Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

10

"They're fucking, they're definitely fucking."

The Seven had noticed how sweet and kind Homelander was to Nina, at least on the surface. Most of them thought it was weird, but Ashley seemed to be the most affected. How could he? They brought in a light skinned black woman from the slums of Brazil of all places as a diversity hire, she was moved to Transluscent's old room, and now it felt like she was second in command. Ashley doubted he had ever said no to her. It was so pathetic. She was supposed to be a stupid assistant, the yes-woman to a deranged psycho. But now they went around talking and giggling and drinking milkshake like there wasn't a problem in the world. She had to admit his humor had improved, but he would still flash his laser eyes here and there. Mostly with Starlight.

"Oh, you think so?", A-Train asked sarcastically. They were on a meeting, waiting for Homelander to come in.

"Yeah, I think everybody can tell," said the Deep.

"I didn't really notice anything," said Black Noir. He didn't want to be silent at that point, but for Nina he pretended to.

"I mean, that's horrible taste," said Maeve. "But there's definitely something. He laughs a lot, and not in his... psycho kind of way."

"I was looking for the first easily impressed Brazilian I could find, and I thought she was the one," Ashley said. "She was working at a Walmart. That's where poor people work."

Maeve rolled her eyes. "He takes her advice," Ashley continued. "He never takes anyone's advice. Not even from Stan Edgar, from me, or from any of you. Doesn't that make your blood boil?"

"As long as she doesn't become part of the Seven like Sage was, I'm cool," A-Train shrugged.

"She's not stupid, Ashley," said Starlight. "She's an English teacher."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I was reading her file, which none of you cared to do." Starlight put a folder over the table. "I want to make sure she gets away from him."

"And why is that?", said the Deep. "Let the man have some fun."

"He has some fun almost every night and you know it," said Maeve. She turned to Starlight. "I just don't know why you care."

"Because she seems like a decent person, at least," said Starlight. "And she seems oblivious to..."

A gush of wind interrupted the conversation. The bastard flew through the conference room's open doors. "Who is oblivious to what?"

It was near impossible to have a conversation when he was around. He had super human hearing, which made Starlight want to use the nail file all night, so he could be disturbed while trying to sleep. She tried and apparently, he only heard the stuff he wanted to hear, which was somehow fitting.

"We are talking about how a big part of the population don't know about the superterrorists."

"Supervillains." He really wanted the name to stick, but it never did.

"Yeah, and we are... uh." The Deep could never sell a decent lie.

"We are talking about how we can stop them from damaging the image of the company even further," said Maeve. "We were waiting for you."

"Starlight's heart is pounding," said Homelander. Asshole. "I wonder if it's because she's happy to see me."

She smiled at him, eyes full of anger. She wished she could do something about his smug face.

-

"She's glued to Homelander all the fucking time," said Annie. Walking around New York wearing a hoodie over the head made anyone look suspicious, but there was no choice. "I have no idea how to get to her."

"How trustworthy is she?"

"I think... she really likes him, but we can turn her." She walked into an alley. People did know at that point that Annie January was Starlight, but she didn't want to take any risks, considering the person she was talking to on the phone.

"Do you think we can arrange a meeting?"

"I'd have to get her away from him, but she's his assistant. If she disappears, he'll be suspicious."

"Please try it, alright love? I don't like to keep waiting."

Annie rolled her eyes, and threw the disposable cellphone on a dumpster nearby. If she didn't hate Vought as much as she did, she would ask Butcher to go to hell. It felt like every time they managed to hit one of Homelander's weak points, something else got in the way. First it was Madelyn Stillwell, then it was Stormfront... Firecracker was merely a nuisance. Now Nina... Starlight thought about everything that happened since she joined the Seven, and it just made her wish she was never injected with Compound V. Nina was just a human, but not in a demeaning way. She didn't have to worry about the consequences of the powers, of killing someone... of blinding someone in an accident. She could have her whole life ahead of her with no incidents involving Supes. She should leave New York at least, she should be away from Homelander. He had successfully convinced her that he was a decent person, and that was what bothered Starlight the most.

Now Butcher had a plan, like he always did. Perhaps trying to tell her the truth. Starlight had to find a way to convince Nina to have a meeting with a stranger, to talk about Homelander. And the "stranger" was a mean drunk guy who had no interest in being polite to anyone, not even to Starlight herself. It was a risk she was willing to take, but it could fail miserably and give the location of the Boys to Homelander once again. They had been laying low for a while, trying to come up with another plan and suddenly Nina came around. The opinion on Homelander was shifting again, it was like the asshole could spread shit all over people's faces and they would eat it. It was thanks to Nina of course, and she didn't even know she was basically restoring the image of a monster. It felt like she had fallen for the PR: the people he murdered were bad, he didn't know the Nazi he dated was a Nazi. She didn't think that the assistant was stupid or naive, but she admired him so much that she didn't see the bad things he did. Homelander was his brutal self around everyone but her, and even if Starlight hated him and knew he was a manipulator, she was also curious to know why.

Why he was being nice to her, and only her.