Vought Tower | Monday, Late Evening

[defenderofdesmoines]

Today had been -- honestly, literally -- a dream come true. Annie had wished and hoped and prayed for this day since she was old enough to know that this was what she'd wanted. She had barely felt like her feet touched the ground since she and her mother had gotten off their plane from Des Moines at JFK, and the entire day had persisted with a dreamy, surreal quality. Like she was watching it all happen to some other, lucky girl.

When Madelyn Stillwell and The Deep had called her out onto the stage earlier to introduce her to the shareholders, her heart had felt like it might beat right out of her chest, but it had also felt -- right. Like a calling.

Now, though, as she stepped into the enormous Vought conference room, she felt that sense of surrealism take over again. Soon enough they'd be putting up a statue of her there in The Seven, replacing Lamplighter with Starlight. She'd have a seat at that table.

"Wow," Starlight said as she stepped into the conference room. She kind of felt like pinching herself.

The Deep	"Pretty cool, huh?" The Deep was barely paying attention to Starlight's reactions -- Stillwell had told him to show her around and, please, look at this girl, he did not need to be told twice. "Oh, hey, check this out," he said, leading her over to the screens. "We have two World View-4 Satellites in geocentric orbit. We can essentially read a getaway car's license plate from three hundred and eighty miles up."
Starlight	"That is just...." Starlight took a deep breath to try to get ahold of herself, because all of this was just -- it had been a long day of a lot of excitement, and she was left kind of waving a hand for lack of a good word choice. "I mean -- I used to use a police scanner that I bought on eBay." Maybe he'd get what she meant? She was having trouble articulating herself right now. She really kind of wanted to escape to the lavish apartment they'd shown her earlier, text Diego and get a good night's sleep, and then maybe tomorrow she'd be able to deal with the enormity of being in this conference room. The significance. The honor.
The Deep	She was really damn cute. Little fangirl, all grown up. "Yeah, well," he chuckled. "Not anymore, you're not. Oh -- and wait 'til you check out the dining room. We, uh, may or may not have stolen Miro from Gramercy Tavern." He led the way around the conference table towards his own chair, because he was kind of hoping to get this girl into some kind of a relaxed position sooner than later. "Yeah, he's fan-fucking-tastic."
Starlight	But Starlight had stopped in her tracks, having tuned out when she didn't know who the hell Miro was, and more importantly, distracted by how big this moment was for her. "That's his, isn't it?" she asked, pointing to the chair situated at the apex of the V-shaped table. She actually felt almost faint. Maybe she should have had a snack before they came up here. This was -- God. Her whole life.
The Deep	"Homelander's?" Oh, fuck, hopefully she wasn't one of those fans. "Yeah. But you'll have your own soon." And maybe he could still make this work. The Deep smiled over at Starlight, pulling Homelander's chair out like a gentleman. "Come on. Give it a test drive."
Starlight	Starlight shook her head initially, actually unable to talk suddenly. She couldn't sit there. In Homelander's chair? She still couldn't believe she was in breathing distance of it.
The Deep	"You okay?" Look, he could be sensitive. See him be sensitive? Girls loved it when you were sensitive.
Starlight	"It's just --" Starlight shook her head and cleared her throat carefully. "I used to stand in the mirror, pretending to be where I am right now." It was impossible that she was here now. The day had been a whirlwind, and she was still processing it all.
The Deep	Ah. Imposter Syndrome. He could work with that. "You know something?" The Deep leaned on the back of Homelander's chair, raising his brows at Starlight as though he was confiding something big. "On my first day, I -- uh, well, I felt like a fraud. Yeah. But the good news is everybody feels that way."
Starlight	Starlight exhaled slowly, nodding. Of course. She wasn't the first person to feel this way. There was no way she was the first person to spend their life wanting to be on a team and making it. Or the first person to be convinced it was all going to go wrong at some point -- that nothing could possibly feel this perfect. He was right. "Thank you," Starlight said quietly, with a grateful smile.
The Deep	"And hey, we're a team now," The Deep added, smiling reassuringly as he gave Homelander's chair an inviting pat. "We'll help each other out."
Starlight	Starlight blew out another breath before crossing over and taking a careful seat in Homelander's chair. It was huge -- which made sense, Homelander himself was huge -- and made of the softest leather she'd ever felt. It wasn't a dream. You couldn't feel textures in dreams. She closed her eyes, just savoring how amazing this moment felt.
The Deep	"I bet growing up you had a poster of Homelander on your wall, huh?" The Deep was leaning over the side of the chair, his voice near Starlight's ear.
Starlight	Well, this was kind of embarrassing. He'd been a friend to her so far, so Starlight felt like she could kind of confess this. Hopefully he wouldn't think it was weird or anything. "Uh, no, actually, I --" She shook her head, peeking over her shoulder at The Deep with a small smile before looking back out at the conference room. "I don't know, Homelander's so -- he's like Jesus or something. If you want to know the truth...I actually had a poster of you." Oh, God, she hoped he didn't think she was flirting with him. She'd been, like, fifteen.
The Deep	If The Deep had been the kind of guy to wait for an invitation, he would have taken that as one. As it was, he saw an opening where before he was going to have to create one. "Really?" he laughed, reaching down to reassuringly smooth his hands over her shoulders before taking a step back to start working on his belt.
