Central Park, and then Vought Tower | Thursday Morning

[defenderofdesmoines]

It was one thing to be back in casual, professional contact with Hugh Campbell of the FBSA. Annie -- or, well, Starlight -- was on regular conference calls with Hughie and Ashley and other politicians and members of The Seven, and she'd appeared on a couple different morning shows with his boss, Congresswoman Neuman.

But it had been over a year since she'd gotten a text asking to meet somewhere, and Annie couldn't help but think that this couldn't possibly be anything good.

"We could have just met for breakfast if you wanted," she told him as she approached the park bench where they'd met, just like he'd asked for.

Hughie	Hughie, perhaps even more jittery than normal, was bouncing his leg as she approached and had to actually stop himself from standing up to greet her. Casual, Hughie. Casual. No matter what he knew or how little he knew to do about it. "Not with what I gotta tell you about," he told her, managing a little smile. "Hey, Annie. How's it shaking?"
Annie	"It's shaking like I had a morning off and you pulled me out of bed to meet you in the park," Annie replied, pulling her hood down as she took a seat beside him, but left her sunglasses in place. "What's that?" She nodded to a folder he was holding, the sight of which had already sent her stomach down to her shoes. Goddamn it.
Hughie	Hughie drummed his fingers on the folder, nervous and clearly hesitating. "I gotta tell you something," he admitted, sighing. "And I'm...Annie, I'm such a fucking idiot."
Annie	"Hughie, you're not," Annie sighed reflexively, reaching over to gently pat his arm. "You know that isn't true. What happened?"
Hughie	"Vicky's the head-popper," he said, all in a quiet rush. "The congressional hearing, she --"
Annie	"Wait, Neuman?" Annie clarified, dropping her voice and tightening that grip on Hughie's arm. Which was when she noticed -- "Is this a cast? Did she hurt you?" Holy shit. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.
Hughie	Hughie did indeed have that arm in a cast under his ubiquitous green jacket, yes. But, "No, that's something else. I had Kimiko break it so I could take some time off work without it being suspicious." Normal things. Faking a stomach bug? Not this guy. "But -- yeah. Yeah. I saw her do it," he added, more quiet. "The other night. And I don't think her name's really Victoria." He shoved the dossier over to Annie. "The guy I saw her -- do it to. He kept calling her Nadia, and they talked about a place called Red River."
Annie	"'The Red River Institute is a --'" Annie started to read, before exhaling a soft noise of frustration and shutting it again. "Like, of course it's a Vought subsidiary." It was always a Vought subsidiary! "Do not go there," she said, turning to Hughie and gravely serious. "Not you, not Kimiko, not Butcher or whatever. Wait for me. Don't do anything with this." They needed at least a second Supe on their side, if this was true. She'd watched Neuman pop Shockwave's head on TV, too. She was clearly pretty damn powerful.
Hughie	"Yeah. Okay, yeah," Hughie agreed absently, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "God, I'm a fucking idiot. I should have seen it."
Annie	"How could you have seen this?" Annie demanded, gesturing at the folder. "She's clearly hiding it on purpose, Hughie." An enviable approach to having powers, Annie was beginning to feel.
Hughie	"I don't know. Maybe when she killed Raynor, or Congress --" Hughie blew out an exasperated breath, catching himself before his voice rose louder. "I just don't want to see her hurt someone else." He'd kind of gotten a front-row seat last night.
Annie	Annie softened a little more, her hand going up to rub a little circle on his back. "We'll figure it out. But don't do anything."
Hughie	"Crazy?" Hughie supplied with a little laugh. "Stupid?"
Annie	"No -- anything," Annie corrected, shoving the folder into her purse as she stood to go. "Don't do anything until I get in touch." She checked her watch. "But right now I have soundcheck for Homelander's stupid birthday special."
Hughie	"Oh. Okay," Hughie agreed with a sharp little nod. "Yeah. Sure. I'll wait for you." That was more than a little frustrating, considering he wanted to move on this now.

