“Butcher, I have somebody I want you to meet” Hughie explained with a man walking in behind him. “Who the fuck is that?” Butcher asked. “My name is Defuse” the man answered. “What kind of name is that?” Frenchie questioned. “I can Defuse supes’ powers” “He’s one of them?! You brought a supe into the group, Hughie?? The fuck is wrong with you?!” Butcher reprimanded but Hughie stepped between them. “Yes, he’s a supe but he can help us” Hughie explained. “Help us how?” Butcher challenged. “He can help us bring down somebody we’ll never be able to bring down on our own; Homelander” Hughie answered.

“Are you serious?” Frenchie asked. “No fucking way…he’s yanking your chain, mate” Butcher dismissed. “He recently was able to break out of Vought custody; they detained him for being too much of a threat. He stopped A-Train mid-run and was able to drive away after robbing a bank” Hughie explained. “And The Deep was almost eaten by a shark once when I stopped him from being able to talk to it” Defuse added. “So you’re telling me you think you can handle the big blonde bastard?” Butcher asked. “Yes” “Why would you help us?” “He’s the one who sent me to prison” “Right…well if your little friend here claims to be able to cut off powers and let’s say he can, what happens if we’re able to use him on Homelander? You have a plan for that part, Hughie?” Butcher questioned.

“Actually, yes…but you’re not going to like it” “What else is new?” Butcher laughed. “What’s the plan, Hughie?” Frenchie chimed in. “Well, we need to know what the deal is with Compound V, right? We use Defuse to help capture him and then we interrogate him for information” “How do you suppose we interrogate an evil asshole like that?” Butcher challenged as if Hughie was too soft to think of anything decent. “…we tickle him” Hughie answered and Butcher looked at Frenchie like they’d both hallucinated. “Hahaha that’s a fucking great one, Hughie…fucking rich” Butcher laughed off while Frenchie seemed to agree but Hughie expected that reaction.

“I know how it sounds but think about it, think back to when you were younger, when somebody tickled you, I mean really tickled you…think about how much you fucking hated it. We forget when we grow up how awful it can be because nobody’s holding us down and tickling us until we piss ourselves but a guy like Homelander isn’t going to spill anything he knows from pain or any usual torture methods…tickling isn’t just physical; it can be psychological. I’ve looked up some videos online and people can be pretty sadistic with it…I think it’s crazy enough to work” Hughie pitched and Butcher just wrote it off as another instance of Hughie being too green for the job but Frenchie’s interest had been piqued.

“You may be onto something, Hughie…” Frenchie added. “Not you too…” Butcher added with an eye roll. “I could build a machine, a tickling machine” Frenchie suggested. “Yes! That’s a great idea” Hughie answered. “You two are out of it; he’ll fry us and we’ll die for trying to bloody tickle Homelander” Butcher refused to agree. “We have no reason to think he’s not as ticklish as a normal adult man” Hughie pointed out. “I’ve even heard rumors that supes are more ticklish than normal people” Defuse spoke up. “Are you worse than most people then?” Frenchie asked. “Let’s just say Vought knew how to use it to their advantage when they needed my help with something I didn’t wanna do” Defuse admitted. “Come on, Butcher…it’s worth a shot. Maybe you just need to be reminded how bad tickling can be…” Hughie proposed before creeping closer with wiggling fingers toward the brass supe hunter. “Try it and I’ll tickle your face with my fist” Butcher threatened, convincing Hughie to back off.

“Fine…if Frenchie can make a tickling machine and we can prove that Defuse can actually shut off powers, then we’ll do it. But if it goes left, I’m putting you in that fucking tickling machine, assuming we make it out alive” Butcher warned Hughie. “Understood” Hughie answered, eager to put his plan into action to go after the most powerful superhero alive. “Maybe we should do a test run of some kind…see if all this works on another supe” Frenchie suggested. “Oh, now you wanna double our chances of getting killed by some pissed off supe, great” Butcher scoffed. “Who did you have in mind?” Hughie asked. “If Defuse has already cut his powers before, I think A-Train could be a good start” Frenchie concluded as the wheels in his head began to spin with ideas for the perfect tickle machine.

