A Street in New York | Tuesday Evening

[knife_bender]

Diego trusted Annie when she said she could do something on her own, so he was only the sane amount of worried when she ran to do an errand. He didn't ask too many questions, didn't text every five minutes, he just waited patiently.

Until he went into the bedroom to grab something, and found Kimiko's letter to Annie.

"Oh, shit." God damn it, Annie. Now he had to go after you.

Annie	Well, in yet another of a series of coincidences, Annie was already headed back to MM's -- on foot, of course, because getting involved with public transport with her face was too stupid an idea for even Annie, right now. And as she rounded the corner to the block his building was actually on, she appeared to be having a very animated phone conversation. "It causes lesions," she was saying, definitely not keeping her voice down the way she needed to, but such things happened when you were talking to Billy Butcher, the most frustrating man on earth. "It turns your brain into fucking Swiss cheese, so be honest with me, how many --" And that was when the phone started beeping in her ear, and she knew that asshole had hung up. "Goddamn it!" Fine, she'd just have to keep calling back.
Diego	"Annie!" Well that search had been easier than he expected. He was fully expecting he'd have to sneak in again and somehow break Annie out of the tower without cutting off a guy's hand.
Annie	Annie actually startled at hearing that familiar voice calling her name, because she'd kind of figured she'd have a minute to get back to the apartment before she had to explain herself. The thing was, she hadn't actually lied to him -- she had, indeed, gone on an errand -- but Annie knew that obscuring the truth wasn't actually any different. Even if she'd had her reasons. "Hey," she greeted him, putting away her phone and hurrying over to Diego. Hopefully no one here was actually...like, paying a lot of attention, now that everyone knew Starlight's real name. (Again.) "What's going on?" Hopefully he wasn't coming to find her because something new and awful had happened.
Diego	"What do you mean what's going on?" he asked. "You went back to the tower without me!"
Annie	Busted. "I did," she agreed slowly, at least looking pretty apologetic about it. "I'm sorry, Diego. I didn't think both of us could get in there without being noticed pretty fast." So instead, the more recognizable of the two of them had gone on her own. Like an idiot.
Diego	"And so you go by yourself, without telling me, so if you got killed or captured I'd just have to wait until Kimiko decided to say something before I knew where to start looking?" he asked. "Great. Awesome."
Annie	"If I'd told you where I was going, would you have let me go alone?" Annie countered softly, well aware she was in the wrong here. She just needed him to see why she'd done it. She didn't mean it in a permissive way, because that wasn't their relationship. But she knew Diego, and she was pretty positive he would have tailed her to the tower for backup regardless. Partly because that's what she would have done, in his position.
Diego	"You should have given me a chance to try to understand," Diego argued. "What if Kimiko had asked me to go instead of you?" It wouldn't make much sense, but just roll with him here.
Annie	"You found the note." That explained a whole lot. She didn't think Kimiko had shared, but still. "I mean, I'd have wanted to go to back you up. You know I would." Like how she'd known he would. "I'm so sorry for making you worry," she offered hesitantly. And also for not telling him where she was going, and for making an executive decision that affected both of them -- but she'd start with the worry, since she knew how she'd feel if she found a note like that.
Diego	Diego's shoulders slumped, the fight going out of him a little. Because, yeah, that had been the crux of it. He had been worried as hell. "I thought I was going to have to barge in there again to break you out."
Annie	Everyone here could maintain their Team Himbo status, because that was about when they both should have realized where Maeve was. "I should have let you in on it," Annie added, reaching for his hand. "Instead of deciding for both of us." That was kind of the thing about being a team, especially now that they were staring down the barrel of making that team legal -- she didn't get to make calls like that without him, anymore.
Diego	"I'm glad you're not hurt," Diego said, taking her hand. It was easy as that for his anger to dissipate. Weird how talking through things immediately instead of letting it fester made disagreements not last all that long. Look at them, handling things like adults. They were so ready to get married. "Get what you went there for?"
Annie	It also helped when fault was admitted right away and no one got defensive! Look at all those great communication skills. "Yup. Got it and then some," Annie told him, giving his hand a little squeeze. "You want the good news or the 'oh, shit' news first?" At least the latter didn't actually affect either of them, and they didn't even particularly like the people it did affect.
Diego	"Good news," he replied. "Then 'oh shit' news." He didn't want the bad news sullying the good stuff.
Annie	"Okay -- this was really dangerous, and I acknowledge that," Annie said, glancing up at him as she started slowly heading towards MM's apartment. They were probably less conspicuous if they kept moving, even if this was a fairly quiet street. "But I kiiiind of goaded Homelander into threatening you and admitting to Alex's murder in front of all my Instagram followers." She was still so excited that had worked. Like. Fuck yes, were they maybe...winning? Was this winning?
Diego	Diego laughed even though, yes, it had been incredibly dangerous. "I hope someone uploads it so I can see."
Annie	"He also admitted he knows where Maeve is," Annie told him, leaning up and dropping her voice as she excitedly grabbed at his arm with her free hand. "She's alive, Diego. We're not too late." And Annie had drugs to inject their other friend and give her her powers back, too! Girls getting it done!
Diego	"Yeah? That's great!" he said, breaking out into a grin. "We'll find her. We have to."
Annie	"I bet if I look, the hashtag probably picked up again," Annie said. Probably with several uploads of the video attached, along with the new standby, #BelieveStarlight. "So that'll help." She gave his hand another little squeeze. "So -- the other news. I was in a lab where they make the temporary V, and they're still definitely testing it, 'cause apparently it kills in three to five doses." So she was going to be trying Butcher again pretty soon, here, to make sure he told Hughie that.
Diego	"Uh, that's not great." Though he probably should have guessed considering, you know, Vought made the thing. If it had worked well they'd be selling it. "Do we know how much Butcher and Hughie have taken?"
Annie	"Butcher hung up when I asked." So that probably only meant good things. "And I can't get ahold of Hughie 'cause I guess it's pretty hard to carry around a phone when you're a teleporting asshole who leaves all your shit behind every time. It's probably already doing bad stuff to their brains, from what I was reading." She wanted MM to look at the notes she'd photographed, since she barely understood what she'd read, and hopefully he could translate.
Diego	"That explains a lot," Diego mumbled. "Also sounds like they're really open to criticism."
Annie	"I'll keep trying, but I can't save someone who refuses to let me," Annie sighed, shaking her head as they came upon MM's building. "Babe, you're gonna want to find something else to do for a minute while we take care of Kimiko. We're gonna have to inject her for it to take." See how she had explained why she didn't think he should be involved directly in this next part? Communication and immediate application of what she'd apologized for, even.
Diego	"Uh...I'll go grab us dinner?" That way he wouldn't even have to be in the same building while a needle is being used.
Annie	"Smart," she commended, leaning up for a kiss. At least she never needed to worry about Diego wanting to up his invulnerability with V, temporary or otherwise. For a multitude of reasons, but needles probably had a pretty high spot on that list.

[NFI, NFB but OOC is OK. Preplayed with my favorite person to have mature couple fights with, defenderofdesmoines]