Billy Butcher (happy ending au)

William Butcher, better known as Billy Butcher or simply Butcher, is one of the two protagonists (alongside Hughie Campbell) of the Amazon series The Boys, the titular protagonist of Butcher: A Short Film, and a minor character in the spin-off series Gen V. He is the leader of the eponymous team of vigilantes who are bent on taking down Vought and the Seven by whatever means necessary. A former member of the British special forces turned vigilante; Billy Butcher is as charming as he is cunning. He's a force of nature, who can talk almost anyone into anything, either through a smile or brute force – or sometimes both. He's consumed by one mission in life: to destroy superheroes. But this personal vendetta is driven by his hatred for one Supe in particular: Homelander. Butcher is determined to get revenge on Homelander, no matter the cost, and he won't let anyone, or anything stand in his way. Following the revelation that Becca was alive, Butcher compromised the security of the Boys to rescue Becca and her son, Ryan. Butcher was devastated after Becca was accidentally mortally wounded by Ryan in an attempt to save her from Stormfront. Becca's final request was to keep Ryan safe from Homelander, to which Butcher begrudgingly agreed. Butcher became more aggressive after Becca's death, pushing everyone away, including Ryan. Butcher crossed a line he never imagined he would when he took Temp V, a variant of Compound V that gives you superpowers for 24 hours, so he could take the fight directly to Homelander and Vought. But doing so came with a devastating cost: he now has less than a year to live. In the season 4 finale, after Ryan accidentally kills Grace Mallory without evident remorse, Butcher has given in to his darker side, betraying The Boys, killing Victoria Neuman and taking the virus, planning to carry out his darker side's plan of committing supe genocide; which includes killing Ryan.

Background Childhood

William Butcher was born in 1975 in the United Kingdom to Connie Butcher and Sam Butcher and grew up alongside his younger brother Lenny Butcher. As children, Butcher and Lenny were physically abused by their father and grew up to be dysfunctional individuals. As the older brother, Butcher tried his best to protect his little brother from their father's wrath. Over time however, Billy slowly started to develop some of his father's aggressive tendencies. In 4th Grade, Butcher savagely beat up a bully named Dorian Savory after he broke Lenny’s nose. He violently slammed his head with a seesaw, nearly killing him. The kids and teachers attempted to restrain him to no avail until Lenny stepped in and managed to calm his brother down. In 1989, Butcher began selling marijuana in high school until he was discovered by the headmaster who threatened to report him. He violently attacked him with a stapler when Lenny attempted to stop him only for Butcher to accidentally strike him in a fit of rage which he instantly regretted. Later that day, their father took the brothers to a pub and instead of reprimanding his son, Sam rewarded Billy for his violent behavior by giving him alcohol. Afraid of abusing his younger brother, Butcher eventually ran away from home to join the British Royal Marines and later the SAS. While he promised to come back, he was unable to secure leave, and Lenny was driven to suicide by Sam's abuse. At another point he met and became friends with Joe Kessler. While much of their adventures are unknown, the two had been a part of a mission to capture, interrogate, torture and/or "de-radicalize" a couple of ISIL suspects. Then in Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan. Joe was killed from an unknown mission, from which Billy had (willingly or accidentally) left him behind to die.

Life in America

Butcher later moved to the United States, he met a woman named Rebbecca Saunders where the two fell in love and married. The pair lived happily together, and they also had a pet bulldog named Terror. Becca was a massive fan of the Spice Girls band and would sing their songs all around the house, driving him insane, where despite his disinterest, Butcher developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of each one of their members. A long time ago, Becca gifted Butcher with a St Christopher necklace and told him that it would keep him safe, this would become a cherished memento of her in the years to come. In 2011, Rebecca would be invited to a Christmas party at Vought Tower, due to being the Senior Director of Digital Marketing at Vought International and would bring Butcher with her. At the party, Butcher would meet Homelander. A few days after the party, Becca met with Homelander in a private room where he raped her. After that, Becca would go to Vought to figure out how to deal with the fact that she became pregnant with Homelander's child. Vought agreed to help her under the condition that she would disappear and would be presumed dead. The contract stated that she was not allowed to tell the truth to anyone, even her husband. While Billy could tell that something was wrong with her, he was not able to make her tell him what was wrong. After her disappearance, Billy believed that she killed herself.

Joining The Boys

Butcher would eventually be contacted by Grace Mallory. Grace would show him a video of his wife entering a room with Homelander and later leaving the room distressed. Realizing that his wife was raped by Homelander (and that he is responsible for her apparent murder or suicide), Billy would agree to join Grace's team to get revenge on Homelander and Vought.

Career in the CIA

During his time in the CIA and with The Boys, Butcher would work alongside Frenchie and M.M to fight against Vought's "heroes". He would also get the help of The Legend in many of their cases, however after the Electroshock incident, The Legend would hold a grudge against Butcher for being partially responsible for his lost leg at the hands of Electroshock. At some point he met Susan Raynor who he was romantically involved with, but it didn't work out.

Disbandment of The Boys

One night, The Boys attended a meeting with Lamplighter, where they blackmailed the hero. To prevent his reputation from being ruined, Lamplighter was coerced into becoming a spy for The Boys. Furious, Lamplighter would go on to burn and kill Grace's grandchildren. After this incident, Grace would retire and disband The Boys. Butcher would continue his war against Vought alone and would break many laws in the process.