Brooklyn wondered what Butcher was going to do if Hughie said no to the help on getting vengeance for Robins wrongful death. Curious on what he had planned for Hughie to do if he said yes. She scrunched her nose and grabbed her stuff and walked to the bar that Butcher took her and Hughie to earlier that day.
She finds him sitting at the bar and honestly? He looks frustrated. It was amusing to see him that way, it must mean that things usually tend to never go his way after all. "You're still here?" Brooklyn asks him as she joins him at the bar, he's swirling whatever it was he was drinking around in the glass he had.
"You see, if you're in my line of work one tends to find solace in bars."
"I think you're just defeated."
Butcher raises an eyebrow. "What makes you so sure of that, love?"
"Because—" before Brooklyn could answer, the two of them turn to look at the door of the bar and see Hughie coming in. He comes to sit down next to Butcher, placing his hands on the bar and keeping his head down but giving Billy an answer on what he would like to do.
Hughie lets out a nervous sigh but gives Billy a final answer to which Brooklyn and Billy are surprised that he gave it. "Okay, man. I'm in."
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The three of them go into a small corner of the restaurant to call the lawyer from Vought that had came to Hughie's house the day before. All of this seemed pretty surreal; one second, he's talking about moving in with Robin, next thing he knows a supe makes a mad dash – quite literally – through Robin, then a man named Billy Butcher comes up to him at his work place claiming he and Brooklyn can help him out with his issue.
Was it weird that he was enjoying the adrenaline rush that he was feeling?
Brooklyn stood next to Butcher as Hughie stood to the right and had his phone up to his ear, waiting for the lawyer to pick up on the other line. "Okay, it's ringing." Hughie tells them.
"Yeah, hello?"
The lawyer picks up on the other line, he sounds irritable already. "Hi, hi, yes. Hello, Mr. Friedman. It's Hughie Campbell. I got your message, and-and forty-five k, it's just..." Butcher makes an 'okay' symbol with his hand when he hears Hughie start to faulter, Hughie notices it and makes it too as Brooklyn gave them a small smile. "...It's bingo, like, life-changing." Brooklyn didn't think that money was life changing, she knew Hughie thought it too and gave him a sympathetic look when he pretended to be thrilled about getting money for his girlfriends' death. But everyone in this room knew that they weren't going to let the lawyer just get away paying Hughie off. "Um, but I just need one thing before I-I sign anything. I need an apology from A-Train." He emphasizes that part.
The lawyer on the other side doesn't seem pleased with that extra add on. Like all lawyers, it sounded like he wanted to just get Hughie's case done and over with and move on to whatever fuck up Vought's super employees make. "Uh, he already apologized."
"Well, no, no, no." Hughie didn't want that half-assed PR written up apology, the real icing on the cake would be if he could get one from the damn man himself. "No, he hasn't. Yes, he sent his... he sent his regrets and his sympathies on TV, but..." Brooklyn keeps herself from snickering as Hughie added on the fake-forced extra tears, his voice breaking. "I-If I could just get an apology face-to-face, that would be fantastic." Brooklyn gave him a pat on the shoulder, letting him know he did a good job. "Just to... just for closure, just to put a b-button on it."
"Okay, yeah. But, uh, Hugh I'm telling you the answer's gonna be no."
"All right, in that... in that case, can you—" Hughie pauses for a second when he hears a beep on the other line, he looks at his phone and then up at Brooklyn and Butcher. "—Uh, hello?" he asks on the line just in case, "I think... they hung up." Hughie was a little disappointed he couldn't try to get more out of that deal with the lawyer. "I don't think they're gonna go for it." Hughie says, wondering if he already ruined the plan.
Butcher reassures Hughie that the plan will go smoothly even if they didn't fall for it. "Hmmm... oh yes, they will."
Hughie and Brooklyn look at each other as Butcher starts to walk away, the odd pair quickly follow behind Butchers footsteps like lost ducklings.
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Sitting in the back of Butchers car, Brooklyn listens as Butcher explains what Hughie is going to do with the bug he's going to be planting. It's a small black disk, could easily blend in with his phone or wallet, its small and no-one would bat an eye if he placed it where he was going to place it.
After the explanation and a few hesitant moments from Hughie, Brooklyn leans over the passenger seat in the front and looks up at The Seven Tower. "You think he's gonna mess up?" Brooklyn asked.
"The plan'll go off without a hitch. Don't you worry your pretty little head 'bout a thing. How do you know wee Hughie anyways?" Butcher mind as well ask since the two seem to have a little bit of time before Hughie came back.
"We went to high school with each other, moved up here from Ohio with my dad when I was a freshman in high school and Hughie was a junior." Butcher raises an eyebrow, wondering where the mum was at in the picture, but he didn't pry. "We did TV production with each other, but that class was all grades, so I don't think he even remembered me until I ran into him at the electronics store when I first moved out after graduation."
Butcher doesn't say much to Brooklyn when she gives a little back story to how she knew Hughie. "Seems like a good lad." Because most people, when it comes to situations like Hughie, would just tell Butcher to fuck off. Granted, not everyone has situations like Hughie's. "You ever have a bad run in with supes?" Butcher asked, wondering if she would go a bit further explaining as to why it was just her and her dad who moved to the big city.
"What d'you—" before Brooklyn could even answer, Hughie came back.
"—Holy shit, holy shit, that was stressful!" Hughie came back all excited but looking as if he was about to throw up with anxiety.
"You did good lad," Butcher says, "now the rest'll be easy breezy."
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a/n - i'm excited to FINALLY get this bit out of the way. the fun chapters will be coming up :)
