You can't save her (Homelander)

Chapter 12

Billy and Hughie sat side by side on the park bench, staring ahead into thin air. Hughie waited anxiously for Butcher to start speaking, but to no avail.

"What are we doing here?" He quizzed, turning to look at him as he stared up at the surveillance camera on top of the pole.

Butcher smiled, lightly chucking at the thoughts in his mind. "My wife, Becca, used to hum the Spice Girls. Drove me round the fucking bend, you know. All day long, walking around the house, humming. She was happy," he told Hughie, "now, fuck know why she was happy with me, but she was happy."

The younger man watched on as Butchers face fell. He looked sad, depressed, he looked like he didn't want to say those next words. His jaw clenched and unclenched before finally saying those words that made everything make sense in Hughie's mind.

"Homelander raped her."

The blood fell from Hughies face, "Jesus. I-I'm sorry." he stuttered.

"Not long after that, she came and sat right here. I know this 'cause she got tagged in that security camera right there," Butcher told him with tears welling in his eyes, pointing up at the camera, "she sat here for three hours, didn't move a muscle. Then she just got up and walked away. That was eight years ago. And nobody's seen her since. Either Homelander killed her or she killed herself. Same difference."

What could Hughie say to that? There was nothing he could say, but he didn't have to.

"You see, I know what it's like to lose someone. You and me, we're in this together. For Robin... and Becca. That is why you can't allow yourself to be distracted by another bird. Especially not a Supe. Just remember... who your friends and who your enemies are," Butcher advised, sucking in his lip and staring seriously at Hughie. Butcher sniffled slightly, nevertheless keeping his composed exterior.

Hughie breathed out, tapping his foot anxiously before speaking. "I was talking to Annie and she told me something weird about Homelander's girlfriend, Safia," he admitted, watching Butcher's face fill with recognition, "Annie said she was in real bad shape, blamed it on being clumsy, I think... I think Homelander hurts her, "

"I know," he sighed, clasping his hands together.

"What do you mean 'you know'?"

Butcher chose his words carefully. "I could see it in her eyes when I saw her at the race, she was acting different, that and all those bruises hidden under her billion dollar clothes and jewellery," he explained, thinking of the discolouring on Safia's skin when he saw her. The scariest part of it was that it could've been accidental

"You saw her?" Hughie quizzed before digesting his words properly, "wait, what do you mean 'acting different'?"

"I knew Safia long before she was 'Mrs Homelander', her and Becca were the bestest of friends. They bonded over their love of the spice girls, even made me get tickets and take them to the reunion tour. They hugged and cried the entire night. Here." Butcher explained, pulling out his phone and showing Hughie a picture of the two holding each other tightly with the largest smiles they could possibly pull, "they were inseparable, had lunch every day at work, at the house almost every weekend."

"Safia worked at Vought?"

"Saf was hired as the Sevens psychiatrist, she spent hundreds of hours with each member, but none more than Homelander. He had it for her since the moment she walked into Vought, but it never went beyond patient and doctor... until that Christmas party in '11." Butcher spoke gravely, thinking back to the night like it was yesterday, "I remember her showing up at our house the next morning, a mess, muttering to Becca about how she messed up and had to leave, didn't make much sense. Of course, Becca helped her, got her out of the country not long after, hidden from Vought. That's when he came for my wife," he explained further, wincing almost.

Hughie nodded, staring straight ahead.

"After Becca went missing I didn't hear from the doc, thought she got out for good, but then... two years later the, 'Homelander finds his Louise Lane' article and Homelander: In Love movie comes out. They rewrote everything the doc was and paraded this poor brainwashed girl all over the news to help his image... and she's still there."

"So that's why you won't use her against him, even if she is his weakness?" He wondered, arching his brow.

"It'd be like sacrificing me own sister... Besides, Saf's been through enough from the sounds of it," Butcher continued, "when I saw her at the race I asked for her signature, she wrote down a date in Havana,"

"Havana?"

His brows raised, "wanna see what I found?"

Butcher flicked through his phone, finding the correct video before holding it up to Hughies face. His eyes widened, looking at the fire and destruction on the streets. People were injured, screaming and terrified, bodies littered the street. But there was no sign of the supe, or Safia for that matter.

"You think Homelander was behind this?"

"Saf wouldn't write that date if she didn't think I'd figure it out," he explained gruffly, eyeing the mess of the town on the phone, "decimated a whole village just to find her, to get her,"

"Is that why you haven't tried to save her?"

"I love Saf, I do, but I can't save her," Butcher spoke with honesty, "if I take him down, she's free then but if I try save her... more people will die, just like in Havana,"

"So she's just not worth it?" He concluded, choosing his words carefully.

"Not for me Hughie,"