Shindo nodded at Mr. Pickles before lowering his half-mask so it was hanging below his chin. He forgot to do that earlier. Oh well, it didn't seem to bother anyone. "Well sorry for not listening anyway." He said offhandedly before turning to the new voice that had appeared. His eyebrows raised as the blonde girl, whom he had known to be Pumpkin Witch, bounded towards Violet Reaper and then gave her a big hug. "I'm not sure that's a good-" He cut himself off when the Pumpkin Witch had already done it.
He held back a laugh when Violet Reaper had attempted to slice Pumpkin Witch's head off but the latter had managed to dodge just in the nick of time. The blonde girl made more comments and then sat back down on her broom. Shindo crossed his arms as he listened to the exchange of her commenting about Mr. Pickles. Huh, well, then again, no one would guess that this homeless drunk was the person who dealt the finishing blow to the alien. Hell, Shindo wouldn't believe it if he just heard stories about it. If he didn't see it for himself and people told him that this guy did it, then he would have scoffed and just thought of it as some sort of prank or coincidence.
Mr. Pickles's comeback wasn't too bad though and Shindo made a well-concealed smirk. Impressive. Then the guy launched about wanting them to train him because of his new promotion and such. "As much as training sounds enticing, I don't think I can give much pointers." He wasn't exactly an ideal hero. He isn't as righteous as the others. "I'm sure Violet Reaper is a better trainer than me." He said, passing the baton to the A-Class hero who certainly would do a better job. "I can, you know, sit and watch and maybe add something to what she's teaching."
Shindo's attention was ripped away from the conversation as a familiar face popped up in his vision along with a man covered in soot. Why was he covered in soot? Was he a hero? Nah, he would have known... right? Okay, he's not sure. He's probably part of the C-Class category. Shindo admits that he didn't memorize much of those heroes. He hasn't gotten to that point yet. "Hey Evan." He greeted with a small wave and then bowing his head in recognition of the other. He always addressed Sunshine with his real name when within HQ (the guy wasn't exactly very secret of his identity) but called him his hero name when outside.
He then turned back to Mr. Pickles. "Hey, what if you get some pointers from Evan here? I'm sure the guy who has the first rank in B-Class has some impressive notes about being a hero." He suggested. After all, getting as much information as possible from multiple heroes seems like a good idea for the older male. Though that was only a suggestion.
"That is enough," a disapproving voice cut through the room. In front of the closing elevator doors stood Danzo - The Director.
Danzo's muscular figure stood at 6'5", and he grudgingly wore a dark suit in place of his old hero's uniform. His stern eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses, and his chiseled face held a disconcerting scowl of irritation. The large man huffed as he ruffled his fingers through his thick black hair, a calming habit of his. "I can't leave you people alone for a minute," he growled before recomposing himself and striding toward Mrs. Pickles, stopping only a few inches away from the taller man.
"For almost single-handedly eliminating the demon-level threats in cities S and K, I hereby promote you to S-Rank 15." Danzo clapped a hand on Mrs. Pickle's shoulder, the corners of his lips twitching into his best effort of a smile on his stony face. "Good work, son."
Suddenly, the Director screwed up his nose, leaning back and away from the scruffy man, exclaiming "but my gods, man - Go take a shower."
She was trapped, floating in a sea of black. The last thing she remembered was seeing Guardian launch from the building to dispose of the white duck alien, and then everything went black. Faintly, Madel could hear the voices of those around her, and...
Beep.
"What on earth was that?" Madel wondered as she looked about the abyss she'd found herself floating in, trying to find the source of the noise. Her brow furrowed as she whipped her gaze about, finding no company. Slowly, on the horizon of her vision, a dim white light began to glow, and Madel's eyes widened in panic: They always told you to never go into the light, and yet the light was coming to her.
Madel tried to flee from the light, but instead she found that no matter how much she flailed about, she wouldn't move. As the light came closer and closer to the squirming woman, Madel could only wail "No! Leave me alone!" before she'd be completely engulfed by the blinding light.
Beep... Beep...
Madel slowly opened her eyes, only seeing white for a moment; after a couple of seconds, her surroundings finally revealed themselves to her: She was in the hospital? The woman weakly glanced about, finding Guardian sitting at her bedside, avoiding her eye. "Do I look that bad?" she croaked, the corners of her lips turning up into a smirk.
The light-hearted moment was cut short, though, for as soon as Madel tried to sit up, nothing would move. And then she realized: She couldn't feel anything.
BeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeep
"W-what happened to me?!" she wailed, "why can't I move?!"
As she got more worked up, her hair glowed brighter than it ever had before as it quickly extended into long tendrils that wildly flew about the room, knocking various pieces of equipment over. The sudden spike in Madel's heart rate set off an alarm in the ward, and within moments a team of nurses flocked to Madel's side, dodging hair as they tried to calm the woman down. Unfortunately, it was to no avail, and Madel's tendrils continued to whip around the room, even going so far as sending a nurse flying into the wall.
Suddenly, one nurse straightened up and ordered "sedate her!" Another rushed out of the room, barely avoiding a tendril as it flew by her head. In moments like these, a strong tranquilizer made specifically for the stronger heroes were required. For heroes, regular-strength tranquilizers and medication would do absolutely nothing to their superior bodies.
Pumpkin Witch seemed indignant at Mrs.Pickles' attempt to confuse her. "Broomy can't sense any magic off of you, sooo that means you rolled yourself in dirt to look like that. Still gross, disguise or not." She stated coldly, her broom on which she sat on shying away from the man.
But as he asked for help in training, the Witch had already forgotten him and was floating close to her beloved busty Ukrainian babe.
