knife_bender | MHA # 2 | Tuesday Evening

"He said we're not...that we're not born with powers?" Annie said, totally making it a question like Diego was going to have an answer, here. "That there's this drug that Vought uses, called Compound V. And that's how we get our powers."

The implications were still kind of hitting her in stages. Like how it must have happened when she was a baby, and how her parents had to have known.

Assuming it was true, anyway. And it had seemed true.

"Whoa." Diego understood the implications of that. He didn't know what he'd do if he found out his powers were manufactured. His sole sense of purpose revolved around the fact he was chosen to help people.

"Do you believe him?"

"I don't want to."

Which meant that yeah, she kind of did. Hughie had seemed sincere. She'd known he was full of it when he'd asked for those Ezekiel passes, but he'd been different when he'd told her about Compound V. More like he'd been when he'd told her about his girlfriend.

His girlfriend that A-Train had -- okay. One thing at a time.

"I'm gonna go ask my mom tomorrow," she continued quietly. "See what she has to say. Because...like, I was raised to believe I was chosen. No -- that I was blessed, you know?"

Which, like, on top of last weekend, was making it really hard for her to figure out where she stood with God, too.

Whether she even believed in God, if everything else in her life was apparently just a pretty lie she'd been dumb enough to believe.

"I get it," he said, moving closer. "You're talking to the guy who was adopted for the sole reason of having powers."

He bit his lower lip thoughtfully as he thought more about the implications of Compound V. "If that's true--Annie, Jesus, that changes everything about Vought."

Though it did line up better with the way Annie had been treated over the last couple weeks by the company.

Well, and if you'd asked Annie up until a couple hours ago, she would have said that Diego and his siblings had been chosen by God, too.

She'd actually never been so grateful they were from different universes, since Diego could probably at least still count on the idea that his powers were a part of him, and not -- some kind of additive.

Like, who would she have been been if she hadn't had powers? She'd had them as long as she could remember. She'd always been Starlight. And now it turned out that there was always an alternative that she hadn't even been allowed to know about.

"It changes everything about everything," she said softly. "Everything, my whole life, has been a fucking lie. Vought, my parents...but yeah, especially Vought."

No wonder they treated her like a product. She was one. And they'd made her.

"Hey," he said quietly, reaching out to cup her cheek. "You're still you."

"But who would I have been without this?" Annie asked, managing a sad little half-smile for him. "I've always been Starlight. And I love my powers and I'm grateful for them, but I'm -- it hasn't always been easy and I never got the choice."

"I know. It's unfair, and it really sucks," he said, reaching for her hand. "But you're just going to drive yourself crazy thinking about what might have been."

"I'm pretty sure my dad left because of my powers," Annie continued as she twined her fingers through his, and now she was really thinking about it and maybe there was...something there. Because he had to have known.

He had to have.

"But -- yeah, if that's the thing, then...then I have to stay," she added. "I can't just...like, if Vought's really doing this, people need to know."

Diego nodded in understanding. She was right; they really wouldn't be able to call themselves superheroes if they just let Vought inject babies with power-giving serums.

"I want to help you." Sure, he didn't know how he could help and apparently Homelander knew what he looked like and didn't like him, but whatever. He wasn't thinking about that part.

Annie visibly just, like, kind of melted there. It had been such a long few days, and today especially had kind of rocked her entire worldview, and -- just the idea that Diego would want to help her and would throw his support in just like that, in light of everything, just --

It was one of those things that just made her really feel loved, in the moment.

But, that being said, she wasn't actually dumb, despite how she felt today. "I love you so much. And that's why I'm really reluctant to let you help."

Edited 2021-05-18 16:19 (UTC)

"Well I'm really reluctant for you to do this alone," he said. "You were shot today."

"At least I can take it," Annie pointed out quietly, squeezing his hand. "Maeve thinks I should break up with you for your safety. At least, I think she does. It's hard to tell with her."

Like, for fuck's sake, Maeve, if you were going to talk in riddles, at least make them rhyme or something.

"No offense to Maeve, but that's just stupid," Diego said with a slight smile. "I'd still want to help, even if you did break up with me."

"We talked after the meeting, just the two of us, and she said this thing about how...like, our weakness isn't gamma rays or whatever. It's the people we love." So he was getting a soft little smile from her, even if she was going to try to stick to her guns here regarding his safety. "I just -- I can't have you getting hurt. Homelander found my Achille's heel, and I couldn't live with myself if he went through you to get to me."

Because that was another little Tetris piece that had just fallen into place for her: if Vought was bad news, then Homelander was like...Vought's attack dog.

An attack dog who was the most powerful super-abled person on the planet.

"I don't like this," he said with a sigh. "But, okay. I'll stay here."

He'd be a sour bitch about it in private though.

"I'll tell you everything," Annie promised, reaching out to brush her thumb along his jaw. "No more secretly putting up with anything. But what'll actually help me right now is knowing you're safe where our stalker with laser eyes can't hurt you."

Murder. She meant murder you but that was a bridge too far in terms of things Annie could just casually toss out into the universe.

"Okay," he said, leaning towards her touch. "You'll be careful? No more getting shot?"

"I mean," Annie said, having to smile, "I didn't exactly mean to this time."

And yes, she remembered how bad she'd freaked out on him back in January when he'd gotten shot and he hadn't meant to, either.

"But yes, I'll be careful." Unless the choice was between being doing the (stupid) right thing and being careful. Then it was dumb bravery, all the way.

Well, turnabout and all that. He technically also couldn't say anything about any dumb bravery she might be doing in the near future.

"Good," he said, reaching out to lightly touch the spot on her stomach where she had been hit. "Anything I can do for you now?"

He would at least do what he could from here, since Homelander hadn't figured out a way to stalk them across universes yet.

"Well," Annie said, thinking about it and shifting very slightly under his touch -- the welts didn't really hurt unless you pressed on them, and mostly Annie was just sort of struck by the novelty of being hurt at all. "I think it's all handled back in New York for now, so...just this?"

Like, just being here was already so good for her, in terms of calming herself down and sorting out her thoughts.

"Look at that," she added. "It's your turn to dote and make a big deal of my injuries and stuff."

It really didn't happen often! And as an added bonus, she would probably be a little less shouty next time he was hurt, too.

“It is my turn, isn’t it?” he said. “If I recall correctly you didn’t let me work out for a week.”

"That seems excessive," Annie decided, like a total hypocrite.

To be fair, she wasn't even bleeding.

“I thought so too at the time,” he teased. “It’s okay, we’ll do yoga.”

That actually worked out pretty well the last time.

"And by doing yoga you mean we'll have sex on the floor again?"

Because she was, like, super up for that part of the recovery process.

(Emotional devastation was a thing, yes, but so was distracting herself from it while she could.)

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