzz Bombers! Fly! Motobugs! Unleash your power!"
The robot bees were joined by goddamn robot ladybugs on wheels flooding in from outside the stadium. Ladybugs. On Wheels. A-Train, still running at super-speed, almost hit one when it came rushing at him. They were fast! Not as quick as him, but faster than they should have been as they ran along the grass.
"Go my Badniks! Go!" the hologram laughed. "WAHAHAHA! SHOW THEM THE POWER OF DOCTOR EGGMAN!"
"What the fuck!?" Queen Maeve shouted.
That was when the crab robots showed up in the stands, and the audience began to shout and scream.
------
I watched my Badniks rush the heroes and civilians, and wondered if I was enjoying this too much as I hummed to myself. "I am the Eggman, that's what I am…"
Homelander was looking around, confusion on his face as the other heroes were attacked. It was kind of hilarious. He didn't even move to attack anything, just stood there like he was trying to take things in.
Translucent took off his costume and tried to sneak up on a Motobug. So I think he was surprised when they turned around and rushed him, smashing into him with claws and sheer body weight and sending him bouncing across the grass.
"Sorry, Translucent, my machines are built with thermal vision!" I said gleefully.
A-Train ran over to a Vought employee who was trying to run, grabbing her arm. "Hey! Did you guys set this up!? The asshole has his own theme song!"
What, really? Middle of an attack, and he thought it was a publicity stunt. Well, I guess Vought had done similar things.
"A setup? Well, let me see if I can convince you of my authenticity," I snapped my fingers. "Burrobots!"
"Burro-what?" A-Train asked.
Then a drill exploded from the ground.
"FUCK!" A-Train dived aside. The drill was on the head of a robot with a pair of treads instead of leags, and long clawed arms. As A-Train dodged, the robots snapped out a long arm, it's claws scratching deep into his bicep.
"A setup?" I chuckled deep in my throat. "No. You're fighting for your lives, you fools!"
Black Noir jumped upwards, grabbing onto a Buzz Bomber and ripping its wings off, only to get shot dozens of times by another. Queen Maeve dodged a Motobug, grabbing it's head and using it as a bludgeon. Translucent got over his loss of invisibility to begin attacking a Crabmeat.
And yet, I noticed, only Queen Maeve had moved to the stands.
"Get out, go!" she shouted at the crowd, defending them from Crabmeats rushing towards the men, women, and children rushing after the crowd. Sadly, I had to allow my Badniks to injure civilians to sell the attack as genuine, so a few people had broken arms and legs from robotic claws. Nothing unrecoverable, but… Still.
When Queen Maeve leaped into the stands to defend the civilians as best as she could, I felt a bit of relief.
One of the crabmeats grabbed her arm, clenching down hard. She bit her lip in pain, then lifted a boot to stomp it over and over. As she slowly crushed it, I frowned at Homelander.
"I'm sorry… are you still confused, you absolute buffoon?"
More likely he was trying to see if he could find me with his super hearing and x-ray vision. Please, like I would have made it that easy.
As soon as I asked that, the confusion in his eyes snapped into rage. His eyes glowed red and his laser passed harmlessly through my holographic form. I raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, you blonde ignoramus. I cannot wait to watch you fall. Bombers!"
"You fu-" Dozens of Buzz Bombers dropped out of the sky, firing their yellow lasers at him. The lasers hit his head, chest, and back to seemingly little effect. He floated upwards, eyes glowing-
"And be careful with those lasers. You wouldn't want your loving fans to die from random laser fire on national television, would you? Consider our lovely audience!"
I said that for multiple reasons. First, because the shot that went through my hologram had destroyed a portion of the stands behind me and started a fire. Really, the asshole was so damn indiscriminate with those lasers. Second, to make sure I kept to my role. Couldn't just be a villain. I needed to have a bit of class, after all.
Scowling, Homelander flew forward to grab a Buzz Bomber, smashing it apart. Still, I smiled when I saw his annoyance at how hard it was to do compared to his usual victims. He fired one quick laser blast, but the lightning quick Buzz Bombers were programmed to shift out of the way of his line of sight whenever possible. Granted, they'd had practice.
Still. This was… I mean, it was cool. Seeing a team of heroes fighting hordes of robots, screaming citizens running for the hills as police sirens rang out in the distance. Right out of the comics… except it wasn't.
The Seven were sort of disappointing. Queen Maeve and Black Noir were fighting well, but A-Train was half panicking as the celebrity hero ran around avoiding the Borrubots jumping out of the ground, Homelander looked more annoyed than anything else chasing down the Buzz Bombers one at a time, Translucent was basically being bogged down unable to do much since his invisibility was totally countered even as he got a few good hits in and The Deep hadn't even started fighting just yet. Not to mention their teamwork was practically nonexistent throughout the whole fight so far.
I mentally sighed. They were obviously going to win this fight. My Badniks were made on short notice and on a budget. I'd gone for a combination of advanced tech and shortcuts. Thermal vision to track Translucent, just enough durability to matter, and fast enough that even A-Train had to use a bit of his speed to dodge around them.
But even if they were going to win, I was still disappointed. The Eggman in me, the part that had taken on godlike hedgehogs and echidnas, who had matched wits with a prodigy fox, found them lacking.
Whatever. I had more work to do.
"Looks like we're having fun, heroes," I said, hiding my emotions under a boisterous voice echoing in the baseball stadium. "But my Badniks will overwhelm you eventually. In the meantime, enjoy the musical accompaniment I have selected!"
E.G.G.M.A.N. ended, and was followed by another song from Ahti's walkman.
Take control, take control
I see a vision rising, dreary
Fading in as children play twilight games
In the town called Ordinary
As Take Control continued to play, I let the hologram go on autoplay. Basically it was just a gigantic Eggman… dancing. If someone interfered with the hologram, it would stop to say a smarmy line, but otherwise, it was Eggman grooving.
Hopefully, the cameras currently filming the mess would get a good view of that.
------
My mind returned to my body as I let the hologram continue. "Colin, how we doing?"
I stood in my main lab, my Eggman Control Unit sitting atop my head.
"Already done," Colin, sitting at a computer, took a sip of caffeine watching an upload finish. "Cameras and alarms are yours. You have ten minutes."
I switched my awareness back again as soon as he said that.
This time, rather than a view of the baseball stadium, I stood in my Eggman body in a forest, with a field of grass in front of me. Across from that grass, a single sign stood.
"Sage Grove Center," I read the sign. "God, the building looks positively devious even from here! I need to remember that design at some point."
I looked to my right, where a single Buzz Bomber had been flying with a camera instead of a laser stinger, using my movements to model the hologram. "Stay here."
"Zzzzzit," the Buzz Bomber acknowledged.
With that, I looked to my left, where a pair of Badnik's stood waiting. One was small, only about three feet from nose to the tip of his tail. Shaped like a reptile plushie; it had adorable stumpy legs, a curled tail, and googly eyes that looked around quickly.
The other one was even smaller, smaller than the model from the games. About as long as a school desk and thin as a banana, it was segmented into dozens of small orbs colored blue, with a pair of mandibles on it's head just under two narrowed eyes.
"Come along."
"Cree, cree!" the lizard crawled onto me, wrapping around my back and placing it's head on my shoulder. The small worm creature wrapped around my waist instead, becoming a makeshift belt of sorts. Moments later, it's program activated.
Flickers of light bounced across it, before it's skin began to shift and change. It's coloration began to match the world around it, then the field it projected extended to me and the worm.
A Newtron, a Badnik capable of turning invisible. Well, camouflage, technically, but that's a whole thing. The point was, it became hard to see. And could extend that power to others. It wasn't perfect, since it required direct contact, and wouldn't hold up well to direct touch with objects, but it was still fantastic.
It's why a chameleon was the animal representing it. Not just for style points, but because the Newtron eyes were made to take in every sight around it and quickly recreate it with a combination of recordings and predictive algorithms.
I started running the second I turned invisible, rushing over the grass. On some level, I felt a little ridiculous. In an Eggman body, running faster than some golf carts across an open field, with a chameleon on my back and a worm around my waist. Weird image. Except, of course, that I was invisible.
I flexed my false muscles and jumped over the fence in a quick bound, landing lightly on the other side. I moved on, heading towards the building beyond. "Colin, walk me through it."
It was hard, splitting my attention between two bodies, but it was the fastest way to communicate with him.
"The door ahead is clear. No orderlies or doctors," he said to my real body. In my Eggman form, I nodded.
I quickly opened the door and headed inside. The hallways within were pretty much the same as in the show.
Sage Grove in the show was a place owned by Vought. Well, owned by a shell company of Vought. Basically, it was where they held adult superheroes they had given Compound V to. A place to stick their experiments in until they could find a way to give superpowers to adults with any sort of useful repeatability. Stabilize the V.
I could see the appeal. Sell powers to people on a larger scale. Not just those with infant kids, but grown men and women with money to burn. Solid powers to everyone.
Didn't forgive the torture and murder.
I ran through the hallways at a quick pace, moving as lightly on my feet as I could.
"Left. Left again. Okay, go straight. The security office should be just ahead. What will you do about the guard?"
"That's what my little belt is for," I said with a chuckle. An orderly came down the hall. I slowed my pace to a slow walk, my steps silent, and slid around him before continuing. He didn't even glance up.
Nice thing about real life. A simple plan tends not to fuck up out of nowhere by some guy suddenly being psychic.
I approached the security office and tapped my belt.
"Go on, Crawlton."
The worm/centipede unfurled from my belt and landed on the linoleum floor. It sped along the ground, sliding like a snake. Once it got to the security door, it moved under it, it's robotic shell plates flexing around its myomer-muscle body.
I sat back and waited for a moment, leaning against the door. Inside, the single guard was probably bored, waiting for his shift to end. The most he would feel was a sudden sting through his shirt, probably on his back, the sort that someone would feel from a chair spring poking them.
That would be Crawlton stinging him. He carried a simple chemical in his body, made just for each guard registered as an employee in the facility. After all, you can't expect knock-out chemicals to be universal. Crawlton could recognize the weight, height, and health profile of every employee, and adjust the mixture to accommodate. Hopefully one day he could do even more, but this would be good enough.
