Apology

The one in the wrong always liked to play the victim and accuse someone else first.

That was exactly what A-Train was doing. He put on an aggrieved face and berated Hughie.

"I've been so wracked with guilt that I only eat three meals a day now. And you're still not satisfied? What more do you want from me? Even grief has its limits."

His voice was loud, almost a shout. Hughie was stunned. This was nothing like the apology he had imagined.

In fact, it was the complete opposite.

Wasn't he supposed to apologize? Why does it feel like I'm the one who has to?

As Hughie struggled with that thought, he noticed the person beside A-Train. His name seemed to be Ryan.

Ryan smacked A-Train and said, "Keep it down."

A-Train immediately dropped to a gentle murmur, so quiet he might as well have been a mosquito.

Could you speak a little louder?

Hughie only dared to think it, not say it aloud.

Hughie fell silent, but A-Train kept talking. Ignoring Hughie's distress, he turned to something that interested him.

"You know Ryan?"

"He's my friend."

That was an unexpected answer.

Caught off guard, A-Train looked to Ryan for confirmation, only to hear, "That's what he thinks."

But judging by the way they spoke, even if they weren't friends, they certainly knew each other.

A-Train had his own way of handling relationships.

Once he grasped that, his manner grew warm.

Warmth meant treating someone in what you believed was the friendliest way possible.

Whether they saw it as friendly was another matter.

Across the conference table, A-Train leaned forward.

"I really have been reflecting on what happened. I'm sorry, Hughie, for taking your girlfriend away from you."

"..."

The change in attitude was so dramatic that Hughie could guess Ryan was behind it.

But he hadn't expected merely claiming to be Ryan's friend to change things this much.

Relief washed over him.

All this time, he had worked at the video store while running around over his girlfriend's death.

Being mocked and told he couldn't read the room had become routine.

Little by little, his efforts had stopped being about grief over Robin's death.

Instead, he wanted respect. He wanted someone to tell him, "You're doing great. Keep going."

A-Train's tone gave Hughie exactly that.

This is what an apology should sound like.

The conference-room chair was comfortable. Hughie shifted in his seat.

"Do you really regret what happened to Robin, A-Train?"

"If I hadn't gone down that street that day, everything would have been different."

Ryan watched A-Train too. His expression had changed in an instant. The concern and sympathy on his face looked so genuine that the performance was hard to spot.

These corporate heroes faced microphones and cameras every day.

They were highly skilled at putting on a front.

A-Train looked so convincingly sympathetic now that anyone watching might say, "That's enough. Please forgive him."

Hughie had fallen for the act.

"I... I won't bother you again. Thank you for apologizing."

"Of course. You're Ryan's friend. Once you've moved past the heartbreak, come see me. I'll help you find someone new."

"A-Train..."

Too moved to speak, Hughie blinked rapidly.

He's so considerate I could cry.

He didn't actually cry. The conversation ended on a pleasant note.

A Vought International employee came in and escorted Hughie out. On his way, Hughie even waved cheerfully to the two still in the conference room.

It was a farewell wave.

When the conference-room door closed, A-Train let out a long sigh.

"Finally. That job's done."

Ryan sat beside him.

"You treated that apology like a job. He treated it as something to hold on to for the rest of his life."

"Who cares about him?"

"He's the only one left who does."

There was nothing else to do in the conference room, and Ryan didn't want to stay. A-Train seemed to have other plans.

He hastily invited Ryan out for drinks and ** at a nightclub next time, then left.

Ryan walked alone down a corridor in Vought International. After a while, he looked at the empty space beside him.

"You must love being invisible. You get to see everyone's private lives laid bare."

"..."

No answer came from the empty air. Ryan looked as though he were talking to himself.

Then red beams swept from his eyes. A scream of agony tore down the corridor and echoed throughout Seven Tower.

A figure gradually appeared where the beams had struck. A large chunk of his flesh had been burned away, leaving it charred black.

It was Translucent, his face twisted in pain.

The only reason he hadn't died on the spot was that Ryan had held back.

Ryan looked at Translucent in puzzlement. He was clutching the burn, his face contorted with pain and yet somehow pleased.

"Haven't you been kicked enough?"

"When I've healed... kick me again."

"What?"

"I've always loved this novel, How the Steel Was Tempered."

That much was true.

Ryan thought back over the past few days. Between burning Translucent with his beams and kicking him, he might eventually forge a man with a will as strong as iron.

Of course, he would have to watch his strength.

He wouldn't want Translucent to end up as scrap metal. With that thought, Ryan nodded in agreement.

