Work Text:
“I never loved you. I hated you.”
”You’re such a disappointment."
Explosions surrounded Soldier Boy on all sides and he drank in the chaos as he got to work, he had a job to do.
“Left to rot by my own team. You know, I wanted some rugrats of my own. With Countess. Yeah. Ain’t that a bitch."
The rush of air into his lungs and the mechanical beeping that surrounded him had Soldier Boy, Ben, in attack mode as soon as his eyes opened. He attempted to yank away from the bonds that kept his limbs pinned and he snarled as he strained against his confinement. Ben’s eyes landed on a familiar, smug face and he wanted to snap the bastard’s neck.
“Whoa, there. Take it easy. You’re not getting out any time soon so you may as well make yourself comfortable.” Homelander grinned and gave a little wink like the two were sharing a joke.
Ben ignored him as he continued to struggle but his limbs felt oddly heavy and he couldn’t get the right leverage.
Homelander’s mouth twitched towards a frown before he fixed his expression. He hated being ignored…and he had all the power now, didn’t Soldier Boy see that? “I know, I know. You need to make a token effort, right?” he drawled. “But maybe we can skip the part where you embarrass yourself trying and we can get to actually talking? Huh? What do you think, buddy?”
Ben froze an instant at the term ‘buddy’ as he ceased his struggles and instead fixed his gaze on Homelander. He studied the test-tube reject before him but pointedly said nothing.
Homelander’s mouth tightened despite the way he forced his lips to stay upwards in the facsimile of a smile. “Really? Gonna just stare at me? Don’t tell me getting beat by me and locked back up scrambled the ole noggin.” he said with a 'friendly' tone and a finger-swirling gesture to the side of his head.
Ben replied in bored tone. “None of you beat me. But the hot butch who launched me out the window did pull a fast one. I’ll give her that.” he conceded with a sliver of begrudging respect.
Homelander’s fingers twitched at his side as Soldier Boy called Maeve [his Maeve, despite her little fantasies of independence] a ‘hot butch’. And there was the fact Soldier Boy wouldn’t acknowledge Homelander’s victory. “You really-”
“-Look, asshole.” Ben intentionally cut Homelander off and smirked when Homelander looked annoyed. “If you came here just to run your big fucking mouth, may as well put me back on ice.”
Homelander stared before he gritted out. “I’m your son.”
“Unfortunately.” Ben agreed and Homelander’s chest began to rise and fall faster, the dick sure was emotional. But Ben could use that to his advantage.
“...Look.” Homelander’s voice was terse with a forced civility. “I think we got off on the wrong foot. I mean, you were hanging out with Butcher and his band of chuckle-heads. It’s obvious they tried to turn you against me. Took advantage of your…confused state.”
“My what?”
“You weren’t thinking clearly.” Homelander said matter-of-factly. “You were locked up so long…they got you out…fed you up on booze and big talk and stroked your…ego.” he said in a way that hinted at innuendo. “Got you all turned around…thinking that I was the ‘bad guy’.” Homelander used air quotes as he scoffed and rolled his eyes like it was laughable. “You got played, that’s all. But I’m here to set the record straight…you made a mistake.”
“I made a mistake all right.” Ben said solemnly and he watched a little twinge of hope and triumph color Homelander’s expression before he finished. “I’m looking at the biggest one.”
A piece of machinery from a nearby table went flying as Homelander struck it in impulsive rage. His nostrils flared as he loomed in front of Soldier Boy and looked momentarily livid. He breathed heavily a few seconds before he settled with another forced grin. “Don’t you get tired of pretending? Come on, we both know you gotta be scared outta your mind, right? Cause all I have to do is push a button and then you go back under. I’m in control.” Homelander gloated.
Ben snorted. “You fell down the crazy tree and hit every damn branch, didn’t ya? And I mean what kind of fucking name is Homelander? Tell me you didn’t pick that shit.”
The abrupt change to a new topic threw Homelander off for a few seconds before the words made his blood boil further. He was trying to be patient but Soldier Boy was making it so hard. “Why is this so hard for you to understand? You should be begging for my forgiveness. My mercy.”
Ben gave a Homelander a look of pure derision. “The fuck would I want your forgiveness for? You’re nothing. Not to me. Not to anyone. You’re a piece of shit in spandex.”
