Chapter 86: Chapter 86: Soldier Boy (3) (Bonus Chapter)
The courtyard of the fortified Appalachian base was a vision of hell. The burning husks of armored vehicles cast flickering shadows across the cracked and cratered asphalt.
Standing in the epicenter of the devastation, surrounded by the greatest array of superhuman power assembled in a single location, was Soldier Boy.
He looked like a wolf who had just found his way into a very crowded and very soft sheep pen.
He spun the eagle embossed brass shield on his left forearm, the metal catching the orange glow of the surrounding fires.
Homelander stood twenty feet away, his chest heaving, his pristine American flag cape singed at the edges.
A thin trail of crimson blood leaked from his left nostril, tracking down over his lips, lips that were pulled back in a rictus of pure fury.
"You’re just a relic," Homelander hissed, his voice vibrating with a hysterical edge. "A forgotten piece of trash that should have stayed buried in the ice."
"And you are a whiny little bitch wearing a flag as a bib," Soldier Boy replied, his voice a low rumble that carried effortlessly over the crackling fires.
He spat a glob of blood and saliva onto the ruined asphalt. "You’ve spent your whole life fighting paper targets. Let me show you what it feels like to fight a man."
"Kill him!" Homelander shrieked, his voice cracking, pointing a trembling finger at the man who was, biologically, his father. "Tear him to pieces!"
The command shattered the momentary stillness. The battlefield erupted into absolute chaos.
Queen Maeve was the first to move. Despite the bruising on her ribs from the previous impact, her warrior instincts overrode her pain.
She lunged forward, her boots pounding against the concrete, moving faster than an express train.
She leapt into the air, bringing her silver sword down in a two handed vertical cleave aimed directly at Soldier Boy’s skull.
Soldier Boy raised his left arm.
CLANG!
The unbreakable blade of Maeve’s sword struck the brass shield with the force of a falling meteor.
The shockwave of the impact blew a ring of dust outward, rippling through the smoke.
Soldier Boy’s Tier 1 Super Defence and Tier 1 Super Strength absorbed the kinetic energy perfectly.
With a gruff exhale, Soldier Boy twisted his hips and thrust his shield forward, parrying the blade and striking Maeve squarely in the chest.
The impact lifted her off her feet, sending her flying backward into the side of an overturned transport truck. The metal of the truck bed caved inward around her body with a deafening screech.
From the shadows of the burning armory, The Deep watched the exchange with terrified eyes. He was shivering, his green and gold scale patterned suit covered in dust.
He had no super strength that could rival these titans, no energy blasts, no tactical armor. He was a man who talked to fish, stranded in a burning desert of concrete.
But Homelander’s order echoed in his mind. If he didn’t fight, Homelander would laser him in half the moment this was over.
"Okay, Deep. You’re a member of The Seven," he muttered to himself, his voice shaking uncontrollably. "Just... hit him from behind."
He looked around frantically and spotted a jagged piece of steel shrapnel, a torn section of an Abrams tank tread lying near his feet. Grunting with the effort, The Deep hoisted the sharp metal over his shoulder.
He waited until Soldier Boy was turning his attention toward the advancing Red Unit.
With a high pitched battle cry that sounded more like a yelp, The Deep sprinted out from his cover, raising the jagged steel tread high above his head, aiming for the back of Soldier Boy’s unhelmeted head.
"Die, you old fossil!" The Deep screamed.
With the casual motion of a man swatting a mosquito, Soldier Boy swung his right arm backward.
His heavy combat boot pivoted on the asphalt, his massive shoulders transferring torque through his core.
His backhand caught The Deep perfectly in the center of his chest before the heavy steel tread could even begin its downward arc.
The sound was sickening. It was the crunching collapse of an entire ribcage.
The Deep was launched backward, the steel tread flying from his hands. He hit the ground and skidded across the rough concrete, his body tumbling like a ragdoll until he crashed into the base of a concrete barrier.
Soldier Boy turned slowly, his eyes locking onto the wheezing form of the aquatic hero.
The Deep was lying on his back, staring up at the smoke filled sky. Frothy blood was bubbling up over his lips. His chest cavity was visibly caved in, his lungs punctured by a dozen splintered ribs.
Soldier Boy walked over to him, his heavy boots echoing like a death knell. He stood over The Deep, looking down with an expression of pure disgust.
"What the fuck are you even supposed to be?" Soldier Boy asked, nudging The Deep’s scaled boot with the toe of his own. "You look like a walking sushi roll."
"P-please," The Deep gurgled, blood spilling down his chin. He reached up a trembling hand, grasping weakly at the fabric of Soldier Boy’s tactical pants. "I’m... I’m a hero..."
"You’re a disgrace to the uniform," Soldier Boy growled.
He looked at the exposed gills fluttering desperately on either side of The Deep’s torso. Soldier Boy crouched down. He reached out with his bare right hand and grabbed a fistful of the fleshy slits.
The Deep let out a horrifying shriek of absolute agony.
"Breathe this in, fish boy," Soldier Boy whispered.
He squeezed his fist, his Tier 1 Strength easily crushing the delicate respiratory organs into a bloody paste, before casually standing up and bringing his heavy combat boot down squarely on The Deep’s face.
CRUNCH.
The skull gave way instantly. The screaming stopped. The Lord of the Seven Seas, was nothing more than a stain on the Appalachian asphalt.
"One down," Soldier Boy grunted, shifting his stance.
"Deep!" A-Train screamed from across the courtyard.
The speedster was vibrating so fast he looked like a blue blur.
The drugs in his system, combined with the pure terror of watching his teammate get squashed like an insect, pushed his heart rate into the red zone.
"You’re dead! You hear me?! You’re fucking dead!" A-Train roared.
He engaged his super speed, turning the world into a frozen diorama. He zipped in a wide circle around the perimeter of the base, building up kinetic energy, increasing his velocity to well over Mach 1.5.
To Soldier Boy’s eyes, A Train vanished, replaced by a continuous rush of wind and a streak of blue lightning that circled him like a shark in the water.
Wham!
A-Train darted in, delivering a high speed punch to Soldier Boy’s kidney before instantly retreating back into his circular running pattern.
The blow carried the force of a runaway semi truck. Soldier Boy grunted, taking half a step to the side, but his Tier 1 Super Defence held firm.
The impact merely bruised the muscle tissue, a bruise that his Tier 1 Regeneration was already healing.
Wham!
Another strike, this time to the back of the neck. Soldier Boy staggered slightly, his eyes tracking the blur.
