---

---

It wasn't exactly a beautiful day in Castleburg -- overcast and a bit nippy was a better way to describe it. And yet Amuné was still enjoying the weather. She preferred cooler temperatures. Jareth did not. He had on a light jacket over his T-shirt and jeans, and his hands shoved deep in the jacket's pockets. The pair had hit the festival early, both in civvie attire. Amuné carried a small backpack with snacks and sunscreen and a few other essentials, just in case. They'd watched a portion of the parade -- the Hugo Powers balloon getting a laugh from them both at how poorly made it was. Then they'd meandered their way down Fifth Avenue towards the Convention Center.

Come noon or so, the pair stopped for lunch at a food truck selling hotdogs, and another selling lemonade. Amuné got herself a corndog, with Jareth going for a big dog with all the fixings. The two found a place to sit at a nearby group of picnic tables and tucked in. Then they went for a lemonade refill, and continued their liesurely walk down the avenue.

It was just passed quarter to one when a chirp in their earbuds indicated a message from their linked smartwatches:



Jareth looked down at his younger friend. "What do you say, Né? Sounds like the Director needs some help."

Amuné chewed on her lip before replying. "I dunno...he might just want us to be on stage, and I'm not willing to expose myself like that. I want to keep a low profile, y'know?"

"You really think the Director would call us for something that trivial?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but...the center would be a great place to hit if you wanted to take out a lot of heroes at once."

Jareth's expression immediately turned serious. "Have you--"

"No, no, nothing like that. I'm just a little worried. She smiled up at him as he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"If anything happens, I'll protect you. You know that right?"

"I know."

"Okay then. So let's check out what the Director wants, and if it's a public appearance, we'll just politely bow out. Sound good?"

Amuné nodded. "Sounds good."

With that decided, the pair walked the hundred remaining yards to the Convention Center, climbed the steps, and made their way inside. Beyond the entryway the Johnstone Convention Center was filled with booths and people. Together the pair wended their way through the crowd to the stage. As they stepped backstage, Amuné triggered her earpiece to deploy her mask. She glanced over at Jareth, then elbowed him.

"Huh? Oh right, hero time." He fished his goggles out of his pocket and put them on, then pulled his bandana up to cover the lower half of his face. "Better?"

She nodded, then looked around the area. It seemed like only one other person was there, and there was no sign of Director Powers. Instead, a hero she recognized as Blast was kicking his feet while sitting on a large crate. Amuné let Jareth go to make introductions as she settled herself in a corner and took off her backpack, placing it on the floor at her feet.

Jareth, ever-friendly, approached the other hero. "Hey there! I recognize you, you're Blast, right? I'm Terra, and over there is Oracle. It's a pleasure to meet you."

---

---

Evangeline looked outside through her window. Seeing the vast blue seas had a calming effect on her ever since she first moved into H.E.R.O. One. The past few months passed by like a blur as well. She was too busy doing as much as she could, doing missions left and right, helping out at HERO whenever she could. She thought that if she did a lot of good stuff for the organization, maybe they'll be enough to compensate for all the bad things she did.

She looked over at a vase of flowers on her desk, a bouquet of peonies and carnations given to her by HERO for the Director giving her his stamp of approval to become a full-fledged hero. She'd like to believe she'd done a great job taking care of them all this time, but the edges of their petals were starting to wilt. She watched as a petal peeled off from the carnation and slowly fell to the desk, the first of many that will eventually come.

At the television screen, it showed reporters showing live scenes of festivities at New Athens. So many people were there to celebrate the festival. The TV was muted but she could imagine the people's cheers and laughter filled the air along with loud joyful music.

Just watching them made Eva tired. She wanted to join the others there but she wasn't really a fan of crowds, especially when everything was televised and her previous victims might recognise her. She wasn't the flashy type of superhero either, she's fine working on the sidelines and giving everybody else the spotlight. She didn't become a hero to be famous after all, she did it to atone for everything she and her family had done.

Just then, Eva noticed a message was sent through her HERO smartwatch where a hologram of the Director made a message:



She sighed, thinking that there's no turning away from facing what she dreaded. She stood up and gave herself a final lookover at her tall mirror. Since September's pretty chilly, Eva was wearing a bone white trench coat with matching pants, and a black turtleneck underneath. The sleeves of her turtleneck could be tore off in case she needed more open skin to generate more poison in an emergency. Hopefully she wouldn't have to.

Eva was then making her way towards their transport system to be with the others at the convention center when she noticed the Assistant Director outside near the waters, trying to catch all the papers being blown away from her arms by the wind. Eva managed to catch one as she approached her.

"Let me help you with these, Miss Duff." Eva said, leaning low to get the scattered papers Emily couldn't get. "Oh I remember, there's also going to be an orientation for the new heroes. Is that why you're not with the others at New Athens?" She asked, looking around nervously before asking Emily again. "If you don't mind, I believe I'll be a bigger help here than at Castleburg. Crowds aren't really my thing and with the event being televised, I would probably get recognised by my... previous victims." Eva asked with a stoic expression on her face as usual, unsure if even the Assistant Director knew the extent of Eva's past crime life.

Megumi Takaki

---

---

Megumi groggily got up from her desk, where she had been resting the night before. She brushed her hair aside with her hands, then looked down, seeing the textbook she had been using as a pillow. There was a small, dried up puddle of drool on a colored diagram. Sighing, Megumi felt slightly lamented over the desecration of the book, but there was little she could do about it now. After wiping the spot with her thumb for a second, she closed the book shut and got ready for the day.

