That Same Pawn Shop in East Flatbush | Saturday Afternoon

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Okay," Annie told her mom. "Let's go over the plan again."

"Drive straight to Gen's in Sedona," Donna told her, frowning in thought, "cash for gasoline, no hotels." She paused, debating whether to say more, and added, "I don't want to leave you here, Annie."

"I'll be fine," Annie replied, much more confident than she looked or felt. She was still hurting from Black Noir, and it wasn't as though she'd been sleeping great prior to all of this.

Donna nodded, turning to go. "Okay, really -- how old is he?" Donna had been quiet on the issue of the mysterious boyfriend she'd finally met (and she even kind of liked him!), but she really had to ask. She was too discreet to ask about the scars, but she'd noticed those, too.

"He's twenty-nine and he saved your life, Mom," Annie replied testily, rolling her eyes. "So -- give it a rest, okay?"

Donna nodded, holding a hand up placatingly before reaching into her purse. "Here. You need a new one," she told Annie, pressing a tiny gold cross into her hand.

Annie looked down at the cross and sighed. "I'm not going to wear it," she replied.

"I don't care if you wear it," Donna said reluctantly. "I just...want you to have it." She'd feel better knowing that. "I love you, jellybean."

"I love you too," Annie told her, smothering her irritation over the cross down, and leaning forward to hug her mom tightly.

Annie	A few minutes later, Annie was leaning up against the pawn shop windows with Diego, watching her mom drive away in the car MM had found for her. "Okay, well, that's one thing we don't have to worry about," she decided with a sigh, flipping her hood up and resisting the urge to close her eyes.
Diego	"You did the right thing," Diego said, placing a hand on her arm. "How are you holding up?"
Annie	"Oh, you know," Annie said, trying not to sound as hopeless as she felt. "Tired and bruised, but at least I get to wonder about my mom's safety for forty-eight hours or so." She did shift so she could take his hand to give a squeeze, though, even if she was gonna be all bitter and sarcastic for the moment. "Glad you're here, though."
Diego	"Wouldn't be anywhere else," he said. "Though after this is all over I'd rather not look at a pawn shop ever again."
Annie	"The music's kind of growing on me, though," Annie admitted with an amused snort. "I'm hoping it's all over tonight. If this hearing goes well, we can probably go home." She'd just leave it behind, honestly. She'd check in on her mom, but if she could just escape to Fandom and leave Butcher and Co. to figure this out once Congress was involved...that didn't exactly seem like a bad plan, to her?
Diego	That was true, Diego might be downloading some French rap onto his phone later on. "That would be nice." He understood staying here until Vought got taken down, but after that did they really have anything keeping them here? It's not like she'd be able to stay in The Seven. Or want to, for that matter. "Too bad we didn't have time to loot your Starlight apartment."
Annie	"You know, honestly, I might be good on sparkly gold stuff for awhile," Annie admitted. "Though there's pictures and stuff I would have liked to grab." Though thanks to the cloud, she hadn't lost anything irreplaceable. "I want to sleep for a thousand years when this is done," she added, moving to press her face into his shoulder. Like, that sounded so good right now.
Diego	"We can do that," he said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Well, maybe not for a thousand years, but for like a week at least."
Annie	"Maybe if I sleep long enough, I'll wake up and my bruises'll be all healed," Annie suggested, leaning into him. It kind of showed that Annie had never really been injured badly before when she said things like that.
Diego	"I mean, that would happen, if you did it long enough," he pointed out. "We'll get you in hot bath or something after this."
Annie	"A hot bath, some kind of strong drink, your bed," Annie sighed. "Like, I'm staying for this hearing viewing party but then we're doing all of that." You know, unless the hearing went poorly for some incredibly weird, unforeseen reason.
Diego	Pfft no way that would happen! "Yes we are," he agreed. "And order delivery since we don't have to keep the location of my apartment super secret unlike this place."
