Vought Tower | Wednesday Evening

[defenderofdesmoines]

When they got to the tower, and had followed Diego in through the Lamplighter Schoolgirl-Sneaking Entrance (ew), the group split up.

Diego was directed to the master tech controls for the building, where he'd have access to the PA system as well as any emergency systems that might be helpful in getting people out of the tower. Frenchie and Kimiko headed for the main lab, taking Hughie with them (for no reason other than that MM didn't want Hughie with him, right now.)

And that turned out to be a good call, since Annie and MM had made their way up to the upper floors and just had to follow the way the building shook to figure out where the action was.

Annie	It was fucking chaos in Vought Studios. Cameron Coleman's set was destroyed, as were the surrounding offices. And little surprise, too, since the source of most of the noise was Queen Maeve, back in uniform and absolutely punching the shit out of Homelander. God, Annie was so mad at her, but -- good job, Maeve. That was a beautiful sight. Annie only had a moment to spare for her, though. Soldier Boy and Butcher had turned on each other at some point, and the former was about to drop his shield on the latter's neck. Not today, asshole. He had just enough time to pick up his shield to fend off a second blast, and -- okay, they were doing this. Annie and MM...and maybe Butcher, and Maeve by the looks of it, against these two. The odds were better than she'd hoped for.
Diego	Diego, meanwhile, only had to subdue one lone security guard in the control room, which was way better than he hoped for. The more daunting task was quickly trying to figure out how shit worked in this room full of switches and buttons and the like. Couldn't be harder to work that the Infinite Switchboard, right? (Ignore the fact Herb helped him with that.) Eventually he found what looked to be the PA system. Which was confirmed as correct when Diego spoke and heard his own voice overhead. "Attention -- this is not a drill, everyone in the building needs to get out now. Drop what you're doing and leave if you want to live long enough to use your 401k's." That should get business people running, right?
Annie	Annie couldn't help but smile when she heard Diego's voice ring out through the speakers, even as she was rewarded with Soldier Boy's shield straight across the abdomen, and was flung into a monitor suspended about ten feet in the air. It went on for a bit like this. Annie would get a blast in, Butcher might manage to use his laser eyes, but Soldier Boy was too tough for either of them to even slow him down. MM was treated to being tossed as easily as Annie had been when he took his shot, though without the invulnerability, so that probably smarted a bit.
Maeve	At one point, an agonized cry from Maeve rang out, but other than that it seemed like she might well be winning against Homelander. Or, at least, holding her own, judging by the way she'd shoved him through a plate glass window adjacent to the studio.
Annie	Annie managed to fire off a blast at Soldier Boy and his handsome face, immediately taking his shield to her own face in payment, but that was okay -- she'd bought some time, and that was what was needed thanks to the little figure she'd spotted by the door.
Kimiko	Kimiko crept in, fresh from the lab and sneaky and light with an oxygen mask and a cannister in one hand as she made her approach on Soldier Boy. With Maeve on Homelander, she was their strongest option, and if she could just get close enough, maybe she could --
Soldier Boy	Soldier Boy had been surveying the three prone people on the ground, pleased with his work. By the sounds of it, the redhead was taking the flag-wearing pussy down, so he didn't need to worry too much about that. He, of course, reached out and grabbed Kimiko by the neck as soon as she got within arm's reach. Fuck's sake. He was Soldier Boy. You couldn't sneak up on him. He threw her one-handedly across the room, and when he was satisfied she'd stay down, he turned his attention back to the blonde. She was the one he was most worried about, and here she was, stirring again and getting to her feet.
Annie	Oh, Annie hurt. Annie hurt so much. But she also could see that Kimiko was going to be a moment, and Maeve was preoccupied, and Butcher hadn't moved, so -- She could do this. She could take him down. Or she'd die trying, but either way. She carefully got to her feet, eyes on Soldier Boy as they illuminated again, and she took everything she could from the studio. The lights, the monitors, the power in the walls -- everything responded to her. She didn't know if it would be enough. Nothing had been enough.
Diego	You know, it was weird, it actually didn't take Diego long to figure out where everybody else was? Must have been all the lasering and throwing bodies against walls. It really didn't take more than a second for him to realize that jumping into the fight would only make things worse. He'd break Annie's concentration by making her worry about him, and every Supe needed to be on hand to take down Soldier Boy from the looks of it. However, when he looked up and saw the control booth, he figured out a way he could maybe help. It theory it should work, right? Nobody seemed to notice him go up to the booth in the chaos, and anybody that worked there had fled long ago (hopefully that meant the entire building obeyed his announcement). He looked over the board that controlled everything in the studio until he found the handle that controlled how powerful the lights were on set. Diego looked up at Annie before pushing the lever as high as it could go.
