5, 6, 7, 8, Enemies are at the Gates

Starlight groaned as she watched the live news report at the docks where 'Starlight' and the Deep had made a **** bust. Deep was still the same egotistical prick talking about his dive being 'fucking cherry'. Even worse than Deep however, was Nick masquerading as her!

Honestly, between the peace signs, needless hair flips, and way he worded everything, it was like he was painting her as some sort of vapid blonde teenage sex symbol. Although, he did seem even younger than her somehow, so maybe he thought that was how girls acted, she ask him tomorrow.

Pushing her phone into her pocket with a sigh, she made her way home. She'd heard that some of the Seven actually lived in the Tower, but she needed some privacy after her day to unwind before she blow her top and went supernova.

"Come on doll, stop struggling so much." Star heard the words, her training kicking in. Looking down the alley, the situation was clear to see, two men were surrounding a women, blocking her escape with a car.

"Yeah agreed to this you know, what did you think would happen after we bought you dinner, the way you kept sucking on your drink.

"Don't forget how she bent over, bitch wasn't even wearing panties, everyone in the restaurant could see it, I bet we could charge money from all the guys in there that wanted a piece of you." A reedy second voice said, as the second guy approached, the low streetlight catching on something in his hand, a knife or a gun?

Either way, Starlight wasn't going to wait around to find out, it didn't matter what weapon he had if she just took him out first.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Starlight shouted down the alley, approaching slowly.

"Oh, we gots a hero Boss, nobody told me it was Two-for-One Special day." The reedy one called out, coming towards her, flipping what she could now see was a knife in his hands.

"You can have the whiny bitch, I want some chocolate." The first guy yelled, bending the helpless victim on the back of the car, fumbling with his pants with his free hand.

Contrary to Starlight's TV counterpart, she opted to simply light up her hand, throwing a beam of light into the approaching thug, tossing him back like a wooden puppet as he bounced off the side of the car, denting the door as he groaned, attempting to get his bearings.

Taking the hint, 'Boss' let go of the girl, who tried to hobble away in a pair of heels before simply dropping them, sprinting away as Starlight reached the first guy, dodging the painfully weak punch and throwing him over the car, putting herself between the two currently downed thugs and their would-be victim.

"Aww, I thought you wanted to play with me." Starlight said sadly, before lashing out with a kick that truly put both of their lights out. "Hmm, maybe it is fun to taunt people." Starlight muttered to herself, already pulling her phone free to call 911.

==================================================================================================

It was the next day when Nick caught Starlight walking through the halls.

"Hey, Star, can I talk to you for a minute?" He called out as she nodded, following him to his 'office'.

"Now I don't case, but I saw you beat up two guys in an alley last night, any particular reason why?" Nick queried, his arms crossed as he leaned back against his desk.

Already she was incensed, "Those two guys were about to **** a girl, was I just supposed to stand there and watch!?" Her tone had more than enough bite as he held up his hands in a placating motion.

"I figured, you're not the type to go flying off the handle at random people on the street, the problem is..." He trailed off, reaching behind him as he pulled up a tablet, tapping on the screen for a few seconds before showing it to her.

It showed the guy walk up to her, no audio,figures, and then she knocked him back, and then showed her knocking the other guy over his car off-screen, before finishing with perhaps the most damning evidence, she smiled before getting her phone out.

"That's not the way it happened, I swear, that camera doesn't even show the girl that was there!" Starlight tried to defend herself.

"I know, I trust you Star, but the evidence is what it is. This isn't going to help with the upcoming proposal that Vought Supes, The Seven especially, should start wearing body-cams when in the field, worse still, this happened on your way home so now they'll probably say you should wear one 24/7 unless you're in the bathroom or something, I don't know I just work here no need for me to be informed on these matters..." He started muttering as he trailed off.

"Never mind that though, standard procedure is for you to sit with Legal for a few hours, let them yell at you about how stupid you are, and then we'll go from there okay." He groused as he took a seat behind his desk, spinning around as he ran a hand over the stone wall, the grey concrete vanishing in favor of clear glass.