After getting properly freshened up and dressed, Megumi felt she was forgetting something about today. While eating breakfast, she checked the news on her phone. Various articles popped up on her feed highlighting the citywide HERO Festival, celebrating HERODays and something called "HEROXposition". She scrolled through the social media feed, but she quickly grew bored of it and switched to another site. It explained the latest theories of magic she found, which Megumi studied as thoroughly as she could. She had conducted experiments in the past, ranging from chanting and hand signs to magical herbal recipes and concoctions. Despite her best efforts, she had been unable to create any effects that could be deemed "magical". Still, she refused to give up on the matter.

A notification sounded on her HERO smartwatch, breaking her out of her thoughts. She made her way back to her room, where a hologram of Director Hugo Powers had appeared to deliver a message:


She had no idea why she received the message, though it seemed like it was sent to every hero with a smartwatch. From what she could tell, though, the call to action was optional. With that in mind, she opted to ignore it and allow more experienced heroes handle the mission. Megumi grabbed her bag, which contained her trusty action figure robot G.E.M., and set off to tackle whatever the day would throw at her. In this case, it was a sheet of paper that somehow managed to fly into her face. Looking around, Megumi saw Ms. Emily Duff in the midst of the rather windy weather having lost the papers she held. Megumi recalled there was some small news regarding a small orientation about new heroes, and she figured she could attend. Although she had made great efforts to prepare for being a Hero, it was only recently she had actually managed to apply and obtain a proper license. At the very least, it wouldn't hurt to attend.

Walking over to a slowly growing group, Megumi extended her arm out to hand the sheet of paper that had flown into her back to Emily. "Ms. Duff, I believe this is yours," Megumi said emotionlessly.

End of 5th Avenue, New Athens, Castleburg

---

The wind was worse up high, above the buildings. David was floating, suspended in midair by his power in the sky above New Athens. He tugged on the collar of his green jacket, trying his best to ignore the slight chill that was creeping through him. Even if it was uncomfortable, it was something to take his mind off of other matters, and it was better than being down there.

David had taken up a midair viewing position near the start of the parade's route, and now that the last of the floats had passed by, the throngs of people packed onto the sidewalk had begun to take notice of him. Pointing, waving, jostling each other, taking pictures and videos on their phones... Boston's most famous bruiser had come to Castleburg, and people were excited about it.

That was the only reason he was here. David had no interest in seeing some shitty parade celebrating a bunch of glorified costumed cops, but part of his end of the bargain with HERO involved being very public about his new status as a protector of the city. There was nothing he would've liked better than to make his way to the shittiest part of town and start asking the wrong questions until some villain got nervous and came out to pick a fight, but he wasn't allowed to act on his own, yet. That being the case, this was the best way of making himself useful. If he took a good vantage point and put himself on display, there was at least a slim chance that he could find some trouble, or that some trouble could find him.

David had only been sneaking glances at the crowd of fans slowly swelling beneath him, fifty feet down. Finally, he gave them a proper look, turning his head and smiling eagerly as if he had only just noticed the gathering for the first time. For all he grumbled internally about having to make such a public display of joining the Castleburg HERO team, it was hard to stay angry when actually looking a crowd in the eyes. Their excitement was so pure and energetic, as for them today was nothing more than a day to cheer on the people who let them live safe, easygoing lives. There was even a kid in an Ardent T-shirt. Was that a custom third-party product? Or had HERO already started a full campaign of marketing and merch under David's nose?

He threw up a peace sign, trying his best to look like he had nothing on his mind. They wanted him to fly down and chat, he could tell. Maybe sign some things. Before he could decide what to do about it, there was a notification. An annoying bastard's face popped out of his new watch.

"Attention, heroes. I need a group of you to assist me at the Johnstone Convention Center. If you are available, please come and meet behind the stage. You will be rewarded for your time."

It was going to be something pointless, David had no doubt. If there had been a proper emergency, or even the suspicion of some attack from a villain or a Leftover, the message ought to have been phrased very differently. David clicked his tongue as he weighed his options.

You're the one who told me to fly around and show myself off to these people, let them known I'm in the city. You can't complain if I'm too busy to come running when you call, right?

He smiled to himself as he remembered the ankle bracelet that the Director could use to track his position. Suddenly, the dull job of making public appearances for the festival seemed like a bit of fun, only because it was an excuse to shirk another order.

I hope you check the tracker, old man. I hope you check it, so you can see that I'm sitting here, wasting time instead of flying off to help with whatever you need.

As soon as that thought passed through his head, David glanced down once again, at the gathering of fans on the street. The atmosphere had changed slightly, and they were eagerly muttering to one another. Expecting something. If David had flown down closer, he could have listened in, but he knew well enough what they were discussing just from the looks on their faces. They had all seen it: he had a mission. Ardent had been given some new, exciting task from Director Powers himself and now the civilians were speculating about what adventure awaited Castleburg's new hero.

Maybe they had a point. Whatever Powers wanted, it would be something to do. In any case, now that they were all expecting something from David, he couldn't stay here. He gave the crowd a last smile. "Duty calls!" He hollered just loud enough for the people on the street to hear before snapping into motion, flying out of sight.



David had only been in Castleburg for five days, and he didn't particularly have the lay of the land. Even so, there wasn't a chance in hell he was going to spend his time sitting in on some seminar about how to integrate into the city. After all, he wasn't a new hero, and there was nothing Assistant Director Duff could tell him that he couldn't find out even quicker by just using goddamn Google Maps.

As he quickly discovered, even Google Maps may have been overkill for this particular journey. It was literally on the same street. He only needed to follow the parade's route to get to the convention centre. It make him sick, imagining Powers watching the live updates from his tracker as he left 5th Avenue, did an awkward loop around a quarter of New Athens, and then practically came back to where he started. In any case, he had arrived after only a few minutes.

