knife_bender | Vought Tower to Crimson Countess' Trailer

Starlight	"Wait, slow down," Annie was saying as she let herself into the apartment, already shedding her cape and bracers as she swung the door shut behind herself. "Do you have an address?" She probably should have been more worried about Homelander overhearing, but Homelander had also been...distracted. It wasn't going to hold forever, no, but for right now she was more than fine with letting the stock prices or whatever keep him occupied. A pause, as she moved to kick off her boots, and then, "Okay. We'll be there." And now to just set her phone down and take a deep breath or two, because she was going to murder Hughie Campbell. One thing at a time. She and Diego needed to get out of the tower, into a car, and apparently all the way to Crimson Countess' trailer in the country.
Diego	"What's going on now?" This was, like, on par with the rush when preventing apocalypses, just for the record.
Starlight	At least they didn't have Five along yelling at everyone that they were still moving too slowly, this time? "Oh my God." Like, where to even start? "That was MM -- the explosion downtown earlier was Soldier Boy. They think they know where he's headed, but we gotta move fast. Also, Homelander's fired everyone. He put Deep in charge of fucking crime analytics." Which meant there was just one lonely woman down in that lab, eating Almond Joys and being a decent human.
Diego	"What the fuck?" That was both for The Deep's new job and Soldier Boy being here. "Okay, I'm good to go wherever." He had taken just wearing all the knives he could since Homelander said he had a key to their apartment. "Where are we going, anyway?"
Starlight	"Upstate a bit." She hadn't looked at her phone to confirm, but that's what MM had said, anyway. She twisted an arm over her shoulder, clearly impatient and already frustrated, before crossing over to present her back to Diego for zipper help. "And Maeve's -- Maeve's missing." She could not think about that too hard right now. They had to actually get out the door, but...Maeve. Maeve, after Alex, was entirely too much for her to bear.
Diego	Diego frowned as he dutifully slid down the zipper on her uniform. Maeve being gone wasn't good at all. "Maybe...maybe she's on an op or something." Yeah, he knew that was unlikely, but Annie seemed to be losing it a little bit so it was up to him to remain optimistic.
Starlight	"Ashley says she's in rehab," Annie told him quietly with a little shake of her head. Clear, obvious bullshit. "I don't think she's anywhere good, babe." Couldn't let that slow them down, though. She gave Diego's arm a squeeze as she moved to the bedroom to try to put on a hoodie and jeans as fast as she was actually able to. Damn it, why hadn't she been doing, like, firefighter drills this whole time? "Also," she called, "MM said Hughie didn't know he was calling me." Make of that what you will after this morning's delightful little whiskey o'clock meeting.
Diego	Yeah, Diego might not have been the brightest bulb, but he could gather why Hughie wouldn't want Annie knowing about this after their talk in the morning. He had been around Klaus enough to know when someone wanted to get high again. "Oh, he's a fucking idiot," Diego said. "He and Butcher are. What are they going to do against Soldier Boy, even with powers? Wasn't he Homelander before Homelander was Homelander?" Say Homelander again, Diego.
Annie	"He's probably at least as strong," Annie agreed. "Except he can't fly, but he's like, insanely strong and he has this explosion thing. Probably like fighting Stormfront again." Remember how it had taken her, Kimiko and Maeve, with an assist from Diego, to do anything to Stormfront? That was probably a good sign. "They're so fucking stupid," she added, emerging dressed in people clothes and pulling her hair into a ponytail. "Wanna drive?" Hopefully Homelander was still too distracted to notice their exit, because Annie super did not have time to fuck around with mind games right now.
Diego	"Yeah, I can," he said with a nod. "I'm becoming very familiar with upstate New York these days."
Annie	"Maybe one of these days we can take a cute trip up that way for a reason besides taking out a supervillain," Annie suggested, managing a tiny smile as she led the way out. The drive was actually faster than she'd thought it would be -- which was probably excellent given that if Hughie could teleport, they might have a hell of a head start. When they saw the billboard advertising Chimp Country (oh, Countess), Annie knew they'd found the right spot. And it was confirmed as they came upon the little assembled group of people she recognized, including the man who'd thought to call her. And the one who had, once more, lied to her fucking face. "What the hell's going on here?"
