Chapter 47 I Know Where Your Wife Is
Inside a white van one street away, Hughie’s hands hovered over the keyboard, his pupils trembling slightly.
On the screen, that one glance from Guardian seemed to pierce through the surveillance camera, seeing them directly as they sat behind the screen.
"Little Hughie, don’t panic. He was likely looking in the direction of the smoke detector." Although Frenchie said this, his voice was very low, as if he were afraid of being heard by Super Hearing.
"Right, it must be a coincidence." Mothers Milk nodded quickly.
Butcher shoved the cigarette butt into his mouth and spoke decisively.
"Pack it up."
"What? Now?" Hughie turned his head.
"Are you deaf? I said retreat!" Butcher was already pulling the power cords for the surveillance equipment. "Take the video copies, format all the hard drives, and dismantle the antennas too. This van must be as clean as if it had been baptized in a church, understand?"
No one questioned the Butcher’s words again. The group quickly began to act. Frenchie and Hughie dismantled the equipment, while Mothers Milk opened the van door and jumped out, pretending to check the tires while his gaze scanned the street back and forth.
"Guardian has Super Hearing, but based on our last encounter, he shouldn’t have X-ray vision," Frenchie said.
"Bullshit!" Butcher cursed, saying, "The CIA’s list is just a piece of scrap paper. They can’t even figure out how fast Homelander can fly, so what makes you think they know anything about Guardian? Didn’t you watch the previous live stream? That guy’s dog eyes were able to blast apart a Middle East bunker; he definitely has super X-ray vision!"
Frenchie thought that made some sense.
Hughie was still holding onto hope. "He probably didn’t discover us, otherwise we wouldn’t be standing here."
"I’m more interested in what he said. Kicking A-Train out of The Seven... it was actually him pulling the strings, not Homelander, the team leader. Our assessment of Guardian has been wrong all along!"
Mothers Milk said.
They had always thought Guardian was just a dog by Homelander’s side.
But looking at it now, this dog’s power had already surpassed its master’s!
"Fuck!" Butcher cursed. "That guy is much harder to deal with than Homelander. It’s possible that Vought created this guy specifically to keep Homelander in check. His danger level is far above Homelander’s!"
Hughie pulled out the USB drive and began formatting the hard drives.
"It’s a shame we didn’t get the compound v. What do we do next?"
"There’s no choice. We’ll find another breakthrough point. Guardian will definitely be watching A-Train’s movements from now on; there’s no need for us to take such a big risk."
Butcher volunteered.
He was the craziest of them all, but facing Guardian, he still felt completely powerless.
There was no helping it; the opponent was just too normal.
Knock, knock-knock!
Someone was knocking on the van door.
The four of them froze in place simultaneously.
"Open the door, it’s quite cold outside."
A lazy voice came from outside the van, and the people inside felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave.
Rip!
Seeming a bit impatient from waiting, the door was ripped off from the outside.
Against the light, a silhouette was floating cross-legged outside the door, inspecting the four people inside the van.
"Yo, quite lively in here."
The inside of the van was littered with materials the group had dismantled: antennas, cables, various metal rings, and the USB drive in Hughie’s hand.
"Joey’s Pipe Repair?"
Lucas glanced at the words on the side of the van. "Your pipe repair equipment is quite advanced. You’re using directional antennas and have real-time screen monitoring. Agent-level plumbers?"
No one dared to speak.
The four of them were as if nailed to the spot, while the other three slowly reached for their waists, as if those few toys could bring them comfort.
Hughie turned completely gray, like a character in a comic book.
Come on, man. I at least saved you and your girlfriend; is there any need to be this scared?
I’m a good guy!!
"Boys, don’t be nervous. This guy is a friend." Butcher grinned, signaling for Mothers Milk and Frenchie to put away their weapons.
Even a full set of assault rifles would only be enough to pick this man’s teeth.
Lucas’s gaze landed on the USB drive in Hughie’s hand. "Give me that thing."
Hughie’s hand trembled slightly, and he looked at Butcher.
Butcher was expressionless, simply nodding once.
"Good doggy, that’s more like it!"
Lucas took the USB drive, and the Omega Beams instantly melted it.
He didn’t mind Butcher monitoring A-Train, and he didn’t mind Butcher wanting to use the secrets of compound v to take down Vought.
It was just a shame that the timing was unfortunate, as he had happened to drop by.
"You’ve got the USB drive, what else do you want? I’m game." Butcher chewed on the cigar butt.
"Sorry, not interested in men."
Lucas was uninterested; this group was too full of testosterone.
"It seems you’re more of a saint than Homelander. Are you just afraid that the leakage of compound v will affect your reputation? If so, we can cooperate. How about using this as an exchange?"
No matter the situation, Butcher always wanted to hold the initiative.
Lucas was quite indifferent to this. "I’m not interested. compound v means nothing to me. As for you lot, I’ve never shown any hostility toward you, so why are you all scared out of your wits?"
[Butcher — Emotional Outburst: Despair, Fear, Anger, Helplessness]
[Obtained Evolution Points: + 4,567]
...
[Hughie — Emotional Outburst: Confusion, Surprise, Puzzlement]
[Obtained Evolution Points: + 3,567]
...
[Mothers Milk — Emotional Outburst: Anger, Helplessness, Confusion]
[Obtained Evolution Points: + 2,567]
...
[Frenchie — Emotional Outburst: Surprise, Helplessness, Confusion, Puzzlement]
[Obtained Evolution Points: + 2,567]
...
"After all, I’m not some demon, and I didn’t steal your wives, right?" Lucas said.
Mentioning wives made the veins on Butcher’s forehead bulge.
The Evolution Points contributed by these few were quite substantial.
Hughie didn’t react to this; he still had Robin, and his connection with Starlight had never even begun.
"He really doesn’t seem to have any hostility toward us," Frenchie said quietly.
"Kid, your voice sounds like a drum beating right next to my ear. I can hear it." Lucas picked his ear.
"What do you want?" Butcher asked.
Guardian really didn’t seem to want to kill them. In other words, were they still useful to Lucas?
"Well! I do hope you cause some negative impact on Vought, but you seem unable to gauge the scale properly, always involving me in it. I can’t just sit by and watch, can I?" Lucas hinted.
Butcher seemed to relax a little. "You mean, as long as we don’t target you, you won’t care what we do? Even the secrets of compound v."
Butcher was testing the boundaries.
"Correct. Also, I know where your wife is. Don’t think about collecting audio or video recordings of our conversation. Good doggies need to be well-behaved." Lucas shot into the sky.
Butcher panicked.
[Butcher — Emotional Outburst: Shock, Confusion, Anger]
[Obtained Evolution Points: + 12,567]