A deal with Annie

Lucian fished his phone out from under his pillow.

The screen lit up with a faint glow.

He opened his contacts, his thumb hovering over the name "Iowa" for two seconds.

He couldn't cut this connection just yet.

Lucian began composing a text.

Asking outright, "Does Translucent have any events coming up?" would make his intentions too obvious.

He had to dress it up a little.

"Still awake? Sorry to trouble you, but I have a favor to ask about my roommate."

Send.

He laid the phone facedown on the bed. He didn't expect Annie to reply instantly. After all, at this hour, normal people were asleep and dreaming.

Bzzz.

The phone vibrated.

Lucian turned it over.

Annie: "What is it? Let's hear it."

She was still awake at this hour.

Several possibilities flashed through Lucian's mind: insomnia, being on duty, or simply being too disgusted by those people at Vought to sleep.

Whichever it was, it was good news for him.

"My roommate is a diehard Translucent fan. I ran my mouth before and bragged that I knew Starlight. Now he keeps pestering me every day, insisting I ask you whether Translucent has any public appearances coming up. He wants to get an autograph in person."

Lucian checked his wording again.

"Knew Starlight," not "had Starlight's contact information."

"Knew" struck just the right balance. It explained why he could contact Annie without making her feel he treated her as some tool at his beck and call.

Send.

Thirty seconds later, Annie's reply popped up.

"Wait."

"You bragged to your roommate that you knew me?"

The corner of Lucian's eye twitched as he read the message.

This girl's focus was always so peculiar.

Annie's second message popped up right after it: "So you've been going around school telling everyone you know someone in The Seven?"

The third: "...Hahahahaha."

The fourth: "So you do that kind of thing too."

"I wasn't telling everyone. I only mentioned it to one roommate," Lucian typed unhurriedly. "He asked why I was smiling so much after taking a call that day, and I casually mentioned I'd gotten to know you. He remembered."

After sending it, Lucian stared at the screen.

Annie went quiet for almost a minute.

Then a message popped up.

"You were smiling when you took my call?"

Lucian didn't reply immediately. He deliberately waited forty seconds before leisurely typing a line to steer the conversation back on track.

"Back to business. Can you ask about Translucent's events for me?"

Annie: "Yes."

Annie: "I'll check his upcoming public schedule for you. But I can't access Vought's schedule whenever I want, so it might take a couple of days."

Lucian: "No rush. Thanks."

Annie: "Don't thank me yet."

Annie: "I have a condition."

Lucian's thumb stopped.

Annie: "You have to come hang out with me."

Annie: "Any day is fine. This place is driving me crazy. Every day, I'm putting on an act for everyone."

The cold light of the phone screen shone on Lucian's face.

One outing with her. The request itself wasn't unreasonable. It could even count as an extra benefit-face-to-face contact meant more exchanges of information.

But the way Annie had made the request gave Lucian something else to consider.

She wasn't demanding something. It was more like she was asking for help.

"This place is driving me crazy." Vought Tower, that glamorous superhero headquarters, was a cage to her.

Lucian typed: "Sure. Pick a time."

Annie's reply came almost instantly.

"Really?"

"You won't stand me up, will you?"

"I'm telling you, apart from you, I can't even find anyone I can have a normal conversation with anymore."

The three messages came like machine-gun fire, no more than two seconds apart. In those densely packed words, Lucian could read a long-suppressed urge to talk.

Annie: "You have no idea how disgusting Vought is."

Annie: "I told you before that they gave me a new costume. I didn't want to wear it, so they replaced it with another one that was practically the same."

Annie: "Then they told me it was a 'brand upgrade.'"

Annie: "I argued my case and refused, so they pulled out the contract and said I could refuse to wear it, but the penalty was forty-seven million."

Lucian watched the message bubbles keep appearing on the screen.

Annie was using him as someone to vent to.

In interpersonal relationships, this was a very clear signal. She had already placed him in her "safe zone," someone around whom she could let down her guard without having to maintain her "Starlight" persona.

That was exactly where Lucian needed to be.

"Forty-seven million," Lucian replied. "They even calculated the penalty down to the last million. Looks like this costume wasn't a spur-of-the-moment idea."

Annie: "Of course it wasn't! Nothing Vought does is spur-of-the-moment. Every step is calculated. Before you even sign the contract, they've already planned out how to squeeze you dry for the next ten years!"

Annie: "Oh, right."

Annie: "Don't ever sign any documents from Vought."

Annie: "Any."

Annie: "I'm serious."

Lucian stared at the last three messages and tapped the screen lightly.

"I'll remember that," Lucian replied. "Pick a time, and I'll come take a walk with you. Consider it repayment for this favor."

Annie: "It's not a favor!"

Annie: "I just...want a normal person to talk to."

Annie: "How about this Saturday afternoon? Central Park. Don't wear anything too conspicuous. I'll wear a hat."

"Okay."

Annie: "It's a deal, then. I'll go check Translucent's schedule for you."

Annie: "Good night."

Lucian locked the screen.

Saturday. Central Park.

Two days away.

If Annie could get Translucent's schedule before Saturday, he could pinpoint exactly when and where Doppelganger would appear as his stand-in. Then, whether he intercepted him at the event or followed him backstage to strike...

Doppelganger's ability would be his.

Changing his appearance and build at will. The ability itself might not offer much in combat, but its strategic value was immeasurable.

With it, he could disguise himself as anyone and infiltrate Vought Tower. He could replace a member of The Seven and gain access to more closely guarded secrets.

He could even take on Homelander's face and turn everything upside down at precisely the right moment.

Lucian tucked his phone back under the pillow.

He closed his eyes. The Thermonuclear Engine in his chest ran steadily, providing an endless stream of energy.

The System Panel appeared on his retinas.

[Current charge progress: 0.6%]

Up by 0.1% from before.

How long would a full charge take at this rate? Lucian did some mental arithmetic.

About nine hundred thousand hours. Thirty-seven thousand five hundred days.

A hundred years.

Long enough to make him want to curse.

Still, he quickly adjusted his mindset. Since the Thermonuclear Engine could charge it, energy attacks like Stormfront's lightning and Homelander's Heat Vision should also be able to serve as his "power banks." If all else failed, he could get V1 for immortality. Then he could afford to wait a hundred years.

As long as there was a path forward, he wasn't at a dead end.

Bzzz.

The phone vibrated again.

Lucian fished it out again, thinking Annie had sent another complaint.

She hadn't.

It was a news notification.

[Breaking: The Seven's Translucent reportedly absent from Freedom Foundation charity gala. Vought International responds that he is on a "highly classified mission"-]

Lucian swiped away the notification.

It had begun.

Vought's cover-up was already underway. A line like "highly classified mission" could fool the media for a week or two at most. Once letters from sponsors' lawyers piled up on Madelyn's desk, it would be Doppelganger's turn to take the stage.

All he needed to do was wait.

Wait for that schedule from Annie.

Wait for his prey to walk into the spotlight on his own.

Daylight squeezed through a gap in the curtains, drawing a thin white line across the floor. Lucian rolled over, about to get a little sleep.

The phone vibrated for the third time.

It was Annie.

Annie: "Oh, I forgot to ask."

Annie: "Were you really smiling when you took my call?"

Lucian stared at the little line of text on the screen. In the darkness, without even noticing it himself, the corners of his tightly pressed lips curved ever so slightly.

He locked the screen without replying.

Let her guess.