Chapter Text
John couldn’t believe it. He was out. He didn’t think he was going to pull off this plan but here he was, nearly ten miles out from the laboratory complex now. He could still vaguely hear the chaos of blaring alarms and shouting people back in that direction. A year ago he couldn’t even hear things 5 miles away. It meant his powers were improving. John wasn’t sure how he felt about that. On one hand it made Vogelbaum happy (or as happy as the stoic scientist could be), but on the other it meant even more trials and testing.
None of that really mattered at the moment. Now, John was flying free as a bird towards who knows where. It would probably take a few hours before they catch up to him. He had until then to do whatever he wanted before he was inevitably locked up again.
For a while he just flew. He didn’t normally enjoy flying. He didn’t dislike it either. But flying was usually reserved for the Big Room during flight testing. Not exactly the most exciting thing in the world doing trails over and over. Yet up here in the open sky, with the world as his oyster, flying seemed… Pleasant. Comforting even. The feelings of the wind in his hair. The coolness of the breeze. All of it was.... Contenting.
John clutched his blanket tight between his fingers. He’s not really sure why he brought it with him. Vogelbaum had told him that it was ridiculous that he was still so dependent on the piece of fabric. Told him that kind of reliance on such a silly concept was going to be his downfall one day. John didn’t really know what to make of that. Vogelbaum liked to psychoanalyze everything. Maybe he was getting a bit too old to be lugging the old thing around but… It made him feel good to have it so why shouldn’t he?
It’s not like any one of those weak cockroaches could stop him from having it anyway.
Several minutes later he came to a halt and just hovered in the sky for a bit, looking ahead in awe at the view before him. It was… So big.
What John immediately recognized as New York city stretched before his vision. Buildings of all sizes stretched into the sky, as high as he flew. Manhattan island sat cozily on the glittering water as the midday sun struck it’s surface and it reflected the light back in refractions. John knew that this was to be his home one day. Vought had plans to set up his debut in this very city and to set up their main headquarters here too. He just never knew how… Beautiful it all was.
He flew closer into the city and began flying between the buildings, in awe of his own reflection in the glass. A young fifteen year old boy stared back out at him, dressed in plain jeans and a steril white T-shirt. Bags of exhaustion drooped from his face but his eyes were bright with amazement.
He used his x-ray vision and peered into the building itself. He watched in amusement as several business men and women, dressed in funny monochromatic suits, stared out at him from their desks and cubicles. Many of them gasped in shock. A few looked unimpressed and tired. John chuckled at the strange sights.
Distracted as he was by the funny business people, John failed to notice a flock of pigeons in his direct path.
As he was flying faster than them John ended up plowing through the flock causing the group of birds to squawk and scatter in a chaotic burst of feathers. John let out a shout of surprise himself, arms flaily to get the creatures out of his face. Several went flying off in different directions when his kicks and fists collided with them. It took him a minute to notice that he had lost his blanket in the chaos.
Once the birds had scattered off John realized his mistake and let out an angry howl. He began to search frantically around for his blanket. A scream of excitement caught his attention. He looked down and saw a small playground nestled amongst the tall buildings. The little girl who had let out the cry of joy was playing around with a blue blanket. His blanket. John immediately flew down.
He landed with a large cloud of dust. Several children screamed and scattered. The little girl began to cry. He approached her furiously and saw, with vindictive glee, that she fell back onto her hineside in panic. She cried even harder while still clutching at his blanket.
“Give it back!” He demanded holding his hand out. The girl wailed and didn’t seem to comprehend him. This made John angry. “Give it back now! It’s mine!”
There were now tears and snot leaking from her face, getting dangerously close to contaminating his blanket. John saw red. Literally. His eyes grew warm from his heat vision as he stalked closer to the crying girl. If she wasn’t going to give it back he would-
“Hey now, stop that. She doesn’t understand what your saying!”
John turned his red glare to the newcomer. A boy this time. Younger than John but older than the girl.
The boy held his hands up, “Cassie is only four. She doesn’t really speak that much. You just gotta be patient with her.” And without waiting for John’s reply the boy knelt down next to the girl and shushed at her, speaking in a gentle voice. “Cassie. You should give that back. It isn’t yours. It isn’t nice to take things that aren’t yours.”
The girl was still crying and John was convinced that nothing was going to change. But the boy waved him off and continued his gentle talk with “Cassie”. To John’s surprise, after a little bit the girl did begin to calm down. Her cries turned to sniffles. And eventually that turned into a wet giggle as the boy told her some joke John didn’t really understand. She handed the boy his blanket and then ran off, all smiles once more.
John watched in awe as the boy stood back up, brushing dust off his pants and then turning back to John, holding out the blanket. “Here,” the boy said smiling. “This means a lot to you, right?”
John didn’t answer, but he took the blanket back and let his heat vision die out.
“Your eyes turned red. That was really cool! Are you like a superhero or something?”
He looked up in surprise and saw that the boy was still watching him. But not watching him like the scientists and guards did back at the laboratory. There was no… Ulterior motive there. The boy wasn’t staring at him like he was some sort of puzzle, some sort of experiment, some sort of… Freak. He was just looking at him with something genuine that John couldn’t place.
“My name is Hughie,” the boy introduced holding out a hand. “And what’s your name?”
John looked down at the hand apprehensively. The boy was probably dirty. He did just wipe dirt off with his hands… But then again… He had also got John back his blanket.
“John,” he said quietly, hesitantly grabbing Hughie's hand. Huhgie proceeded to give his hand a firm shake, the smile on his face growing wide.
