The Good Life: Homecoming (ch. 115) (Patreon)

There was a pretty big part of me that wanted to stay and explore what Nora had gotten up to in the world of El Dorado. I wasn't the biggest history buff, as Supe culture had been my chosen form of escapism, but of all the subjects I had been mediocre at in school, history was the one I sucked at the least. Mainly because it was just memorizing dates and names, but there had been a spark of curiosity buried underneath.

‘Why was the world the way it was?’ It was just a little question that lingered in the back of my mind, a curiosity I never really indulged in favor of other pursuits. Like becoming a supervillain. 

Robin had coaxed that idle curiosity into a genuine interest. She loved history, and I loved Robin, so I started loving history too. Though I wouldn't say that I was well-read on the subject, especially not compared to her. Still, there was an opportunity here that I had mainly missed because I wanted to find worlds with magic and histories completely divorced from anything I had ever known. 

I was in a different universe, but this Earth was effectively on the same track as mine had been, with some very slight changes. Changes so slight that Nora was able to crack open some history books to get a read on the major players of Europe. 

And that's what kinda fascinated me. I could hold in my hands proof of a future that would never come to pass because I had kicked the timeline in the dick with my mere presence. Henry the 8th? Hadn't even divorced his first wife yet. Charles the 5th of the Holy Roman Empire? The vast wealth taken from what would become the Spanish Empire wouldn't be used to prop up the HRE. Suleiman the Magnificent had only just become the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

I wanted to see it. I wanted to watch as history was thrown off its intended course, just like the story in Final Fantasy. I wanted to see the great men and women who had or would have etched their names into history fall before me, either submitting or being destroyed. 

And maybe there would be time for that, later, but at the moment my schedule was kinda packed. For me it had been a decade-long hiatus, but for everyone else it was about two and a half seconds. 

The Noxian invasion loomed over Piltover. I had about a year before Final Fantasy was ready to join my empire. Not to mention the confrontation that would happen at roughly the same time when Asami realized what I had been getting up to in the time she thought she had hamstrung me. 

Now was a time of action. And Nora was right, there was one action in particular that we stood to benefit from the most. 

Going home. 

“You decided to come with me?” I asked, looking at Robin while the Dias was zeroing in on a world just a skip and a hop away. Fallout was my world's next door neighbor, after all. It didn't take much power to get there, even without factoring in mako energy. It would take a spell for the reactors to be built, but at the moment Jenova was spreading the love manually through the open portals. 

“I thought you could use a familiar face by your side for this little adventure,” Robin offered in a soft voice. “After all, you abandoned your world for a reason.” 

A world without Homelander wasn't a world I was interested in. I had been in a rut after his death, depressed that my hero had died, even if it was at my hands like I'd always planned. I’d only found my mojo again after a month of debauchery in El Dorado, and my motivation after Asami nearly killed me. By that point, my world was pretty thoroughly in Asami's hands as she was the one who stayed behind to clean up my mess. And it wasn't like she'd exactly have a hard time turning the surviving populace against me given I was around… twenty percent responsible for the nuclear apocalypse. 

“I wasn't ready for a homecoming for a while,” I admitted. “But then I mostly avoided it because Asami absolutely left a trap there.” 

“It would be a natural place for one,” Robin agreed, watching as the Dias rings spun and locked into place. “It would also be a natural indicator that we possess the power to make jumps.” 

“Yeah, it was just easier to avoid home,” I acknowledged. “But, Asami seems to have missed our trip to Final Fantasy. And if she knew what I got up to there, she wouldn't have left us alone for a decade.” 

“I imagine that Asami has designed her Dias differently than ours,” Robin ventured, her arms crossed. “She searches for her home as much as she seeks people that can defeat you. We were looking for specific universes at specific times… and we operated during what she believes is a blackout for us.” 

Asami just wasn't looking, but that could change. It would change. Which was why I was a bit leery of visiting a world that Asami would expect me to visit for the exact reason I was going there now -- to get my hands on more Compound V. She would anticipate it, because she had done a damn good job of destroying my reserves. The risk was almost too great for me to take, but it had been Kimiko's memories, along with the others, that made me bite the bullet. 

The portal opened to a familiar sight and I took a bracing breath. Robin followed in step as we passed through the portal, arriving on a rooftop that overlooked New York City. 

Or what was left of it, at any rate. 