1 Week Later

A-Train zipped through the city on his latest mission, tasked with getting rid of a bomb that’d been planted in the parking garage of a building downtown. The blue streak finally stopped upon entering the basement and he looked around to see anything that looked like an explosive, even running around to check to save time but found nothing. “What the hell, man? There’s no bomb here” A-Train concluded with an annoyed suck of his teeth just before a dart landed in his neck, forcing his attention toward a pillar he’d failed to investigate. Butcher gave him a teasing wave and the fastest man alive started to run toward him but quickly lost his footing and knocked out with a thud on the garage floor.

“Wake up, sleeping beauty” Butcher announced with a few light smacks on A-Train’s face and the 32 year old hero quickly came to. “What the fuck!? The fuck is all this?? Why am I tied up?!” A-Train demanded to know as he tried to break free of the bondage table and use his powers to escape but nothing happened. “Wha…that’s going on? What happened to my powers?!” “That’s for us to know, sunshine, not you” Butcher explained with a ski mask on to make sure his identity wasn’t revealed. “You stupid motherfucker! I’m gonna kill you myself when I get outta here” A-Train threatened with a cocky smile like his captors didn’t know how much they’d screwed up.

He'd been stripped down to only his tight A-Train branded boxer briefs with his arms and legs restrained as he sat stretched out across the upside down, Y-shaped, horizontal table. His arms were encased in a long black sleeve together above his head and his legs were in their own sleeves, they too attached to the table and preventing him from bending his arms or legs. There were even additional straps across his shoulders, waist, and thighs just to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere. His bare feet sat just off the edge of the extensions of the black table and his toes had been individually tied back to the sleeve of each leg; he could barely move anything more than his fingers and head.

“We want to know what you know about Compound V” Hughie explained with his face too hidden by a ski mask. “The fuck are you talking about?” “We know supes are using it to enhance their powers but what is it? Where does it come from?” Hughie pressed, getting a mocking laugh from the mostly naked A-Train. “You realize The Seven is gonna come looking for me, right? Homelander is gonna roast you guys like a couple of hot dogs” “Well until then, I guess we should make sure you’re as clueless as you say you are” Butcher answered before pushing a button on the remote in his hand and watching the device under the table come to life. “What’s that noise? Come on, what the hell is that??” A-Train shouted once the machine was running but found out soon enough when something started raking down his bare feet.

“AAha! WWhaAATThEeFFuUCCK!? HhEEHEymMAAN!” A-Train protested with confused frustration at the mysterious stimulation but the same thing happened again moments later and got him squirming on the table, ready to break whatever he had to for an escape. “TTHhEEhhEELlLL AaRREYYoOouUDEoOiINNG?!” “What’s wrong, A-Train?” Hughie taunted as the two metal back scratchers clawed down his taut soles once again and got another spirited outburst from the bound hero. “LlEETmMeEEGGoOoO! NnOOOWW!” A-Train fired back with panic in his eyes during the couple seconds that it took for the teeth to come back up and comb down his satin soles again.

Hughie gave a thumbs up to Defuse and Frenchie watching from the other side of the two-way mirror and Butcher watched with increasing interest in the interrogation technique, slowly being convinced that it may just work. The simple back scratchers were from some dollar store nearby but Frenchie had rigged them to two mechanical arms that were programmed to scratch down A-Train’s feet on a loop, with teeth just flat and dull enough to tickle like hell. “Now, tell us about Compound V; we know you know something” Butcher pressed while their target grew angrier and more violent on the table with every rake down his feet. “FFuUCCkKYYoOUU!! AASShhOOLLlEE!” A-Train refused to talk just before the metal scratchers clawed from the peachy balls all the way to his heels.

“Don’t play dumb with us, A-Train…it’s not gonna go well for you” Hughie warned before using the same remote to take things up a notch. The sound of the tickling machine doing something else struck fear on A-Train’s handsome face and he looked down the best he could with anticipation in his eyes until the same clawing from moments earlier suddenly doubled on his immobile feet. “AAHAhAHAAHASSHHHIIIITT!!” A-Train roared with a shocked expression but this time the scratchers didn’t stop after one go, instead staying on his smooth feet for continuous action. “AAOhAWWhhAATTThhEEFFUUuCCkKK!?! TTuUURRNNIiITToOoFFFmMMAAANN!!” the distressed supe yelled with fiery aggression but it couldn’t hide how well the machine was working on him.

