knife_bender | American Hero Mansion Green Room

Starlight	"Remind me never to do a reality TV show ever again," Annie requested of Diego as she flopped into a chair in the green room with a salad and a Diet Coke (and a straw, because makeup.) "Even if I think this might actually turn out okay." It was only going to turn out okay because she'd thrown a little anti-racist fit in the control room and practically begged Supersonic to turn it down, which still wasn't...ideal.
Diego	"Noted," Diego said with a nod. "No more reality shows. Unless it's American Ninja Warrior."
Starlight	"Unless it's American Ninja Warrior," Annie agreed, having to smile at that. "I think we'd be a really good Amazing Race team, too." Provided they could focus on a task together without slowing down to have sex all the time. "But no more where I'm the host." She was decreeing it. Co-captain decree, right here.
Homelander	Were you guys planning on having a cute lunch? Maybe lock the door for a quickie? Too bad, because here comes Homelander. "Ah! There she is!"
Starlight	Oh, goddamn it. "Do you mind?" Annie asked, fork literally poised on its way to her mouth. She was polite about it, but she was quickly learning that she couldn't just passively go along with Homelander's...antics. That was a nice word for it, antics.
Homelander	"Nope!" he said, approaching Starlight and basically pretending Diego wasn't there. "I do not mind at all!" She could eat and listen at the same time, right? "So, Ashley tells me that you chose Silver Kinc--Kincaid," he said, sounding like the name was actually painful to say. "I have notes. I mean, I'm co-captain. It's only fair I have a say in the new recruits, right?" He had an uncanny ability to make the word 'co-captain' sound like a threat.
Starlight	"No, actually," Annie told him, maintaining eye contact with Homelander firmly and offering out an incredibly insincere smile. "I choose the new members." So sorry. His time to offer opinions was very much past. Feedback was no longer being accepted, co-captain.
Homelander	"But I am pitching the craziest twist," he said, lifting his hands. "The audience will never see it coming." And neither would she. He was so excited to share.
Starlight	"Well, I've made my decision," Annie replied dismissively, pushing her food away from herself -- weirdly, not super hungry anymore -- and fixing him with a little smile as she darted a quick look over to Diego before looking back to Homelander and shrugging. She'd already told everyone! Including Ashley, and everyone knew she, Starlight, had final say, sooooo...get the fuck out of her face, please. She wasn't changing her mind before, and she for sure wasn't changing it now.
Homelander	Homelander did not look at all put out by Starlight's refusal. In fact, he looked even more excited. "Oh, come on, you haven't even seen it yet," he said, moving to open the doors. "You're gonna love it. Ready?"
The Deep	She super was not ready! But that's okay, because everyone loved a surprise, right? And what could possibly be more surprising than The Deep, swaggering in like he was never banished to Ohio at all, and trailed by a petite (but intense) brunette. "Hey! What's up, guys? How are you?" he asked, directing that last question to Starlight in a way that he hoped communicated that he actually was asking. How was she?
Starlight	She was going to throw up the like, three leaves of lettuce she'd managed to eat, that's how she was. Annie actually couldn't come up with a response right now. The last time she'd seen The Deep had been over a year ago, at the Jersey Shore, and even then it had been -- hard to see him. But right now, between him and Homelander, she was actually starting to feel herself start to panic a little. She couldn't let it show -- well, at least, she was trying not to let it show. It was all over her face how taken aback she was.
Homelander	"Return of The Deep!" Homelander said with a flourish of his hands. He frowned when he saw Starlight's face, like he couldn't imagine why she'd be upset right now. Oh, right. The sexual assault. He had forgotten all about it, it was so long ago. "No, no, Starlight before you say anything," Homelander started, "doesn't Christ tell us to turn the other cheek?"
Diego	Diego's jaw actually dropped open when The Deep sauntered in. He knew Homelander was capable of a lot but even this was surprising. "What the fuck?" Didn't he tell you to stay in Ohio, fishboy?
Cassandra	That intense brunette -- The Deep's wife, Cassandra -- scurried forward obliviously and threw her arms around a stock-still Annie like they were old friends. "I want us to be sisters," she told her, grinning, before turning her attention to Diego. "And oh my God, Diego!" He was getting an attempt at a hug that was exactly as over-familiar as that greeting, too.
