Chapter Text
The wind whipped harshly every so often, stinging their faces and picking up random New York debris. Cinnamon, sugar and yeast wafted the air amongst them making the chilly biting air of Autumn weirdly warm. Children's laughter filled the air as they ran around the tents set up at the fairly expansive farmers market. Hughie kicked at the ground wordlessly, watching a dirt plume be picked up and carried off by the breeze. He was there with A-Train or Reggie which he recently started to refer to him as.
The mission for today was fairly simple. Meet with the connect. Ask a couple of questions that were already pre-typed in his notes app and maybe grab an apple fritter from the stand he saw set up on their way in here. In and out. Then back to the base to wallow in his misery.
He and Annie had agreed it would be best to call it quits. Or Annie decided and he agreed. The shapeshifter really did a number on their relationship, apparently a big enough one that it could not be mended. The complicated feelings of guilt and betrayal still wracked Hughies body. He hadn’t known. Her skin felt the same. She cracked the same corny jokes. Her smile still made her eyes turn into little sideways crescent moons. He was angry. Couldn’t she see he had been taken advantage of too? Laying down with an…entity you think to be your girlfriend and it's just some sort of high level, convoluted impersonation act. He hadn’t known. How could he?
Still he understood. So they stayed friends. The situation was still raw for Hughie. Too fresh hence why he opted to take the speedster as his muscle on missions like these as of late. A-Train had come back after his initial disappearing act, tired of running and being passive. He wanted to be proactive in his acts of good. Or at least try. And that's when A-Train became Reggie. Reggie was a human;complex and interesting. He liked Deftones and Raisin Bran. He was both an early bird and a night owl. He hated flip flops because of the way they sounded and his favorite color really was blue. Hughie couldn’t help but begrudgingly find Reggie charming.
They stood shoulder to shoulder, Hughie with his hand on the burner phone in his left pocket and his personal in his right, typing a quick message to MM asking for a quick description of who they were supposed to be looking out for. A buzz from his personal and a picture of the connect took up the majority of his screen. Cropped brunette hair and he appeared to be in his 40’s. Great about half the people here.
A hip bumped his to catch his attention. A little girl no more than 6 had stumbled into their vicinity and her presence commanded attention. Fiery red hair done in two messy braids, a missing front tooth and a black dress with small spaceships scattered all over it. She looked up and smiled clearly wanting to make conversation.
“Hi!” she stuck out her hand waiting for one of the two to shake it. Hughie obliged. “My names Nova, what's yours?”
“My names Hughie and his is Reggie.” Hughie braced himself on his knees to be eye level with the little girl.
“Wow Reggie’s a cool name.” Hughie looked up and around for any sign of the kids mother. A woman he presumed to be her was not too far away at a stand selling artisanal soaps in the shapes of different zoo animals.
“Thanks kid, your mom ever tell you not to talk to strangers?” He had his arms crossed and his hands underneath his armpits, trying to keep himself warm.
She smiled a crooked endearing smile. “Noooo, but she has told me I’m special.”
Reggie snorted and Hughie shot him a heated glare. He turned his attention back to the little girl, Nova, and grinned. “Oh yeah? Special how?”
She bent down at the waist, making herself smaller and cupped her hands around her mouth as if she were getting ready to tell them both a secret. “I have super powers.” she stage whispered. Hughie turned to look towards Reggie, quirking up a brow. He shrugged in turn.
Leaning over seemingly more interested in the conversation Reggie asked, “So what sorta powers do you got?” The red head beamed up at him, ecstatic to have finally grasped his attention because for some reason kids yearned for the attention of those giving them the least. Hughie couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
“Well I’m super strong… and super smart and-and I can make things teleport!” She counted off the things that made her super on her little fingers.
Hughie straightened back up and looked down in exaggerated (only by a little) amazement. “Oh man, thats pretty awesome! Can you teleport too?”
She hangs her head seemingly disappointed. “No,” she kicks at the dirt. “Mommy says I might be able to once I get bigger.”
Hughie takes in the downtrodden look but has no idea how to remedy it. Born to be extraordinary and falling short in their metrics must be tough. Growing up he only had to worry about learning his times tables, memorizing sight words and who he was going to sit next to at lunch. The thought of being in constant competition from the age of 6 with other little super children sounds exhausting. He just couldn’t relate. Just as he’s getting ready to speak, Reggie beats him to it.
“Yeah maybe, still a pretty cool super power though.” he says coolly, nonplussed. And huh maybe that's exactly what she needs. Someone caring yet almost indifferent. You might not ever be able to teleport so what?
