defenderofdesmoines | Outside a Seedy Motel in New York

Once the Uber had dropped them off -- and not without Annie wordlessly cracking that screen as it invited her to download 'Never Truly Vanish' from Voughtify, though she was sure she'd be hearing something about that move and the song -- Annie turned to Jessica expectantly.

"All right, show me the ropes. Should I like, put my sunglasses on?" she asked, wanting to get this whole blackmail photo thing right. She was getting good at running around incognito -- it only took a couple of times getting mobbed for autographs and selfies before she'd figured that one out -- but Annie still wasn't exactly naturally sneaky.

Jessica	"Well I think the thing we really need to focus on is backing the train up and talking about your singing career," Jessica deadpanned. "Because honestly, that... that was a performance." Yes. Jessica was downloading it and adding to her favorite playlist. "I mean I so need to get you together with my sister Trish. Your song and 'I want your cray cray' are the inspirational songs of a lifetime."
Annie	"Oh my God, it's so bad," Annie sighed, covering her face with a hand. "Like -- okay, actually, 'I want your cray cray' sounds like kind of a bop, not gonna lie, but I hate that they're playing that stupid song everywhere." She peeked through her fingers. "It's about an invisible guy." Like. Do you get it? Do you get the clever song title?
Jessica	"Yeah. I caught that," Jessica deadpanned. "It's like 'Candle in the Wind' but for invisible people." She took a deep breath and started checking her camera equipment. "All right. Put on the sunglasses and pull up the hoodie. We can't have anyone recognizing Citizen Starlight coming this fall from Vought International. Was that even your hair?"
Annie	"It was not," Annie sighed, flipping up her hood. "Nor were those my boobs." This was why we were all here, Jess. Because Vought was terrible.
Jessica	"All right. So we know this is where the guy goes to do the deed," She said looking over the motel. "We just need to narrow down which room. Give me a sec." She entered into the small clerk room and had a brief conversation with the clerk before coming out. "Okay. Looks like the target always takes that room," she said pointing at a ground floor unit. Now we just need a point with cover to observe. Looking around she saw a partially enclosed staircase with a dark corner that had a good point of view of the room's entrance. "Like that one," she said walking over to the staircase entry area. "C'mon."
Annie	Annie -- now in sunglasses as well as her hood, even though the parking lot was deserted for now -- followed along eagerly. "Oh, hey, you can see right in the window from here," she noted, once she was in the stairway and looking at the room in question. "Listen to you, 'the target.' I know this guy. His name's Matthew -- or, well. Gecko." She wasn't going to explain his name just yet. It would probably be obvious soon enough, once she saw what it was he used this motel room for.
Jessica	“Gecko.” Well it was certainly better than the Whizzer. “All right. So, calling them a target is easier for me. I don’t really think of them as a person. They’re just a mark. I have clients, targets and marks. If I think of them as a person... I don’t like what it means for the human race. Anyway. We’ll probably have to get closer when he arrives. Given this is a dump I don’t think we’ll have a problem.” She paused for a moment to look at Annie. “Are you sure you want to do this? I don’t have a problem with it. It’s just... it’s a step you may not want to take.”
Annie	"I'm sure," Annie assured her, blowing out a long breath. "This guy -- target, I mean -- he's not a bad person, unless things have changed a lot since, um, when I knew him at summer camp." Which, you know, now that she was saying it, that sure seemed likely. "But I need him to do something kind of risky for me and, um...the people I'm working for." Remember that guy who'd called God a C-word, Jess? Those nice people. She shook her head, steeling herself a little. "This is what Hughie says we have to do, and...I mean, I could try asking nicely before we show him the pictures?" And at that moment, a car pulled into the parking lot, and a slight man with a moustache stepped out and headed for the door they were watching, looking over his shoulders hesitantly.