Diego	Diego was honestly so shocked he just let the hug happen. What the hell was even going on here? He didn't even know who this person was, it wasn't like he kept up with The Deep's love life, he assumed he fucked fish!
The Deep	"I had something made for you, Starlight," The Deep said, just to throw some more balls out of left fucking field. He held out a slim black box. "It's a peace offering." He opened the box, showing her the totally tasteful gigantic dolphin pendant he'd commissioned for the woman he'd sexually assaulted. "It's twenty-four karat gold, with certified conflict-free diamonds. I've put in the work, and I realize when you've made an unforgiveable mistake, the first person you have to forgive...is yourself." Deep thoughts with Deep. This was the kind of wisdom you could all look forward after you wrote a book and starred in a VTV movie, maybe.
Starlight	Oh, okay. It took Annie a moment to choose her words, but for whatever reason, that fucking dolphin necklace brought her right back to now, and away from that night in the conference room. And she wasn't panicking anymore. She was furious at being put in this position. "What makes you think," she asked, softly, "that I want a daily reminder of the guy who tried to fucking mouth rape me?" She rounded on Homelander, shouting the last three words at him. Just like with the dancers, she saw what you were doing here, dickhead. And she was a lot less inclined to just forgive and move on, this time.
Diego	Diego was so proud of Annie in that moment, even if the circumstances were horrific. He stood up straighter, like a fight was about to happen and somehow he'd be of some use against Supes in this universe (he didn't think the eye thing would work twice). But then he was being shuffled out of the room by Ashley, saying that they should let Homelander and Starlight should just chat alone for a bit. He really was starting to hate this woman.
Starlight	Annie watched them go, only her eyes following Diego out while she maintained absolutely rigid posture. She would have kept him here, Ashley -- but saying so would be a clear sign of weakness right now, and she knew it. But she actually needed The Deep gone. She could be a badass once, but she wasn't sure she could do it twice. He was a distraction. "Absolutely not," she told Homelander, not bothering to be polite about it anymore.
Homelander	The smile Homelander had been sporting during the entire Deep thing vanished as soon as he was alone with Starlight. "Do you really think I'd let a fucking Muslim in The Seven? Captain Al-Qaeda? We're Americans."
Starlight	She was British. "I'm taking this to Mr. Edgar," Annie said flatly, knowing that there wasn't really a point in arguing about this. She had the high ground, she knew it full damn well -- he probably knew it full damn well, and he was being a pathetic little boy who was trying to get the best of the adults around him, and she was sick of it.
Homelander	Homelander smiled. "My speech last week? 38.6 rating and a 59 share. Oh, and they're saying that the live-plus-threes are gonna be even bigger. Edgar said it himself, popularity is power. He won't die on this hill."
Starlight	But she would. Annie digested that information slowly, trying to divorce herself from how frustrating and terrifying it was to think that Homelander's tantrum had somehow resonated with people, and forcing her brain to think logically. She couldn't be upset or scared right now. He wasn't, and he'd love it if she was. And she had one last trump card, too. "Do I need to remind you of the Flight 37 video?" she asked softly. Even his new supporters probably wouldn't be able to defend that.
Homelander	A year ago, that would have actually been a threat. But, now, after a year of seeing people on reddit support his and Stormfront's relationship and especially after last night, well, he couldn't give a single fuck. "Go ahead. Release it. Let's light this candle, huh?" he said with a smile. "Of course I'd lose everything...but then I'd have nothing to lose." He moved in closer to her, knowing that her lil' fiancé was probably doing his best to listen at the door. "First, I'll take out the nerve centers – White House, Pentagon. Then any domestic defense capabilities, and then critical infrastructure – like cellular, Internet, that kind of thing – and then, well, I think then, I'll just wipe New York off the fucking map. For fun." Homelander had obviously pictured this scenario several times. "I'll even throw in Des Moines, and that little cousin-fucker hick town that Maeve's from, 'cause why not," he said, shrugging. "See, Starlight, I'd prefer to be loved. I would. But if you take that away from me, well, then being feared is A-one okie-doke by me." He looked Starlight dead in the eye. "So. Go ahead, partner. Do it."
Starlight	Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. It was the only leverage they had -- the only leverage they'd had for a year, and as it was, releasing that video would also destroy Maeve's reputation, too. Mutually-assured destruction had been their only hope, and the only thing Annie had been totally confident would keep Homelander in check. She was still trying not to show how scared she was, but -- Annie couldn't feel the tips of her fingers right now. He was still a misbehaving, immature, fucked-up little boy vying for attention, and she saw that. But right now, she also saw the fact that he could kill everyone in this building without even breaking a sweat. Fuck.