Annie	"Oh my God, and no Ashley to tell me what I can eat," Annie sighed, and now she did let herself close her eyes. Just for a second. Just to, like, imagine cheese. "Your place is a lot nicer than this dump, too." No offense, pawn shop basement where they'd been spending a lot of time. (Annie really kind of missed Colonel Mallory's house. Way, way better, in terms of hideouts.)
Diego	"It's not exactly hard to be nicer than this place," Diego said. "But thank you."

Steve	"So we needed to come to this version of 'the City'--" Steve said, and yes, you could here the air-quotes. There were other cities in the world, New York-adjacent people, "--for a slice of pizza?" He blinked at the poster on the corner. "I thought Annie fought crime. Those heels are stupid." Then it registered. "...why are we in Annie's universe?"
Danny	Danny sighed heavily and stared up at the sky for a moment as this was once again a kidnapping by some other universe. Did he just attract this sort of thing? Was that it? Was it?! "Scratch the pizza. Let's just... figure this out."
Steve	"Not sure how staring at Annie's ass is supposed to deter crime," Steve grumbled, picking a direction and walking.
Danny	"It's not," Danny said, hurrying after him to see if the streets were at least the same here. Even with the whole... super hero vibe.
Steve	Steve made a face at the poster. "Too much to hope that's how The Deep gets posed too, right?"
Danny	"They put that guy on posters still and I'm gonna start yelling." He would. Oh, he would.
Steve	"And then hitting things?" Steve asked hopefully
Danny	"They're gettin' ripped down and you can use your explosives on them." Whoa, he was pointedly allowing things that went boom!
Steve	Steve looked gleeful because of course he had maybe just a tiny explosive with him. "Should we call Annie?" he asked.
Danny	"What are you, an animal? Text her."
Steve	"Bitch, bitch, bitch," Steve muttered, taking out his phone. We're here in your NY (no idea how), he wrote. Have a good rec for pizza? Bonus if they put something weird on it that will make Danno do that face.
Annie	Annie stared at the message that had come in on her burner phone (another no idea how thing) before replying: holy shit, are you serious? Followed by an address (which they would find was, like, a block away) and: could really use your help, actually - go to that address, look for Diego outside. She'd actually given them the address two doors down -- Hughie would be so proud of her! -- and while Annie was also outside, Diego would be easier to spot than 'person who might be Annie in a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses.' And finally: I'll make sure you get pizza, promise.
Danny	Danny craned his neck to read the response to that text. "That's not far from here. Of course it's not." Because of the kidnapping thing and all.
Steve	"Did you pick up special powers just by being in Fandom?" Steve teased.
Danny	"Or I've actually been to this city and it's not that hard to figure out," Danny replied dryly, putting a hand on the small of Steve's back to guide him the right way.
Steve	"I've been to New York!" Steve said. "But it was Fleet Week, so my navigational skills were not stellar." Because of the drinking.
Danny	"Yes, I'm sure," Danny replied dryly, knowing full well what happened with those sort of events went on. "C'mon, babe. Get the lead out."
Steve	"I am being extremely good and not making a short joke right now," Steve told him as he sped up.
Danny	"Which is good because I have a clear shot at your kidney," Danny said without even batting an eye.
Steve	"Nice," Steve said, rounding a corner. "Is that Diego?" he asked, squinting.
Danny	"Looks like," Danny replied, looking from Steve to the people loitering around the shop that Diego was in front of. Because they were gonna assume Annie had no clue where she was hanging out, right?
Steve	"Think they know there's gang members watching the cross-streets?" Steve murmured. The colors weren't familiar, though--Steve's expertise was more West Coast.
Danny	Hey, Danny's was East Coast! So they balanced each other out there. He shrugged, trying not to scream 'cop' too much as he raised a hand as they got closer to Diego and... Annie cosplaying as the Unabomber?
