Today was probably the most nerve wracking day of his life.

Jugo's leg bobbed up and down rapidly in the back seat of the car Elena had sent to pick him up. She said her father wanted to meet him. Her father, as in the Thomas Holloway. Leader in SuperHuman entrepreneurship, and one of the richest men in the world.

Jugo could only imagine what Mr. Holloway's reaction would be when they met. Maybe it was just paranoia, but he couldn't help but to think that her father would never approve of his relationship - whatever the nature of it may be at this point - with Elena. The businessman was known for being protective of her. On top of that, Jugo's own father didn't approve of him, so what hope did he have of earning Thomas Holloway's?

Whatever may happen, Jugo could do nothing about it. If Elena's father didn't approve of him, then it would be impossible for them to see each other anymore.

When the car pulled up to the building, he stepped out without saying anything to the driver. He was blown away by Holloway Industries Headquarters. The building was almost as wide as it was tall. The thousands of windows on the building's exterior were tinted in a caramel color. The Holloway Industries logo was implanted into the side of the building near the top.

Jugo felt like an imposter when he entered the main lobby. The first floor was mostly commercial areas selling merchandise from the Holloway brand. They even had a restaurant. A mix of tourists and people in business outfits milled about. The people in casual clothing went about visiting the gift shop, eating at the restaurant, and some lounged in a waiting area for a tour of the building. The ones in the professional clothing would check in at the reception desk, pass through an authorized personnel entrance, and then take an elevator up to their jobs.

The floor was a tiled amber with the walls being made of a matching colored sandstone. Retro looking chandeliers hung from the roof with lights shaped like candles. A scent that was bordering on sickeningly sweet filled the air. The smell was apple cinnamon, but it was too strong for his liking.

Feeling awkward from standing around, Jugo decided to see if the receptionist would know what to do next. But before he could get within ten feet of the front desk, someone crashed into him.

"Oof! Hi, Elena." He'd grown accustomed to her weight by now. Plus, she was probably the only person in the world willing to give him a hug.

"It's good to see you," she said after giving him one last squeeze.

"It's only been a day," he pointed out.

"Well, it was a long day," she said with a phony frown. "So, are you ready to go up?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Jugo took a deep breath then followed Elena as she led the way.

She brought him over to one of the elevators and explained that only someone with a keycard could get to the top floor where the penthouse was. The penthouse was where they lived, and where her father worked from. It was where they slept, where they ate, and where her father kept his office.

Though he wasn't afraid of heights, Jugo couldn't imagine living in such a high place.

As the elevator approached the top floor, Jugo began to voice some of his concerns to Elena.

"This might sound stupid, but do you think your father will approve of me?"

She gave him a perplexed look.

"It's just that we come from different sides of the fence, you know? I just get the feeling he's not going to like a person like me."

"A person like you?"

"Yeah, I'm like a riff-raff or something, right?"

"My dad judges people based on their character, not their status," she assured him with a smile.

I'm afraid of that, too.

"Besides," she continued, "Dad didn't come from wealth, he built all of this from the ground up. I'm sure you'll get along just fine."

It was time to find out because the elevator reached the penthouse floor.

Alex the bodyguard was waiting for them when they arrived. He looked about as pleased as ever to see Jugo, but he made no comment. The bodyguard simply led them down the penthouse hallway to Mr. Holloway's office. The office had two massive oak doors that - in Jugo's mind - looked extremely uninviting.

Alex knocked, then a voice called them inside.

There he was, the legendary Thomas Holloway. Mr. Holloway is a tall, broad shouldered man. His hair was a dark brown with undertones of a fine gray. His eyes were a startling green that Jugo felt could see right through him. His face was cleanly shaven, and his complexion was impeccable. And on top of all that, his posture radiated a form of confidence only someone who had climbed from the bottom to the top could possess.

Thomas Holloway finished signing a piece of paperwork before looking up to greet them.

"Hey Dad." Elena walked around the - very expensive looking - desk and gave her father a side hug.

Mr. Holloway made eye contact with Jugo.

"You must be the young man my daughter has told me so much about."

"Dad!" Elena exclaimed as her cheeks became dusted with a blush.

"I'm Thomas Holloway, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." The business man stuck out his hand.

"Jugo Anderson, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Holloway." Jugo made himself look as stoic as possible as he shook Thomas's hand. He was surprised at how firm the business man's grip was.

Behind them, standing beside the door, Alex sneezed, coughed, and then sneezed again.

