Madelyn Stillwell sat in a seat, bound to it, Billy Butcher stood nearby, Stillwell rigged to blow.
They heard someone landing followed by footsteps from upstairs.
"Well well well. About fucking time." Butcher said. "I know you can see through the ceiling. You try to kill me and my trigger finger goes soft. Now, why don't you stop playing rapey Santa and come down and join us."
Stillwell and Butcher watched as Homelander walked downstairs, but he was holding baby Teddy.
"Shhhhh. Take it easy. We don't want to upset Teddy, right?"
"What are you doing?" Madelyn asked in a panic.
"Hey, look, Mommy. You alright?"
"No."
"Madelyn..."
"Take him upstairs." Stillwell begged.
"All good. I got it. I got it." Homelander replied as he turned to finally face his nemesis. "Billy Butcher. You don't mind if I call you Billy, right? Y-You are pretty darn impressive. I mean, especially for, you know, one of you. See, even now, most people standing where-where you are would be pissing their pants terrified, but you... uh, sure, y-you're heart's pounding, but you're not afraid. It's anger. That's a new one for me." He said, almost sounding impressed.
"Homelander, will you please take the baby upstairs?" Stillwell begged again.
"All because of your lovely wife Becca. Right? Ok. Let's cut the bullshit, huh? You know that we, uh," He made a sexual gesture. "Uh, bro, not my fault, okay? She came on to me. It happens."
"Will you stop?" Stillwell said.
"You know, it's-it's the fame. They get crushes. There's nothing I can do about it. But what I will tell you is, she was a hell of a lay." Homelander laughed. "She came three times, eh? Three times. All right, little man, have a little lie-down. Good boy." He said as he put Teddy in a basenet.
"I want you to take him out of here." Stillwell begged again.
"There you go." Homelander whispered as he stood up and sighed. "But that's not really it. No, no, no, no, no. No, it's more than just that. You think I'm responsible for her death, don't you? So now you have a hostage that-that I care about, right? Someone I love." He put his hand on the back of Stillwell's head. "So, what's your plan... from here? What do you want? Do you want a confession, or... what's your endgame?"
Billy stepped forward and finally spoke. "I'm just gonna hurt you. I mean really fucking hurt you, and that will be good enough for me."
"So, y-you don't really want anything, per se? You just want to blow her up in front of me. Right?" He started laughing. "Wow, fuck. Uh... You are dark, and I kind of like it."
Baby Teddy started crying.
"Will you please take Teddy upstairs?" Stillwell pleaded.
"It's ok. Shhhh. Just answer one question for me. Just one. How do you know? How do you know? I mean, you must have some rock-solid proof, right? That it was actually me who killed your wife. You must have that, right? So what is it? Share. We're all very interested." Butcher remained silent. "Now's not the time to be strong and silent. Go for it." He remained silent. "Are you telling me that this whole thing i-is based on fucking feelings? On a hunch? A little bit-"
"Will you please take him upstairs?"
"Madelyn, hold on."
"Take him upstairs!"
"Shut the fuck up!" He turned to Butcher. "Excuse me." He walked over to Stillwell and crouched down to her. "You promised me no more lies. You fucking promised me. You and Vogelbaum should have got your stories straight. They were so close. So fucking close, but there was a few little details that were different. So I went back to Vogelbaum, and I managed to squeeze the truth out of him. The real truth." Stillwell looked down in shame. "Yes, that's it." He started whispering in her ear.
"I'm so sorry. I should never have lied to you. I know now that you don't need to be protected. I'm so sorry. Will you please take Teddy upstairs?" She started crying.
Homelander stood up.
"Did you ever really care about me?"
"You mean everything to me." Stillwell replied.
"No. No, no. I mean everything to your job. You care more about that fucking baby than you do about me."
"No. I love you. I love you. I love you. I swear I love you."
"But? Tell me the truth, or I walk out right now."
