Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

23

"He let us out, finally." Said Annie, on the phone. "He's breathing on my neck, though. I haven't felt that unsafe in months."

Annie was in Central Park, hoodie and sunglasses on. After Homelander scolded her for leaving while they were waiting for another attack, she felt nervous. The day the shapeshifter attacked the Tower, Annie was out with Hughie. She was lucky that Homelander didn't come close enough to smell her boyfriend's scent all over her clothes. Smelling Hughie would be bad, but knowing she was with the Boys and especially Butcher would be worse. She thanked God that the leader didn't confront her when she came back to the Tower at night. Now he was suspicious about her and one wrong step could fuck up their plan.

"What about the woman?" Asked Butcher. He sounded impatient.

"She was the one who asked if we could leave." Said Annie. "She told me that she would talk to him and it worked. I have no idea how she convinced him."

"Hm..." Butcher was a bit surprised. "How close are they?"

Annie looked around, a bit paranoid. "I'm sure they're fucking, and if they're not, they're close to."

"Do you think she can influence him... his decisions?"

"Yes. I don't know how much, but she can."

Butcher went silent.

"What's your plan, Butcher?"

"We need to talk to her as soon as possible. We will expose him and then we'll figure it out."

"I can't meet any of you in person, I'm sorry." Sighed Starlight. "If he smells you on me it will be the end of all."

"Annie." Said MM, Butcher probably handed him the phone. "Take her somewhere."

"I'll take her somewhere crowded." Said Annie. "Maybe this will stop Homelander from trying something if he ever finds out. It will probably be more difficult for him to hear us too."

"How much does she trust you?"

Annie thought for a moment. They were friendly and Nina never talked about the contact, because Homelander never mentioned it. The last time he lost it was during a rally and he was tried for it. It didn't go anywhere, but she knew he wouldn't want to go through that again.

"She trusts me enough. I just don't think she should be exposed to any of you."

"You're right. It will definitely blow our cover." Said MM.

"I'm very afraid of Homelander listening to our conversations." Admitted Annie. "If he ever finds out that she's talking to any of you..."

"Why do you care so much?" Butcher's voice could be heard in the background. They were probably on speakerphone now. "About this girl?"

"Because she doesn't know anything yet." Said Annie. "This is not like... Stillwell. Stillwell knew how evil Homelander was and she never gave a damn about it."

"Homelander killed Stillwell." Said Butcher. "He could easily kill his assistant too."

"He could." Annie cleared her throat. "She's not his weakness..."

After a brief pause, MM spoke. "...but she could tell us what his weakness is."

He had bombs thrown at him. Even if the planet exploded, he would come out with mere superficial bruises. He was a cancer in the world, a parasite. Everything that they tried didn't work. Ruining his image failed, ruining his incestuous relationship sent him over the edge. Getting rid of his love interests just made him extremely unpredictable and insane. He was at the top of the world, being worshipped by gullible right wing idiots who thought that he was a living god. If slicing someone with his laser eyes in front of everybody didn't end him, there were few things left that probably would. The whole world was being controlled by a mentally unstable man-child and there was nothing that anyone could do. The most powerful Supe was also a deranged individual who at that point didn't have any plans. He was taking care of an ant farm and burning ants with magnifying glass, simply because it was fun.

She wondered what would happen if all of these people in Central Park knew it. If they knew that looking at Homelander funny could cause their death. That to him, they were toys, they were pets, they were less than animals. Annie hated all of that. The curse of being a Supe while trying to stop the most powerful one. She wished she could be back at Des Moines, without her powers, laying on her bed and reading a magazine. She wished her dad was back in her life. She wished to have a normal childhood, not going to beauty pageants, being starved by her mother, being exploited by grown adults. The sad part of everything was that she was still being exploited, and everything came back to Vought. Vought was there from the moment she was born to her adulthood, sucking all of the hope from her soul. She didn't wish that anyone at that park knew what she knew. The dream of having superpowers came with the grim truth that humans were egotistical and destructive, and they were just waiting for the right amount of power to commit the most terrible crimes. She came back to the Tower, thinking about how nice it would be to never enter that building again.

-

"Hey Nina. Thanks for asking Homelander to let us out."

"It was easier than I thought it would be." She smiled. "He's very worried, but I assured him you guys can take care of yourselves."

"Wanna go somewhere?" Asked Annie. "I haven't visited Times Square in a while. Do you want to go tomorrow?"

"Oh." Nina's eyes sparkled. "I used to go there with my roommates. I saw one today, but they are very busy to go out this week. We should definitely go."

"Don't you think he would be mad?"

Nina giggled. "He's a big softie. I don't think he would. Not now."

"How can you be so sure?"

"He's just nervous, that's all. You'll be there to protect me, aren't you?"

Annie nodded. "Yeah."

"Just talk to him, Annie." Nina sighed. "He can be difficult sometimes, but..."

"But..."

"Nevermind."

She was blind to the evil he represented. It was sad to see. But he was doing it on purpose. There was no reason for him to be overly gentile to a human. He had treated everyone around him as disposable being Supes or not. He wanted some kind of happiness that was impossible to achieve, and he ended up making everyone around him miserable. There wasn't any anything that Homelander did that was in benefit of anyone but himself. Annie didn't know what benefit he had on keeping Nina around. He already had the Deep to kiss his ass. Maybe Starlight would find out why someday. It couldn't be anything good, especially coming from him.