Each year, the number of casualties directly or indirectly caused by supers rises sharply. These individuals, wielding great power but unable to control it properly, pose an enormous threat to ordinary people, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
This was because each year number of superheroes increase.
The superheroes created by the Vought Corporation are revered like gods, praised and worshipped by countless people. Gradually, everyone's hearts undergo a profound change.
Mankind needs heroes, these gods to save them, to add some excitement to their otherwise miserable lives. In other words, these superheroes serve as a form of spiritual solace for the common people.
And as heroes, they too need the "faith" of the ordinary people. Everyone understands that if they are not loved by the masses, if they don't have huge followings, they will be cast down from their pedestal and lose everything.
In such a distorted social structure,mindset the people here couldn't be too good.
Walking down the street, wanda kept thinking about her plans. If she followed her original plan, it will take thousands of years just to get to the point where she was confident to ascend.
Sigh!
It seems like plans can't keep up with changes. She decided change her methods and speed up the process.
Now wanda will take a more straight forward approach. Take qualified individuals and induce metamorphosis in them. When they finally break out of their cocoons, they will have angelic forms.
When she creates her own universe—they will be the tailors who will stitch the universal tapestry with the primordial sinews and soil.
"So this is my path? No time for friends, no place for love.walking alone a eternity".
Wanda murmured softly, letting out a quiet sigh.
The fond memories of her time with her brother came to her mind.
Just then, a interesting scene was noticed by her.
In Butcher's safe house, Hughie was sitting on the floor, still shaken, his gaze fixed on the empty cage in front of him.
Although the steel cage appeared empty on the surface, Hughie knew all too well that it contained a "bomb" capable of destroying everyone.
"We can't stay here much longer," he said gravely. "You know, if Vought discovers that Translucent is missing, they'll use every resource to find him. We won't escape the eyes of the homeland."
Standing across from Butcher were two men, one large and one small. One was african-american man named MM (short for Mother's Milk), and the smaller one was a Frenchman named Serge, also known as "Frenchie."
They were once part of the same team, but after attack by Lamp Lighter, their group fractured. MM and Frenchie had a falling out and gone their separate ways, each leading their own lives. Now, due to the situation with Translucent, Butcher had no choice but to bring them back together.
"I'm talking to you! Didn't you hear me?" Frenchie shouted at Butcher. "You can't keep Translucent locked up here forever. If the homeland gets its eyes on him, we're all dead, especially after those supes were mysteriously killed. Vought is already in a state of emergency".
"By the way, do you know who killed them?"
"I don't know,but I'm sure they are a supe themselves—otherwise how could they've killed those idiots" Butcher said solemnly.
Butcher had originally intended to use Hughie to get close to Vought. After the A-Train incident where Hughie's girlfriend was killed, Vought would definitely want to settle the matter by negotiating compensation, and they would probably try to get Hughie involved.
In this situation, Hughie was the only person Butcher could think of who could legally enter Vought.
So, Butcher reached out to Hughie, stirred up his hatred of superhumans, and hoped that while Hughie was inside Vought to negotiate the hush money, he could plant a bug inside the company.
At first, everything was going smoothly, but Butcher never expected that when Hughie went to retrieve the bug in the bathroom, he was caught by Translucent, a permanent fixture in that restroom.
Thus, Translucent took the bug, followed Hughie all the way back to his workplace, and if Butcher hadn't arrived in time, Hughie might have been crippled by Translucent.
In the end, the two of them managed to stun Translucent with electricity and transported him to the safe house.
But now, Translucent had become a hot potato, difficult to handle. Although Butcher had control over him for the moment, figuring out how to kill him was a problem none of them could solve.
"You know Translucent's skin is made of carbon-based material, right? It's tougher than anything else in the world. Even those terrorists couldn't destroy his skin with hot weapons! What do you expect me to do about it?" Frenchie said, his voice frantic. Translucent had already seen his face. If they didn't kill him, they were all dead.