Hughie cringed a little as he watched the four back scratchers claw back and forth in opposite directions along A-Train’s super feet, imagining how horrible it would feel on himself and then how much more intense it must be for someone naturally extra ticklish. Hughie had no idea that A-Train actually enjoyed having his feet played with, especially having his toes sucked by his girlfriend but even then she usually had to stop after a few seconds because he was just too sensitive. “Ready to talk yet, mate?” Butcher asked.

“AAhoAIiIDdOoNnNTTKKnNNOoOWWAANNYyYTThHIiInNNGG!!” A-Train stubbornly refused again, pissing off the impatient Brit. “He’s not cracking, Hughie…what the fuck do we do now?” Butcher questioned without A-Train hearing. “There’s still more to the machine; you couldn’t have thought he would talk already did you?” Hughie pointed out as he watched the supe he hated the most suffer the constant raking and laugh his head off on the homemade table.

“Alright, if you wanna keep going, that’s fine with us” Hughie assured as tough as he could before placing a strap across A-Train’s already sweaty forehead to keep it in place and pushing another button on the remote. “GGooDDDAAMMIIiTT! LlLEETTmMEEOoUuUTToOOFFTTHHIIISSSHHiiIITT!” A-Train demanded like he was breathing fire as the back scratchers continued clawing up and down his silky soles but his anger quickly escalated when two new arms appeared on either side of his head armed with a feather each and started flicking them back and forth across his ears. “NNOAOOAaohaAOHASSOonNNOOOFFAABBiIiTTCCChH!! FFuUuHUCCKkOOOFF!!” A-Train fumed with a look of disbelief on his pretty-boy face as the white feathers swished across his ears, the kind of thing somebody would do to you only once and you’d be ready to smack them.

The feathers had been attached to two desk trinkets that were supposed to bob back and forth, making for the perfect way to keep the feathers dusting without ever stopping. “Jesus…Frenchie is quite the sadist, isn’t he?” Butcher commented while admiring the crafty cruelty of his friend’s machine. “I told you; tickling can be pretty brutal when it wants to be” Hughie answered while A-Train raged on the table and channeled every bit of strength he could to bust out of the bondage but couldn’t break free. “Now, about that Compound V…” Butcher reminded as he got closer to A-Train. “FFFuUuCCkKYYoOUU!! SSTTOoOPPPFFuUUCCkKIiNnNGGTTiIiCCKKLLLIInNNGGmMEEE!!”

“Give me one of those damn feathers!” Butcher demanded with growing frustration. “What are you doing?” “I’m making this fucker talk” Butcher asserted before finding one of the unused feathers and returning to A-Train before sticking the feather up one side of his nose and twirling it around between his fingers, flaring the hero’s eyes open at the sudden addition. “AoOOAUOAGGOhAOhAOHAANNOoOO! NnOOAOHA!!” He grimaced and his face contorted with immense discomfort while Butcher twisted the feather around, taking turns between nostrils to help really loosen A-Train’s lips. “And he said Frenchie’s the sadist…” Hughie added while watching the childish yet diabolical technique, knowing that a feather twiddling up his nose, two more teasing his ears, and the back scratchers still raking across his feet was all too twisted not to work eventually. Thankfully, he was right.

“OOKOOKK!! AoHAoHAoHAaIILLLTTEELLLyYOOUU!! aohAOHAAJJUUuSSTTtSSTTOohoHPP!!” A-Train soon gave in with clenched eyes and desperate laughter. “See? I knew that’d get him” Butcher gloated as he backed off and Hughie pushed the kill switch on the remote. “Alright, talk. What’s the deal with Compound V?” Hughie asked while A-Train came down from the adrenaline high of being so viciously tickled. “…I use it to run faster…it’s like steroids for supes” “We know that but what else? Is Vought selling it or what?” Hughie pressed. “I’m just a carrier…I don’t know the behind the scenes details” A-Train explained as he caught his breath.

