Hughie

Hughie stepped out of his house, slung his bag over his shoulders and walked down the bustling city streets. He looked down at his phone, reading the route he'd marked on google maps that would lead him straight to one of the FBSA offices.

He glanced up at the notification messages.

23 missed calls, all from his father.

Hughie let out a small chuckle and went on his way.

A mechanical-sounding screech caught his ears, forcing his eyes to lock on to a formation of 4 jets - and one supe - shooting through the sky faster than the speed of sound. The supe left behind a glowing blue trail in his wake, as if he were a rocket flying into the stratosphere. Robin would've been able to tell Hughie what kind of jets those were, what formation that was called, and which supe was flying alongside them. But Hughie wasn't a military nerd, and he didn't recognise that supe. There was probably some asshole in a nearby state wreaking havoc on civilian airliners or something.

The approaching clouds reached towards the sun like a grasping hand, dimming its light and covering the city in a drab, dull hue. Hughie walked through the hustle and bustle of Times Square, the digital screens and billboards displaying a number of different ads. One of Lustrous holding up a bottle of hair conditioner, another of Black Hole eating burgers at a fast food restaurant. And finally, a patriotic image of The Seven standing side by side as they look off into the horizon. With The Chosen being shown as silhouettes in the sky. People always got excited and wide-eyed when it came to those two teams. But who could blame them? The Chosen were the best of the best back in their day, and The Seven continued their legacy.

Suddenly, Hughie's phone began to ring. He glanced at the caller ID, let out an amused sigh, and stopped walking to answer it.

"Hey dad."

"Hughie! Oh my god, finally! I've been calling you all morning, why didn't you answer?"

"My phone was off. I'm only using it now so I can find my way to the FBSA office near Times Square."

A long pause followed, his father seemingly in deep contemplation.

"Why did you call me, dad?"

His father stayed silent for a little while longer.

"Do... Do you really need to... Go public with your powers?" He finally asked.

Hughie's raised his left eyebrow.

"Why are you bringing this up now?"

"Because I'm worried, Hughie. Being a supe is already a burden in and of itself. But being a hero?"

Hughie rolled his eyes.

"Dad, I've been wanting this my entire life. Can't you just be happy for me?"

"It's hard to 'be happy' when I know that my son might get killed by a supe-terrorist!" His father's yelling took him aback. Hughie had never heard his father shout like this before.

"Supervillains are rare, dad." He said, his irritation made obvious by the tone of his voice. "It's not like they're popping out of the woodworks to tear America in half. You're worrying over nothing."

"Yeah, and when those rare appearances happen the government will ensure you're on the frontlines first, Hughie."

Hughie pinched his temple in annoyance.

"Why didn't you tell me you were so worried earlier?"

"... Because you looked so happy." He said, the pain so clear in his father's voice that Hughie could almost feel it.

Hughie stood there, stunned and lost for words.

"What do you mean?"

"You..." Hughie could tell that his dad was struggling to find the right words. "The day you found out you had powers, I saw something I hadn't seen in you since you were a kid. You looked at me with those glowing eyes, and you had a smile that stretched a hundred miles. And you said you were 'finally going to be a hero.'"

A long, agonizing silence took hold of their conversation. Stretching painfully into what seemed to be forever.

"I didn't... I didn't want to ruin this for you, Hughie. You're the only thing I have left. I..."

Hughie heard a pained whimper on the other end.

"I can't lose you like I lost your mother..."

His father broke down into sobs, leaving Hughie speechless and unable to respond.

"Look... Dad..."

But before he could respond, a slow, deep rumbling caught Hughie's attention as he felt the ground beneath him shake. Hundreds of people around him stopped whatever they were doing and looked around in panic. Their worried murmurs turned into yelps as the ground violently shifted, knocking most of them off their feet and shaking the foundations of every building in Times Square.

"Shit..." He muttered in disbelief.

"Hughie?" His dad said with a sniffle. "Is there something happening? I can hear rumbling on your side-"

"I'll call you back."

"Hughie? Hughie!"

Hughie hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket.

The ground shook more and more violently. As far as Hughie could tell, this new villain was a geokinetic, and a very powerful one at that. He was probably fucking around with Times Square because it was a culturally significant landmark. If Hughie had to guess, the villain was doing this for the theatrics, which means he was probably going to pop out anytime soon to announce his evil plans or whatever. Hughie assumed that he needed to get to higher ground in order to jump the villain when he inevitably revealed himself. But with the way things were going, he could tell that there wouldn't be a higher ground if the rogue decided to level a portion of Manhattan.

Hughie dropped his bag by his feet and began levitating, startling some of the people around him and eliciting a number of shocked gasps throughout the crowd. He saw hundreds of heads turn to face him as the rumbling continued to get worse and worse. His stomach did flips, he was not used to this many people paying attention to him. Some of them were probably wondering if he was the cause of this. He wasn't all that well known as a superhero, so he didn't fault them for thinking that.