“Home sweet home,” I remarked, a cloud of fog escaping my mask as I sighed, drinking the sight in. The city had already been half destroyed between my various Supe fights -- my showdown with Homelander, that time I encouraged/blackmailed all those Supes to go wild, and my various fights with the US military. But the apocalypse hadn't exactly helped things. 

Buildings that had managed to survive me had faltered during the rebellions the refugees had led against Asami as she fought tooth and nail to save their lives. Skyscrapers had collapsed, looking like broken teeth pointed at the sky, and there was a bitter chill in the air as the nuclear winter hadn't quite lost its grip on the world, but it wasn't so cold that there was snow. What caught me off guard the most was how quiet the city was. 

That was mostly because of how empty it was. It wasn't completely depopulated, but we had transferred most of the population to Fallout or El Dorado. Leaving behind only a few to greet those that had come in search of hope, only to find that they’d arrived too late. 

“So she really did leave,” I mused, hopping on top of the railing of the skyscraper roof we arrived on. The portal remained active, as we didn't plan for this to be a quick trip. And in the worst-case scenario, it would make for a quick escape. 

“So it would seem,” Robin acknowledged, sounding faintly surprised. According to Kimiko's memories, Asami had cut her losses with this world, planning to pull back regardless of whether her attempted assassination of me had succeeded or failed. “But that doesn't mean that she hasn't left a fail-safe behind somewhere. It would be best not to linger.” 

She had a point there. So, we got a move on. 

I mimed stepping off the roof, but with a quick Shamble, I completed the step inside the ruins of Vought Tower.  It, in particular, hadn't fared well. A lot of the building had been trashed with not a single statue left standing or portrait left undefaced. My gaze lingered on one of Homelander with the word ‘MONSTER’ written over it in red paint. That left a bad taste in my mouth, but I shrugged it off as we continued through what was left of the most powerful company in the world. 

Unsurprisingly, the labs were a bust. Whether or not it was Asami was up in the air, but someone had definitely cleaned the place out and took every sample of Compound V with them. They’d also smashed everything they left behind, destroying all the hard drives and lab equipment. Before, that would have been a real issue for me. 

“Mend,” I commanded, feeling a flash of heat in my magic circuits as, before my very eyes, the destroyed lab began to piece itself back together as if time was being rewound. Glass put itself together like a puzzle, the cracks filling up and vanishing while metal and plastic were restored to their proper shape. When the lab was restored, I cast another spell, this one guided by my Room. “Thunder.” The computers and lights flickered to life as I fed them electricity. 

“Oh, my,” Robin remarked, sounding interested as I approached. “Your time away was productive. Is magic everything you hoped it would be?” 

“It's so much better,” I answered with a cheeky grin that she saw despite the mask as I used a bit of Gravity to stand a few chairs up near a computer and we took a seat. Then we started digging, with the help of Robin's old black book full of info she had stolen from Vought back in the days they were our enemies, which included a password and ID. 

Vought liked to keep everything in-house, that was how they managed to pull off the greatest con in history by passing off Supes as real superheroes. So, the computer had a wealth of information regarding Compound V, though it didn't contain anything about how to make any. It did, however, contain data and references on where we could find more-

A command black box appeared in the center of the screen and in white text, a name was typed out. 

‘Heartless.’ 

My gaze flicked to the camera on the monitor, wondering whose trap I had just stepped into. It didn't… feel like an Asami trap. Asami went for the throat as her opening move, and I imagined that would only become more true now that she’d failed to take me out. But, that didn't mean it wasn't someone who worked for Asami. 

“That's me,” I agreed easily, willing to play along. “Who am I speaking to? Anyone worth knowing?” I asked, putting the command box in the corner of the monitor while I continued to dig for a lead on where I could learn the secret formula of Compound V. 

‘Sage.’ The text box answered. I gave the name a think for a second, tapping into my Supe knowledge which had gotten a little rusty after a decade. 

“Sister Sage?” I ventured, recalling the name, mostly because of how… blatant it was. I remember her power having to do with something about her brain, but whatever it was she never seemed to do anything with it, so she’d been a non-factor in all of my plans. 

‘That's what Vought called me. Unfortunately.’ Sage replied via the text box before seemingly taking control of the monitor, bringing up a number of files, before settling on and highlighting an address. ‘This is what you're looking for, Heartless.’ 

“Convenient. What do you want for your help?” I asked, entering the address into a tailored phone that revealed that it was in South Dakota, about as far away from anything interesting as possible. Not a bad place for a secret laboratory. 

