𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗥 | the boys 2

𝘹𝘷𝘪) 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐄-𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐄

Frenchie, Kimiko and M.M. had certainly run into some trouble at the Sage Grove Center - not only was Stormfront heavily involved in the trials of Compound V on young adults, but it turned out Lamplighter had been employed there to burn any evidence Vought left behind. You know, the Lamplighter who retired from The Seven before Starlight was accepted in. The Lamplighter who burned Mallory's Grandchildren until there wasn't as much as a tooth left.

Rowan was purely delighted to be back in such a rural area again - she damn near let out a squeal once she recognised the road and guessed they were going to Mallory's. The Haley situation had gone unmentioned, and she wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. However, Butcher had started to quietly piece together things in his head in preparation for asking her.

After some extremely heavy convincing that Lamplighter was not to be executed upon her laying eyes on him, it seemed The Boys had found themselves a fairly secure hideout for the time being - accompanied by a small team of lawyers and congresswoman Victoria Neuman, who were currently interrogating the supe with the lack of sympathy which made Rowan smirk to herself. These were her kind of people.

With the visible smugness on her face, she leaned back in her seat beside Hughie at the kitchen counter and joked,"What's it been like at home, then?"

Hughie turned and watched her surveying the posh, expensive house,"Different." He replied coolly.

"And why's that?"

He followed her eyes and sat back with her,"You weren't there." 

"Put away that petulant look before you hurt someone with it." Mallory complained from the sofa, watching Butcher gaze out of the window across the magnificent greenery.

"Yeah, I should be chuffed we're pissin' away the best asset we ever laid our mits on." He grumbled.

"And your plan would be?" 

"Same as always - squeeze the cunt until he gives up the next cunt and kill the fuck when we're done." 

"Because that worked out so well last time." Rowan added sarcastically, hopping back down and limping slightly towards the coffee table.

"I bet you'd both enjoy that endless cycle of brutality," Grace commented,"How sweet."

She could almost feel his soul turn cold again,"How can you not want blood for what he done?"

"He's willing to speak at the hearing - we've never had congress on our side before." She explained through her teeth.

"Congress? Please, what a bunch of corrupt fucking cunts they are."

"Oh, come on, it's not the first time I've been called a cunt, Mr Butcher - I'm starting to think it's like a sort of badge of honour." Neuman cleverly cut in as she sat down at the table, laying down her coffee and papers.

He shrugged it off,"Term of endearment where I come from, love."

Despite her being a new person, and Rowan only trusting her a bit since she'd been so harsh on Lamplighter in the next room, she perked up somewhat,"What's the smokey dolt spewing?"

It took a good few moments for her to understand what the fuck just came out of the child's mouth while Butcher winked playfully - in her defence, since recreating her old, trusty satchel and it's contents before she decided to rejoin The Boys months ago, she had been making an effort to learn new words, jumbled with Billy's diabolical vocabulary made for some very interesting sentences. "Opposition's gonna' have a field day with him. Disgruntled ex-supe? I'm fairly sure he's fucked half the Sacred Heart cheer leading squad. But yeah, he'll be a good witness. Not like it's exactly enough, though."