Annie	Well, the Unabomber was smiling and waving back in a very Annie sort of way, so odds were good that it was her, yes. "How are you guys here?" she asked in disbelief once they were close enough that she hopefully wouldn't draw too much attention by carefully moving over to gingerly hug them both in turn, starting with Steve. "Like, oh my God, I'm so glad to see you, but you picked a shitty time to visit."
Diego	Diego would be hugging no one, but he still looked happy to see Danny and Steve. Some other people should get to see this nonsense. "The worst time to visit, I would say."
Steve	Hugging Annie meant fewer potential get-stuck-with-knives incidents, so Steve was feeling pretty good about his choice here. "Danny promised me decent pizza," Steve said. "No idea how we ended up in this version of New York. Why's it such a bad time?"
Danny	Danny didn't mention how he'd been kidnapped for a few other random terrible times before. Because that would be taking the blame. Which he could do all on his own, thanks! "What's going on?"
Annie	"'Cause I'm a wanted criminal," Annie said, moving over to give Danny his hug (Look, Annie needed these hugs right now, okay? Even if she was a little conscious of how bad she still hurt.) "And Vought's got the rest of my team out telling everyone I'm a traitor on, like, every channel." Which was, incidentally, why they were hanging out in a shitty part of Brooklyn near this shitty store with bars over the windows.
Diego	"And I cut off a guy's hand yesterday and used it to open doors." He didn't look nearly as traumatized by that as he should have been.
Steve	"Cool!" Steve, no.
Danny	Danny looked away from Annie long enough to give Steve one of those 'what the actual hell?' looks that the situation clearly needed. Then he turned back to make a face at how banged up she seemed to be. "Explains the neighbors," he said dryly. "Who did this?"
Annie	"Black Noir," Annie said, making an effort to keep her voice steady. "One of my teammates. I'm pretty lucky to have walked away from the fight, honestly." She was still pretty haunted by the idea of what would have happened if Maeve hadn't arrived when she had -- or, worse yet, if Diego had found Black Noir instead.
Diego	Diego would be dead, that's what would have happened. "It's been a shitshow around here," he said dryly. "You guys came at the exact wrong time." He looked over at Steve. "But remind me to tell you about the guy with the superpowered dick later."
Steve	"I have at least ten immediate questions and a few more I'll think up later," Steve said, nodding. "But for now, any way we can help?" He shot a look at the gang members loitering oh-so-casually. "Maybe find you a better corner to hang out on?"
Danny	Danny was just gonna pretend the superpowered dick comment hadn't happened because wow. Just wow. "Whatever you guys need," Danny agreed.
Annie	Damn it, Annie was so jealous she hadn't gotten to see the superpowered dick. It made such a good story. "They're okay," Annie assured them, glancing over at the gang members and giving them a little upward nod of her head. "This is kind of actually where we've been hanging out -- come on in." And with that, she turned to head into that incredibly shitty pawnshop, calling, "Serge? Where's the best pizza around here?"
Diego	He would have not brought it up if he had been the one choked by the giant dick, but since that was MM, he was telling everybody. "Brace yourselves," Diego mumbled.
Steve	Steve nodded, head already swiveling to remember everything and ready for...he wasn't sure. Maybe an ambush. Hopefully not of the dick.
Danny	"If there's a dick, I'm gonna hit you," Danny informed Diego. Because he was already over whatever was happening! But that was also his base state of being: Over It.
Frenchie	Annie, who had pulled off her sunglasses and let down her hood, was talking to a pair of men at the top of a stairwell inside. "Oui, fine, we can get pizza," Frenchie was saying with a roll of his eyes before he slowly passed a suspicious glance over Danny and Steve.
Marvin Milk	The other, larger man glanced over, and then immediately looked to Diego for confirmation. "You brought more backup?" MM asked skeptically. Hopefully they wouldn't need it, but hey. He'd take more competent people, even if these guys both set off Maybe a Cop? alarms. (The big one for sure had military vibes.)
Diego	"They're okay," Diego said with a nod. He wasn't going to mention they were here by accident because that just made everybody seem incompetent.
Steve	"Hey," Steve said with a neutral little nod.
