Vought Tower | Wednesday Night

[knife_bender]

The last 24 hours had been it's own special type of hell, and the fact that Diego was banned from leaving the tower just made him even more anxious and irritated. It was a smart move from Homelander, holding him hostage, since it incapacitated both him and Annie. At least Annie was allowed to go outside.

Speaking of, she should be getting back from work any minute, which was something. Maybe Hughie had updated her on what went down in Russia.

...which was just a weird thing to think about. What was this, 1985?

[NFB due to distance, but open for the girl and calls/texts if people would like]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

Given how wrought up Annie was, and the fact that neither of them had slept last night, hard liquor would actually probably knock her ass out. (The White Claws might, quite honestly.)

When Annie emerged in a T-shirt and joggers, having taken a side trip back to the bathroom to wash her face (and turn off the sink), she almost smiled. "Any mango ones?"

She'd take whatever, but it would be, like, the fucking cherry on the day if all they had was gross flavors, like raspberry.

[knife_bender]

"Yep," he said, tossing the can at her. "Probably should move the couch before alcohol."

[defenderofdesmoines]

She caught the can easily, nodding as she set it aside for the moment. "You're smart."

He was, but she also needed the guidance before she was halfway down that can and remembered she'd wanted to move the couch. This was one of those times when, even aside from the terror specifically concerning him, Annie was very grateful to have Diego.

She didn't really let herself fall apart all that often, but tonight there were apparently no other options. It was fine. She figured she got, like, one of these per year. (And maybe none in 2023? Let's hope.)

She moved over towards the couch, giving the back of it a good yank to pull it out from the wall so they could push it over to the door.

[knife_bender]

Diego moved to help with the pushing, even if he was well aware that it would mostly be Annie moving the thing. "It might not stop him, but we'll definitely hear him coming in."

And then they could attempt to fight back before dying horribly.

[defenderofdesmoines]

For a moment, Annie considered suggesting they could climb through the air vents to escape -- but there was no way Diego would fit, even if she somehow managed to squeeze in there. They could throw a piece of furniture through the window and jump and hope that Annie was invulnerable enough to take the fall for both of them -- but that was ridiculous. They were ninety-nine stories up. No one could survive a fall like that, Super or not.

So yeah. Fighting back it would have to be. Maybe they could blind Homelander together before he ripped them apart with his bare hands? That would give anyone who survived them a chance without having to deal with laser eyes, at least.

"Might just piss him off," Annie noted, giving the couch a good push towards the door (and, yeah, Diego was mostly here to help steer and look good while pushing.) "But...anything could."

[knife_bender]

"That's the thing about being completely insane," Diego said, grunting as he did his best to be of some help pushing. "Anything could trigger his crazy ass."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"There's no predicting him," Annie agreed, moving a little more central on the couch so she could absorb the bulk of the weight here as she pushed. It was helping her a lot to have something to focus her energy on, even if they were openly acknowledging that this gesture was basically worthless as far as actually protecting them. "I used to know what would do it, but I got...lazy."

That wasn't really the word. Comfortable? She'd let her guard down, and she'd never stop regretting it.

[knife_bender]

"Maybe that is what he was waiting for," Diego said. "For all of us to get complacent."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Maeve was so smart to make it just look like she had," Annie sighed, shoving the couch against the door. And with that in place, she could let up on the other (foolish, placebo effect) safeguards in place -- her eyes flashed briefly, and the TV quieted in response. "She never let her guard down."

But then again, Maeve had also gone through shit Annie couldn't even imagine with Homelander.

[knife_bender]

"She also didn't have another universe to go to forget about this stuff," Diego pointed out. "You're being too hard on yourself, babe. We did have other things to think about. The apocalypse? Two of them?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That's fair," Annie admitted softly, though the guilt in general wasn't going to go anywhere for awhile. But she would, at least, try to stop blaming herself for everything. "I just...no matter what happens, we can't fix this."

They could, potentially, get Homelander under control. Hughie could bring back a fucking miracle in a box from Russia and take care of the whole thing. Maeve could have a plan B that actually worked like a charm.

But none of it would bring Alex back.

[knife_bender]

"I don't think fixing it is an option either," Diego said. Optimism wasn't his strong suit. "We just have to...survive it, I guess."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Well. Bleak.

Annie stepped back to survey her handiwork, deciding the couch was as snug as she could get it against the door before retrieving that White Claw from where she'd left it. And within seconds, she was reaching for Diego's hand. "Bed?"

If they couldn't do anything else -- and they were stuck for the moment -- Annie kind of just needed to be held and to grieve.

And he really could help there, in a way no one else could.

[knife_bender]

"Yes, please," he said, taking her hand. "With any luck nobody will bother us for a few...days."

They'd be lucky to get hours, let's be real.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm not getting my hopes up," Annie replied, leading the way into the bedroom and wasting zero time in crawling into the bed. "I'll have to...."

She trailed off, taking the opportunity to open her can and take a sip before very softly offering, "Make a statement."

You know, unless some sort of incredibly handsome bomb showed up in town and distracted everyone.

[knife_bender]

Diego crawled in after Annie, only slightly uncomfortable from being armed. It wouldn't be the first time he had slept ("slept") like this, and it wouldn't be the last. Well. Unless that no powers thing happened more quickly than he expected.

"Then I guess we'll just have to enjoy this while we can." Enjoy it, stay up all night out of paranoia, same thing.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I love you," Annie said softly, nestling herself against him (and minding the knives -- even if they didn't actually puncture her skin, it didn't mean they were...snuggly.) She sort of wanted to apologize again, or take responsibility for their circumstances, but she had also calmed down enough to recognize an anxious compulsion to just go in circles.

Instead, she tried to recenter and take what comfort she could in Diego's presence, and his breathing, and the warmth of his skin, and the way he was very, very, very alive.