Work Text:
Henry knows what being a teenage sidekick means. He also knows Ray. It’s been years since he joined as his sidekick, and he’s learned many of Ray’s quirks over the years. He also knew what those kids were signing up for when they agreed to be trained by Ray.
So, even as he leaves for Dystopia, he wants to make sure they have someone they can rely on. Someone they can go to if Ray is being too much. If being a superhero becomes too much. Someone who can remind them that they exist outside of the masks.
As he worked with Miles, Henry appreciated the boy's look on life. He wouldn’t call all the time like Mika, wouldn’t threaten him like Chapa, and would actually remember to contact him if he needed something unlike Bose. Miles didn’t contact Henry often, and rarely sent more than a text. So, Henry made sure to always answer if Miles called. Even if Henry was technically no contact, he would make sure Miles had a way to contact him.
The first time Miles contacts him is about six months after he moves to Dystopia. It’s a text saying Ray won’t let us be superheroes. Henry’s first thought is pure relief. They shouldn’t be superheroes. It’s impossible for them to know how much it will cost them. He also feels a sense of pride towards Ray for trying to hold them back. For not making the same mistakes twice.
Henry also knows the adrenaline of being near Captain Man. Of knowing that he can help, and wanting to be like a superhero. Wanting to matter. So instead of saying that he agreed. That they shouldn’t go on missions. They should learn to control their powers and go on with their lives, he texts back. Ray gets like that sometimes. Take the training seriously. You’ll be thankful once you're fighting bad guys. Miles sends him a thumbs up and he doesn’t hear anything else for a while.
Nothing could have prepared Henry for just how bad crime is in Dystopia. He thought he understood when he first moved, but the longer he spends in the city, the worse he realizes it is. Dealing with crime requires more than just punching the bad guy. He sometimes misses the days where the bad guys would call and announce their location. So, thoughts about Swellview fade to the back of his mind as he deals with bad guy after bad guy, only to realize the guys he’s punching don’t matter.
Henry was about to head out to meet Charlotte and Jasper when Miles appeared in the apartment. He stares in confusion as Miles looks around.
“Not again,” Miles snaps in frustration. Then he catches sight of Henry. Henry waves, letting his confusion show.
“What are you doing here Miles?” Henry has seen the suits. Charlotte sent him a photo when they first appeared on the news. Miles looks down at his suit and back at Henry.
“I’m AWOL now, and would you believe I didn’t mean to come here?” Miles lays on Henry’s couch making himself at home. Henry’s really glad he was about to head out. Rather than missing him, or catching him at a bad time. “I was trying to teleport home, but it doesn’t always work.” Miles looks like he’s making himself comfortable on the sofa. Henry sighs and pulls out his phone to let Charlotte and Jasper know he’s going to be late. Henry pulls his desk chair over near the couch and sits.
“How are things going? I haven’t heard from you in a while?” He also hasn’t reached out, but Dystopia takes ‘crime never sleeps’ to a new level.
“We’re finally fighting criminals. Which is good. All of us are still struggling to control our powers, hence why I am currently here.” Henry nods in agreement.
“Yeah, Jasper was throwing things at me for weeks. Almost got hit with a few knives.” Henry chuckles at the memory of Charlotte yelling at them after the first time. After that, they were only allowed to throw knives outside. Miles looks mildly concerned.
“We’re not throwing knives at each other.”
“That’s a good thing.” Henry pauses, before asking. “Everything is going well?” He is trying to disconnect from Swellview. Not for forever, but to find out who Henry Hart is. Still, he can’t help but wonder how it is going. If everything is okay.
“He misses you.” This doesn’t surprise Henry. They both knew his leaving was going to be hard.
“He’ll move on.” Miles doesn’t look convinced, but doesn't push it. Henry doesn’t want to leave it there. “Ray doesn’t deal with change well. Give him a little more time.” He doesn’t mention that Ray was texting him so often after he moved, that Henry had to block him. They both have to move on.
“I’m sure the solution will present itself.” Miles says. Henry grins standing and patting the boy on the shoulder.
“I’m sure it will. And, you’re already on your way to his heart. You did convince him to let you be superheroes.” Miles looks shifty, but speaks before Henry can ask about it.
“Do you have any tips on,” Miles pauses looking contemplative on how to phrase it, “Ray,” Miles gestures with his hands, obviously implying Ray and his Rayness. Henry thinks about what to say. He snaps his figures.