Danny	Danny cocked his head to the side at the guy who checked in with Diego, picking him out as someone he'd seen at that awful Believe Conference, dragging a guy away from Steve for talking about nuclear weapons. It sorta stuck out for him. Because dear god, his life. "What did you guys get caught up in?"
Annie	"Danny, Steve," Annie said, "meet Frenchie -- Serge -- and MM. Marvin, I mean." She looked over at the two men, tiredly. "You people with your codenames. This is exhausting."
MM	"I'm sure it is, Starlight," MM said simply, raising his eyebrows at her before offering a slightly more welcoming nod. "Welcome. Think the hard part's over, but y'all are welcome to hang and watch the hearing." Or to go to literally any bar to watch it, really. They'd be showing it everywhere. Times Square would probably do.
Diego	"Hopefully we're about to watch a bunch of assholes be taken down by Congress," Diego said. He leaned in to murmur to Steve, "Don't mention the super dick around MM, trust me." Because if any of them were going to bring it up again, it would be Steve.
Steve	Steve was 200% That Guy. Blame the SEALness. "Do we know these assholes?" Steve asked with a grin. Even if he didn't, he still liked watching assholes get yelled at. That was also part of being in the military.
Danny	No, that was just Steve being Steve. You can't always blame the SEALs, Steven. "Your old team?" Danny ventured, glancing at Annie.
Annie	"Vought. The company I work for. Worked," Annie supplied with a little nod of agreement. "So...." She blew out a breath, splaying her hands in front of her as she thought for a second. "So the short version is that superheroes here are made by injecting babies with this miracle drug called Compound V, and until recently, Vought would do anything to keep that quiet. Except that someone --" Annie pointed at herself and mouthed, 'It was me,' "-- gave a sample of Compound V to the media, so now Vought might face some pretty serious consequences for using this federally-unregulated drug, and for lying to the public. This is also why I'm in trouble, and why Diego had to cut off a guy's hand to get me out of jail yesterday, and why Black Noir beat me up. And these guys --" She pointed to Frenchie and MM, "-- along with a couple more people downstairs, have been working to take down Vought for years, so we're just -- helping them." She stopped, took a breath, and looked to Frenchie, MM, and Diego. "Does that about cover it?"
Frenchie	Frenchie gave her a thumbs up and a sort of, 'Not bad,' shrug.
Diego	Diego nodded. "Yeah, that's as close to a short explanation as you're gonna get."
Steve	Steve shot Diego an impressed look when he found out exactly what the hand had been for--he'd trusted the guy enough to figure it hadn't been for his creepy hand collection or something but specifics were nice--but was still stuck on the injecting babies thing. "That why they were at the Hooray for Jesus Day?" Because MM didn't seem like a guy who would go to that shit for fun.
Danny	"Don't think they were there for the company." Danny was never going to apologize to Annie's mother now. Not after the whole injecting babies thing.
MM	"I thought you looked familiar," MM said, eyes widening as he finally placed Steve. "Nuke guy. Yeah, that's why we were there." No need to get into the specifics of what they'd been doing there. Annie already knew, since she'd unwittingly helped with some of it. The blackmail part.
Annie	Which was why Annie didn't look especially impressed by this, no. "In any case, in a bit here," she said, checking her watch, "Vought has to explain why selectively dosing up infants with superpowers is totally cool, and we're gonna go from there. And, like, as one of those infants all grown up, I'd like to see 'em answer for it." Or else she was gonna have to just, like, run away to Fandom forever and forget about the first twenty-three years of her life.
Diego	"I am interested to see what excuse they pull out of their ass," Diego said. "So maybe you guys didn't come at the worst time. Just the day after the worst time." Ha, no.
Steve	That was so weirdly optimistic of Diego. "Blah blah the world needs superheroes to protect us all from being scary things that we won't actually name?" Steve guessed.
Danny	"You haven't really dealt with many politicians, have you?" Danny added. Because people sucked. It been known.
