Chapter 12

On the day before Translucent was going to die I had a morbid sort of feeling around me. It was like his ghost was already glaring at me. He wasn’t dead yet, but I almost felt it. Like he was screaming ‘why don’t you save me!? Do something! Help!’

Eh, that was fair. I’d be pissed if someone decided to let me die instead of helping. But Translucent wasn’t important to the world, and I had no real care for the guy beyond what I would feel for basic human life. Maybe I should have worried about that, morally speaking, but I decided to ignore it. I did feel for his family though...

There were other things to worry about.

CNN Broadcast

A very pretty blonde woman was speaking to the camera, looking stone-faced and professional in a manner that had become commonplace for broadcasters the world over. Which was in stark contrast to the news of the day.

“-and once again, our ongoing coverage of the new website, Eggs Over Heroes, apparently created by the supervillain Eggman. The US government has been urging people to avoid posting or visiting the website, but tech experts say the website's cybersecurity have made any attempt to prevent anyone from visiting or shutting it down nearly impossible, as well as unable to track back to its source. Some media personalities have come under fire for publicly posting on the site, but those who wish to be anonymous have been equally impossible to track.”

“As for the actual content on the site, users have been able to post videos, images, status updates, and even play small video games. The biggest draw however has been a music video currently being played on the site.”

A brief clip began to play of Eggman… dancing in the middle of a warehouse. He was swaying his hips from side to side, bouncing to the music.

“Evil grooooows in the dark!”

Eggman did a quick spin, shifting his rotund form with far more agility than one would expect. He continued to dance as robots began to enter the camera's view from the shadows. Motobugs rolling in, Buzz Bombers zomming through the air, Crabmeat’s striding in sideways, a pair of massive Bamboo bears.

All of them dancing.

As the funky beats of The Poppy Family continued to play, Eggman did a dab, then shifted into a swaying cha-cha. The Bamboos did their own dance, Motobugs rolled in synchronization with the Buzz Bombers above, and the Crabmeats clapped their claws in beat with the tune.

“Evil grows in the dark

Where the sun it never shines

Evil grows in cracks and holes

And lives in people's minds”

The reporter returned on screen as the video played in the corner. “The video has already gained over 1.5 million views on its own website. On other social media sites, remixes, remakes, and parodies have exploded in popularity. The actual video has been uploaded on the same sites before being taken down, only to reappear almost immediately after. The description of the latest video reads, ‘Keep trying idiots, I’ve got bots like you wouldn’t believe!’”

The last was spoken almost flatly, but she was still clearly taken aback at that. “Along with those videos, footage of Eggman fighting The Deep and new member of the Seven, Starlight, has been uploaded, with music and editing as well. The Deep and Starlight were unavailable for comment, but they did win their fight, something Vought themselves pointed out, despite no arrest of Eggman himself.”

“In other news-”

Annie January/Starlight

Annie sat in a park, staring out into the distance as she listened to her mother on the phone. “No, they were really excited after the fight. They started talking about how they would promote me from then on… No, Homelander wasn't there. He’s really busy. Mom, I just want to say I-”

She stopped. Her mom was just overly excited. She could almost picture her exploding with joy and most likely cutting up magazines. “Okay, yeah mom. I need to go. I’ll keep you in the loop. Yeah… I love you too.”

Annie put down her phone and stared out at the park. Her hands were shaking.

Last night had been crazy. She’d fought a supervillain. A real one.

Eggman had seemed so funny on television. A goofy fat man with funny animal robots.

Then she’d had a bear hitting her harder than she’d ever been hit before, and suddenly everything changed. Back in Des Moines, she’d been in a few fights. Usually they were simple. She’d knock over some guys with her powers, get hit with some small caliber rounds in one circumstance. But nothing that hurt as much as that.

Those bears looked so stupid until they hit her. When she blocked their blows, she felt the bones in her arms crack. She could still taste blood in her mouth and remembering those explosions from those stupid monkey’s bombs made her ears ring.

Annie had wanted to be a true hero for a long time. Not for the fame or fortune, but to do the right thing. And in some ways, that fight felt like the first time she’d come close.

Then it all came crashing down.

Vought had grabbed her and the Deep after the fight, bringing them back to the tower. There, the Vought lady, Ashley Barrett, the Director of Talent Relations, spoke to her. At first, things had been very normal. They asked what happened, who they fought, how the fight had gone and other usual things.

Then they played the music video.

Eggman had recorded the fight. He’d recorded it from multiple angles, with high-def images. Then he’d edited it and added a high energy beat while clips of the Deep and her fighting the robots played. They looked heroic. He’d cut out all the parts where she’d been terrified out of her mind.

Why would he do that? He had embarrassed the Seven before, now he was deliberately trying to make her and the Deep look good? She brought that up. Annie didn’t get the response she expected.