David scanned the outside of the convention centre for a convenient open window he could use to enter, before giving up and flying down to the street, joining the thick crowd that slowly filtered through the main doors. As soon as he was among them, excited whispers began tittering through the clump of superhero fans. Most people in the crowd parted for David, reverently backing up and pulling out their phones to snap pictures as he passed. The boldest of them stayed in place, hoping for a greeting or a handshake as he was forced to make his way around them. Comfortable in a crowd, David wasn't surprised to find that he was turning some heads upon his arrival. For these people, catching sight of a local hero was probably a weekly or even daily occurrence, but he was a new face in town, someone these people had only seen in news reports about action in Boston. The excitement would die down within a week or two, he figured.

Once he had passed through the doors and into the large space being used for the festival, David was able to fly again, passing over the crowds and booths, and even over the stage itself, to reach the meeting spot in mere moments. As soon as he was backstage, away from the crowds, he landed. Passively floating was a stylish look when you were in front of fans, but he had always felt that hovering in the air during proper conversations just made him look like a dickhead.

There were two kid heroes who he didn't recognize, and one hero who he definitely did. At a glance, it was pretty clear none of them knew anything more about the situation than David did. Since they seemed to be in the middle of introductions, he waited just a moment before stepping forwards. Flight was noiseless, so it was only when his boots were on the floor that they would have any sign of his presence.

He offered a nod to the heroes. "Hey. I'm Ardent. New here, from Boston."

If they kept up with hero trends at all, that would be enough for them to recall who he was. Really, just his face might have been enough. Unlike the kid heroes, he wore no mask, and his tight-fitting black-and-orange costume was also pretty recognizable. For all that, though, his expression wasn't exactly approachable. The two guys seemed to be interested in chatting, whereas the girl was isolating herself a bit. Maybe she had the right idea. If they didn't bother with small talk, they could probably finish this task up quicker, whatever it was.

"What kind of sick power play is this? He tells us to meet him here to help him out, but he isn't actually here?" David hissed. He was more talking to himself than anything, internally questioning why he had actually bothered to show up.

---

"Yeah. The beta on that is off the charts, look at that shit. It's just fucking jumping up and down like a child hopped up on pure caffeine. Why the fuck would you get in on that? You told me you wanted to play it safer? Like. This is literally not it, man. Look. If you absolutely want to get in on this shitshow, I'll execute the order for you. As it is required of me. But, it is also required of me to to advise you to act in a prudent manner. Yeah I get the price is low right now. But, it simply doesn't fit your risk tol- Ok fine. A hundred thousand dollars market order on Doge Coin. Done. You should see it reflect on your profile in about 10 minutes. Yeah. Have a good weekend Joe."

Benji takes off his bluetooth headset and sighs. Why are people just fucking idiots that want to get rich quick? Why did they spend three hours pouring over risk tolerance, portfolio construction, investment suitability, allocation and all that shit, just to see a meme stock that has a sliver of a chance to make a decent return? Ah fuck it, Benji thought. It's their money. These shit meme stocks are precisely targeted at schmucks like this anyways. Ooooo a potential to turn a ten dollar investment into a thousand, over night! Fuck off with all that. There is risk, and then there is idiocy. This, most certainly, is the latter.

A message pings on his screen. Benji idly looks over, and clicks open the message...

"Hey, want to go get some food or a coffee at the caff?

It was from his assistant, Jeanie. An up and comer in the financial field herself, Jeanie is positioned to launch herself to stardom, but as with everyone else in the field, she needs to pay her dues. Benji paid his, grabbing coffee and dry cleanings and fulfilling other mundane tasks for a couple of years fresh out of school and now here he is, corner office, plush furnishings, and a client list full of people like Joe.

"Ah, I have a few more clients to call. Can you just bring me a bottle of water from the fridge? I also have some paperwork I'd like you to help me send down. Thanks, you're the best~"

Benji replies before turning his attention to his call list for the day. Denise. This call should be fun. She reached out to Jeanie and said she wanted some advice on retirement planning. This is the fun shit he gets to do because the clients is going to have money to play with, and the planning conversation should be structured around what the client wants to do and accomplish in their retirement. All Benji has to do is lay out the plan, and make sure the client has enough money to carry them through. These rich fucks always have monumental aspirations anyways. All he has to do is to gas them up, and put together a plan that will make sure they can take their quarterly trip to Martha's Vineyard or wherever the fuck.

"Yeah, definitely. The plan I've put together is actually on the conservative side of things, as if the market is going to slide back a bit. But, given what it's doing right now, we're sitting real pretty. Yeah. Oh yeah? Alaska this year? That'll be real interesting! No, I haven't been myself. Oh no I couldn't impose like that haha. No Denise, I'm sure Dennis wouldn't want me there to sour the mood with all the money talk haha. Yeah no. Hey did you guys end up getting that boat? Yeah, Dennis was real excited about it. Oh I'm glad. The weather has been so nice lately. Oh you've already taken it for a spin around Savior Island? Thats cool! Yeah...'

Benji was deep in conversation with Denise when Jeanie popped in. Benji gave her a quick way. As Jeanie set down the chilled bottle of water, Benji pointed at a small folder of documents and mouthed Thank You to her as she retrieve the documents and exited the office. At the same time, Benji's holo-watch pinged softly with a quick message. Benji did his best to listen to the message and Denise on the other side of his phone at the same time...

"Ok, yeah. Right. Ok. Yup. I'll have my assistant Jeanie email you guys the current plan, including all the adjustments we made today. Look it over. If it looks all good, go ahead and e-sign it, and send it back and we will put it in place. Yeah. If there is anything that isn't aligning, notate it, shoot the message back but don't sign it. Yup. Ok. Yeah. It was good talking with you Denise. Yup. Have a good weekend!"