Homelander	Homelander gave Starlight a concerned look. "No? You don't want to do it?" This felt so good after a year of being walked on and humiliated. "Well, then, I would have to say that you have absolutely no fucking leverage, because I am the Homelander," he said. "And I really can do whatever the fuck I want." That seemed like an amazing line to roll out on, so he did head for the door, making sure his steps were loud enough that Diego would move away before getting smacked in the face. Be a shame to mess up that pretty, camera-ready face.
Starlight	Annie, meanwhile, stood exactly where he'd left her, her mind racing with what the hell they could possibly do, now. She had to talk to Maeve. And to Hughie. And maybe there was still time to convince Alex, even more, that he needed to say no tonight. She'd actually undersold it, amazingly enough. Maeve, Hughie, and Alex. After a couple seconds, the adrenaline of all of that -- not just Homelander but The Deep -- caught up with her, and Annie found herself leaning against a table while she tried to catch her breath and focus. Maeve. Hughie. Alex. It probably needed to go in that order, but Maeve was hard to get ahold of these days, so -- Hughie. Alex. Those were the priorities. If she just focused on the next few steps, she could get through this without actually acknowledging the enormity of what was at stake, and falling apart in the face of it. And like a bolt, panic shot through her as she realized she also did not know where Diego had been taken off to, and she needed to know where he was right now. Okay, Diego, then Hughie, then Alex, then Maeve. She could do this.
Diego	Homelander had been right; Diego was creeping by the door trying to listen. And he moved away just in time not to get hit in the face. Diego didn't know what the look Homelander gave him meant, but he had the feeling it wasn't good. But he could worry about that later, right now he was more focused on Annie. "What the hell was that?"
Starlight	"Oh, thank God." Okay, that was one item off the list, but the sight of Diego threw Annie's logical, efficient intentions all out of whack and replaced them with relief, instead. So don't mind how she was going to immediately cross over to wrap her arms around him, even as she glanced warily at the door because she was super on-edge, and would be -- probably forever, now. "That -- that was the worst thing that could have happened, that's what that was." All of it, but especially the fact that Homelander couldn't be stopped now. "Were you listening?" God, she loved him. She should have figured.
Diego	"Trying to," he said, putting his arms around her. "The way Homelander strutted out told me that The Deep thing is probably going to happen." Which was just gross.
Starlight	"Yeah." And she was profoundly unhappy about that, but she had other concerns right now. The Deep was pathetic, and everyone knew it -- she couldn't stop herself from having what she knew was a trauma response to being blindsided by him, but she was pretty sure she could keep a lid on that from here on out. Now that she had a little distance from Deep's actual physical presence, she could see how this was probably going to play out, and it wasn't really...you know, a great look, PR-wise, even aside from how she felt about it personally. But PR wasn't really her chief concern right now, and the way she was clinging to Diego might have signaled that she was worried about much bigger things. "It's so much worse than that, Diego. I--I have to show you something."
Diego	"Okay," he said, pulling away slightly so he could look at her. "I can handle anything you have to show me."
Starlight	"It's really bad," Annie told him softly, pulling away to grab her phone (but still obviously trying to keep Diego in arm's reach.) "And I should have told you about it a long time ago, but I just -- I didn't want it to change how you saw her." The 'her' in question would become apparent pretty quickly, as Annie passed over her phone, already playing a cell phone video taken from inside of a plane. Which meant that Diego was about to be treated to the incredibly horrifying revelation that Homelander -- and less directly, Queen Maeve -- had been responsible for last year's crash of Flight 37, previously thought to be a terrorist attack. And as the video would reveal -- you know, maybe it was. Maybe it had started that way? But the important part was how Homelander and Maeve had abandoned the crashing plane and two hundred passengers begging for their lives, right there in color and sound on Annie's phone.
Diego	"Holy shit." He recalled how big of a deal the crash was, and how Vought had the Seven make a big show of what a tragedy it was. To see that two of their members had done nothing to help to save anything except their own reputations was shocking, even for someone as cynical as he was. "You've been sitting on this for over a year?"
