Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

31

Annie had dealt with a shapeshifter before. In fact, a shapeshifter had taken her place once and it caused many problems for her and Hughie. But the shapeshifters attacking the Seven weren't like that one. They didn't need to rip chunks of their skin out to shift, but no one knew how they replicated powers as well. Homelander had killed some of them, and there was no chance of interrogating them. Maeve was unaware of the fact that she was the one the shapeshifter shifted into, and watching footage of the incident was terrifying. Not just CCTV - but phone cameras, news cameras. It was everywhere. It was difficult to explain. People started pressuring Vought immediately, Ashley had to deal with thousands of calls of the press asking for a statement. Meanwhile, the creature was locked deep down at the Tower, and the Seven were wondering how to proceed.

"I'm all for beating that fucking thing to death," said Maeve. "But we need to know how they do it, how we can neutralize them, and how many there are."

Homelander sighed, "any ideas?"

The Seven, Stan Edgar and Ashley were sitting together once more, in the conference room. It was the biggest disaster to happen to Vought that year. There was no way to hide it. Ashley was already arranging a press conference with the Seven to address the problem and to clarify that Queen Maeve had nothing to do with the attacks at Times Square. They were all nervous and annoyed, unsure of what to do. Homelander was angry that Stan was right. He wanted to deal with everything on his own, but now he couldn't. He had to keep it together to appear in front of the nation to admit that again, Vought heroes were unable to protect the people. They could always bounce back from it for sure, with good PR. But it was exhausting going from one scandal to another. It was all about the numbers and the popularity once again, and the leader wasn't ready to take a blow so soon. Especially because of what happened to Nina.

He didn't want to admit it, but it could all go to hell, as long as Nina was safe.

"Who is going to interrogate that thing?", said the Deep. "If only Sage was here..."

"Yeah, but she isn't," said Black Noir. "Now what?"

"It has to have a weakness, right?", said A-Train. "And I'm sure it won't just tell us."

"We should starve it. Torture it. Beat it. Until it says something," said Stan, his stoic face was always terrifying.

"That's a bit extreme..." Starlight began.

"Unless Starlight wants to cuddle it and take it home," said Homelander, blue eyes as cold as ice.

It was scary how Edgar and Homelander would walk hand in hand with the cruelty. When it was about protecting the image of the company, they were both ruthless. It was clear that they hated each other, but they had that goal in common.

"Now Ashley, don't take long with our statements. We want to clarify this situation as fast as possible," said Edgar. "The stocks are plummeting."

"Yes, sir," said Ashley. "We're working on it right now. Miss Oliveira and I."

Homelander hated the fact Nina had to work late because of the statements to the press. He just wanted to be with her, to stop everything and smell her soft hair. He couldn't stop thinking about that kiss. Probably the sweetest kiss he's ever had. She was almost immediately called for the task and he hadn't seen her in a few hours. She was locked up in her office, probably. The office that smelled like her. He just wanted to get over all of it and go back to her arms as soon as he could.

"Good," said Edgar. "I'll see you later."

-

People of New York. Do not despair.

We had a horrible display of violence on Times Square earlier today. A terrible creature, motivated by a strong anti-American sentiment attacked innocent, hardworking and honorable people, causing their death. It took the form of our beloved Queen Maeve, someone who would never hurt a true, patriotic American. This country, which I love - more than anything, except for God - the country that gave so many opportunities to so many people, doesn't deserve that. We lost great people today, due to a vile, deranged supervillain. The Seven already contained the subject, and we eliminated the threat. There's nothing to fear. I want you all to hear me, loud and clear. We will never cease to help our people. We want you to feel safe, knowing every day when you wake up, superheroes are looking out for you. We feel it's a privilege to keep you alive and well, and we will continue to do so. We believe in justice, the same justice that built this beautiful land. And justice was served today.

Don't forget about that, patriots. You are the real heroes.

Nina watched as Homelander closed the statements of the press conference. She wrote that speech. He didn't deviate much from it. It was patriotic and a bit pretentious, but it served its purpose. It was the brand he was trying to sell and Nina did what had to be done. Seeing him delivering it irked her a bit. Extreme nationalism was never the answer to anything, but an act of terrorism always made people distrust the ones in power. If Vought wasn't able to show to the government and the population that it had the best interests of America in mind, it was over for them. The Seven answered some questions about how to stop the superterrorists, about how to avoid casualties and they tried their best to calm people down. Ashley was beside Nina on the couch, checking social media. It seemed that the statements were well received. It sucked doing it over and over again, but it had to be done.

Homelander was always so good at his job, but Nina was close enough to him to notice he was a bit... annoyed, perhaps angry. It was the responsibility of the superheroes to protect the people and they had failed, point blank. It was tough to admit it in front of the whole country, cameras flashing over him. Bad publicity was publicity either way, and it was reason enough to issue a statement, instead of being silent. That's why she thought it was a bit unfair to judge him for his temper. He was the one who had to answer for the majority of Vought's faults, even when the faults came from a different department. She waited for him to be back. He needed support, he needed a hug.

He could have all of her if he wanted to.