Benji took off his headset again, finalized the plan changes and sent it over to Jeanie for her to forwards it to Denise and her husband Dennis. Turning his attention back to the holo-message, Benji brought the wristwatch closer to his lips and replied "Bastion. En route. I'll do my best to skirt around the parade haha."

Stepping out of his office with the bottle of water in hand, Benji said to Jeanie "Hey, go ahead and forward that plan doc to Denise. That's all I got for you for the day. You're free to go. Go enjoy your weekend, enjoy the parade. I'm out~ I'll see you Monday. Ciao~" Benji skipped off, taking the very corporate elevator down to the parking garage and hopped in his car, starting it to life with a satisfying low roar. Adjusting his blazer, Benji puts the gaudy sports car into gear and drove off, heading towards the convention center.

_{Johnstone Convention Center.
New Athens, Castleburg.
Interacts With: Oracle @shylarah, Blast @Hitman, Ardent @ManyThings}

---

Today was a fun day, and Madison had been glad to have the day off to enjoy the festivities. She'd seen the parade start and she'd followed it part of the way, but there was only so much fun to be had at the parade once the novelty had worn off, so she then entered the convention proper. Madison was in a long-sleeved t-shirt, a skirt, leggings and boots, and was wearing her hair in a ponytailand underneath a baseball cap. Her nails were also painted dark cherry red, and her accent was immediately identifiable as Californian. It was no surprise that she wasn't being recognisedas a Hero, even in the company of hardcore hero fans. After all, Wireframe was a hero who's athletic build, muscular arms and toned abdomen were constantly on display. She wore a mask, had long, flowing blonde hair and drove a motorbike. Even if Madison told people her identity, a good percentage of them wouldn't even believe her. She'd even seen a stall selling homemade merch of Wireframe among others, and even the vendor of that stall didn't recognise her. She was glad. She'd always stived to keep both lives separate so she could live an ordinary life out in public.

She had a fun morning visiting stalls, buying merch (including said Wireframe merch) and talking to Heros she looked up to at their own booths. She collected autographs of more than one of her childhood heroes. Today was truly the highlight of her month. As it approached lunchtime. She joined the queue for the food vendors, with a coffee in hand. She waited almost half an hourin the queue and was glad to have gotten here early as the queue behind her was getting even larger. When she was the third in line, her watch beeped, and she flicked her wrist to see the face as it buzzed to life.

"Attention, heroes. I need a group of you to assist me at the Johnstone Convention Center. If you are available, please come and meet behind the stage. You will be rewarded for your time."

Madison was never one to turn down requests.Even after one year in service, she was still a small-time Hero. She had a humble fanbase but rarely made the news, as she was more the type to assist in saving people from danger and general public assistance, than the exciting strong Heroes who beat up the bad guys and saved the day. Still, she was hungry, and almost ready to be served at the food vendor, so she didn't head straight to the stage.

By the time Madison arrived at the stage, three quarters of a hot dog in her hand, four other eager volunteers had already managed beat her there. She heard the tale end of the conversation. They were wondering why they'd been summoned. Madison wasn't sweating the details. She trusted that Hugo Powers wouldn't make them do something too unreasonable, if he hadn't hand-picked the Heroes. This wasn't a mission, just a favor. She recognised Blast, and she recognised the one in costume as the vigilante who'd joined H.E.R.O. recently. She also recognised another of the group.

"Amuné!" The new arrival exclaimed, beaming wide as she raised both hands in the air, keeping a gripof the hot dog. She could not look or sound more like a Valley girl if she tried. "It's been forever! How have you been?"

The parade was going well so far, the people were enjoying themselves, and Austin didn’t even need to step out of his lab to tell. Every news outlet from across the state of New York was talking about Castleburg and HERO’s big day. People had come from out of town, schedules vacations and drove hundreds of miles for this day.

But unlike all of them, Austin was more content to sit back and observe. In his lab, a maze of esoteric machines and dangerous weapons, he sat in a leather chair with his one eye glued to an array of screens, arranged in a honeycomb pattern. One of the screens showed the collective footage of a dozen security cameras overlooking the orientation for the newest heroes. Another broadcast a live news coverage of the parade itself. A screen for real time data on an experiment he was running in the back of his lab, a screen for schedules of active heroes… Screens, screens, and more screens. To anyone other than Austin, it would’ve just been a useless cacophony of sensory overload. But this was simple to him, all the information being thrown at him felt like watching paint dry as he took everything in.

Austin was never one for parades or the spotlight that came with being a hero. People looked up to heroes that defeated evil and served as beacons of hope, and Austin defeated evil with weapons and showing no more than the legally bare minimum about of mercy they were to be given. That just wasn’t his scene.

Austin was hoping today would just be a relatively lazy day, but then his Lexicon- which was way cooler than those smartwatches- sent him a message.

"Attention, heroes. I need a group of you to assist me at the Johnstone Convention Center. If you are available, please come and meet behind the stage. You will be rewarded for your time."

That, unfortunately, included him.

He tapped a button on the wrist computer’s interface, opening up a channel. ”Wiseman here, give me ten minutes. On my way.”

He switched the screen setup off, and got ready.

---

Eight and a half minutes later, Wiseman walked up to the Johnstone Convention Center, in his full armor and strapped with all of his weapons. A red and white suit of combat armor, and a helmet fitted with a complicated visor. On his back was a rifle that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, and there was an equally high-tech looking knife holstered at his belt. Wiseman had a feeling he knew exactly why Powers was dragging heroes out here, there were two realistic possibilities.

Either a villain was attempting to make use of crowded area to sow uncontrollable chaos by attacking the center of the parade, or the Director was just looking for an excuse to put the rest of them in the same position as him. If the second happened, Wiseman would probably just walk off the stage and go about his business.

So when he found others present, Blast, Amune, Ardent and Terra… He considered leaving before even approaching them.

