The Vought American Hero Mansion | Tuesday Morning

[defenderofdesmoines]

So, hey, Homelander was losing his mind on live television, but that was apparently trending with white men between 18 and 45, so it was okay?

Cool. Cool, cool, cool.

Cool.

It was hard not to think about, in any case, as Annie resisted the urge to spin in her chair and reviewed American Hero footage with her team.

Seth and Evan	Silver Kincaid was talking on the screen. "I'm the first Super in a hijab, aren't I? So if I can get myself into The Seven -- lit, man." "So, we're thinking slot one goes to Supersonic," Seth said, pausing the video on Silver Kincaid's face. "For girls eleven to fourteen, he's a real panty-dropper."
Starlight	"That's horrifying," Annie told him, completely honest. Alex was twenty-seven years old, dude. "Please never say that again."
Seth and Evan	"He's also a slam dunk for the Latinx market," Seth continued. "We are desperate to get into Central and South America -- which you and your gorgeously Hispanic fiancé are helping with, Starlight, but Supersonic would just be that extra touch." "Did you know salsa," Evan told her, "is more popular than ketchup?" "Is Supersonic an ambitious second-generation Mexican American chasing his lifelong sueño of joining The Seven?" Seth proposed, adopting that tone that Annie hated. "Or is he chasing a rekindled pasión with --" Evan continued.
Starlight	"He literally just mentioned my gorgeous fiancé," Annie pointed out flatly, interrupting Evan and gesturing incredulously at Seth. "None of that. No love triangle bullshit." "Love triangles," Seth pointed out, "generate a forty-seven percent surge in trending topics on social platforms." Which Annie supposed Summer could potentially enjoy and would help her run with, but -- knowing Summer, if that was the prompt, it probably wouldn't actually go great for Vought. "No. But -- as far as the team, um...let me talk to Supersonic first," she sighed, resigned as she got up.
Seth and Evan	"Amazing. Uh, what do you think of our second choice?" Seth interjected. Like it or not, they actually did have to run this past her. "Moonshadow. She's body-positive, but not too body-positive." "Still fuckable," Evan offered.
Ashley	"So fuckable," Ashley added from the back of the room...perhaps just to herself.
Starlight	"Okay, that's also horrifying," Annie said, not even faking the disgust as she looked around at them. (And oh, God, watch in real time as she tried not to think about how many times someone on this staff had decided whether she herself was fuckable or not.) "But I'm thinking Silver Kincaid." And oh, boy, did Annie not want to hear about how fuckable she was.
Ashley	"But she's...." Ashley had objections. Silver Kincaid was the sort of person you put on a reality competition to show your diversity -- not to win. Please. What was this, that English baking show on Netflix? "She's from Afghan..." Ashley tried, hesitantly feeling out the syllables just in case what she meant to say started with a different set of sounds, you know?
Starlight	"She's from England," Annie told her, firm. "And she has the highest rescue stats of any of the finalists, and she's a UNICEF ambassador." Starlight wasn't even a damn UNICEF ambassador! "She's the most qualified." It was as simple as that. She was even more qualified than Supersonic, honestly.
Ashley	Yeah, but Starlight, she just didn't look very American Hero, did she? (And it had nothing to do with anyone being from the UK.) "Well, we're going to have to run all of this past Homelander, of course," Ashley told her, as though the matter was simply out of everyone's hands.
Starlight	"Actually," Annie told her crisply, "according to my contract with Mr. Edgar, I get the final say over the two slots." And when Ashley didn't offer up more than a nervous chuckle, she added, "So why don't you run that past Homelander, hmm?" And now she was going to excuse herself to see if maybe Alex wanted to turn down a life-changing opportunity based on her advice.

