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Carrying the first-generation serum made by Banner, Kevin and Annie returned to the The Boys world.
This time, Kevin did not pause the time in the Marvel World as the Ancient One had done before.
The Time Stone was now in Kevin's hands, and how Kevin used it was his own business.
So Kevin thought about it and set the return time for three days later.
This might be difficult to understand.
Simply put, Kevin chose to let the time over there resume flowing, then waited one day here before going back to see how much time had passed there.
Kevin did this to determine the flow rate of time on both sides.
If the time flow here was faster, that would be fine, but if the time flow in the Marvel World was faster, for example, if one day passed here and more than ten days passed there, the time anchor point Kevin set would take effect.
No matter how many days passed there, Kevin would definitely return three days later.
Conversely, if the time flow here was faster, then after Kevin returned a day later, not much time would have passed there.
In short, Kevin used this method to determine the time flow in both worlds, thereby deciding whether to continue using the Time Stone to pause the time in that world or to let the time in that world continue to flow.
This concerned whether Kevin could obtain skill points from parallel universes, and Kevin could not afford to be careless.
Returning with the Compound V serum, Kevin did not immediately announce the news through Vought channels, but instead found a time to call Hughie over first.
"How's the contact with the Church of the Collective going?"
After meeting with Hughie, Kevin first asked.
Hughie looked exhausted, his expression quite dazed:
"Not so good. They forced me to find a girlfriend, saying that only heroes who care about their families are more popular."
Not only that, the Church of the Collective also brainwashed him.
It was only because Hughie was sent by Kevin and knew what kind of organization the Church of the Collective was, having prepared himself mentally, that he was not brainwashed by them.
Otherwise, by now, he would probably be like Eagleshaw, obedient to the Church of the Collective.
"...They held an open audition for your wife?"
"You know?"
Hughie, with a tired expression, looked up in surprise.
The Church of the Collective seemed to do this to every hero who joined, choosing girlfriends for heroes and then controlling those heroes through their girlfriends.
Of course, this was for male heroes; as for what they did with female heroes, Kevin did not know.
Kevin knew these things based on Deep's original experience.
He originally thought this was unique to Deep, but now it seemed that was not the case.
Kevin poured Hughie a cup of coffee, handed it to him, and said:
"I know a little, but not much. Do you know where the core area of the church is? Have you been there?"
"Not yet. My ability... if there's no directional location, the teleportation location is completely random. I don't know how to go to places I haven't been to."
Hughie briefly explained his ability.
Hughie's ability was similar to most teleporters.
First, he could only go to places he had been to; if he hadn't been there, he would teleport to a random location within one kilometer of himself.
The good news was that he wouldn't be teleported underground or into the sky, which could maximize his personal safety.
The bad news was that the landing spot was uncertain; he might teleport directly into someone's home, or even into a women's bathhouse.
For places he had been to, there were no such restrictions; as long as the distance was sufficient, Hughie could teleport freely within a five-kilometer radius.
From this perspective, Hughie's teleportation ability was much more powerful than that of ordinary teleporters.
Ordinary teleporters, such as the experimental subject Kevin had seen in The Woods, had a limited range they could teleport, only within their line of sight.
And they could only teleport within a small range.
Hughie, however, could teleport over a large range; from this point of view, he truly lived up to his role as a protagonist.
"It's okay, just take your time, no rush. Let's talk about why I called you over first."
Kevin said, placing the enhanced serum he brought back from the Marvel World on the table.
Looking at the serum, which was similar to Compound V but lighter in color, Hughie asked in confusion:
"What is this?"
"New Compound V, or rather... an upgraded version of Compound V. It can enhance your abilities, but there might be certain side effects, such as... temporary inability to use your abilities, and so on."
"Your teleportation ability is very powerful, but the drawback is that you cannot carry objects during teleportation. So I thought, if your ability is enhanced, perhaps you could carry non-living objects during teleportation."
Because he wanted Hughie to inject the New Compound V, Kevin honestly stated his thoughts and the possible side effects of the New Compound V.
Hughie, however, did not hesitate. He picked up the serum and asked:
"Do I just inject it into my body?"
Hughie's decisiveness slightly surprised Kevin. He hadn't expected Hughie to trust him so much, and immediately asked:
"Aren't you going to think about it more?"
"What's there to consider? My ability was given to me by you, and it's thanks to you that I can be a Superhero now. You wouldn't harm me, I trust you."
Hughie said with a smile.
His smile was clean, without any extra emotions, only gratitude towards Kevin.
And this heavy trust, in turn, made Kevin a little at a loss.
He wanted Hughie to inject the enhanced serum first, not because he trusted Hughie so much, but simply because he wanted Hughie to test the waters for him.
If Hughie had no problems after the injection, Kevin could then give the other enhanced serum to Annie.
Kevin's motives were not pure, and because of this, under Hughie's trusting smile, he began to question whether what he was doing was right.
However, the serum was indeed safe; even if there were side effects, at most it would be a temporary loss of superpowers, causing no harm to the human body.