Oh well. He walked up to them regardless, hearing bits of their conversation. ”The most likely reason for calling us here is that Director Powers wants to show us off to the public. He doesn’t like giving speeches, and he has a sense of humor,” Wiseman commented, explaining his guess as to why Powers wasn’t even here at the moment.

”He might not show up at all.”



Mire did not want to be here. Only a week after getting free from that lifeless box, and they were shipped across the land to this city of metal and concrete. And they could stand all this noise. They had been escorted to island called “Savior,” by those creepy humans in the suits, and told to look for the assistant director. Mire felt like they were a grain of sand in a desert, without the millions of eyes and ears they had in the woods… They couldn’t even hear where to go, so they had to use their “eyes” to properly get around.

This “hero orientation” thing was grating to them, they never wanted to be this close to humans or be a “hero” at all. It pissed them off, being in this city what stank of trash and wasted nutrients, almost as much as being held against their will like a prisoner of war. But according to the humans, they were simply too interesting to be left alone, so now they were a slave.

More trudged along the grass of the Savior Island in the closest thing to quiet they had gotten in a while. The humans had encouraged them to not mind the looks of abject horror at other humans who grew pale in the face when Mire walked by, even when they started dialing numbers in their phones and shouted, ”Call the heroes! There’s a monster on the loose!” Unfortunately, some innocent bystanders who were simply enjoying their day had gotten a snarl, a loud warning to leave Mire alone and a profound scare for their troubles… If telling people to fuck off and leave them alone was all it took to be a “hero,” then maybe they’d be fine.

Eventually, the fungal horror caught a glimpse of several humans having a conversation. One of them looked to be vaguely dressed like the suited humans that Mire had been brought to this island by, so they hobbled closer, appearing only a few feet behind Emily Duff and speaking in a disgusting voice. Like a person trying not to choke on hot candle wax, filtered through a broken ham radio.

”Are you the human I was made to talk to?” They asked, in brazen disregard for all of the other humans present.

---

The island was small, most people would say. Dominated by a single building. But to Crane, it was one of the most spacious places in the city. She had quickly decided Savior Island was her favorite place. It was quiet, with lots of fresh air and open space to walk around. This was particularly pertinent because like most people would say the island is small, most people would say that Crane is big.

Crane, or, Ting Feng to her friends, is about thirty three feet tall, give or take. Very muscular. Wearing a simple costume. Her bare feet, thankfully, aren't big enough to squish someone. She walks in such a way that she'll most likely shove or lift someone with her toes, first, if she somehow doesn't notice them. But Ting Feng's eyes are always on the ground when she is walking. Very deliberate, she'll often take a single step forward and then pause for several seconds, taking in the scenery. Much like her namesake, there is a slow, methodical grace about her. Nothing she does is careless, or even automatic. But instead of frustration, there is peace. Like she has all the time in the world.

...Well, maybe it's a little annoying, sometimes. But not here on this island, where she can be free to take long strides, almost like she was back home in the countryside.

Today was a big day. She hasn't been in Castleburg for very long. She's been eager to get to know the people in the city, to really make it her home, but before she could do that she just had to get acclimated. To that end, she has decided to attend a seminar given by the assistant director.

It was about time she stopped enjoying her alone time and get moving. While Emily may have felt like she was being watched, it wasn't difficult to know when Ting Feng was approaching. Her footsteps were surprisingly quiet, though, as she tread very lightly. At the very least, there weren't any vibrations to give her away. She caught the tail end of the previously ongoing conversation.

"Ah, hello. Ms. Assistant Director, yes?" Then she looked to Dahlia, Gemetria, and Mire, waving her hand to them. As she did, she lowered herself to the floor, sitting on her legs.

She set said hand on her chest. "I am Ting Feng. My hero name is Crane. You may have seen me around, yes?" She smiled.

She looked back to the Director. "I know I am not one of the graduates from hero school. But, I am still honored to be a new recruit. I have always wanted to go to the biggest city, even if in some ways, it can feel very small." She glanced over to the metropolis across the water.

"So many people in such a little place. I hope it never sinks." She mused, touching her finger to her chin.

"...Anyway, that is a silly thought. I am here to learn! I have many ideas, too, but I do not know if they will work."

---

The light shined in through massive stained windows, dancing off the countless metallic surfaces that covered the room. The floor was a wide expanse of intricately carved metal, with footprints of gold, copper, and silver tracing paths from the bed to the television and bathroom. Curtains of gold and silver hung in thick sheets from above, brilliantly reflecting sparkling light across the room, and moving slightly in the breeze from the broken nearby window. Shattered quartz and glass shards lay strewn around the ground, the sound of the window breaking causing the young girl to look up from her screen. It was far more muffled than she would have expected, though Tamba Tantri had almost certainly felt the disturbance and called for the guards.

A man stood in front of her. Young, barely in his 20s, his exposed upper body rippling with thick muscles. Grusome hooks and barbed blades hung from his forearms, dangling on almost imperceptible metal wires. He looked familiar - a cousin that she had been kept sequestered from, only seeing his photos? An old family friend that she hadn't met since she was a baby? Some random intruder? If he was one of theirs, he was probably Ankush Rekha - though if that was the case, he had much fewer scars than the girl had expected.

The girl was barely half his age and less than half his weight, but she didn't seem disturbed by his presence. He walked forwards, his Hindi slurred under his breath as he did his best to sound disarming.

"C'mon Rue Rue, I don't wanna hurt ya. Just need enough to buy ourselves a ticket to France - I'll get ya some Ice Cream and take ya to the movies after, how's that sound?"

The girl's expression didn't change, the man quickly growing impatient as seconds dragged on. He probably knew how intense security was - few who entered her chamber without an invitation left with their body intact.