Violet Reaper, inturn, ignored Vivilyn. "I am not an easy trainer, you will be put through hell. But if you are willing, I will train you." The purple haired woman offered, gaze strict and sharp as always.
Then, the time had come. The director entered, ready to promote the C-class. Niflheim curtseyed, and the Pumpkin Witch even landed on the ground to give a little bow.
"For almost single-handedly eliminating the demon-level threats in cities S and K, I hereby promote you to S-Rank 15."
Instead of joy and happiness filling the room, a miasma of pure rage choked the area.
On the side, Violet Reaper had unsheathed her scythe, hair whipping menacingly around her as violet fire seemed to burn around her. "What? I've been a hero for over 8 years, and he's a higher level than I am?!"
Vivilyn understandably had moved away from the furious, demonic looking woman and put a knowing hand on the filthy guy's shoulder. "I'd run, if I were you."
Adam was concerned. He decided he should bring his concerns to the attention of his only contact in the most serious and constructive way he knew how. Tugging on Evan's sleeve to get his attention, he leaned closer so nobody else could hear his whisper.
"Are you sure this is the Hero HQ and not some kind of clown contracting agency?"
All jokes aside, this didn't seem like the best time he could choose to apply for a hero license. He decided it would be best to come back later and try again when things calmed down. Fading backwards toward the door in order to avoid attention, he turned to leave only to realize he needed an access card to open the exit.
"Well, that makes sense. I should have thought about that."
A shrill scream echoed over the city as a fast flying person zoomed to the HQ. Just as it looked like it was about to hit the Hero Association HQ, it suddenly landed at the front door with a huge sonic boom, knocking over lightweight object and people around her. It was Sweet Devil, a bit too late for the party. Hozumi was cramming some studies for an exam she has to take tomorrow, and she didn't leave until she finished reading one of her books. But once she did Lilithan went as fast as she could to the HQ. While Sweet Devil was technically a C Ranked hero, she usually caught news about big troubles either over the news or through communications from the heroes at her parent's store, where Hozumi usually studies at. Apparently some powerful aliens had arrived recently, but were taken out. Sweet Devil wanted to raise her rankings by fighting them but alas no luck. Hopefully there was more however, so Sweet Devil could earn some sweet reputation.
And while Sweet Devil wasn't inside the building yet, she could already hear a bunch of commotion going on. This didn't worry her however: this just meant there were things to do! Putting on her winning smile Sweet Devil entered the building and went to where the noise was loudest, hoping to maybe get into a fight or at least solve some problems. She heard a lot of things just stepping inside the lobby, but one thing that caught her ear especially was something about Dreadlock. If Sweet Devil remembered correctly, she was the fifth A Ranked hero. Apparently she got involved in a fight with these aliens and got beat up pretty badly. Sensing a chance to capitalize on her weakened state, Sweet Devil eavesdropped some more until she caught the name of the hospital she was at. Shortly after Sweet Devil flew off.
It took some time for Sweet Devil to actually find the hospital since she's never been there, but after asking around and "borrowing" someone's cellphone, she eventually found it. Once inside she weaved an illusion around herself to look like a nurse, that way no one would try and stop her. When they looked at her she would look at them, causing her form to suddenly change. Sweet Devil looked around until she found the hero's ward, and shortly after that she heard Dreadlock causing a stir. A team of nurses rushed into a room and Sweet Devil followed them. There she saw Dreadlock, or rather her civilian self, laying on a hospital bed freaking out. Her hair was everywhere, knocking things over and slamming nurses to the wall. Sweet Devil herself tried to "hold down" Dreadlock, though what she was really doing was placing an illusion onto her. For now the illusion wasn't active, but once the other nurses leave Sweet Devil would get to work.
Evan shook his head in a fast and rhythmic manner as a response to Adam's whisper. "Oh no! This cannot be...I'm absolutely positive that this is the correct place. It has to be! I've been here my whole life!" He comically panicked in fear. Dreading to learn that he worked his whole life to become a clown instead of a hero, he went through the nearby stand of brochures to get a confirmation on the organization. The sarcastic joke completely went over his head, just like the sun.
After coming to a slow realization, he let out a sigh of relief being glad that he wasn't really a clown. Although...he does wear ridiculous looking costumes all the time. His attention then shifted over to Shindo. Evan didn't mind if others call him by his real or hero name, inside or outside the organization.
"Haiiii Shindo!~" He cheerfully responded back and returned the wave.
Overhearing the suggestion Shindo made to the homeless drunk, he was hesitant on taking the man under his wing. Sure, he wants to make a costume for him, but to teach? Unfortunately, Evan doesn't really have the qualifications to take on that kind of role. He scratched the back of his head for a moment. "Um...Sorry, but I don't think I will be a reliable teacher. Not after what happened last time I tried to explain something simple..." He then clasped his hands together enthusiastically. "But, what I can do is make the perfect costume for you!~" He spoke out to Mrs.Pickles, not wishing to go deeper into that incident he was referring to. Mainly because the Director finally made his appearance.
Evan was silent just like the others in the room as he watched the director interact with Mrs.Pickles. It was absolutely shocking when the Director announced Mrs.Pickles' promotion to S-Rank. Unlike the angry reaper, Evan clapped his hands in celebration feeling no anger or jealousy at all. "Congratulations Mrs.Pickles! Looks like whatever it is you're doing, you won't be needing our training after all!" He cheered out. He may have unintentionally rub some salt on the angry witch's wounds though.
Shindo placed his hands inside his pockets, listening to the conversation. Ah, Violet Reaper seems willing to take him in. He gave Mr. Pickles an encouraging but lazy grin. He certainly didn't want to be in his position right now. But he was curious on what kind of training Violet Reaper would conduct on him. The guy didn't have any sort of power so the training would probably be a hundred times harder on him than it would on normally super/magic powered individuals. Hopefully he survives. It would be a shame to see him fail at being a hero because of some training regiment he forced upon himself.
