The Lion King

I recommended it, but that didn't mean he had to watch it.

In the end, the decision was Ryan's. He shook his head and turned down Hughie's suggestion.

"I have to go. It won't be easy to clear your girlfriend's name, but keep at it."

These days, few people would turn down tens of thousands of dollars in compensation just to fight a company as big as Vought International to the bitter end.

Ryan had thought about helping him. But even if he made A-Train come over and apologize, all Hughie would get was a perfunctory apology and a look of contempt.

The gulf between them was too wide.

A celebrated superhero and a clerk at a media store did not live the same kind of life.

With that, Ryan headed for the door. Hughie was a little moved by his words of encouragement.

He had worked at the store for a long time and had said much the same thing to plenty of customers.

What he got in return was abuse.

Things like, "How dare you talk about my favorite superhero like that? A-Train should've run you over too."

"Your girlfriend dying is one thing, but A-Train letting a criminal escape is a big deal. Can't you grow up and stop being so selfish?"

None of it was kind. If anything, Hughie had made it this far entirely on his own.

He had talked to his family about suing to get justice for his girlfriend, but even the people closest to him

had criticized him for his courage and for refusing to let it go.

Only Ryan was different.

Watching Ryan walk away, Hughie answered his encouragement with a show of resolve.

"Hey, I'm asking my boss for a raise tonight."

"Hm?"

Ryan had just opened the door and was about to step outside. He stopped and turned back, puzzled, and Hughie explained.

"I've worked in New York for years. Everything keeps getting more expensive, but my pay hasn't changed. First I'm going to find the courage to ask for a raise. Then I'll get to work on Robin's case."

"I see."

Ryan nodded in understanding, though he had no idea what to say.

Courage alone would not get Hughie anywhere, but being too afraid to act would not change his situation either.

There was only one thing Ryan could say.

"Asking your boss for a raise usually doesn't work. He might just replace you with someone who won't ask."

"Don't crush my motivation."

"All right, all right."

Ryan waved a hand helplessly and stepped outside. Sunlight fell across his face, warm and pleasant.

There was not much to see on the streets.

After wandering for a while, Ryan returned to the Seven Tower. He took the elevator to the superhero conference room he had been in earlier.

The first thing he noticed was that

the collapsed conference table was gone. Only a few chairs remained.

A-Train and The Deep were nowhere to be seen. Ryan did not care where they were. He had barely entered the room

when someone followed him in.

It was a woman in a uniform. At the Seven Tower, the superheroes wore outlandish outfits that showed off their individual styles.

The people in uniforms were ordinary staff.

She asked Ryan to come with her to see Madelyn. The vice president had something she wanted to discuss with him in person.

That sounded like a hassle. Ryan shook his head.

"Tell her to come see me."

"The vice president should come see you?"

"Why not?"

"What vice president would lower herself to visit an employee?"

"Madelyn will."

Ryan waved her away impatiently. The woman had a job to do.

If she could not even bring Ryan to Madelyn, she feared she might lose that job.

Working at Vought International had always been a source of pride for her family and relatives. She did not want to lose the opportunity.

But Ryan was plainly stubborn, and she was not about to drag him anywhere.

With no other choice, she told him to wait a moment and went back to relay his words to Madelyn.

Ryan could wait.

He had nothing else to do, so he sat down in an office chair.

He spun the chair around and looked at the glass wall.

The glass took up the entire wall. Beyond it, birds crossed the clear sky, darting through gaps in the clouds.

The sky stretched high above wisps of cloud.

A while later,

there was another knock at the door, and an older woman who had taken excellent care of herself walked in.

It was Madelyn. As soon as she entered, she saw the chair at the far end of the room slowly turn

until it faced her, revealing its occupant.

A boy, and a thoroughly unruly one at that.

"I've been waiting so long I'm getting sleepy."

"Try to understand how much work a vice president has."

"What work? Doesn't your CEO have secretaries to handle things when he's busy, and when he's not..."

"You've got it all wrong."

Madelyn rubbed her temples. This boy really knew how to raise her blood pressure.

She put a hand to her chest and calmed herself.

"I came to see you about where you'll sleep."

"Vought International's employee benefits go that far? I'll take ten."

"Ten? I'm talking about a place to live."

Ryan had come to New York's Seven Tower alone and had nowhere to sleep. Madelyn had come to arrange accommodations for him.

She had arranged two places.

One was in the Seven Tower, where he could rest when work wore him out. The other was a small detached villa in the suburbs.

Madelyn gave Ryan the keys, carefully explained where both places were, and provided him with a phone.

That would make it easier for him to contact people. Once everything was settled, Madelyn left the room.

She had taken care of everything.

Alone in the room, Ryan twirled the keys in his hand. Watching them spin between his fingers,

he decided to take a look at the place he had been given.

At the top of Vought International's building, a window shattered as a boy burst through it.

He checked his direction in the sky, then flew off into the distance.

Flying was always fast. The boy was Ryan.

He landed in front of a villa in the suburbs.

Barren yellow earth surrounded it. A gray road ran beside the open ground, with cars passing along it.

That was how things were here. Most people lived in the cities. Outside the big farms, there were few people elsewhere.

As a result, the roads that linked places together were flanked by wasteland or forest.

The villa stood alone, well away from the road. Who knew what history lay buried there?

Ryan was not particularly pleased with how remote it was.

He unlocked the door. Inside, at least, it had everything he needed.

He tried the faucet and the lights, and to his surprise,

the water and electricity both worked.

At least living there would not be a problem. He continued looking around.

The bed he found in the bedroom was clearly new too. When Ryan sat on it, he caught the distinct scent of formaldehyde.

After looking over the house, Ryan opened a second-floor window. He ought to be careful with his own place, so he did not smash his way through the window frame.

He flew carefully out of the house. A home this far out in the middle of nowhere

was, at best, livable.

He flew a couple of laps around it, then turned away in boredom and rose into the sky again.

Since he could fly at high speed, getting there and back took hardly any time.

Back in the bustling city, Ryan entered the Seven Tower and asked someone for a computer.

He went online to pass the time.

Before this, Ryan had spent his spare time training his superpowers.

But lately, when he trained, he found it hard to make any further progress.

He had developed his powers as far as this body could take them.

From here on,

they would grow stronger only as his body matured.

Ryan had a rough idea of what his powers amounted to.

Rather than list complicated terms like Laser Eyes, See-Eye, and an indestructible body,

he could put it simply.

"Invincible."