Starlight	"Yeah, I kind of had a schoolgirl crush on you." And now Starlight was just going to bury her face in her hands, because that shoulder-pat just made her feel like it had been the wrong thing to say, and she was completely blowing this whole thing, and she just wanted to get to her apartment and into her pajamas and to text her boyfriend and to see what was up with that gift basket she'd seen in there, and -- okay, get ahold of yourself, girl. "Oh my God. I hope that's not inappropriate to say."
The Deep	"No, no, no, no, not inappropriate at all." He was into this innocent thing she was doing, but he didn't need her to take it that far. His pants were undone by now, and he was getting a little tired of being coy about this. He dropped his voice a little lower, inviting. "It's just kind of wild." He would figure out a way to get her to turn and look at him if he needed to, but he'd take care of himself until she noticed. She was really fucking pretty; that helped.
Starlight	Starlight's neck went a little tense at the way his voice dropped like that, because -- no, that didn't sound like the shoulder-patting had been the condescending dismissal she thought. Shit, he had thought she'd been flirting, and she really needed to correct that right now. She swiveled in Homelander's chair, wanting to clear the air -- but her words died on her lips. The Deep had his pants off, and he was...touching himself. Slowly. Deliberately. Inches from her face. This wasn't just flirting, this was -- she needed to get out of here. Starlight reared back, bolting up out of the chair. "Oh -- oh my God."
The Deep	"What?" The Deep removed his hand from himself, shrugging his arms out broadly. "You said you had a crush on me." She'd led him on, was what he was getting at, but hopefully he could still salvage this. Maybe she just wanted to do the work herself. Some women didn't like when you started without them. "I figured that, you know...."
Starlight	Starlight backed away from him towards the screens they'd been looking at, growing more disgusted by the second. This was too real, now. The dreamy quality was gone, and instead she'd been plunged into an ice bath of horrifying, rotten reality. Had she done something to make him think that was something she wanted? Maybe he didn't care what she wanted. "Oh - oh my God." And now she was moving away from him faster, as fast as she could stride across the conference room.
The Deep	"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey!" This was so not going according to plan. The Deep tugged his pants back on, placatingly holding his hands out towards Starlight. "Look, you're gorgeous. I'm not -- I'm not talking about sex. Just a little bit of pole-smoking." Maybe that would help? If they were just honest about what everyone wanted, here.
Starlight	Starlight couldn't believe she'd heard that right, and now all she could do was shoot a look over at him as she charged for the doors, nostrils flared in the righteousness of her fury. She didn't know who she'd tell. Ms. Stillwell? Ashley? The press? This was not okay. This was so far from being okay.
The Deep	"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey, wait, wait, wait." Goddammit, he needed to get his pants fastened so he could get over there and stop her from leaving. He could always stop her with his words. "It's just a question of how bad you want to be in The Seven."
Starlight	Starlight froze in her tracks. He didn't -- no. There was no fucking way -- She turned around, taking a few steps closer to that asshole and drawing power into herself so quickly that every single screen in the conference room cracked in concert. "Excuse me?" Her voice was low, her eyes the brightest thing in the room now. Starlight was furious, and she wasn't afraid to let it be known that he was on the thinnest ice imaginable.
The Deep	"Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Again with the placating hands, and The Deep looked around at the cracking screens and flickering lights like the room might come crashing down around them. "Take it easy." He hadn't meant to make her so upset, honest. "Settle down. We're just -- we're just talking." He circled the conference table, approaching Starlight now that she'd apparently calmed down a little. (Her eyes weren't glowing anymore, at least.) "And look, I know you're powerful. Your powers are no joke." Jesus, they really weren't. Ashley was going to have a fucking fit over those screens.
Starlight	Starlight was still breathing hard, her posture perfectly straight in case she needed to run away. She watched The Deep approach, and her hands twitched involuntarily as she resisted the urge to blast him away from her. This was disgusting. She felt sick. Like something precious to her had been tainted irrevocably. She would never get this day back, and it would never be about her first day on the team ever again. It would be about this.
The Deep	"Thing is," The Deep said, like he was sorry to break this news to her, "I am number two around here." And since she didn't seem like she was going to give anything up at that, he clarified. "So like, if I say so, you'd be out of here." And just to make sure, "Especially since you attacked me."
Starlight	"I what," Starlight ground out, not trusting her voice as she swallowed thickly. She hated this so much, but she was on the verge of crying, and she really needed to keep herself from doing that. He didn't get to see how much this was upsetting her. She wasn't going to let him see that much. He got her rage, not the satisfaction of her tears.
The Deep	"Yeah, look." The Deep gestured to the cracked, flickering screens, the broken glass that littered the floor in front of them. "I mean, Iowa's sweetheart, the Defender of Des Moines, just went psycho on The Deep." He could get this to happen, still. "I mean, that could put you out of business."