“I don’t buy it; he knows more than he’s letting on” Butcher claimed. “You don’t know shit! Now let me up from this fucking table!” A-Train shouted with enough pent-up aggression by now to probably punch through a wall. “You know this table…it’s not just a regular table” Hughie informed before grabbing a handle on the side and making the table flip over, leaving him upside down facing the floor. “The fuck?! Are you guys some kind of twisted government group or something??” “Not exactly” Hughie answered while A-Train remained totally stuck to the table by the many straps and sleeves, just as defenseless as he was the other way around.

A-Train was in awe of the machinery beneath him, how intricate and tricked-out it was but he didn’t have long to study it before Hughie pushed another couple buttons and caused two vibrator wands to shoot up from the machine. “Vibrators!? Are you serious right now??” “You tell me” Hughie answered as the wands fired up and the round rubber ends landed on his propped-open armpits. “WWoAoAHAOhAohNNoONNAOAOH! AAGGHH!” A-Train practically roared with reluctant laughter but he had no choice as the wands buzzed into the meat of both lush pits like jumper cables trying to start up a car. “Who knew a couple of sex toys to the pits would get a supe squawking like that?” Butcher admired. “Frenchie’s an evil genius” Hughie agreed while the white wands dominated one of the most famous heroes in the world on only their medium setting.

“Tell us the whole story on Compound V…there’s gotta be more to it than just getting supes jacked up” Butcher insisted. “AohAhAOHA EEaAAATTSSHHhiiIIITTT!!” A-Train resisted with his usual attitude. “Fire em’ up more” Butcher instructed and Hughie turned the dial up to full power on the vibrators, instantly sending A-Train’s laughter up a couple octaves until his normal, robust laughter was reaching higher pitches of ticklish hysteria. “Now we’re talking; listen to that squealing” Butcher laughed while A-Train shook in place and the wands vibed in the same spot on full blast. Hughie watched with speculation, figuring by the increasing intensity of A-Train’s reaction that he would be ready to tell them whatever they wanted to know any second but he didn’t volunteer any information.

“AhAoAOHATTUuURRNNIIiITToOoOOFFF!! IIIMmMGGOONNNAAkkIIILLYYoOUuGGUuUYYSS!!” “Good luck with that, love” Butcher mocked as the mouthy supe suffered the full power of the vibrators until his armpits were tingling with over-stimulation. “I think it’s time to add more fuel on the fire” Hughie soon suggested and pushed a different button the remote to trigger another addition to the tickle torture. A-Train was too busy laughing and making threats to notice the machine do anything new until he felt a collection of strange sensations on his sculpted stomach but he was unable to look down and see for himself what they were; all he knew was that they tickled like a motherfucker just like Frenchie had planned.

“SSSHhiIiITTAohAOhaAOWWhhAATTiIISstthhAAATtT?!?” A-Train erupted with fresh panic in his voice but neither of his interrogators clued him in as the two wiry scalp massagers spun all over his belly. The handles were attached to the motors of old blenders which spun them in place so their wire tendrils expanded to cover a wide target, perfect for dominating the entirety of A-Train’s chiseled abs. The combination of the vibrators and the massagers quickly had him letting out shrieks and humiliating outbursts that he never normally would, let alone want anyone to hear but Hughie knew that was part of it. The physical aspect of wearing down your body with steady tickling was one thing but putting pressure on your mental endurance to the point that your will can be bent is the real kicker.

“You’re going to tell us what we want sooner or later, A-Train…we have all the time in the world to find each and every spot that makes you giggle even the slightest bit” Hughie explained with impressive flair as he knelt next to the top of the table. “FFuUUCCCKKYYYoOUUU!!” was all A-Train would say, doubling down on his refusal to spill the juiciest part of the Compound V story. “Give me that damn remote” Butcher demanded as he took it from Hughie and pushed a couple more buttons. In one foul swoop, an electric toothbrush appeared from the machine and went to work on A-Train’s package, buzzing along his balls and soft cock while two nipple clamps shot out and latched onto his already erect nipples before coming alive with powerful buzzing on the mighty chest.