Annie	"You sound like you've already seen some of Stormfront's messaging," Annie noted dryly, lifting her brows at Steve. "Because yeah, Vought's defense -- at least, via their Seven mouthpieces right now -- is that the world needs more Supes, for our own protection." She slanted a look over at Danny, and added, "For what it's worth, Congresswoman Neuman -- she's, like, spearheading this -- is good people. Based out of Queens, big time 'power to the people' kind of lady." Kind of a whole lot like a certain young, Queens-based congresswoman who went by her initials, actually.
Diego	"As good people as politicians can get," Diego added. Because, as we all knew, there were no completely good politicians.
Steve	Steve snorted. "I've worked directly with two governors," he said, "and got set up for one of their murders--" his canon was insane, "--so yeah, huge grain of salt on the politicians."
Danny	"She was in bed with a crime syndicate." Danny looked just so annoyed by it. "Better than the CIA, I guess." Again. Their canon was insane.
Billy Butcher	"What's wrong with the CIA? They fuck something else up?" asked a heavily-accented voice from downstairs, and a moment later, some heavy footsteps preceded the appearance of a bearded, suspicious-looking, Hawaiian-shirted man. "Raynor was doing good work 'fore we lost her, it'd be just fucking typical, but maybe Mallory can -- " Butcher's face cracked into a broad smile, though, as he immediately recognized Steve. "Nuke Guy!"
Annie	"You've already met," Annie noted with a little lift of her brows. "Billy Butcher, meet Steve and Danny." She gave each of them a little look and added, "We have some former CIA operatives, here, I think."
MM	"We answer to a former deputy director," MM supplied helpfully. "So hope y'all aren't too down on the CIA, on, y'know, principle."
Diego	Diego was absolutely not surprised that Steve and Butcher had spoken before. He realized he forgot to mention to warn them not to talk about his superpowers around Butcher, but figured his powers were pretty easy to forget unless he was actively using them. And unlike Five, he didn't use them constantly. "I hope someone is making popcorn for this thing."
Steve	The aloha shirts, they called to Steve. "Not on principle," Steve said with a little smile, "just...a few particular agents." His mom, for instance, from time to time.
Danny	Danny just hummed and shot Steve one of those side eyes that made everyone think they were married. But also, your mother, Steven. She was the worst.
Annie	"Frenchie said he'd get pizza," Annie supplied, trying to hide a little smile as she watched MM and Butcher do the probably-expected little 'are they married?' silent exchange. "But I bet someone's making popcorn." And Butcher wouldn't be in such a good mood if it didn't seem like this was going to work out, so...huh. Had Danny and Steve actually somehow ended up in her universe just to watch this hearing, eat some great pizza, and then sail back off to Fandom? (Maybe with Annie in tow, since maybe -- maybe? -- her work was just, like, kind of done here?) That all seemed way too optimistic to be true, these days, but she was sort of willing to hope.

Kimiko Miyashiro	When it came time for the hearing, Kimiko just went ahead and picked out one of the best seats for herself, along with a slice of the pizza that had been gotten and a bowl of popcorn. Her brother had been murdered by the ringleader of these assholes, and Kimiko had been close enough to hear what Stormfront had said, even if she herself couldn't (or wouldn't) repeat it.
Annie	"Scoot," Annie told her with a small smile when she wandered over with her own pizza. "Unless you wanna cuddle."
Kimiko	Kimiko gave her a little smile and a look that seemed to consider that, but she settled for snagging one of the dilapidated couch's pillows and sank to the floor to sit cross-legged. No, Starlight, you could cuddle with your boyfriend, who Kimiko actually quite liked. (She was less sure about the two new men, though the blond one had very kind eyes, and she liked that.)
Annie	Annie, meanwhile, turned up the volume on the television, which was tuned to C-SPAN and showing the politicians and superheroes filing into a room. "They're getting everyone in place," she called, settling onto the couch. "Maeve looks pissed to be there." Maeve looked pissed to be most places, to be fair. Stormfront and Homelander, though, were both standing near her and looking fairly calm. (Stormfront's expression bordered on smug, honestly.)
