Survey Says: Ask Again Later

Starlight felt like a scolded child as she sat in Nick's office, letting him tend to her wounds. Honestly, she'd've rather kept it quiet and not had to deal with this, but someone shooting a rifle at one of the Seven in broad daylight was difficult to keep quiet. Just like he'd warned, a lack of privacy came with the territory...

It didn't help that she hadn't gotten a straight answer out of Hughie... no, she had gotten one, just not the one she'd wanted. He was saying something about Compound V, and Supes being made, Starlight didn't even know where to start unpacking that.

"How about you do me a favor, and next time you want to sneak off to meet up with your boytoy, maybe make sure he doesn't have a gun, or that he wasn't followed by someone with a bigger gun?" Nick chided as he softly rubbed the dark bruise on her shoulder.

"You're lucky, it only caught you in the shoulder, so there's no risk of internal damage... which doesn't explain the rings around your eyes. Has Hughie been keeping you up that much?" Nick teased, which only made Star more pissed.

"If that's all you want to talk about, I have things to do Nick!" She snapped as she practically flew out of the office in a huff.

Once outside, she barely made it a few steps before leaning against the wall, a headache growing in the back of her skull, probably a consequence of getting shot and all the stress building up. She shouldn't have snapped, if anyone could've gotten her answers about some **** making Supes, it would be him.

She didn't even know why she snapped, she usually was more patient, maybe with everything that had happened with Deep, she was just more trigger-happy about sexual teasing.

Maybe she was on her period, she humorously thought, that was always the go-to excuse when she acted out growing up.

Dented her locker when her boyfriend broke up with her, must be on her period... spilled chocolate pudding on Stacy Heimblauc's new jacket after she tripped Annie coming out of Pre-Calc, must be her period... or Star's favorite, when she refused to sleep with the star quarterback when they won State, her own mother sat her down to teach her about alternative methods when a girl was on her period!

As if punctuating her inner thoughts, the overhead lights flickered before she got a clamp on her powers.

She was probably on her period, ironically, it usually came around this time every month, so now she'd have to worry about cramps and flow with her fucking costume showing off everything, and of course it would be white so even the slightest hint of blood would stain and end up as some cover for a trashy tabloid and...

Annie turned into one of the women's restrooms, secluding herself in a stall as she felt tears prickle the edge of her eyes as everything seemed to hit her again, Hughie's betrayal, the possibility of him being right, was she just some lab experiment? Did her mom know? The fear as Homelander glared at her with those glowing eyes. The memories of her on her knees as Deep looked down at her! The heckling, the looks, it was all just too much!

Annie didn't know how long she was i there, but when she came out she actually paused, looking around as if sensing someone watching before remembering that, oh yeah, her boyfriend killed the Great Voyeur, and felt a fresh round of tears hit before the door opened.

Star sniffled for a second, making herself presentable as Stormfront looked at her with... understanding?

"Hard day? I heard about your boyfriend, must be hard having everyone calling him a killer, going after Supes like that, genocidal extremist much?" Storm commented, washing her hands without meeting Star's eyes.

"He's not like that, he's not... he's just..." She tried to say, but couldn't find the right words.

"Misunderstood? Yeah, that's what most groupies say about their cult leader boyfriends." Storm pointed out.

"Whatever, I don't really know you well enough to get into it, but I hope we can be friends once you join up." Starlight smiled, feeling some light come back into her day.

"Yeah, Nick's been super helpful, a real hands-on go-between for me and Vought. He's taking me out to dinner to discuss some things with me." Storm answered the unasked question as to why she was dressed in civilian clothes rather than her uniform.

Honestly, she looked like a high ranking official, like a soldier or cop in dress uniform, in fact, Star didn't know how she missed the hat resting on the sink top.

"Hey, listen, if Nick gets a little too intense, let me know, okay." Star tried to float the suggestion, but judging from Stormfront's expression, she didn't like the implication.

"Look, just don't let him make you do anything that makes you uncomfortable, okay?" Star tried again, but got an even more irritated expression from the new member of the Seven.

"Are you saying you think I'd sleep with him just to get on the Seven? Wow Star, just because you're having a girl power, chicks before dicks things right now, I think I can get into the Seven on my own merits without having to spread my legs!" Strom grabbed her cap, storming out, no pun intended.

Her last words as she went out the door echoed in the now empty restroom, "And if a guy sticks his dick in your mouth, and you don't want him to, the Bite! It! Off!"