Starlight	"Yeah. Maeve got ahold of it." And blessedly, Annie did not know how Maeve had gotten this particular incriminating video. "It's what we've been using to keep Homelander in line. Mostly her. It's what she used last year to keep him from killing, like, Danny and Steve and Butcher." And to Maeve's credit, she did plead with a dismissive Homelander on-screen, there, to save the passengers. But she also left with him, in the end.
Diego	"Obviously he's not being kept in line anymore, judging from his birthday speech," Diego said. "Just upload the video now." Like, yeah, it would also hurt Maeve's reputation but taking down Homelander seemed waaaaay more important.
Starlight	"He just told me to," Annie murmured, shaking her head. "That's what -- I reminded him we have this, and he just...told me how he'd destroy everything if I leaked it. It was like he was daring me." Like he wanted an excuse to let it all out. "He said he'd rather be loved than feared, but he'd take it if he had to. We don't have any leverage anymore."
Diego	"Jesus." Yeah, that right there was the definition of being 'royally screwed'. "Well what are we gonna do now?"
Starlight	"I gotta call Hughie," Annie said, reverting right back to her stabilizing little plan. "He was talking about Butcher having some kind of lead last time I talked to him, he needs to know that --" She cut herself off, eyes wide. "Oh, fuck." And that was Annie dashing over to the stereo system in this room, pressing a couple of buttons until Crimson Countess was singing, loudly, about how chimps didn't cry. But Annie might, at this rate. Things had just gotten so much harder, and she couldn't even remember to make sure to try to mitigate the super-hearing factor.
Diego	Oh, yeah. They probably should have thought about that earlier. Hopefully Homelander was riding high off his conversation and was in his apartment jerking off to his own image or something. "Hey," Diego said, walking over to her to put his hands on her shoulders. "It's going to be okay. We'll figure it out, we always do."
Starlight	A little bit of the tension left Annie's shoulders at his touch, and she blew out a couple of deep breaths to calm down some. "You have to go back to Fandom. It's not safe," she said softly, stepping more into Diego's space so he could hear her. (And also because she was freaking out, and it was helping her panicking lizard brain to have Diego's reassuring presence close to her -- even if she was also very, very firm on the point that he needed to leave, sooner than later.)
Diego	"Uh, no, absolutely not," Diego said, looking at Annie like she had lost her mind. "I'm staying wherever you are."
Starlight	"And I love you for that," Annie told him, but she was already shaking her head. "But -- Diego, babe, you're my Achille's heel, and everyone knows it." They had literally advertised it on the cover of a magazine, for all intents and purposes. "I can't --" She caught herself, shaking her head again. "If he hurt you...." She honestly couldn't even think about it. It was too hard.
Diego	"I know. I get it," he said, pulling her in for a hug. "But we're a team, remember? We share whatever bullshit life decides to throw at us."
Starlight	In spite of herself, Annie snuggled against him, clearly finding comfort in the hug even as she was insisting he had to leave. "We're a team," she agreed quietly. "Maybe -- okay, maybe we both go back to Fandom tonight after the finale, okay?" Because they were a team. He was right. And maybe she could figure out something to do about Homelander where he couldn't laser her. And Victoria couldn't blow up their heads. And The Deep couldn't present her with tasteless, tacky gifts. God, why the fuck was this her life, anyway?
Diego	"I like that idea." He didn't mind running away from danger so long as they were doing it together. It wasn't cowardice when there were laser eyes and head popping ladies involved.
Starlight	Sometimes, running away -- so you could plan your attack from a safe, extra-dimensional distance -- was the smartest option available. "I love you. I gotta call Hughie," she sighed, not wanting to pull away yet. "And then I have to try to talk Alex into not joining the team, again. It's gonna be him and Deep." Which meant that Annie's team was now a godlike psychopath, a mute ninja who'd nearly given Annie internal bleeding, a speedster who couldn't run, the fish-fucker, and three people of varying levels of decency. But hey: there were seven of them, at least.
Diego	"Gross. About The Deep." And about Alex too, since the guy was way too nice to be involved in Seven bullshit. "I'll lay low in the apartment, and meet you for the finale?"
Starlight	"Perfect." Especially since the apartment was in the tower, in the city, which meant far from Homelander. (Homelander could fly and be at the tower in seconds. Don't think about that.) "Be safe," she requested, leaning up for a kiss. And that was probably unnecessary to say, but...she felt like saying it anyway. Like she was making a wish for his safety. (Or saying a prayer, really.)