Chapter 21: Truth About the Blessed

*The only thing keeping me somewhat sane is Hughie being a complete idiot. He is too entertaining in the ways he is incompetent. The guy probably couldn't even punch forward without falling over and it's even more fun, than watching a bard perform.* Mike stood on the side and watched Hughie continuously attempt to manipulate his miasma and fail, sometimes accidentally inhaling it and forgetting it's not even a physical material and shadow coughing.

Mike just watched and smiled, as he would rather do nothing other than watch Hughie make a complete fool of himself. While the guy was joking around and laughing at Hughie, his ears perked up and he heard something, that made his smile somewhat drop.

"Thank you all for coming today-"

A bulb suddenly went off in Mike's head, as he instantly rushed towards that voice and found starlight standing on a podium, talking to a massive crowd of people. He mixed into the crowd and stood at a spot, where his visibility was the highest and somewhat amplified his presence to make sure Starlight would see him.

"When I first performed, when I first met Ezekiel and family, I was right here, on this stage!" The crowd suddenly gasped and began cheering. "Today, I once again stand here to talk about the lo-" She looked over to the behind-the-scenes area, seemingly looking for someone, maybe even a thing, but found nothing. The only thing she found was when she caught a glimpse of Mike shaking his head in the crowd.

She couldn't talk from the shock. It was as if Mike knew what was going on and showed his disapproval by that one action she wasn't even supposed to see. Mike looked into her eyes and it felt like she could hear his voice *Tell the truth.*

Mike sent her a psychic message, vague enough to make her say something, that will get her in, at least, some trouble. *What truth you got, Starling? You gonna spill the V secret formula? Maybe even something more sinister Vought's been doing? Maybe even V 2.0! let's get you in some trouble and drama!*

The crowd looked confused, as Starlight stood there for a couple of seconds and just stared off into the void. "Stop! Just... Stop the music! I can't do this!" The people watching her gasped and couldn't stop staring. This was totally out of the blue.

"I... I love god. With all of my heart, but this isn't right. Loving god isn't about coming here! It isn't about meeting Ezekiel or Homelander or even me! Heck I don't understand why you people would pay 10 dollars to be here, much less over a hundred!"

She sighed and looked around "Why do you think we even know anything? We aren't some all-knowing people. We just have powers. Sure, they seem magical and fantastic, but the users are just normal humans. I used to think all people with powers were blessed by God and served a higher purpose! I wanted to be like them, to protect people! To join the seven... And I did! I joined them. It was the happiest day of my life. And then one of the people I looked up to raped me!"

The crowd suddenly went silent. Even Mike was a bit surprised *Damn, even the filth of this planet is extra dirty. I've seen some disgusting Ancients, but even the worst of them followed the basic principle of unity. These ones don't even have the basic decency to care for their own kind. Truly the worst kind of scum!*

Annie waited for the shock to settle and continued "The first day he was giving me a tour of Vought Tower and as soon as we were alone, he pulled down his pants and threatened me with my future and mouth raped me! I could barely even live with myself after that and ran away crying! One of the people, who supposedly were blessed by god and have everything figured out did something this horrib-"

*Okay, maybe that was a bit too much. I have some things to put into motion after today. For now, Annie needs to shut up. Plus, her mice suddenly going out will cause a bit of chaos. I can sacrifice one of my emp bombs for that.*

and that was exactly what Mike did. He jumped up so fast barely anyone noticed him and phaze slashed his axe and appeared under the stage, where he took out a small blue orb. Then pressed s button three times and a blue wave of electricity seemed to have spread around Mike, as all electronics, including Starlight's microphone, went out and Vought would be to blame.

The lights shut down and Starlight looked around, as she was surrounded by darkness now. Before she could even blink, Mike appeared next to her and took her in his arms and away to a more secluded place.

He placed her down in a baren area behind a white tent and gave her a tight hug. Starlight barely orientated herself and wanted to push away, but she gave in after realising who was hugging her.

Mike patted her back and said "I'm sorry you had to go through all that. It must have been horrific. I can't imagine what you must have felt like."

Annie just sighed "It's okay. You couldn't have known. Even better, you and Hughie were the ones to help me through the whole thing. Hughie with his goofy advice and you with your..." Her cheeks suddenly went slightly rosy

"encouragement and company. I am thankful for everything."

Mike smiled a bit "You don't have to go back to Vought. It's your choice to make, but, in the end, it's either you or the derp."

Annie chuckled a bit and nodded, looking slightly awkward. "Can you let me go now? I have to, you know, clean up the mess I made."

Mike smiled awkwardly and let go of Starlight. "Right! I should check on Hughie. The guy is probably freaking out over my disappearance."

With that Mike vanished into the night and appeared near a telephone pole with his goofy smile and usual friendlies completely gone. His body was straight and ready to swing into motion at the drop of a hat. A cell in his hands. He was calling a certain William Butcher. "Butcher, I need to Video of Popclaws mating session, now."

"I've got something better! How bout some actual V with a dose of diabolical!"

Mike scoffed "I don't need information right now, I need that video.*Time to get my hyperweave back as well.*"

Butcher grumbled "Can't please this bloody bloke. Hughie's got the goods. Ask him. I've only got a lazer breathing infant at the moment."

Mike ignored the last statement of Butcher and hung up *They probably got some Vought too... Doesn't matter. All I need is Popclaw at the moment.*

He dialed up Hughie and they quickly went to the van to get what Mike wanted.

A.N. Happy 2023 you beautiful readers. I'm back from my week long break.

on a more serious note, you guys still interested in this or should I drop it all together? I need some majority rule to decide, as I could go both ways.