"Excuse me, sir," he said apologetically. The bodyguard's voice sounded congested.

Thomas looked at him then said, "You don't sound too well, Alex."

"It's just a cold, sir," Alex assured him.

"Maybe, but I think you ought to go down to the clinic for a check-up, just to be sure. You can take the rest of the day off while you're at it."

"But, sir-"

"No buts," Mr. Holloway cut him off. "Take the day off, and get some rest."

"Yes, sir," Alex finally said reluctantly then left the room.

After the bodyguard left, Thomas Holloway turned his attention back towards Jugo.

"Well, Mr. Jugo, let me start off by saying how grateful I am for taking care of my little girl," Mr. Holloway said to him.

"I'm not that little," Elena muttered.

"I only meant that I'm glad he kept you safe, even in spite of the danger to himself," her father said with a warm smile.

"Honestly, sir, she's helped me as much as I've helped her," said Jugo.

"Regardless, the point is that you've been really good to each other, and I'm grateful for that." Mr. Holloway walked around his desk. "Tell you what, how would you like a tour of the place while you tell me a bit about yourself?"

Jugo was hesitant to accept. Telling Thomas Holloway about himself would include, at the very least, sprinkling lies into his backstory. And someone does not become one of the most successful people of all time without being able to detect a lie a mile away. This man had the resources to check on Jugo's background, and that could be a disaster. However, if he didn't accept, Mr. Holloway's approval of him would tank.

Putting on a fake smile of enthusiasm, Jugo accepted Holloway's offer.

"I'll spare you the boring stuff like our marketing department," Holloway said as he, Elena, and Jugo stepped into the elevator. "We'll go straight for the exciting stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Jugo asked.

"Can we show him the R&D department first?" Elena spoke-up. "They're always doing something cool in there."

"R&D?" Jugo wasn't familiar with that term.

"Research and Development, it's where a lot of the SuperHuman necessities are made," Elena explained.

"That sounds like a plan." Holloway pressed the elevator button. He then leaned against the handrail before fixing his stare on Jugo. "Tell me about yourself, where do you go to school at?"

The first hurdle presented itself. Telling the truth wasn't an option, and he couldn't straight up lie without easily being caught. He decided to tell a partial truth to dodge the question.

"I'm sorry to say, but I'm a high school dropout." Being a dropout certainly wouldn't boast his approval rating, but it was better than lying. Technically he was expelled, but being expelled and being a dropout were basically the same outcome. "I had to leave home before I could finish, so it was either live on the streets, or I dropout."

"Oh, I see. Elena told me you went through a rough patch, but she wouldn't divulge the details." Holloway nodded in a sympathetic way. "I certainly don't blame you as it must have been a difficult choice."

"Dropping out of high school was," Jugo said. "But leaving home was easier than you'd think."

Elena gave him a sad look. She hadn't forgotten the things they said during their ride on the Ferris wheel. Neither had he.

The elevator dinged as it reached its destination. Holloway led them into the R&D department. In contrast to the lobby's aesthetic, the R&D department had a clean white look to it with a gray tiled floor. Most of the floor's occupants wore the stereotypical lab coats while they worked. The entire floor was a series of repeating labs with employees either taking notes, running a test on a SuperHuman subject, or tinkering with some kind of machine.

"This is where the magic happens," the business man said. "Our scientists work tirelessly for the benefit of SuperHumans everywhere."

"Tirelessly is right," said an Asian man with thin hair. He wore a lab coat with an ID badge stating his name to be Dr. Mei Ling Chen.

"Ah, perfect timing," said Holloway as he shook the doctor's hand. "This is Dr. Chen, one of our lead researchers. It was him who designed the Speedster Nutrition Bar."

Out of all the SuperHumans in the world, speedsters were among the ones who had it the roughest. Being super fast meant having an extraordinarily high metabolism. Three meals a day just wasn't enough to sustain them. It was so bad that speedsters were on the verge of dying from malnutrition, and starvation. The Speedster Nutrition Bar was Holloway Industries first big product. It was a revolutionary snack bar that contained enough nutrients, and calories to keep a speedster on their feet for twenty-four hours.

"Oh, Dad, Dr. Chen, can we tell Jugo what you're working on now?" Elena asked with a sudden burst of excitement.

Dr. Chen looked at Holloway, but the business man just shrugged and said, "Why not?"

Dr. Chen explained, "Right now, we're researching the phenomenon we're calling Spontaneous SuperPower Combustion."

