The past week had been a whirlwind of love, lust and everything in between.Mason knew he was too old to be professing love just because of intercourse, but he just couldn’t help himself.
Him and Rochelle did some things… a lot of things—that girl used him as a test bed for her wild ideas—but none of his sessions with her ever made him feel like he was in love.
It’s as if curing his depression had reset his emotions and tolerances or something.
He had had too much of a good time with Lexi these past few days, and the woman throwing herself into it and matching his enthusiasm practically turned a simple campfire into an inferno.
Her willingness and eagerness made him worried a couple of times, but the blood supporting those thoughts always abandoned his brain and rushed down south with the slightest touch or look.
Two days into the love retreat, they finally composed themselves—only a bit—and did something other than eating, sleeping and sex. Well, he did none of the sleeping but you get the point.The owner of the cabin would ask for reimbursement since his place looked like a tornado had passed through it even with the effort they’d made to clean up the place, but that’s what Rayner’s money was for.It was afternoon of the seventh day and the undecided couple sat in the main room gaming. Mason had lifted a playstation from the house of one of the Sage Grove Center guards since the guy didn’t need it anymore.
He and Lexi played Ghost Recon Wildlands, the woman having expressed interest in it since he said it was one of his favourite games. While they did recon on a cartel base, the satellite phone Rayner gave him vibrated on the center table.
The two of them shared a look, aware of what the call meant. They lowered their controllers and he picked the phone up. It ended up being a short call.
Lamplighter would not be testifying. Dude apparently turned his flames on himself when Vought announced the compensation they’d be giving Mason. He saw it as them replacing him with another fire user and couldn’t handle it.
Keenly aware of the kinds of thoughts associated with killing oneself, he tried very hard not to call Lamplighter a coward and a quitter. Especially when he factored in what happened at the Sage Grove Center.
The other component of the call was a meetup location and the time he should be there.
Before he could explain any of this, Lexi stood up and began to pack his stuff. That immediately took him aback because he thought he’d have to console her but it seemed their recent indulgence had done wonders for her too.
He went and hugged her from behind as she packed his duffel bag and suckled her ears and neck. There was more than enough time for some vigorous exercise before he took off.
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It was a quiet drive to the Senate Building in D.C.
This was all new to Mason, but he took it all in stride. The crimes Vought were being brought in to answer for went all the way to the federal level, and this necessitated the hearing to take place in the capital.
Why? He got no answer other than that’s how things of this scale were done.During the drive, this isn’t what plagued him however. He’d already committed to play his part in bringing Vought down, and he’d go all the way, no doubt about that.
What he couldn’t sit still about was what the corporation and its leaders were going to do about this. Mallory had been tightlipped about the other witness and for good reason.
Stan Edgar and his cronies wouldn’t just sit and watch what they’d built crumble. They had to have something planned, because the hearing going forward meant there was enough to ruin them. There’s no way they didn’t know this.
So what did they have planned?A bomb? The car had been checked by agents and himself personally, both before and after they landed at the airport and before they left the safehouse for the hearing.Besides, they had to know a bomb wouldn’t hurt him? Or perhaps they’d studied supes enough that they could subdue or terminate them with special made ones?
His limits were still alien to him, but he’d done the calculations. Taking a bullet to the face without a bruise or scratch to show for it painted a sufficient picture of where he stood on durability.
So if bombs were out of the picture, that left an assassination or stopping or influencing the hearing somehow.
From what he’d heard from the three older women in his corner, the members of congress were—in their words not his—“a bunch of corrupt fucking cunts.”
When he asked why they hinged all their bets on them then, they explained what the government stood to gain once Vought went down. He almost slapped his forehead for not seeing it sooner.
Compound V and everything Vought had on the wonder serum.
‘Am I trading one evil for another?’ He wondered and stared out the window.A quick trip down memory lane severed this train of thought and brought him back to his senses. He set out to clear his name and get justice for the kids. What certain parties took advantage of him to gain from his and the kids’ plight was their responsibility, not his.Back on the matter of assassination, he wondered when Vought would do it if they had such a plan in the works and who they’d target. He himself was a no brainer. That’s why he had the heat sense spread out at all times now.
Mallory’s secret witness would also be a target, the more likely one since their testimony would be more damning than his own. If someone was going to be taken out first, it would be them, mainly because of this and the fact that Neuman said they’d go on the stand first.
Speaking of the young congresswoman, he focused on the vehicle at his rear and counted four heat signatures: Neuman and her assistant, Mallory, and the driver and also checked the vehicle’s exterior for any foreign objects.
It seemed the explosion path had been discarded, probably not even conceived since those four would make no dent without him and the secret witness. In other words, they were inconsequential.
After a long drive, they finally arrived at the humongous, white building. They were met with noise the likes of which Mason had never experienced, the perpetrators being spectators, protestors, news crews and every reporter and journalist eager to put eyes to him.
The hubbub died for a brief moment when he bent his head down, got down from the car and rose to his true height. Everywhere his towering gaze fell, he found eyes and faces conveying all sorts of emotions.
There was disbelief, hate, joy, awe and even lust—from both men and women. When he adjusted his suit and smoothed it down, the noise resumed as Mallory, Neuman and her assistant, and the C.I.A. agents joined him and pulled him forward with them.
Having already been coached on what to do, he ignored and dodged the mics and questions and kept moving along, keeping up with the agents as they climbed the stairs into the building.
The stony visage he tried so hard to maintain nearly cracked a couple of times when a few overly enthusiastic women pulled up their shirts and bared their chests for him and the whole world, swinging their stuff around.The placards with his picture and weird declarations were weird enough, but this took the cake. He was pretty sure one of these motivated women had tattooed something about black babies in bold letters.
