She couldn't tell how long the acceleration took, a minute or two or maybe three as she suddenly felt they were slowing down.
Homelander suddenly twirled and they were right side up. She could see the approaching parking lot of a Motel 5.
"You take Room 15, its where the girl is." He commanded her firmly as they landed. "I'll take 7 and have a word with her would be pimps." He finished as he broke off their embrace.
"Right!" she affirmed as her mind went into 'hero' mode. "Wait. John wait." He turned back to her.
"Don't" his intense questioning gaze made her hesitate. "Don't, don't kill them. They need to face justice, real justice."
His gaze lingered on her for a brief second then snorted as if to hold back a laugh and turned around, cape flapping behind him.
'Well it's the best I can get now.' With her mind firm she set out to complete her task.
She banged loudly on the door and yelled "Open up!". A brief look at Homelander she saw he hadn't even bothered with any 'pleasantries' and simply smashed his door.
"Hey maderchod I paid for an hour!" she heard the man yell from inside.
Taking that as all the confirmation she needed she smashed through the door as well.
The sight that greeted her infuriated her.
A slightly overweight brown girl with long hair, a nose earing and poorly done make up was backing up to the corner of the room doing her best to hide her nakedness while a skinny tall hairy brown man in his underwear was scrambling off the bed.
"What the bloody fuck who are you?" he started shouting, his English heavily accented. "You can't come here! I paid the money!" he continued slipping into his mother tongue. Starlight could only assume they were not nice things.
"Shut up!" she barked at him. "You're under arrest you have the right" she didn't get to finish as the weasel looking man now enraged grabbed his jeans and shoes and rushed her. "FUCK YOU BLOODY FUCK!"
Maybe because she wasn't in costume he thought he could overpower her because of her smaller frame or maybe it was the panic and adrenaline but he came straight at her. Whether he was trying to escape or to fight her it didn't matter, it was a stupid move on his part.
She was stronger and faster than him by a very wide margin. As he approached she simply slapped him hard enough that he fell down like a sack of potatoes fully unconscious.
She hoped she hadn't caused any permanent damage.
The girl immediately yelled.
"Wait, I'm not going to hurt you! I'm Starlight!" she said and glowed her eyes. "I'm not here to hurt you! I'm here to help!" She said and gave the frightened girl a bed sheet to cover herself up.
"It's going to be alright! I promise you! It's going to be alright!" the girl only nodded and cowered as she wrapped the sheet around her.
Starlight ripped a power cord from the lamp and secured the now stirring man.
"I see you're done your part."
"Homelander!" both her and the girl exclaimed at the same time.
"Right." He said and nodded to the girl. "All is going to be fine. Police are on the way! We are going to get you help." He said to the frightened girl as he went and picked up her clothing put it in bundle and handed it to her.
Annie couldn't help but ask. "And the other people are they-"
"Secure." He said. "No issues. Now police will be here in a few minutes. Why don't you stay here with-" and here he paused and looked at the girl "eh, sorry what's your name darling?"
The girl only looked at him for a moment then slowly said.
"Inaya sir."
"Thank you." He said and turned back to Annie. "You stay here with Inaya and make sure she is comfortable while I go deal with everything else."
Starlight looked at him briefly then at the scarred girl and agreed.
It didn't take long for the police and ambulances to come. They both gave their statements with her focusing on the state of the girl for both police and EMT workers while Homelander detailed how he'd been tracking the gang.
She was surprised when the two would be pimps both in their early twenties confessed to everything and more on the spot to the police officers.
Whatever Homelander had done or said to them before the authorities arrived had been very effective.
They both watched in silence as the police finished and left as well.
"Do you think they will follow up on the rest of the gang?" she asked.
"They will. Now that we've gotten involved." He said neutrally. "For a while at least."
She looked at him to continue.
"This motel." He gestured to the building. "The owners are part of the gang. They own a few properties around the state. Human trafficking, drug distribution and a plethora of other things are facilitated through them."
"Then why didn't you mention it-"
"No evidence." He interrupted her. "But I know they are part of it. Here we caught these guys in the act. With plenty of evidence. These are dumb young ones, low on the totem pole, they panicked and even confessed." He said with a sly smile. "The older ones are smarter. If we want anything to stick we'll need real evidence. I don't want to spook them. They will eventually make mistakes."
"I see." she said as she absorbed his words. 'Just a few months ago he would have killed all of them' she thought.