Starlight	That out of body experience thing was happening again, but this time, Starlight felt like she was watching herself from far away and wished she could do something to change what was happening. Her ears were roaring and she could feel her hands actually shaking now. This was scarier than fighting a bear. This was scarier than stopping bank robbers and burglars and petty thieves. She didn't know what she was going to do.
The Deep	Since she was still just staring at him, The Deep continued. "I mean, home to Mommy, tail tucked between your legs. Just think of all those kids." He took a few steps closer to her. "I mean, those kids. All those kids that look up to you. They'd just be shattered." She was up on a step, so they were at eye level when The Deep asked, "I mean, that's not what you really want, right?" He stepped up to join her, and since she didn't move away, he kept going. "Or -- we come together as a team." Or didn't, hey-o. "You and me, we roll with the punches. For like, three minutes, maybe." See, Starlight, he was funny. It made him charming.
Starlight	It did not make him charming. He was way too close and that was way too degrading, and she couldn't help it -- when Starlight shut her eyes, a couple of tears rolled down her cheeks. She didn't care anymore. She needed to run for the door, but -- the screens, and what if he was right? Part of her was screaming that he was full of shit, that he had no power and that everyone would want to hear about what he did to her much more than they'd care about what she could have done to him -- but there was also the much louder voice of her mother, telling her to just keep smiling and get through this. Winning required sacrifices.
The Deep	"And then, you know what happens?" The Deep reached out to cup her face, ignoring how Starlight flinched. "All your dreams come true."
Queen Maeve	When Queen Maeve had heard that Lamplighter's replacement was going to be a woman, she'd kind of figured that Deep was going to try to make a move on her. She hadn't expected to walk in on that move. Or for her introduction to this girl to be at what was clearly the worst moment of the poor thing's young life. Welcome to The Seven, Starlight. It only got worse from here. "Stillwell's looking for you," she informed Deep briskly as she strode in. That wasn't true at all, but she knew that Deep would actually dip if she said Stillwell needed him; Ashley could wait, A-Train could wait, Homelander didn't give enough of a fuck to ever look for him....
Starlight	In a way, Starlight had never been more grateful in her life. She hadn't quite believed what she was seeing at first, but it was Queen Maeve. Here. Now. The Deep had pulled his hand away as soon as it was clear the doors were opening, and he didn't even say anything to her as he pulled back and walked away towards the doors, though Starlight was still really uncomfortable with how long he'd held her gaze. This wasn't over, but it was over for now, and as soon as he'd cleared the doors, Starlight's shaking hands went up to her face as she heaved a soft sob. This was so humiliating. As amazing as it was to be saved by Queen Maeve...she should have been able to save herself. And instead she'd frozen.
Queen Maeve	And as soon as Deep had cleared the doors, Maeve had made a beeline for the little side table where they kept the vodka, immediately reaching for the martini shaker. It was why she'd come up here, after all. She hadn't figured anyone was going to be in here, and it had started getting awfully corporate downstairs. But the -- sobbing. And the sniffling. And the way that her mascara was all over her little face. Maeve couldn't take it. "Oh, for Chrissakes," she muttered, grabbing a handful of cocktail napkins and thrusting them over at Starlight. "Clean yourself up."
Starlight	Well, that was -- harsh, given what Starlight had just been through, not to mention the preconceptions she had about Queen Maeve. She took the napkins, anyway, swiping quickly at her cheeks. Maybe she didn't get it. It hadn't looked like much when Queen Maeve had walked in, but, "He asked me to --" she started thickly.
Queen Maeve	"I know what he asked," Maeve interjected. You weren't the first, Starlight, and for that matter, Maeve had been around long enough to see the parade of college girls that Mr. Marathon and Lamplighter had smuggled into the tower and coerced beyond their comfort zones. It didn't mean she wanted to hear it, or that she could stand to entertain this.
Starlight	Starlight took a long, shaky breath, trying to get herself back under control. "I don't -- I didn't --" She needed Queen Maeve to know she hadn't wanted this. That it wasn't something she had asked for, or somehow invited upon herself. "I have a boyfriend." Oh, God, and she was going to have to tell Diego about this -- she didn't know if she ever could tell anyone about this -- and then Diego was going to probably try to kill The Deep. Starlight wanted to crawl under that conference table and just keep crying.
Queen Maeve	"No, you don't." Maeve's voice was sharp and clear, and she held Starlight's gaze for a long, steady moment. "I didn't hear that." They were already talking about who was going to take her to the Teen Choice Awards next month. And Homelander didn't take kindly to his teammates having partners he didn't personally vet. Maeve had had to learn this lesson the hard way. Don't be stupid, new girl. She poured her martini, already moving towards the doors, but she paused to look Starlight over again. "Never let them see you like this." And then she was gone.
Starlight	And Starlight was left standing there, arms crossed around herself as she surveyed the damage she'd done to this beautiful conference room that she'd spent her whole life dreaming about. This wasn't how she'd thought it would be.

[CW for sexual assault and coercion. NSFW due to content and language. Preplayed with myself. Dialogue taken from The Boys 1.01, 'The Name of the Game.' NFB/NFI/OOC welcome. ]