"One moment, please."
Annika walked over to the coffee machine and whipped up a cup with practiced ease.
No choice. She worked in Crime Analysis, a department that sometimes ran even harder than PR. Coffee was the only reason she was still vertical.
"Alright, Mr. Greevs, what can I do for you?" She handed the fresh cup to Ivan.
Ivan smiled. "Be a dear and pull Starlight's movement track from last night, would you?"
Starlight was clearly on Edgar's radar. If the data proved she had left Vought Tower last night and shown up near Sage Grove, she was in real danger.
Edgar would clean house. He probably wouldn't boot her from The Seven outright. Standard playbook: bury her first, let her fade from the public eye, then announce her quiet exit when the timing felt right.
"Mr. Greevs, according to the tracker, she stayed in her room the entire night. Never left."
Annika pointed at the path on the screen.
"Print it and give it to me." Ivan narrowed his eyes slightly and took a sip of coffee.
Starlight was sharper than he'd given her credit for. She'd probably had Billy and the others dig the tracker out of her.
...
In the blink of an eye it was Monday. Four days since Congresswoman Neuman's livestream got attacked.
New York had changed a lot in those four days. Victoria's nonstop campaigning sent gun-shop sales through the roof. She went public claiming America's immigration system was a gaping hole, letting more and more illegal immigrants pour in—including extremists with powers.
Overnight the whole country got paranoid. Some of the real fanatics started hunting people with powers on sight. They acted like every glowing eye or floating object meant a super-terrorist. No questions, just pull the trigger and drop the body.
A chunk of the supe population packed up and fled to Manhattan overnight. In their heads the Seven lived inside Vought Tower, so the crazies wouldn't dare go wild there.
Reality slapped them in the face. Crime in Manhattan skyrocketed in four short days. The place turned into a miniature Gotham.
Just now, while Ivan was downstairs grabbing groceries, he watched a fat guy ignore the Arab-looking cashier's pleas and empty a round into him. The only reason? The fat guy thought he saw the cashier's eyes glow.
Bang. Cashier hit the floor. Blood bubbled out of the hole in his cheek in thick, wet gurgles.
Shit like that was happening all over.
Ivan walked out of the supermarket with his bags like it was just another Tuesday.
Public opinion had split clean down the middle. The right wanted more superheroes to fight the super-terrorist threat. The left screamed it was all a Vought conspiracy—Vought in bed with certain politicians, deliberately importing the monsters.
Victoria was the left's loudest cheerleader. She hammered Vought day and night for more votes.
Either way Edgar sat pretty. The right belonged to him. Victoria on the left belonged to him too. As long as nothing lethal against Vought surfaced, he could lean back and enjoy the little play he'd staged.
Homelander's PR nightmare had already been buried under Vought's marketing machine. Better yet, the arrival of the super-terrorists sent his popularity surging, crushing The Deep and the rest of the second string. He'd been smiling nonstop for days.
[Homelander Incident concluded. Gained 500 Fantasy Points]
[Current Fantasy Points: 3050]
Ivan headed back into Vought Tower.
In the elevator Ivan ran into Starlight by pure chance.
"You heading up to ninety-nine too?"
"Homelander called a meeting." Starlight kept her tone flat.
"Then you'd best prepare yourself, non?" Ivan gave her a long, knowing smile.
Ding. The doors slid open. Two guards with live weapons stood on either side.
Starlight shot him a puzzled look. She had no idea what he meant.
"Come on. Don't keep Homelander waiting."
They stepped into the supe conference room. Every member of The Seven was already there, Stormfront included. The big screen on the right wall played a surveillance clip.
The second Starlight saw the familiar scene her stomach dropped, but she forced herself to sit calm. "What is this? Footage from some new movie shoot?"
"Starlight, your acting's really something."
Stormfront clapped slowly, a mocking little smirk on her face.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Starlight stuck to playing dumb.
She refused to believe a short, blurry clip with no clear face could pin the golden light beams on her. The actual glow lasted less than a second.
"That location is one of Vought's secret bases. It got hit not long ago. Crime Analysis matched every face on the raid to the terrorist list Vought released. And if memory serves, you were pretty friendly with that crowd."
Homelander walked over with his hands behind his back and stopped right beside her.
"You also let them walk the last time. The night The Deep's pet whale got smashed. You remember that, don't you?"
"First off, she was never my pet. Second, she had a name. Lucy." The Deep sounded genuinely wounded.
Homelander shook his head. "Doesn't matter. What matters is what I do with Starlight now."
He rested both hands on her shoulders, then slowly slid them up toward her neck. "Where are they?"
"I don't know. I have no idea what you're talking about."
Starlight looked around the table for help. Only Maeve met her eyes. Everyone else looked away.
"This could be a misunderstanding. You can't even see the face clearly on that video." Queen Maeve knew Homelander better than most. His face stayed calm, but the kill urge was already boiling. If nobody stepped in he might just snap Starlight's neck right here.
"Maeve, shut your fucking mouth."
Homelander's grip locked around Starlight's throat. His jaw clenched so hard the muscles on either side of his mouth bulged, turning his face ugly.
"You think I won't pull your spine out through your mouth? Hmm?"
____
[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69