knife_bender | MHA #2 | Tuesday Evening

"I don't know," Annie said softly, shaking her head. "I mean, I can't go back to the tower."

She managed a wobbly little smile. "I brought my action figures, just in case I never go back."

She meant her Kraken and Starlight ones, of course. Her dad's pipe was in her bag, too. She'd kind of treated it like an evacuation. Her pictures and most of her clothes could be replaced (and plus, it would probably give her a little time with Ashley, too, if it looked like she had just stepped out, rather than left.)

Hearing that made Diego pull her close again. It was unnerving to see her so scared, even if he knew she had more than enough reason to be.

"We'll figure it out," he said. "Don't ask me how just yet, but we'll think of something."

That made Annie feel just a tiny bit better. It didn't matter that he didn't have a plan -- like, she didn't either, because this was all so huge and impossible. But just being here was comforting, and being held like this was soothing in a very instinctive, primal sort of way, and the promise that they'd figure it out together was enough to calm her down a bit.

Enough that she could focus a little, anyway.

"I'm supposed to go meet Hughie tomorrow," she said quietly, leaning against Diego. "Will you come with me?"

The question was hesitant, because even as much as she knew she needed help, she also hated that she was asking him to put himself in danger. (Though she had also been running down a list of people she could ask for help, here. Diego of course was number one, but if she had to come back and ask more people for help, Rey was next. Then maybe Steve. And so it went.)

"Yeah, of course, whatever you need." Sure, he wasn't a big fan of the guy but Annie's situation seemed to be "siding with people who suck slightly less than the people who also suck" and he would just have to deal with that.

"When do you think Vought is going to notice you're missing?"

"Maybe tomorrow?" Annie guessed, actually really thinking about it for a second. "I need to figure out something to do with my tracker, because as soon as I show up on the map again, they'll find me. And like...Homelander's already this mad, and Stormfront said this really creepy shit about how I'm going to help her."

So if they realized she'd tried to create an exit strategy for herself and caught her, it would probably be a hundred times worse.

"Ew, that is creepy." Stormfront likely wouldn't be thrilled with Annie's choice in boyfriends either, so it was best if they worked super hard to not get caught.

"I forgot about your tracker." That was also creepy of Vought. "Do you think we could, I don't know, short it out? It's not like anything I have on hand is going to get rid of it."

He already knew from experience that his knives wouldn't do anything to Annie's skin.

Stormfront would absolutely have some choice thoughts about Annie's taste in men, yes. (Though she hadn't yet said anything about Maeve's girlfriend, Elena, even as Homelander was pointing out her ethnicity for diversity brownie points on television.)

"You don't have like...access to a taser, do you?" Annie asked, looking vaguely ill at the idea of purposely electrocuting herself but maybe that would work? Though it did seem unlikely that she'd be vulnerable to that, given the nature of her own powers, but then, Annie had never been electrocuted.

(You know, yet.)

"Otherwise I'm going to have to find a way to cut it out of me." Which meant maybe hitting up, like...jewelry stores to find something sharp enough to hurt her skin.

Romantic.

"Maybe there's one at work? But do you think that actually would do anything?" That seemed like something that only worked on TV. "I guess it'd be hard to tell even if it did work."

"So I guess we're going to have to cut it out." And now it was Diego looking vaguely ill.

"I'm so sorry," Annie said, her lower lip wobbling a little before she got herself under control again with a shake of her head. "For -- getting involved in any of this."

It was entirely her fault that they were now in a situation where Annie was going to have to find someone or something willing to hack into her shoulder.

And, honestly, that was like, the least dangerous part about all of this.

Edited 2021-06-01 14:24 (UTC)

"Hey, don't apologize. There was no way you knew what you were getting into," he said. "And you're doing the right thing. Something needs to be done about Vought."

"There's going to be a hearing about Compound V," she shared with a tiny smile. "Like a congressional hearing, I mean. So...they're facing some consequences, which is great, but I also made them really mad."

