defenderofdesmoines | Vought Tower

So hey, some loser who just joined the team might be dead from an 'overdose,' but the show had to go on, right? Annie had left Diego in the apartment again (still not ideal, to her mind, given that Alex's murderer had a key to that apartment) and made her way down to the conference room for a meeting that had just been called by their new, groundbreaking CEO, Ashley Barrett.

Annie's life really was a fucking nightmare these days.

Her temper was already pretty frayed, so it probably wasn't terribly surprising how she reacted when she saw A-Train in the hallway on the way to her meeting.

A-Train	He did not care for that look, Starlight. He was having a hard time, too, okay? Homelander had totally called him fat again earlier today. "Can I help you?"
Starlight	"Supersonic trusted you," Annie hissed, furious and too tired to worry about hiding it. "And you got him killed." A-Train had been an irredeemable piece of shit for a year. At least she didn't have to entertain delusions that he'd changed at all.
A-Train	"I don't know what you're talking about," A-Train told her, dismissive and automatic. Look, it wasn't his fault Supersonic had been dumb enough to tell someone he was part of a plot to kill Homelander.
Starlight	"Fucking coward," Annie spat. "Why are you so desperate to be with people who hate you?" She didn't wait for a response, instead striding off towards the conference room. Ashley and Homelander were already waiting and watching one of their enormous screens, which featured a billowing black smoke cloud, and a lower third announcing an explosion in Manhattan leaving 19 dead. "The NYPD and bureau of superhuman affairs are calling it the work of an unknown supervillain," intoned the broadcaster. Well, shit. Probably not that unknown, actually. Could be a coincidence, but... "We need to handle this," Annie said aloud, since no one was talking. "Now."
Homelander	Homelander had been doing that staring off into the distance thing he had been doing lately. Hopefully people were taking it like he was thinking deeply, and not what it really was--panic at being in charge when this happens. Why did these things always happen to him? It was unfair.
Starlight	"Homelander?" Had they been on better terms, Annie would have gone over and given his shoulder a shake, but fuck no. He was just...staring off into space, though. Had he had a mental break? A...worse one? (That would be fucking catastrophic.) "Homelander? Did you hear me? We need to handle this." She looked over to Ashley, who just gave her a look and shrugged. She was busy with CEO shit, girl.
Homelander	"Sorry, what?" Was something big happening? He didn't notice.
Starlight	You know what, at least Annie was still co-captain. He hadn't taken that away with the Edgar thing. She'd just lost her...safety net, sort of. Well. Fuck safety nets. No one was safe, anyway. But maybe she could get some shit done, as long as people in this building still listened to her. People other than Homelander, anyway. "I said," she said slowly, "that we need to handle this." She nodded to the screen, in case he needed further clarification.
Homelander	Oh, right. The building exploding and the dead people. "Uh, yeah. Of course we do." "Okay." He turned to point a finger at Ashley. "Book slots on all of the Sunday shows. Tell them that, uh, there's nothing to worry about. Not a thing. We've got everything under control." Bam--done, you may now applaud.
Starlight	"That's so smart," Ashley started to say, but Annie wasn't going to wait for her to finish. This was so much more important than fucking TV. "Jesus!" she exploded, exasperated. "I mean we need to stop this guy!" For fuck's actual sake.
Homelander	Were you always this annoying, Starlight, or was he just really noticing it for the first time? "Will you watch your fucking tone, please?" He had this handled!
Starlight	She was maybe slightly more annoying than usual -- but to be fair, Homelander had murdered her friend last night and taken over her wedding, and an exploding supposedly-dead Supe was very much not in Russia. Maybe she was allowed to be a little high-strung, just now. But she caught herself. That'll be Diego. She had to be nice. "I'm sorry," she said, as sincerely as she could. "I just -- I mean...don't you think that maybe the best way to handle this is to find him?" You know, maybe?
Homelander	"Yeah, like I never thought of that," he said sarcastically. "Obviously. God. Why don't you go do that, hmm? Run along and save the day." Homelander was so irritated right now he couldn't even think of a game plan. He just needed her out of his face for, like, two seconds. "Meanwhile the grownups, well, we gotta worry about the share price and the EBITDA margins, okay?" Awesome business stuff that he totally...totally wanted to handle. Yep.