‘What are you doing back here?’ Sage asked, and it was hard to judge tone from text. ‘Last I heard, Asami killed you.’ 

It could be a trick. I didn't know enough about Sage to guess her allegiance. But if it was a trap, then it was one I was going to spring with my eyes wide open. 

“She came close, but no dice. Now I'm here for Compound V. What's it to you?” I asked, readying the teleporter. It would be a bit of a stretch, but the radio signals broadcast from the portal should reach that far.

‘We have common enemies.’ 

Interesting. Not sure if I believed it yet, but I was willing to entertain the possibility. The easiest way to do that was to check on her intel. With that I engaged the teleporter, which snagged me and Robin, and after a few seconds of riding the lightning, we arrived just outside of the address that she gave us. 

A good thing too, because we arrived just outside of a frontier town that honestly looked like it had been left unchanged since the days of the Wild West. What's more, it was occupied. 

The teleportation wasn't exactly quiet, and people looked over to see what the sound was. I strode forward, unbothered by the stares, and with a dark chuckle, I saw the growing terror that filled their eyes. To them, it was like the Devil himself had just appeared on their doorstep. Good to see that I had made a lasting impression. 

What was more interesting was that those who didn't flee readied themselves to fight -- not with guns or knives. But with powers. 

A significant portion of the people in the frontier village were Supes. Roughly a hundred of them, based on feel. Honestly, I hadn't been sure  that there were that many Supes left. Those that weren't Supes, by the looks of things, were slaves. Altogether, there were maybe five hundred people in the village. 

Despite squaring up, none of the braver Supes dared to make a move against me as I strode through their village, barely recognizing their presence as I walked towards my destination -- an unassuming saloon-looking building. Pushing open the swinging doors, the saloon was as silent as a grave as everyone just looked at me, so utterly silent that they didn't even breathe. 

I actually recognized some of them. C-listers, for the most part. Dogknot, who could speak to canines. There was also Firecracker, who did… something that I couldn't remember. They kept their heads low, trying to avoid my attention; no one moved to stop me as we crossed the threshold and stepped behind the bar. An electrical box was pulled open, revealing an elevator switch. Pressing it, a false wall lowered, revealing the elevator that Robin and I stepped into. 

I met the gazes of the terrified Supes… and just before the doors closed, I let out an audible chuckle.

“So mean,” Robin remarked with fondness as the elevator brought us roughly eight feet under the surface. The elevator slowed to a stop, and when the doors opened, two people stood to greet us, both of them visibly nervous even as they tried to hide it.

“Heartless,” Sage greeted me, her nerves swallowed, but I could tell that it rattled her how quickly I arrived. She was on the shorter side, with dark skin and her hair done up in braids.. Her gaze flickered over me, and I could sense her processing all the information that could be gathered from that glance. “You seem to be doing quite well for yourself. You seem… stronger.” 

“Yep. Hate to say it, but Homelander would be small fry to me these days,” I admitted, stepping outside of the elevator. The remark struck home, and her eyes widened a fraction, telling me that she knew I was telling the truth. Instead of focusing on her however, I slid my gaze to the man in the room with her, as I found him far more interesting. 

He was tall, with a trimmed beard and dark hair. On the handsome side of things, but not too much so. What made him interesting, however, was what he was feeling. Complete all-consuming terror, yet controlled interest. All the while there was earth-shattering pain that he kept off his face with an iron will. 

“That's a relief to hear,” the man began, offering a hand to shake. “I'm Cipher, a researcher in Supe evolution with Vought. Or, at least I was.” He sounded like he was genuinely excited to meet me. 

Mind Control. I figured it out as I shook his hand, turning my attention to the hundred others that were in the underground bunker, and one of them in particular stood out. Mostly because he was in a hyperbaric chamber and completely covered in third-degree burns. Ouch. That explained the pain. And the relief the man inside the chamber felt, mirroring what was inside the man before me. 

I half expected him to try and mind whammy me, but it never came. Instead, the puppet before me offered a wide smile. 

“I'm a big fan of your work, Heartless. I've always believed that external pressure was the key to forcing people to evolve their powers, but in a modern world it was difficult to provide those stressors. As far as I'm concerned, the apocalypse was the best thing that could have happened for Supe-kind.” 

Interesting. He genuinely meant it, too. There was a giddiness to him that echoed what I had felt when meeting Homelander for the first time. I was his hero, and that felt darkly ironic. 