She reached a hand up to gently smooth her fingertips along his neck, biting her lower lip. "So they're kind of the most dangerous they could be, right now. You don't have to come back with me if you -- like, it might not be a good idea."

But she also obviously really, really wanted him with her. It was maybe the most selfish thing she'd ever wanted in her life, and if Diego got hurt, she'd never forgive herself. But he was competent and smart and an asset. (Like, he was for sure more cut out for all this than Hughie was, for fuck's actual sake.)

"I wanted to go with you in the first place," he reminded her. "I want to be wherever you are."

Romantic.

"Even if it's a shitshow."

Not so romantic.

Annie visibly melted a little, and okay, maybe she was tearing up again and this time it wasn't really related to how scared she was about all of this.

It was all overwhelming. Feelings included.

"I had to offer," she said quietly, wrapping her arms up around his neck. "I want to be where you are, always, but I want you to be safe, too."

But you know. She also loved him for his bravery and his skills, and it was maybe time to stop sidelining her hero boyfriend in the name of supposedly keeping him safe.

"I don't think being safe is really a thing in our line of work," Diego said, putting his arms around her waist. "But I'll be as careful as I can."

"Keeping people safe is," Annie replied stubbornly. "But like -- if someone brings out a gun, you get behind me, right? And you'll need to be...like, discreet about your powers. If people realize you have them, they'll think you're like the rest of us and will treat you accordingly."

And thus there would be much more cavalier attitudes about the amount of damage it was presumed he could handle.

Edited 2021-06-01 15:13 (UTC)

He nodded in understanding. "Normal guy with good aim, no jumping in front of bullets, got it."

Lets see how long those rules stayed in place.

"And we don't trust anyone on my team," Annie added. It was helping her kind of stay calm to go through ground rules like this. Maybe it was just the comforting lie that she was telling herself -- if they followed these rules and were smart and careful, they'd both live. "Not Homelander or Stormfront, obviously, but -- not Noir, either. Not even Maeve. I don't think she's...compromised? But they're all over her lately with this Brave Maeve stuff."

That kind of broke Annie's heart, a little, because she didn't want to give up on Maeve -- she was almost positive there was still something salvageable in the other woman. But she also knew she couldn't count on Maeve to help. She was too unpredictable.

"Yeah, that's smart." He felt bad for thinking it, but the Maeve thing was kind of a good distraction? "What about Hughie's group? Do you actually know anything about them?"

"There's at least three other guys," Annie said, thinking about it. "He had two dudes and a girl with him when I rescued them from that black site. And then there's the guy who shot me. I think he'll be there."

Which was weird. Annie wasn't exactly thrilled about that, but hopefully if Hughie ran interference, she could avoid being shot again.

"Oh, great." He totally wanted to meet that guy. "Should be fun."

"Be nice," Annie said, and her little smile was actually somewhat affectionate as she said that. (Let's be honest -- if she was potentially going to meet someone who had shot Diego, she would probably be pretty frosty towards them at best.) "I think Hughie and the girl are about my age? And then the others are all a little older. I have to think they're pretty...like, competent? I mean."

She reached a hand up lightly to touch her chest where she'd been shot. "I mean, that guy was for sure trained, and able to get his hands on something that shoots fifty caliber rounds. Plus they managed to kill Translucent, somehow."

"Yeah, you're right," he said reluctantly. "And it's not like we have any other allies there. So I'll be civil."

"Hughie's made some allusions to working for higher up people, too," Annie offered. "I'm not sure who -- which, like, that's probably kind of smart of him -- but they might have some resources."

Probably a sweet hideout, too, right?

"You don't have to be too civil," she added, her smile widening a tiny fraction.

"So I can still be a dick but no punching anybody?" he said.

"At least not right away," Annie suggested, laughing softly. "But by all means, be a huge dick. Hughie doesn't know about you, yet. Be a big, grumpy, knife-covered surprise."

Annie was going to give them both some kind of unpleasant Pavlovian association with the word surprise, at this rate.

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