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Recruit

“Who’s this?” The hero asked as they watched a kid get dragged through the hall by facility guards. “Not a threat, I’m sure. He can’t be more than, what, eight?”

“No, not a threat.” The manager beside them confirmed. “A recruit.”

“He doesn’t look too happy, Manager.” The hero said as the kid disappeared around the corner. “Is this a willing recruit?”

“Mm, more or less. His guardian wasn’t…in the proper…mindset to be a parent.” They brought their pen up to their mouth. “Lucky he ended up being a super.”

For as much as the PR team tried to spin it that Hero was all brawn and no brain, they weren’t.

Hero took the moment to look over their manager’s tense position, then leaned against the wall, crossing their arms. “How much of this recruitment was you stalking a parent and their child?”

The manager did not like when their hero did that, it meant they were willing to use that brain that PR tried to hide. A simple, innocent question, and suddenly a person was left defenseless, spilling all their secrets without meaning to. That wasn’t even a super ability of Hero’s, they just knew what to do to unravel a person.

If the public knew that Hero could be as manipulative as they come…Well, soundbites existed, so any information Hero gained during a fight with some criminal could be covered with a choice number of destructive noises.

“Hero.” Manager warned. “I’m not like the bad guys, and even if you know what makes me tick, I won’t tell you anything.”

“Hey,” Hero said, flashing a smile and uncrossing their arms, holding them up. “My bad, force of habit. But I do worry for the kid. It’s not too far off from my own upbringing, but I was orphaned and came to the facility willingly.”

“Uh, yeah.” Manager brought their hand up to the back of their neck. “Yeah, it’s not entirely different from your schtick. He just has a parent who was ‘deemed unworthy of housing a super’.”

With a well placed snort from the hero, the manager laughed.

“I know!” They said, now flailing their arms wildly. “We don’t run charity cases, but honestly, I get this one. Keeps everyone safe in the long run. My whole job is keeping your image pristine as can be.”

“So, what can the kid do? If his super ability is so extraordinary that we suddenly felt like running charity cases, it’s gotta be something insanely awesome.”

“He can apparently portal, was caught hovering, so maybe flight-”

“It’s impressive he can even do it at eight.”

“Seven, actually.” Manager lowered their voice. “And he used disintegration touch when we first tried to bring him in. You can put two and two together, if that got out, we would have people theorizing that he’s Villain’s kid and-” The manager’s eyes widened. “You son of a bitch.”

“Son of nothing, actually. Orphan, remember?”

“I- you didn’t- you hardly even asked a question!”

The hero shrugged. “What can I say? It’s what I do. It’s a skill I put to good use, you know that, you of all people know that.” They pinched their manager’s cheek. “I won’t spill, don’t worry, this was for my own benefit.”

“You’re the worst!” The manager shouted at them as the Hero calmly skipped along the halls.

Never lose your cool. It’s a lesson the hero was taught well in the facility. So, they managed to keep their cool up until they were far, far, far away from public and private eye, their crash room. A room provided if there was ever a fight that kept raging and the hero needed to recharge. No one was allowed entry, no one except hero.

Never lose your cool. Never mind that Villain’s kid was in the facility. Never mind that Villain apparently had a kid. Never mind that this kid was seven.

Seven. Villain. Kid.

God.

The hero sat, and thought for a moment. There was a small off chance, with the way the time added up, that the kid currently within the facility was not only Villain’s, but theirs. Of course there was that possibility, they weren’t stupid.

There was also a possibility that this kid wasn’t. But he was seven, he could fly, portal, and use disintegration touch.

Villain couldn’t fly. Hero could. Manager worried for their ‘pristine image.’

It wasn’t as if they were going to let the kid be anyways. They weren’t going to let some poor traumatized child that was probably brought here kicking and screaming be alone within the cold, metal interior. Hero had planned on very much mentoring this kid, and possibly returning him back to his parent if the ‘unworthy’ part ended up being a bold face lie.

Was Villain an unworthy parent? Villain’s son? Oh, god.

Oh, god. Villain was probably on their way here. If they cared for their kid at all, they were probably on the way to blow everyone here up and take back their son.

Seven years old. Oh, god.

The hero stood. They had a half baked plan of finding the kid, and making sure he was ok, and then…and then…

Oh, god.

They needed to talk to Villain.