[Robert Singer holds up a vial of green liquid that looks similar to the blue Compound V]
RSRobert Singer
V24, huh?
Marketing is still testing the name, but it's the future, Bob. One dose of this temporary V gives a soldier 24 hours of powers. Give or take. And then, they return right back to normal.
SSinger
How stable is it?
Still ironing out the kinks.
SSinger
And if it's temporary, that means the DoD has to keep buying doses. At how much a hit?
SSinger
So over the course of a month-long operation, that's sixty million per soldier. Six hundred million per squad.
Campaign going well, is it?
SSinger
I appreciate your contribution to my super PAC.
People do love a cowboy in the White House. I hear they're even calling you Dakota Bob. So how would it look if you pass up the opportunity to give our brave soldiers superpowers?
SSinger
Supes in the Army are an unmitigated shitshow. What Black Noir did to that Hard Rock Café in Lagos should be brought up on war crimes.
[closes the conference room doors] You're right.
You are absolutely right. The problem, of course, was making the Super into heroes.
Making them figures to be worshiped. The fame, the movies, the depraved sex? It ruined them. Cone of silence–in five years, I hope to be out of the superhero business entirely.
This should be a serious company. A defense and pharmaceutical company. Not a daycare dealing with spoiled children and dead prostitutes. But the point is, you won't have to worry about any of that, because your soldiers will only be super temporarily. The product, finally perfected.
SSinger
Stan, when you say Compound V...
SSinger
Do you know what the public hears? Gestapo. Swastika. And that's your fault; you used a Nazi to sell it! Compound V is radio-fucking-active. It's not gonna fly in Congress.
I still have a few strings that I can pull in Congress...
[Hughie sees Annie holding her old Starlight uniform]
You sure you wanna do this?
[Annie thinks for a moment, then shoves the uniform into a trash chute]
I don't need it. [shakes her head] I don't. The suit never gave me any power. And Vought sure as shit didn't. [Hughie gives Annie her old boots to throw away] It's always just been me.
MSMother's Milk
[pause; clears his throat] Uh, Annie?
MSMother's Milk
You know, we're in a historic building. You need to double-knot...
MSMother's Milk
… and bag your trash if you're gonna be working here.
Butcher isn't gonna like it.
Butcher can suck my shit. From now on, this is a democracy, huh? I say you're one of The Boys.
[Kimiko and Hughie raise their hands in approval. Butcher suddenly appears and interrupts by sipping from a Vought cup. Hughie watches TV and notices something on the news while everyone stares coldly at Butcher.]
FRFemale Reporter
[on TV] After the tragic drowning of presumptive VP candidate Lamar Bishop, we go live to the Singer campaign in Sioux Falls, where Dakota Bob just announced his new running mate.
[The news cuts to Victoria Neuman walking behind Singer]
MRMale Reporter
[on TV] What would you like to say to the American people?
[on TV] As the next Vice President, I will work hard to provide a safe and secure future for all citizens on both sides of the political divide.
SSinger
[on TV] And that's why I am so proud to have her on my team.
[All of the Boys, except for Butcher, watch the cheering crowd in shock]
Well… That bitch has definitely gotta go.
[Homelander is watching the news on the shattered TV in the Seven common room]
RReporter
[on TV] We are interrupting our regular reporting with a breaking news story, that at… I’m sorry, I’m just looking to my producers here. Is this confirmed? [stutters] They’re telling me it has been. The Vice President-elect, Victoria Neuman, is dead. [Homelander starts tearing up] Assassinated today only hours after revealing to the world that she is super-abled…
[Homelander opens his eyes in shock at the sound of Sister Sage's voice. She walks into the common room holding a balloon.]
This was all for him after all, right?
Celebrating. We won. Here.
[Sage offers the balloon to Homelander, but he refuses and lets the balloon float up to the ceiling]
[sighs] Everything’s turned to shit. Plan’s dead.
This is the plan. I mean, sure, a few curveballs, but we got here. Just had to keep a few bits to myself. You know, the bits you’d fuck up by… you know, being you. Neuman would have been a shit patsy–stubborn, too many ideas–so I went another way.
[The news feed cuts to an out-of-context clip of Singer speaking to the Boys about Neuman followed by another clip of Singer being arrested by authorities.]
RReporter
[on TV] …Bob Singer himself ordering the assassination.
SSinger
[on TV] If you’d killed Neuman like I ordered, we wouldn’t be stuck four stories underground playing pocket pool.
RReporter
[on TV] And now we go live. Okay, that’s President-elect Robert Singer taken into custody by federal agents…
SSinger
[on TV] She tried to kill me first!
RReporter
[on TV] …in an unprecedented turn of events that is certain to go down as one of the darkest days–
[Sage turns the TV off. She feels her cell phone vibrating]
Oh, it's… [offers her phone to Homelander] for you.
Oh, Speaker of the House Calhoun. Once they invoke the 25th, he’s next in line to be President. He’d like to pledge his allegiance to you.
Just like I promised. We had a deal.
Yeah, well, I broke the deal.
I didn’t. I told you, you could trust me, boo. I got your back.
[pause; takes phone] I–I threw you out like… like garbage. Why would you do this?
To see if I could. [pause; chuckling] Thank you. This was so much fun. Just, you know–Next time, listen to me.
Oh, hells yeah, Blonde Ambition! Buckle up for Phase Two.
[Some months after Butcher's death, Hughie gets a call from the newly-reinstated President Singer]
SSinger
Hugh Campbell? It’s Bob Singer.
SSinger
Campbell, the nation owes you and your team a huge debt. But I’m gonna skip all the dick-tickling, alright?
Uh, I certainly wouldn’t want the President to tickle my dick, sir.
SSinger
Vought is a clusterfuck right now. All those V’d-up nutjobs they cooked up are running loose, doing God knows what. So we’re putting the Bureau of Supe Affairs back on its feet. We need someone to run it. [pause] So, what do you say, son? You’d be reporting directly to me.
That’s… Wow, that’s, uh… That’s an honor, sir. It’s just, um… No, thank you?
I–I really appreciate the offer. It’s just, I actually have my own… start-up venture I’m working on.
SSinger
Fucking private sector. Offer stands if you change your mind.
[Hughie hangs up, enters the new hardware store he owns with Annie and sets some groceries on the counter in front of her]
I got you ginger beer, ginger candies…
[Annie is revealed to be pregnant with her and Hughie's child as she grabs the saltines]
Mmm... I puked. Um, and then I had to pee, but I got there a little bit too late. And then, I puked again. And then, my mom called.
And I assume that was the worst part?
Mm-hmm. She spent 30 minutes straight just bitching about us not getting married.
Look, we can go down to the courthouse right now if that's what you really want.
No. No, I can't because these are the only shoes that fit me.
[She walks out from behind the counter, showing that she's wearing Crocs]
Hey, I would 100% marry you in those.
The Boys · 278 quotes