Diego	"How can you tell?" Diego asked, settling beside Annie. "Her face always looks like that."
Steve	Well, that narrowed down which one was Maeve, and Steve already remembered Homelander (what a douche). He gave Kimiko a little wave and found a spot to sit near Danny because he was predictable.
Danny	Danny just budged over enough to let Steve do his thing. Because, were they really sitting together if not mashed up in a weird way that was less platonic than CBS liked? "Who's the other one?" Because Danny remembered Homelander and his speech pretty well.
Annie	"Stormfront," Annie supplied, pointing to a short brunette in all-black, and without saying anything she reached a hand down to comfortingly, briefly rest on Kimiko's shoulder. (She still didn't know what had happened, but something obviously had.) "She and Homelander are a thing. Maeve's the one in the leather," and with the obviously pissy look on her face, yes, "and then up there at the front, that's our congresswoman -- Victoria Neuman, and Colonel Mallory next to her." She indicated a young woman with long, dark hair seated next to a severe-looking white woman with a French twist.
Frenchie	"Madame Mallory looks even more annoyed than Queen Maeve," Frenchie noted in amusement as he came in to plop onto the floor next to Kimiko, already reaching to steal some popcorn.
Butcher	"She's smilin' on the inside," Butcher assured them as he and MM filed in to watch as well. "I gave her a great present with Vogelbaum."
Annie	"Big muckety-muck scientist at Vought back in the day," Annie added in an undertone to the three who didn't already know who Dr. Vogelbaum might be. "He's, like, our star witness." Their last star witness was super-dead, unfortunately. And missing one hand.
Diego	Look, at least he took off the hand after Lamplighter was dead. "I hope they just get to the good stuff and we don't have to sit through speeches and crap.
Steve	"Well, Congress," Steve said, taking a piece of pizza that he would deeply regret in about a minute.
Danny	Danny made a reflexive face at that name as he settled in to watch the proceedings. "He means they'll pontificate before finally getting around to the point."
Annie	"Maybe they'll get into it quick since it's only a little of Congress?" Annie offered, as the people onscreen found their seats, and the chairman leading this hearing called it to order. "The testimony we're about to hear today," Victoria Neuman said in introduction on the little monitor, "will prove that Vought is guilty of corporate malfeasance and multiple felonies. And it'll come from someone who has witnessed these crimes directly. The committee calls former Vought CSO, Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum." A bald man in a wheelchair entered the chamber and rolled up towards the front of the room. Nearly every head in the room swiveled to look at him -- notably, save for Homelander's. "Quiet, everyone," called the chairman, as cameras flashed and voices rose in obvious interest.
Butcher	And meanwhile, here in that scenic pawnshop basement, Billy Butcher murmured, "Got you, cunt." Vogelbaum knew everything. The man had raised Vought's prize monster, after all.
Diego	Yeah, this was starting off as boring as Diego thought it would. He did feel relieved that the doctor guy made it to the stand without incident. He wouldn't put it past Homelander to do something dramatic to stop the guy. The crowd was just starting to settle down and a Bible was being brought for Vogelbaum to swear on when there was a popping noise and the chairman's head exploded. Literally exploded, there was blood and gore everywhere and the guy's head was now just a neck. "Oh! Holy shit!" Diego yelled, jerking back from the TV.
Steve	And Diego's relief was short-lived as--Vogelbaum? Steve had named him "wheelchair guy" in his head--was the next to be without a head. There was chaos in the hearing chamber. "Shit, shit, shit," Steve said, vibrating in his spot.
Danny	Danny shoved himself back, bringing a foot up onto the couch like he was gonna run or something, and clutching Steve's shoulder. "What the hell?" Because oh, now it was like popcorn as one head exploded and then another.