This had been verified by Banner and was confirmed to be true.
So, after a moment of thought, Kevin no longer stopped Hughie. He said seriously:
"I can guarantee that this serum will absolutely not have any adverse effects on you, rest assured."
With Kevin's assurance, Hughie seemed to relax even more.
Afterward, Hughie no longer hesitated. In front of Kevin, he picked up the syringe, drew the liquid from the enhanced serum, and then injected it into his body.
Kevin sat in front of him, his eyes never leaving Hughie, staring at him.
If Hughie had any problems, he would do everything in his power to save him.
A few minutes later, Hughie, lying on the sofa, suddenly tensed up.
He seemed to be suffering immense pain, clenching his fists tightly, and staring at the ceiling with wide eyes.
Kevin immediately stood up at the sight:
"Hughie!"
"No... wait—!"
But before Kevin could do anything, Hughie stopped Kevin. His voice trembled, but he couldn't hide his excitement:
"I... I'm fine... it's just... I can't control it..."
"Can't control what?"
Kevin quickly asked.
Hughie was about to answer: "Can't control..."
But before he could finish speaking, he vanished from in front of Kevin, along with the clothes he was wearing.
Seeing this, Kevin was surprised but also confirmed that Hughie's ability had indeed been enhanced.
Because he was meeting Kevin, Hughie had made sufficient disguise before coming to find Kevin.
A baseball cap, a leather jacket, and sunglasses.
Although he wore a hero uniform underneath, at least he had many miscellaneous clothes on top.
If it were the old Hughie, he would definitely leave his outer clothes behind when teleporting.
But now, Hughie disappeared along with his clothes, which meant that his teleportation ability had indeed been enhanced.
Hughie's ability being enhanced meant that the serum Banner had researched was indeed fine, and Kevin could safely use it on Annie.
So now, one question Kevin needed to figure out was.
Where was Hughie teleported to?
Why hadn't he come back yet?
...
"Wow!!"
Carrying all his clothes, Hughie's figure appeared in a park not far from Vought Tower.
Fortunately, there weren't many people in the park at the moment, and Hughie teleported to a relatively secluded spot, so no one noticed Hughie suddenly appearing there.
Shaking his head and patting his face, Hughie finally managed to control the dizziness caused by the teleportation and looked at himself.
"The serum really works, Kevin didn't lie to me..."
Although Hughie did trust Kevin, perhaps it was Butcher's constant 'brainwashing' that sometimes made Hughie unable to help but think of people in a negative light.
He always felt that the other party's actions had ulterior motives.
When talking to Kevin just now, Hughie had been trying his best to think of the other person's good points to achieve complete trust in Kevin.
But in reality, deep down, he was still a little worried that the serum would have problems.
However, now, Hughie found that his worries were indeed unnecessary; Kevin would not harm him, the serum was fine, and his ability had indeed been enhanced, allowing him to teleport with his clothes.
"I need to go back and tell Mr. Kevin about this."
Hughie didn't know Kevin's purpose for giving him the enhanced serum, but without much thought, he could understand that Kevin giving him the serum should be some kind of 'experiment'.
Now that the experiment was successful, Hughie naturally wanted to go back as soon as possible and tell Kevin the result.
The location where Hughie had previously met Kevin was in an office inside Vought Tower, specially chosen by Kevin so that even if outsiders stumbled upon Hughie coming, they wouldn't suspect anything about this special office.
Hughie remembered the office's location and its furnishings, and he could return there to meet Kevin by activating his ability.
Originally... that should have been the case.
But after Hughie activated his ability, he found himself still in the same spot.
"?"
Slightly stunned, Hughie tried again, not believing it, but the result was that his body flickered, yet he remained in the same spot.
Cold sweat ran down his forehead, and Hughie suddenly remembered Kevin saying that the enhanced serum might have a side effect of temporarily losing superpowers.
He swallowed, looked at a deserted open space in the distance, and then activated his ability again.
Whoosh—
This time, unlike before, Hughie successfully moved, going from his original position to the open space he was looking at.
"My ability is still there, what's going on?"
Realizing that his ability still existed, but he simply couldn't return to the previous location, Hughie was extremely confused.
He looked at the distant Vought Tower, hesitated for a moment, and walked towards Vought Tower.
Since he couldn't teleport back, he would just walk back. Anyway, Hughie knew the exact location of Kevin's office.
Thinking this, he approached Vought Tower.
However, just as Hughie was about to approach the building, his eyes suddenly widened, and his face turned pale as if he had seen a ghost, and he activated his ability without thinking, returning to his original hiding spot in the shadows.
Hughie actually didn't want to be so paranoid, acting as if he had done something guilty.
But he had no choice but to do so.
Because just now, outside Vought building, he saw a blue figure.
A blue figure that should not have appeared here!
It was A-Train!
A-Train, the speedster from The Seven, who had died of a heart attack long ago!!
How could he appear here?!
This was truly insane!!
At that moment, Hughie looked at A-Train walking into Vought Tower, his face filled with terror.
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