Richie has been feeling a bit down since he lacks superpowers like Virgil. Then one day, on the way home, he runs into an elderly man. The man, Ragtag, grants him superpowers in the form of energy manipulation. Calling himself "Push", Richie takes up a superhero role, which causes a rift to form between him and Virgil. However, Richie's powers fade after a while, forcing him to return to Ragtag to get powered up again. Unfortunately, not all is as it seems with him...
Tropes include:
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Ragtag seems like a kindly old man who grants powers to others who have none. Underneath, he is a cold manipulator who uses his Super-Empowering powers to force others to commit crimes for him in exchange for retaining those powers. Finally, when the chips are down, he is not above killing minors like Virgil and Richie, who are only high school students.
- Evil Old Folks: Ragtag is an elderly man, but he is the antagonist of this episode in that he grants powers to young people in exchange for them committing crimes on his behalf.
- G-Rated Drug: The powers Ragtag grants are like drugs, giving a rush of power and euphoria that eventually wears off. Folks so empowered feel the need to get back that feeling once it fades, so they return to him. The first instance is free, but for the next he asks for a price, similar to how dealers hook their customers. Also, the name Richie takes - "Push" - is a term often associated with drug usage.
- Irony: As next season would reveal, Richie turns out to have had Bang Baby powers this entire time, meaning he didn't need Ragtag's Super-Empowering gifts in the first place.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Static's first line in the episode, "I came in at 'heinous henchmen'," sounds somewhere between Static/Virgil and Phil LaMarr's natural speaking voice. Considering that the same scene involves LaMarr pretending to be Static pretending to be Green Lantern, it's possible that he had trouble getting back into character between takes.
- Power Parasite: Ragtag's secondary power is to absorb powers from other metahumans for his own use.
- Super-Empowering: Ragtag's main ability is to grant powers to others for a short time.
- Super-Speed: Run is granted the power to move at blinding speeds by Ragtag.
- Teleportation: Jump is granted a short-range version by Ragtag. This lets him bypass obstacles that would impede Run.