He let out a small chuckle when Evan told them that he didn't exactly match up with the 'teacher' type but could make Mr. Pickles a new costume. If he remembered correctly, the guy was running around with a tattered cape as his costume. Shindo couldn't really tease him for it as, when he started out, he wore a half-assed costume as well. It wasn't like it really mattered, but he was reprimanded because he looked more like a criminal than the hero when he wore a black mask and whatever he could find in his wardrobe that wouldn't be immediately traced back to him. "I can confidently say that Evan has the best taste in fashion and costume making." He said. To be perfectly honest, Shindo would have gone to Evan to make his costume before instead of what he had right now if not for the fact that his mother sewed this up for him. Though he had to admit, it was pretty comfortable.
Then, the inevitable came in the form of a six foot something man in a suit strode towards them from the elevator. Shindo bowed his head in respect for the man and then raising it again to look at him. It was Director Danzo - the director of the association. You do not cross this man without suffering major repercussions. Shindo heard he was quite a hero back in his day. He can really see why. With that kind of build and intimidating presence, he doubted any person would want to face him.
Flash Forward can't help but widen his eyes when he heard how high of a rank up he got. He practically passed every hero in this room. Holy crap. "Eh? Shouldn't we be taking pointers for you, Mr. I just ranked up so many classes ahead of you in one day?" He said in a teasing remark. He didn't mind that the guy had a higher class and rank than him. He couldn't care less about that. But the mere fact that he got it so quickly made Shindo want to tease him about it. It was all made in good fun, however.
Evan had congratulated Mr. Pickles on the biggest rank up he's ever had the displeasure of seeing and also said that he wouldn't be needing the training anymore, seeing as he passed them all in class and rank. However, one person didn't seem to like this development. He could feel the pure anger and hatred seeping out off Violet Reaper once the news had been delivered. Shindo looked at her - scythe unsheathed and hair violently floating everywhere. Was that an effect of her magic? Though he wasn't exactly scared, he did take a small step away from Mr. Pickles just in case something happens. He did out of instinct of self-preservation.
"Someone's not taking the news very well." He offhandedly commented. He then turned to Mr. Pickles who was so in trouble for something he had no control of. Instead of saying anything to calm Violet Reaper down or give advice to Mr. Pickles, he just gave him a small shrug saying that he was on his own for that one. He didn't exactly have any power to stop the angry woman anyway so he didn't exactly have much of a choice.
Should he tell him about it? Yeah, he probably should. "Director Danzo." He called out, putting the situation of Violet Reaper being angry at Mr. Pickles aside for a moment. "I'll write it on my report too but I probably should tell you now. A civ helped me defeat one of the aliens that were terrorizing one of the three cities - at City K, I think it was." He wasn't sure because the director claimed that Mr. Pickles had been the one to do that but Shindo was pretty sure that Gastro alien guy was at City K and the Puppeteer was single-handedly trying to defeat or stall him for the mean time. "She claimed to be on her way to take the Hero Exam but didn't make it because of the alien. But she did say she was going to get it some time later." He knew he said he wouldn't recommend her. He honestly wasn't. He was simply reporting the truth to the director, as he would in his report.
After his classes were over for the day, Geoff had received a notification stating that he should return to the Hero Association’s HQ. So he made his way out of his classroom/office and into the hallway where he was met with several… well several puts it lightly - there were several dozens of fans waiting. This was normal practice at the end of the work day. The academy campus was technically a public area, unless someone caused a disturbance. Geoff was happy to autograph several things, including collectable cards, large photos of himself, and the packaging for his action figure - a miniature version of himself “floating” above the platform on which it stood while its hand held a plasma ball in its front, as if to vaporize an enemy.
The next half an hour was filled with signing and taking pictures. He had to keep his fans happy - they paid him though their donations to the Hero Association, so it only made sense to give them what they wanted. Finally Geoff announced, “I’m sorry if I couldn’t sign your items or take a picture, I have to go - I’ll be here at the same time tomorrow… Though you should all wait outside as to not disrupt the staff.” There was cheering and some screaming as he levitated above the crowd and out of an open pane in the roof.
It only took him a few minutes to reach the HQ. The glass doors opened and the woman at the front desk greeted him, “Doctor Burr. A pleasure to see you here again. Yes. They’re in the conference room. The C-Class hero, Mrs. Pickles is here with Guardian and Violet Reaper.” Geoff was surprised because he almost never recognized the names of heroes who were below S-Class, but he’d called the HA to ask them to commemorate Mrs. Pickles and he’d worked with Violet Reaper a time or two before.
The conference room door was already open so Geoff just, silently, floated in. He was in time to hear the Director promote Mrs. Pickles to S-Class Rank 15. Burr beamed as the others began clapping. He recognized several in the room by face and from earlier reports of the attacks.
Clarence was going to protest when Shindo said that he was not going to train him, but then he reconsidered. Because of Flash Forward’s powers, he probably underwent a very different training regimen than Mrs. Pickles would need. When Sunshine was recommended, Clarence nodded.
“I’d be more than willing to try, as long as you’re alright with it,” said Clarence to Sunshine. Then, he remembered a detail about the hero. This was the guy who did the costumes right? This was quickly confirmed. “A costume sounds great. I may come by and purchase one later.” When I’m not strapped for cash.
Seeing his attempt to fool Pumpkin Witch had been a bit of a failure, Clarence turned his attention to Violet Reaper. He could tell that she was probably going to be a strict instructor, but he’d have to at least try it out, even if she was harsh. “I am willing,” he said, “thank you.”