"Isn't that the thing that happens when a person suddenly bursts into flames?" Jugo asked. He'd heard of something like that before, some kid in middle school who developed some fire manipulating powers scared him with rumors about humans who seemingly burst into flames for no apparent reason.

Dr. Chen shook his head.

"That's spontaneous human combustion. Spontaneous SuperPower Combustion is the sudden emergence of a SuperHuman ability."

"Wait, are you saying it's possible for a person to suddenly develop a new superpower on the spot?" As he asked that question, Jugo thought back to the night at the pier when he and the twin boys suddenly teleported out of the monster's stomach. Did one of the boys develop a life saving power right when they needed it?

"There's still not a lot we know about SSPC," Dr. Chen continued. "For instance, we're not yet sure what triggers it. Some SuperHumans, such as soldiers, report new powers developing during high stress situations. Others report powers developing out of nowhere with seemingly no reason. Our current goal is to find the causation behind SSPC."

"Doctor, do you think we could see the current test subject?" Holloway requested. "Perhaps this would be easier to understand if we saw an example of it."

"Of course. Right this way." Dr. Chen led them further down the corridor to a lab that was labeled as 'Controlled Environment.'

In the lab space was a fairly muscular man wearing plain green clothes, and a buzzcut hair style. It plain to see he was a soldier. Little wooden blocks like the kinds you would find in a children's play area floated around him. It looked like telekinesis, but the blocks floated aimlessly. Jugo believed his power to be something to do with gravity. It looked as if he could make objects he touched float around as if they were in zero gravity.

"This is Private R.J. Ryan," Dr. Chen said. "He just got back from deployment overseas. He was part of a support unit helping our European allies fight Valerio's insurgency. However, their unit came under attack in an ambush. During that high stress situation, Private Ryan developed a peculiar ability."

A bunch of lab technicians entered the room carrying baseball machines. There were eight technicians, each carrying a ball machine each; they placed them in the four corners of the room. Dr. Chen then pressed an intercom button.

"Are you ready, Private?"

"Go ahead," the soldier said with a nod.

The lab technicians switched the baseball machines on then exited the room. Firing at maximum speed, the machines launched about half-a-dozen balls at Private Ryan from four different directions at once. Then, manifesting from his back, a blue one-eyed monster appeared. It had no mouth, or facial features, just a giant eyeball. It only manifested from the torso up with the rest of its body fading away like a drawing erased from paper. Instead of arms, it had four slimy tentacles.

Without moving a muscle, Private Ryan managed to deflect every single baseball fired at him with his manifested monster. Jugo could only watch in astonishment. Some unfortunate people were unlucky enough to develop a mutation superpower, but Private Ryan seemingly summoned a monster out of thin air. It wasn't attached to hid body, yet it seemed completely under his control.

"Ew ew ew," Elena shuddered. "I don't like those tentacles."

"It is an unusual power," Dr. Chen confirmed. "It has no obvious relation to the Private's levitation power, and it just manifested out of thin air during the ambush. Whatever that is, it saved the Private's whole unit."

"So a power doesn't have to be related to pre-existing abilities to develop?" Jugo questioned.

"Correct," Dr. Chen confirmed. "Nothing in Private Ryan's genetic record suggests this power is inherited. None of his other relatives have that ability. And he's not the only person to spontaneously develop a new SuperHuman power unrelated to their previous ability."

"Even more interesting," Holloway interjected, "is that a person doesn't have to be SuperHuman to experience Spontaneous SuperPower Combustion."

Now that was food for thought. Could my powers have spontaneously combusted back in high school?

Thomas Holloway led them along after Dr. Chen excused himself. As they went, he explained that the goal of the R&D department was not only to make life better for SuperHumans, but safer as well. The vast majority of SuperHuman powers weren't cultivated, or were so minor that they weren't even worth mentioning. On the flipside, there were some SuperHuman abilities that were dangerous to others as well as the user.

Holloway pointed out a machine that would allow SuperHumans who generated electricity to discharge excess power without the fear of hurting someone around them. Another work in progress they were shown was an experimental medication that induces a cooling effect for people who generate high amounts of heat. Something that really caught Jugo's interest was the testing of a collar on a volunteer subject.

The SuperHuman whom volunteered for the experiment had a mutation power. Similar to the Super Kraken, his body took on a form that departed from his humanity. His skin looked to be made of wood, and his head sprouted tree branches with lively green leaves. Holloway explained that the scientists were developing a device that would negate his powers, thereby reversing his mutation.