“He can never resist a chant.” Henry crosses his arms looking stern, but the smile on his face breaks the image. “Use that power wisely.” Miles' eyes widened at the revelation.
“Really?” He looks so excited at the prospect.
“Yes, try to save it for special occasions though. You really want it to have an impact. I was on my way out when you got here. I’ll grab food for you if you will be here when I get back?” Henry watches as Miles stands up.
“No, I better get back before ShoutOut freaks that I’m not home.” Miles starts to lift his hand to teleport when Henry speaks.
“You’re welcome anytime, but please try to give me a heads up.” Awol teleports, and Henry isn’t sure if he heard. Sighing he heads out the door text Char and Jasper. Grabbing food before heading over. Want something.
Everything went wrong when Charlotte left. Everything always goes wrong when she leaves. It started out fine. She still helped from Harvard, when she could. Jasper joined the bounty hunters and was taking out bad guys that way. Henry took to the streets and started chasing down the true villains of the city. It gained him a reputation, but the problem with being a hero is that he started making enemies.
Henry is running through the dark streets of Dystopia. His first real break in the case, and now he has a bounty hunter that eats souls chasing after him. The fact that that bounty hunter is a magically enhanced Jasper makes everything so much worse. When he realized what he stumbled into, it was too late. He became acquainted with the upstanding citizen of Ignatius Caister. All he wanted was a drink and a bite to eat, but he walked into the wrong nightclub at the wrong time.
He wishes AWOL could control his powers and get him out of here, instead Henry is smuggled out of Dystopia by an weapons dealer who owes him a favor, and spends a twelve hour flight in the worst most cramped seat on the plane, right next to the bathroom.
Before he left Swellview, he made sure all of the kids had his number. He also unblocked Ray, though even combined, Danger Force didn’t call as much as Ray. So, he picked up whenever he could. The problem was, a lot of his time was spent gaining information in dangerous places, where answering his phone could result in problems. Henry didn’t think that would be an issue at first. He still made sure to always answer when Miles called, but even when it was the others, he would call back as soon as he could.
It was a good dynamic. It worked, so when he gets back to his and Jasper’s apartment where Bose and Miles are chilling on his couch with Inside-Out Burger he is surprised. He checks his phone to see a text from Bose four hours earlier that they were stopping by. An hour ago he texted asking if he wanted anything to eat.
“Hi, how are you? Glad you're making yourself at home,” He lays the sarcasm on thick, though Bose and Miles only grin.
“Wasn’t sure how much longer you would be, so we grabbed food.” Bose holds up the Inside-Out bag. Henry steps further into the apartment, closing and locking the door behind him.
“You’re lucky I wrapped up early. Otherwise, we might have missed each other.” If the mission didn’t go so off plan, he would have missed them by days. Miles looks interested in that.
“What were you doing?” Miles asks, while Bose continues eating his burger, not looking like he’s paying attention. He thinks of the cages and the kids. Decides it’s not something he should worry either of them with. Instead he grabs the bag of Inside-Out.
“I have missed this. It is so hard to get a good burger here. What are you doing here by the way?” Henry takes a bite out of the burger, as Miles sits up fully.
“I gained a new superpower.” Miles sounds so excited. Henry grins, patting a hand on his shoulder.
“Good for you. Can you fly?” He raises both eyebrows in curiosity as he takes another bite of his burger.
“No,” Miles sounds a little disappointed before perking back up.
“He can see the future.” Bose speaks up smiling. Miles throws up his hands in frustration. Henry just chuckles.
“That’s great. What am I going to say next?” Henry thinks up a random sentence. Fifty zucchini’s on a mount.
Miles rolls his eyes. “It doesn’t work like that. I can’t control it, but whatever I see always happens.” Miles launches into telling him about how they figured it out. About the Time Jerker, the misunderstanding, and how he saw bad guys attacking them. Bose would occasionally interject with random comments about how everything happened, and sometimes about something completely unrelated.
By the time they finished the story, it was about midday, though Henry knew it felt like the middle of the night for the kids. They were trying to stay awake, but he had also been up all night, and was ready to get some rest.
“Let me grab a spare air mattress, and you can get a few hours of rest before going back.” Miles gives him a thumbs up, and Henry looks over to see Bose already asleep on the floor. Henry shakes his head going to grab the air mattress.