Annie	Everything got easier, all of a sudden. Instead of feeling like she was trying to suck the power out of the building, it was like it flowed to her. Annie drew electricity into herself, cracking screens and blowing lights so they rained sparks down on her. She needed as much as she could get, while Soldier Boy was catching his breath. They'd only get one shot. Annie couldn't see herself, but all the same -- she could tell what was happening to her was different. Her eyes and palms had brightened beyond their normal yellow glow as she absorbed the power, to the point it was actually hard to look at her. And then Annie felt her feet begin to leave the ground. Holy shit. She was flying.
Diego	"Holy shit," Diego murmured, looking at Annie with both pride and awe. He hadn't known what to expect when he turned up the lights, but flying had been low on his list. That was so fucking cool.
Annie	It really was fucking cool as all hell. Soldier Boy seemed to finally decide to take his shot, steeling himself before taking a running, flying leap at Annie as she hovered in mid-air. Before he could reach her, she fired -- all of that power keeping her in the air surged out of her and straight into Soldier Boy, knocking him back a solid dozen feet and practically into MM's arms as Annie fell to the floor. It was the shot they'd needed.
MM	"You ain't no hero," MM was saying as he shoved the mask onto Soldier Boy's beautiful face, Annie scrabbling around to take his other arm. "You're just another racist piece of shit we can't seem to get rid of."
Maeve	Meanwhile, across the studio, Maeve and Homelander had brought their fight out into the open, and the source of that cry from earlier was obvious given the bloodied hole where Maeve's right eye had been. She seemed like she might be winning, though, given how she was shoving him around. Aside from the loss of 20/20 vision, anyway.
Diego	Diego scrambled down from the control room when he saw Annie hit the ground, and went to help her and MM with Soldier Boy. "Are you okay? That was so cool." Focus more on holding down the handsome man, Diego.
Annie	Annie huffed out a tiny laugh -- it had been cool. God, she hoped she got to do it again. She could fly. Twenty years of pageant bullshit and sparkles, and she could fucking fly. "I'm okay," she promised, straining with the effort of holding the most handsome, explodiest man they'd ever seen in place.
Soldier Boy	Kimiko rushed over to join them, cracking her neck back into place as Soldier Boy screamed, "I'm not going back in that box!" His chest began to glow. All this work, and they were still going to lose.
Annie	"You'll kill everyone!" Annie pleaded, trying to reason with him even as she looked to Diego in resigned, heartbroken horror and tried to hold Soldier Boy down. It seemed completely pointless to try, but they had to, anyway. At least they'd go out together, even if it was wildly unfair they'd never get to meet the future they'd seen and dreamed about.
Diego	Of all the ways to die, he hadn't really pictured this one: getting irradiated to hell and back while holding down a superpowered male model with his fiancé. At least it'd be quick? Diego looked up at Annie, looking just as heartbroken and resigned as she did. If he didn't need all the strength he had to help hold Soldier Boy down he would have reached out for her. Instead he just looked at her and tried to convey how much he loved her with just that look.
Maeve	A few feet away, Homelander had staggered to his feet -- at least, he had started to, until Maeve had shoved a pen in his ear to buy herself some time. She looked away from Homelander, reeling from having his ear drum speared with a pen, and instead focused on what was happening over by the windows. Soldier Boy was powering up. Annie was shouting. They were all going to die, Maeve included. Unless someone did something.
Annie	Annie would have been crying if she'd had the strength left. All she could do was look to Diego, trying to take in every detail about him that she could. She loved him so much. It wasn't fair. People who hated each other got married and had kids every day, and here they were, two incredibly decent people who loved each other more than just about anything, and deserved their incredibly decent future, facing down death instead. Soldier Boy broke the hold and rounded on all four of them. He was so bright, and so hot (in so many ways!) at this distance that Annie had to look away, her eyes finding Maeve across the room, instead. Her look was an echo of her statement back in the Flatiron Building. Be a hero. Please, be a hero. Maybe there was one last hope.