“Happy to be of service, then,” I replied, deciding to play along. But it seemed that he was a touch more than just a mind controller, because he offered a somewhat apologetic smile. 

“I apologise for not managing to be here in person, but… well, you’re aware of my circumstances,” Cipher admitted. Had he read my mind? Neat. Contact-based? Eh, it didn’t really matter. I doubted his mind control could work on me, at least not before I killed his real body. He seemed stronger than Cate had been, at least. “This, before you, is just a puppet that I control with my powers. Mind control and telepathy, just as you suspected.”

He let go of my hand, and gave me an honest smile, “And I think we can help each other a great deal.”

“How so?” I asked, deciding to walk past the pair to start checking out the underground bunker. It seemed to be a research facility first and foremost. Experiments on Supes? There were heavy-duty cells designed to house people with super strength, and some of them were occupied. Both of them joined Robin and fell in step behind me like it was natural, which told me that they wanted to stay on my good side for reasons beyond fear. 

“Because, before I became Cipher, I was Thomas Godolkin,” Cipher informed, and that almost made me slow down. “One of the premier researchers into Compound V. The true version of Compound V. The kind that produced gods amongst men.” There was a savage pride in his voice. 

“Which,” Sage continued as we continued to walk while I processed the information, “We had been using to get an edge against Asami, before she pulled out of this world through the Dias at least.” There was anger there. It surprised me a bit. There was genuine resentment in her voice when she talked about Asami, telling me that the beef between them was personal. 

Why, I couldn’t even guess. Asami had barely been on my radar most of the time, and when she was, she had mostly been faking me out to lure me into a false sense of security. So, I had no idea what she had gotten into on this side of the Dias. 

“Harassing her borders, sabotage operations, assassinations,” Sage continued with a vindictive pride that she perfectly kept out of her voice, but I detected all the same. “If it wasn’t for Eraserhead, I would have killed her.” 

Ah, Eraserhead. “His power works on Compound V induced powers?” I asked, walking along the halls, passing through an airlock, and seeing the great lab displayed before me. I recalled Eraserhead quite well. He had been as much a silver bullet against me as Nobara had been -- she attacked my soul directly while he kept me from making a Room so that I couldn’t save myself. 

“His power works on any abilities based on genetics. He completely shuts them down, or failing that, severely weakens them,” Sage answered. “He comes from a world full of naturally born superabled people, who call powers ‘quirks’, that make up roughly eighty percent of the population, according to my intel.” Very interesting. I wonder if that was where Asami found All Might? And a world full of superheroes and supervillains sounded wonderful. 

It might be worth hunting down that world to see what forces were in play that I could tap into. 

“Sounds like you're half the reason she cut her losses then,” I remarked. That got a smirk she couldn't quite keep off her face. She really liked the idea that she had pushed Asami off-world. 

“As far as Asami was aware, we were working together,” she informed. “And as far as she is concerned… this world falls under your influence.”

“Meh,” I dismissed the idea, still feeling no sense of attachment to this world now that Homelander was gone. “I already have one post-apocalyptic hellhole in my empire, I don’t really need another.” This world had raw resources, certainly, but as far as I was concerned, the most important of them were supes and Compound V. I had other and better options for resources. 

“And I suppose that letting Asami believe that she abandoned this world needlessly is just a bonus?” Robin mused, reading me like a book, and I tossed her a wink, walking down some stairs to the ground level of the large lab. I imagine it would certainly sting when she found out, especially considering how much blood, sweat, and tears she had poured into this world to save it from the consequences of its actions. 

“But,” Sage quickly continued, “we could work together. We have resources and Supes at our disposal. Resources that would help in the rapid expansion of your empire.” Ah, she’d picked up on that, had she? Now it was coming back to me -- Sage was supposed to be super smart. Like what fictional super geniuses were meant to be capable of. 

I turned my attention to one door in particular and started to walk towards it, and there was a growing sense of dread in Sage as I zeroed in on the last place that she wanted me to see. She’d underestimated my powers. Or she didn’t understand them. I hadn’t ever gone into specifics with them in this world. Honestly, I’m not sure even Asami knew how they worked. That was a card I kept pretty close to my chest. 

As I walked towards the door, I spoke, “You do,” I admitted with ease. “But you’re overestimating how much I need you. I’m here because it’s more convenient to get Compound V’s secret formulae, not because I don’t have other options. You have Supes, sure, but the multiverse is a vast place. Hate to break it to you, but the average Supe is a step above trash in the grand scheme of things.”