There was a thumping sound. Then, after a moment, the door opened. I entered, smirking at the sight of Crawlton rushing over to slide up my leg and around my waist.
"Aw. Missed daddy already?"
With a small evil chuckle, I closed the door, stepped over the unconscious form of the guard lying on the floor, and moved over to the computer system and cameras. I started typing quickly, bringing up the internet and loading a program to connect Ivotech over to Sage Grove. Sure, Colin had hacked the cameras and alarms, but that was top-level shit. We needed everything.
"Gods," Colin stared at the screen before him, his eyes wide. "They've been at this for some time. Are you sure we shouldn't simply assassinate the ringleaders?"
"Not exactly, 'cleaning' the world to do that," I said with a sigh. "We need to bring this around to being a better place. Armies of robots killing people doesn't do that. Public opinion and societal change. That's the goal. So gather the evidence. And find Ahti's boy."
Colin rolled his eyes. "Mention a couple of assassinations and you get all nasty… Okay. He's on the first floor thankfully. Head sixteen rooms down, take a right, then five rooms up. I'll let you know when it's clear. Also… there are physical files on site here. But I'm guessing all the good stuff is with Vought."
"Of course it is," I moved the guard from the floor to the desk, arranging things so he would think he had fallen asleep at his desk. "But Sage Grove had the actual experimentation being done in the modern day. Public opinion, remember? People don't care about historical horrors. They're terrified of the possibility of monsters kidnapping them and experimenting on them now. Files from the old days will be fantastic, but these are fresh and hot for media consumption when we make our play."
With that, I left the room. That's the boring and convenient part of hacking. Most of it is just opening access to a program and letting it run. So it meant that I could use the rest of my time to get work done before I left.
While Colin continued to open up Sage Grove to Ivotech control, I headed over to the cell Colin indicated. As I passed the cells, I forced myself not to look inside. Invisibility kept me from being seen. But if I looked into the cells, seeing the tortured souls within…
I couldn't break everyone out. This early, it would cause nothing but chaos. It would make Vought realize they had an enemy, especially with my little distraction causing mayhem. They'd worry about Eggman being more than just a dumb supervillain with some weird robots.
Still. This was something I'd have to take care of later…
Pushing that aside, I stopped in front of a single door. "Once more, Crawlton."
The worm-centipede scooted under the door. Moments later, a man shouted in shock and pain, then a small thud followed.
Yeah, I know. Boring to do the same thing twice. But simplicity is always better than fancy shenanigans.
A moment later, the door was opened. I entered and glanced down at the form on the floor. He was thin, almost skeletal, with a scruffy beard and short-cut hair. I recognized him from the show, but only as a one-scene wonder. A young man who had unintentionally released a short EMP burst that sent a van flying, shut down electronics, and ended in Hughie having a deep wound in his belly.
So of course I had to knock him out. Couldn't risk it.
Honestly, if I could have picked someone to break out, it would have been Cindy the body exploder for her power, or Tim for his relative stability. Not… what was this kid's name? Gordon Clarke?
Well. Ahti wanted him out. And I was likely going to get him out anyway. Just to keep him from being used against me.
I picked him up over my shoulder and looked at the back wall. Now, I had to hack into the actual systems manually to get Gordon's location and create a permanent back door in Sage Grove. But now that I had his room, the next step was…
A sound came from the wall. Heh. Perfect timing. A laser soon cut through the wall. It moved quickly, opening a hole in the concrete wall. When done, the wall fell out, revealing my partner in crime.
"Ola, Egg Pawn," I said with a grin.
The bipedal bot's eye light shined. He was red, as short as E-Boy had once been, a thought that brought a small pang of pain to me. He was kinda goofy looking, with a big round head, body, and boots, big blue eyes, and a blue 'smile'. He extended his arms and wrapped big old hands around Gordon, taking him off my hands. I stepped through the wall and turned.
"Okay, Crawlton? Ready?"
The worm-centipede nodded. I grabbed onto the edges of the wall and pushed it up and into place again. The Newtron on my shoulder extended it's chameleon tongue out, the extended false flesh linking the section of wall that had been burned through. In its wake, a sort of drywall replaced it. On the inside, Crawlton did the same with his mandibles. Working together, they filled the circular line up once more. Crawlton added some paint, while Newtron simply retracted his tongue.
It wasn't perfect. But better than nothing.
"Okay, let's go!" I ran for it, Newtron keeping me invisible, while Egg Pawn continued carrying our cargo.
Inside, Crawlton entered the toilet, sliding into the pipes. If all went well, he would exit underneath the facility, find a secluded place no human could enter, then curl up and wait. An unseen infiltrator underneath the facility, hibernating until I called him to action, undetectable by anything that didn't directly touch him.
We headed for the fence, and I hopped over, rushing to the forest with Egg Pawn joining me. I came to a stop once we were behind the van we'd driven out in. Yeah, a van. It was parked in a forest, but we went through and scrubbed any and all footage of it on any cameras on the streets leading up to Sage Grove.
The van doors opened on their own, showing the Buzz Bomber waiting inside.
I hopped in, followed by Egg Pawn with Gordon, who got him laid down on the bed. "Colin, how we doing?"
"Camera's will be back up in two minutes. Or should I end the loop now?"
"Go ahead," I tapped the van. "Get moving."
With a roar of an engine, the van started driving on it's own. I chuckled. Thankfully I got a van with standing room for the next part. "Well done everyone! Now. Buzz Bomber. Start up the hologram again, and let's see how the party at the stadium has gone."
"Zzzzzit."
Buzz Bomber activated the hologram. I connected with the emitters at the baseball stadium, and was soon standing in above the crowd once more.
I was surprised I wasn't dancing. My hologram was designed to dance as long as it wasn't interrupted or something serious hadn't gone down.
Of course, once I got a look at the stadium, I realized it was the latter. The cops had arrived. A bunch were shooting back at the badniks. However, one man was being dragged off by paramedics. He had burns across his arms, legs, and chest, portions of bone shining under the black police officers' cooked flesh. Familiar burn marks.
Of course. Homelander had decided to use his lasers. Damn him.
My hologram had been in the midst of speech. I let it continue.
"-all that power. And you have the control of a child. Truly, you are the world's largest buffoon."
Homelander glared at me, not even the slightest bit ashamed. I took some pleasure in his appearance though. The eagle on his right shoulder had been shattered, likely by one of the Buzz Bombers mandibles, and his cape had been burnt, with some of the spandex on his left leg missing. Even better, his hair was covered in green goo and was sticking up everywhere.
I love Badniks. Give them an order like 'use this specific gear to ruin Homelander's clothes and hair' and they'd follow it to the end.
"That wouldn't have happened if you hadn't decided to attack us. And you're not even brave enough to come out and fight us yourself!"
His right hand snapped out, grabbing a Buzz Bomber out of the air. "Instead, you send these… toys!"
As the poor Buzz Bomber buzzed helplessly in his grip. He squeezed, shattering it with sprays of oil.
I chuckled darkly. "I'm sorry, but of course I sent 'toys'," I leaned forward, grinning directly in face with a hologram head larger than his body as he floated. "Because for me. This is merely a game, Homelander. All you heroes will learn to bow before Eggman, future ruler of the world!"
"Fuck you," Homelander spat out.
Wow. Homelander had no sense of drama.
Down below, my last Motobug was shattered by Queen Maeve. She gasped in exhaustion, falling to a knee. "We… we'll stop you. I swear."
God bless her, I think she actually meant it.
"Not a chance," I scoffed. "Well, sadly it seems you've defeated my current set of toys. I'll be back heroes. And when I do, I'll show you the true genius... of Doctor Eggman!"
"...Your name is fucking stupid," A-Train mumbled from his spot behind the line of police officers.
Well, of course the blue speedster would say that, huh?
"Oh I'm sure you'll appreciate it, Mister Choo-Choo, when my next plan hatches. In the meantime, bravo dear Seven. You really showed how strong and competent you are today didn't you! But we will play again soon! MUAHAHAHAHA! WAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"
I shut off the hologram as Homelander flew at the projector drone that finally floated up into view. I took a moment to be amused that the small round ball of tech had managed to hide away from him for so long just because it was made of zinc, hiding in a stadium with plenty of it to hide among. Then I immediately scowled, snapping back into my real body. Colin turned to look at me.
"I have the name of the officer who was injured. Reports say he's in an ambulance, critical condition."
"How's our medical gear?" I asked.
"Experimental. But we can help keep him alive for a good while."
"Send it. Call it a goodwill mission."
I turned and began to stride off.
"Julian."
I stopped, turning to face him. He hesitated.
"You know… that's not your fault."
"I do… Because it's Homelander's. And it's one more crime there will have to be a reckoning for."
Then I turned and started walking. "We succeeded in getting Mr. Gordon Clarke and beginning our little false supervillain act. Let's continue working, shall we?"
And one day. One day I would see Homelander die. See him realize that the half-assed Badniks I was forced to send after him were nothing compared to what was to come. I finally got Eggman's hatred of Sonic, just a little bit. It was different, of course. But I had just a hint of that deep hatred now.
"Julian," Colin walked over. I stopped, turning to look down at my fellow scientist. "Maybe you should rest. For just a moment. Have a drink with me. All our current projects are automated or need a bit of wait time. You can spare the moment."
"...Fine," I spat out, forcing myself to calm as best as I could. I took a deep breath. "Let's go to the kitchens."
"Good. And I think Mechelle would like to see you as well. It'll be good to have a small conversation, yes?"
I grumbled, unwilling to agree, but still nodding.
Still, as we left, a thought occurred to me.
Why did Ahti think Gordon Clarke was so important to take in?
...Because after today, Vought would be looking for someone to use against me. An EMP man was top of the list.
Should be a fun surprise when they went looking for him...
------
Author's Note: Gordon Clarke is not the canon character's name. The canon character never got a name in the show. He is now named after Gordon Freeman and Issac Clarke, two guys who have been through some shit.
That aside, I hope you guys like the art, and the chapter!
Check out their work and give them props from me if you can!
As for the chapter itself, this one was kinda big. The Badniks that Eggman made for this, at the end of the day, are mostly put together with the tech equivalent of gum and dreams. Still very advanced, but not as good as they could be. That said, still very advanced.
