Curious. How does your villainous Waterboy view Phenomaman?
He knows of him. Knows he's huge and could kill him with his pinky finger, so he avoids him like he avoids any other hero (extra). He thinks SDN is a menace and the heroes that they deploy are pretty stupid, except the exceptionally powerful ones like Phenomeman and Blonde Blazer. Seeing billboards and advertisements of them everywhere annoys him and he gets a little paranoid like they can see the crimes he commits.
He works alone and in secret, so until he's eventually caught and imprisoned most of the z-team don't know about his existence except for massive puddles full of blood at crime scenes. He considers himself lucky not to come across them.
When he joins the Z-team and meets Phenomaman, he's nervous that he knows about his past and he'll treat him badly because of it. When Phenomaman doesn't, he's extremely relieved. He actually comes to spend time and enjoy him more than most of the other members because of how weird and genuine he is. Other people find waterboy odd (and he is) so he can relate. Phenomaman is puzzled at first by his actions and his strange behavior but accepts it as normal for humans. He even copies some of them thinking it will help him assimilate to humanity quicker, until Robert has the heart to tell him it's not and it's scaring people.
So, Waterboy goes along with it and has a little fun teasing him when he knows he won't understand what he means. They are somewhere between acquaintances and friends in the end and that works for Herman because he wants to get on the good side of a guy that's as powerful as he.
Thank you for the ask! ♥️
jbbartram-illu
vaporwave
stormborns
theartofmadeline
ellievsbear