"Alright seriously, hurry the hell up kid! Come with me if ya want to live."

Despite his scowl and the aggressive baritone in his voice, the girl smiled at the words. The hooks dangling from the man's arms seemed to shift in the air somewhat, and the man snapped his head towards the corner of the room looking straight at the wall. His long legs and swift step allowed him to close the distance almost instantly, and he reached a muscular hooked arm out towards the girl.

"Times up. C'mon ya little shi-"

She darted forwards, moving in and past his arm. A jab to the chest, followed almost immediately by another to the throat. She darted back out within the same breath, though didn't run as far as one would expect a young girl to do in such a situation. The punches themselves were nothing against the man - even in a delicate point like the throat, a child wasn't going to hurt a grown man with a light jab.

Regardless, the man had collapsed to the ground, clutching at the points where their skin had made contact. A thick gurgling noise could be heard emanating from him, like air being pushed out of a whistle that was dropped in syrup.

"Auuuugggaa... Auuuugggaa..."

The hooks dangling from his arms dug into the flesh that remained intact - but in the center of his chest, where there was once thick and rippling muscle, was now an almost transparent sheet of metal. His heart could be seen pumping wildly, blood pooling in a partially transmuted lung.

"Transparent Spinel. MgAl₂O₄. I thought about using Aluminium oxynitride, but I haven't gotten the hang of that one yet... If you keep thrashing around you'll bleed out, and if you stop you'll suffocate from the lung damage. Expected time of expiration: 48 seconds."

A hook seemed to shoot forwards - too high to be a hit on the girl, and aimed to the right. His aim must have been ruined by the shock to his system. Despite that, he managed to land a clean shot on a woman in robes, thick metal armor underneath barely blocking the hook from sinking into her torso. Several more guards raced into the room, all wearing identical uniforms. Two stationed themselves between the man and the girl, while the rest surrounded the man, restraining him and dragging him from the room just as quickly as they first arrived. Several barbs and hooks latched onto the floor as he was dragged away, breaking apart under the force of the guards pulling him.

The girl didn't know why they bothered. They wouldn't be able to interrogate him before he died. She gazed idly at the blood trail that followed the man's body, leaking from a crack that formed in his chest from the force of his restraint. It covered the small golden footprints that she had left in the floor. She frowned slightly. One of the guards that had stayed in the room, an older man, noticed her displeasure and extended a hand, the blood seeming to be drawn up as thick red cuboids into the air.

She didn't bother to thank him, or even paid mind to the attempted kidnapping. If the girl was bothered by murdering her assailant, she certainly didn't show it. She just grumbled under her breath, thinking about how annoying the increased security for the next few weeks will be. She made her way back to the massive television set in the corner of the room, resuming the movie that the intruder had so rudely interrupted.

The guards in the room cleaned the mess that had been left from the brief interaction, anxious as the girl watched some science fiction movie in fascination, viscera spraying across the screen as some alien creature exploded out of a man's torso.

---

Rupa collapsed out of her bed, falling onto the hardwood floor as she clawed at her throat and gasped for air. Her pajamas, a full-body onesie with a bunny hood, was rapidly shifting between aluminum, zinc, and silver. She writhed on the floor and did her best to calm down, slowing her breathing as much as she could and trying to keep herself from crying out.

"Fuck fuck fuck I killed my cousin as a kid, oh shit oh god, I'm a fucking psycho dude, holy SHIT!"

The panic attack and stream of profanity continued for a few more minutes before she eventually reigned her power in, transmuting her onesie into silver before slowly crawling to her feet. She breathed a sigh of relief as she took a brief inventory of her apartment - a small studio apartment in the East Flank that was a far cry from her previous luxury. Her bed was still lumpy and kinda smelled musty, the floor was still hardwood with that one sticky spot in the corner that she hoped was soda, and the wall was still drywall that probably had lead paint or asbestos or something. The onesie was hot as hell during the summer, but thankfully it does its job of keeping her rented home (and security deposit) safe from her power.

Taking a look at her phone, Rupa quickly swore under her breath and raced to get changed. If she didn't hurry, she'd be late for the orientation, and might be forced to sit through it again. She threw a top on and pulled on the nearest pair of pants, stumbling through the door to her apartment as she was pulling on sneakers, dragging a massive duffel bag behind her with deceptive ease.

"Shit shit shit- OW!" As she raced down the stairwell, an older woman tossed an apple at Rupa's head while calling after her angrily in a mix of rapid-fire Thai and heavily-accented English.

"Sorry for swearing Mrs. Yuvaves!!! Thanks for the apple, I promise I'll get you rent tonight! ...Crap crap crap."

Rupa ran out of the rundown apartment block before skidding to a halt as she saw that traffic in most of the city had been backed up thanks to the festivities. She groaned loudly, causing a few nearby pedestrians to stare at the scruffy girl, before pulling a weathered MP3 player out of her pocket and sliding earpieces into place. A familiar beat began as she started running, weaving between pedestrians and darting through alleys as she made her way towards Savior Island.

---

Thankfully, her apartment was fairly close to the HERO-owned landmass, and she could see the towering skyscraper of HERO One within a a few minutes of leaving her apartment complex. She had kept up her training regimen ever since coming to the States, so her stamina was decent enough. She wasn't even winded, despite the intense pace she was keeping. As she got closer, she thought back to her previous visits to the building - not the best, in all honesty. She destroyed several training dummies while they were testing her powers, as well as a wall or eight. That, combined with the tantrum she threw when they even brought up the idea of locking her up in the Junior Academy, was enough to put her on the bad side of most personnel who had the displeasure of meeting with her. No way in hell that place was like the Breakfast Club.

'Could be worse - least I'm not gonna get stabbed in my sleep or get facehuggered by boiling mercury.'

Hopefully.