Then, the moment of truth. Danzo walked in. Mrs. Pickles stood in awe. Most of the heroes could be seen every once in awhile around the cities, but not Danzo. Seeing him face to face was a privilege left mostly to reporters and heroes. His arrival was also unexpected. Danzo would address him unless directly unless he had not only been promoted but promoted to...
Oh no. Oh dear! This couldn’t be good! He wasn’t ready for this!!! This could only mean one thing! Mrs. Pickles was going to be promoted all the way to a B-Ranked hero! Dang, he certainly was not ready for that! Hopefully, he’d be ranked fairly low among the B-Ranked heroes so he wouldn’t be overwhelmed.
“For almost single handedly eliminating the demon-level threats in…” Oh man, here it comes. Clarence was half way between throwing up and peeing himself. This was a big misunderstanding! Sure he had taken them out but it had not only been him, and there had been a great deal of luck involved. No, no, no. This couldn’t happen. Clarence cleared his throat and began to explain himself. “Look, I-” he began faintly.
“...promote you to S-Rank 15.” Clarence was stunned. No way. This had to be an elaborate prank! A joke. Heroes traveled to distant countries and spent years learning the secrets of a culture's fighting tactics and strategies. Mrs. Pickles had taken two karate classes in the third grade and some boxing lessons for a few months back in high school. Heroes had mighty weapons with legendary names. Mrs. Pickles had a cruddy hunting rifle his father had given him and a silly little box. Heroes spent hours conditioning their bodies to get into peak physical condition. Mrs. Pickles got drunk and urinated in gardens. Heroes had charisma and superpowers. Mrs. Pickles had a hangover and a peculiar smell. Heroes had stunning costumes and majestic capes. Mrs. Pickles had a tattered… actually, he didn’t even have that.
To say that Mrs. Pickles was scared would be as big of an under exaggeration, like saying “the Harlem Globetrotters have a satisfactory win rate,” or “the Pacific Ocean is a tad large.” This was not supposed to happen. What had started off as drunken shenanigans had gone too far. This wasn’t just silly. It was dangerous…
But what was Clarence supposed to do? Back down? He had to take advantage of this opportunity. How else would he prove himself? “Th-thank you,” said Mrs. Pickles.
However, he was soon met with another problem. Violet Reaper. He was not prepared to deal with her rage. Mrs. Pickles had a feeling it would take a lot more than this to get her to randomly kill or pummel a guy, and he was a tad too preoccupied to allow her threats to affect him.
“I’m going to go…” said Mrs. Pickles. Dang. He couldn’t register all of this nonsense. “I’m going to go home. Take a shower. Clean up.” And with that, Clarence, expressionless, grabbed his luggage and walked out of the Headquarters. He ignored Violet Reaper. He ignored Danzo. He ignored the people shouting because of his promotion, and the people whispering about it. He ignored the other heroes. He ignored the reporters. He didn't hear them. He just heard a voice in his head uttering one word over and over and over again:
Clarence eventually found a deserted alleyway and rifled through his suitcase until he found his hoodie. He put it on and went into a nearby internet cafe.
He anonymously slunk behind one of the desks and quietly searched something in Google.
How much do S-Rank heroes get paid?
Clarence’s eyes widened. Well, if they made from $250,000 to $1,000,000 a year… he was probably making $300,000 a year! His parents had always wanted him to make six figures…
Suddenly, Clarence heard somebody talking to the owner of the cafe, pointing at the television in the corner. “Have you seen this? No?!? Turn it up, turn it up!” Clarence watched a listened in awe.
“... So we’re just getting more developments of this story, but a man recently took a significant jump in the ranks today after supposedly finishing off a monster with an elevator and single handedly defeating a chimera! This hero, known by the bizarre name of ‘Mrs. Pickles’ has not been seen or heard from for questioning, but has been a hot topic recently after going from the bottom of C-Rank to S-Rank 15. We know virtually nothing about this hero. His powers and abilities are completely unknown, but what we do know is this, people will be expecting…” Clarence slowly got up and left as the broadcast continued. Finally, he found a decent hotel, rented a room for the next two nights took a long shower and curled up onto the bed. And with that, Mrs. Pickles, the legendary S-Rank hero who had stumbled through the ranks and broken records in just a day, began to watch Animal Planet.
“How much?” “Forty thousand.” “Forty thousand?” “Yeah!” “You mean to tell me I gave you that much product and your goons piled up forty thousand.” “Pretty good huh?” “No. Pretty bad. Very bad. Do you have any idea how bad?” “I mean, the goal was thirty thousand.” “Thirty thousand each you idiot.” “Look, I just-” Mrs. Pickles stood up as a gunshot woke him up from his slumber. “... the wombat’s excrement is actually in the shape of…” Hm… he must have been imagining things. Maybe there had been a noise on the television. Still... Mrs. Pickles left his room and quickly looked around. He saw a thin, elderly man with a bright yellow suit walking down the hallway. Hm… how odd. He had left his room wide open. And the little mints were still on the bed! Well, Mrs. Pickles wasn’t one to miss an opportunity to- woah! What was a dead guy doing in here! He’d been shot! Oh no! He had to call somebody for help! But… but who? Mrs. Pickles was the help. He was the fifteenth most qualified person in the world for it. Surely he could handle this! Mrs. Pickles quickly dashed back to his room and found the hunting rifle, and then rushed towards the door to come face to face with the man with a yellow suit. “What the-” exclaimed the yellow-suited man. Mrs. Pickles pointed his rifle at the man. “Look, look, this is all a misunderstanding. You see, I didn’t shoot that man.” “You idiot, I didn’t even say anything about shooting-” with that, the yellow suited man lunged forward and punched Mrs. Pickles in the throat, and then dashed for the exit. Mrs. Pickles rushed after the murderer, firing his rifle towards him, but continuously missing. Finally, the two found themselves outside and the man with a yellow suit was climbing into his car. He turned around and fired at Mrs. Pickles, who dove behind a plant. Mrs. Pickles fired a shot at his tire, and then looked around for something to use. Mrs. Pickles raced for the nearest available vehicle (a moped, temporarily and briefly abandoned by a woman who had quickly entered the hotel to check in and forgot her keys) and began to drive it after the man as quickly as possible.