Feeling like the one-sided discussion was over, Star forlornly left the office, before finding her way down the Legal.

==================================================================================================

It was several days later when Starlight had yet another enlightening conversation, although this one was not with Nick, but rather Queen Maeve, her fellow female Supe on the Seven.

"He's got his claws in you too huh?" She heard a female voice say as she checked her appearance in the mirror of the women's bathroom.

"What do you mean?" She responded, turning to see Queen Maeve standing there.

"Nick, our omnipotent 'manager'. Surely you can see what he's doing, or are you really that naive?" Maeve asked harshly as Star took a step back, her brows furrowing in confusion.

"Just because I'm new doesn't mean I don't know what's going on. Nick's been helping me get used to things around her, nothing else." Starlight replied as Maeve scoffed.

"Right, because everybody just helps out little miss sunshine with whatever problem she has. He's using you, it may not be as forward as Deep or overwhelming a Homelander, but Nick already has his hooks in you, and before you know it, he'll have his dick in you as well, and the whole time he'll make you think it's just payback for all the messes he's gotten you out of, he'll make you think that after ever mistake you've made, the least you can do is give him a little bit of your personal time. I wonder how long it will take him to press the advantage on a pretty little girl like you? Hmm, maybe you're already giving in, sneaking kisses in his office, soft caresses, maybe you gave in at the first sign and let him have his way with you." Maeve ranted as Starlight started to look for the door.

"And don't think you'll be the only one, he's already gathering a following of men and women, building a cult within the walls of an enterprise, how novel." Maeve said as she brushed past Starlight, leaving her alone in the opulent bathroom with only her thoughts for company.

==================================================================================================

It was later that same day when Starlight finally decided on her course of action.

"Nick, can I speak to you for a little bit?" She called out, spotting her manager from the back as he paused, turning to face her, a queried look on his face. "It won't take long, I promise." Starlight added as he said "Sure." and shrugged.

They quickly found an empty room, it looked like a spare copy room, which was strange because Starlight had never seen the first one.

"I was just wondering if you could tell me why you're being so nice to me, it seems like a lot for you to only be looking out for me. I'm not naive you know, I never see you helping anyone else, never cleaning up someone else's mess!" Starlight decided to go for a rather straightforward approach.

"Well, if I'm being honest, you're making a lot of mistakes. I don't do as much with the others because they're experienced, they know to always make sure a camera is watching them if they make a 'citizen's arrest', they have their established images whereas yours is still being formed in the public eye, my point is they don't need as much minding to manage them." Nick responded giving her a friendly pat on the head as she frowned.

"So are we going to talk about that kiss the other day, I don't really like the idea of you running around in my body ruining that image you just mentioned." Star said trying to holding firm as he looked at her with a smirk.

"Okay, I understand, baby bird wants to leave the nest, I can respect that. Just know that if you need me, for anything I'm here for you." He said as Starlight clenched her fist holding back on outright accusing her manager.

"Is something the matter?" He asked, lifting her head with a finger a she backed away from him. He looked confused for a second before sighing.

"Sorry, maybe I overstepped there, I have been pushing you rather hard, it won't happen again." Nick said as he brushed passed her to leave, only for her courage, or maybe it was stupidity, to show itself.

"I'm not a little girl, and I'm sorry that I'm giving you so much work to do." Starlight ran out past him, disappearing around a corner as he watched from behind.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

You stood atop Vought Towers, a superior grin etched on your face.

"They still don't get it, I'm not trying to build a cult here, I don't want to be adored, to rule over everything." You whispered into the howling wind as you closed your eyes, throwing yours arms out as if embracing the sky itself.

"I want to to look upon everything I have touched, that I have created, molded, crafted, formed, twist, and changed." Your eyes flew open, a maddening look in them.

"I don't want to be a king, I WANT TO BE A GOD!" No one could hear your laughter, but maybe it was better that way.