“Which is why we seek collaboration,” Cipher continued for Sage, who bit her lip in thought as we arrived at the door. I raised a deliberate eyebrow at them, and it was Cipher who stepped forward and pressed his keycard to the door, and it began to open. “Even if you have no interest in this world, relocation is a simple thing for us.”

The door opened, and I saw it. 

I wasn’t exactly surprised to see it. I would have liked not to see it, to be honest, but deep in my heart, I knew that it wouldn’t be left alone and buried where it should be. 

Homelander’s corpse. 

It was laid out on a table, showing minimal signs of decomposition despite it being a couple of years since he died. I vaguely recalled that Supes decayed a lot slower because of the toughness of their bodies. He didn’t look good, at any rate. Bloodless, tubes and machines sticking out of him as they harvested genetic material for their experiments, all the while encased in a lead-lined box because of lingering radiation. 

“Homelander,” Cipher continued, his voice firm, “allowed mediocrity to set in with his mere presence. His ego wouldn’t allow a challenger, so we allowed useless Supes to exist. Those with powers were incapable of using their abilities to their fullest extent, and that was by design. Vought wanted show ponies when Compound V was made to create gods.”

I didn’t disagree, honestly. Homelander had been my idol, but I wasn’t blind to his faults, especially towards the end. It didn’t diminish what I had felt, but if I was being honest, Cipher 's words were almost entirely true. The only part that was wrong was the fact that Vought allowed the useless Supes to meander to help sell the story that supes were born naturally rather than fed a special baby formula that gave superpowers. After all, not everyone was going to be genetic lottery winners. 

“What I want,” Cipher pressed a hand to his chest, “is to push Compound V to its limits. To enhance it until it's perfect. And I want to give that serum to those who deserve it. The ones who will push their powers to their extreme limits and shatter them. And to do that, I need you. I need your empire. I need you to find the most dangerous and fucked up worlds and turn them into meatgrinders so we can turn coal into diamonds.”

I was almost sure it was the mind reading, but I was really starting to like this guy. He was speaking my language. 

“And I’m sorry for digging up Homelander, but to me, he’s just a resource now. One of two Supes that Project Odessa managed to produce, and Homelander was never pushed hard enough to live up to his potential. I’m hoping that won’t be the case for the other -- Marie Moreau,” Cipher continued, catching my attention. 

I cocked an eyebrow at him, “Marie? She’s half decent with her blood powers, but I wouldn’t put her in the same weightclass as Homelander.” 

To that, Cipher smiled, “She can be. With the right motivation.” There was a desperation in him. A yearning. And that gave me the impression that Marie’s powers went a step beyond just blood manipulation. That, and I’m guessing that he was crossing his fingers and toes that she could unfuck his real body. 

Based on the tight-lipped smile, he had read my thoughts, and I’d hit the nail right on the head. That was leverage, if nothing else. And if Marie couldn’t do it, then I certainly could. And, at that, I allowed myself a smile at how his puppet’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, showing his realizing that he had options, but I had all the cards. However, deliberately, I turned my gaze to Sage while I leaned on Homelander’s box. 

“I just want to ruin Asami’s day and get out of this shithole,” she admitted freely. Spite and self-interest. I could certainly work with that. 

Nora was right -- it was absolutely worth the risk coming here. Cipher, if he was who he said he was, was one of the minds behind the creation of Compound V. And, from the sounds of it, he wasn’t at all satisfied with its current iteration, so I had a feeling that he was going to love and hate the modified serum my eggheads came up with. Everything else was just gravy, honestly. 

“Then pack your bags,” I told them, looking away from them and to Homelander’s corpse. “You’ll be resettling in one of my worlds.” Cipher would go to Mt. Empty with the rest of my science dream team, but Sage would do well with Nora. It’d be a chance for her to cut her teeth on a new world, if nothing else. 

Cipher nearly sagged with relief while Sage offered a small curt nod, and it was she who spoke. “And… him?” She asked, looking to Homelander for the first time, and I allowed myself a smile. 

I had options now that I didn’t years ago. I had an afterlife on speed dial and medical wonders beyond this world's comprehension. The worlds that I had conquered might not yet have the answers that I sought… but I felt it deep in my bones. 

I think I was going to see Homelander again one day after all.