“Who cares?”

Inside Vought, the night before she would end up walking over to the park, Annie stared at Ashley. The redheaded woman who had just spoken said the words so bluntly they didn’t register for a moment.

“I mean-” Annie tried to figure out how to explain it. “Shouldn’t we try to figure that out? We need to find out what his plans are, why he’s doing this. If we can figure that out, we can stop him-”

“Oh come on Starlight, that’s not important,” Ashley said.

“Why wouldn’t that be important!?”

“Well, it’s not what we need to worry about,” Ashley said in what she must have thought was a comforting way. “Starlight, think about it. We just got a big win against Eggman.”

“He got away with 500,000 dollars.”

“Chump change! I’m talking about the optics of this. We needed a win, and right now, you and the Deep look like you chased him off.”

Because of a video Eggman made.

“So, we’re going to make sure the public knows. We’ll do some press tours, some interviews, film a commercial or two.”

Ashley turned and looked over at the other two people in the room. “This is Seth and Evan from marketing, they have some brilliant ideas on how to capitalize on all the buzz. Gentlemen.”

A young black man and an older white man. They immediately started talking, the black man, Seth apparently, starting.

“Oh yes, we are so excited for this. Okay, follow us on this. Small town Iowa girl comes into the big city and becomes an unexpected prodigy chosen for the Seven!”

The other man, Evan, took over. “Destined for greatness, chosen to fight alongside her heroes, when suddenly, bam!” he clapped his hands for dramatic effect. “A real supervillain comes out of the blue! Using automated machines to attack, to steal from the people, she and one of her greatest heroes fight side by side!”

Annie felt a small smile on her face at the description of that. That sounded good. Heroic, like she was doing the right thing. Then Seth spoke.

“Now, she gets into the fight. She’s scared. She’s terrified. But she pulls herself together, beats back the bad guy! And now, rather than cower in fear! She adapts, transforms!”

“Embraces her feminine strength!”

The pair was getting excited. Annie was starting to get worried.

“Preparing to fight off the forces of an evil manufacturer of automated robots, she reaches for that feminine strength, and prepares for the fight of her life!”

“Say hello to the new Staaaaarlight!”

A woman who had been standing calmly in the back of the room took a gold blanket off of a mannequin. Starlight noticed three things.

First, the gauntlets. Big looking, armored, made of metal, painted her white and gold colors.

Second, the boots. Also gold, but to the point of stupidity. They looked so damn heavy and shiny.

The last thing she noticed was the cleavage. The deep, deep cleavage, leaving everything open from the edges of her nipples to her groin.

Seth, Evan, and Ashley looked so proud. Annie felt horrified.

“...I’m not wearing that.”

They looked at her like she’d asked them to kill puppies.

“What?” the woman who had pulled off the blanket said.

“Why not? It’s beautiful,” Ashley’s supportive voice was gone. Now she sounded extremely hostile. Annie barely had time to wonder just how fake her earlier cheeriness had been before Seth spoke up.

“Yeah, look at it! We gave you armor! You know, so you could punch the robots harder!” He did some excited punching moves.

“I don’t mind the gauntlets, but if you were going to give me armor, why did you leave my damn chest open?”

“...Because you’re bulletproof?” Evan asked hesitantly.

“Bulletproof, not laserproof as far as I know, or whatever other stuff Eggman is going to bring!” Annie shook her head. “And this just isn’t me.”

“Oh come on, it’s feminist, it’s powerful-”

“Feminist?” Annie asked, stunned.

“It’s showing you taking a hold of your sexuality, turning it into power to fight evil!”

Annie thought back to the end of the fight. What Eggman had said. Get some better gear. Armored costumes at least.

It was partially armored at least, but somehow she got the feeling he would have agreed about it not being enough.

“Look, I appreciate what you think you’re doing, but I like my costume,” Annie said, speaking as calmly as she could. “I don’t mind adding the gauntlets, those make sense, but the rest of it is too much.”

“You’re wearing that,” Ashley said. Annie stared at the angry redhead, stunned. Apparently she’d decided to go with the hard sell.

“I don’t have to. I’m allowed to wear what I want, to expose only as much as I want, especially when it has my safety in mind.”

“Oh, you are,” a new voice said.

They turned to see Madelyn Stillwell enter the room with Homelander just a step behind her. Madelyn had a smile on her face. “You can wear anything you want… when you aren’t a member of the Seven.”

Annie felt her heart drop into her stomach at the smug smile on Madelyn’s face. “But right now? You’re wearing that. All of it.”

“I think it looks nice,” Homelander said, smirking. It was a very unkind smirk, nothing like his megawatt smiles on television. “Really shows off what you got.”

And in that moment, Annie never felt more alone.