Starlight	Actually, that was exactly what she needed, thank you. You grownups enjoy the...EBITDA thing, then. She nodded, trying to look like that had really chastened her, and slowly turned to go.
Ashley	"Thank you!" Ashley sang after her. "So much!"
Starlight	As soon as Annie was in the hallway -- okay, a little bit after she'd cleared the conference room doors, at least, because she was trying to be smart about this -- she was pulling out her phone to call Hughie. "Hey, it's me," she whispered, striding down the hall. "Tell me this isn't who I think it is."
Hughie	"Probably exactly who you think it is," Hughie assured her, coincidentally on his way to that very same explosion with Butcher. "We're coming on the site now -- can your crime analytics people look for him?"
Starlight	"I'm on it," Annie replied, deviating her path to head down towards the crime analytics lab. "Just be careful, Hughie." As annoyed as she was -- annoyed enough to steal his bottle of whiskey, after all -- she was still vaguely concerned about someone as dumb and vulnerable as Hughie chasing after Soldier Boy. (Though -- with the temporary V, she supposed he wasn't that vulnerable anymore. The dumbness seemed to have, like, tripled to compensate, though.) A few minutes later, she was looking over the shoulder of a polite young analyst named Anika.
Anika	Anika, as it turned out, had great taste in candy. "Do you want the other half?" she offered, belatedly realizing it was pretty rude to eat half of an Almond Joy in front of someone and not offer. Also, this was gonna take a minute. For reasons.
Starlight	"No, no," Annie replied, leaning in a little closer to look at Anika's monitor and ignoring how much she wanted to shove that whole candy bar in her mouth right now, thanks to the news Anika had greeted her with. "Not right now, thanks. You were saying?"
Anika	"To find the guy, we'd have to comb through every CCTV camera in the city. It would take a dozen analysts working double shifts," Anika told her, already sounding pretty tired. Maybe it was because Starlight seemed to have not noticed that she was the only fucking person in this lab.
Starlight	"Great. Let's do it." And that was when Annie did, in fact, catch up, as she looked around to start directing analysts to where they should look for Soldier Boy, and found instead dozens and dozens of empty workstations. "...where is everyone?"
Anika	"We are everyone." There was totally another gal in the bathroom. So 'we' was accurate even without including Starlight herself. Anika dropped her voice, unsure how much to actually say. "Deep fired most of the department."
Starlight	"What?" Okay, first of all, why was Deep in charge of this at all? Why was Deep in charge of anything? Because he was Homelander's. That's why. She knew that. "Why?"
Anika	"They had some tweets over the years that were critical of Homelander," Anika told her, whispering the last word so quietly she basically only mouthed it. "Said he only wants 'team players.'" The air quotes were present, yes. Anika got the feeling she could be honest with Starlight about this, since she seemed just as frustrated as the rest of them. (Maybe more.)
Starlight	That feeling was confirmed as correct a second later when Annie murmured, "...can I have that half, actually?" Anika dutifully offered it up as though she'd expected that, and with a soft, "Thank you," Annie shoved the whole thing into her mouth. They were never, ever going to find Soldier Boy in time.
Anika	"Can I ask you something?" Anika asked softly, darting a look towards the door as Starlight chewed. She hadn't known what to make of the announcement she'd heard about a half hour prior, but Starlight...would know. (And if she couldn't say, Anika was pretty good at reading faces, and hoo boy was this one an easy read.)
Starlight	"Mmm?" She was still chewing, but Annie glanced down at Anika expectantly.
Anika	"Is...." She stood up just enough to look at the door before sinking back into her seat. "Is Queen Maeve really in rehab?" It seemed like a real stretch, Supersonic dying just last night of an overdose and now the Queen herself was at the Global Wellness Retreat, too?
Starlight	The Almond Joy turned into sand in Annie's mouth. She swallowed it down, staring at Anika, and didn't even care how uninformed she looked to this analyst right now. "Did you just say Maeve's in rehab?" Maeve, who had just told her she had been sober for four awful, shit-eating months.
Anika	"That's what Deep said," Anika told her, studying that reaction carefully. "And Cassandra." If it was possible to like someone less than The Deep, it was clear that Anika felt that way about Mrs. Deep.
