The next morning Grace called us to meet at her house, as she brought in a new ally for us to meet. As I drive us to Grace's house, we all pack into the van, with Butcher and MM in his car. After passing through a security checkpoint we pull up to her house and there I see Grace waiting outside for us.
"What's on your mind?" I say getting out as Grace gives me a conflicted look.
"Are you ok? After being exposed like that?" Grace says to me as I shrug.
"It was bound to happen eventually, just sooner than I expected or would like," I say to her as she nods and we all follow her inside.
"Everyone meet Victoria Neuman. As I'm sure you're all aware she is the Congresswoman who has been openly opposing Vought," Grace says as we enter her house and see an attractive woman in her late-thirties with dark black hair, brown eyes, and appearing to be of Middle Eastern descent.
"Nice to meet you all, Grace has told me a lot about you. Of course, I already knew about Starlight and Queen Maeve… Though I'm surprised to learn about you, Logan," Victoria says to us with a political smile.
"Right… Grace no offense, but how exactly can she be of help to us?" Butcher says as Shawn walks out of Grace's living room sipping a drink and then smiles seeing us.
"Hey guys!" Shawn says as we all look at him in surprise.
"I figured, there would be no other place safer than with me. As for Miss Neuman, she–" Grace says seeing us turn to Shawn, then Victoria interrupts her.
"I have a lot of connections with the right people to actually get Vought to be pressured. Plus I'm not afraid to confront them to make sure they know the American people do not appreciate being lied to," Victoria says to us as Butcher just grunts in response.
"We'll see," MM says with a sigh.
"Logan here are the copies," Grace says handing me a flash drive with copies of the documents.
"Before we get a hearing in place. We are going to need more than just Shawn here to speak out against them. I want more than just 'a shot at the King'," Victoria says as Grace nods her head.
"Don't worry I have an idea for that. I'll have MM and Logan get the next piece," Grace says turning to us.
"Right then I'll have to go now," Victoria says, but Grace stops her.
"Take Frenchie and Kimiko with you, they'll be extra insurance you aren't killed for you speaking against Vought," Grace says as Victoria nods her head, with Frenchie and Kimiko quickly following behind her.
"Logan, MM, we need you two to go confront Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum. We know he had an 'accident' recently that involved Homelander. Use this to persuade him to talk out against Vought," Grace says giving us a file on him that has more dirt the CIA collected against him.
"And worse case?" I say since there might be a chance he says no to us.
"'No' is not an option here," Grace to us with a hard look.
"Understood," MM says nodding his head.
MM and I then get back into the van and drive off to confront Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum. We drive for a couple of hours since the man has property in the middle of NY. The place is a huge estate with several acres of land and a house that looks like it has two dozen or more bedrooms, let alone bathrooms and other rooms. We both stare at this giant mansion as we pull up to the gate.
"Fucking rich people," MM says as I nod my head.
"Can I help you?" a feminine voice comes from the intercom as pull up to the gate.
"We are here to Dr. Vogelbaum," I say as the intercom goes silent for a few seconds.
"I'm sorry but Dr. Vogelbaum is taking any visitors right now," the voice says before I press the call button again.
"Tell him the first real supe is here to see him," I say before the voice can tell us to leave again.
After a minute or two of silence, the gate opens. I drive us into the main entrance before we get out and walk to the front door which opens showing an average-looking middle-aged woman. She gestures for us to follow her as we walk inside the mansion.
"Dr. Vogelbaum is currently not well, so he may not be able to answer all of your questions," the woman says with the same voice we heard from the intercom.
"So we heard," MM says as we walk to the backyard where Dr. Vogelbaum is sitting in a motorized wheelchair.
"Thank you, Megan," Dr. Vogelbaum says with the woman smiling and taking her leave.
"Your daughter seems nice," I say since her name is now confirmed by him and the picture we have of her matches, just a few years younger version of her.
"What do you want?" Dr. Vogelbaum says turning his wheelchair toward us.
"We know that Homelander came to visit you a few weeks back and turned you into a cripple. We also know a few other things that you did while working for Vought," I say as MM hands the file of dirt we have on him. His eyes narrow as he stares at us.
"What do you want?" Dr. Vogelbaum says emphasizing each word more clearly and with anger in his voice.
"Just your cooperation in talking against Vought in a hearing that should take place in a few days maybe a week," I say to him as he snorts in response.
"It's in your best interest. Are you ok with what Homelander did to you?" MM says speaking up as Dr. Vogelbaum gives a defeated but nervous look to us.