Hughie	Well. Hughie probably couldn't have looked more surprised to see them if they'd actually opened with blasts and knives, really. "Annie -- Diego," he greeted them, taking a few hurried steps forward to cut them off before they could reach Butcher (who looked deeply unimpressed to see them both.) "What're you doing here?" They should definitely not be here. Fuck.
Diego	"Hopefully getting here in time to stop you from being an idiot." Oh no, Diego. You were far too late for that.
Annie	"MM called me," Annie explained flatly, shooting a look over at the man in question and receiving a nod in turn. "I don't understand why you didn't." No, she did. She knew exactly why not, because Diego had been right this morning.
MM	"Just thought we might need a little backup," MM offered, taking a casual sip from his water bottle. "That's all." Case you all had not noticed, their usual Supe was out of commission thanks to this motherfucker they were here to stop, and no one here was really at their best, anyway.
Billy Butcher	"Oi," Butcher called, waving dismissively. "Take your little tiff somewhere else. We're on the job." Don't ask what kind of job involved sitting in front of a woman's home with a Geiger counter.
Diego	Diego looked over at Hughie, since he seemed like the better option when it came to using intimidation to get some answers. "What the fuck is going on?"
Hughie	Hughie shot a look over at Butcher before ushering Diego and Annie a little ways off. Maybe somewhere he could provide a little -- discretion, even, considering what he had to tell them. "Okay," he exhaled. "I -- you're gonna be so mad." Probably Annie more than Diego, but he was more scared of Diego, so it was kind of a wash. But he demonstrated why, anyway, by teleporting a few feet from them. Right out of his clothes, in fact. Still had to figure that piece out.
Annie	It didn't really matter that they'd both guessed why Hughie was being cagey about this; Annie still threw up her hands with a little, "Oh my God." Seeing Hughie in all his naked glory was also not really helping. Not something she'd signed up for, thank you. "You found more. Fucking idiots."
Diego	"Dude!" Diego put a hand up to avoid looking at the more unsightly bits of Hughie's pale body. "What is wrong with you?"
Hughie	"I haven't figured out how to do it with clothes," Hughie explained, blushing as he knelt to grab his pants (and try to hide his dick from everyone, as though they weren't both trying to their hardest to avoid looking.) "And it's only temporary! I'm not a total idiot. But I -- this is really dangerous, guys."
Annie	"It's too dangerous for me?" Annie replied, incredulous. Like, maybe it was, but that just meant Hughie should be several miles away, then. "It's too dangerous for us?" she added, gesturing to Diego's...entire person. Look how many visible knives the guy had, Hughie! Look at how many knives you had. (Annie's bone-deep concern for Diego's continued safety was neither here nor there at the moment. She was too mad at having things decided for her, again, by Hughie fucking Campbell.)
Diego	"So you asking Annie to stay at the tower when Homelander is going even more batshit than usual is fine," Diego said. "But this is when you decided you care about our safety?"
Annie	"Whatever it takes, huh?" Annie snapped, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared at Hughie. (Easier now that there were pants.) "But only what you decide it takes." Their wedding. Alex's life. Annie's ongoing mental wellbeing. But hey, Hughie got to play hero, so....
Hughie	"Look, guys, you can yell at me later," Hughie pleaded. He didn't really have a defense for any of this, which was probably a pretty good indication that it was all totally indefensible. "But you have to g --" And that was when Crimson Countess' home exploded.
Diego	Diego jumped, immediately reaching out for Annie, wanting to make sure they stayed together in case any more explosions happened. "What the hell was that?!"
Annie	Annie grabbed frantically at Diego, also wanting to make sure they stayed together if this was just the beginning. But that being said, she wasn't going to not run towards an explosion when she was pretty sure it was what they had come here to try to stop, so this was just going to be sort of a...clingy, cooperative run. "Fuck, I think that was him." Now would be a great time to teleport again, Hughie! No? We're all just running? Cool.
Butcher	Butcher was there to greet them, outside the flaming ruins of the trailer. If you looked, amidst all the fire it was easy enough to see a woman's charred form tied to a chair, her hands bound clearly and deliberately away from herself. So it had been a really fair fight. But they also might have been distracted, given that Butcher was laying down MM's unconscious body. "Keep an eye on him," Butcher advised them with a nod to MM, acting as though the man weighed nothing as he set him gently on the ground. "He's had four or five mgs of Rohypnol."
