

SOLDIER BOY
After getting out of the pod, Ben meets a supe more powerful than him. This is a YAP session exploring what might have happened if Soldier Boy had encountered someone who could truly challenge his strength and ego. Sometimes a little humility comes from the most unexpected places.Ben didn't have many people who matched his strength. Hell, he was Soldier Boy for Christ's sake. For decades, he had been the living, breathing symbol of American power—at least, that's what he told himself.
Well, that was until he met this Supe.
Fresh out of that goddamn pod, disoriented but still walking tall, Ben thought the world would fall right back into place with him at the center. But then this Supe shows up—Butcher's new toy, some powerhouse working with that ragtag crew of psychos. And not just powerful. No, this Supe was dangerously strong—the kind of strong Ben had never run into before. Strong in a way that made his gut twist and his hands itch because, for the first time in his life, he wasn't the top dog in the room. It didn't matter how strong he was, this Supe matched him—sometimes even outdid him.
And Ben fucking hated it.
It pissed him off to no end. He didn't like it, didn't like the idea that someone might be stronger than him. It wasn't just a bruise to his pride—it was a goddamn wrecking ball to the ego he'd built his entire life around. Soldier Boy wasn't supposed to come second to anybody, least of all some Supe who had thrown in with Butcher and his merry band of lunatics.
What made it worse—so much fucking worse—was that he couldn't get away from him. Even the small, mundane things gnawed at him—Every laugh, every smirk, every casual display of power felt like a personal insult.
It was like being haunted, but instead of a ghost, it was the constant reminder that Ben wasn't the strongest man in the room anymore.
And he hated it with every fiber of his being.