"Is it? Because from where I stand… sit, Homelander could come back at any minute to kill my kids and grandkids, or worse make them like me," Dr. Vogelbaum says with venom heavily lacing voice.
"Or, I could just kill your daughter now. After exposing her to your past, then leaking the past of yours before doing the same to your other kids and grandkids," I say to him with a dead look in my eyes that I learned after being in several different wars. One that shows you are willing to do whatever it takes to win and not die. Dr. Vogelbaum stares at me trying to see if I'm lying.
"Megan! Could you come–" I shout to get his daughter back into the room, preparing to go through with my threat partially.
"Fine! I'll do it! Just leave my family out of this and I want them in witness protection," Dr. Vogelbaum says quickly breaking seeing my look just before his daughter comes back outside to us.
"Yes?" Megan says looking at us with a confused face.
"It's fine your Dad just looks tired. He might want to get some rest, so we'll be leaving. Though I'm sure we'll see him soon again," I say to her with a fake smile, before turning to look back at Dr. Vogelbaum with a deadly glare as he gives me a small nod.
"Ok, it was nice meeting you all," Megan says waving us goodbye as she helps her Dad back inside.
"Were you really about to kill her?" MM asks me after we get back into the van and begin to drive back to Grace's house.
"Yes… Though I was only going to kill her if it meant to force him to submit. You heard Grace 'no' was not an option," I say to him as he stares at me for a few seconds in silence before just nodding his head.
The rest of the car ride was in silence, one that appeared pretty awkward as MM seemed to see me in a different light now. We finally arrived back at Grace's house and walked inside to see Hughie with Shawn in the living room watching TV as Grace was in her kitchen drinking some tea. She turns to us seeing us enter with a raised eyebrow.
"We have his cooperation, for now," I say to her as she nods her head to call Victoria.
"Where is everyone else?" I ask her before she can complete the call.
"Butcher got a call to meet his Mom… apparently his Dad finally died. So he is meeting her as she arrived in New York City a few days back. Annie said she went to get her Mom, as her Mom went to New York City too to meet her since they hadn't talked in weeks," Grace says before walking away to make the call before I can ask about Maggie.
"I'm here, was just getting some fresh air," Maggie says walking inside having heard us probably.
"I'm gonna go take a nap… I need one," MM says walking off to one of Grace's guest rooms. We just nod our heads as he walks off.
Maggie and I then walk back outside and wander a couple dozen feet away from the house to look out at the view from Grace's property. Her house was built on a large hill overlooking a forest below that extended for tens of miles in all directions. We found a secluded spot away from everyone taking a seat on the ground looking at the view as I light up a cigar. We then sat there in silence enjoying the view as Maggie leaned her head on my shoulder.
"Let's say Shawn and Dr. Vogelbaum speak out, making Vought have to come clean. Do you think it will finally end? Because I don't think Homelander will let it go," Maggie says breaking the silence.
"If the hearing goes well… Then it should be the end for Vought, as for Homelander. You're probably right, which means I'll need help in being able to land the killing blow," I say to her as we then continue to sit in silence.
"After that? Once everything is over, Homelander and everything then what?" Maggie says I hear with a nervous questioning voice and now I understand where she is heading with this.
"Well, we've been together for a while now. I'd like to think of you as my girlfriend, so after everything is over… I was hoping we could continue our relationship and get away from everything," I say to her as she looks up to me as I look down to her.
We stare at one another for a tense minute as she breaks out in a smile and grabs my face kissing me deeply with passion. The kiss expresses our feelings for one another, one filled with love and passion. After breaking it we stare at one another in a newer light, one that shows our commitment to one another.
"You think the guard come over here?" I say to her with a smirk as her face takes on a seductive look.
"I hope not," Maggie says pushing me to the ground and straddling me while removing my shirt.
Things become very heated as we start losing ourselves to the moment. At one point, I had to cover her mouth with my hand as she was becoming increasingly louder while shredding the bark of the tree she was pushed against. An hour into the 'session' both our phones started getting calls which we tried to ignore, but they kept calling. So with an annoyed growl, I walk over and answer my phone.
"What?" I say with a very annoyed voice.
"Annie has been taken," Grace says snapping me from my anger.
"Shit! Ok," I say hanging up as Maggie and I quickly get dressed, rushing back inside to see Hughie pacing back and forth while Shawn is staring at him with an indifferent look.