“AAAAAAAHAHAHA!! NOOoNNOOAohAOhAOHA!! CCoOOOmMEEEOOOONN!!” came gushing out of A-Train like a fire hose on full power, suddenly unable to close his mouth for laughing so violently thanks to the newest developments. “Holy shit…I don’t know if I’ve ever heard somebody laugh so hard” Hughie admitted. “We didn’t kidnap a supe just to leave empty handed; I’ll tickle him all night if I have to” Butcher answered while A-Train lost his shit in front of him. The vibrating toothbrush was connected to a device that ran it in a straight line from the waist of his underwear to the base of his ass, effectively teasing his taint, balls, and dick all with one pass and the supercharged nipples clamps electrified his beefy pecs like little ticklish batteries, all while his armpits and stomach continued being pulsated and teased without even a momentary break.

“Why isn’t he breaking? He’s practically screaming with laughter and he’s still holding out…he’s probably more afraid of Vought than being tickled out of his mind” Hughie speculated. “Or…maybe he needs a more personal touch, a little something special that a machine can’t provide” Butcher suggested. “I’m not following” “His feet were pretty damn bad weren’t they?” “Well yeah” “You ever had a girl lick your feet before?” “What?? No…no I haven’t and I’m not licking his fucking feet!” Hughie refused. “Come on, take one for the team. I guarantee you this bloke won’t be able to stand five minutes of it, not with that whole machine working on him” Butcher encouraged, getting a sigh of reluctance from Hughie but part of him knew Butcher may have been onto something. “Fine…” Hughie gave in and started toward the end of the table. “That’s the spirit!” Butcher added as he watched the tech wiz lean down in front of the left bare foot, stick out his tongue, and start flicking it along the taut sole.

“AAAAHahAH!! WWWhhAAAATTThHEEFFuUucCCCKK!?! WWHAATTThHEEFFFuUuCCKKGGEETTOoOfffMmMEEE!!!” A-Train came alive with sudden urgency after recognizing the feeling of a tongue on his feet and piecing together it must’ve been one of his captors licking him. Butcher laughed at how insane A-Train went from a little tongue action and Hughie picked up the pace after hearing the same delirious laughter; it was working. The newest member of the supe hater gang’s tongue winded along the rich balls and savory arch a few times until Butcher motioned for him to go for the toes, convincing Hughie to be a good sport and snake between a few of A-Train’s bound toes and even slurp the biggest one a little. “AAHOAHAOOKOOKK!! AOhAOhAoHAOAHAaFFuUUCCCKkIINnNGGSSTTOhohPPP!! IIILllTTAAALLKKK!!” A-Train shouted moments later with extreme desperation in his voice and Hughie backed off but Butcher waited before turning off the machine. “You’re not just jerking us off, are you?” “NNOOAAOHAOOAO!! IIiIISSWWEEAaRR!!” A-Train assured, finally broken by the tickling machine and Hughie’s impressive tongue work.

After spilling what he knew about Compound V, the team knocked A-Train out again and brought him back to the parking garage where they’d lured him to earlier that day. By the time he woke up, back in his full suit and glasses, he was exhausted and confused but for a few moments until it all came rushing back to him. “Shit, man…what the fuck was that?” he questioned like he couldn’t believe it’d all happened and then remembered that he’d spilled the secret about Compound V. Panic washed over him at the realization and how screwed he was with Vought but it was then that he noticed a note taped to his chest.

‘A-Train, if you tell anyone about what happened today or tip anyone off about us, we will leak the video of you being tickled online. Unless you want the whole world to know how much of a ticklish little superhero you are, you’ll keep your mouth shut.’ A-Train let out a heated sigh and crumpled the note in his fist, knowing he’d rather have spilled a few company secrets than The Seven and everyone with access to the internet to see him squealing and laughing like a little bitch in his underwear from a few feathers and sex toys. As much as he wanted revenge on the guys that’d made him tell him Vought’s secrets, he knew the A-Train brand would never be the same and The Seven would surely drop him if that video came out, convincing the fastest man alive to swallow his pride and pretend nothing ever happened. The Boys had won.