Oh, what's going to happen with the actual robots? You think Eggman would leave the remains of his robots laying around for people to analyze?
Anyways, thanks for reading. The next chapter should be up on my Patreon Friday, then posted here four days after. Hope you all have a great day!
------
The Seven
Being a superhero was fucking fantastic.
Money, fame, and all the sex anyone could ever want. It was a damn dream.
A-Train stepped out from a tunnel and into a stadium of cheering fans. The young black man in a blue costume and goggles had a smile stretching from ear to ear.
He looked out at the stands, with people shouting his name, and didn't have to force his smile. He'd had a tough couple weeks after running through that chick. He needed a bit of this, of people cheering on the A-Train.
"Yeah, what's up!" A-Train lifted his hands high, spinning around to face the crowd, throwing some quick playful jabs that the crowd went crazy for. "Yeah, the A-Train is heeere!"
"Would you tone it down?" Translucent said, walking past him, invisible within his superhero outfit.
"Shove it up your ass, Translucent," A-Train hissed at him even as he kept smiling. With A-Train leading them, the rest of the Seven followed.
The Deep, in his green uniform. The beautiful Queen Maeve, long red hair flowing behind her and silver costume shining. Black Noir, covered head to toe in black armor and spandex, barely registering the crowd cheers.
The crowd exploded as A-Train, Translucent, The Deep, Queen Maeve, and Black Noir walked together. They waved at the people in the stands, walking towards a large stage in the center of the field. As they stood in a line, their last member arrived.
Dropping out of the sky, he crashed into the ground just in front of the stage. A-Train felt his smile freeze just a bit as he felt the vibration through his feet. The man who crashed from the sky stood tall, looking around. His white teeth flashed, blue eyes shined, blonde hair almost glowing in the sunlight as the American flag waved about on his neck, muscles barely contained in a blue body suit.
The stadium erupted as Homelander joined the rest of the Seven on stage, a million watt smile shining on his face.
"They really do love him," Queen Maeve mumbled.
A-Train didn't say anything. None of them did. Homelander might hear it if they said anything… negative.
"Hello, ladies and gentlemen!" Homelander moved up to the podium, the mic picking up his voice with ease. "Welcome, one and all! Everybody excited?!"
"WOOOO!"
As the crowd cheered, Homelander chuckled. A-Train heard him mumble under his breath.
"Of course you are, you cocksuckers."
Once the crowd calmed, Homelander continued. "Now, as you know. The Seven hasn't had seven members for a while. Unless you count the janitor who helps keep our office clean."
A polite chuckle rang out. Homelander moved on.
"I'm pleased to announce that this won't be the case for long! For some time now, we've been auditioning to add a new member to the team! A new hero, to join the ranks of the Seven! And soon enough, we'll be announcing someone with the qualities of bravery, strength, and kindness, to stand with us!"
More like another asshole. A-Train shrugged off the thought.
"Next week, we'll be announcing-"
"SCREEEEEEEEK!"
"Gah!" A-Train shouted in pain at the loud squeal of the microphone suddenly getting cut off. Homelander looked around, holding a hand to his own ears.
And then, a giant blue glowing man was standing in the center of the field. An overweight guy with a long mustache and goggles. He grinned down at the Seven.
"...What the fuck?" Translucent asked.
"Hello, Seven!" the giant man said, his hands behind his back. It took a second for A-Train to realize what was going, though Queen Maeve said it first.
"Is that a hologram?"
"Why yes, it is," he bent down to smile. "Thank you for noticing, my dear. A simple one, sadly, but enough for today's little shindig."
"Who the hell are you?" Homelander asked, looking annoyed. "Did Meridith set this up?"
"Oh, my apologies," he stood back up. "Seven? My name is Doctor Eggman. Scientist Supreme. A genius, above any being on Earth. To say I am the smartest man alive doesn't cover it! Why, I-"
"Do you have a fucking point?" Homelander said, looking annoyed.
"Of course I have a point, you flag wearing buffoon!" the hologram laughed. "I'm here to show the world just who their new ruler is! Who will stand above you pathetic imbeciles as I bring humanity to a new level of greatness! Oh."
He raised a finger. "And I'm here to attack you."
A loud rock song suddenly began to play over a speaker in the distance. Lyrics began to play.
"The story begins, but who's gonna win
Knowing the danger lies within
Aboard the ARK, a genius at heart
Wanting to unlock the mysteries of life!"
The doors of the stadium exploded outwards.Something dropped out of the sky. A-Train looked around in shock. "What the-"
"I am the Eggman!" the giant said with the lyrics to his music, laughing. "WAHAHAHAHAHA!
Dozens of things in the sky began shooting at the stage. Bright yellow balls of energy that exploded in brief 'poofs' of light, turning the wooden stage to shrapnel. The Deep and Black Noir were sent flying as the blasts hit their chests, while Queen Maeve and Translucent ducked. A-Train instinctively dived aside at super-speed, glancing up.
He almost fell over in shock. "BEES?!"
Robot bees. Giant, 2 foot tall, robot bees. Firing laser weapons.
"YES! Buzz Bombers! Fly! Motobugs! Unleash your power!"
The robot bees were joined by goddamn robot ladybugs on wheels flooding in from outside the stadium. Ladybugs. On Wheels. A-Train, still running at super-speed, almost hit one when it came rushing at him. They were fast! Not as quick as him, but faster than they should have been as they ran along the grass.
"Go my Badniks! Go!" the hologram laughed. "WAHAHAHA! SHOW THEM THE POWER OF DOCTOR EGGMAN!"
"What the fuck!?" Queen Maeve shouted.
That was when the crab robots showed up in the stands, and the audience began to shout and scream.
------
I watched my Badniks rush the heroes and civilians, and wondered if I was enjoying this too much as I hummed to myself. "I am the Eggman, that's what I am…"
Homelander was looking around, confusion on his face as the other heroes were attacked. It was kind of hilarious. He didn't even move to attack anything, just stood there like he was trying to take things in.
Translucent took off his costume and tried to sneak up on a Motobug. So I think he was surprised when they turned around and rushed him, smashing into him with claws and sheer body weight and sending him bouncing across the grass.
"Sorry, Translucent, my machines are built with thermal vision!" I said gleefully.
A-Train ran over to a Vought employee who was trying to run, grabbing her arm. "Hey! Did you guys set this up!? The asshole has his own theme song!"
What, really? Middle of an attack, and he thought it was a publicity stunt. Well, I guess Vought had done similar things.
"A setup? Well, let me see if I can convince you of my authenticity," I snapped my fingers. "Burrobots!"
"Burro-what?" A-Train asked.
Then a drill exploded from the ground.
"FUCK!" A-Train dived aside. The drill was on the head of a robot with a pair of treads instead of leags, and long clawed arms. As A-Train dodged, the robots snapped out a long arm, it's claws scratching deep into his bicep.
"A setup?" I chuckled deep in my throat. "No. You're fighting for your lives, you fools!"
Black Noir jumped upwards, grabbing onto a Buzz Bomber and ripping its wings off, only to get shot dozens of times by another. Queen Maeve dodged a Motobug, grabbing it's head and using it as a bludgeon. Translucent got over his loss of invisibility to begin attacking a Crabmeat.
And yet, I noticed, only Queen Maeve had moved to the stands.
"Get out, go!" she shouted at the crowd, defending them from Crabmeats rushing towards the men, women, and children rushing after the crowd. Sadly, I had to allow my Badniks to injure civilians to sell the attack as genuine, so a few people had broken arms and legs from robotic claws. Nothing unrecoverable, but… Still.
When Queen Maeve leaped into the stands to defend the civilians as best as she could, I felt a bit of relief.
One of the crabmeats grabbed her arm, clenching down hard. She bit her lip in pain, then lifted a boot to stomp it over and over. As she slowly crushed it, I frowned at Homelander.
"I'm sorry… are you still confused, you absolute buffoon?"
More likely he was trying to see if he could find me with his super hearing and x-ray vision. Please, like I would have made it that easy.
As soon as I asked that, the confusion in his eyes snapped into rage. His eyes glowed red and his laser passed harmlessly through my holographic form. I raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, you blonde ignoramus. I cannot wait to watch you fall. Bombers!"
"You fu-" Dozens of Buzz Bombers dropped out of the sky, firing their yellow lasers at him. The lasers hit his head, chest, and back to seemingly little effect. He floated upwards, eyes glowing-
"And be careful with those lasers. You wouldn't want your loving fans to die from random laser fire on national television, would you? Consider our lovely audience!"
I said that for multiple reasons. First, because the shot that went through my hologram had destroyed a portion of the stands behind me and started a fire. Really, the asshole was so damn indiscriminate with those lasers. Second, to make sure I kept to my role. Couldn't just be a villain. I needed to have a bit of class, after all.
Scowling, Homelander flew forward to grab a Buzz Bomber, smashing it apart. Still, I smiled when I saw his annoyance at how hard it was to do compared to his usual victims. He fired one quick laser blast, but the lightning quick Buzz Bombers were programmed to shift out of the way of his line of sight whenever possible. Granted, they'd had practice.
Still. This was… I mean, it was cool. Seeing a team of heroes fighting hordes of robots, screaming citizens running for the hills as police sirens rang out in the distance. Right out of the comics… except it wasn't.
The Seven were sort of disappointing. Queen Maeve and Black Noir were fighting well, but A-Train was half panicking as the celebrity hero ran around avoiding the Borrubots jumping out of the ground, Homelander looked more annoyed than anything else chasing down the Buzz Bombers one at a time, Translucent was basically being bogged down unable to do much since his invisibility was totally countered even as he got a few good hits in and The Deep hadn't even started fighting just yet. Not to mention their teamwork was practically nonexistent throughout the whole fight so far.
I mentally sighed. They were obviously going to win this fight. My Badniks were made on short notice and on a budget. I'd gone for a combination of advanced tech and shortcuts. Thermal vision to track Translucent, just enough durability to matter, and fast enough that even A-Train had to use a bit of his speed to dodge around them.
But even if they were going to win, I was still disappointed. The Eggman in me, the part that had taken on godlike hedgehogs and echidnas, who had matched wits with a prodigy fox, found them lacking.
Whatever. I had more work to do.