Annie	Annie had actually screamed when the chairman's head had exploded, though her hand flew to her mouth when Dr. Vogelbaum's followed. But now she was just watching in wordless horror, as Frenchie and MM and Hughie all shouted in surprise, too. (Butcher was staying silent, interestingly.) "Shit!" Annie yelled, grabbing onto Diego's arm just because it was there and she needed to get people's attention as the head belonging to a guy in an orange, skin-tight suit and goggles -- Shockwave, obviously another Supe, even if Annie hadn't introduced him -- exploded in a cascade of blood. "Fuck -- fuck, he's a Supe, fuck --" Which meant that none of them were safe from what was happening, and now she was watching Maeve and Homelander and Stormfront try to negotiate their way out of the room. (Kind of a shame it hadn't been Stormfront or Homelander. As far as Annie knew, Shockwave wasn't a disgusting racist or a weird predator.)
Diego	"What the hell was that?!" Diego asked, putting his hand over Annie's.
Steve	"Would Vought hire assassins?" Steve asked, looking to Butcher.
Butcher	Butcher had slipped into the sort of silence that usually preceded something terrible, and it was probably obvious that he was grinding his teeth as he shook his head. "Maybe," he said after a moment, then glanced at MM. "Raynor."
MM	MM nodded in agreement, still staring in horror at the television. "We saw the director of the CIA die like that," he said, a bit dazed. "'Cept we were right there." He shook his head slowly, blowing out a breath, then looked to Butcher for confirmation of what they both -- honestly, what they all -- probably knew already.
Butcher	"It's a fucking Supe," Butcher said quietly. "Someone Vought don't know about, or don't want us to know about." And now they had to start from scratch with the plan again. Damn it.
Danny	"I'm gonna need to know this story from the beginning," Danny grumbled, so very thankful once C-Span finally cut away from the carnage. Because, really now. That was a long time to keep airing that shit. You had to know that Danny and Steve were gonna help them here. You had to know that.
Annie	"You guys have seen this before?" Annie asked incredulously, unconsciously curling her body towards Diego. She felt like she might throw up, having seen all that gore, and there was part of her that was selfishly worried that this could happen to them.
Hughie	"We think," Hughie supplied, piping up anxiously from where he'd mostly been standing with his hands over his face. (There was a slice of pizza that had been thrown on the back of the couch. It was Hughie's fault.) "We think that Ms. Raynor -- the CIA lady -- was getting too close to the truth about Vought. And someone took her out the same way. That was...like, two weeks ago." Except, yes, as MM had said, they had been standing right there. Hughie had been having nightmares about having to wash her brains out of his hair for weeks. "We're getting close. That's what Raynor said," Hughie said, looking around the group. "They really don't want people talking about the V."
Annie	"Then someone should," Annie said quietly. She gave Diego's hand a little squeeze, turning to him as she worried her lower lip with her teeth. "Wasn't there a girl at Sage Grove who could do that?" There had been a lot more discussion of the superpowered dick, yes, but people's heads exploding tended to stand out in a story.
Diego	"Cindy, yeah." You remembered a name once you saw her explode several people's heads. "She could do the exact same thing."
Steve	"Ew," Steve said eloquently. "So when Vought makes super-powered people, do they know how the powers will manifest? This one gets lightning, this one can swim forever, this one is a giant douche--" Sorry, that escaped accidentally. He shook his head. "This one can explode people's brains? Or is it just a shot and it does what it will, luck of the draw?"
Danny	"How did they even come up with this compound to begin with? We figure that one out?" You want to prove something, go back to the source.
Annie	"We're always a surprise," Annie supplied, shaking her head before looking to MM for confirmation -- that's what she thought, anyway, but his nod was helpful anyway. "I know so many people with shitty superpowers, you guys. Like The Deep --"
MM	"Or Gecko," MM supplied helpfully.
Frenchie	"Or the guy with the dick," said Frenchie, also helpfully.
