Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

17

"It's ridiculous." Ashley said. "He's been bringing her food and medicine, like a puppy dog."

"Are you jealous of the attention, Ashley?" Asked Starlight. "You seem really bothered."

Ashley rolled her eyes. It wasn't fair. They were all treated like garbage all the time, threatened by Homelander if they disagreed with him over the smallest things. Nina not only gave him ideas, but he actually accepted them. It wasn't the same thing that happened with Sage, everything about their talks was strategic. Being the most intelligent Supe, her thought process made a lot of sense and she had some very calculated moves. Nina was just a school teacher, and she convinced him to do things he would never do if someone else had suggested. Canceling his plans to fuck some poor Supe in exchange for nothing, just to visit some kids in a public school? Nina showed the picture they took with the students all over him and his smile seemed... less fake. It was a blessing, but also a curse.

"He's been way less cranky ever since she came to work for Vought." Said A-Train. "I'll take that as a win."

They were in the conference room, waiting for the man once again. He asked for an emergency meeting. It was probably about the situation at Voughtland. No civilians were hurt for the first time, and no one noticed when he flew away with injured Nina in his arms, back to the Tower. The Seven got the news that she had a broken nose and serious bruises. They had no idea who did it, but it upset Homelander greatly. It could mean that there was a person - or people - wanted to harm one of the heroes or do something to tarnish the image of Vought itself. Could be Billy Butcher and his friends, no one really knew. Only Homelander had the answers.

He came in and seemed really angry, with a small package in his hand. Angry wasn't really the right word. The man was furious. Jaw clenched, hell burning inside him. All of the Seven sat in silence. The walk to his chair seemed to take a thousand years. Sometimes he would come in pissed off, but in that particular day, he seemed like he would kill anyone who looked at him funny. He took his seat and sighed.

"I want you all to stay alert." He said, in a very authoritarian tone. "We are under attack.

Turns out that during the Voughtland event, a shapeshifter attacked Nina. Homelander just turned out to be in the right place and time. Everybody knew he wouldn't go out of his way to save someone. He took her in his arms and flew from there to the Tower, asked for someone to look out for her, cleaned himself off all blood, guts and bone chips over his uniform, and went back to Voughtland to fake smile until the event ended. No one there seemed to notice that Homelander turned another Supe into mush, thinking that the flying was something related to special effects. He managed to bring the woman back and entertain the kids almost at the same time.

"What do you mean?" Said Starlight.

"Nina was attacked by a shapeshifter." He said, throwing the package over the table. "But she wasn't really the one they meant to hurt."

"There is a group of shapeshifters loose. Compound V supervillains. Their plan is to take us down." He seemed even more furious to announce it to everybody.

"How did you find out...?"

"Because they wanted us to know. They sent us a video." Homelander motioned for Ashley to open the package. There was a cellphone inside, and instructions to play a video. Ashley fumbled a bit and mirrored the video from the phone to the screens. A thirty something year old mustachioed man with worn clothes appeared in front of a brick wall. He gave the Seven a warning.

It's time for the great nation of the United States to crumble down.

They have humiliated, terrorized, raped and murdered us for too long.

Where theres a war, there are yankees. They take our riches and leave us to drown in our own blood.

They now have created abominations that they call Supes. It's a matter of time before they start to oppress us too.

So this goes to the Seven of Vought. You have an army coming for you. Your reign of terror will be over before it begins.

As proof of their power, the video ended with security footage of the group wiping a troop of American soldiers. Ripping their heads off, punching holes through heavy armor, tearing limbs apart. They moved like grasshoppers, jumping great distances and covering a lot of ground really fast. No bullets could stop them. Homelander appeared to be on the edge during the whole video. Maeve took a look at him and it seemed like he was about to smash everything in sight. He clenched his fists multiple times, and his face twitched. He would definitely fly over to their location, whatever it was, and rip their heads off immediately, if only he knew where they were.

"So..." A-Train spoke. "Is there a way to identify them?"

"By their smell or their heartbeat perhaps?" Starlight suggested. "Homelander can..."

"Yeah, yeah." Homelander shook his head. "But they had to be very close, and by that time they would be all over us. I dealt with one, I don't know if we can deal with that many in time."

"We have to set a trap." Said the Deep.

"Yes, Deep. That's a wonderful idea." Homelander rolled his eyes.

"Really?" Deep's eyes glistened.

"No." Homelander said, annoyed. "I need something better than that."

"Do we even know their weaknesses?" Maeve shook her head. "They can shapeshift into anyone, right? What if they could replicate our powers as well?"

"I have no idea if they can. The one I killed was an identical copy of me." He was frowning the entire time, remembering the incident. "But I don't know if it had my strength, or if it was strong just for being a Supe."

"We can always count on security..." Added Ashley.

"Yeah, and they can always pretend to be a security guard." His head dropped, almost admitting defeat. "I have no fucking idea what to do."

Ashley sighed, deflating. "I'll just send everybody home for a while. It will be easier to track people that way."

"Do it, except for Nina and the security guards." Homelander scratched his head, thinking of a solution for that mess.

"Nina...?"

"She's hurt, she's still healing. I'll look out for her."

"What about us?" Asked Deep.

"Just... stay alert."

One by one, the Seven left the conference room, and Ashley was the only one who stayed. Homelander was looking down, but he knew she was still in the room, scared. He could hear that heart was almost popping out of her chest. He sighed, got up and walked towards her. She had her arms to the side of her body, like a lost kid in a playground.

"Go home, Ashley." He gently put his hands over her shoulders. "Thank you for everything."

Ashley left. For a second she wished he was back into being an asshole again.