"Looks like we're having fun, heroes," I said, hiding my emotions under a boisterous voice echoing in the baseball stadium. "But my Badniks will overwhelm you eventually. In the meantime, enjoy the musical accompaniment I have selected!"
E.G.G.M.A.N. ended, and was followed by another song from Ahti's walkman.
Take control, take control
I see a vision rising, dreary
Fading in as children play twilight games
In the town called Ordinary
As Take Control continued to play, I let the hologram go on autoplay. Basically it was just a gigantic Eggman… dancing. If someone interfered with the hologram, it would stop to say a smarmy line, but otherwise, it was Eggman grooving.
Hopefully, the cameras currently filming the mess would get a good view of that.
------
My mind returned to my body as I let the hologram continue. "Colin, how we doing?"
I stood in my main lab, my Eggman Control Unit sitting atop my head.
"Already done," Colin, sitting at a computer, took a sip of caffeine watching an upload finish. "Cameras and alarms are yours. You have ten minutes."
I switched my awareness back again as soon as he said that.
This time, rather than a view of the baseball stadium, I stood in my Eggman body in a forest, with a field of grass in front of me. Across from that grass, a single sign stood.
"Sage Grove Center," I read the sign. "God, the building looks positively devious even from here! I need to remember that design at some point."
I looked to my right, where a single Buzz Bomber had been flying with a camera instead of a laser stinger, using my movements to model the hologram. "Stay here."
"Zzzzzit," the Buzz Bomber acknowledged.
With that, I looked to my left, where a pair of Badnik's stood waiting. One was small, only about three feet from nose to the tip of his tail. Shaped like a reptile plushie; it had adorable stumpy legs, a curled tail, and googly eyes that looked around quickly.
The other one was even smaller, smaller than the model from the games. About as long as a school desk and thin as a banana, it was segmented into dozens of small orbs colored blue, with a pair of mandibles on it's head just under two narrowed eyes.
"Come along."
"Cree, cree!" the lizard crawled onto me, wrapping around my back and placing it's head on my shoulder. The small worm creature wrapped around my waist instead, becoming a makeshift belt of sorts. Moments later, it's program activated.
Flickers of light bounced across it, before it's skin began to shift and change. It's coloration began to match the world around it, then the field it projected extended to me and the worm.
A Newtron, a Badnik capable of turning invisible. Well, camouflage, technically, but that's a whole thing. The point was, it became hard to see. And could extend that power to others. It wasn't perfect, since it required direct contact, and wouldn't hold up well to direct touch with objects, but it was still fantastic.
It's why a chameleon was the animal representing it. Not just for style points, but because the Newtron eyes were made to take in every sight around it and quickly recreate it with a combination of recordings and predictive algorithms.
I started running the second I turned invisible, rushing over the grass. On some level, I felt a little ridiculous. In an Eggman body, running faster than some golf carts across an open field, with a chameleon on my back and a worm around my waist. Weird image. Except, of course, that I was invisible.
I flexed my false muscles and jumped over the fence in a quick bound, landing lightly on the other side. I moved on, heading towards the building beyond. "Colin, walk me through it."
It was hard, splitting my attention between two bodies, but it was the fastest way to communicate with him.
"The door ahead is clear. No orderlies or doctors," he said to my real body. In my Eggman form, I nodded.
I quickly opened the door and headed inside. The hallways within were pretty much the same as in the show.
Sage Grove in the show was a place owned by Vought. Well, owned by a shell company of Vought. Basically, it was where they held adult superheroes they had given Compound V to. A place to stick their experiments in until they could find a way to give superpowers to adults with any sort of useful repeatability. Stabilize the V.
I could see the appeal. Sell powers to people on a larger scale. Not just those with infant kids, but grown men and women with money to burn. Solid powers to everyone.
Didn't forgive the torture and murder.
I ran through the hallways at a quick pace, moving as lightly on my feet as I could.
"Left. Left again. Okay, go straight. The security office should be just ahead. What will you do about the guard?"
"That's what my little belt is for," I said with a chuckle. An orderly came down the hall. I slowed my pace to a slow walk, my steps silent, and slid around him before continuing. He didn't even glance up.
Nice thing about real life. A simple plan tends not to fuck up out of nowhere by some guy suddenly being psychic.
I approached the security office and tapped my belt.
"Go on, Crawlton."
The worm/centipede unfurled from my belt and landed on the linoleum floor. It sped along the ground, sliding like a snake. Once it got to the security door, it moved under it, it's robotic shell plates flexing around its myomer-muscle body.
I sat back and waited for a moment, leaning against the door. Inside, the single guard was probably bored, waiting for his shift to end. The most he would feel was a sudden sting through his shirt, probably on his back, the sort that someone would feel from a chair spring poking them.
That would be Crawlton stinging him. He carried a simple chemical in his body, made just for each guard registered as an employee in the facility. After all, you can't expect knock-out chemicals to be universal. Crawlton could recognize the weight, height, and health profile of every employee, and adjust the mixture to accommodate. Hopefully one day he could do even more, but this would be good enough.
There was a thumping sound. Then, after a moment, the door opened. I entered, smirking at the sight of Crawlton rushing over to slide up my leg and around my waist.
"Aw. Missed daddy already?"
With a small evil chuckle, I closed the door, stepped over the unconscious form of the guard lying on the floor, and moved over to the computer system and cameras. I started typing quickly, bringing up the internet and loading a program to connect Ivotech over to Sage Grove. Sure, Colin had hacked the cameras and alarms, but that was top-level shit. We needed everything.
"Gods," Colin stared at the screen before him, his eyes wide. "They've been at this for some time. Are you sure we shouldn't simply assassinate the ringleaders?"
"Not exactly, 'cleaning' the world to do that," I said with a sigh. "We need to bring this around to being a better place. Armies of robots killing people doesn't do that. Public opinion and societal change. That's the goal. So gather the evidence. And find Ahti's boy."
Colin rolled his eyes. "Mention a couple of assassinations and you get all nasty… Okay. He's on the first floor thankfully. Head sixteen rooms down, take a right, then five rooms up. I'll let you know when it's clear. Also… there are physical files on site here. But I'm guessing all the good stuff is with Vought."
"Of course it is," I moved the guard from the floor to the desk, arranging things so he would think he had fallen asleep at his desk. "But Sage Grove had the actual experimentation being done in the modern day. Public opinion, remember? People don't care about historical horrors. They're terrified of the possibility of monsters kidnapping them and experimenting on them now. Files from the old days will be fantastic, but these are fresh and hot for media consumption when we make our play."
With that, I left the room. That's the boring and convenient part of hacking. Most of it is just opening access to a program and letting it run. So it meant that I could use the rest of my time to get work done before I left.
While Colin continued to open up Sage Grove to Ivotech control, I headed over to the cell Colin indicated. As I passed the cells, I forced myself not to look inside. Invisibility kept me from being seen. But if I looked into the cells, seeing the tortured souls within…
I couldn't break everyone out. This early, it would cause nothing but chaos. It would make Vought realize they had an enemy, especially with my little distraction causing mayhem. They'd worry about Eggman being more than just a dumb supervillain with some weird robots.
Still. This was something I'd have to take care of later…
Pushing that aside, I stopped in front of a single door. "Once more, Crawlton."
The worm-centipede scooted under the door. Moments later, a man shouted in shock and pain, then a small thud followed.
Yeah, I know. Boring to do the same thing twice. But simplicity is always better than fancy shenanigans.
A moment later, the door was opened. I entered and glanced down at the form on the floor. He was thin, almost skeletal, with a scruffy beard and short-cut hair. I recognized him from the show, but only as a one-scene wonder. A young man who had unintentionally released a short EMP burst that sent a van flying, shut down electronics, and ended in Hughie having a deep wound in his belly.
So of course I had to knock him out. Couldn't risk it.
Honestly, if I could have picked someone to break out, it would have been Cindy the body exploder for her power, or Tim for his relative stability. Not… what was this kid's name? Gordon Clarke?
Well. Ahti wanted him out. And I was likely going to get him out anyway. Just to keep him from being used against me.
I picked him up over my shoulder and looked at the back wall. Now, I had to hack into the actual systems manually to get Gordon's location and create a permanent back door in Sage Grove. But now that I had his room, the next step was…
A sound came from the wall. Heh. Perfect timing. A laser soon cut through the wall. It moved quickly, opening a hole in the concrete wall. When done, the wall fell out, revealing my partner in crime.
"Ola, Egg Pawn," I said with a grin.
The bipedal bot's eye light shined. He was red, as short as E-Boy had once been, a thought that brought a small pang of pain to me. He was kinda goofy looking, with a big round head, body, and boots, big blue eyes, and a blue 'smile'. He extended his arms and wrapped big old hands around Gordon, taking him off my hands. I stepped through the wall and turned.
"Okay, Crawlton? Ready?"
The worm-centipede nodded. I grabbed onto the edges of the wall and pushed it up and into place again. The Newtron on my shoulder extended it's chameleon tongue out, the extended false flesh linking the section of wall that had been burned through. In its wake, a sort of drywall replaced it. On the inside, Crawlton did the same with his mandibles. Working together, they filled the circular line up once more. Crawlton added some paint, while Newtron simply retracted his tongue.
It wasn't perfect. But better than nothing.
"Okay, let's go!" I ran for it, Newtron keeping me invisible, while Egg Pawn continued carrying our cargo.
Inside, Crawlton entered the toilet, sliding into the pipes. If all went well, he would exit underneath the facility, find a secluded place no human could enter, then curl up and wait. An unseen infiltrator underneath the facility, hibernating until I called him to action, undetectable by anything that didn't directly touch him.
We headed for the fence, and I hopped over, rushing to the forest with Egg Pawn joining me. I came to a stop once we were behind the van we'd driven out in. Yeah, a van. It was parked in a forest, but we went through and scrubbed any and all footage of it on any cameras on the streets leading up to Sage Grove.
The van doors opened on their own, showing the Buzz Bomber waiting inside.
I hopped in, followed by Egg Pawn with Gordon, who got him laid down on the bed. "Colin, how we doing?"
"Camera's will be back up in two minutes. Or should I end the loop now?"
"Go ahead," I tapped the van. "Get moving."
