At Madeleine's Apartment
No one POV
Butcher looked over at Hughie and said "Alright, keep your hair on" and Hughie said "Your on V?".
Butcher said "Temporary V. Barely lasts 24 hours."
Hughie said "Where'd you even get it?" and Butcher said "One of them websites. Boners for days" and Hughie said "No, no, no, no, no. None of your smirky shit. You gave it to him..and you didn't tell me, what the Fuck, Maddie?".
Madeleine said "Oh you mean like how you kept it from me that the closest thing I have to a sister was head popping people" and Hughie looked over and Madeleine said "Yeah, so climb down your hypocritical high horse."
Butcher said "Alright, everyone, relax, I only had one dose. All right? Gunpowder's dead. We know what we need to know. End of."
Hughie said "Wait, wait, you-you-you... you killed... Gunpowder? With powers? You... You had superpowers?" and Butcher said "Oh, look, let's just give it a rest, all right? It's over. I'm fine."
Hughie said "Wait, wait, d-d-do the others know? or" and Madeleine looked over and said "No, they do not."
Butcher said "And if they find out, I'll put you in a fucking coma" and Hughie said "Yeah, no, you're right. You seem t-totally fine."
Madeleine said "Okay, look the point is we got a plan, we can stop Homelander now, right..I might be able to hurt him..but even that it's challenging, Killing him, even I have limits, this weapon " and Butcher said "Could allow us to kill him without it killing Madeleine."
Madeleine said "So, you guys will use the company jet to go to Russia, I will meet you there, I just have some things I have to handle here."
Butcher said "Great, we got a plan."
At Vought Tower, Starlight's Apartment
Hughie was watching the video and Annie looked over, Hughie said "When's it air?" and Annie said "Um, tonight."
Hughie said "Homelight? You agreed to this?" and Annie said "It's like what you said, Hughie: whatever it takes. This is... This is what it takes. Hey. It's gonna be okay. Really. Let me save you for once. Hughie. This has to work. It'll work."
Homelander walked in and said "What'll work?"and Annie said "Uh, my VoughtSonic speaker setup. I'm sorry, uh, how did you get in?" .
Homelander said "I have a key. Yeah, I got to keep an eye on my best girl, right? By the way, you're a sound sleeper, Starlight."
Annie got up and so did Hughie and Homelander said "Oh, look at you two. I'm kidding. Come on, lighten up. I'm joking. But we got to go. Running late. Rolling Stone cover shoot. Hot Issue. We got "Hottest Ship.""
Annie went to leave and Homelander grabbed Hughie by his cast and wrote his name on the cast and said "Don't you worry, Hughie. This little love affair is strictly for the cameras. Although that's how me and Maeve started out, and that got quite spicy. Yeah, I'm not kidding, man. Let's just say that Maeve can bend a steel pipe without using her hands. What's she like? She a good fuck?".
Hughie glared at him and looked over at him unafraid, and Homelander said "Whoa."
Annie eyes blew yellow and the lights flickered as Annie began to take light and said "Touch him or anyone he cares about, and I'll walk. And I'll take my approval points with me."
Homelander said "Women. I'm kidding. You really need to lighten up, guys. Come on, Starlight. Mario's waiting."
He walked away and Annie said " I'll call you later."