Homelander’s hand was clamped around Ben’s throat nearly before he finished speaking. He didn’t bother to hide his sneer as he glared at Soldier Boy who simply smirked back. “I was giving you a chance, you know. To do the right thing. To see how wrong you were. To admit that I’m superior. A son to be proud of.”
“If you wanted me to lie, all you had to do was ask.” Ben said ‘sweetly’ and he chuckled as Homelander’s hand clamped around his neck. He felt his flow of oxygen diminish but stayed relaxed.
Homelander waited for the look of fear to come but Soldier Boy just kept…mocking him with his eyes…with that smug expression…who the Hell did he think he was? Homelander was the upgrade, the better model, the real hero. Soldier Boy was a cheap, vintage novelty from bygone days. “We could have been a family.” he hissed. “Me, you, Ryan. You almost killed my kid…and still I was giving you a chance.”
“You can shove your ‘chance’ right back up your tight little ass, princess.” Ben wheezed.
Homelander’s grip tightened automatically and he heard a crack as Soldier Boy’s neck snapped. He watched it loll to the side as Soldier Boy’s eyes closed before he shoved away with a scowl. “Hateful old bastard.” he muttered before he sighed and shook his head. “Things could have been different.”
A cough and then the sound of a throat clearing precipitated Soldier Boy ‘waking’ back up as he tilted his neck side-to-side and flexed his jaw.
Homelander stared in shock as Soldier Boy roused. He’d never experienced having a broken neck but he’d assumed it was something that might actually kill him…but if Soldier Boy could take it…Homelander probably could too. “So you can survive a broken neck…”
Ben chuckled as he spat out a mouthful of blood with an unconcerned look. “I don’t get out of bed for a broken neck.”
Homelander’s jaw clenched before he smirked. “I know about you now.”
“No kidding?” Ben asked in a voice rife with sarcasm. “I’m a fucking legend. Who doesn’t?”
“That’s not what I mean.” Homelander persisted smugly. “You-you weren’t like me. Some punk that took Compound V to get ahead. You were never special. You just got lucky. More than you ever deserved.”
Ben wasn’t a scholar, he never pretended otherwise. But he was sharper than most folks gave him credit for. He picked up on things when he was so inclined, when he bothered. Most of the time he didn’t give a shit what others thought about him or saw him as. He’d been especially cocky in his youth and it cost him dearly given what his so-called team had done to him.
What she had done to him.
Ben wasn’t exactly a humanitarian either. He was practically a god amongst men, he was more than they would ever be. So yeah, sometimes he got a little carried away and accidents happened. Hell, sometimes he had to be the big man on campus and put his unruly teammates in their place. [Clearly he should have beaten their lying, traitorous asses harder]. He wasn’t some bleeding heart little bitch like everyone acted like he should be. Soldier Boy’s job was to get the job done and if he had to crack a few skulls or damage some property to do it: shit happens.
But like he’d told that little weasel Hughie, he wasn’t a bad guy. The distinction between him and Homelander was fundamental. Ben had paid more attention than the geek-squad thought, he hadn’t gone up against Homelander totally blind with only their whiny bullshit to go on. Nah, he’d studied Homelander himself once he got a little ‘internet’ access and figured out the dick was his own son.
Ben didn’t lose any sleep over killing, even if a civilian got caught in the crossfire. But he didn’t enjoy it and he didn’t go out of his way to put some schmuck six feet under. What Ben had done when he blacked out…the people he’d killed…it wasn’t his fault. He’d been off-his-rocker after what he’d been unjustly put through but…he didn’t like that he’d hurt those people. Ben hadn’t wanted to and it…bothered him that he had. Death as a consequence of getting the job done was one thing but he didn’t just kill on a whim. He wasn’t a fucking monster.
But Homelander? Little Mr. Daddy Issues, the entitled prick with powers he never should have had…he was a different story. Ben couldn’t miss seeing it if he was blind for fuck’s sake. Homelander was like the proverbial shitty kid with an ant farm and a magnifying glass. He’d rip someone apart just cause they looked at him funny. [Soldier Boy might have beaten a dick or two for the same offense back in the day [it was a weird time anyway] but he’d never kill for that shit]. He had seen for himself that Homelander needed to go, son or not. Did it bother him to kill his only flesh and blood kid, the only family he had left alive?
Yeah, actually. It bothered him. But he was fucking Soldier Boy. He got shit done. That was what they all seemed to forget. Yeah, they did some song and dance to make him sound a little more puffed up than he was but when push came to shove: Soldier Boy delivered.