With a roar of an engine, the van started driving on it's own. I chuckled. Thankfully I got a van with standing room for the next part. "Well done everyone! Now. Buzz Bomber. Start up the hologram again, and let's see how the party at the stadium has gone."
"Zzzzzit."
Buzz Bomber activated the hologram. I connected with the emitters at the baseball stadium, and was soon standing in above the crowd once more.
I was surprised I wasn't dancing. My hologram was designed to dance as long as it wasn't interrupted or something serious hadn't gone down.
Of course, once I got a look at the stadium, I realized it was the latter. The cops had arrived. A bunch were shooting back at the badniks. However, one man was being dragged off by paramedics. He had burns across his arms, legs, and chest, portions of bone shining under the black police officers' cooked flesh. Familiar burn marks.
Of course. Homelander had decided to use his lasers. Damn him.
My hologram had been in the midst of speech. I let it continue.
"-all that power. And you have the control of a child. Truly, you are the world's largest buffoon."
Homelander glared at me, not even the slightest bit ashamed. I took some pleasure in his appearance though. The eagle on his right shoulder had been shattered, likely by one of the Buzz Bombers mandibles, and his cape had been burnt, with some of the spandex on his left leg missing. Even better, his hair was covered in green goo and was sticking up everywhere.
I love Badniks. Give them an order like 'use this specific gear to ruin Homelander's clothes and hair' and they'd follow it to the end.
"That wouldn't have happened if you hadn't decided to attack us. And you're not even brave enough to come out and fight us yourself!"
His right hand snapped out, grabbing a Buzz Bomber out of the air. "Instead, you send these… toys!"
As the poor Buzz Bomber buzzed helplessly in his grip. He squeezed, shattering it with sprays of oil.
I chuckled darkly. "I'm sorry, but of course I sent 'toys'," I leaned forward, grinning directly in face with a hologram head larger than his body as he floated. "Because for me. This is merely a game, Homelander. All you heroes will learn to bow before Eggman, future ruler of the world!"
"Fuck you," Homelander spat out.
Wow. Homelander had no sense of drama.
Down below, my last Motobug was shattered by Queen Maeve. She gasped in exhaustion, falling to a knee. "We… we'll stop you. I swear."
God bless her, I think she actually meant it.
"Not a chance," I scoffed. "Well, sadly it seems you've defeated my current set of toys. I'll be back heroes. And when I do, I'll show you the true genius... of Doctor Eggman!"
"...Your name is fucking stupid," A-Train mumbled from his spot behind the line of police officers.
Well, of course the blue speedster would say that, huh?
"Oh I'm sure you'll appreciate it, Mister Choo-Choo, when my next plan hatches. In the meantime, bravo dear Seven. You really showed how strong and competent you are today didn't you! But we will play again soon! MUAHAHAHAHA! WAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"
I shut off the hologram as Homelander flew at the projector drone that finally floated up into view. I took a moment to be amused that the small round ball of tech had managed to hide away from him for so long just because it was made of zinc, hiding in a stadium with plenty of it to hide among. Then I immediately scowled, snapping back into my real body. Colin turned to look at me.
"I have the name of the officer who was injured. Reports say he's in an ambulance, critical condition."
"How's our medical gear?" I asked.
"Experimental. But we can help keep him alive for a good while."
"Send it. Call it a goodwill mission."
I turned and began to stride off.
"Julian."
I stopped, turning to face him. He hesitated.
"You know… that's not your fault."
"I do… Because it's Homelander's. And it's one more crime there will have to be a reckoning for."
Then I turned and started walking. "We succeeded in getting Mr. Gordon Clarke and beginning our little false supervillain act. Let's continue working, shall we?"
And one day. One day I would see Homelander die. See him realize that the half-assed Badniks I was forced to send after him were nothing compared to what was to come. I finally got Eggman's hatred of Sonic, just a little bit. It was different, of course. But I had just a hint of that deep hatred now.
"Julian," Colin walked over. I stopped, turning to look down at my fellow scientist. "Maybe you should rest. For just a moment. Have a drink with me. All our current projects are automated or need a bit of wait time. You can spare the moment."
"...Fine," I spat out, forcing myself to calm as best as I could. I took a deep breath. "Let's go to the kitchens."
"Good. And I think Mechelle would like to see you as well. It'll be good to have a small conversation, yes?"
I grumbled, unwilling to agree, but still nodding.
Still, as we left, a thought occurred to me.
Why did Ahti think Gordon Clarke was so important to take in?
...Because after today, Vought would be looking for someone to use against me. An EMP man was top of the list.
Should be a fun surprise when they went looking for him...
------
Author's Note: Gordon Clarke is not the canon character's name. The canon character never got a name in the show. He is now named after Gordon Freeman and Issac Clarke, two guys who have been through some shit.
That aside, I hope you guys like the art, and the chapter!
Check out their work and give them props from me if you can! As for the chapter itself, this one was kinda big. The Badniks that Eggman made for this, at the end of the day, are mostly put together with the tech equivalent of gum and dreams. Still very advanced, but not as good as they could be. That said, still very advanced.
Oh, what's going to happen with the actual robots? You think Eggman would leave the remains of his robots laying around for people to analyze?
Anyways, thanks for reading. The next chapter should be up on my Patreon Friday, then posted here four days after. Hope you all have a great day!
- Location
- Colorado
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Daaaaaang! Jullian has isn't half assing his supervillian routine. He certainly has a way with presentation!
- Location
- Elsewhere
"And that's coming from a Giant Hologram dancing through a stadium!"
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
I'm actually kind of hoping that a few of those dickbags actually end up getting pushed into being real heroes in this. Against their will, if need be. Most of the supers in this setting are utterly garbage human beings, to varying degrees, but circumstance can make puppets of us all.
- Location
- Elsewhere
Well superheroes need supervillains to justify their existence.
Otherwise they're just overpowered lunatics.
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- Location
- Ohio
Wonder if a good Samaritan will point out that of the Seven, only Queen Maeve moved to protect the crowd. Video footage of Homelander/Himelander standing around like a confused effeminate prince will likely get some scorn/mocking laughter.
Honestly Julian/Eggman could probably make a techno organic machine system that produces elements of the Compound V, then mixes it in its "Stomach" and then drive it through the kidneys to purify it. He could likely figure out how to enhance an adult with it to.
That would be the ultimate Troll actually, Eggman sending Vought a message that includes about a Gallon of purified Compound V, a hologram where he shows the machine that makes Compound V for maybe a Hundred Dollars for a swimming pool of it, and then he destroys the machine in front of their eyes alongside the Compound V he made.
Pretty sure the head of Vought and Stormfront would have massive strokes over that, the Board of Directors would cry like Trick or Treaters who found all their candy replaced with toothbrushes, floss, and toothpaste the minute they checked their stuff at home.
Which would definitely be interesting to see where you would go if you decided to adopt this idea... Cause Vought would throw everything they have to catch Eggman for showing that he could make Compound V for cheap...
Honestly Julian/Eggman could probably make a techno organic machine system that produces elements of the Compound V, then mixes it in its "Stomach" and then drive it through the kidneys to purify it. He could likely figure out how to enhance an adult with it to.
That would be the ultimate Troll actually, Eggman sending Vought a message that includes about a Gallon of purified Compound V, a hologram where he shows the machine that makes Compound V for maybe a Hundred Dollars for a swimming pool of it, and then he destroys the machine in front of their eyes alongside the Compound V he made.
Pretty sure the head of Vought and Stormfront would have massive strokes over that, the Board of Directors would cry like Trick or Treaters who found all their candy replaced with toothbrushes, floss, and toothpaste the minute they checked their stuff at home.
Which would definitely be interesting to see where you would go if you decided to adopt this idea... Cause Vought would throw everything they have to catch Eggman for showing that he could make Compound V for cheap...
Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I feel like that would get whoever uploaded that footage with that spin "mysteriously" lasered to death from orbit. Or, to avoid implicating Homelander personally, poisoned by Vought assassins or something.
KillerFish
Grumpy Owl, Bird Lawyer
Because I'm actually on here too (and bored), here's a cleaner version of the IvoTech logo (@DesertChocolate I've sent you the SVG copy):
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Eggman sure seems to enjoy theatrics, as expected of a cartoon series villain. Not that I mind, being as it makes him entertaining vs despicable to watch - barring the civvie attacks in the stadium. Wonder how the Vought PR machine shall try to spin this?
Modus_Tollens
SCREAMING AT THE APOCALYPSE
- Location
- ALSO SCREAMING.
There are a lot of reasons to at least channel yourself in a less dickbaggy fashion. You can't afford to alienate your comrades because they are the only things stopping you from getting your eyebrows removed by the bastard child of a cuttlefish and a cuisinart. You can't afford to indulge in all of your worst vices and become a living trainwreck because you are living your life behind enemy lines and you never know when things are going to go horribly wrong. You can't afford to ignore the welfare of the public because someone out there is damn near goading you into public relations nightmares, putting you in the position where you can't hide your missteps and so you must avoid them at all costs. You can't afford to coast by on your admittedly awesome powers because they will never be enough by themselves, a surefire road to mechanical skullfucking should you avoid training them to their fullest.
And, of course, you are presumably at war. A proper Von Neumann war is pretty much an existential threat for the species if it gets off its leash and losing is not an option. You might not be a nice person but professionalism is no longer something that is optional.
Last edited:
- Location
- Somewhere and Nowhere in a state of super-position
Or souped up first responders,
like in the "Incredibles" animated movie.
Very few "bad guys", mostly just rescuing people, stopping fires, etc.
8: React
Chapter 8
"Here," Mechelle handed me an old favorite drink of mine. Sea-salt caramel milkshake, in a tall glass with a straw poking out of the frothy top of it. Terribly sugary and fattening, so she usually gave me 'that look' when I drank one. It was her usual natural blank face that she showed whenever she wasn't acting in front of others. But I had started to get good at reading them.
The face she showed when I reached for unhealthy food or another energy drink? That was her 'you know better and you can do better'.
There was also, 'you need exercise, a healthy body, a healthy mind'. And, 'don't pretend you don't know people's names just to poke their egos, I don't care that Ron Swanson did it'.
Don't ask me how a literal blank expression did that much. Just know that I'm a genius and therefore always right.