Over the next few months all the Danger Force kids called him. He listened while all of them ranted about the latest thing Ray did, talked about how training went, though most of the time, they called when they didn’t want to talk about being a superhero. Miles would randomly appear, though he started getting better at giving Henry a head’s up. Bose called the most often, wanting to talk. While Henry was very confused about the events, he enjoyed letting Bose ramble on.
He admits it was a surprise when Bose called asking for help. Sure, he’s there for the kids, but he also doesn’t want to get dragged back. His hands are full in Dystopia, and he is finally making a difference. Instead, he’s getting pulled back to Swellview and while he’s resistant, of course he will help the kids.
He was distracted enough last time that he didn’t have time to really process being back in Swellview. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy his time, but he was busy looking over his shoulder. He was able to focus on the dangers in Dystopia, and ignore how he felt being back in Swellview. It was easy to keep Ray distracted, easy to keep himself distracted.
This time, sure they were busy, but what he had ignored last time was coming to the surface. He needed his space, from Ray, from Swellview, from the history it all held. The problem is Ray didn’t understand that.
All Ray saw was Henry ignoring him, rather than Henry trying to figure everything out, outside of being connected to Captain Man. Being with Danger Force, defeating Rick Twittler and facing Drex again, helped bring everything in perspective. The fact he didn’t graduate high school, and Kid Danger dying, meant he left with more bitterness than he realized.
Talking to Ray, with the help of Bose, helped to clear the air. In the midst of getting captured, of coming face to face with both Rick Twittler and Drex again, and of the fighting, he realized he couldn’t keep running from Swellview.
This trip, he saw Danger Force working together. Saw Captain Man look out for them, and for Henry. Remembered all of the good times, and how much fun it was to work with Ray. Remembering that despite the jokes, Ray cared for him. So, he set up healthy boundaries, and as long as Ray doesn’t spam his phone, he’ll answer the man’s calls.
For the first time since moving to Dystopia, he misses Kid Danger. Not the identity, but the fun companionship that was always present. He would never go back, but something in him settles in with the realization. Because despite missing it, he doesn’t regret leaving, doesn’t regret moving. He doesn’t feel scared that he’d get trapped in Swellview if he visits.
It surprises Henry when after he leaves Swellview, he is the one to reach out to Ray. It’s about two weeks after leaving, but he has hit dead end after dead end chasing after Drex. None of Danger Force has reached out. So, he calls Ray just to distract himself from his frustration.
Henry and Ray bicker, Ray talks about Danger Force, about training, about nonsense. Henry talks a little bit about Dystopia, but he forgot how nice it was to have someone else to fill the silence.
While Henry was chasing Drex, was when he realized his powers could do far more than he originally thought. When Drex threw him off a skyscraper in Metroburg, for the first time he started trusting his powers. Activating his force field was instinct, it helped him survive the blimp, so maybe he could survive this.
What he wasn’t expecting was when he activated it, it sent him hurtling back up the skyscraper. Both he and Drex were so surprised they stared at each other for a long time before going back to fighting.
It’s also where he found out how to beat someone with indestructibility. It’s how he captured Drex to throw him in prison. He escaped a few months later, but by that time Henry was neck deep trying to chase down some guy named Myre, to get dirt on Ignatius.
His chase for Drex took him out of Dystopia for so long that rumors were going around that he was dead. Jasper started stepping out of the bounty hunter role, and into the superhero one more, while trying to dispel the rumors. It was only when he returned one power upgrade later, that he and Jasper became a crime fighting duo.
They were not well liked at first. Ignatius still had it out for him, and was doing everything in his power to tarnish their reputation. Jasper’s optimism and the one clean cop in Dystopia gave them just enough room to start building a case against Ignatius.
He doesn’t realize how long it’s been since he’s heard from any of the kids, until Miles texts him about babysitting Ray. Henry jumps at the chance. Both to make up for all the times Ray sat on him, but also because they had hit a wall with Ignatius, and it sounds like fun.
He makes it a whole two hours before Schwoz helps Ray escape, leaving behind a “Giant Tiny Ray” and despite looking exactly like Ray, is not Ray. Schwoz refuses to tell him where Ray ran off too, so he goes to find Danger Force.
Despite Major Babe not believing he is a superhero, and every villain in Swellview looking down on him. Henry is enjoying himself. If he really wanted to prove he is in fact a hero, it wouldn’t take much, but it wasn’t worth it.
The villains bring back so much nostalgia, and the fact none of them know just who is in front of them, makes it so much better. They thoroughly crash The Villies, make it back to The Supies, Captain Man does something stupid, but sweet, and they all head back to the Man’s Nest.