Starlight	"I gotta go." Annie dropped a reassuring (ish) hand on Anika's shoulder, giving it a little squeeze before heading for the door so fast her cape whipped out behind her. "You're doing great work, Anika! Keep looking for him! I'll see if I can get you more support!" Spoiler: that would not be happening.
Anika	And Anika, meanwhile, settled in to start reviewing all that CCTV footage. By herself. But at least she had another Almond Joy in her desk.
Starlight	Annie all but ran down the hall away from the crime lab, her mind racing faster than her feet. Maeve. Maeve, Maeve, Maeve, Maeve. After Alex, Annie could not ignore the way every instinct was screaming at her to find Maeve. Which was why she was tearing into Ashley's new office, past her assistant with an actual shove, and demanding, "What the fuck did he do to Maeve?"
Ashley	"It's all right, Gregory," Ashley told her assistant, who was trailing Starlight and looked like he was very worried for his job. She turned her attention to Starlight, adopting a practiced, easy smile. "Maeve is at the Global Wellness Retreat in Malibu. Asking for help -- it's just not easy." She clasped her hands together, a show of admiration. "And she is just truly Brave Maeve, isn't she?"
Starlight	"Mmm-hmm," Annie agreed, pure dismissal of all that pure bullshit. "I want to speak to her right now." Put her on the fucking phone, if that was the case. Please.
Ashley	"Unfortunately, the facility requires a digital detox for their patients, but I'm sure you can leave her a message." Ashley had been ready for that, of course.
Starlight	"Goddamn it, Ashley!" Annie exploded, taking a step closer to Ashley's desk. "We can't let him do this." Ashley was probably in on this, of course. The calls were coming from inside the house.
Ashley	"Who are you referring to?" Ashley wondered, tilting her head in faux puzzlement. When in doubt, play dumb.
Starlight	Annie blew out a breath, moving to rest her palms on Ashley's desk so she could lean over it. Additional benefit: they could speak very quietly this way. "He is out of control," she whispered, staring into Ashley's face. "Yesterday, it was Supersonic." Ashley looked away, trying for dismissive and mostly looking like she just didn't want to hear this. "Today," Annie continued, letting all of her exhaustion and terror flood her voice, "it's Maeve. Tomorrow, it's me or you."
Ashley	Ashley stayed quiet, staring up at Starlight and trying her best to look like this was some entertaining, if try-hard, bullshit. Internally, though, she was screaming to be rescued.
Starlight	"I know you're scared," Annie continued softly, because who wouldn't be. Even if she hadn't worked pretty closely with this woman for the last year and a half, she'd know she was. "I am, too. But this CEO job, it can't be worth your life."
Ashley	Ashley's gaze darted, briefly, to the door that Gregory had exited back through. She exhaled one, soft, "Oh," before her shoulders seemed to relax just the tiniest bit. "I don't have powers," she whispered, pleading with Starlight to understand. She was trapped. She couldn't do anything here. She had no chance, if Homelander turned on her.
Starlight	"You don't need powers," Annie replied immediately, almost dizzy with gratitude that Ashley had said actual words a human would say in response to this. "You just need to be human." She would protect this annoying, high-strung woman with her life if she'd just use the power she did have for good, just this once. "Please. Where is Maeve?" She shook her head slightly. "Is she even alive?"
Ashley	"Look, Starlight, sh--" Ashley cut herself off, looking desperately sad as she took a few soft, ragged breaths. And then something in her seemed to shift. Her expression hardened, even if the fear didn't leave her eyes, and Ashley stood up, clearly trying to project confidence. "I am CEO. Next time, make a fucking appointment."
Starlight	There had been so many times over the last week that Annie had wanted to just give up on everything. She always had a little voice she had to overcome, a part of her that longed for peace and quiet and simplicity, and she always tuned it out. Right now, that voice was the loudest it had been yet. Give it up, Annie. This is hopeless. She was just one person in the middle of all of this. And yeah -- of course she had Diego, and she knew she always would. She had friends and allies in Fandom. She wasn't really alone. She had Hughie and his people, even, when it came to this fight. But right now, looking into Ashley's terrified face as she stonewalled her, thinking about Alex's death and Maeve's disappearance with every heartbeat -- Annie felt more alone than she had in over a year. She left, wordlessly. Nothing more to say, really.