Anyways, today she let me have the milkshake. I took it gratefully, while Colin and her took beers. We were in my kitchens, set aside from the main labs where Colin and I worked. I sat against it, while Colin was on a chair. Mechelle moved to sit atop the table, something which surprised me, but that I didn't object to.
Colin and Mechelle didn't say anything. They just waited.
"I'm going to need to allow some horrid things to happen," I said at last.
Still nothing.
"That was obvious from the start of course. In order to actually take down Vought, I can't beat them without smashing them apart. Small skirmishes, pretending to be a normal enemy. Then turn the whole company and structure to ashes."
I sipped my drink briefly. "But starting off so slow… well, it's leading to a lot of innocent people getting hurt."
Colin sighed. "It is necessary, Julian. We can't stand up to Vought. Not yet. Politically, financially, and even in terms of power. I'm certain I've had nightmares about Black Noir walking in and killing us all."
"For now, we'll need to allow it," Mechelle pointed out. "But one day, we can stop them."
I huffed a bit at that. "Yeah… Colin, have we got the pharma branch ready to go?"
"I-"
"Shouldn't you be asking me that?"
Colin and I looked at Mechelle. She was emotionless, but still looked at me in particular.
"I, uh, meant the technological side of things. I know you have the business side handled, Mechelle. You've been kicking ass."
Somehow, despite not shifting in emotion, she still seemed to preen under the praise.
"But we should make sure we have the tech to live up to any promises we give out. What can we do?" I asked him.
Colin frowned. "Well… the prosthetics we've developed don't have anywhere near the ability to sense things as you wished. There's some sort of lag that we haven't been able to account for. Takes a second for people to feel heat and pressure. Mechelle and I are fully robotic, so we don't have that issue, but sending artificial sensation to organic nerves doesn't seem to work efficiently. Not without sacrificing accuracy."
"We'll need more advanced software," I noted slowly. "Okay. Do we need anything else?"
"Not on the legal side of things," Mechelle said. "Originally, I would say yes. But we are in luck. Vought is a pharmaceutical company. In some ways, it is the pharmaceutical company, selling more than just Compound V. They used a lot of their influence to lobby for easier regulations."
Well. Explained a few things. Like the opioid crisis still being a thing.
"In the end, it was relatively easy to put together the correct licenses."
"And I do have a few doctorates in medical and surgical fields," Colin shrugged. "Well, false ones, but I have thousands of hours of medical expertise in my files."
I smiled. I was feeling better, now that we had a plan to help someone. I forced myself to focus though. "Right now though… Gordon."
"Ah, our future guest," Colin frowned. "I'm a bit worried about having him hear. A young man whose primary power is that he shuts down electronics? In a tech company's headquarters?"
"He won't be here. We'll keep him under until we can send him to the island. Better he be out on a tropical island when he wakes, instead of that damned asylum."
"The building permits are finished by the way," Mechelle said. Her usual stoic attitude cracked a bit. "It was insanely hard to hire companies willing to build on a tropical island however. Are you sure we can't just build the public building ourselves like the Eggman Base?"
It was an old plan. On the island, there would be two bases. One, nice and visible on the surface, would be a place for miners and researchers to live, work, and build within as they got all the rare earth metals a mad scientist could ever want. The other would be Eggman's Base. A secret underground fortress, surrounded by hardened concrete and a layer of steel, on the other side of the island stretching out under the ocean, far from any legitimate mining. It was risky, making an underground base near a place where people would be mining, but the legal seismic activity would hide the illegal variety.
"Better to have it built by real people," I said with a shrug. "We'll hire employees from everywhere after all. Not just to provide ample work, but to have eyes on us. As long as our employees see us being moral, they can vouch that we have nothing to do with the dastardly Eggman and his genius plots."
"Genius, huh?" Colin's sarcasm was noted and ignored.
"On that note, our employee search has been interesting. I'll need to do some personal visits for a few of them. And some unions are refusing to work with us. I have a plan for that, however," Mechelle said.
Colin sipped his own drink, a Scottish drink he'd apparently fallen in love with, before speaking. "I also have a project in the running. Some underwater gear and Badniks. Do you mind if I take some time for that?."
"Not a problem," I agreed immediately. "I'm gonna work on you two in the meantime. Those fusion cores powering you are amateur hour at best, and I don't like that your overall software isn't as efficient as it could be, especially in terms of storage space. And I still need to get you experience, Colin."
Colin looked oddly happy as he nodded, walking off.
I followed.
We'd had a busy day, but no good super-genius got anything done by sitting around.
Except Doctor Doom. How that guy could sit on a throne so much and still make the things he did boggled my mind.
------
Madelyn Stillwell
"What in the fuck was that!?" Homelander snapped as he entered Madelyn Stillwell's office. She looked over at him, and forced herself not to laugh.
"Is that… glitter?"
"Yes it's fucking glitter!!!"
Homelander looked fucking ridiculous. It wasn't just the fact the eagle on his right shoulder was gone, the patch of melted suit on his left leg, or the cape burned away up to the middle of his back. It was the gold, green, and blue glitter covering him from head to toe. Even his hair, usually so perfect, had been covered in a strange fluid that made the glitter stick to it. He looked like a sparkly porn star.
"What happened?" Madelyn asked, controlling her laughter easily when he gave her a death glare.
"What happened?" he asked incredulously. He laughed, a bitter and sarcastic laugh while walking into her office and pacing in front of her desk. "Oh, I don't know. We go to a stupid fucking press junket, to talk about how 'the Seven are getting a new member!' La de fucking da! And then, some motherfucker!"
He grabbed a small table next to one of the couches in the center of her office and tossed it at the wall. As it shattered apart and left a large dent in the drywall, Madelyn held back the fear she felt with the barest amount of control.
"Comes in, attacking all of us with robots. Useless chunks of metal!"
"Homelander. I know all that. I'm talking about the glitter."
He calmed. But only just. "Ohhhh, yeah, why I look like a fucking gay wedding? Because those robots, after I took out most of them by the way, exploded! With rainbow showers of glitter! All over us. We looked ridiculous out there, Madelyn!"
Madelyn nodded. "Okay. Well, I didn't know about the last part. But we're working on the rest of it."
"Who was it?" Homelander demanded, clenching his fists. "That… Eggman?. What a stupid fucking name.?"
"We don't know yet," Madelyn said, circling around her desk to stand in front of him. "So far, we haven't gotten any pickups on facial recognition. And his technology is-"
"Stupid kiddie bullshit-"
"More advanced than anything we've ever seen," when Homelander gaped at her, Madelyn sighed. "Autonomous robots, drones, capable of firing plasma weaponry, moving fast enough to force A-Train to dodge, digging through the earth at insane speeds, even bruising Queen Maeve and Translucent. Not to mention full-on holograms. It's not just impressive, it's something out of our wheelhouse entirely."
Homelander sobered. Quickly. "A supe?"
"If he is, it's not one we know of. And enhanced intelligence or control of technology is just not something we've ever really looked for in our supers."
Mostly because that sort of power was a bit too much. Homelander was bad enough. Someone who could turn Vought's technological advantages, their information network, the crime analytics program, against them, or someone as superhumanly intelligent as Homelander was superhumanly powerful, would be a disaster. Frederick Vought's brilliance had changed the world. Someone smarter might end it.
Except, that now said smarter person had appeared it seemed like.
"What about Tek Knight?" Homelander asked seriously. "This supe tech bullshit is supposed to be his thing, right?"
"Once we get the chance, we'll get him to look at the remains of the robots we were able to get our hands on before the police and FBI got them," Madelyn placed a hand on Homelander's shoulder, smiling. "Don't worry about it. We're going to get this all cleaned up. In fact… this might be to our benefit. Having a… supervillain, around."
Homelander froze. Then he smiled. A slow, long smile. Madelyn carefully controlled her reaction to that, the fear that shot through her. "Heh. A supervillain… I didn't think of that."
Of course not, he'd been too enraged about this Eggman making a fool out of him to consider the long-term benefits.
Homelander chuckled. "A supervillain. So that's what we're going with?"
"Ohhh, yes. In a way, this is perfect. If this guy keeps showing up, the government is going to start looking for ways to fight him. And who better than the heroes who beat him the first time?" Madelyn placed a hand on his face, smiling as she stroked his cheek. "Whoever this guy is, he's going to end up being very useful for us. Our marketing team will get started on making him public enemy number 1. I'm sure we'll have him taken care of soon enough, but for the time being?"
"He'll be a good little villain for us," Homelander looked pleased. Thank god. Because when he looked angry, people sometimes died.
Madelyn sighed in relief. Hopefully, this would all blow over soon enough. They'd track down Eggman, shut him down, and make the Seven look good in the process. For now, the marketing team would do their best work to have that fiasco at the baseball stadium look more like heroes at work, rather than chickens with their heads taken off.
After all, it was easy to pass the blame off to the guy who made a spectacle of himself.
In the meantime, she'd reach out to the rest of Vought and see if there was someone who could work as a counter to Eggman. There was some guy she had heard about that could fire EMP's? Those shut down electronics, right? Might be worth getting them in action...
------
Billy Butcher
Butcher chuckled as he watched a video clip, sipping at a bottle of beer in the cheap motel. On the laptop in front of him, A-Train got run over by a fucking ladybug bot. Translucent got flipped over when a drillbot slammed into him (though it was hard to tell when he was invisible). The Deep even got knocked so hard on his ass that he wasn't even seen doing any fighting!
Granted, the news shots he was watching were from the internet, buggers with cell phones uploading clips before Vought could take them down rather than the sanitized bullshit on the news channels.
Then a big bee shot off one of Homelander's eagles. The look on his face!
"Fucking diabolical!" Butcher laughed, leaning back in his seat. "Ah, man, look at their stupid fucking faces. Ha!"
He shook his head as he enjoyed the sight of the 'heroes' getting embarrassed by a bunch of robots. The video changed focus to the large blue hologram in the center of the stadium.
It was dancing. A giant fat man with a huge mustache, swinging his hips to the song playing in the stadium.