Henry has always tried to answer for Danger Force, but things with Ignatius heated up and he had to disappear for a time. So it was weeks before he saw all of the missed messages from everyone in Swellview. The kids had lost their powers, and everyone had texted him about it.
Ray had texted the most, talking about how the kids were without their powers, and how he was shutting everything down. Miles texted him a lot first, complaining about Ray wouldn’t let them fight, then about how Ray, Mika, and Bose had gone missing for a week, and asking for his help. Bose had called the most, but didn’t leave any voicemails, and his texts only consisted of words that without context would not have made sense.
He even heard from Mika and Chappa. Mika warned him that there was a fish that could take away his powers, and Chappa asked him to make Ray stop being stupid. Even Schwoz texted him to let him know Ray, Mika, and Bose disappeared. The final texts were from Miles letting him know Mika was back with the other two, and then a text from Bose saying they had their powers back.
He felt terrible that he didn’t answer. Despite texting apologies to all four of the kids and letting Ray know that it was life or death and that’s why he didn’t answer, he noticed a distinct lack of communication from the kids. He met up with Ray to make up for the radio silence, but even after seeing all of the kids again, he didn’t hear from them as often.
Mika and Chappa didn’t normally text him, so that wasn’t strange, but he hadn’t received a single call from Bose, and the few times Miles texted him were short. It was something he was going to try to deal with, but then they got a real lead on taking down Ignatius. One of his people was willing to flip, and Jasper and the police officer had been successful in limiting the dirty cops, so this was their one chance to remove Ignatius’ hold on the city.
They took Ignatius down, though it was a brutal fight. Far too many people died, and Jasper’s cop friend was shot. With Ignatius gone, there was a power vacuum in Dystopia that left Henry and Jasper exhausted. It was months of constant fighting before a stable balance was established.
It was only when their reputation started looking better, that Henry realized it had been almost a year since he had visited anyone outside of Dystopia. He was hesitant about leaving the city, but Jasper encouraged him too. Henry loved being in Dystopia, but he also finds that he is far more restless than Jasper. While Jasper is content to stay in Dystopia, and rarely travels outside of the island, Henry finds himself needing to leave.
Henry couldn’t get a hold of Ray, which was strange. He reached out to Miles, asking how everything was going, and was told it was fine. So, Henry was going to surprise Ray, but when he got to the MansNest, it was completely empty. Danger Force showed up shortly after, and that’s how he found out Ray had left to live on a boat.
Henry knew Ray had a girlfriend, knew he was completely in love with her. Henry is happy for him. That way Ray isn’t always asking about his mom, that he isn’t calling, that Henry is getting some space.
Ray’s retirement as Captain Man left Henry with a bitter taste in his mouth. Ray told him he was going to keep going for years. Captain Man and Kid Danger for another twenty or thirty years. Then Kid Danger died leaving behind four powered teenagers, and it only took Ray three years to decide they could handle Swellview by themselves.
For the first time in years, Henry ends up with his parents. He has stopped by for holidays, or when Piper is there, but he hasn’t spent a night at that house since he moved out. After he revealed his identity, it always felt like they were proud of Kid Danger, never Henry.
Dinner was fine, they talked about all of their latest travels, so Henry was able to just sit and listen. After he sat in his old room, surrounded by workout equipment, staring at his phone. Finally, he settles on sending a congratulations to Ray. He thinks about calling Jasper or Charlotte, but doesn’t want to talk about it yet.
Instead, he looks up Swellview news and sees how the town is doing without Captain Man. There were mixed reviews originally, after his retirement was announced, but Danger Force appears to be doing really well. They are working as a team, and Swellview isn’t in any more or less danger than it usually is.
Henry spends most of the evening thinking about Ray’s retirement, and the more he thinks about it, the more it makes sense. Henry knows Ray better than anyone else. He knows Ray took on Danger Force more out of necessity, than because he wanted new sidekicks. That they were determined to be their own heroes, and rarely listened to Ray. That they were doing more on their own. So, while Henry wasn’t expecting Ray’s retirement, it makes sense.
The next day, he takes the kids out for pizza after school to celebrate. Tells them that things in Dystopia have slowed, and that if they need anything to let him know. They’re quick to reassure him that they can handle Swellview, and he agrees. Because he is not Captain Man, and he never will be. So, they celebrate, and Henry leaves Swellview early, needing to be back in Dystopia. Needing to go back home.