On The Road Again

Starlight looked drolly out the window as the landscape sped past, like some visual metaphor for her life careening out of view as she considered her place in everything... or maybe she was just bored.

No stranger to long road trips, she and her mom... her mother had taken multiple every year to al the events, pageants, and anything to further her reputation with Vought. Annie didn't really know how to feel about it, well that wasn't entirely true, she looked back on those memories with some degree of fondness, but now... now it brought feelings of shame, regret, fuck, did she eat some pot brownies or something before she left?

"So... not to interrogate you or anything, but what can you tell me, tell us about Nick?" Hughie asked, thankfully shifting Annie's thoughts to a different but still depressing subject.

"Nick?" M.M. asked, glancing at Hughie in the rearview mirror for just a moment before returning his focus to the road.

"Yeah, the guy came to taunt us when we were caught several months ago, he's the guy we saw at Popclaw's place, and he was with Annie at Believe Expo, said he was her... boss?" Hughie explained as Starlight looked between the two.

"Wait, wait a minute, Nick was at Popclaw's place, and he came to see you when you were captured in that bunker? How long before I showed up, he definitely should've came to help when A-Train had his heart attack, unless he planned on him dying." Starlight, ever the investigator from her days of patrolling Des Moines alone, mumbled to herself.

"Yeah, they were hooking up, although it looked like a momentary fling, I thought it looked like the same guy when I met you at Believe, but I couldn't be sure, but after he came down to 'talk' with us at the black site, I'm sure it was the same guy, right M.M.?" Hughie said as M.M. just stared ahead, barely looking out of the side of his eyes, although Starlight was sure he was giving them enough attention.

"What did he want to talk about, was he trying to find out if I was betraying Vought, or find out what you might know about Compound V?" Annie pressed, turning to face Hughie fully as he looked to the side, a small flush covering his face.

"He mostly wanted to talk about... well..." Hughie stammered as M.M. sighed.

"He was asking questions about us killing Translucent, and about you being pregnant. He also mentioned something about you keeping your personal life separate from your work life. He was crazy interested in your baby though." M.M. cut through the bullshit, getting straight to the point.

Starlight, on the other hand, didn't know whether to be creeped out or even more scared, on top of Homelander possibly killing her at any moment she had to worry about Nick trying to... to what, breed her, experiment on her child!

Her panic must have shown as she felt one of Hughie's hands on her shoulder, softly pressing her.

"He said he was working on ensuring the possibility of a Supe child being born. Since Ryan, Homelander's son was born a Supe, he knows it's possible, but unsure how, so he wanted to study your... our baby." Hughie said as Annie looked out the window.

"Well, that probably explains what he was doing at Popclaw's place, her autopsy showed she was pregnant at the time, but..." Annie didn't really feel like getting into this here, trapped in a moving vehicle with Hughie specifically, and M.M. whomst she'd only met today. "After I found out about the baby, I... I took care of it. Wait, did you say Homelander has a son?!" Starlight was so lost in her own problems, she'd ignored that, but now was desperate to change the subject.

"Wait, you..." Hughie started only for M.M. to cut in with a firm, "Hughie."

"Yeah, Homelander had a son with... a woman we were looking for, we haven't seen him, but according to what that Nick guy said, boy's a natural born Supe, not injected with V like the others." M.M. continued.

"Oh, that's worrying? I'm honestly not sure how I feel about that. After so many people were told they were born with their powers, myself included, the idea that it was possible is... honestly terrifying, for more than one reason." Starlight said. nervously looking at her hands.

"Yeah, if it's true then Vought's coverup is certainly easier, since evidence of natural born Supe shows they weren't all made in a lab, but the way this Nick was talking, Ryan seems like an anomaly." M.M. said as Hughie sat silently in the back.

"Yeah... Nick is, was everything for the Seven, or at least he seemed that way." Starlight tried to explain. "At least for me in particular, he handled my combat training, interactions with other departments, even mediated with other members of the Seven like... like Deep. According to him, he was the team's medic, supplier, confidant, trainer, manager, and anything else they needed. After I told him I didn't need his help, he seemed to back off, but lately he's been taking a large focus in Stormfront. Maeve certainly doesn't seem to trust him, claims he's building a cult within Vought, and I doubt Homelander is happy to be handled like Nick does." Starlight exclaimed.

"Honestly, at the time he seemed friendly, helpful, even genuine, but now... it scares me in a way completely different to Homelander. Not to mention how powerful he is." Annie whispered, although the close quarters guaranteed both men heard her.

"What are his powers, in case we have to... you know?" Hughie said, as Starlight looked shocked.

"What kill him, I still don't think he needs to die! He's... controlling, manipulative, and the idea he would experiment on a baby is... horrifying, but as far as I can tell, he's different to Homelander, not violent, just empty." Annie tried to explain.

"Empty?" Hughie pushed for more information, eager to keep his mind busy.

"Yeah, he doesn't seem to have a filter sometimes, and he just does things, things are off, like he doesn't understand normalcy. Homelander is a psychopath, but Nick feels more like a sociopath or something, kind of like I don't know. I mean, maybe it has to do with his powers, he acts like he has a lot of them, but really I've only ever seen him use his normal one, matter manipulation." Starlight stated.

"Matter manipulation, like... like?" Hughie tried and failed to comprehend what he was being told.

"Like I've watched him turn water into rock, into Coke, into air, transform into me, change his skin into solar panels, his fingers into claws, honestly, I don't know what he can't do with it. The way he talks sometimes, he could be a child making himself look like an adult, or the opposite!" Starlight shouted, causing M.M. to slow down the car as he held a hand up to calm her down.

"Do you think he could copy another Supe's power if he transforms, or their weaknesses?" M.M. needled, having an idea as Starlight looked between the two as a silent conversation was happening.

"Maybe... no, he definitely can. My first patrol was with the Deep, and I asked Nick to get me out of it, I remember he turned into me and went in my place, and he used my powers, why?" Annie replied.

"Cause... that terrorist the other day, was with us, not one of ours, but he was on a boat with us three miles offshore, waiting to be picked up by the Feds, while we watched him fighting all of you downtown." M.M. explained as Starlight felt the air go out of her.

"Then, Nick... Oh my God, oh my FUCK!" Annie swore, "That's why he didn't worry about me getting ahold of that sample of V, he knew, he knew what I was planning, and had already planned around it, not to mention furthering Vought's campaign to get Supes into the military! I knew it was horrible timing, just as the news was running that story, A super villain just happens to attack, like hell!" Annie was getting angrier as she clenched her fists, suddenly eager to hit something. She was positive her eyes were glowing, but she couldn't squash down the boiling rage within her.

"Pull the car over, NOW!" She ordered as any attempts to argue were cut off by the look on her face as M.M. pulled on to the shoulder, Starlight barreling out the door as she stomped into the tall grass, not bothering to hide her feelings she yelled into the sky, "WHAT THE FUCK!"