Jessica	Jessica briefly gave her friend a look of... concern. But then shrugged it off. If Annie wanted this than Jessica was in all the way until the end of the line. (In a supportive friend way not a 'let's tear the MCU apart because someone turned into an assassin'.) Besides Jessie liked the guy who called God a C-word. "All right. Let's do this then," she said pulling out her camera but giving the two men a moment to get inside and feel. As the two men went inside Jessica could spy them in the room with their backs to the window with the slightly askew curtain. "We're in luck. Let's go," she said quietly waving Annie to move up.
Annie	Annie scurried up in a crouch, close enough to the window that she could just barely see past that curtain, but far enough back that she hopefully wouldn't be immediately visible if they happened to glance out. "I feel like the answer to this is no, but I forgot to ask if you have a weak stomach," Annie murmured to Jessica in an undertone, glancing over as Gecko laid down a tarp and started to take his shirt off inside the room, while the other man looked on in clear, nervous interest.
Jessica	"Please," Jessica said in a low time as she rolled her eyes. "I spent most of my job taking pictures of people cheating on each other. It's not my first time watching two guys on the down-" And that would be the point where the guy without a shirt handed the other guy a machete. And started chopping the shirtless guy's arm off. "Oh. Shit. Yeah. Okay. That's new." Jessica still had the presence of mind to pull up her camera and start taking pictures.
Annie	Annie was wincing as the guy with the machete hacked away, even if -- you know, she'd grown up with Matthew and had known what he could do. "He doesn't feel it," she offered softly, like that would help. "He was the Jesus to my Mary Magdalene when we did plays at Bible camp. Crucifixion and everything." And based on the file she'd read, this was honestly kind of tame compared to what he got up to sometimes, and she was so grateful it was just his arm. This would still work, and she probably wouldn't throw up watching.
Jessica	"Bible camp." She really just said that as she couldn't think of anything else to say. The thought of Annie playing Mary Magdalene was amusing but this guy with his powers doing a crucifixion... that was another layer of weirdness in this world. Jessica took a few pictures as the arm was severed and made a face. "Yeah. Okay this is fucked up. Even for me," she admitted. "Though... technically not illegal I guess. I'm assuming this is something Vought would fuck him over for?"
Annie	"Oh yeah," Annie agreed quietly, watching intently. If she knew Gecko, this wasn't over yet, even if the arm was off. "He works for them, still." Annie cut her eyes over to Jessica as, through the window, Gecko's arm started to regrow, a hand emerging from the stump of his elbow. "In their labs. They won't like this at all." But that was good news for her, since she needed his help precisely because of that lab job.
Jessica	"Yeah. Well I can see why he ended up doing this. Probably feels better than being a lab rat." Jessica watched as the two men talked. She'd seen enough of these types of conversations to have an idea of what would happen next. "One of them is coming out. Let's get back to the staircase. I don't think they're done yet though."
Annie	"He usually starts with an arm or a leg and then once they know they like it, he ups it. That's what the file said," Annie told her, retreating to the staircase before Mr. Moustache could come out in search of an ATM. "Like, I appreciate his hustle, but -- not only does he work in the labs, but we did Vought kid stuff together." She eyed the camera. "Did we get what we needed, you think?" They better have. Annie didn't want to watch the next part, honestly.
Jessica	"That's up to you really," Jessica said looking over the pictures she took and nodded at the guy leaving. "Yeah. They're not done. Otherwise your friend would have left. Chances are you'll get something more incriminating if we wait."
Annie	"I will probably puke if we watch what happens next," Annie told her honestly, peering over to get a look at the pictures. "But this should be enough." She paused, considering her words, and added, "Thank you. I promise we're working for the good guys." It didn't especially feel like it, at the moment.
Jessica	"Yeah. Well I don't know if I trust them if they are asking you to do this," Jessica said pulling out the memory card from her phone and handing it over to Annie. "But I do trust you. Just don't forget to ask for some help if you need it." As soon as she said it, she realized how nice that sounded. "I mean... not necessarily help from me. I'll probably be drunk and just enable whatever terrible decisions you want to make."