Now she was here, in the park. She felt like shit. All she wanted was to help people. For a moment, just a moment, she thought she’d gotten that. Then Vought seemed to come down and destroy that. Not just the costume, but all of the scheduling they had ready. She had to go to a dozen events, all timed one after another. Even her hero work was going to be scheduled. Not patrolling like back in Des Moines or investigating Eggman in some way. More like a big showboat.

Then they dropped another bomb. She’d be marketed as an anti-robot hero. They were going to have her speak about automation taking jobs from people, about needing to get back to basics.

It wasn’t like she didn’t feel for people who lost their jobs when robots replaced them, but she wasn’t sure just blaming robots for that was the solution, especially when it came to Eggman of all people. Wasn’t there a lot more behind that, corporations and bigwigs pushing for cheaper labor at the cost of human interests? She was pretty sure that it was more complicated than the Vought marketing guys were making it.

And really, she didn’t want to be a part of that. She wanted to save people, in her costume. She wanted to actively hunt down Eggman, not just do scheduled missions.

But she still wanted to be part of the Seven. She’d wanted it since she was a kid. The Deep had said it in the beginning. They had so many resources to see crime as it happened that she could help so many people, maybe inspire someone like she had been inspired.

Like Homelander had, until he’d started acting like a jerk.

Annie sniffled, rubbing at her face. Then the guy next to her, who had been eating quietly, spoke up.

“Um,” she looked up at him. He was tall, thin. A flop of brown hair rested on his head. He looked hesitant. “Excuse me, sorry, a-are you okay?”

Annie stared at him.

“J-Just seemed like a tough call,” he said kindly.

And that was how Annie met Hughie.

Colin Kintober

While Annie and Hughie were facing destiny, Colin was entering an operating room.

An experimental operating room.

Julian had created a transportable operating room, purchasing the necessary medical tools across the board. Within that room, there was enough material to do all but the most in-depth medical procedures. So they wouldn’t be able to move a brain from one human to another, but anything else was fair game.

Then he’d taken those tools and placed them in the MCR, Moving Clean Room. It was able to be transported by helicopter, large enough to hold up to 8 medical professionals and two patients (if a bit cramped), had dozens of failsafes to keep the inside clean, and a small room just in front of the door to allow for thorough scrub-ups.

Of course, that all was contained in a very pricey, durable, and advanced room, made to be lifted and dropped anywhere in the world. They likely would sell the model down the road.

But right now, it would be used on just one patient.

As Colin finished washing his hands, he looked up at the window, one of a few set into the walls of the MCR.

Outside, the tropical paradise that had become Eggman’s future base was as tranquil as ever.

“This really is quite the beautiful location,” Colin said.

A speaker in the ceiling spoke with Julian’s voice. “Yeah, but I can’t wait to get started building shit there.”

“I thought you might be eager, considering the number of blueprints you’ve created.”

Julian scoffed. “Don’t blame me. I keep trying to make a solid base, but something in the design eludes me.”

“A problem for later,” Colin said calmly. His AI mind was working through the various files he’d downloaded. Footage of various surgeries, procedures, dozens of techniques and failsafes in case the worst happened. He needed to be careful. He was technically the only real medical professional in the area.

Not to say he wouldn’t have help.

As he entered the main surgery room, a machine set up with multiple arms rested above the patient. Each arm had a medical tool of some sort, made for a specific purpose. Colin walked up and took a hold of a cable hanging on the machine. Then he inserted it into his back, into a port made just for that cable.

His mind, well, his software really, linked into the machine. Seconds later, it began moving at his command. Perfect.

“How is he?” Julian asked.

Colin looked down at the man of the hour.

Gordon was sedated, resting peacefully on the surgical bed.

“Peaceful.”

“Good. Well doctor, what’s first?”

Colin took a hold of a scalpel. “First, we open up his wrists and insert the implants. And can you please put on something classical.”

“Sure thing.”

After a moment, the tunes of Eminem’s Lose Yourself began to play. Colin smirked. “Perfection.”

With that, he began to cut. First, arms, then the heart, inner thighs, and finally his neck, inserting implants, making changes to his system. Where biology had failed to adjust to his powers, technology would take over.

It was going to be a very long operation.

Author’s Note: Sorry this is so late, it’s been a rough few weeks. But I’ll get back to it asap.

Meantime, we’re slowly getting into the plot. If, a very out of order plot. The costume conversation wasn't supposed to happen for a while, and this version has some legit armor on her fists and feet.

I maintain that Starlight would have been devastated at the state of the Seven no matter what. She’s just too good a person, man. For someone who wants to be a real hero, finding out the world has so few HURTS.

Patreon, and will be up elsewhere Tuesday, if I have my timing right. I'm gonna work on this one as well. I wonder how season 3 of the show will go...