Starlight	This was going to take planning, and care, if she wanted to pull it off without tipping her hand. Not that Annie knew poker terms. Just think about how fucking terrible this girl would be at poker. But in any case, she had made sure to stake out a room near the top of the American Hero stairwell, where she could intercept -- "Alex!" And there he was, coming right off a break and heading into a new talking head. "Hey. Hey, come here for a second."
Supersonic	Alex gave her a smile, deciding he definitely had enough time for whatever it was Annie had to show him. (Hopefully it was something funny on TikTok. He didn't quite have the hang of it himself, but Annie was clearly real good at social media, so maybe she did?) Of course, he was immediately confused when Annie crossed over and started blaring 'Rock My Kiss' out of a nearby speaker. "Um, why are you playing my shitty song?"
Starlight	"So he can't hear us," Annie said, pitching her voice low and soft as she looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping visibly. "They want to pick you as one of the winners tonight."
Supersonic	"Are you serious?" Alex asked, breaking out in a bright grin. That was awesome news! He was just going to ignore the fact that Annie was delivering it like she was telling him his puppy had died, for the moment.
Starlight	"Mm-hmm." And she was so sorry about this, Alex. She wished there was more time to explain -- or, really, that she had from the start. She'd gotten complacent, and now she understood what that was going to cost her. "And you need to say no." He started to protest, but she shook her head. "I really wish someone had told me what I'm about to tell you," she said, soft and serious and speaking slowly. "There is something wrong with Homelander. Something broken." Alex stepped a little closer to her, clearly concerned, but Annie was on a roll. The other night had shaken her, and it was shaking her worse to know that the public hadn't rejected that outburst. "He's threatened to murder me more than once. He's murdered other people, and it's only getting worse." He'd been leashed for a year. Really, if she thought about it -- this was probably Mr. Edgar's fault. And hers, for saying yes. "And you're just going to be putting yourself and your family in danger," she continued, her voice catching a little. "And pretty much the rest of them, too. They're so fucking cruel."
Supersonic	Alex had been in the Vought International circuit in some capacity for his entire life. He'd been to every Believe Expo -- yes, even the one where Annie had talked about The Deep, so of course he knew about that already -- and he'd been a Capes for Christ spokesperson for nearly a decade. He knew Vought was bad. But this couldn't all just be for nothing, and -- as much as he admired her, he couldn't keep listening to Annie right now. He just couldn't. "Annie," he started softly, trying to interject as she started spinning verbally out of control.
Starlight	"Trust me, you don't want this. Just say that you can't do it," she suggested wildly, moving to block his path to the door with growing desperation. "Say that your family is having an emergency. Don't do it." Don't do it, Alex, don't do it. Not now that she didn't know what might happen. She'd been so, so selfish to welcome the idea of another friend on her team. She hadn't even thought about the reason she considered Maeve -- a woman who was comically cold to her most of the time -- one of her best friends. Because a year ago, that comically-cold woman had saved Annie by pulling one of their mutual teammate's hands off her windpipe. That was what you got, when you were on The Seven.
Supersonic	"Annie, Annie, Annie -- stop," Alex tried, trying to soothe her and calm her down a little just so they could talk about this. He'd never seen her this upset before, and he'd known Annie January a long, long time. "Annie, stop. You just told me that -- all the shit I swallowed for years...I mean, the band, Vought's racism, it's all for -- it's all for nothing, right? I need a second."
Starlight	Fuck, of course he did. But they really didn't have time to think about this. Not after that speech from Homelander. "I'm really sorry," Annie told him, clutching at her temples -- she better not cry or Makeup was going to kill her -- "but please. You need to promise me that you will leave, and you'll never look back." She stared up at him -- her old friend, and the first man (boy, at the time) she'd ever really loved. She couldn't let him just...walk into Hell like she had. "Please," she whispered.
Supersonic	Alex blew out a breath and worried his lower lip. The way she was acting, he knew he needed to listen to her, but.... "Give me the day," he requested softly. "You've got someone else in your back pocket if I say no, right?
Starlight	When he said no. Annie wanted to correct him aloud, but that might not get her what she needed to hear. "Yeah," she said softly, her voice scratchy. "Okay. Let me know, but -- Alex. Please listen to me. Please think about what I said." Please, please, please. She was so tired of not being heard by the people who needed most to listen to her.

[preplayed with myself and taken almost entirely straight from The Boys 3.03, 'Barbary Coast.' NFB and NFI, OOC is still welcome though!]