Hugo Cruz Martinez Rojas

Hugo Cruz Martinez Rojas, more commonly known as simply Cruz, is a main protagonist in the Monster, Villain, Hero arc. She is transgender nonbinary but leans towards femeninity and she/her pronouns.

Description
Cruz is a six foot two "straight girl in a guy's body". She is Latina, described as being good-looking with dark hair and dark brown eyes with mascara. She likes to follow the rules, although bends them quite a lot, and prefers being ignored. She's old enough to drive but can't take her test as she's scared of the question "male or female?", has no friends other than Shade despite being trustworthy, is ignored by her parents, stands up to bullies and doesn't approve of Catholicism. She sounds female, although she is in a male body.She could also be genderfluid/non-binary.

Power
Cruz's power is a cross between the abilities of Penny and Bug. She is a one-ounce morpher, the weakest morpher level. Her power is different, however: she doesn't morph into anything, she just appears to. This allows her to turn invisible or appear to be someone else. She can control the hologram by simply moving.

This likely represents the fact that she is transgender, as Peaks has discovered that the morphs are influenced by the thoughts and personality of the morpher. It is unknown what DNA Cruz's ounce of ASO-3 absorbed, as the only animals she could represent are cuttlefish and chameleons and the DNA of neither were absorbed into the rock.

Appearances
Cruz first appears being picked on by bullies about her gender. When they demand to know whether or not she "has a dick", she replies "You seem way too interested in what I have in my pants", causing them to beat her up. Shade Darby takes Cruz to her house and tends to her wounds, and the two become friends. Shade casually mentions that she knows where one of the ASOs, the meteors that created the Gaiaphage, will land, and the government don't because Shade edited their information on her father's computer. Cruz is shocked, but is desperate for a friend, so accompanies Shade. When Shade reveals she can mutate, Cruz attempts to provoke her, but it doesn't work because both she and Shade keep bursting out laughing. Cruz was also jealous of Shade because her ability to morph has come before hers and wonders if hers will come. Shade finally mutates when they are attacked, but Malik Tenerife sees. He talks to Shade and Cruz about what they're doing and tells Cruz that she should stop being involved in Shade's obsession, but Cruz instead eats an ounce of the rock herself and discovers she can turn invisible.
 * Monster

Later, Cruz goes on the run with Shade and Malik when the cops track them down. On the way, Cruz discovers the full extent of her power - she can look like anything she wants, if she knows exactly what it looks like, but her physical form does not change. She is also disturbed by the Dark Watchers. She accompanies Shade as the latter fights Knightmare, and turns up at the final battle, where she distracts Napalm. She helps get Malik to the hospital when he is badly injured and when she discovers he is going to die, she accuses Shade of getting him killed. She is present when Malik consumes some of ASO-3.

Cruz is waiting with Shade near the hospital that Malik is in. She changes her appearance into that of various nurses to sneak in an check on him, eventually giving him some of the ASO rock, so that he can survive. She then goes with Cruz and Malik to an uninhabited house in the Mojave Desert. Cruz times Shade's running, and discovers she can go at speeds of approximately 800 miles per hour. She then accompanies Shade to the Ranch. Afterwards, they meet up with Dekka and Armo in Las Vegas.
 * Villain

In the battle of Las Vegas, Cruz decides that they should save everybody "when all hope is lost" so that they will be portrayed as heroes. Cruz, in her invisible form, acts as a scout, poised to call Shade in when the chaos begins. When Dillon drops a sparking wind-up toy into the flames, she realizes that he will cause a fatal fire. Cruz manages to save several people from the flames, but the casualties are still great.

Hero

Cruz remains with the Rockborn Gang, and is well known for her rescuing of a baby in the Las Vegas battle. She harbors romantic feelings for Armo, and the two eventually kiss while working on the defeat of Vector. She continues to help the Rockborn Gang throughout the book, and plays a part in the battle to defeat Vector at the close of the book. Throughout Hero, she writes her thoughts and actions in her purple moleskin, which she converts to a sort of diary.