By the time she had made it to the coast of the island, she could already see, several people congregating together. Or rather, several people congregating together, and a fucking GIANT. Seriously, was she 10 meters tall or something? Or whatever that is in freedom units.

Rupa skidded to a halt as she reached the others, coughing and groping for the water bottle in her oversized duffel bag. Probably shouldn't have sprinted near the end if she was trying to make a good impression.

"*cough* s-sup'... sorry I... *cough* I need a bike... Sorry I'm late Ms. Duff. Won't happen again probably I think!"

She choked down a few gulps of water before looking at the other people who had congregated thus far. The easiest to spot from a distance was the giant girl, who even after lowering herself to speak with the other heroes, was still taller than some suburban houses. Her power was pretty obvious and hopefully could be turned off - if not, that shit was even more inconvenient than Rupa's power, which she didn't think was possible to be honest. Imagine getting clothes that fit - ugh...

There was also a freaky mushroom... thing? Let's roll with it. Nah, They, it is kinda dehumanizing- can you dehumanize something that might not be human?

WHATEVER! They were super fucky looking, like a special effects department in the 80's got most of the movie budget. Which, of course, meant they were the coolest-looking thing here. Rupa definitely had to get to know them and ask how they feel about Little Shop of Horrors. Unless that's like a porno for this thing, which it might be.

The others were much less notable at a glance. Ms. Duff was an Omega-class hotty, and her friendly demeanor was a stark contrast to the authoritarian bullshit that Rupa was used to - both with her family, and at the few jobs she tried to hold down in the States. Her outfit was also pretty swanky - Rupa could never pull off heels, and the suit definitely gave off 'I'm the co-leader of a massive superhero organization' vibes.

One girl wore a white trench coat and pants alongside a black turtleneck, with dark hair and deep green eyes. Maybe not a hero and just in R&D or something? She felt like a scientist. Hot, but in a scary way - Ms. Duff is better. Rupa narrowed her eyes a bit as she looked at the woman. She felt familiar in some way, but not enough that Rupa could narrow it down.

The last one was another girl, younger, with long white hair. She seemed kind of cold at first glance, and was a bit off to the side compared to the others. Shy maybe? Dunno. She'd probably be the final girl in a horror flick, or the hacker girl in an action movie if Rupa had to nail her down to a specific niche. No clue what her power is, or the green-eyed girl for that matter. Hopefully flight or fireballs, that'd be pretty badass.

They probably already did introductions, huh? Everyone was looking at her after she sprinted up here, even the Swamp Thing cosplayer. Gotta get back in the swing of things, let's do this shit, Sterling!

Rupa shined an apple against her coat as she looked at the others, her voice a bit too loud for how close everyone was.

"Shining like a shooting star, the Rocky 4 of Superheros! Rupa Sterling - AKA Alchemist, I'm gonna roll with just Alchemsit when I'm saying this in costume - makes any problem golden! EAT SHIT, CRIME!!!"

The girl struck a dynamic pose as she pointed at the sky and yelled her practiced introduction (which Assistant Director Duff had probably been forced to sit through more than once), thankful that she kept the swear word in since it made her sound more mature and serious. Rupa promptly dropped the duffel bag she was carrying, which slammed into the ground with the force of a hundred or two pounds of metal that was shoved in there. She then sat on the bag, and took a massive bite out of the apple she had been holding this entire time.

"Nice to meet you guys. Let me know if you wanna borrow any movies, I got a few hard drives with, like, everything good after 197- oh fuck, should I be eating this in front of that guy?"

She points at Mire with the hand holding the half-eaten apple, her face flush with embarrassment for the first time this entire interaction.

"I don't want to be, like, rude or something."

---

---

Jareth shook Blast -- Jake's -- hand firmly. Then the hero in green was off, over to Amuné, who nearly stepped back from him. She managed to keep her composure, however, and returned the handshake, though with decidedly less enthusiasm than Jake exuded. "Nice to meet you," she said.

They were joined by another hero, this one apparently from Boston, who introduced himself as Ardent. Jareth went over for a handshake and repeated his name, Terra. Amuné just waved from where she was, and said nothing.

Then Madison showed up, greeting Amuné with a bright smile Amuné couldn't help but return. Even though her mask hid her expressions, the smile was evident in her voice. "Wireframe! I'm doing well, and I hope you are too. Just...remember, it's Oracle when I'm in costume, okay?" Still, Amuné wasn't too upset about the slip.

Meanwhile Ardent and Jake were complaining about the decided lack of Director Powers' presence. Austin, in full armor and bristling with weapons, joined them.

"If he's just showing us off, we're probably going to slip away quietly," Jareth said aloud, glancing over at Amuné. She contributed a nod. "We're very new, and Oracle would prefer to let someone else have the limelight."

"Hey Wiseman, Wireframe. C'mere a second," Amuné said, waving them over toward Jareth. "I want you to meet Terraformer. He's the one I mentioned before, my best friend growing up." She didn't say his real name, but she didn't need to. Both should be familiar with it from her talking about Jareth in the past.

"She's talked a lot about you both," Jareth said, offering his hand to each in turn. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you two."

Johnstone Convention Center, New Athens, Castleburg

---

Fresh off of David's decision to stand on the ground like a normal person during conversation rather than using his flight for no good reason, here was Jake, zipping around the room just to shake hands. It was tacky, and David didn't exactly offer an approving look, but he at least took the guy's hand. If he had wanted to spend his time antagonizing heroes like Jake, he would have stayed as an independent.

David held his tongue, and watched over his shoulder as a couple more heroes made their way towards the meeting spot. The two were opposites: a shorter guy who was geared up like some sort of futuristic Navy SEAL and a taller girl dressed like the absolute most unassuming convention-goer imaginable. The latter had no visible signs of being a hero, but she immediately started chatting with one of the kid heroes in a familiar way. Good enough proof, David figured.

