"That was a superhero." Jude said.
He did not phrase it as a question, but his inflection lifted at the end, leaving room for a denial.
Hughie shifted his weight. "Yeah. He's one of the Seven. Look, I know how it looked. He just had to have been heading somewhere important, or maybe he wasn't feeling well, or—"
"He almost killed your girlfriend."
Jude kept his tone soft, completely dismantling the excuses Hughie had begun to build.
"What is the Seven?" Clark asked.
Hughie stared. Jude recognized the blank look; it was the default reaction to anyone unfamiliar with Vought International's flagship superhero brand.
"Dude," Hughie said. "Do you even know who our current president is?"
"Hughie." Robin kept her voice low and clipped. "You're defending the person who almost ran me over."
"I'm not defending him, I'm just—"
"You were making excuses for him."
"I know, but—"
"Hughie." She squared her shoulders. "I almost died. What exactly is our relationship?"
Hughie stopped. His jaw tightened. He swallowed. He had grown up watching superheroes save people on the news. A-Train was fast, cool, and currently taped to his bedroom wall. Now, that same hero had nearly turned his girlfriend into a smear on the pavement.
Hughie possessed one saving grace: he could listen to reason.
"I'm sorry," Hughie said. His shoulders dropped. "Robin, you're right. I don't care what the reason was. What he did was wrong. I'm sorry."
The tension drained from Robin's face, though her eyes remained sharp.
"Alright." She exhaled. "I'm not in the mood anymore. Head back and talk to Gary." She glanced sideways at him. "And Hughie. That A-Train poster in your room?"
Hughie flinched. "Robin—"
"I don't want to see it when I come by tomorrow."
She turned to Jude and Clark. The fear was gone, replaced by a decided, deliberate warmth. "Anyway, the Seven can do whatever they want. Superman saved my life today, and that makes you a good one in my book."
Clark offered a small, abashed smile. "Thank you. Really."
"Do you have Twitter? Facebook? Anything?" Robin tapped her phone screen. "I can follow you, give you a boost."
"Uh—" Clark started.
"Yes," Jude said. He pulled a pen and a scrap of paper from his coat, writing down a handle before Clark could finish. He handed it to Robin without hesitation. "His phone's out of commission right now, actually. I was taking him to get a new one today."
Hughie perked up, seizing the opportunity to be useful. "I work in an electronics store," he said. "Come on. I'll set you both up."
Clark glanced at Jude. Whose Twitter account did you just hand her? He kept his brow level, betraying nothing, but Jude noted his restraint. Clark remained silent, letting his partner's choice stand.
"One more thing," Jude said, looking between Hughie and Robin. "His hero name is Superman. His name is Clark. Clark Joseph Kent."
Clark turned his head.
Jude gave him a microscopic nod.
Clark held eye contact for two seconds, then looked away. Not my universe, he reminded himself. Different rules, different stakes. And he hasn't been wrong yet.
Hughie and Robin showed no surprise. A hero volunteering a civilian name was no novelty here.
"Clark," Robin said. "Great name for a great hero." She waved to them both. "Take care."
She turned and walked down the block, her steps quick and decisive.
Hughie's electronics store sat three blocks west. Gary, the manager, looked up from the register as Hughie walked through the door.
"Thought you were off today," Gary said.
"Robin had to head out early." Hughie walked straight to the display case, grabbing a set of keys. "Brought two customers in, though."
Gary appraised Jude and Clark. "Not bad, kid. Drumming up business on your day off."
Hughie barely nodded. He pulled a handset from the shelf and set it on the glass counter. "SIM cards?"
Jude reached into his coat pocket and placed a card on the glass.
Clark stood two feet away, watching Jude's hand. His X-ray vision had triggered on instinct. He had not seen a hand retrieve an item from a pocket; he had seen a hand enter an empty pocket, and a SIM card materialize out of nothing.
Does he have other abilities? Clark thought. He seems to know a little bit about everything.
"Just the one," Jude said. "One for my friend as well, please."
"Put it on my tab," Hughie said. "Least I can do."
"That's not necessary," Jude replied. "Neither of us is short, and honestly, it would make Clark uncomfortable. It's not his style to let someone else cover a tab he can pay himself."
Hughie managed a small smile. "That's pretty heroic, actually."
He finished the setup and handed the phone over. Clark turned the device over in his hands, tapped the screen, and looked at Jude. He kept his questions to himself.
Jude paid at the register. The system's overdraft function drew directly from his asset point balance, settling the transaction without a hitch. They said their goodbyes to Hughie and stepped back out onto the sidewalk.
Jude reached into his coat. He withdrew a small stack of documents: a driver's license, a supporting ID, a bank card, and a folded note with a list of numbers.
"Yours," he said, handing them to Clark. "Identity documents for this universe. Don't lose them."
Clark took the stack and examined each item methodically, committing the details to memory.
"In my universe," Clark said, "I wouldn't use my real name in the field."
"I know."
"So you had a reason."
"Hughie is going to matter," Jude said. "What comes next goes better if he knows Clark specifically. Not Superman. Clark." He paused. "You'll understand why when we get there."
Clark gave a single nod.
Jude looked out at the street. Cars crawled through the morning traffic. Billboards loomed over the intersection, cycling through advertisements featuring caped heroes posing with branded products. Their faces plastered the sides of buses and storefronts, licensed and distributed with the same repetition as a soft drink logo.
"There's something you should understand about this universe," Jude said. "Something that explains A-Train, and the Seven, and why your suit looked like a brand referencing another brand." He glanced at Clark. "This world has commercialized heroes."
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