Finding Translucent was easier than expected. The surveillance software I'd planted in Vought's systems tracked his movements, and our monitoring of his phone showed a pattern: every Tuesday and Thursday night, he visited a specific upscale gym after hours, using his invisibility to watch women in the locker rooms.
"Predictable," MM observed, reviewing the data. "He's got a routine. That makes him vulnerable."
We set up the ambush carefully. Frenchie prepared a small but lethal explosive device disguised as a vitamin pill. I would use my hypnosis to make Translucent swallow it willingly, then detonate it once it was inside his body—the only place his impenetrable skin couldn't protect him.
I waited in the gym's parking lot, transformed into my Mazahs form but using newly absorbed invisibility... wait, I hadn't absorbed that yet. I was getting ahead of myself. I waited in normal form, projecting an aura of casual normalcy.
Translucent appeared around 10 PM, visible at first but clearly planning to turn invisible once inside. I intercepted him near the entrance.
"Hey, you're Translucent, right? From The Seven?"
He stopped, ego immediately engaged. Even sexual predators loved recognition. "Yeah, that's me. You want an autograph or something?"
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about an opportunity. Vought's looking for Supes with specific skillsets for a black ops division. Very hush-hush, very lucrative. I'm a recruiter."
His eyes narrowed with suspicion, but greed and curiosity won out. "What kind of opportunity?"
I locked eyes with him and pushed with all my hypnotic power.
His will was stronger than The Deep's—probably from years of sneaking around, maintaining secrecy, staying paranoid. But it wasn't strong enough. Nobody's was, not yet. His expression went slack, and his body relaxed into a docile stance.
"Take this," I said, handing him the pill Frenchie had prepared. "It's a special supplement. Required for the black ops program. Swallow it."
He took the pill without question and swallowed it dry.
"Good. Now, in about thirty seconds, you're going to feel some discomfort. Don't fight it. It's part of the process."
I released the hypnosis and stepped back, putting distance between us.
Translucent blinked, confused. "What... what just happened? Why am I—"
Frenchie triggered the explosive remotely.
The blast was muffled but effective. Translucent's eyes went wide with shock and pain as the explosive detonated inside his stomach, shredding his internal organs. His impenetrable skin contained the blast, but that just made it worse—the force had nowhere to go except through his soft tissues.
He collapsed, coughing blood, dying from the inside out.
I knelt beside him, watching the light fade from his eyes. "You violated hundreds of women. Recorded them without consent. Shared those recordings like trophies. This is justice."
He tried to speak, but only blood came out.
When he finally died, the familiar sensation began—golden light streaming from his body into mine, power flooding my system.
Invisibility. Complete, perfect invisibility at will. Not just visual but also infrared, ultraviolet, most scanning frequencies. I could feel how it worked, how to activate and deactivate it, how to extend it to anything I was touching or wearing.
I tested it immediately, letting the invisibility wash over me. My body vanished completely, perfectly transparent.
"Jesus Christ," Butcher's voice came through my hidden earpiece. "I can't see you at all. That's fucking incredible."
Seven powers now: hypnosis, power absorption, super strength, speed, flight, magic, electrokinesis, and invisibility.
Each one made me more dangerous. Each one brought me closer to being strong enough to face Homelander.
But each one also pulled me further from being entirely human.