Starlight	Annie had filled Diego in on the dossier Hughie had given her, which was tucked safely under her mattress upstairs now, and while she was trying not to let all of that preoccupy her thoughts -- well, you know. A politician she knew could pop people's heads and had, so. She was looking for all the distractions she could get right now, if she had to be at work. She left Diego with a kiss (and her purse, thanks babe) at craft services, and lo and behold, look at the distraction that had practically manifested for her on this soundstage. "Still got it!" she called out, dancing in to the last strains of 'License to Drive' and grinning at Alex. "It's like you're back on the Sweet as I Wanna Be tour."
Supersonic	"Oh, wow." Stop that dancing, Annie. That was making it worse. "No, this is humiliating." He picked up a water bottle, grateful the choreographer had wandered off for the moment. "That song was gross when I was eighteen. I sing it now, they're gonna make me keep a thousand feet from schools."
Starlight	Annie gave him a look, raising her brows. "Then don't sing it." Vought could get fucked. He was right; there was a whole lot of, 'Now that you're sixteen,' repeated in those lyrics.
Supersonic	"That's easy for you to say," Alex scoffed. "You're already in The Seven. I don't want to make waves." He was still trying to actually get on the team. Didn't seem like a time to be a squeaky wheel.
Starlight	"Trust me," Annie told him, lowering her voice and reaching out to put a hand on his arm to emphasize her point. "Make waves." She hadn't gotten back into her cape and out of a leotard by not making waves, Alex. "Hey, Jay?" she called, turning to a production assistant. The sooner she could get out of here, the sooner she could deal with some real, actual superhero business: helping a moron with a broken arm get to the bottom of what his potential supervillain boss was up to. "Could we actually run my segment now? 'Cause I only have a few lines --"
Homelander	"Where's the fire, Starlight?" Homelander asked as he walked onto the stage. He seemed to be in a good mood? Which probably wasn't great for everyone in his vicinity. "You on a break?"
Supersonic	"Oh, sir." Alex was clearly sort of starstruck -- it wasn't that he hadn't been in the same room as Homelander before, but to see him just...casually at rehearsal was different. "Happy birthday. I'm --"
Homelander	"Supersonic, right?" Like he wasn't fully aware of everyone who was fighting to be on his team.
Supersonic	"That's right, sir," Alex said, looking absolutely flummoxed that Homelander actually knew his name.
Homelander	"Great to meet you!" And there was a smile? Like an actual smile? What was happening here?
Supersonic	See, Alex really was new around here, because that smile seemed almost to put his nerves at ease. "Thank you, sir, you too," he said enthusiastically, reaching out to offer a hand to shake.
Homelander	"You're a real contender on American Hero," Homelander said, shaking the offered hand. And not even doing the threatening thing where he crushes the other person's fingers a little! Was a new leaf being turned? "Keep it up. We could be teammates."
Supersonic	"Oh, wow, I hope so, sir," Alex replied earnestly, daring to shoot a little look over at Annie. What a nice team to be on. Look what a good leader they had! Or, well -- co-leader, since Annie's promotion, he guessed.
Homelander	"Of course, it doesn't hurt that the show's judge used to get come-drunk on your chorizo picante." Ah. There it was.
Starlight	Aaaaaaaaand there it was, indeed. Alex was left just kind of staring at Homelander, while Annie just sort of quietly rolled her eyes to give Alex an apologetic look. Double-whammy of sexualizing her and being racist to him? Did he give himself extra points for those? "Homelander, sir," the stage manager interjected, moving his headset away from his face, "we've loaded the prompter with Starlight's revisions." "Revisions?" she echoed, already dreading whatever the hell had been put on the teleprompter.
Homelander	Yes, yes he did give himself extra points for those, Starlight. "Yeah, I had Bruce make a couple tweaks." Great tweaks. Everybody was gonna love it. "Gave you some more juicy stuff. After all, you're co-captain. Need you front and center." Even though this was for his fucking birthday. "You know, I gotta admit--I was a little unsure about this," he said. "But now, honestly, I'm just so excited about what's coming. Partner."

