On the screen, the Billy Butcher from the past was a far cry from the disheveled, scruffy man he had become. Back then, he was clean-shaven, sharp-looking, and had a beautiful, loving wife—Becca Butcher.
Becca worked at Vought International as Homelander's digital media assistant. During a company-hosted Christmas party, she had even brought Billy along as her guest.
It was at this very party that Homelander made a show of chatting with them. In front of Billy, he showered Becca with compliments—calling her a capable employee and praising her intelligence.
Outside the video, Deadpool couldn't resist interrupting with a loud, sarcastic voice.
"Wait a minute! Isn't Homelander into older women? What's he doing hitting on your wife? Unless… wait—was your wife pregnant?"
Having already picked up on Homelander's rather twisted preferences from earlier future footage, Deadpool quickly zeroed in on a potential contradiction.
Billy's eyes burned with fury.
"How many damn times do I have to tell you?! Shut that filthy mouth of yours!"
Deadpool raised his hands in mock innocence.
"Hey, relax! I get that you're mad, but I'm not the one who slept with your wife. That was him, not me!"
That only made Billy even more livid—but with Deadpool being Deadpool, there wasn't much he could do about it.
Silently vowing revenge when Deadpool eventually showed up on the screen, Billy redirected his attention back to the video.
Back in the footage, the younger Billy didn't have much of a grudge against superheroes yet. The party conversation had been pleasant enough. But not long after that evening… Becca disappeared.
"Hey buddy," Deadpool said from outside the screen again, making exaggerated gestures. "You know, the first moment I laid eyes on you, I could tell—you're the kind of guy with a story. I like drinking with people like that. Too bad this Quiz gig doesn't allow for beer. We could've had a great heart-to-heart."
Billy didn't even look at him this time. His eyes were bloodshot as he snapped,
"FUCK OFF! Go screw your own—!"
"Easy, Butcher," Hughie tried to interject calmly. "I'm guessing you never found your wife after she disappeared, right? That's exactly why you need to stay focused. Don't let your anger cloud your judgment."
Billy glared at him.
"Listen, kid—you've got no right to lecture me in that tone!"
Though clearly in a dark place, Billy took a few deep breaths and slowly began to regain control of his emotions.
He then said in a low voice,
"Now you know why I'm so hell-bent on taking down Homelander and these superpowered freaks. Disasters are easy to ignore when they don't happen to you. But once they do? You'll know what true pain feels like."
Hughie nodded solemnly. Having suffered his own losses, he deeply understood.
Deadpool, meanwhile, stood with his hands on his hips and shrugged.
"Totally get it. Believe me—I've got baggage too, alright? I was a leading man once, you know?"
Billy didn't bother replying. He simply raised a middle finger in Deadpool's direction.
Back in the video, Billy's world had completely unraveled after Becca went missing. He searched endlessly, but came up with nothing.
Then, one day, a mysterious woman showed up with a surveillance tape.
In the footage, Homelander could be seen checking into a hotel with a woman in professional attire—none other than Becca Butcher.
They stayed in the room for over three hours. When Becca came out, her clothes were disheveled, her expression panicked, and she was holding a single high heel in her hand.
The woman looked at Billy's grim, shocked face and said,
"She vanished after this—no contact, no trace.
Whatever happened in there, Mr. Butcher, Homelander was involved."
Billy, still in disbelief, muttered,
"Homelander? But he's a goddamn hero…"
The woman gave a cold smile.
"You don't know the first thing about what's hiding behind their shiny public image."
Then she introduced herself: Mallory, an agent from the CIA.
She had approached Billy in hopes of recruiting him to help investigate Homelander and Vought.
Outside the video, Hughie scratched his head.
"So that's where you got the whole 'recruit someone through personal tragedy' thing.
You did the exact same setup on me, didn't you?"
Billy said nothing.
Stephen Strange spoke up.
"So even your government had its eyes on Vought and the Seven all along."
Annie whispered,
"How many innocent people have they hurt over the years…?"
It was becoming painfully clear from the footage that Billy's experience wasn't unique. Vought and their superpowered "heroes" wore the mask of justice and righteousness, but behind the scenes, they were anything but noble.
Stephen looked Billy in the eyes.
"You've been searching for your wife all these years, haven't you?"
Billy sighed deeply.
"Yes. But aside from that one tape from Mallory, I never found another lead."
Revisiting this old wound clearly tore something open in him, but after enduring the initial pain, he seemed almost numb.
He didn't hide his past. He briefly explained how he'd joined Mallory's black-ops team to secretly investigate Vought and the Seven.
And what he found only confirmed his worst fears—behind the glittering façade, the so-called superheroes were nothing but monsters.
Yet despite everything, he still couldn't uncover what had really happened to Becca. Worse, Homelander had always seemed untouchable. He didn't care for money, lust, drugs—unlike the others, he appeared almost… saintly.
If Billy hadn't seen the surveillance footage with his own eyes, even he might've believed Homelander was the real deal.
But now? The Quiz game had laid it all bare. Homelander's sins were no longer a secret.
Still, Billy couldn't help but worry about Becca.
Given what they now knew about Homelander's cruelty, his narcissism, and volatility… if he had kept Becca hidden all these years, what kind of horrors had she endured?
At that moment, the video cut to Vought Tower—specifically, Madelyn Stillwell's office.
The older woman, now visibly pregnant, wore a provocatively tight business suit. And inside her office was none other than Vought's poster boy—Homelander.
_____
T/N:
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