Humans are so interesting... They wear masks to hide their true nature, but when they think no one is watching, they become worse than the demons they fear.
~ Ryuk (Death Note)
____
Star-View tried to run.
Maeve blocked his path, as she’d already figured it out.
"Why are you running? What the fuck is down there?!"
"I don’t know, I’m just paid to do a job! I..."
Maeve stepped in and punched him.
She was being nice about it; she only gave him a black eye.
"You don’t get a third chance. What exactly is down there?"
Star-View triggered his power on the spot.
Maeve felt her body get heavier, but only a little.
She kept walking forward under eight times her own weight in gravity.
Fear flashed across Star-View’s face.
"No, impossible! This is eight times gravity... You shouldn’t even be able to move!"
"Answer me! What the fuck is down there?"
Maeve grabbed his arm and twisted hard, snapping the bone clean.
She kept twisting, like she was about to rip the whole arm off his body.
If anyone thought Queen Maeve was some kind of saint, they were dead wrong.
Maeve just didn’t like killing much. Didn’t mean she hadn’t done it before.
"Don’t... AHHH!!! I’ll talk... There are people down there, men, women, and..."
"And what else?!" Maeve snarled through her teeth.
"Children... there are children too... dozens of them..."
Rip!
Maeve tore Star-View’s arm clean off.
She straightened him up, lined up on his chest, and drove her fist straight through.
The punch went right through his chest cavity.
Her hand came out his back, holding a still-beating supe heart.
Queen Maeve’s face was ice cold.
Acid Man stood frozen.
His teammates had all died in under a minute, and in the worst ways possible.
He lost every bit of fight instantly.
He dropped to his knees, pissed himself, and threw both hands up.
"I surrender! I surrender! Don’t hit me, don’t hit me!!"
Hillel floated over, used his force field to lift him, and squeezed him tight in his palm.
"Tell me, how long have you worked here?"
"Th-three years..."
"Three years. That’s not short."
Hillel nodded. "So you know what’s been going on down there."
"I-I’m just a guard... I haven’t touched any of those..."
"Shh, shh, shh. I can hear your heartbeat. You’re lying!"
"...I... I just occasionally go down to play with a couple..."
Hillel looked him in the eye.
"How much pay does it take to make you do shit like this?"
"T-two million a year..."
"Not bad. Six million dollars over three years, and you get to play with a couple on the clock, right? You like that, huh?"
"No! It’s not like that! I’m just working for someone else... just like how you work for Vought..."
Hillel put his other hand on top of Acid Man’s head.
Then he squeezed.
The skull shattered in his palm, easier than crushing an egg.
Hillel shook his hand, flicking the gore off.
"Let’s go. There’s still more down below."
...
Basement Level 1.
A huge banquet hall.
Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, a long mahogany table in the middle, silverware laid out. Everything looked insanely luxurious.
There was unfinished food on the table.
Caviar, truffles, Wagyu beef, lobster... and chunks of meat.
Some pink and tender, others yellowish.
The bone cross-sections didn’t look like they came from any animal.
White powder was scattered along the edge of the table. In the corner of the hall, several people were slumped on the sofa, completely high, not even noticing the three had arrived.
Several disheveled young women and men were curled up in the corner, their eyes completely empty.
Hillel recognized one of the teenagers as a pop singer with a ton of female fans.
He hadn’t expected the kid to end up like this.
The price of being an idol really was something normal people couldn’t imagine.
As for the ones high as kites on the sofa, both Maeve and Homelander knew exactly who they were.
A sitting federal judge, two state senators, and a retired major general who was always in the public eye.
The chairman of the Church of the Collective, Alastair himself, was also there.
"Keep these ones alive. After they confess their crimes, kill them slowly."
Homelander walked over with his hands behind his back, strolling casually, having no interest in these political parasites.
He basically ignored the tortured boys and girls he saw.
But a red light glowed in Homelander’s eyes.
He figured that killing this trash should help boost his approval ratings.
Provided that the events on the island could be successfully exposed.
"Why not just kill this leader of the Church of the Collective? That piece-of-trash The Deep will never be able to taint the sanctity of The Seven again."
"Where’s the fun in that?"
Hillel said, "Nailing The Deep to the pillar of shame forever is more interesting than hitting him directly."
Homelander thought about it, and it really did make sense.
A cruel smile hung on the corner of his mouth.
Queen Maeve found a few blankets and covered the boys and girls with them.
The Queen’s fists tightened.
Hillel walked toward the stairs leading to the second basement level.
...
Basement Level 2.
A corridor ran deep into the facility, with countless rooms on both sides.
There were no handles on the doors, only electronic locks.
They could only be opened from the outside.
Hillel used his finger to smash the lock.
The room was furnished very simply.
A single bed, a toilet, and a small lamp.
A girl was curled up on the bed.
She looked very young, blonde, and thin as a skeleton, with numerous ligature marks on her wrists and ankles.
After hearing the door open, she violently shrank into the corner, wrapping herself in the blanket.
Her whole body trembled incessantly.
"No... no... you’ve already been here so many times today... don’t come again..."
Her voice was raspy, as if she had been crying for a long time or screaming herself raw.
Maeve’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
She clearly saw that the girl had nothing on her except for a blanket.
The color drained completely from Maeve’s face.
There was no emotion in those eyes other than fury.
"She... how young is she..."
Hillel didn’t speak; he walked up to the girl, using his force field to soothe her emotions.
"It’s okay now. We’re here to save you."
The girl peeked one eye through a gap in the blanket and saw The Guardian emblem on Hillel’s chest.
As if she had grabbed onto some hope, tears flooded from her eyes.
"The Guardian... and Homelander... Queen Maeve!"
The girl recognized the three people standing in the room.
She lunged forward, clutching Hillel’s leg tightly, and burst into loud sobs.
Homelander stared at the blue blanket on the bed, dazed.
Hillel gently patted her head.
"It’s okay, child, it’s okay!"
Since this girl recognized the three of them, it meant she hadn’t been on the island for very long.
This was already one of the least severe cases among the victims.
Homelander and Maeve moved through the corridor, opening the doors one by one.
In the second room was a boy, also very young, his eyes already numb, showing no reaction to the outside world.
The walls of his room were covered in bloodstains, and there was even dried blood at the corners of his mouth; it was hard to even see his teeth.
The blanket on the bed was also blue.
The rooms further down were much the same.
Two girls were sharing a room, huddled together, their bodies covered in bruises and bite marks; one of them had her head shaved, and there were even cigarette burn marks on her scalp.
____
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