7 Chapter 7

"Homelander? Did you hear me?" Annie asked.

I raised my left finger in a motion to shush her as I was concentrating on the television. After a moment I released it.

"Sorry, what?" I pretended not to have heard her.

"I said we need to handle this. Now." She reiterated.

"Uh, yeah, of course we do. Okay. So, book slots on all the Sunday shows. Or maybe a press conference will be better?" I pose to Ashley. "Or both. We'll have to communicate that we have everything under control."

"That's smart."

"So smart." Ashley and her mini-me reiterated.

"So we're gonna…"

"Jesus, I meant that we need to stop this guy!" Starlight yelled.

I instantly felt myself snapping.

'Punish her!'

Quiet Echo!

"Watch you're tone darling." I said ignoring the urge to bend her over my knee and spank her for insubordination.

"I'm sorry, I just mean…don't you think that maybe the best way to handle this is to find him."

I gave her a cold smile.

"Oh, what a bright idea! Obviously." My tone dripping with sarcasm.

"But tell me, darling, let's say we get the team together and we all go and find him. Then what?" I asked rhetorically. I didn't give her a chance to respond.

"Do we have a big old fight in the middle of the city? This is an unknown super who is obviously not in control of his powers. We have no idea what he is capable of but considering he just toppled a city block then we can assume he is very powerful."

"If we approach this the wrong way we could be endangering hundreds of if not thousands of people."

"So yes Annie we will find him but we need a plan first. And more importantly we need to communicate that plan with the public to ensure they are not put into further danger and that is why Ashley will be booking media time for us." I told her firmly.

Yup, she was taken back. She didn't think I had put any thought into this.

"In the meantime you will go and ask Crime Analytics to collaborate with police on finding this super and then you round up the team and come back here. I will talk with the chief of police and get the department's cooperation." I paused for a split second.

"I will ask that officers report on the location but to not approach the suspect. I don't want any of them to trigger him and cause another explosion. It will be the same messaging for all of our heroes in the field and the public as well. We won't approach him until we have a plan to neutralize him or get him out of the city. Got it?"

She continued looking at me shocked and I held her gaze raising my eyebrows in question.

"Right, that actually makes sense." She finally said.

"Brilliant!"

"Very excellent!" The Ashleys echoed.

"Then what are you all standing around for? Go! We don't have time to waste."

As they turned to leave I couldn't help myself and peaked, G-string all three of them. Nice.

I had my call with the police chief and I assured him we were on it and he assured me he'll give the orders for the officers not to approach.

The police rank and file fucking loved Homelander especially after he dipped his toes into the 'alt-right' with Stormfront.

It took about thirty minutes for the team to file-in, well most of it. A-Train was doing his apology conference with Blue Hawk while Deep was…

"So, small setback." Starlight said as she sat next to me.

It was me, her Maeve and Noir at the table.

"The Crime Analytics department is out for the day."

Now that caught me by surprise.

"What do you mean it's out for the day?" I asked incredulously.

"Apparently, Deep, as the new head of CA, gave them the day off to have a social so he could get to know his team better." Starlight said with only a small hint is incredulity.

"You made Deep head of Crime Analytics. He's a fucking Moron!" Maeve yelled.

I rubbed my temples in frustration. Well at least I can't say that the guy wasn't trying.

"Nominal Head." I replied frustrated. "Oh, don't look at me like that! He needed a way to get back in the good graces of the company and the department has been complaining they don't have a direct line to the heroes, to us." I paused.

"I thought it would be the place where he could do the least amount of damage maybe even learn something! Besides, Barbara is still in charge of ops and with a very hefty raise I might add!"

Maeve made to protest but I cut her off.

"Never mind that. Did you manage to contact any of them to come back?" I asked Starlight.

"Ye we got a hold of Barbara, she was home, she managed to reach of few of the analysts so at least some should be coming back but…" and she hesitated.

"Just spit it out already."

"Apparently they are pretty drunk."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Fucking Deep.

"Well drunk analysts are better than no analysts." I finally said. "Let's focus on what we can control for now."

"We have a powerful unknown Super who is not in full control of his abilities."

"What makes you say that? How do you know?" Maeve asked intrigued for the first time.

"Hi body language." I replied. "From the footage he looked like he was having a panic attack, like he was in pain."

"I don't think he meant to do what he did but that doesn't change that he is unstable, dangerous and powerful."

"We don't know the full scope of his abilities, how sturdy or how impervious he is to attack. Subduing him from far away is a risk we trigger his powers, from up close it's the same risk."

"While he is within City limits we have to be very careful how we approach him not only for our safety but for the public at large. We want to minimize any potential damage."

Maeve was looking at me like I had grown two heads. Understandable, I didn't sound like the Homelander she knew.

I continued.

"The police have already agreed to only report and not approach the suspect. Ashley's team is working on getting the same message to the rest of our heroes in the field."

I looked at Maeve and Black Noir. "This will be a good test to see who can follow instructions and who will need re-training." Noir nodded.

"Ok, and what is your grand plan to stop him?" Maeve asked and they all looked at me expectantly.

"Well once we locate him I think, especially if he is in the city, that either you or Starlight approach him. If I or the other guys do it he might see us as threats and trigger his power." I replied.

"You will try to deescalate, see if you can convince him to turn himself in so we can help him and all that jazz."

"In the meantime the rest of the team will create a perimeter and calmly try to evacuate people"

"I will observe from a vantage point in the air. If I see that his power gets triggered I will swoop in grab him and fly him up and out over the ocean as fast as I can. Hopefully he is not strong enough to resist me and we avoid any damage."

Crickets.

"That could actually work." Annie looked at me mouth half open in shock.

Yes, Starlight an actual plan, it's like Homelander has been specifically trained for this his whole life…to be fair Homelander stopped caring about making plans long ago.

He would usually fly in smash things up and let Vought clean up his mess…for the most part. He did really well in the very public situations.

"But if it doesn't." I said getting their attention again.

"A-Train is our best bet after me. Along with Deep."

Now they thought I was stupid for sure.

A-Train they could understand but Deep was practically useless most of the time. So I elaborated.

"In the worst case scenario where I'm incapacitated A-Train will have to grab him at top speed and chuck him in the ocean. Deep will then drag him to the bottom. Hopefully he will either drown or be incapacitated indefinitely. It will at least buy us more time to think of our next move."

I looked at them as they let my plan sink in.

"But none of that matters if we can't find him. So in the meantime Starlight you work on getting a hold of Deep, A-Train and the CA team."

"Maeve you work with Ashley to get our messaging to the rest of the heroes in the field. They will listen to you, they respect you." I said firmly.

"Noir, you go to IT and see if you can get some in ear portable radios. We will need to shore up our communication in the field. Don't want any mishaps because we couldn't talk to each other." He nodded.

"I have a few media spots where I will re-assure the public that we do know what we are doing and that they should take caution if they encounter the suspect. Now any questions?"

There were no questions.

Noir didn't talk as a general rule because of his injuries while Starlight and Maeve were still too shocked by my sudden leadership and competence to question me.

"Good then Dismissed." I finished firmly and made to leave the room.

Make-up needed me there in 10 minutes.