defenderofdesmoines | Hughie Campbell's Apartment

So that was oh for two on nights and sleeping through them, for Annie. Even shoving the couch up against the door hadn't really helped.

She was not really doing well this morning, especially given that the screens that they had passed on the way here -- usually advertising Cameron Coleman's show or the Queen Maeve's Inclusive Kingdom expansion at Voughtland -- had shown news bulletins about Supersonic's tragic overdose.

It was dangerous to even leave the tower right now. When Hughie had reached out, she'd been more than a little tempted to tell him he was fucking late, and that she hoped Russia had been worth it. But God, though, she actually hoped Russia had been worth it.

That was the only reason she and Diego had made their way out to Hughie's apartment this morning, both of them disguised against paparazzi. It was dangerous to leave the tower herself, and probably even more dangerous to bring Diego with her -- but after last night, and the image of Alex that would never, ever leave her head, she was very reluctant to let him out of her sight at all.

Diego	The fact that Diego had to wear a beanie since his long hair was recognizable was what convinced him that, if he got out of this alive, he was going to cut his hair. "I look and feel like an idiot."
Annie	"My idiot," Annie replied, leaning her hooded head against his shoulder -- one part exhaustion, one part affection -- as she reached out to knock on Hughie's door. "It's okay. I also look like an idiot." The important part was that they looked like alive idiots.
Hughie	Hughie got the door pretty quickly, looking exhausted and fairly wild-eyed himself as he ushered them into his apartment and immediately reached to pull Annie into a hug. "I'm so sorry," he said, addressing Diego over her head (and assuming, probably correctly, that Diego did not want a hug from him.) "I'm so fucking sorry." He had a lot of reasons to be sorry, at the moment. They literally did not know the half of it.
Diego	You were 100% correct on Diego not wanting a hug, Hughie. He was also immediately pulling off that beanie. "Thanks, man. Been a hellish couple days." Understatement. "How was Russia?" Weird thing to say.
Annie	"Tell me you found it," Annie requested, pulling away to look up at Hughie. "Tell me you found the weapon that killed Soldier Boy." Please. Even if it was a lie, she kind of needed to hear that right now. There had to be some hope.
Hughie	"Moscow was a dead end," Hughie said slowly, biting his lower lip as he looked from Annie over to Diego. "It -- it wasn't what we thought." It was a whole lot worse than what they'd thought, actually.
Diego	Oh, great. So Alex was dead for basically no reason. Fantastic. "What the hell was it then?" Diego asked.
Annie	"No weapon?" Annie wanted to go lay on Hughie's sofa and cry at that news, thank you for that. "Then what killed Sold...." She trailed off, watching as Hughie moved to grab a bottle of whiskey from on top of his fridge. "Your arm was broken." And it clearly was not, anymore.
Hughie	"I know it's, like, morning," Hughie told them, also producing two shot glasses and putting them in front of Diego and Annie. "But you're gonna want this." Especially because he wasn't sure where to start. Not with where his cast had gone. "Soldier Boy's alive. He is the weapon."
Diego	...yeah, okay, he'd take the shot. That seemed necessary after the last couple days. "Isn't he like the original Supe?" he asked. "And he's just been chilling in Russia?" Diego did not realize he made a pun.
Hughie	"They actually had him, like, cryogenically frozen like Walt Disney's head," Hughie shared. "So yeah." Bah dum...tss? "And he can shoot -- he has explosions that come out of his chest and take your powers," he added, looking to Annie. "He got Kimiko. She's in the hospital." This was noteworthy, as last year everyone here had seen Kimiko survive having her neck broken as though it was nothing more than a cramp.
Annie	"Jesus Christ," Annie breathed, wide-eyed. "Where is he now?" A pause, and then it hit her, and she was gonna go ahead and help herself to another shot. "You don't know where he is, do you?"
Hughie	"Somewhere in Moscow." You know, until he decided to come home. "And uh, I...." He cleared his throat. "Butcher got this temporary Compound V that gives you powers for a day and I kinda...took some." And it had been awesome, but maybe he didn't need to share that part.
Diego	Diego narrowed his eyes, and then looked over at Annie. Did they know that was a thing? He thought he would have remembered. "So you managed to lose this dude even with multiple powered people there to take him?"
Annie	They had super not known it was a thing. Though if Annie thought about it longer, she'd realize she probably knew who had given it to them. Who had sent them down the rabbit hole, so to speak. "So now we have to worry about him being loose along with Homelander," Annie continued. "Awesome. Fucking amazing news. Also, you're an idiot. You could have gotten yourselves killed." She cared less if Butcher did, but Hughie was just the right balance of moron and nice that she'd feel bad if he did something stupid to himself.
Diego	"Yeah, dumbass, do you even know how that stuff works?" Diego didn't, which is how he knew it was stupid! "Also you could have grown a second head or a mutant dick or something."
Hughie	"I could teleport," Hughie offered, trying for modest and coming across as frankly kind of delighted. "I just knew...how. But we don't have any more." Probably actually kind of bad news given that Butcher's new laser eyes would come in really handy against unstable walking explosions and other guys with laser eyes. "And even if we did, I wouldn't take it. It was awful. I mean, the hangover...." Hughie was a terrible liar in general. But he was especially bad about hiding how much he'd loved being powerful for once in his life.
Diego	Diego huffed. "You're a fucking liar. You loved that shit."
Hughie	"It was awesome," Hughie admitted in a rush, as though he'd been dying to say so and was glad to have permission. "I just -- I clenched my butt and I jumped, and I wasn't scared at all. I saved MM!" Like, he super got why people liked having superpowers. It was great. A second head or a monster dick would have sucked, though, totally fair. That had been risky.
Annie	"No, Hughie." Annie wanted to punch him in his stupid face and lock him in his closet, goddamn it. "That was stupid and dangerous." She shook her head, swallowing around another, new lump in her throat. "Alex died," she said, harsh and soft. "No more fucking around. We need to find Soldier Boy, now." Maybe he would...like, hate Homelander and want to take him out, too? That would be convenient. The guy was pretty obviously a monster.
Diego	Diego really wanted to ask how, but that would only add more helplessness to an already really dire situation. "Do you have anything at all on where he went?" Diego asked Hughie. "Or where this dude would go?" He had, like, the barest knowledge of Soldier Boy from offhand things Annie said in the past and that stupid statue in the front of the tower.
Hughie	"Butcher's working on it," Hughie said, shaking his head. But maybe the revelation that Butcher -- an unstable man who had recently been revealed to be shooting up drugs that turned his eyes into yellow lasers -- was on the case would help! "And MM." Actually more useful information, there. "Keep an eye out for, uh...any reports of explosions," he advised, looking much less pleased than he had when he'd shared about the teleporting. "That'll point us in the right direction, I bet. MM thinks he might go looking for the rest of Payback." Which meant he might well be headed this way sooner than later, since the remaining members of Soldier Boy's team were all scattered along the American East Coast.
Annie	"So we're just waiting?" Annie filled in, trying to run through who'd been in Payback mentally. "For you or Butcher to tell us what to do?" She blew out a frustrated sigh, and turned to go. And then turned back to grab Hughie's bottle of whiskey and put it in her purse. "I'm taking this. Call me if you find anything." Not a request.