He heard a familiar voice and his eyes widened as he shot a surprised look her way, laced within it relief. He had been thinking about that moment he decided to use the both of them for the final blow, something the more he thought about, the more Angel Grace was right. His attack alone was powerful enough to obliterate that thing, but to have others in on the action as well? He practically could have killed them. Justified murder some would say and with that he began to tear up, he clenched his teach as he held back the waterworks but the dam would appear to be breaking.
"I'm Sorry Dread...I'm so sorry..." His sobbing ceased when she began to freak out. Catching him off guard, he was whipped in the face hard enough that it knocked him off the chair he sat and soon enough he heard the footsteps of the nurses and doctors to try to sedate her, or at least calm her.
Guardian was shocked and remained silent, unable to figure out what to do and at the moment, the best thing to do was leave this to the professionals.
Off on the side Angel had been talking to one of the doctors about her condition, grimacing at the thought of her future. She would be sure to have Dreadlock stop by the church for healing sessions on top of any she planned to have while in rehab. That is, if it would be of any use. Then there came the screaming, which she bolted into the room, isolating Dreadlocks head in order to reduce those hurt by Dreadlocks locks. However, Grace hadn't ignored the fact that someone had gotten close to Dread, one that was obviously not a nurse by what she felt. She didn't say anything at the moment but once everything settled she shot the one nurse a look.
Aaron usually wasn’t one to get spaced out or feel intense emotion. That was not the case on this day. Everything seemed to happen at the speed of light, contrary to how Aaron usually perceived the world around him. When DreadLock feel after being electrocuted, Aaron couldn’t help but fall into a trance of guilt. It was his fault. If he’d just discussed this then they’d have seen the obvious flaw in the plan. There’s no excuse… not for him at least… his fault.
It seemed like hours had gone by and Aaron had only moved a few steps away, to a city bench to sit, out of the way, when the emergency services arrived. When they’d left, he still sat there. Mulling over what had gone wrong.
Aaron usually didn’t feel intense emotion or even, sometimes, basic emotions. This was the price of the power he wielded - he could not be everyone while being himself. There was a certain level of himself that he had to give up in order to save others. It took a while, but he did eventually get up and begin a slow walk to the hospital. He needed to make sure that he didn’t kill someone, an innocent person, for the sake of others. If it led to him killing people then he didn’t want to do it, he didn’t care if it was an accident… it was preventable...
Soon after a nurse managed to sedate Dreadlock, Sweet Devil needed to act quickly. Given that she wasn't a professional she didn't want to get caught if they asked her to do anything, but she also rightfully needed to make sure she didn't get caught on Dreadlock's temper tantrum. So as the rest of the nurses were leaving Sweet Devil activated the illusion she placed on Dreadlock, mingling with the delirium and drowsiness brought about from the sedative. Only Dreadlock and Sweet Devil would be aware of the illusion, allowing a sort of two-way communication between them even after Sweet Demon left the room. However she didn't stray too far and as soon as no one was looking, she changed her disguise to that of an elderly man waiting outside an operation room, pretending to look concern about the elderly woman inside (Sweet Devil doesn't know who the woman is, she's just pretending to be the husband).
In Dreadlock's illusion her vision would grow blurry as if she's about to fall asleep, and the scene would change. Dreadlock was no longer in the hospital bed, but she was at home. Home being wherever Dreadlock thought home was: Sweet Devil has never been there, but as long as Dreadlock had a home her mind would fill in the details that Sweet Devil didn't know. Dreadlock was being moved around on a wheelchair, and walking from behind was Sweet Devil herself. Her wings were pulled in and she didn't have her scythe. She even looked friendly, concerned. She was here to "help" Dreadlock.
"I know it's not been easy to adapt, but I'm here for you. Just ask me what you want and I'll help you however I can."
Sweet Demon's voice was friendly and laced with compassion, which was easy to do when it was all just an hallucination brought by an illusion. Dreadlock would have a hard time seeing through it if she didn't know this was specifically an illusion; even if she thought this was a dream it wouldn't change anything. Indeed the only way Dreadlock could break the illusion is by ignoring it and trying to focus on something outside of the illusion itself. But as the sedative got to work on Dreadlock's system this may be harder for her. All the while, nothing physical was happening to her on the outside. It'd just look like she was slowly drifting to sleep.
"Is there anything you'd like to talk about? I haven't been a hero for nearly as long as you have, and I'd love to hear more about you."
Jayce had been walking through the crowd of people, his hands in his pockets and his hood up, a cigarette rested in his mouth as its cherry occasionally glowed before it was followed by a trail of smoke. He had been thinking, contemplating a range of things. Currently, it was about the situation pertaining to a drunken loser who jump ranks.
'How in the fuck did that little piece of shit nobody just become a S rank hero like that. What the hell is that director thinking!? Of all the people to rank up he choose...GrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRR'
He seemed to stop where he was and began to boil at the though of it before lashing out on a concrete wall nearby. Everyone close to him yelped or gasped as his hand wet clean through like a hot knife to butter. The cigarette in his mouth fell down as he screamed.
"WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK MAN!" FUCKING COCKSUCKER!"