Diego	Oh, cool, we were just drugging our friends now. That was an acceptable thing we were doing. He was just so confused. And not willing to let go of Annie since it turned out the only trustworthy person here was lying unconscious on the ground. "What the hell is wrong with you people?" Huh. Usually that question was directed at him.
Annie	"You fucking roofied him?" How could they possibly think they were still doing the right thing when they were murdering people in cold blood and drugging their friends? The fact that Annie and Diego hadn't been called and MM had to be roofied spoke a whole lot about how much on the up-and-up these guys were, these days, didn't it?
Soldier Boy	Over by the smoldering wreckage, there was stirring. A slender, scruffy man stepped out, slow and steady as he moved past the charred corpse he'd left behind, and out to where he could be seen. He didn't have the cowl or the helmet that he had back when he was popular, when statues were being carved of him and he was making regular appearances on Solid Gold. But the shield, if nothing else, signaled exactly who that was. He looked pretty good for, like, ninety or whatever, right?
Diego	Uh, if the situation had been less dire Diego would be noting this might be the most handsome man he had ever seen. Sorry, Captain America. But it was a dire situation, so. That could wait for later. He looked over at Annie for a cue on what to do. If she thought they could take him together then he'd be all in.
Annie	Just wait until they heard him talk. Though that would likely wait for another time. Annie watched Soldier Boy walk towards them, and if you didn't know her well, you might think she was just as unfazed as he was. A very small expression of surprise registered on her face -- Soldier Boy had been 'dead' since before she had been born, so it was a little surprising to see him -- before she was steeling her features and rolling her shoulders. Her eyes illuminated as she pulled power from the cars, and she barely brushed her hand against Diego's as she stepped out just in front of him -- the posture she usually adopted when she thought they could face something together, but she wanted to put her invulnerable skin in front of his. Not that it would matter much, if he did to them what he'd done to Countess.
Hughie	And because he simply had not reached his stupid shit quota for the evening, somehow, Hughie stepped neatly between them and Soldier Boy, as Butcher looked on approvingly. "Diego, Annie, listen," he said softly, wheedling. "We wanted a weapon. Soldier Boy's our weapon. He's how we kill Homelander. And Neuman, maybe. If anyone's strong enough, he is." So all of this -- the explosion, the roofies, the tied-up body that had been America's sweetheart before Maeve or Annie had ever come along -- was all very premeditated. They'd come here with the intent of leaving with a highly alive Soldier Boy.
Diego	"You want us to trust the dude who blew up a trailer with a woman tied up in it?" Like, he was a handsome man, but Diego was not gonna let that slide!
Annie	Annie couldn't help but think of Wanda. How many times had they talked about how Countess was so much like her? And how many times had she and Wanda commiserated about needing their hands to fight? Countess had been offered up like a fucking sacrifice. "Cold-blooded murder," Annie agreed, staring up at Hughie furiously. "You didn't even let her fight back. You knew Butcher was going to do this and you...." You let him roofie the team's moral compass so no one could object, is what you did.
Hughie	"MM never would have gone for it," Hughie whined, confirming the narrative. "And you -- you weren't supposed to be here." You guys were never supposed to even know about this. "We're doing it for you," he tried, appealing to Diego and then Annie and back again. "It's the only way we can stop Homelander. Whatever it takes, right?" See, he was sacrificing, too, by...getting to hang out with the gorgeous explodey man, play with superpowers and suffer no apparent consequences. "Come with us," he tried. They'd both be an asset. Butcher wouldn't like it, but hey -- Butcher hadn't liked it last time, either.
Diego	"Fuck you," Diego said automatically, knowing that he and Annie were on the same page here. "The fact that you think we'd even consider going with you shows that the V you're taking is destroying your braincells."
Annie	Annie wanted to ask Hughie to stay with them, because this whole venture was absolutely going to get everyone involved killed -- whether it was the V or Soldier Boy, it didn't matter. There were too many variables in play. This was suicide. But before she could say anything, Butcher's voice rang out. "Hughie. Let's go." And that worked enough for Annie's cue, as angry and hurt and generally emotionally devastated as she was. "Daddy's calling," she remarked softly, raising her eyebrows at Hughie as she stepped back in line with Diego and slipped her hand into his. So run along, Hughie. Go make your horrible, horrible choices. They'd apparently be trailing after to clean up.