Fire
"He's who? Are you sure?" Stillwell asked, as she looked at Homelander, she was unsure if what he was saying was the truth as she watched him pace around her office.
"I'm telling you, I saw what I saw, that....Hughie Campbell is Storm Rider!" Homelander clenched his fists, a nobody had hurt him, had put him in the medical bay for weeks.
"Well we did run tests on him, blood work included, there is nothing that would suggest he has powers, let alone something of that level." Stillwell stated, she sat up a bit as she looked at him.
"Well lets get him to do another round of blood work, I we need to know how his powers work and, where those powers come from." Homelander crossed his arms as he looked at her, he didn't want to go any longer.
Hughie was in the park with Shawn, he was doing his best to help him focus and channel his energies. Robbie popped up as Shawn was in the middle of meditation, Hughie heard Robbie's little gasp as he saw Shawn.
"Ay dios mío, its Iceman's evil twin!" Robbie wheezed out.
Hughie looked at Robbie and cocked his head to the side confused as to who he was talking about, Robbie noticed and chuckled a bit.
"Iceman is part of this group called the X-Men, he's a great guy and, that man looks just like him, full on twining with that icy man." Robbie stated, as he purred a little.
"Wait...are you training him?" Robbie asked, as he watched Hughie nod in response. "Aw that's sweet, but we both can tell how bad his soul is....But I will trust your judge meant." Robbie sighed as he watched Hughie train this Iceman look alike.
They were out there for a few hours, mostly focusing on his breathing and understanding of the element he wanted to work with, and focusing on why he wanted to learn how to work with it. Hughie knew what Shawn had done, who he killed and who he was killing with the element but, Paarthurnax was willing to give it a try to help him out they were both hoping this man could learn something from them and not misuse the element anymore.
Once he returned to the tower, he was going to his room, his hood up and head down, he didn't know why he was still nervous about being in the tower, no one knew who he was or anything about him, he was sure they wouldn't find out ether. He walked passed the meeting room, unaware Homelander and Stillwell had been talking about him, and waiting for his return to the tower.
"Campbell!" Stillwell called out, her voice dripped with annoyance.
"Fuck." Hughie hissed under his breath.
"In, here, now!" Stillwell demanded, Hughie walked in, with the energy of a kicked dog.
"How? How did you find out?" Hughie asked, not bothering to change forms, he didn't want Homelander to try and fight him.
"Homelander, has a little peeping habit, and he saw you without your powers." Stillwell stated, her arms crossed as she leaned back on the table.
"Its really just powered up, and you need to mind your own business, Homelander, what if I was changing or something?" Hughie hissed, as he glared at Homelander.
"Hey, don't focus on him, you are going to go down to the lab for some blood work, we need to get to the bottom of how you got these powers." Stillwell got his attention again.
Hughie changed back, nearly setting off the sprinklers with how much smoke there was, the smell of burnt flesh and smoke filled all their noses, making Stillwell cough as she waved her hand in front of her face trying to get the smoke away from her face, Homelander just coughed a little and did the same.
"Yeah, I can tell you where I got the powers from." Hughie stated as he held his arm showing the bracelet, that looked more like cuff. "This is my boss's and apparently, some of his powers got trapped inside of it, also this doesn't come off, I tried." Hughie stated as he showed that he couldn't take it off by pulling reasonably hard on it.
"A bracelet? A fucking bracelet is how you got your powers? Where the fuck did you even get it?!" Homelander, felt his rage building, Hughie reignited seeing the rage in Homelander's eyes, as they had turned red.
"I got it at Believe Expo...I spent like...57 bucks on this....57 bucks for both holy and unholy powers, as well as you know, the ability to destroy well over half the US as well a good chunk of Canada and Mexico, if I wanted to that is....At the time I thought it was expensive, but uh....Now, now I realize its pretty cheap for powers like that." Hughie stated, he put his hands on his pockets as he hunched slightly.
"There is no way for you to take it off?" Stillwell asked.
"I mean maybe, but I think that would be the boss's choice, and he's not here." Hughie stated.
"No one should have that much power." Stillwell exclaimed, Hughie noted how hypocritical it was.
"No, you just think that, because I'm not owned or created by Vought, I'm only here, because I can break the labrats that get out of hand." Hughie had motioned to Homelander, when he said labrats.
"My boss opened my eyes to this truth, Vought this company made all of these....Sorry fuck ups we all call heroes, you don't like that I have powers from something outside of Vought, and that you don't really own me or, have any real say over what I do. Because that statement is contradictory, because Homelander isn't above anyone else, and he has powers, but because he got them from Vought, the hundreds of lives he's taken doesn't fucking matter, because as long as the public see him as 'God's chosen' who fucking cares right?" Hughie stated, hissing his words out as he looked at the two of them.
"You are a heartless bitch, that only cares about her bottom line, and making sure all under her control is still seen as a hero, even though they are vile villains, that couldn't careless who they hurt, the blood that they have spilt is on your hands as well, bitch...I'm not going to call myself a hero, because I'm not, when I get the chance and, mark my words I will do this, the second another life is taken, I will rip apart the labrat reasonable for that life lost...You have no power over me, never did, my boss didn't even want me here, but I reasoned with him a little, he trusts my judgment." Hughie stated, as he started to walk away.
Stillwell had a cold chill running up her spine, hearing that, Homelander was also nervous for once in his life, he was well aware what kind of damage, he could do to a person with those powers of his, the returned to the room after a moment and, looked at the two walking over to Stillwell, he phased his hand into her chest, her breath caught in her throat as she felt his hot hand holding her heart.
"let me be clear, if you ever try to send someone to hurt my father, I will make sure, you are never found, and if your remains were to be found, I doubt you would be recognizable, before you mention little Teddy trying to make me care, let me point out, you didn't care when these so call heroes took the lives of mothers with young children or, the lives of young children themselves, so why would I care about you, and your young child?" Storm Rider hissed out his words, his skull inches away from Stillwell's face.
Stillwell was now unsure who would kill her, Homelander if he ever found out what she was hiding from him, or Storm Rider, who was pissed by her inaction to stop any of the death that the supers have caused, she could feel his grip tightening around her heart as he spoke. She gasped when he released his grip on her heart, taking his hand out of her chest, leaving no mark behind but an extreme heat behind, that nearly burned her skin but lucky for her, not her organs.
"God of vengeance, let your glorious justice shine forth, arises the judge of earth, give the proud what they deserve, how long will the wicked be allowed to gloat? How long will they speak with arrogance? How long will these evil people boast? They kill widows, foreigners, people of their own lands and murder orphans." Storm Rider's words came out in a hiss, though it was almost like he was reading something, the words sounded as they where from the bible.
Homelander's heart sank when he realized that, he was quoting the bible, he wasn't sure of the verse because Homelander never read the holy book, and didn't care too though now, he was going to have to get a copy to see what he was quoting. The two watched as Storm Rider left once again, making it clear he wasn't playing around, and would take action should they try to go after his family, what little family he had left in this word, Homelander listened as his heavy boots hitting the tile as he walked back to his room.
Homelander was conflicted, he was scared of that scrawny and lanky man but at the same time, he also wanted to feel the power he had, so while he was scared of him, he was also painfully hard at the moment, as the display was something that he didn't expect to be turned on by, but he was.