So how the fuck was it fair that he was back on ice while Homelander went around being the nutjob of the year? Ben had him, dead to rights, and he got kill-the-dick-blocked by the geek-squad. All because that kid got in the way. After all Butcher’s bullshit talk about ignoring his relations he stopped Homelander’s death to protect a bastard that wasn’t even his. Seriously, was Ben the only one with a lick of damn sanity?
They made a freaking monster out of his spunk and didn’t even give the little shit an off-switch. Ben was their best hope and where was he? Stuck back in a prison while the piss-ant gloated and whined. What the Hell did he even want?
Ben saw the not-so-hidden layers of Homelander. He had a hard-on a mile long for Soldier Boy, for a ‘daddy’. Homelander had been so desperate for Ben’s…[love, affection, approval, pride?] like the little dick-nugget had done a damn thing to earn it. He wanted to talk about deserving when everything he had was snatched from Ben’s own dinner plate? “You want to talk about deserving, you little bitch?” he said in a near monotone. “How about this. Everything you have. Everything you are comes from me. You ain’t special. You’re a science experiment gone wrong. They wanted me, but I wouldn’t bend over so they made you. If anyone in your whole miserable life had ever actually given a shit about you…you wouldn’t be here begging to suck daddy’s dick.” Ben was deliberately crass to get a rise out of Homelander, he could tell the sensitive little shit had never been talked to that way. And least of all by said ‘daddy’.
Had Ben been a normal man, the punch that followed from Homelander would have shattered every bone in his face if not separated his head from his body. Ben casually tilted his head back and forth as if to adjust from a kink and then exhaled contentedly.
Homelander seemed enraged by his words and only further infuriated by his casual attitude. “You’re going to rot here.” he hissed. “Like the miserable old has-been you are. You fucking waste of space.”
“Maybe.” Ben conceded. “But we’ll both know why.”
Homelander’s brow furrowed. “What?”
Ben made sure to look Homelander right in the eyes as he said coolly. “Cause you couldn’t beat me. You’re afraid. The only way you talk shit is when I’m all locked up. Pussy. Well, least you know your place. Beneath me in every conceivable way.”
Homelander’s eyes went red with fury as heat beams erupted from them and he put the full force of them on Soldier Boy. He had a few seconds to realize his error but it was too late as Solder Boy’s hand gripped his throat and dug fingers into Homelander’s neck.
Ben grinned crookedly as he felt the tendons under his fingers and saw the flash of fear in Homelander’s eyes. Soldier Boy could withstand laser-eyes. The crap holding him down could not. “So fucking emotional. You wanna play house so bad? I’ll humor ya. How ‘bout we play catch, son. Let me show ya how a real man pitches.” he hurled Homelander by the neck into a nearby wall before he tilted his neck again and stretched. “You lack discipline.” Ben said as he strode forward confidently. “So I’m gonna teach it to ya. Real. Fucking. Slowly.”
Homelander hurled a table at him and Soldier Boy knocked it aside.
Ben clucked his tongue. “That was a shit pitch. Guess you didn’t learn the lesson the first time.”
“You can’t beat me.” Homelander hissed but his eyes darted around nervously.
Ben wondered if he expected some kind of back up or how the Hell he’d got in to see Ben in the first place. He figured no one could have stopped Homelander but breaking in wouldn’t exactly give the knob-slobber the popularity points he had such a hard-on for. “You want to bet?” Ben asked coldly, his gaze calculating and predatory as he looked on Homelander calmly. “You don’t have a way to kill me, but I sure as Hell have a way to kill you.” Ben tapped his chest pointedly.
Homelander stared for a few tense seconds before he abruptly took off in an explosion of plaster and dust.
Ben’s brow lifted as he looked at the hole in the ceiling. And that was supposed to be his replacement. Ha.
Ben glanced around the lab before the door opened to reveal a group of armed people in tactical gear. Homelander wanted to play hide-and-seek? So be it. Ben was familiar with the hunt and he had a burning determination to finish what he’d started.
“Put your h-hands up!” One of the men shouted.
“Let’s see…about twenty of you against me?” Ben shook his head. “Your boss sent you on a suicide mission.” A flurry of shots rang out followed by what Ben assumed was a canister of Novichok gas. “Not this fucking time.” Ben held his breath as he hurled the canister through the hole Homelander had left and then looked to the people standing between him and freedom.
Let’s get this hunt started.