"Hey watch your mout-"
"Sit on it and rotate bitch!" His hand shot out of the wall with his middle finger high and erect towards the old barbershop owner who was sending off his grandkids back to their parents house. This was Sinister. A nobody who still seemed to be a nobody. He wasn't after anything special nor did he want to be anyone special. He simply lived his life and followed the rules...Somewhat. Despite being a hero, he had been seen in the police station a couple times for pickpocketing, eliciting to prostitution and a drug dealing. But that's what was to be expected by one of the best undercover heroes the city had. El Gato de Muertos, one of the large drug rings, taken down within a day thanks to him after a few months of being within the group. He was gritty, stubborn and all around...an asshole and he didn't care in the slightest.
With a newly lit smoke he took a long heavy drag, clearing half of it with one breath forming a small cloud of smoke loomed where he stood before a gust of wind took it off into the clean open air. That's when he heard the sound of screeching tires and the honking of a horn as he looked up to see a man in yellow garments hitting what seemed to be 60-70 miles per hour down the street followed behind him by-
"What the fu-" Jayce grit his teeth as he bout faced and took off running, knocking people out of the way before he leapt up high and out into the busy street before creating a crater underneath of his feet, boosting him to a ridiculous speed in pursuit of the two vehicles.
He first met up with Mrs. Pickles to get a better look at him. What a little shit! How did he-
"YO PICKLES!" He waited for him to glance over before flipping him of and yelling out to him.
"Eat shit! He darted in front of the moped and leapt up onto the room of the car. The man inside definitely heard him and began to swerve, attempting to throw Jayce off the car. It worked though, he was casted off to the right side of it, hitting the oncoming car, flipping him over it and back off. If it wasn't for his quick reflexes he would have fallen well behind the two but fortunately he rolled out of it, sprinting back up to speed and leapt back at the car, digging his hands into the trunk of it and began to climb back up to its roof. Then came the gun fire, Jayce's head whipped back from the force of the caliber but he pressed on. He moved close to the passenger side door and gripped it hard and yanked, tearing it clean off the car before hopping in. The next thing that came was unbelievable, the car took a sharp turn before flipping end over end, launching Jayce out of and underneath of the rolling vehicle. Soon it came to a halting thunk on its roof.
He laid there for a moment before getting up, his shoulder had been dislocated and his leg was twisted but he managed to fight past it and brought himself to stand, shaking off the pain. Popping his shoulder back into place, he made his way over to the car and flipped it back over, with a bit of anger behind the flip causing it to land on its side.
"You alive in there?" He said flatly. The guy nodded and that was his cue to rip him out from the drivers seat, slamming him into the ground followed by the sound of handcuffs. However, he had given the man a spare key to said cuffs, telling him to wait for his cue. Then Jayce stood there, waiting for Pickles. A look of irritation on his face.
Allister couldn't do anything as they tried to calm her, but Angel was on alert. She watched as the one nurse seemed to comfort her and Dread settled but something was off about her and Angel asked the nurses to step outside as she brought up walls of light around the four off them and expanded them until it formed a small box around them.
"I don't think I have met you before...And I know most of the heroes and heroines these days. You I don't recognize...Demon..." Angel's voice was cold and harsh as her eyes glowed bright gold. Guardian then picked up what was happening.
"Angel...She might be helpi-" Angel spoke up.
"Silence Allister...What are you doing to her demon..." It was not a question. It was a command, not a question.
Mrs. Pickles was surprised by Jayce's appearance, but was glad the hero took down the guy in yellow. Mrs. Pickles was simply going to drive the moped over, stop, and thank the man. But then Jayce flicked him off and... okay. That wasn't very nice.
Mrs. Pickles was tired of being insulted by all these heroes that didn't think he deserved his position. Sure, he didn't deserve it, but they had no way of knowing that! They were just judging him without actually meeting him! He didn't care if the man split him in two. He had nothing to lose. He was going to get off that moped and give that guy a piece of his mind... only one problem. The moped wouldn't stop...
In fact, it was going faster and faster. Where was the brake on this thing??? Realizing he was headed straight for Jayce on the moped, Mrs. Pickles hopped off of the moped and rolled safely onto the ground, with only a couple of small scratches and a bruise. Then, the moped hurtled at full speed towards Jayce.
Yellow took advantage of the distraction, and expertly slunk off while Jayce was left to handle the moped.
Evan silently watched Mrs.Pickles' rather unsettling exit, putting an abrupt end to their short celebration. There was a noticeable frown on his face as he expected some kind of big party, maybe that could be set aside for later. At least he agreed to stop by his shop later, but what could be said about Violet Reaper's rage? It was highly unlikely she was going to let him off the hook so easily!
Everyone else was most likely exhausted from their battles and Dreadlock was still in the hospital. There were a few things Evan had to take care of in the meantime, one of those tasks was to return Bjorn. He walked up to the desk which handled courier services and handed them the suitcase which contained the legendary hammer. Guardian would be informed of it once he returns from the hospital.
"Important package for Guardian! Make sure this is delivered to him when he gets back!" When that was over with, Evan received a letter of his own regarding his promotion status. There was a time when he declined to move up into class A, but now he feels ready. He promised himself that he would finally confront his sister once he advances.
It was decided that he would go see the committee and take his psychological analysis. Before that, he exited the room to fetch his tablet in order to write up his report and mentioned Adam's involvement in City T. Hopefully it would help Adam land a higher rank, if he passes his hero examination. After he finished and sent in his report, he arrived at the room where other staff members of the organization were waiting to begin his interview. Evan took his seat with a confident look on his face, believing that it was finally time to move forward.
Of course, Danzo wasn't at all surprised by the heroes' reactions to what was unmistakably the strangest decision of his career. There was one that aroused his surprise, however: Violet Reaper. Danzo glanced toward the girl with the white-hot rage as he raised a hand, waving it in a tampering motion. "Calm down, Violet," he gruffly said, "my insurance doesn't cover temper tantrums."