‘People can’t be that… ah who am I kidding?’
Anyway, after a whole week of him and Lexi properly acquainting their insides and outsides to each other, such displays barely fazed him. So there were no embarrassing displays on his part.
Once inside the safety of the building, the mask dropped and he spun on the women.
“I’m not doing this ever again.”
Mallory sported a rare smile and waved for them to move. “Get used to it. This is your life now.”
‘The hell it is.’
“It’s not that bad.” Neuman nudged him. “You get used to it after a while. The admiration, the swelling pride, the feeling that you’re on top of the world… or you’re beneath the bottom of it… it gets old fast.”
“Hm.” He did feel pretty awesome there for a minute.
It suddenly struck him how supes chased popularity above everything else in this world. Hearing people hold up literal signs professing their adoration for you while they chant your name at the top of their voices again and again would affect you just like any drug.
And Neuman was saying it got old. Either she was lying and all those supe celebrities chose to be addicts, or she really knew what she was talking about.
Today however, none of that mattered. He’d made a promise to contribute to Vought’s toppling and he intended to see it through, assassin or no assassin.
Instead of the usual organizational procrastination he’d grown accustomed to, the hearing started shortly after they arrived.
They were led into a room guarded by officers on both sides.
Being a gentleman, he motioned for Neuman, Mallory and her assistant to go in first and trailed behind them. There were news crews and journalists with cameras set up at far ends on the left and right they practically hugged the walls.Every camera man worth their salt (which was all of them) swung their lenses the moment his third step in the room landed. The heads of those seated also turned and looked back to see what all the commotion was about.
Of all the people who presented their faces, he was interested in the three sitting in the first row on the right.
Homelander, Queen Maeve, and Starlight.
One looked like a scared little girl putting on a brave face in a house of horrors, another looked like she was trying hard not to show she was having the time of her life, and the last one; Mason was sure he sensed jealousy that was quickly replaced by a shrug of dismissal.
Now why would this world’s temu, discount Superman be jealous of him? And what was with that dismissal? It reminded him of Stormfront. A lot.
Was this flag cape wearing guy a racist too? Somehow, someway Mason didn’t think it was that simple.
Since he was a key witness, he was led to a seat on the front row, the one of the left. Without obvious direction, the room had divided itself into those who were for Vought, and those who were against them.
That meant he had to sit on the left. However he spotted an empty seat beside Starlight. A single second was all it took for him to think about it and come to a decision.He crossed over to Vought’s side, surprising those sitting there.
Homelander looked up at him with no reaction whatsoever as if this was all beneath him. Maeve fought to keep a smile off her lips and Starlight looked downright ready to run when he sat down beside her.
He felt tempted to sate his amusement at her reaction, but there were lives on the line so he curbed that desire.
“Light right?” He said, going against his sensibilities to make light conversation.
“Um… what?” The blonde turned over to him, posture and demeanor all flight.
“Calm down. You’ve got Wonder Woman and Superman right next to you.”
Two snorts came from beyond Starlight while the heroine swallowed, closed her eyes and exhaled. When her nerves faded a bit, she opened her eyes and asked. “Why… are you sitting here?”
“Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer.”
Where their conversation would go next would not be heard as a voice came through the speakers in the hall.
“Would everyone please take their seat?”
A gavel banged and sped up the process of getting every butt in its right seat.
The same voice that spoke earlier continued. “This bipartisan committee is called to order. Investigating Vought International, and its production and distribution of Compound V which I hereby present to the committee…”
And by present, he really meant it. The speaker lifted the vial of vibrant blue between his fingers so everyone could see. There was a noticeable uptick of camera flashes when he did this.
“Mr. Chairman if I may…” Neuman leaned into her mic and got a nod.
“The testimonies we’re about to hear today will prove that Vought is guilty of corporate malfeasance and multiple felonies. And they’ll come from people who have witnessed these crimes directly.”
The chairman took over from here. “The chair calls former CSO of Vought, Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum.”
A palpable tension filled the air where Mason sat as most of the people around expressed shock and turned around. He did same as them and saw the officer open the door to let in the revealed witness.
It was a balding man around the same age as Mallory. He wore a slightly unkempt black suit and an expression that all but shouted he’d rather be any place but here.
“Okay, okay. Quiet everybody,” said the chairman as Vogelbaum walked the path between the two sides and stopped in front of Neuman and the others.
Cameras flashed and clicked non-stop.
“Dr. Voegelbaum. Thank you for joining us today. Raise your right hand.”
The former CSO complied and the oath followed.
“Do you swear that the testimony you’re about to give today will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.“
“Thank you. You five minutes to make your opening state—”
Mason had no words to describe the sound, but the chairman’s head blasted apart with a wet, meaty and splotchy sound, splattering those around him in the fallout.
He sprang to his feet and focused on every heat signature in the room. The screams came like lightning, loud and all consuming but for a short time. When silent horror reigned again, Vogelbaum lost his head too and the room exploded with noise.
While the people around him screamed and scrambled for their lives, he worked all his senses to overtime, trying to figure out who was doing it and who was the next target.
Someone screamed. “Do something! What the fuck!”
But what could you do in a situation like this?
More people lost their heads one after the other. On both sides too. Not even the senate members were spared.
Mason made an express decision to go get Neuman and the rest so they could leave. He was stopped in his tracks by something wet and heavy going splat against his back.
He turned and as if the assassin had been waiting for him to do that, he felt a smothering sensation engulf his head and pull in every direction and then nothing…
Volume 1: Born on a Friday-End.