QUANTUM~Billy Butcher

Rolling in the Deep

The fucking Deep.

He was a dead man as soon as Athena got her hands on him, she could not believe what Annie had just told her, it was disgusting, it was horrible. She was going to make sure that The Deep was gonna go to a barren place after this, but she didn't want to bring this up with Annie, she was going to deal with this tomorrow at Vought. The rest of the night she kept things light, talking mainly about her and her new boyfriend Hughie and how that was going, he sounded like a sweetheart and she couldn't wait to meet him. Annie slept in the guest bedroom that night and was awoken to the smell of pancakes and bacon. "Rise and shine!" Athena beamed as she served the sleepy hero her breakfast in bed. "Ive got a ride picking us up in about an hour so feel free to have a shower and come down when you're ready."

Annie couldn't comprehend why Quantum was so nice to her, this was The Quantum one of the greatest superheroes, and she was serving her breakfast in bed. It all still felt so surreal.

When the pair got to the tower they went their seperate ways, Athena got off at her floor making it seem like she was going to her office, but in reality, as soon as the doors had closed on Annie, she headed straight to another elevator and upstairs to Stillwell. The knock on the door was harsh, Madelyn knew exactly who it was. "Come in Quantum." Athena wasted no time storming in, and slamming her hands on the desk. "It was the fucking deep who assaulted Starlight and I want him dealt with immediately. Ship the bastard off somewhere." Madelyn nodded, "We had our suspicions, thank you for confirming Quantum, we appreciate your discretion on the matter, and how well you've handled the public side of things, the Charity idea was just genius."

She hated this, not everything was a PR scheme, but Athena decided to play along, she composed herself and sat down "You know I want what's best for the company Madelyn, and in times of crisis, you know I will be there to help pick up the pieces." her sweet tone had Madelyn fooled, and she left the office satisfied with her work. Since this was such a negative manner, Athenas team was stood down for the most part, mainly just monitoring the odd few bits and bobs, it was an unusually quiet day, however it was short lived as a very panicked Annie came through the door of her office, "Annie?" She asked concerned, getting up quickly to see what was wrong, Annie was out of breathe as she responded only getting out a few phrases through the tears forming in her eyes "Translucent...Dead...Hughie Helped...with others...Homelander...Think I did it...Maeve...saved me" That was enough for Athena to piece together what happened, she couldn't believe that she didn't realise Translucent was dead, she just assumed he was perving around in places he shouldn't be as usual. But Hughie being involved his murder, that must be killing Annie inside, "Come sit honey, just breathe" Athena encouraged her, handing some tissues off the desk for Annie to dry her tears. "I know this is a lot to take in, you can stay in here as long as you need. I'm going to go take care of a few things." Annie nodded not being able to comprehend anything or form words in her distress. 

For the second time that day, Athena marched herself upstairs and was ready to smash some faces in, She went straight to the Sevens floor, where only Homelander stood, gazing out the window, she knew he had heard her exit the elevator. There was no question that Annie had gone running to Quantum after the meeting "Are you going to explain what the fuck is going on?" Homelander turned around, that damn smile on his face "Quantum how nice to see you, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He knew exactly what she was there for, but still decided to test her, a glow came from her fists as she marched towards him "You have some explaining to do."

"See for yourself" he gestured to the screens in the room, where there were 5 images, 4 males and a female, all labeled with names. There was one face that stood out, he was labelled "William Butcher" and Athena knew exactly where she knew him from, the man outside the tower and the race. Homelander watched as she studied the screens "Crazy to believe that these, mortals, took down translucent by themselves." Athena whipped her head around, poking the hero in his chest as she spoke "If you dare insinuate that Starlight had anything to do with this you're dummer than I thought." Now that struck a nerve. "Are you and Maeve in on this together?" He referred to Maeves quick defense of Starlight earlier. "No" she admitted "But if more than one person is saying the same thing, you should really take note." 

Athena lowered her hand from the mans chest, he was close to her height so she stared into his piercing blue eyes, waiting for him to respond. "You know we haven't been this close since we filmed 'Coming home'" The smirk he gave with that sentence made her sick, kissing him for that film felt like kissing a frog except it didn't turn into a prince. "Unbelievable" she muttered before walking off to the elevator, calling behind her "Instead of trying to break apart your team more, try keeping your shit together" And the doors shut, Leaving Homelander alone.

Upon returning to her office, Athena saw that Starlight had calmed down, and was sitting on the much more comfier chair in the corner of the room with the coffee table. She was looking at her phone, no doubt at a picture of her and Hughie. "Homelander won't give you anymore shit, but I need to ask you something Annie." the girl looked up and nodded. "What do you know about this 'Butcher' guy?" Starlight thought for a second before answering, putting her phone down, "I met him once with Hughie but he obviously didn't tell me his real name, why?" Athena recounted the interaction she had had with William Butcher and she could see Annies eyes widen "Maybe they've been monitoring you while Hughie...uses me." her tone dropped at the last part. 

Athena swiftly sat on the chair next to her, taking her hand in her own while looking at her, a comforting look in her eyes, "Honey, I can't say what Hughie intentions were because I'm not him, but if he ever comes near you again and you don't like it, you can always come and get me and I swear to god I will drop that mother fucker okay?" Annie laughed at her words, wiping a tear from her eyes. "He was a fool to fumble someone like you okay?" She embraced the younger woman who hummed in response, wrapping her arms around her and holding tight.