He took a deep breath.

"The ground is unstable, so crawl if you have to. But I need you all to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible so I don't have to worry about any of you when I fight this guy!" They all looked at him with uncertainty and fear as his voice carried through the air. Since he didn't have a supehero costume, he made sure his eyes glowed an extra bright neon-blue. A feature that came with his powers the day he'd gotten them. He did it to appear intimidating, more threatening. Hughie wasn't an official superhero, but he'd heard that people in the Public Relations Division of the FBSA trained their supes to do things like this. Things that made them appear bigger than they really were, small displays of power that made everybody in a nearby radius listen to them in times of crisis. They needed to look invincible, untouchable, ready. Like they weren't worried about whatever the hell was happening and were prepared to face it head on.

The crowd took a second to register his orders, then began to run - and crawl - away. People began to filter out of nearby buildings, clearly understanding the difference between an Earthquake and a supervillain attack. Scrambling to get out of Times Square, and probably out of Manhattan altogether.

He doubted many of them would make it out in time.

None of them would know that underneath the tough facade, he was scared. Horrified, even. Hughie wasn't trained, he just recently discovered that he'd had powers a month ago. And the only two people who knew about it were his father and Robin. A supe on this level needed Payback, Kinetic Impact, or even the Seven to deal with. A nobody like him could only delay this monster at best. More likely he was going to end up getting turned into chunky salsa if the villain was smart about his powers. Maybe he'd turn a large boulder into a deluge of smaller rocks that he could use to rip Hughie to shreds. Or just summon skyscraper-tall rocks from the ground to mulch him before he had time to react.

As the crowd began to thin out and the surrounding area got emptier and emptier. Hughie spotted a circle of concrete and granite about 8 metres wide beginning to shift and liquefy in front of the One Times Square as the rumbling continued.

The circle got bigger and bigger, so big that it enveloped the One Times Square. Hughie watched the mighty skyscraper sink into the ground at a rapid pace, leaving behind a large sinkhole that only seemed to increase in size. It consumed the buildings around it as if it were a black hole, only getting wider and wider by the second as it dissolved their foundations and devoured them whole. It was almost biblical, in a way. Like an ancient demon of old coming to tear the world asunder. At times like this, you started to understand where those fringe anti-supe supremacist groups were coming from. Living in a world where people can do things like this with the wave of their hands must've been terrifying to them.

Hughie felt so utterly helpless...

In a matter of minutes, all of Times Square was reduced to a giant, gaping maw. Although it appeared the sinkhole seemed to have stopped growing altogether; as expected. The supervillain wanted to make a show of it. Prolong the destruction of New York city so he could have more time in the spotlight. News and police helicopters circled the area from above as they observed the situation. Before Hughie could even begin to plan his next move, the sinkhole started reforming and filling up before his very eyes. Being replaced with a flat plane of concrete, granite and a number of other earthen materials. A tiny hole emerged in the middle, and out came an ugly... Woman? Her face was flat, wide, pudgy. She had wrinkled, white skin. A real life ogre standing atop a raised pillar of concrete, dressed in a dirty and tattered rag that covered her from the neck down. Sporting a wicked, toothy grin.

"PEOPLE OF NEW Y- Oh, they're gone?" She said as she looked around in disappointment.

"Well yeah, you just levelled 5 city blocks in the span of 10 minutes..." Hughie spoke up, prompting her to look up at him.

"Ah, you're a hero I presume?"

He looked at her nervously. "Y-yeah."

"So the FBSA sent you to deal with me?" She scoffed, an amused grin plastering itself on her ugly troll face as she looked Hughie up and down. "I was planning on making a big reveal and they decided to reward my efforts by sending a twig?"

"I uh... I-I'm not part of the FBSA..." Her arrogant smirk was replaced by an irritated scowl. "I was actually on my way to sign up and..." Hughie trailed off and looked away, trying not to make eye contact.

"So a newbie then..." She smiled from ear to ear, once again revealing her despicable and ugly teeth. "Before we get into it, what's your name?"

Shit, Hughie hadn't figured out a hero name yet. All of the ideas he'd come up with in the past month sounded stupid. "Uh... H-Heat Soar?"

His face heated up at the intense embarrassment he felt as those two words left his mouth.

She gave him a look that suggested she couldn't believe that anyone could possibly come up with a name that stupid. Nevertheless, she pressed on. "Uh... Oof... So I guess the name is a work in progress?"

"...Yeah..." He huffed, defeated.

"Oh come on, don't be so down," she said sympathetically, "how about you tell me your real name?"

He sighed, crossing his arms and staring her down. His identity was going to go public once he signed up to work for the FBSA, he may as well tell her now.

"Hughie. Hughie Campbell."