THE MOMENT
PowerPhil let himself bask in his own pride as he made his way through the narrow, polished chrome hallway. He was on the 35th floor, and there were plenty of windows letting in warm morning sunlight. It was early still, and he was feeling as on top of the world as he was in actuality. Officially, it was just another meeting with the League owners at Chroma Corp. But, PowerPhil had spent the last three decades building up a heroic reputation. In that time, he became close friends with the leader of the Hero's League, Captain Sergeant, and the Captain had seemed extra encouraging lately. He eventually hinted that there was something huge in PowerPhil's future, and now he was on his way to talk with the League owners.
"I'm ready...," he built himself up as he reached the door. "I can lead," he made the declaration as a way to convince himself. They were likely going to offer him Captain Sergeant's position as the top hero. He certainly deserved it. He spent a good portion of his career in the lower tiers of the League. He was fine with it because he was new, and he would make use of the time to get stronger with his superpower.
His superpower boiled down to: 'hard work always returns results', but it was far more nuanced than he initially thought. 'Hard', 'work', 'always', and 'results', were all surprisingly subjective keywords for his powerset. He needed to learn for himself what was 'hard' and what was 'work'. Just because he directed a lot of effort toward having fun didn't turn it into 'work', and his willingness to do things made them relatively 'easy', no matter how difficult they might be objectively. It took effort, which was his power to begin with, and most of all time, for him to properly make use of things.
Now, 30 years after his debut, he defined 8 - 5 to be his working hours, and he'd successfully convinced himself that being a hero was hard work. He'd gotten the hang of his gifts and put them to great use in the League. He was a living example of good work ethic, and he was sure they wanted to reward that.
"Come in," he knocked on the door, and entered as soon as he got the go-ahead. A handsome man in a blue blazer was crossing the office to meet him.
"Phil, glad you're here," Orion smiled as he extended his hand. The two had met before. Orion was Chroma Corps.' Super Hero liaison, and he met with Captain Sergeant often.
"Thanks, it's an honor," PowerPhil nodded and sat down. Orion gestured at the chair in front of his desk, then walked around behind the desk to his own leather seat.
"Well, to get right to it, congratulations," Orion grinned. "You've come a long way, and it's evident to anyone who's been in the league for a couple of years how hard you work. Chroma Corp. is honored to bump you up a level, so to speak," he chuckled and pulled out a loaded clipboard from his desk. He slid it over to PowerPhil with a pen.
"Your promotion is official as soon as you sign off on it. Then I'll walk you through your choices for your new League."
"New League?" PowerPhil was ready to sign his name to a promotion, even without knowing all the details. But the mention of a new League wasn't something that could be ignored.
"Yeah, you're moving up the ladder, so you get a whole new crop of Leagues to choose from," Orion nodded.
"The only other 'Up' is Captain Sergeant's position...," PowerPhil replied. But, Orion shook his head with a grin.
"That's just in that Heroe's League, on your Earth. Chroma Corp owns thousands of Hero's Leagues across the multiverse. They have tiered power levels, and your League is in the lowest level; but, you've worked hard and you're better now. Good enough to get into a higher-tier League.
"What do you mean higher-tier?" PowerPhil asked. It was partially a filler question and partially born from confusion. He understood the words and general sentiment, but he didn't know there were higher levels at all.
"Well, let's take you for example," Orion nodded. "You've worked your way up to Captain Sergeant's inner circle of leaders. But, objectively, you've always been in the bottom ranks of superheroes ever since you debuted. The simple fact is that there are better-organized and stronger teams. Baseball is a simple analogy, but don't get it twisted," he said. "You haven't moved out of Little League into the Majors. Consider this offer more along the lines of a college-level scholarship. There's still more to go, but if you keep working hard like you have been, I don't have any doubts you'll reach the higher tiers."
The Captain hadn't done anything to prepare PowerPhil for this. He was entirely out of his depth with too much information being thrown at him. Thousands of Hero's Leagues? Other universes? For 30 years, PowerPhil had built up a habit, and in this moment, it truly paid off. He couldn't think straight, but his power took over so that he didn't have to. There were too many problems to solve, and he couldn't solve all of them there in that moment. The only thing he had to do right then was to make a single decision.
"It doesn't sound easy," PowerPhil nodded as he signed his name. "I'm ready to work for it."