Chapter 4
Hughie kept looking at the door.
Adam had already left the store, but the words he left behind did not leave with him.
For a few seconds, Hughie did not even blink. The rows of speakers and cables around him blurred a little. Customers moved near the back shelves, but he barely noticed them.
'Who was that guy?' Hughie thought.
Then the worse thought followed.
'What did he mean by Robin would say the same thing?'
His chest tightened at Robin's name.
Adam had said it too easily. Not like a reporter. Not like a stranger who had only seen the news. He had spoken like someone who knew enough to stand close to the wound and touch it.
Hughie's fingers curled against the edge of the counter as anger rose through the confusion.
'Who the hell is he?'
The bell above the door rang again.
Hughie looked up at once, but it was not Adam.
A man in a dark coat stepped into the shop like he belonged there. His face was rough, and his dark hair was a little messy. His smile did not make Hughie feel safer. His eyes moved around the store once before settling on Hughie.
The man walked straight to the counter.
"Hughie Campbell?" he asked.
Hughie stared at him. "Yeah?"
The man reached into his coat and showed him something too quickly for Hughie to read properly.
"Billy Butcher," he said. "FBI."
Hughie blinked. "FBI?"
"Yeah," Butcher said. "I heard about your girlfriend. Thought you and me should have a little chat."
Hughie's face changed at once.
He was tired of people saying they had heard about Robin. He was tired of careful voices and words that sounded sorry but did nothing.
"I already talked to people," Hughie said.
"Not people like me."
Butcher leaned slightly closer, his voice dropping so the nearby customers would not hear everything.
"That bloke who ran through her. You think that was just one sad accident?"
Hughie's throat moved.
Adam's words came back at the same time.
If you keep carrying it alone, who knows what step you might take?
Hughie looked at Butcher, and the confusion inside him moved in a new direction.
A little distance away from the shop, Adam landed on the roof of another building.
He had not gone far.
After stepping out of the store, he had turned into a side alley. Once he made sure nobody was watching, he jumped. His short flight was still rough, but it carried him high enough to reach the building across the street.
Now he stood near the edge of the roof and looked down.
His enhanced vision made the shop windows easy to see. He could not hear every word through the glass and street noise, but he could see enough.
Butcher had arrived.
Adam let out a slow breath.
'So it really started right after I left.'
He had done this on purpose.
He did not want to walk into Hughie's life as a total stranger later. If he tried to join Butcher's group with no connection, Butcher would never trust him. But if Hughie remembered him as someone who had appeared before Butcher, someone who knew his name and had spoken about Robin, then Adam would not look completely random.
It was not perfect, but it was a start.
Adam watched as Butcher kept talking.
Hughie looked uncomfortable at first. Then anger pushed through the confusion, but he still did not walk away.
Adam understood that look.
Butcher was pulling him in.
A few minutes later, Butcher and Hughie left the shop.
Adam stepped back from the roof edge and followed.
He kept his distance the whole time. Sometimes he moved from one rooftop to another. Sometimes he dropped into side streets and walked like a normal person. His body was stronger now, but his control was still new, so he did not use too much power in crowded places.
He watched Butcher lead Hughie through the day. Hughie resisted at first, but Butcher kept pressing until he started to bend. The shape matched the show almost exactly, which made Adam nervous because he was inside it now.
Later, Hughie moved toward Vought Tower with Butcher guiding him from a distance. Adam stayed far back and watched from a place where he would not stand out.
Hughie went inside, and time passed slowly. Adam kept his eyes on the entrance and the people moving in and out.
When Hughie appeared again alive, Adam's shoulders loosened a little.
Butcher picked him up soon after. From that point, Adam followed them again, staying above and behind them whenever he could.
Hughie looked shaken. Butcher looked satisfied. Whatever had happened inside Vought Tower, the important part was done. The bug had been planted, and Translucent had seen enough to become a problem.
Finally, Butcher drove Hughie back to the electronics store.
Adam watched from the roof across the road as Hughie got out. Butcher said something to him before driving away. Hughie stood there for a moment, then entered the shop.
Adam stayed still.
This was the point he had been waiting for.
The whole day had matched the original story closely. Butcher had found Hughie and pushed him through the same path that ended with him back at work.
Now came the next danger.
Adam lowered himself behind the roof wall and focused.
His senses spread out carefully.
At first, he only heard the Cars passed below. Someone laughed in a nearby apartment. A door shut somewhere behind him. Inside the shop, Hughie moved slowly near the counter.
Then the air changed.
It was more like a thin pressure moving through the space near the shop entrance. Something shaped like a person had disturbed the air, but Adam's eyes could not see anyone there.
A small movement passed across the floor inside the shop. Dust shifted where no visible foot had stepped.
Adam's eyes narrowed.
Translucent had arrived.
A smile slowly formed on Adam's face.
"My chance to get into The Boys has arrived."