Synapse, Butcher and others in “Unfinished Business”

How are you two feeling?

Why don't you just fuck off outta my head and I'll tell ya.

I already know. You wanna rip me in two, which makes me a tiny bit erect, not gonna lie. But believe me… I'd rather not be in that rat's nest of yours. So much pain, regret and abject failure. Like with this fucking guy.

[chuckles; sighs] I got a little bit of an erection myself. You miss me?

Hughie

Who's this?

He ain't real. He's just fuckin' with us.

Come on, man. [to Hughie] Joseph Alan Kessler. I served with Bill. Actually, you know what? More than that. Billy and I… [makes a hand heart gesture] we were besties. See, the problem you're having is that curdled cottage cheese you got inside your skull that remembers me as being some sort of a sociopath head case. That hurts my feelings, Billy. It’s not true. That wasn’t me. No, that was always you. You know, sometimes, Billy’d get real friggin’ blitzed. All quiet and sullen. And then he’d admit that he had this darkness inside of him. A shark that couldn’t stop. [pause] You see, Billy had no conscience. So, I was there to be that for him. Pull him back when he went too far. [to Butcher] Does that ring any bells?

Just ignore him, Hughie. It’s just psyops bollocks. That’s all. Just bollocks.

Do you remember when the night finally came to cash that check? Panjshir Valley. We were there to take out this mid-level ISIS clown. Billy got us into the compound. The problem is that we got this call that this asshat had a hundred men that were minutes behind us. Now, any sane command leader, they’d pull their men out. Make sure they were safe. But not Billy, no. See, Billy got that little glint in his eye. Wouldn’t give the order, so I got in his face. I screamed at him, "The target’s not worth it. The target wasn’t worth it!" [beat] Nothing, so I popped him one. Smacked him right there on the forehead, got him this sweet little scar you see. But Billy? Well, Billy didn’t budge. No. And sure as shit… we were surrounded. Good news is that old Butcher, he got his target. The issue was that Billy was the only member of the unit to walk out of there alive. So, he will ask you to pull him back. But the truth of the matter is, is you are fucked when you get in his way. Lot of dead canaries in old Billy Butcher’s coal mine. Anyway… Good luck with that, Hughie.

Why don’t you just piss off, you fuckin' nonce? We ain’t tellin' you shite.

You don’t have to tell me “shite.” I know everything. I’ve been inside your cassava the whole fucking time. I’ve just been distracting you. Let’s see, Sage is in an abandoned school in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Kimiko? Seriously? You’re gonna saddle her with Soldier Boy’s power blast? Are you fucking insane? [laughs] Homelander is gonna love this shit. Alright, boys. I’ll see you soon.