"Next time, I'll throw you into a furnace and smelt you."

Translucent understood what he meant: next time would be the end of his life.

He would be thrown into a furnace thousands of degrees hot and become part of the molten metal.

Flames and toxic smoke would rise from the flowing red melt. If Ryan threw him in, there would be no climbing back out.

Even the Terminator from the old classic couldn't withstand that heat.

Translucent naturally wanted to live longer. He was a superhero with fame and wealth to spare.

There was still so much he hadn't experienced. Terrified by Ryan's words, he shook his head.

Then he held something out.

"Your friend left this behind."

"Which friend?"

"The one just now. Hughie."

Ryan looked at Translucent's palm. There was a listening device in it.

It was tiny, but it could expose the details of someone else's daily life.

The moment Ryan saw it, he knew Billy had persuaded Hughie after all.

Hughie wasn't the one who wanted a listening device under The Seven's conference table. Billy was.

Hughie only wanted understanding. Billy wanted superheroes stripped of their luster.

As far as Ryan was concerned, that was dangerous.

If superheroes lost their luster, they would be nothing but villains with superpowers. And if no one kept them in check,

a great many innocent people would die.

Ryan was silent for a long moment.

Then he looked away.

Translucent had apparently been watching from the shadows during the meeting. Hughie's every move had probably been visible to him.

But Ryan had a different question.

He started walking again, heading down the corridor toward the elevator.

"Why show me this?"

"I was going to find Hughie and ask why he planted a listening device. But he seems to be your friend."

"Just don't kill him."

"I'll tend to my wounds first. Once I've questioned Hughie, I'll tell you what I find out."

"Okay."

Translucent's body gradually vanished from sight in the corridor.

Ryan stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor.

The elevator doors opened onto the ground-floor lobby, where busy people streamed back and forth.

Ryan paid them no attention. He walked out of the building. The day was still bright and clear.

A mild breeze brushed his face.

With nothing else to do, he found a library and read to pass the time.

In an age dominated by superheroes, even the library had plenty of books about them.

Titles like The Deep's Ocean Voyage and Translucent and the Blind Girl.

They sounded like books that would make you want to turn the pages.

Ryan wasn't interested. He lived in Seven Tower himself and knew exactly what his colleagues were like.

The praise in those books felt forced. One even had A-Train run so fast that he traveled through time. It was ridiculous.

A-Train wasn't that powerful.

Ryan picked out an ordinary book and sat quietly reading at a library table.

Time slipped by.

He returned the book and went back to Seven Tower.

He chatted and ate with the other superheroes, and another few days passed.

As usual, Ryan ate the breakfast Vought International provided. The bread was soft. Then he drew back the curtains in his bedroom.

Rain fell outside, a light drizzle that made everything feel gloomy.

It pattered steadily, with no clear sky in sight.

Today was the day of the meeting where they reported on the superheroes' activities.

After breakfast, Ryan went to the conference room. The moment he entered, he heard an argument.

Two women were arguing.

One had blond hair and a slender figure. She was striking.

Ryan recognized her. According to Madelyn, she would be joining him as a new superhero.

Her power was to emit a dazzling glare. Her name was Starlight.

Ryan turned his attention to the other woman.

She wore work clothes and had a neat, capable look. She was clearly ambitious.

Ryan had been at Vought International's Seven Tower long enough to know a few people. She was one of them.

Ashley, the head of Talent and Relations.

She seemed to be handling Starlight's publicity. Even as a new superhero backed by a powerhouse like Vought International,

Starlight couldn't just sit in its shade and wait for success to come to her.

She needed a gimmick to draw attention, bring in traffic, and turn that traffic into fans.

That was how nearly all corporate heroes worked.

And the cause of their argument was an outfit.

Ryan saw Ashley and Starlight tugging a gold outfit back and forth between them.

Puzzled, Ryan walked over to the conference table and sat down.

The Deep and A-Train were already seated there. They listened to the two women argue, treating it as a break from the monotony of life.

Intervening was out of the question.

Ryan looked at the women too.

"What are they arguing about? Why not settle it with a WWE match?"

The Deep answered at once.

"You know women. They'll argue over a piece of clothing forever."

A-Train picked up where they left off.

"Men fight over women too."

His offbeat remark drew looks from The Deep and Ryan. Sweat broke out on his forehead under their stares.

"Why are you both looking at me?"

The Deep explained why.

"Would you fight over a woman?"

"Why would I? Women fighting over me, maybe."