“Really?” she looks up at him through her eyelashes tentatively, stroking one of her braids in a motion that is soothing to her. That's probably why they were so frizzy Hughie thought.
“Mhm, don’t you think Hughie?” He lightly bumps his hip against Hughies side again, prompting him to agree with what he's saying. Hughie looks up
“Of course! I think it's rea-” he trails off when he catches sight of their contact…and Homelander walking side by side clearly in search of someone. Probably them. Hughies heart works double time. This couldn’t be happening. Could they not have one single mission where something didn’t go wrong? He stands up straight grabbing the older man harshly or as harshly as he can to a supe and begins to whisper yell.
“The connects here with Homelander. It's a set up, you gotta get us the fuck outta here.” Hughies shaking at this point and he’s sure Homelander can hear his heart beat pounding wildly over the others. His partner curses lowly under his breath.
“You know the kinda boom that shit’ll make? He can fly faster than I can run.” His demeanor is stoic and calm, not letting on to the fact he is indeed just as panicked as Hughie is. Moments like these are when he becomes A-Train. Calculating. Quiet. Brain working overtime to come up with a solution to their problem. Hughie watches his eyes flit around before landing on the little supe.
Cracking an easy smile, he makes eye contact with Nova who is swishing her dress from side to side and watching the fabric twirl. “Hey kid wanna show us your powers?” Her eyes light up like the fourth of July as she nods furiously. “Can you get us faarrr away from here?” she continues to nod her head.
“I can get you super far!” Hughie bounced up and down on the balls of his feet anxiously. His head was on a swivel, the feeling of impending doom sunk deep inside his veins. He cleared his tightening throat to relieve some of the tension.
Hughie leans down to be eye level with her again. “Okay I need you to get us as far away as possible.” She giggled with excitement clearly enthused to show off her powers without having to hold back.
She held out both her hands expectantly, waiting for the two to catch on and interlock them. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, clearly focusing all her energy into something that was probably going to be a big feat for her. She cracked open one eye just a sliver.
“You guys have to hold hands too.” she whispered.
Hughie and Reggie leveled a look at each other before begrudgingly joining hands. The girl let her eyes fall closed, taking another great breath and raising their conjoined hands in the air. Hughie searched the crowd having lost sight of Homelander but the hairs on the back of his neck still stood on end. Where the fuck is he? And like a game of Where’s Waldo their eyes locked. He began bounding over with a mission.
“Bye bye guys I'll see you later.” She snapped both her arms down with quickness. The grip Reggie had on Hughies hand tightened exponentially. The last thing they saw was the red glow of the almighty supes' eyes.
–
The world spun in bright technicolor as they came crashing down onto a soft surface. Swallowing down the bile that threatened to come up, Hughie began to take in his surroundings. It appeared they were in someone's penthouse. The room they had been transported to was huge, clearly lived in and cozy. Two separate robes ,gray and blue, hung from the door he presumed to be the bathroom. The room smelled of warm vanilla, one of Hughies favorite scents right behind strawberry. He continued to survey the room taking in small things that he appreciated about this couple's taste until he heard a small groan come beside the bed. Looking down he saw Reggie sitting on the floor, fingers to his temple making small circles. He must've bounced off the bed upon landing.
Hughie stood and dizzily made his way towards one of the windows in the room. “It looks like we’re still in New York so that's a plus.” he gripped the window sill to steady himself. He turned towards a disheveled Reggie, who was now standing with his head in his hands, he noticed a ring on his finger that maybe he just hadn’t taken notice of before. Weird.
He looked up at the clock that hung above the couple's bed. 1:13. The time hadn’t changed even a minute since they were at the Farmers Market grounds. Good. No weird time dilation going on here.
“Yeah great, now lets get the fuck outta these peoples house.” Right. That should be their number one priority. Starting towards the bedroom door Hughie paused when a calico kitty brushed up against his leg as if it was familiar with him. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he continued his trek to the front door right behind Reggie. Pulling his phone out of his pocket to call MM and give him an update on the failed mission it clattered to the floor.
Whipping his head around Reggie took in a very discombobulated Hughie. Alarm written all over his face he bent down and picked up the offending phone from the floor. Upon turning it on he dropped it as if it were hot coals. There on the bright devices lockscreen was a photo of the two pressed flush against each other, smiles wide and unforgiving. Hughies head spun, looking up from his phone that rested on the hardwood floors he shrieked. A picture, professionally taken he might add, was hanging on the wall. He and speedsters' foreheads were pressed together, smiling intimately at each other as if they were the only two people in the world. A hand, Hughies hand, was outstretched towards the lens showing off what he presumes to be an engagement ring.
