Doubts and Dilemmas

 "So, you think that Soldier Boy is going after the rest of Payback?" Annie asked M.M.

"Countess wasn't strong enough to fսck him over on her own. She had help. Soldier Boy is just getting started." He affirmed in his gruff tone.

"Do you know where any of them are?" She asked.

"Those shady-ass TNT Twins, got an address in Vermont."

"Okay. Does Butcher have it?"

"No, but he'll get it." M.M replied and picked up another gun to inspect.

"I think Soldier Boy is bulletproof." She remarked.

"This ain't for Soldier Boy." M.M said with snark in his tone.

"Look, I'm pissed at those guys, too, but we have to keep our heads on." Annie begged.

"Why? Why do I always have to take the high road? You know, when white folks get mad, y'all mοthеrfսckеrs go berserk, but I got to turn the other cheek? Fսck the high road, fսck Butcher, and fսck Hughie!" he said clearly upset.

Hughie is not himself right now." She said coming to his defense.

"Hughie is a grown-ass man that's made his own choices."

M.M.! Please! Soldier Boy is gonna kill more people. I mean, fսck. Kimiko is in the hospital. She lost her powers. Frenchie isn't answering, Alex is dead, and Maeve's in a medically induced coma. Homelander concussed her and broke every rib in her body."

M.M looked at her questioningly.

Annie sighed. "They said it was a training accident."

"And you believe them?"

"Of course not! But her injuries are real. I saw them myself. Her whole side of the head was bruised and swollen."

"Huh, so he finally snapped at her." He replied coldly. "I'm surprised he didn't just kill her. Is the cover up gonna hold?"

Annie didn't say anything for a moment. M.M saw her fall deep in thought.

"Annie?"

She looked at him.

"That's the thing. It was really weird. They didn't threaten me, didn't block access to let me see her Ashley even showed me the video when I challenged her on it. It looked like they were actually training."

"Training?" he asked skeptically.

"Yea, they were sparring. It didn't really look like a beat down, no flying, no laser eyes. It was kind of like a weird but beautiful dance, right before, well, he ends it they were moving so fast they started to blur."

"So, maybe he just used training as an excuse to beat her up. She's too high profile to simply get rid of."

"Yea but then why go through the trouble of actually sparring? They could have just lied and blocked access to Maeve…but that's not all." She continued

"What? What is it?" M.M asked curious.

"I can't exactly place it how, but, Homelander's changed. Something's wrong with him."

M.M just raised his eyebrows. "Oh, you don't say? What gave you that idea?" he asked sarcastically.

Annie let frustration color her face and gave him a look.

"It's not like that. Tsk," she started pacing around the room. "Ever since he took over Vought, he's been different."

"Different how?"

"He went on a big rant about how he wants to 'clean up' all the heroes that he won't allow insubordination under his watch." She said and paused.

"Get this, he wants me and A-Train to put together a training program and evaluate everyone. He said I have free hand not only to train but to suspend anyone that I want. He's also got the whole executive team working on some new initiative for Vought. Something super top secret."

"He even has a plan and a back up plan to deal with Soldier Boy." She continued.

"He does? He knows about Soldier Boy?"

"No, not that he's Soldier Boy. His plan is for me or Maeve, or I guess just me now, to approach him and get him surrender and if that doesn't work and Soldier Boy starts glowing he'll swoop in and flying him up to 'avoid casualties'."

She finished with air quotations.

M.M snarked at her. "Convenient. Let's you take all the risk and he sits back. And what's his back up?"

"A-Train grabs Soldier Boy runs him in the ocean where hopefully Deep will be able to drown him. He hopes it will throw Soldier Boy unconscious if he can't breathe."

M.M eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Dam, that's actually not a bad plan. It might not kill him but it could work. The man still needs to breath."

"And not only that but he's involved himself deeply into Vought day to day stuff. From morning till night he's basically in meetings, Marketing, PR, Finance. It's like he's suddenly a workaholic." She said almost exhasperated.

M.M put down his gun and looked at her.

"He's a control freak. All psychopaths are and he's the king of them. You're reading too much into it he's probably just putting up a show. You know very well that motherfucker knows how to work the PR game."

She looked unsure.

"I don't know. Maybe you're right. But there's still something off about him. But that's why everything is up to us now." She's interrupted by her phone ringing.

"Shit. 1 Sec. This is Starlight."

"…yea of course Ashley I'll be right there."

"I got to go up to the Tower for a little bit." She said turning to M.M

"Now?"

"If I don't go, they're gonna know something's up. I'll be one hour. Do I need to worry about you?"

M.M shakes his head and checks his gun.

"Okay."