Meet the Supers: Hugh Harrison
Aka The Great Hughdini
A Safe House dispatch. Jared pulled my own file from the government’s database, the wretch, and dared me to publish it uncorrected. I have. The corrections are more fun in the margin anyway. — H.
Dear friends,
Hugh here.
Turnabout is fair play, and my own file is as cold as any of them. I reproduce it without correction. You’ll see why I prefer to do my correcting in ink, at the bottom, where it can do the most good.
▌ FEDERAL THREAT REGISTRY — FLAGGED DANGEROUS
Field designation: “THE GREAT HUGHDINI” (stage name)
Registry name: Hugh Archibald Harrison
Subject number: 942 — ARCHIVE record, sealed
Physical (on record): Hair Color Unknown ·Eye Color Unknown · 6’2” · 185 lbs
Disposition: Held, Colorado State Penitentiary, Cañon City. Terminally ill — unusual toxin, source ███████. Awaiting trial, alleged murder of one Dale Harrison (sibling). Multiple escapes from custody on record.
Surveillance log (excerpt):
Subject demonstrates anomalous command of light, sound, and mechanical locks of every class. Engages investigators in word games; uncommonly intelligent; unusually calm under interrogation. Recapture priority: HIGH. Recommend no fewer than ██ personnel present at any transfer.
▌ ARCHIVE CROSS-REFERENCE — SEALED
DNA consistent with subject 942, recovered c. 1970s from facility █████ (United Kingdom). Subject escaped containment alongside others bearing comparable anomalies. True appearance and full capabilities: ████████████. Foreign interest in subject’s repatriation: noted.
A note in the margin, from Hugh.
Hair Color Unknown. Eye Color Unknown.
(Reader, I am laughing.)
Let us say only that the government’s description and the man in his mirror have a complicated relationship, and that locks are not the sole thing I can persuade to be other than they appear.
“Considered dangerous” I shall allow — it’s done wonders for my reputation. “Awaiting trial for the murder of my brother” I shall not, because Dale is the cleverest soul I know, and the dead are rarely so irritating by post. Watch that word sealed, dear friends — what the file won’t say about a frightened boy and the place he was taken from is the truest thing in it, and the part I guard most carefully.
The toxin is real. The clock it set is real. I don’t dwell on it, and I’d thank you not to either — there are escapes yet to make and a Safe House to keep.
They filed me under dangerous. I’d have preferred dangerously charming. We compromise, the government and I, on both.
Yours magically,
Hugh
~ Illusionist, Escape Artist, and Super Chap!
PS. My story runs the length of the Black Kat series, beginning with Unlucky Charm — free at the Safe House.