The amount of money he had to pay for the cities' damages alone were enough to depress the man, but after his accountants added the insurance bills, the costs to relocate all of the citizens, and to treat the wounded...
"Director Danzo," a hero called, pulling the Director from his spiraling thoughts. As he turned his head toward the voice, he was greeted by the sight of Flash Forward, one of his top B-Heroes. "A civ helped me defeat one of the aliens that were terrorizing one of the three cities - at City K, I think it was." Danzo raised his brows at the news, letting out a curious "oh?" as he turned and approached the man, only to find that he was unaccompanied by such a person. "Well, where are they?" he asked, a look genuine confusion threatening to touch his features.
"She claimed to be on her way to take the Hero Exam but didn't make it because of the alien. But she did say she was going to get it some time later."
Ah, he'd just see her sometime later, that was good. Danzo nodded in approval, "Good... that's good..." he uttered, apparently not noticing the man of the hour depart behind him.
No matter how much she panicked and tried to move, Madel's limp body wouldn't budge. Even as the nurses tried to calm her, and even as she was greeted by the pleasant sight of a concerned Angel Grace who'd rushed to her side... And isolated her head. She was trapped all over again.
Even though she continued to panic, Madel's body started to melt into a sweet bliss; everything started to blur as her body finally gave in to the sedative. For a moment, all she could see was white before colours started to dance and blur about her. Before she knew it, she was back in her own apartment, only something was... different. As she glanced down, Madel realized that she was in a wheelchair, still unable to move. "W-what the hell?!" she exclaimed as she again started to desperately move her stoney limbs.
"I know it's not been easy to adapt, but I'm here for you. Just ask me what you want and I'll help you however I can," a voice cooed behind her. Who was that? Madel couldn't force her body to crane her neck around to investigate, and there was unfortunately no mirror in front of her - so she was trapped in her apartment with a stranger. Was somebody after her? Did she owe anybody? No, that couldn't be, then wh-
"Is there anything you'd like to talk about? I haven't been a hero for nearly as long as you have, and I'd love to hear more about you."
A hero? That was settling.
Madel's first question was obvious: "What happened to me?" she asked, tears already welling up in her eyes - she was terrified.
The Moped came in fast and true. That bastard was probably aiming for him in the first place. When it was close enough, Jayce front kicked it, halting its progress with enough force that the front wrapped around his foot. His magenta colored eyes glaring at Pickles. He kept eye contact as he raised the Moped covered foot high into the air and back down, dislodging it from its tight grip on him.
"What the shit was that dude!? Are you out of your mind? If you were any kind of hero you would have at least found a way to stop the damn thing, jeez." Fixing his jacket with a couple jerks down he started to approach Pickles, another cigarette in mouth. Pulling out his lighter he flicked it, the flame burning the tobacco leaves within before exhaling another plum of smoke. Reaching into his pocket pulling out his pack of smokes, offering one to the new S-ranked hero.
"You know what, forget I said anything. Last thing you need is more shitstorms from heroes like myself. Names Jayce, A rank." He gave him a nod before planting himself down onto the curb gesturing for Pickles to join him.
"So it seems like your the talk of the town now, hm?" His eyes glancing over those walking by, alight smirk accompanying his emotionless gaze.
"Hey dick, cut her some slack, huh? You just hit her with some pretty fucked up shit..." From off the side, he had been watching from the very beginning and finally decided to speak up when Violet let loose.
Jayce had been there since the S-Ranked Guardian entered the lobby, to which he sneered at as his eyes seemed to glow with hatred and disgust for the man. Soon it grew when he saw Angel Grace enter. Easing up only when she shot him over to the other side of the building with that light hammer of hers. Then the promotion for pickles and finally Violet's "Temper Tantrum". He loathed the director for his actions most of the time anyway but this took the cake. Carefully he moved up towards Violet, watching where that blade was to avoid a swipe at the neck.
"Hey Violet! Mind if I talk to you privately? I'll treat you to whatever you want, on me." He gave her a light wave and a smirk, Violet was one of the very few he was fond of. She was straight forward, loyal and determined. Ambition seemed to be her second nature and he admired those traits. Despite his attitude, he was hardworking, the underdog of most because of the dirty work he did for the cities, opting to stay amongst the shadows and deep underground with the dealers, prostitutes and gangbangers. Reason being, he was HQs undercover. One of the best. He needed to talk with Violet. Knowing her, it would probably be best to vent to him since he wasn't fond of the choice either. Mutual agreements and the like.
As Pickles left, Violet Reaper took that not as a motion for peace but rather a challenge. It meant to her that he did not care about her anger, that now that he had stolen from her one of the only things she's ever craved with all her heart he no longer had use for her. This only further infuriated the Ukrainian woman.
But before she could attack the useless slob, Danzo had said something that hurt. It hurt her very soul.
A... temper tantrum? You shatter my dreams before my eyes and you are telling me I'm having a temper tantrum?! Niflheim ground her teeth, nails digging into her gloved palms. Was this some sick joke? Was it opposites day?! This was ridiculous, how could this be happening?!
Shakily, she put away her scythe on her back, head lowering in repressed anger. This... wasn't fair...
But then, an unrecognized voice spoke on her behalf. Violet Reaper raised her golden eyes with surprise. How did she not notice him there before? Who was he? Niflheim could only vaguely remember his face. An A-rank like her, right? But what did he care of her?
It didn't matter. The bottom line was that she lost to a poor excuse for a man, Mrs. Pickles. The very name made her sick.
