The Boys: I'm the New Hue, I Need More Power

Chapter 10: The Unspoken Truth

" Okay, so I know how to kill Translucent. The invisible, invulnerable Supe. Me. Hughie Campbell. The guy who struggles to open a pickle jar. And I know it because of a hum. A persistent, annoying, terrifying hum. This is fine. Everything is fine. I'm just about to tell a bunch of angry vigilantes how to make a naked, invisible man explode from the inside out. No pressure. Just the fate of a Supe, and potentially my own sanity, resting on my very, very nervous shoulders. And that hum? It's going absolutely wild now, like my brain just decided to host a rave. It's not a power. It's just… a lot. A whole lot of 'oh crap' in my head. "

The boiler room was thick with tension, a suffocating blanket of frustration and despair. Days of relentless interrogation had yielded nothing. Translucent, though clearly terrified, remained defiant, his carbon skin a physical manifestation of his stubborn refusal to break. Butcher's patience had evaporated, replaced by a dangerous, simmering rage. He stood before the cage, a menacing figure, holding a stick of dynamite.

"Right then," Butcher growled, his voice low and dangerous, "last chance, mate. You talk, or we see if that fancy carbon skin of yours can handle a little… internal pressure. See how invulnerable you are when you're blowing up from the inside out."

M.M. gasped, stepping forward. "Butcher, no! You can't! You'll blow us all to kingdom come! And the whole damn building!"

"Relax, M.M.," Butcher grinned, a wild, dangerous glint in his eyes. "Just a little persuasion. See if our invisible friend here fancies a chat now. Or if he fancies becoming a very fine, very invisible dust cloud."

Hughie felt a surge of panic. This was insane. This was going to kill them all. He looked at Translucent, whose body was trembling, his eyes wide with terror. The hum inside Hughie intensified, a frantic, desperate thrumming, like a thousand tiny tuning forks vibrating inside his skull. It was overwhelming, pushing against the confines of his skin, begging to be released. It wasn't a power. It was a scream. A silent, internal scream of absolute certainty.

"Wait!" Hughie yelled, without thinking, the words tumbling out in a desperate rush. "Don't! There has to be another way!"

Butcher paused, looking at him, a flicker of confusion on his face. "Oh? And what's that, then, Hughie? You got a better idea? Because I'm all ears. And my patience is wearing thinner than a politician's promise."

" A better idea? No! I don't have a better idea! I just don't want to be vaporized by a stick of dynamite! My only idea is 'don't die.' Which, apparently, is a very unpopular opinion around here. But that hum… it's screaming at me. It's telling me something. Something about… about his skin. About how it works. About how it… conducts. No, that's crazy. I'm just a civilian. I don't know anything about Supe physiology. But it feels… electric. Like a circuit. And if it's a circuit… "

And then, it hit him. A sudden, terrifying, impossible realization. The hum wasn't just a reaction to Translucent. It was a reaction with him. It was a resonance. And his carbon skin, invulnerable to physical force, was a conductor. Not of electricity, not in the traditional sense, but of… something else. Energy. The energy of his own body. The kinetic energy he absorbed. It was like a giant, internal battery. And it was full.

"His skin… it conducts!" Hughie blurted out, the words tumbling out before he could process them, his voice high-pitched and frantic. "It's not just invulnerable, it's… it's like a giant capacitor! It absorbs kinetic energy! That's why he can take hits! But… but what if it can't release it? What if it just… builds up? Until it overloads?"

Everyone stared at him. Butcher, Frenchie, M.M., even Translucent. Silence. The only sound was the frantic thumping of Hughie's heart and the deafening roar of the hum in his head.

" Oh, God. I just sounded like a total nerd. And a crazy person. I'm basically Sheldon Cooper trying to explain the Big Bang Theory to a bunch of angry vigilantes. But it felt right. It just… felt right. Like a puzzle piece clicking into place. And that hum… it's vibrating with a terrifying clarity now. It's telling me I'm right. Which is both exhilarating and absolutely terrifying. And the look on Translucent's face? Priceless. He looks like he just realized he left the oven on. Or that I'm about to turn him into a very fine, very invisible mist. Which, ironically, is how Robin went out. Full circle, I guess. A very, very dark, morally questionable circle. "

Translucent's eyes widened, a flicker of genuine, raw terror crossing his face. His body trembled, a visible tremor that ran through his carbon skin. "You… you know." His voice was barely a whisper.

"Know what?" Butcher demanded, lowering the dynamite slightly, his eyes fixed on Translucent, then on Hughie.

Hughie looked at Translucent, then back at Butcher, his mind racing, trying to process the terrifying implications of his own words. "His power… it's like a battery. It absorbs kinetic energy, but it can't discharge it. It just… stores it. Until it overloads. And if it overloads… he'll explode. From the inside out."

A collective gasp from the Boys. M.M. looked aghast. Frenchie's eyes gleamed with a mixture of horror and scientific fascination. Translucent's face, usually so composed, was pale, beads of sweat forming on his brow. He was trapped. And his secret, his ultimate weakness, had just been revealed by a civilian.

"Well, I'll be damned," Butcher whispered, a slow, cruel smile spreading across his face. "The kid really did it. You're a walking bomb, eh, mate? Just waiting for the right… catalyst." He looked at Translucent, then back at Hughie, a strange, almost predatory gleam in his eyes. "So, you're going to talk now, mate? Or are we going to see if our little theory holds up?"

The tension in the room was palpable. Hughie felt the hum inside him, a frantic, almost desperate pulse, urging him. He knew what he had to do. He hated it. He hated himself for even thinking it. But it was the only way. The only way to survive. The only way to get answers. The only way to stop them. He hadn't gained a power, but he had gained something far more dangerous: knowledge. And the terrifying intuition to use it.

" This is it. This is the moment. The moment where I either become a hero, or a monster. Or, more likely, a very confused, traumatized guy who accidentally figured out how to murder someone. But he was going to dissect me. And he's part of the system that killed Robin. And if I can use this… this thing inside me… this hum… to get answers… then maybe… maybe it's worth it. Maybe. God, I hope so. Because if not, I'm officially going to hell. And I don't even like the heat. And that hum… it's still screaming. But now, it's screaming, 'Do it, Hughie. Do it.' "

Hughie looked at Translucent, whose eyes were wide with terror. He looked at Butcher, who was watching him, waiting. He took a deep, shaky breath. He didn't have a power. But he had a terrifying, undeniable intuition. And in this world, sometimes, that was enough.

"He's not going to talk," Hughie said, his voice surprisingly steady, despite the tremor in his hands. "He's too afraid. But… I think I know how to make him. Or at least, how to prove it." He looked at Butcher, a grim determination in his eyes. "You want to know if the theory holds up? I can show you."

Butcher's smile widened, a flash of predatory satisfaction. "Alright, mate. Show me. Show us all."

Hughie walked towards the cage, his steps deliberate, the hum in his chest a deafening roar. He was still powerless. But he was about to become the catalyst. And the hunt for justice, for answers, was about to take a terrifying, irreversible turn.