MM	"And," MM added, shooting Frenchie a real nasty look for that reminder, "the compound was developed during World War II. That's when the earliest Supes started showing up." Like Soldier Boy, of course, but gosh maybe there was another one who'd been around for a real long time? Maybe they'd even learn about it soon! "But we don't know what goes into it, or how it was created," he concluded, shaking his head.
Diego	"It's a real crapshoot," Diego said helpfully. Big talk coming from the guy who was spontaneously birthed at the same time as 42 other superpowered people.
Steve	"I'm definitely asking more questions about the dick later," Steve said. Because of course he was. "But if it was around World War II, I'd bet money on it being War Department related."
Danny	Danny would tell him to stop focusing so much on the dick thing, but he was pretty sure it was ingrained in him via the military. "So, they've been covering their tracks for that long, that just means there's gotta be more out there. It's too much to keep under wraps." Well now he was sounding like Jerry.
Annie	"They're probably going to reschedule the hearing, right?" Annie ventured thoughtfully, while Butcher (trailed by Hughie, like a duckling or something, Jesus) stalked back deeper into the hideout. "So maybe that's a start, right? Maybe I could testify when they've rescheduled it."
MM	"You're kind of a felon, Annie," MM pointed out apologetically. "Your testimony ain't gonna mean shit."
Frenchie	"Maybe we should just kill them all?" Frenchie offered, like it was a legit suggestion, and Kimiko nodded along. "It will be -- messy, yes, but --"
Annie	"That's ridiculous," Annie said, shaking her head. "We can't just kill every Supe besides me and Kimiko, come on. Also there's only, like, ten of us? And thousands of them?" Plus, they'd have to, like, catch A-Train and Homelander, and those would be challenges.
Diego	Diego shrugged. "I was also going to suggest killing all of them."
Steve	"Not until we figure out who can pop people's heads off," Steve said, "since I like all of our heads right where they are."
Danny	"Can we table the murder talk for now?" C'mon guys! He was still a cop here!
Annie	"So it looks like your timing was still pretty bad," Annie noted, offering out a little half-smile even as she rubbed her temple a bit. "I mean, you missed getting to see Diego cut off that hand and seeing me go through a wall, but hey." She gestured vaguely towards the screen, which was still advertising that C-SPAN was having technical difficulties. "You didn't miss everything." Welcome to Annie's canon, everyone! It wasn't quite 'land a plane on the highway and then ram it with a Camaro'-crazy, but you know. It had its moments.
Diego	Diego knew Steve probably would have wanted to see the hand cutting off thing, but he kept that to himself. "So if we aren't killing people what's the plan?" Because that was the only plan he had.
Steve	"It can't be 'move in here'," Steve agreed. "No offense."
Danny	"As lovely as this place might be," Danny said with same level of dry sarcasm that he functioned on in these sorts of situations. "Just... plan C can be murder." Because he was fighting against several forces of nature here, it seemed.
Annie	"Let's just try not killing anyone unless it's self-defense," Annie suggested helpfully. Frenchie and Kimiko, who had moved over to examine what looked like a rocket launcher, both shrugged as if to say, 'Your loss.'
MM	"For right now," MM said, hauling out a laptop, "I think we need to cool our heels and make sure we're prepared for what's next. Butcher and Hughie're getting in touch with the Colonel, making sure she's okay and seeing what she offers." He looked to Steve, Danny, and Diego. "You're welcome to stay -- we could use the help -- but I'd understand if you wanted to scoot back to...Maryland, right?" Honestly, Annie, might be a good idea if you split, too.
Annie	Annie quietly just shifted a little closer to Diego, who she already knew probably wasn't going anywhere if she wasn't, and shook her head. "We're staying. I can...like, assemble guns. Use a computer or whatever, until we hear from Colonel Mallory." And then maybe she would have a genius plan. (The...third genius plan at this point, yes.)

[preplayed with knife_bender, hatesparadise and grenadesandohana! warning for descriptive gore, because my canon, you guys. Adapted from The Boys 2.07, 'Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker' and 2.08, 'What I Know.' NFB, NFI, OOC continues to be welcome!]