"So, like I said, if you can't come up with a solution, get the hell out of here" Butcher said, opening a bottle of liquor and taking a long swig.
Butcher put the bottle down and spoke.
"I suggest you figure out how to kill Translucent quickly, because if you don't, we'll just have to pray that my people get here first, not the Seven."
"Wait, you... you want to kill him!?"
Hughie, who had been sitting quietly, finally reacted. He jumped to his feet, his voice trembling in disbelief.
"That's the Translucent, a member of the Seven, one of the most famous people in the world! And you're planning to murder him?"
Butcher, MM, and Frenchie exchanged glances, each reading the bemusement in the others' eyes. The trio was momentarily rendered speechless by Hughie's naïveté and ignorance.
"We didn't bring him here to treat him to a Burger King meal." Butcher said gravely.
"I thought..." Hughie hesitated. "That's the Translucent! He's one of Vought's top figures. He must have a ton of intel. Can't we at least interrogate him?"
Butcher shook his head, clearly exasperated but patient enough to explain. "We don't have that kind of time. As soon as Vought realizes the Translucent is missing, they'll mobilize everything they have to find him. When that happens, we're all dead. Understand?"
"But... but..."
"No buts, Hughie. Listen to me. If you're dead, you can't get revenge for your girlfriend. Think about it. What did A-Train do after killing her? Nothing. He even joked about it over drinks like it was some kind of party story."
Butcher cut Hughie off sharply and, seeing no point in continuing the argument, turned back to discuss with MM and Frenchie how to eliminate the Translucent.
The Translucent's powers weren't psychic-based, nor were they like Susan Storm's in Fantastic Four. His ability stemmed from altering the alignment of his skin's materials to refract light, enabling optical invisibility.
To achieve this, his skin wasn't made of normal cells but rather a carbon-based supermaterial, harder than diamond.
"Maybe we can suffocate him," MM suggested. "He's still human. If we cut off his oxygen supply, we can kill him."
"That won't work. People have tried," Frenchie interjected. "A group of Dominicans attempted that back in 2007."
"And?"
"And they're all dead now. If that method worked, the Translucent wouldn't still be alive for us to capture."
"Then let's try electricity," Butcher proposed. "His body's material doesn't resist electricity. We can ramp up the voltage and electrocute him."
Frenchie shook his head. "You've already used enough electricity to kill a buffalo, and all it did was knock him unconscious. To actually kill him would require an even higher voltage. And gathering that kind of power in our situation? Vought would be on us instantly."
"So this doesn't work, that doesn't work. What do you suggest we do with this bastard?"
"We need to find a way to penetrate his skin," Frenchie said.
"Great. How?" Butcher pressed, staring at Frenchie.
Frenchie shrugged. "I don't know."
And so, the problem came full circle.
"Maybe I can experiment with other materials to make specialized bullets," Frenchie suggested. "Keep trying until something works. Every supe has a weakness. I don't believe he's invincible."
"You've already tried using special materials similar to his skin. Guess what? Not even a scratch," MM reminded him.
"Then what do you want me to do? If we don't deal with this soon, Vought will come knocking, and we're all screwed," Frenchie said irritably.
"I have a suggestion"
As Frenchie ranted, a disembodied female voice was heard.
The room instantly fell silent.
Everyone froze, a chill running down everyones spines.The safe house was supposed to be off the grid—no one should know about it.
"Who are you", butcher shouted, grabbing his shotgun tightly.
" Hm, you will know later. Now if you want to live–listen"
"his internal organs are soft, no different from those of an average human.
As long as you inserted explosives into his rectum and triggered the detonator,—one of the world's most powerful superheroes would explode like an overinflated balloon".
MM was the first to come out of his stupor—as he immediately recognized the feasibility of the plan.He still felt creeped out.
Frenchie froze, his technical mind quickly calculating the high success rate of such a method. He was also a little annoyed at himself for not thinking of it earlier.
Butcher's face was devoid of his iconic grin as he felt something deeply disturbing about this person. He felt like some monster from a dark forest was starring at them.