Diego	Diego was doing a damn good job at being a purse-holder. He could only partially hear what was going on from backstage, but could tell by Annie's face it wasn't good, whatever the hell Homelander was saying. He was actually about to move closer to see if there was any way he could help, but was distracted by Annie's phone ringing. Normally he'd ignore it, but when he saw Hughie's name he knew he had to answer. "Hello?"
Hughie	"You sound weird," said Hughie, who had been expecting Annie. He put it together a second later. "Wait, Diego?" Okay, not who he had called to talk to, but maybe a better bet, anyway?
Diego	"Yeah, it's me, Annie's busy," he said. "What's up? Find more weird shit on your boss?"
Hughie	"So she told you, cool," Hughie said, maybe sounding like he was trying to convince himself it was a good thing Annie had just gone ahead and done that. It might work for his purposes, anyway. "I got an address for the group home. It's like an hour outside the city. We could go, like, right now and get there by the time they have their visiting hours." But Annie had said not to do anything without her, and he was...well, he was at least nominally respecting that, look at him.
Diego	Diego looked over at where the superhero drama was currently going on. Probably wouldn't be done with for awhile, he figured. And this was pretty important. Like, who knows how many heads Victoria popped a day? Besides, how dangerous could a group home be? (He was ignoring Sage Grove right now). "I'll go," he said. "Just to do recon. We get information, we get out."
Hughie	"Oh, man, really?" That was even better than Hughie had hoped for. Here he'd been thinking he'd have to do some wheedling, but this would be so much easier with Diego along. Easier than with Annie, honestly. Diego was actually scary-looking! And not that famous. "Sweet. You're gonna have to drive, though. My arm's broken." So Hughie was going to be even more of an asset than usual.
Diego	God damn it, Hughie. "Fine," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'll come get you." Benefits of being Mr. Starlight: Vought was willing to lend him cars.