Stillwell was silent for a moment before speaking again. "I'm scared. I'm scared of you." She said quietly.
"What?"
"I said I'm scared."
"Of?"
"Of you. I'm scared of you."
"Thank you." Homelander leaned in close and grabbed her head. "Thank you for finally being honest."
He stayed there for a moment before his eyes lit up and shot lasers through her skull. Her head limped back but before Homelander could stand up, one of her arms broke from her restraints and stuck a syringe with a red tip and filled with a red liquid into his neck. Stillwell, still eyeless, stood up, breaking all her restraints. She looked down at Homelander as he fell to the ground.
"What's wrong, John? Feeling weak?"
Red mist spread around her, transforming back into The Stranger's human form. He looked up at Butcher.
"You never took Stillwell. You took me. Madelyn Stillwell has been dead for hours. I just knew how to play my role. If you're a shapeshifter, you've got to be a good actor."
"Who are you?"
"Just a stranger."
"What the fuck did you do?" Homelander gasped as he pulled the syringe from his neck.
"It's called Red V. Something of my own design. It's the Anti-V. Congratulations, John, you're human."
"You took away that cunt's powers?" Billy asked.
"I did. Speaking of, I know this is not a crowbar, but it'll do."
Infinity waved his hand and the vest of C4 was thrown onto John's body and he was restrained to the chair.
"Now I know you said you wanted to hurt him, but how about you just kill him. Besides, I've got something to show you."
Billy turned from Infinity to Homelander.
"Wait, please, don't do this."
"This is for my Becca." Billy said as he released the trigger.
The C4 blew up and in a flash of light, Billy was outside in a suburban neighborhood. Next to him was Infinity.
"Where are we?"
"You're gonna love this. And don't worry about baby Teddy, I teleported him to a Supe orphanage."
He led Billy up a driveway up to a house. The door opened and a blonde young boy ran out followed by his mother.
"You know, I forgot about the recasting." Infinity chuckled.
But Billy didn't hear him, his focus zeroed in on the mother, Becca Butcher.
"Billy?"
"Becca?"
He looked down at the boy.
"He is." Infinity answered Billy's silent question. "But I must warn you, Billy. You treat him the same way you treated Homelander or they way you are already planning or how your father treated you and Lenny, you'll get Homelander Jr." Infinity's eyes glowed yellow along with the Mind Stone. He filled Billy's head with images of what would happen if he treated Ryan badly. The future with Homelander Jr. "But treat him like a son, not a burden, and you'll get something better. Something Super." He filled his head with images of Ryan becoming a true hero. One that protects people in need. And even images of Billy and Becca's new life back together, with Ryan and Terror with them. A happy life. Vought long gone, the real heroes, Supes or not saving lives, the false heroes all in prison. Billy's vision cleared. "Ryan is not your enemy but your chance to paint a brighter future. I've seen worlds with superheroes that are not like Homelander and Vought. They are real heroes, like Starlight and even Queen Maeve, despite the shit Homelander put them through. Paint a brighter future for the world, William. Do it for Lenny, for Becca, for Hughie, Frenchie, M.M., and even Kimiko. Do it for yourself even. Not every Supe is evil."
He patted him on the back. Billy looked back at Becca and stared. But after a moment, he ran over and kissed his wife. Ryan gave both him and Infinity a confused look.
"Hello, Ryan. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Infinity crouched down. "You have great power, kid. But like Uncle Ben says, with great power comes great responsibility. One day you will have a great responsibility to the world and everyone who lives here. Can you promise me that you will always keep that responsibility? To never let yourself turn to the dark side?"
"Uh, I guess." Ryan replied, still confused.
He didn't expect for him to understand, but he had to ask anyway.
"Good, that's good." He ruffled his hair. "You're a good kid, Ryan. Don't lose that. Be like that farm boy, be a boy scout. Take care, Ryan." Infinity stood up. "Mr. and Mrs. Butcher. Take care."
And with that, he disappeared.