Evil grows in the dark
Where the sun, it never shines
Evil grows in cracks and holes
"Man's got a knack for presentation, I'll give the bastard that," Butcher chuckled. He narrowed his eyes a bit. Still though. That was some advanced shit. Stupid looking. But advanced. Might be nice to get some of those toys…
Then… a laser shot from Homelander's eyes. It went through one of the bee robots. And hit a cop on the other side. Sending him flying, the poor copper screaming as his body turned into a bloody crisp. Homelander didn't even notice until the hologram stopped dancing.
"Really, you absolute ignoramus?" the hologram said, staring at Homelander. "I warned you about this exact thing."
The hologram continued. And Homelander didn't show a hint of shame.
Butcher's amusement evaporated in an instant. Of course… Of fucking course...
------
General Nathan Bradley
"Exploded into confetti!?" General Bradley shouted into his phone. He pulled back the phone to stare at it in disbelief.
"Y-Yes sir," the voice on the other end said. "We were gathering the remains and they blew up next to Homelander, A-Train, and the Deep… We still have a few pieces, but nothing concrete."
Bradley rubbed his face with his other hand and sighed. Well, that made some sense. Asset denial was standard practice in the military after all. This Eggman may have been a rampaging moron, but his technology was advanced. Those bees and the digging robots were the top ones. The stupid crabs and ladybugs…
God, ladybugs of all things.
Well, flying robots that could fire lasers and robots that could infiltrate a place by digging through the earth? Those were dream technologies on their own.
"All right, well, get that shit out to DARPA. Maybe those eggheads can pull something together out of that mess."
Bradley hung up and sighed. Bee bots and ladybugs and exploding confetti.
Actually… speaking of robots.
Bradley brought up a file on his computer. The testing on the IM guns and Big Foot model mech was currently underway. It would be sometime before they would actually start putting them out to the troops, but the testing was very promising.
The IM's were surviving a whole lot of stress tests. And overall, every spec of the weapons outperformed their contemporaries in range (up to 1000 yards effective range!), simplicity, robustness, even things as simple as weight.
They weren't perfect. The magazines sometimes got stuck when trying to reload them, requiring a quick hit to the side to remove them. And the grips were too smooth, some of the soldiers were wrapping them up with duct tape to give them extra grip. A pair of small defects he'd bring up to Ivo.
Bradley was almost relieved by it. If they had been too perfect he would have been almost suspicious.
And then there was the Big Foot… god, the Big Foot.
It was new. Sure, there had been ideas along the lines of it before, but modern technology didn't have a way to make anything like it until now.
The Big Foot, however, solved many of the old problems.
It was agile and quick for it's size, able to roll itself back to its feet if needed, could navigate unsteady terrain fairly easily, and could run at speeds just a bit slower than the fastest tank they had.
It was cheap for it's make, about the same as a M1-Abrams.
It had several different weapons roles it could fulfill, and was constructed to be able to easily handle the recoil of every weapon, sometimes even while moving.
It's legs were tough as hell. Bradley could tell that Ivo had invested a lot of time and energy making sure no one could take it out just by aiming a rpg at the legs. And when they removed one leg manually, the Big Foot had been able to hop on one foot. Stupid looking, but it was still moving, and managed to cover a good bit of distance that way.
And when the pilot wanted it to be, it was quiet. Eerily so. Some of the eggheads had looked under the hood and found dozens of 'muscles' under the armor plating. They had a current running through them when the thing moved, the green false muscles pumping with electricity.
Ah. And the power sources. That was… interesting. Hidden under the armor, they were on either side of the cockpit, each covered with a decal of a cute squirrel, which was a strange detail. Underneath that, where the intakes could be seen, a pair of engines about the size of a mini-fridge, each with around 800-1000 kw output on average, and possibly half again that at peak, according to his engineers. More efficient than the versions currently used in the… in the M1 Abrams…
Goddamn the M1-Abrams. It was a good tank. A solid tank. But Congress just kept on buying them! The current strategic thought process for the military was lighter, faster, more streamlined. Having big tanks would always be a necessity, but they didn't fit the current way wars were engaged. At least they didn't need to spend so much money on new ones.
Actually… didn't Ivotech have a service for something related to that? Something about rebuilding weapons and vehicles, or turning them into other things? Or buying them? Hmm…
He decided to look into that later.
------
Author's Note: I'm always a little iffy on adding things from the perspective of the military. I tend to get a lot wrong, and while the military of the Boys might be different from our real-life one, I'd like to be somewhat realistic. Still, hopefully, this chapter tickled you guys. Writing Billy is going to be fun, I can tell.
Next Chapter will be out tomorrow on my Patreon. Will try and get to regular updates, but sadly real life takes priority.
"Here," Mechelle handed me an old favorite drink of mine. Sea-salt caramel milkshake, in a tall glass with a straw poking out of the frothy top of it. Terribly sugary and fattening, so she usually gave me 'that look' when I drank one. It was her usual natural blank face that she showed whenever she wasn't acting in front of others. But I had started to get good at reading them.
The face she showed when I reached for unhealthy food or another energy drink? That was her 'you know better and you can do better'.
There was also, 'you need exercise, a healthy body, a healthy mind'. And, 'don't pretend you don't know people's names just to poke their egos, I don't care that Ron Swanson did it'.
Don't ask me how a literal blank expression did that much. Just know that I'm a genius and therefore always right.
Anyways, today she let me have the milkshake. I took it gratefully, while Colin and her took beers. We were in my kitchens, set aside from the main labs where Colin and I worked. I sat against it, while Colin was on a chair. Mechelle moved to sit atop the table, something which surprised me, but that I didn't object to.
Colin and Mechelle didn't say anything. They just waited.
"I'm going to need to allow some horrid things to happen," I said at last.
Still nothing.
"That was obvious from the start of course. In order to actually take down Vought, I can't beat them without smashing them apart. Small skirmishes, pretending to be a normal enemy. Then turn the whole company and structure to ashes."
I sipped my drink briefly. "But starting off so slow… well, it's leading to a lot of innocent people getting hurt."
Colin sighed. "It is necessary, Julian. We can't stand up to Vought. Not yet. Politically, financially, and even in terms of power. I'm certain I've had nightmares about Black Noir walking in and killing us all."
"For now, we'll need to allow it," Mechelle pointed out. "But one day, we can stop them."
I huffed a bit at that. "Yeah… Colin, have we got the pharma branch ready to go?"
"I-"
"Shouldn't you be asking me that?"
Colin and I looked at Mechelle. She was emotionless, but still looked at me in particular.
"I, uh, meant the technological side of things. I know you have the business side handled, Mechelle. You've been kicking ass."
Somehow, despite not shifting in emotion, she still seemed to preen under the praise.
"But we should make sure we have the tech to live up to any promises we give out. What can we do?" I asked him.
Colin frowned. "Well… the prosthetics we've developed don't have anywhere near the ability to sense things as you wished. There's some sort of lag that we haven't been able to account for. Takes a second for people to feel heat and pressure. Mechelle and I are fully robotic, so we don't have that issue, but sending artificial sensation to organic nerves doesn't seem to work efficiently. Not without sacrificing accuracy."
"We'll need more advanced software," I noted slowly. "Okay. Do we need anything else?"
"Not on the legal side of things," Mechelle said. "Originally, I would say yes. But we are in luck. Vought is a pharmaceutical company. In some ways, it is the pharmaceutical company, selling more than just Compound V. They used a lot of their influence to lobby for easier regulations."
Well. Explained a few things. Like the opioid crisis still being a thing.
"In the end, it was relatively easy to put together the correct licenses."
"And I do have a few doctorates in medical and surgical fields," Colin shrugged. "Well, false ones, but I have thousands of hours of medical expertise in my files."
I smiled. I was feeling better, now that we had a plan to help someone. I forced myself to focus though. "Right now though… Gordon."
"Ah, our future guest," Colin frowned. "I'm a bit worried about having him hear. A young man whose primary power is that he shuts down electronics? In a tech company's headquarters?"
"He won't be here. We'll keep him under until we can send him to the island. Better he be out on a tropical island when he wakes, instead of that damned asylum."
"The building permits are finished by the way," Mechelle said. Her usual stoic attitude cracked a bit. "It was insanely hard to hire companies willing to build on a tropical island however. Are you sure we can't just build the public building ourselves like the Eggman Base?"
It was an old plan. On the island, there would be two bases. One, nice and visible on the surface, would be a place for miners and researchers to live, work, and build within as they got all the rare earth metals a mad scientist could ever want. The other would be Eggman's Base. A secret underground fortress, surrounded by hardened concrete and a layer of steel, on the other side of the island stretching out under the ocean, far from any legitimate mining. It was risky, making an underground base near a place where people would be mining, but the legal seismic activity would hide the illegal variety.
"Better to have it built by real people," I said with a shrug. "We'll hire employees from everywhere after all. Not just to provide ample work, but to have eyes on us. As long as our employees see us being moral, they can vouch that we have nothing to do with the dastardly Eggman and his genius plots."
"Genius, huh?" Colin's sarcasm was noted and ignored.
"On that note, our employee search has been interesting. I'll need to do some personal visits for a few of them. And some unions are refusing to work with us. I have a plan for that, however," Mechelle said.
Colin sipped his own drink, a Scottish drink he'd apparently fallen in love with, before speaking. "I also have a project in the running. Some underwater gear and Badniks. Do you mind if I take some time for that?."
"Not a problem," I agreed immediately. "I'm gonna work on you two in the meantime. Those fusion cores powering you are amateur hour at best, and I don't like that your overall software isn't as efficient as it could be, especially in terms of storage space. And I still need to get you experience, Colin."
Colin looked oddly happy as he nodded, walking off.
I followed.
We'd had a busy day, but no good super-genius got anything done by sitting around.
Except Doctor Doom. How that guy could sit on a throne so much and still make the things he did boggled my mind.
------
Madelyn Stillwell
"What in the fuck was that!?" Homelander snapped as he entered Madelyn Stillwell's office. She looked over at him, and forced herself not to laugh.
"Is that… glitter?"
"Yes it's fucking glitter!!!"
Homelander looked fucking ridiculous. It wasn't just the fact the eagle on his right shoulder was gone, the patch of melted suit on his left leg, or the cape burned away up to the middle of his back. It was the gold, green, and blue glitter covering him from head to toe. Even his hair, usually so perfect, had been covered in a strange fluid that made the glitter stick to it. He looked like a sparkly porn star.