Jugo could certainly understand why some people would want that, but a scary reprocution came from that technology.

"Why do they look like collars?" Jugo asked the business man.

"It's just a prototype design. Our engineers will begin reformatting it into casual clothing when its perfected."

Jugo looked into the lab through the glass window and saw the collar taking effect. The man's features became more human-like with his face becoming more recognizable. All well and good for him, but what about SuperHumans who don't conform to society?

Mr. Holloway asked Jugo some more questions about himself as they went along. Jugo found himself being more honest about some of the of the questions than he would have thought.

The R&D department turned out to be just the tip of the Holloway Industries iceberg. The company also sponsored various programs that worked to build a better world. One such program was a joint effort between scientists, weather manipulators, and ice manipulators to stop the ice caps from melting. Other levels focused on training youths who struggled with their powers. Seeing kids who couldn't control their powers made Jugo more grateful for the abilities he got.

"By the way, Jugo, what's your SuperHuman power?" Holloway asked him. "If you don't mind saying."

"I'm not really sure what to call it. I'm strong, sturdy, and decently fast."

"Interesting," Holloway said. "You know, there's a series of tests my people can run to try and determine the specifics of your powers. Would you be up for that?"

Jugo couldn't deny that he was curious himself. Most people with super strength eventually hit a wall where their strength wouldn't go any higher. That wrestler with the muscle growth powers from the pier - for example - likely wasn't going to get any stronger than he already was. But Jugo's strength continued to grow. Every battle made him faster, stronger, and more durable than before. But he couldn't shake the feeling there was more to it.

After agreeing to take Holloway's tests, him and Elena were taken down to a level below ground. Beneath Holloway Industries was a massive underground training ground with hundreds of SuperHumans running drills, working out, and practicing their powers.

"This facility isn't exactly known to the general public so I trust you keep this visit on the down low." Thomas Holloway explained what the people training here were preparing for. "Some of these young men and women will go on to become heroes in our society, while others," he gestured towards a group in camouflage, "are preparing to go to war."

The war. If he hadn't been thrust into the life of a supervillain, Jugo would have probably joined the military straight out of high school. Even if just to get away from his old home. A few years after the emergence of SuperHumans, a lunatic with incredible powers led a revolt all across Europe. The young man's name was Valerio, and along with a handful of other powerful SuperHumans, he formed a following that plunged that area of the world into chaos. He already controlled most of the land, now he was trying to bring the areas he controlled together under a single banner; his own country.

Valerio was one of the few people in the world that Jugo was actually fearful of fighting.

Thomas Holloway brought Jugo over to a small room lined with computers. He had Jugo take an assessment so the computer could determine what the best tests to determine his powers was. After getting the results, Holloway called a trainer over. The trainer put Jugo through a strength test first to see how much he could lift. They had a special machine for that, too. The machine used the assessment results to determine the maximum weight he could lift then replicated that weight pressing down on him.

Jugo managed to even impress himself when he lifted 500 tons. Just barely, but he managed to pull it off.

They went through tests for his speed, reaction time, intelligence, attention to detail, and various resistances. At the end of it all, they asked him to try the strength test again. This time, however, it felt like the load the machine gave him was lighter. The 500 tons from before pushed his muscles to their limits, but the weight this time felt like a casual workout.

"Uh, you can pile on some more weight if you need to," Jugo said to the trainer.

The trainer frowned at him.

"Does it feel different than from earlier?" she asked.

"Yeah, it feels a lot lighter, actually."

The small crowd that gathered around him as he held the machine's artificial weight up gawked at him. Thomas Holloway looked especially pleased. Not knowing what everybody was reacting to, Jugo threw a questioning glance at Elena, but even she seemed surprised.

"I'm not entirely sure what to make of this myself," the SuperHuman trainer stated to Holloway. "The weight the machine is exerting is the same as before; 500 tons."

The artificial weight machine cut itself off. That can't be right. I just struggled to lift 500 tons less than an hour ago.

"And you're sure it's not a glitch or anything?" Holloway asked the trainer.

"It can't be, maintenance just looked at it this morning," the trainer confirmed.

Jugo went to stand by Elena even as he pondered over what that meant. He honestly didn't feel any stronger, and yet, he was. If he had been wearing his armor, then he could understand the strength difference, but without it he was just as clueless as anyone else.

Holloway strode over to them after a moment of conversation with the SuperHuman trainer.

"Jugo, would you like to go for a ride somewhere? There's someone I'd like you to meet."