Maeve	Maeve heard her loud and clear. She looked to Homelander, pen sticking out of his ear, and over to Butcher, who was just staggering to his feet. "Shit," she whispered. There really was only one option, wasn't there? And she didn't have time to think about it. She rounded on Homelander, giving a feral cry as she punched him hard with both fists -- enough to send him reeling back away from her. Just enough to buy her the time she needed to race across the studio, tackle Soldier Boy around his midsection, and take him straight out the window with her in a great flying leap. About forty floors down, they exploded in a ball of flame, lighting up the night and sending a wave through the building.
Diego	Holy shit. That was--fucking heroic, was what that was. Diego was jaded by so many things in life, but seeing Maeve lay down her life like that brought up a feeling of hope he hadn't had in awhile. Since he was a kid and still believed his family were going to save the world together. Relief took over next, and since they weren't going to be killed immediately he rushed to put his arms around Annie. The fact that Maeve couldn't have possibly survived that fall (and explosion) would hit him in a minute.
Annie	Annie could barely believe she was still standing, much less that they were both alive. And all thanks to a woman who had told her there was no such thing as real heroes. "Diego," she breathed, all but actually offering up a prayer as she leaned up to cling tightly to him. All around the studio, the crew was taking stock and holding onto each other the way Diego and Annie were -- Frenchie hobbled in, supported by Hughie, and Butcher was talking to a boy of about ten or eleven. ...had any of the rest of you noticed a kid was here? That was the first Annie had seen of him. Huh. He looked kind of familiar, actually. She was way more preoccupied with shuffling her way over to the hole Maeve had left in the glass (and taking Diego with her, if he'd follow, considering she physically needed to keep touching him), looking out and down to where the smoke was billowing. "She did it." And Annie was going to miss her so much. The grief hit her as hard as Soldier Boy's blows had, earlier.
Diego	You'd basically have to forcibly remove Diego from Annie's side at this point. He looked down to the city street, frowning. The drop looked even worse than he thought. "We definitely would've been dead without her," he said, pressing a kiss to Annie's temple. "She's a hero."
Annie	"Yeah." Annie leaned into him, stepping back slightly from the window. She was so exhausted, on every possible level, but they'd also won. They'd won. It didn't feel like they'd won.
Ryan Butcher	Across the way, that boy with Butcher was talking loudly. "Dad," he called, pleading. But he wasn't looking at Butcher. "Dad, I want to leave." He was addressing Homelander, who'd gotten the pen out of his ear and was clearly, singularly focused on the boy. Which was probably good news for the rest of them.
Homelander	Homelander had been going through it with that fucking fight, and later he would be sort of pissed he hadn't pushed that bitch out the window himself. But Ryan was calling out to him (calling him Dad, and clearly meaning it), and all of his attention was focused on that. If Ryan wanted to leave, then they'd leave. Whatever animosity he had toward the other people in the room could wait until later. He walked up to Ryan and extended his hand for him to take. Then the two of them walked off, not even acknowledging the mess or anyone else in the room.
Annie	Oh, right. That's where Annie had known that kid from. The woods last year. The late Mrs. Butcher's son with Homelander. Also, the reason that Mrs. Butcher was not with them anymore. Because of the powers he'd inherited from his father, and his lack of control over them. Annie could only worry about so many things at once. Right now, she didn't have the bandwidth to think about Homelander and Son, and what that might mean for the rest of the world. She couldn't concern herself with where they were going, or with chasing after them, or with how maybe she should try to get an Instagram Live going in the wreckage to make the most of #BelieveStarlight on the night that Queen Maeve sacrificed herself and saved them all. But that was it. She couldn't. "Let's also leave," she suggested softly, leaning into Diego and wrapping an arm across his back. Also, honestly, probably a good idea before those sirens she could already hear arrived, considering this group was primarily made up of highly sought-after people -- whether by Vought or other authorities.
Diego	"That's a great idea." He was tired, though it was more on the emotional side of things since he actually hadn't gotten his hands too dirty for once. "Let's go back home."
MM	"I got one stop to suggest we make, before you do that," MM told them, actually smiling a little as he, Kimiko and Frenchie led the way towards the stairwell. "Just a hunch." Kimiko had survived Soldier Boy's blast, after all. And she didn't have shit on the likes of Queen Maeve. Maybe this story could have a happier ending than they thought. They all deserved that. And then, they could all go the fuck home, finally.

[THE END. Most of this is taken pretty straight from 3.08, and warning for the (apparent) death of two NPCs, as well as quite a bit of descriptive violence. Preplayed with knife_bender, who talked me off several ledges throughout this, deserves some kind of medal, and is also taking a well-deserved bow as Homelander here. NFB, NFI, but OOC is very welcome, and I'm almost done with spam now!]