Pumpkin Witch had left already somewhere during the outburst, afraid the scythe-wielding woman would turn on her now second-most hated person in the room. Violet Reaper swung away from the group, anger glowing in her wake as she exited.
But that same man from before stopped her, asking for a chat. "What is it you want from me? I'm not in a particularly good mood." It was evident that Violet Reaper was on a hair trigger of sorts. One wrong word could mean many attacks from her scythe if Jayce couldn't convince her quickly to come with him. "If it's about my... tantrum, there is reason for it." She practically spat the word, filled with venom with each syllable.
Shindo watched with mild interest as Mr. Pickles just left. That was not how it was supposed to go. Or at least, not how he expected it to. Then again, it would be understandable for him to be in shock of this development. Maybe even guilty, or scared? Shindo didn't know much about the man but from his mannerisms, he could tell that the guy hadn't been too serious about being a hero. Heck, he even remembered the rumor surrounding his entry to the Hero Association where he was drunk when he took the exam but had apparently passed. So maybe this guy was only just trying to earn money or maybe just to continue because he was too prideful to back down from it. He didn't know the circumstances behind the man, but he could certainly guess.
"Guess that's that then." He muttered to himself before opening the food package that was handed to him earlier and began eating it. Wow, where did they get this beef and rice order? He would definitely go back for seconds and thirds when he gets the chance. Definitely one of the more delicious meals he's had that was from the Association. As much as he respected Director Danzo, the guy really didn't want to spend much money on the food he ate that would serve as one of his rewards when he came back from a mission that would take out all the energy he had in him. He rarely swung by HQ anyway so he didn't really understand why he had to be cheap with his food. But now, he wasn't really complaining. When a certain guy has the shift to get him cheap food, he really gets the most delicious ones with the cheapest of prices.
Shindo looked at Danzo as he addressed him, his arm suspended in terms air as he prepared to intake the food that was given him. The green haired male nodded. "I'm sure you'll know it. She has two humanoid robots. Um, orange brown hair... I'll just look for her in the Hero Exams." He continued with a small shrug. With that, the conversation with the director seemed over. He gave him a small bow of his head as respect and then began to walk away from the director while eating his precious food. He stopped near the lobby desk and leaned on the wall beside it as he continued eating. He saw Evan give the case to the desk, claiming it was a delivery for Guardian, and then left. He also saw Ventus at the door and gave him a quick wave. His time of eating had quickly come to an end when he ran out of food. How saddening. Everything has an end after all. He threw it in the nearest trash bin and then proceeded to go to a small station located within the lobby where he could borrow a laptop. He never did bother lugging around such objects with him. It'll only slow him down.
He sat down and began typing in his report, detailing Mr. Pickles, Ventus and Sunshine's performance in the fight in City S and also intricately describing the female civilian who had helped him in the fight in City K. The way he writes his reports usually paint a vivid picture of what had happened as he was very detailed with these kinds of things. He may be a little lazy and not all that happy to know that he has to write a report, but he does put effort in it. He described the amount of damage that was brought upon the two cities - though it would only cause stress, he still had to put it all in. Once he was done, he requested for it to be printed and be passed on to the Director's room. With that, he sat down and then simply stared at the wall across of him.
Several things took place after Pickles was promoted to S-Class. The man of the hour - Pickles - left abruptly, a heroin, Violet Reaper, had a minor melt down at the sight of the promotion. To be fair to her, she had been a heroin for years, as had Geoff. He did agree that, perhaps, the promotion to S was a bit abrupt for the occasion. When he had called ahead and attempted to put in a good word, he had expected the guy to get promoted to B-Class.
Geoff decided that he’d talk to Violet about the incident. Not that he was going to criticize her outburst, but more that he planned on helping her through it. He was about to start moving again when another hero, who was in City-S, waved at him, causing him to lose focus. He politely waved in response and took note that they’d taken a laptop from the station. Either he’s doing some homework or he’s writing his report on City-S… I should probably work on that… Someone else, an A-Class?, is already talking to Violet, I’ll speak with her later.
One of the laptops removed itself from its compartment and it floated over to Geoff. As it did so, it opened itself and turned on. The keys began depressing themselves as he focused on the report, detailing what had happened at City-S and how Pickles had managed the final blow. He was certain that without the other hero’s intervention, no one would have arrived in time to stop it from reaching the evacuation center.
“Doctor Burr?” Geoff turned at the sound of his name being called. It was the lady at the front desk and he couldn’t remember her name, it made him feel bad. But there were so many employees at the HQ that he couldn’t be expected the remember them all, though having interacted with her the most he really should know it.
Having decided to ask someone else what is was later, he responded. “Yes?”
“I would normally send this to your residence though the post.” She gestured with an envelope, no doubt containing a letter addressed to him. “But, since you’re here I don’t see why I can’t save some postage.” She handed him the envelope, he had made his way to the reception desk.
It was a white envelope addressed to his apartment. He opened it and the letter lifted and unfolded itself. He began reading to himself. It detailed his recent few accomplishments and closed by a brief statement that he had been promoted to S-Class, Rank 10. “Well how about that? Hard work pays off.” He said to himself as he stowed the letter in his coat pocket.
The keyboard on the laptop was still clicking away as Geoff finished his report. It brought itself around so he could proofread and finalize what he had. “Would you mind if I print this?” He said, not looking at the lady behind the desk.
“Of course.” She said as she pressed a few keys at her desk. The laptop communicated that it had began printing. Geoff was familiar with programming and knew less about networking than he’d like - he learned that you could send a print command from another computer.
“If you could, please put it in the Director’s box.” She confirmed that she would and he floated off to the coffee shop in the lobby. He bought a coffee so he would stay awake and began sipping it while levitating. Rank 10… people will be expecting more of me now… he silently chuckled to himself.