"What happened?" Madelyn asked, controlling her laughter easily when he gave her a death glare.
"What happened?" he asked incredulously. He laughed, a bitter and sarcastic laugh while walking into her office and pacing in front of her desk. "Oh, I don't know. We go to a stupid fucking press junket, to talk about how 'the Seven are getting a new member!' La de fucking da! And then, some motherfucker!"
He grabbed a small table next to one of the couches in the center of her office and tossed it at the wall. As it shattered apart and left a large dent in the drywall, Madelyn held back the fear she felt with the barest amount of control.
"Comes in, attacking all of us with robots. Useless chunks of metal!"
"Homelander. I know all that. I'm talking about the glitter."
He calmed. But only just. "Ohhhh, yeah, why I look like a fucking gay wedding? Because those robots, after I took out most of them by the way, exploded! With rainbow showers of glitter! All over us. We looked ridiculous out there, Madelyn!"
Madelyn nodded. "Okay. Well, I didn't know about the last part. But we're working on the rest of it."
"Who was it?" Homelander demanded, clenching his fists. "That… Eggman?. What a stupid fucking name.?"
"We don't know yet," Madelyn said, circling around her desk to stand in front of him. "So far, we haven't gotten any pickups on facial recognition. And his technology is-"
"Stupid kiddie bullshit-"
"More advanced than anything we've ever seen," when Homelander gaped at her, Madelyn sighed. "Autonomous robots, drones, capable of firing plasma weaponry, moving fast enough to force A-Train to dodge, digging through the earth at insane speeds, even bruising Queen Maeve and Translucent. Not to mention full-on holograms. It's not just impressive, it's something out of our wheelhouse entirely."
Homelander sobered. Quickly. "A supe?"
"If he is, it's not one we know of. And enhanced intelligence or control of technology is just not something we've ever really looked for in our supers."
Mostly because that sort of power was a bit too much. Homelander was bad enough. Someone who could turn Vought's technological advantages, their information network, the crime analytics program, against them, or someone as superhumanly intelligent as Homelander was superhumanly powerful, would be a disaster. Frederick Vought's brilliance had changed the world. Someone smarter might end it.
Except, that now said smarter person had appeared it seemed like.
"What about Tek Knight?" Homelander asked seriously. "This supe tech bullshit is supposed to be his thing, right?"
"Once we get the chance, we'll get him to look at the remains of the robots we were able to get our hands on before the police and FBI got them," Madelyn placed a hand on Homelander's shoulder, smiling. "Don't worry about it. We're going to get this all cleaned up. In fact… this might be to our benefit. Having a… supervillain, around."
Homelander froze. Then he smiled. A slow, long smile. Madelyn carefully controlled her reaction to that, the fear that shot through her. "Heh. A supervillain… I didn't think of that."
Of course not, he'd been too enraged about this Eggman making a fool out of him to consider the long-term benefits.
Homelander chuckled. "A supervillain. So that's what we're going with?"
"Ohhh, yes. In a way, this is perfect. If this guy keeps showing up, the government is going to start looking for ways to fight him. And who better than the heroes who beat him the first time?" Madelyn placed a hand on his face, smiling as she stroked his cheek. "Whoever this guy is, he's going to end up being very useful for us. Our marketing team will get started on making him public enemy number 1. I'm sure we'll have him taken care of soon enough, but for the time being?"
"He'll be a good little villain for us," Homelander looked pleased. Thank god. Because when he looked angry, people sometimes died.
Madelyn sighed in relief. Hopefully, this would all blow over soon enough. They'd track down Eggman, shut him down, and make the Seven look good in the process. For now, the marketing team would do their best work to have that fiasco at the baseball stadium look more like heroes at work, rather than chickens with their heads taken off.
After all, it was easy to pass the blame off to the guy who made a spectacle of himself.
In the meantime, she'd reach out to the rest of Vought and see if there was someone who could work as a counter to Eggman. There was some guy she had heard about that could fire EMP's? Those shut down electronics, right? Might be worth getting them in action...
------
Billy Butcher
Butcher chuckled as he watched a video clip, sipping at a bottle of beer in the cheap motel. On the laptop in front of him, A-Train got run over by a fucking ladybug bot. Translucent got flipped over when a drillbot slammed into him (though it was hard to tell when he was invisible). The Deep even got knocked so hard on his ass that he wasn't even seen doing any fighting!
Granted, the news shots he was watching were from the internet, buggers with cell phones uploading clips before Vought could take them down rather than the sanitized bullshit on the news channels.
Then a big bee shot off one of Homelander's eagles. The look on his face!
"Fucking diabolical!" Butcher laughed, leaning back in his seat. "Ah, man, look at their stupid fucking faces. Ha!"
He shook his head as he enjoyed the sight of the 'heroes' getting embarrassed by a bunch of robots. The video changed focus to the large blue hologram in the center of the stadium.
It was dancing. A giant fat man with a huge mustache, swinging his hips to the song playing in the stadium.
Evil grows in the dark
Where the sun, it never shines
Evil grows in cracks and holes
"Man's got a knack for presentation, I'll give the bastard that," Butcher chuckled. He narrowed his eyes a bit. Still though. That was some advanced shit. Stupid looking. But advanced. Might be nice to get some of those toys…
Then… a laser shot from Homelander's eyes. It went through one of the bee robots. And hit a cop on the other side. Sending him flying, the poor copper screaming as his body turned into a bloody crisp. Homelander didn't even notice until the hologram stopped dancing.
"Really, you absolute ignoramus?" the hologram said, staring at Homelander. "I warned you about this exact thing."
The hologram continued. And Homelander didn't show a hint of shame.
Butcher's amusement evaporated in an instant. Of course… Of fucking course...
------
General Nathan Bradley
"Exploded into confetti!?" General Bradley shouted into his phone. He pulled back the phone to stare at it in disbelief.
"Y-Yes sir," the voice on the other end said. "We were gathering the remains and they blew up next to Homelander, A-Train, and the Deep… We still have a few pieces, but nothing concrete."
Bradley rubbed his face with his other hand and sighed. Well, that made some sense. Asset denial was standard practice in the military after all. This Eggman may have been a rampaging moron, but his technology was advanced. Those bees and the digging robots were the top ones. The stupid crabs and ladybugs…
God, ladybugs of all things.
Well, flying robots that could fire lasers and robots that could infiltrate a place by digging through the earth? Those were dream technologies on their own.
"All right, well, get that shit out to DARPA. Maybe those eggheads can pull something together out of that mess."
Bradley hung up and sighed. Bee bots and ladybugs and exploding confetti.
Actually… speaking of robots.
Bradley brought up a file on his computer. The testing on the IM guns and Big Foot model mech was currently underway. It would be sometime before they would actually start putting them out to the troops, but the testing was very promising.
The IM's were surviving a whole lot of stress tests. And overall, every spec of the weapons outperformed their contemporaries in range (up to 1000 yards effective range!), simplicity, robustness, even things as simple as weight.
They weren't perfect. The magazines sometimes got stuck when trying to reload them, requiring a quick hit to the side to remove them. And the grips were too smooth, some of the soldiers were wrapping them up with duct tape to give them extra grip. A pair of small defects he'd bring up to Ivo.
Bradley was almost relieved by it. If they had been too perfect he would have been almost suspicious.
And then there was the Big Foot… god, the Big Foot.
It was new. Sure, there had been ideas along the lines of it before, but modern technology didn't have a way to make anything like it until now.
The Big Foot, however, solved many of the old problems.
It was agile and quick for it's size, able to roll itself back to its feet if needed, could navigate unsteady terrain fairly easily, and could run at speeds just a bit slower than the fastest tank they had.
It was cheap for it's make, about the same as a M1-Abrams.
It had several different weapons roles it could fulfill, and was constructed to be able to easily handle the recoil of every weapon, sometimes even while moving.
It's legs were tough as hell. Bradley could tell that Ivo had invested a lot of time and energy making sure no one could take it out just by aiming a rpg at the legs. And when they removed one leg manually, the Big Foot had been able to hop on one foot. Stupid looking, but it was still moving, and managed to cover a good bit of distance that way.
And when the pilot wanted it to be, it was quiet. Eerily so. Some of the eggheads had looked under the hood and found dozens of 'muscles' under the armor plating. They had a current running through them when the thing moved, the green false muscles pumping with electricity.
Ah. And the power sources. That was… interesting. Hidden under the armor, they were on either side of the cockpit, each covered with a decal of a cute squirrel, which was a strange detail. Underneath that, where the intakes could be seen, a pair of engines about the size of a mini-fridge, each with around 800-1000 kw output on average, and possibly half again that at peak, according to his engineers. More efficient than the versions currently used in the… in the M1 Abrams…
Goddamn the M1-Abrams. It was a good tank. A solid tank. But Congress just kept on buying them! The current strategic thought process for the military was lighter, faster, more streamlined. Having big tanks would always be a necessity, but they didn't fit the current way wars were engaged. At least they didn't need to spend so much money on new ones.
Actually… didn't Ivotech have a service for something related to that? Something about rebuilding weapons and vehicles, or turning them into other things? Or buying them? Hmm…
He decided to look into that later.
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Author's Note: I'm always a little iffy on adding things from the perspective of the military. I tend to get a lot wrong, and while the military of the Boys might be different from our real-life one, I'd like to be somewhat realistic. Still, hopefully, this chapter tickled you guys. Writing Billy is going to be fun, I can tell.
Next Chapter will be out tomorrow on my Patreon. Will try and get to regular updates, but sadly real life takes priority.
The Big Foot! Sponsored by the Accorn Kingdom.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
I wonder if Butcher thinks that the heroes and Eggman are working together because of the warning?
- Location
- Philippines
So anonymous gift to the Boys or suspiciously successful heist in the company
- Location
- Elsewhere
If you don't know their name, they don't have one!
So did you spend thousands of hours programming in medical expertise, or did you upload WebMD to his brain?
Yes, intelligence has never been a consideration for your supers.
Just imagine if you made a super-genius and they actually looked at your strategic plan?
"So you have a plan that has no possibility of a good outcome, but that's alright since it's guaranteed to fail!"
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