Faced with the new question, Stephen stayed upbeat, insisting that Option C—A-Train—was the most suspicious.
After all, the future video they had just seen had fully revealed the conflict between A-Train and Hughie Campbell.
Thor nodded in agreement, but Billy Butcher spoke up in a low voice, "You're all missing one thing. With A-Train's speed, if he really wanted to kill Hughie, would he have let him get away?"
That line of reasoning got the others thinking. They all recalled the gruesome scene of A-Train turning Hughie's girlfriend into a bloody mess and frowned in unison.
Judging from the question, this attempt to kill Hughie had apparently failed. In other words, Hughie managed to escape.
But here's the contradiction: Hughie's a normal human with no powers. Escaping from A-Train should've been impossible.
Billy continued, "Homelander might not be as fast as A-Train, but he's not exactly slow. He can fly, and he's fast enough to catch a plane.
"On top of that, he's got invulnerable skin, super strength, super hearing, and those deadly laser eyes. If he went after Hughie, the chances of survival would be next to nothing."
The more Hughie listened, the colder his heart grew. So there was no hope in his future at all? Just endless assassinations?
Stephen looked at Billy and asked, "So you're saying the answer is probably between A and D?"
Billy shrugged. "If it were me, I'd go with A. The Invisible Man may have strong defensive abilities, but in terms of mobility and firepower, he's weaker than the other three. Sure, he can go invisible, but that doesn't make him unbeatable."
Hughie immediately chimed in, "Alright, I'm picking A for this one!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the countdown began.
Though Billy had offered a solid analysis, the odds still didn't feel great. No one rushed to answer, but this time, luck was on Hughie's side.
After a short hesitation, he went with Billy's reasoning and chose A—the Invisible Man.
Billy made the same choice. So did Thor, Stephen, and Annie. Only Deadpool went with C.
Soon, the correct answer was revealed:
[Congratulations to player Hughie Campbell for answering correctly and earning 4 points. Player Billy Butcher, player Stephen Strange, Player Thor Odinson, and player Annie January also answered correctly and each earn 1 point.
Player Wade Wilson answered incorrectly and loses 1 point]
Deadpool just shrugged. "Ah well, guess I'm the one who takes the hit this time."
Everyone else seemed quite pleased—Deadpool's smugness had been getting on their nerves, especially since his answer accuracy had been annoyingly high. It was about time he stumbled.
Once the question was settled, the screen began playing the explanation video, picking up right after the last clip where Billy took Hughie to the superhuman bar for intel.
In the video, after witnessing A-Train's shameless actions, Hughie was seething with rage and agreed to work together.
Billy then showed him another piece of evidence. It proved that on the day his girlfriend Robin was killed, there had been no reported bank robbery at all. Everything A-Train said to the media was total crap—clearly a cover-up.
Billy believed this could be a lead, something they could use to bring down A-Train, maybe even the whole Seven. If they could uncover whatever A-Train was hiding, they'd have leverage.
That only added fuel to Hughie's fire, but at the same time, it gave him a bit of hope—a reason to believe that maybe, just maybe, he could fight back against the Supes.
He agreed to help. Billy didn't hesitate—this was what he came for. He immediately gave Hughie a mission.
He told Hughie to approach Vought under the pretense of accepting a settlement. During the negotiation, A-Train would have to be present. That way, Hughie could legally step into the Seven's headquarters.
Billy wanted him to sneak in a bug—just a small listening device—so they could eavesdrop on the Seven's secrets.
As for why Billy himself didn't do it, well, his supposed FBI agent status would raise red flags at Vought. He wasn't the right person for the job.
Hughie was dumbfounded. "You want me to go into the Seven's HQ alone? Smile and shake hands with the guy who killed Robin—and spy on them?"
He kept shaking his head, saying over and over that he couldn't do it, that he'd screw everything up.
Billy tried pushing his buttons by bringing up Robin again, but it didn't work. In the end, Hughie just walked out the door.
It was clear that he was timid and conflict-averse—lacked the courage. Sure, most people would've acted the same, but being exposed like this, on screen, still made him incredibly uncomfortable. It was downright humiliating.
Annie, however, kindly tried to lift his spirits. "Hughie, I really get it, I do. It's like when I—well, maybe not exactly the same. What I mean is, you're just a normal guy, and Billy's asking you to do something that would challenge a trained agent. You shouldn't be too hard on yourself."
Billy shook his head. "Not even for the woman you loved? Sometimes, you just gotta go all in. If not this time, then the next. Hughie, you should be thinking about how to get it done—not questioning whether you can."
Hughie scratched his head, clearly defeated. "Either way, now that these videos are out, I'm already on Vought's radar, right? And you too, Billy. They're not gonna let this slide."
Billy shrugged nonchalantly. "Hughie, don't lump me in with you. I'm not some coward. And for the record, it's not that they've got their eye on me—it's that I've got my eye on them. Got it?"
Deadpool let out a whistle. "Damn, man, I think I'm starting to like you. That whole 'screw the rules' vibe—you're speaking my language!"
"Fuck you!" Billy flipped him the bird.
Back in the video, the scene jumped to the next day. Hughie, still torn up about everything, wandered into a small park to clear his head—only to bump into Annie by pure coincidence.
She was on the phone with her mother, and from their conversation, it was clear the timeline had moved to just after the incident where she was harassed by The Deep.
Annie was clearly upset and wanted to tell her mom what she'd been through. But before she could say anything, her mom started gushing about how proud she was that Annie had joined the Seven.
Annie could only fall silent.
She happened to sit down on the same bench as Hughie. He overheard bits of her conversation and offered a few comforting words. The two of them were both in a bad place—misery really does love company.
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T/N:
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