"This is about Becca, isn't?" after a brief mention of Homelander, M.M. seemed to understand where Butcher was going with this.
For a minute, Brooklyn wondered who Becca was and what she had to do with Homelander. Butcher seemed to grow quiet at the name and looked a little tense at the name, as if it were never to be really spoken around him but he didn't deny that was part of the reason. "Oh you ain't got your reasons?" he retaliated, Brooklyn looks at M.M. for an answer. M.M. just let out a tired sigh, knowing he probably struck a nerve but Butcher held his tongue and continued. "It'll be different this go, all right? None of that 'secrets and lies' bollocks," Brooklyn can't help but frown, wondering what Butcher had been keeping from her. She hadn't known him for a long time but it looked as though she was stuck with him and his crew for the long haul now. "And that Mallory shit ain't gonna happen this time. I swear to God."
M.M. looks down at his desk, actually considering coming back to help Butcher. He takes a moment to look at Brooklyn with his lips pressed together before prying at her side of the story of how she ended up helping Butcher. "Why are you helping him, hm? What's someone like you doing with a guy like Butcher?" Butcher blinked, looking at his old friend with a raised eyebrow and then to his next door neighbor.
"I'm just simply helping a friend," Brooklyn says, "I don't know anything about what you guys are talking about. I've seen enough already to know that I can't simply just walk away from this." M.M. looks at her with a sad smile—they've all been there.
"Are you bringing Frenchie back?" M.M. asks, his tone as if he was thinking about joining them. Really, he was, but Brooklyn guessed that if Frenchie was back he wouldn't be joining. Brooklyn didn't think that Frenchie would get anyone mad; a little annoyed, yes, but Frenchie seemed to be a good guy. It was hard to think that anyone wouldn't like him. "'Cause I can't work with that motherfucker."
Butcher sucked in a breath and decided that lying would be the best thing he could do if he really wanted M.M. on the team. "Frenchie? No, I ain't seen him in years." Brooklyn kept her mouth shut as she felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket, she looked at it and sees that she got a text.
Hughie: We're back. Where are you guys?
Brooklyn: Meeting another one of Butcher's friends.
Brooklyn puts her phone in sleep mode and tucks it back into her pocket. No-one seemed to notice that she was distracted, they continued their conversation about Frenchie. "M.M., you're the only bloke I can trust." Brooklyn glares at Butcher, "And Brooklyn 'ere." he added, making Brooklyn smile.
Though Butcher had to admit, he didn't know if he could trust someone as jumpy as Brooklyn.
M.M. let out a forced chuckle in distrust as he drummed his fingers on his desk. "Since when have you ever trusted anybody?" Butcher gives him a smirk, M.M. knew that he was defeated and had no choice but to agree to whatever dumb fuckery this man had planned. "Oh, fuck..." yep, they had him.
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M.M., Brooklyn and Butcher made their way to wherever Butcher needed to meet Hughie and Frenchie. M.M. seemed to think that Butcher was made of money for some ungodly reason, but Brooklyn couldn't help but laugh when M.M. saw how cheap the van was they had. "A rental, you cheap bastard?" M.M. says in disbelief, though this was Butcher and he could've expected something worse than this.
"Could be worse," Brooklyn chimes in, "this could've been stolen." M.M. nodded in agreement, earning a disapproving look from Butcher.
"Who do you think I am, some double-oh wanker?"
"No, no. I think James Bond would've picked something classier." M.M. snickered at Brooklyn's joke, or at least an attempt to make light of the situation.
"I like her already, Butcher."
Butcher flipped him off, earning a wide grin from Brooklyn. "In case if you two haven't noticed, we ain't exactly rolling in it." Brooklyn wasn't used to be able to walk around in the back of a van, nonetheless a van itself.
"And you don't think this is... sketchy?" Brooklyn asks as she gestures to the van still, Butcher scoffs.
"Sketchy? No, I don't think this is sketchy. I think a big black van with fucking flowers on the side is, as you put it, sketchy." Butcher says as he takes off his trench coat, flinging it at Brooklyn as she gives him a cheeky grin. M.M. watches the ginger as she places it neatly on the little table they had a computer set up, smiling.
Brooklyn looks at M.M. with a raised eyebrow, wondering why the man was looking at her like that. "What?" M.M. put his hands up in defense when she spoke quietly, and she just shook her head in disbelief.
The trio look at each other when they hear someone knocking on the van's door. "Bang on time," Butcher says as he gives M.M. a smile, earning a raised eyebrow. Brooklyn smiles when she sees Hughie come in, a back-pack slung over his shoulder.
"Hi, I'm Hughie." Hughie immediately introduces himself to M.M., hand out and waiting for a handshake but M.M. was too focused on the guy walking in behind him.
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a/n;; sorry for the long wait. i just forgot about this story tbh.