“Hi, John! It’s nice to meet you!” Hughie said cheerfully. “You’re new around here aren’t you?” When John didn’t answer, he continued. “That’s fine. I can tell. Do you want to come get ice cream with me? My dad gave me some snack money and I know the best ice cream place in the city.”
John looked around unsure. He didn’t know anything about this boy.
But he also didn’t know anything about this city. And wasn’t that why he was here in the first place? To explore things he would never get to do back at the laboratory? In a few hours Vought will have found him and he’ll back locked back up for who knows how long. He could go flying around some more but…
No one has ever looked at him like Hughie is looking at him now. So open and innocent. So free of judgement.
John cracked a small and unsure smile, but a smile all the same.
“Sure.”
~*~
John had ice cream once before in his life. For his tenth birthday if he remembered. But it tasted nothing like the ice cream Hughie bought them. Initially the boy had bought them each individual cones, but once hearing that John had only ever eaten ice cream once the other boy was quick to shove his own cone into John’s hand, he insisted. John ordered cotton candy because he had never had cotton candy before and he liked the colors. Huhgie had ordered strawberry cheesecake. They both tasted incredible. The cotton candy was sweeter than anything John had tasted before in his life and the actual chunks of cheesecake in Hughie’s order was the most delicious thing in the world.
Hughie laughed at his expression when John took his first bite and at first it made him angry. He wanted to laser Hughie down for laughing at him. But after a moment he came to the realization that the boy wasn’t laughing at him , but rather with him. Hughie was just enjoying his company like…
Like a friend.
John decided then that he would give Hughie the benefit of the doubt from then on.
They spent the entire afternoon together. Hughie informed him that it was summer and school was out but his mom and dad were busy at work. But that was just fine with John. He had never had so much fun in his life before.
Hughie took him to a lot of places. It might’ve looked strange, a small kid and a teenager running around sightseeing. For someone as young as Hughie, he was surprisingly adept at traversing the city. Hughie took him on the subway and John was shocked that he knew exactly where to get off and what train to take. He didn’t think he could figure it out on his own.
It might’ve been faster to fly but it was nice to just take the subway like everyone else. Plus, aside from his heat vision Hughie had yet to figure out that he had powers. John was somewhat ashamed to admit he was afraid how Hughie might treat him if he knew. He could pass off glowing eyes, but flying? He’d rather just take the subway. Besides, it was a novel experience even if it was crowded and slow.
They stopped by central park for a bit and John got to pet his first dog. He wasn’t sure what was so appealing about a slobbering, shitting, shedding creature, but he supposed that its excitement at seeing him was cool. Also, Hughie loved dogs and seeing him laugh and enjoy himself was enjoyable as well.
They saw the Statue of Liberty. They went up the empire state building (until a security guard stopped them somewhere on the eightieth floor for not having tickets and chased them out. It was only Hughie’s laughter that kept John from lasering the shit out of the man). Hughie treated him to some authentic New York pizza. John saw an interesting looking bracelet from a gift shop and Hughie bought it for him.
When asked where the other boy was getting all this money, Hughie shrugged and said that he always saved his allowance for a special occasion. And that this was a special occasion.
John didn’t know how to word how much hearing that affected him.
He had never met anyone like Hughie before.
Hours later they were back at the park as the sun was setting. Hughie informed him that he had to be getting home.
“Will you come back to the park?” Hughie asked him.
“Do you want me to?” John said in surprise.
“Of course!” The other boy exclaimed, “You’re my friend now! You’re even wearing my friendship bracelet!”
John cracked a smile, bigger than before, “Friendship bracelet? Isn’t that like a girly thing?”
Hughie pouted. “It’s a friendship thing! And we’re friends! Right, John…?”
John blinked, smile falling from his face. Hughie suddenly sounded unsure and hesitant. All day the boy had taken the lead and been so sure of himself that the sudden change was surprising. Did his friendship really mean that much to the younger boy?
“Yes…” John began hesitantly, then grew more confident as he went on. “We are friends.” He fingered the friendship bracelet, a small smile spreading across his face. “I-”
But he didn’t get to finish his sentence. He watched in horror as a dart suddenly struck Hughie’s neck. The boy’s eyes widened a second then went woozy as he passed out. John let out a shout and rushed forward, catching Hughie before his tiny body hit the ground. And then he was surrounded by private SWAT operatives.
“Time to go home, John.”
He glared as Vogelbaum stepped out of a military grade convoy vehicle and approached him.
“You didn’t have to tranq him!” He shouted angrily.
Vogelbaum sighed in exasperation. “He’s seen you. I should actually have him killed if I’m being perfectly honest-”
“Don’t!”
“Don’t?” The scientist rose an eyebrow. “John. I’m surprised. Could you be attached to this civilian boy?”
John clenched his jaw in frustration, “It- It’s not like that. I just- I’ll come back. Just please don’t kill him. He doesn’t know about my powers.”
Vogelbaum hummed in consideration.
“Very well John. I’ll allow the boy to live,” he said. “But in return, you are not to pull another stunt like this. Do so again and there will be consequences. Starting with the civillian.”
John glanced down at Hughie’s unconscious face and felt something in him harden. He wanted so badly to just… Let out all his anger. Kill every last one of these insignificant fuckers. Blast them all away with his heat vision- But that wasn’t going to happen. Not if he wanted to make sure Hughie was okay. Not if he didn’t want to incur the wrath of Vaught. Vogelbaum was only one person in a giant system.
It’s not like John will ever be free even if he does kill the man here and now.
He gently lays Hughie back down onto the ground and stands, turning to face Vogelbaum. In a cold voice he answers.
“Fine.”