Walking over to the large forest green couch situated in the middle of the living room Hughie sat, putting his head in both his hands. “I’m gonna throw up.”
“Dude get off of their couch!” Hughie leveled a bored gaze at the older man.
“You mean our couch?” He rolled his eyes clearly not enthused about having to explain the situation that they’re in.
“Wha-?” Hughie wordlessly points up at the picture hanging next to the TV in front of them. Reggie stammers, searching for some sort of explanation to the situation they’re in. He staggered to the couch and flopped down a considerable distance away.
“Where the fuck are we?”
“Some sort of alternate dimension I’m guessing.” He rubbed his eyes with shaky hands as he stood to retrieve his phone from the floor.
“Holy shit…when she said she could get us far…” A-Train laughs humorlessly. “ I’m gonna go run around the neighborhood and see what’s different.” He dropped down into his usual running stance and braced himself. He ran across the living room pretty quickly…for a human.
“What the fuck?” He took position again and again cleared the living room impressively but Hughie definitely wouldn’t call it super human. He scratched his head, puzzled. Trying 3 more times before he began to hyperventilate.
“Google me right now.” He held his chest waiting for the lanky boy to do as he says while he tries to curb the oncoming panic attack.
Narcissistic much? Hughie rolls his eyes and does it anyway.
Reggie “A-Train” Franklin qualifies for the olympics; expected to take home the gold!
Fastest man in the alive, A-Train sinches gold for team USA for Mens 400 and 100 M dash!
“Well great news, you’re still considered the fastest man in the world. Plus, you’re an olympian so that’s pretty cool too and-”
“Who gives a fuck, Hughie? Do I have powers or not?” He places his hands on his hips waiting for an answer to help calm his panic.
Hughie ignores him and continues to google key terms that could be helpful.
Homelander. Bust
The Seven. Just brought up a world map and a list of the continents. So bust.
Compound V. No search results found. Triple bust.
“Powers don’t exist here.” he whispers.
“What?”
“Powers don’t exist here.” He speaks up, putting enough bass in his voice so that A-Train cannot mistake his words.
He knows he shouldn’t be as elated as he is, especially with the ex supe in the background having a small breakdown, but finally! Finally he was on equal footing with everyone around him. No need to worry about being spied on by someone invisible, being burned alive by a fire wielder, lasered in half by high intensity beams…ran through by someone with super speed. He could walk down the streets of New York and only have to worry about the mundane things. Muggers and criminals alike. He was free from the incessant need to constantly look over his shoulder because the latest supe they were pursuing had a chip on theirs. He could be normal.
“And we’re fucking married here!?” He tuned back in right at the end of A-Trains tirade. Maybe they weren’t?
He stood up walking around the couch bounding his way towards the bedroom they just left. He mumbled under his breath clearly in search of something. Where would he keep some of his most important files? He checked underneath the bed and in both nightstands next to the bed, both proved to be fruitless.
“Think Hughie, think…” He sat back on his haunches waiting for any thought to come to him. He heard footsteps coming towards him from the living room. He thought for just a second longer before jumping up with an epiphany. The closet!
He felt a presence standing in the doorway of the room but paid no mind to it. He turned around in a small circle in search of the closet. Bathroom in front of the bed. Closet cattycorner to it! He opened the closet door and woah…it was huge. He stood in the middle of it in awe of its sheer size before locking in on the mission at hand. He searched the closet from top to bottom and there on the top shelf in the corner sat a lone box. Reaching up he grabbed it with shaking hands. He walked to the middle of the closet and sat down crisscrossed. Footsteps on lush carpet sounded as if they were near, opposite of him Reggie sat down, one leg tucked underneath the other with the other outstretched.
There was a cold draft that came in from the air conditioner they could hear from outside their closet and a pack of birds chirped noisily outside the window in their room. Goosebumps rose on Hughies skin from both anticipation and the slight chill. Slowly he took the lid off the box holding his breath.
Four or five shiny gold medals sat on top of a stack of papers and envelopes. Hughie looked up at Reggie quizzically.
Reggie raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “Having them on display does seem corny.” Hughie rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly. That’s not what they were looking for anyway.
Hughie politely handed the medals to Reggie who sat them on the floor with little to no care. Flipping rapidly through the papers he paused and held the paper up with shaking hands.
Certification of Marriage.
And there signed in legible neat cursive both names sat. Hugh Campbell, Jr. and Reginald Franklin.
Fuck.