Hughie Campbell suffers mental trauma after his girlfriend Robin is killed in a high-velocity impact with celebrity superhero A-Train. Lawyers from Vought International offer a $45,000 settlement, which Hughie hesitates to accept. Aspiring superhero Annie January auditions as "Starlight" and is accepted to join the Seven, following the retirement of the Lamplighter. Arriving at Seven headquarters, she is greeted by the Deep, who blackmails her into giving him oral sex.[6] Billy Butcher offers Hughie a chance to expose superhero corruption. Butcher takes Hughie to a secret "Supes club", and shows him security footage of A-Train laughing about Robin's death. Butcher asks Hughie to take the settlement money and to plant a bug at Seven Tower, but Hughie refuses. In Central Park, Annie meets Hughie. They motivate each other to stand up for themselves, and face their challenges. Hughie plants the bug. Translucent discovers the bug and confronts Hughie alone at work. Butcher arrives and together they incapacitate Translucent. Elsewhere, Homelander shoots down the Mayor of Baltimore's plane, owing to his attempts to blackmail Vought.
—Aaron Kyle