Starlight	Meanwhile, back onstage, Annie was doing her best with the material provided to her. She would much, much rather be going off to investigate a potentially-scary group home, for the record. "It is such an honor to be with you all tonight, celebrating my...my dear friend and mentor, Homelander," Annie read from the teleprompter, trying to keep some semblance of sincerity in her voice. "Now, before we bring out Dame Judi Dench, I would like to take a moment...uh." She trailed off, frowning at the words on the prompter. "Hey, Jay. What's that? I'm supposed to be announcing the Starlight House."
Homelander	"You sing me happy birthday!" Homelander announced, like he was giving Starlight a gift. "Fun, right? Go on, go for it."
Starlight	She shot him a look, frowning very slightly before leaning into the microphone again. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you," she sang quickly, clearly just trying to get through the song. This was -- she did not have time for this shit today, Homelander. Fuck's sake.
Homelander	"Hold on, hold on, sorry," he said, waving his hands. Homelander got closer to Starlight, looking apologetic. "Um, Starlight, I hate to direct you but, um, we're going to need a little more of a 'JFK just got rimmed out by Marilyn' version. It's got to fit with the routine." And she didn't even need to ask 'what routine?' because Homelander already had it covered. "Actually, show her the routine. You're gonna love this." Onto the stage came half a dozen back up dancers, all clad in everyone's favorite uniform--the Starlight bodysuit. "That's your backup."
Starlight	Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. "Okay!" Annie interjected, actually rushing over to stop the women from dancing as their choreography even began to clearly mimic the way Vought liked her to pose with her hands up. "Okay, hold on, everybody, um -- ladies? Hi, thank you. Just -- stand down really quick, okay? Just a second." She looked around for the director, trying to maintain composure. She was co-captain, damn it. (Which also meant she knew she was justified in demanding she be treated respectfully.) "Can I talk to Roger? I have -- concerns."
Homelander	"You do?" He couldn't imagine why!
Starlight	And for that, he was getting a deeply unimpressed look. "Mmm-hmm." And, expecting further obtuseness, Annie added, "It's demeaning," with an emphasis that suggested that she could not believe she had to explain this. Really, Annie knew she was giving him too much benefit of the doubt there.
Homelander	Homelander scoffed. "It's demeaning to sing 'Happy Birthday' to a friend?" Not only a friend--a co-captain.
Starlight	"Are you gonna sing all sexy for me on my birthday?" Annie countered. For the record, the answer would still be no even if he was planning to. (Though admittedly she'd kind of like to see that.)
Homelander	Maybe. If you asked nicely. "Starlight, what's with all this animosity?"
Starlight	Jesus Christ. "Okay." Annie blew out a careful breath, and took a step closer to Homelander so she could drop her voice. "For the record -- I know you don't care whether I sing or not." She spoke slowly, so there would be no misunderstanding. "This is a juvenile attempt to get me to look like a sex doll instead of a co-captain." And she had had fucking enough of that in her Seven career already, thank you. "I'm not doing it."
Homelander	Homelander gave her a strained smile and leaned in closer. "I have an idea. Why don't you lighten the fuck up?" Everybody took everything so seriously these days, sheesh. He clapped his hands together, stepping away. "Come on! You're gonna sing the shit out of that song! Let's hit it!"
Stan Edgar	"If Starlight doesn't want to sing," boomed out Stan Edgar's impassive voice from the control booth, "she doesn't sing." This was exactly the sort of thing Stan had hoped to see happen with this leadership shakeup. Beautifully predictable as always, Homelander.
Homelander	Fuck. "Stan," Homelander called, posture immediately straightening up. "What a surprise."
Stan	"Our testing shows that seventy-six percent of likely viewers will make every effort to watch tonight for Starlight," Stan informed him via microphone -- and the crew, and Starlight, and Supersonic, and anyone else lurking around backstage within earshot. "As for you, fifty-three percent might DVR. I think that that means that she can call her own shots, don't you?"
Homelander	Homelander's clenched his jaw, just barely controlling the urge to laser Stan's face off and Starlight's with it. "So how about I just walk, Stan?" he asked. "How would that rate?"
Stan	"After the PR hole you've dug yourself this past year," Stan replied, dismissive from the booth, "I'd say you're lucky we're putting on this farce at all." And even then -- as Stan was making clear, it was a showcase for other Supes more than Homelander. Including and especially Starlight and this orphanage thing she was so hung up on. "But hey, it's your party. You can cry if you want to."
Homelander	Homelander truly hated this man. But, unfortunately, this was one of the rare occasions where he was outpowered. In a metaphorical sense. So all he could do was save face by not arguing any further and exiting the stage.
Starlight	Annie stayed perfectly still through all of that, her spine perfectly pageant-straight as she watched that tableau play out and resisted the urge to absolutely beam back at Mr. Edgar. Though, part of her knew -- that had been really lucky. She couldn't count on him coming to her rescue every time. She needed to be able to save herself when it came to Homelander. But still. She'd won. And it felt great.
Supersonic	"Damn, Annie." Alex had crossed over, his voice pitched low as he dipped his head towards hers. "What happened to you in New York?" That had not been the sweet, retiring, church-going Annie January he'd gotten wasted on margaritas.
Starlight	She'd been dancing around it for weeks, but there it was on display, in the flesh and discriminatory, temperamental, and provocative as fuck, Alex: your future boss, if you really wanted this job. One of them, anyway. She was already making it better. "I started making waves," Annie replied quietly, looking up at him with a meaningful lift of her eyebrows.

[lots of this dialogue is borrowed directly from The Boys 3.02, 'The Only Man in the Sky.' Homelander is once more coming to you courtesy of the endlessly-amazing knife_bender, and warning for racism and grossness in general from America's favorite hero. NFB, NFI, OOC welcome!]