"You think he put a call out just to lure us here for some publicity stunt?" David glanced between Austin and Jake, who seemed to have the same idea about what was happening. "That's basically been my whole day already. Showing my face around town, making sure everyone knows about my transfer here. The kid heroes have the right idea; if this request turns out to be something really stupid, I'm out."

There was no point in mentioning the fact that he had been stuck flying around and making public appearances because he currently wasn't cleared to do anything else as a probationary hero. That was something of a sore spot for David, and he wasn't sure which heroes even knew the truth about his situation. Most of the heroes here seemed to be on the newer side, probably not the type to be trusted with behind-the-scenes info.

Everyone seemed to be getting along pretty well. Aside from his fresh arrival to Castleburg, David got the sense that a lot of the current roster in the city was made up of heroes fresh out of training, with a year or two of work under their belt. He couldn't help but wonder what that was like, being set up to work as a hero in such a structured, comfortable way. On the other hand, developing powers always brought chaos into a kid's life, no matter what their living situation was.

"I'd say give it five minutes. If we don't hear anything by then, we dip." David idly leaned out of the backstage space, watching to see if anything was developing in the convention center. Was a crowd gathering for them?

---

Joseph blinked and spluttered, choking on his own drool for a second as he woke up in the nice, quiet, hidden corner he'd found for himself in one of the lower levels of H.E.R.O. One. After a brief, unsettling moment where he was forced to genuinely consider the possibility that he may actually suffocate then and there, he eventually managed to cheat death once again. Truly, the life of a superhero was fraught with peril.

Looking down at his wrist, he grimaced a little, the holographic face of one Hugo Powers telling him that he needed heroes to help him with something at the... Oh right, that festival was today, wasn't it? Sounded like fun. Also sounded like somewhere the hag would be too grumpy and elderly to go to. Even more appealing! Looking back down at the tiny hologram of his boss, he listened as Powers asked them to go over in an actual professional, polite way, far more than the usual, which tended to just be the man barking at him to 'get off his lazy ass and do something'.

Which was exactly why he decided not to go.

If he went now, it'd ruin the hilarious dynamic they had going right now! What would he do if he accidentally Pavlov'd the guy into thinking he'd be able to get Joseph to do stuff by treating him with actual respect? Disgusting. Horrible. A future he had to avoid at all costs.

No, instead, he stumbled up from the basement, blinking again as he stepped out into natural light, and once he'd adjusted, made his way out of the building. Initially, he'd just been planning to get to his trusty scooter and go back to his place, hopefully without the hag jumping him in the process, and maybe getting some extra runic arrays ready for later. However, as he actually made it out the door, he couldn't help but notice there was actually a rather large group of people standing out on the beach. On closer inspection, these people appeared to in fact be new people, likely fresh recruits.

He took a second to weigh up his options. On one hand, he could go back to the shed he called his home, likely get yelled at by the hag for whatever reason she decided amused her the most, and then proceed to lock himself inside and bleed himself half to death to write even more runes than he already had prepared. On the other, he could stick around here, meet these new folks, and act as a representative for what life in H.E.R.O. was really like...

The decision took him all of five seconds. Honestly, it was the responsible thing to do.

"Nah, should be fine, I reckon..." He asked as he approached the group, only catching the part where the girl with the apple got worried about eating it in front of the fungal man. "Apple's a fruit, and that guys a mushroom. They aren't even actually plants, pretty sure..."

He nodded to Emily.

"Duff." He said, pretending to be a normal, tolerable human being for once, rather than the horrible example they both already knew he was probably going to be. "Guessing these guys are new hires, right? Exciting stuff!"

He sent her a quick thumbs up, knowing full well that to anyone who knew him, the gesture was the opposite of reassuring, despite probably looking relatively normal to the other attendees.

---

---

A pale hand rose to meet an equally pale face, stifling a small yawn.

Riley blinked the tiredness from his eyes as he sat up and stretched languidly, sighing at the satisfying pops in his joints. A dull ache spread throughout his body after the fact and he winced. That was surely a sign to start sleeping more like a normal person if he'd ever felt one. Easier said than done, though, as it were. Rest was a secondary concern at present, at least until he'd made more headway than just not having things blow up in his face anymore.

Especially when he was this close to a breakthrough. Close, of course, simply meaning he was a mere micrometre closer to accomplishing what he’d set out to do a few days ago in a fit of boredom. It sounded less impressive than it actually was.

Still, progress was progress.

His eyes drifted to the small, innocuous object lying on his desk. It was an unadorned, 5cmx5cm, cube of solid tungsten. For now, at least.

Riley heaved a sigh and tossed the cube aside, its visage shifting into oak wood as it fell. He kicked back from the desk, his chair teetering just shy of falling over. A frown tugged on his lips as he gazed down at the unfamiliar device in his hands.

Before being moved into H.E.R.O. One, everything he’d brought with him to Castleburg had been confiscated, including the smartphone she gave him. The replacement he’d been given was subpar in more ways than one, but he could deal. It was a small price to pay for keeping his promise, all things considered.

He had no intention of going back on his word, but he had to admit the idea was getting more tempting by the minute.

As if on some kind of cue, Riley’s smartwatch lit up with a message from Director Powers.



Riley didn’t bother listening to the rest, switching off his smartwatch without a second thought. He rested his chin in the crook of his elbow with a soft sigh, gazing idly at the ticking clock on the wall.

Today was supposed to be his H.E.R.O. debut, but he wasn’t feeling particularly festive. He never did. He and crowds didn’t mix well, for obvious reasons. He knew he had a tight leash on things, but “twice the pride, double the fall“.... or something like that. Besides, showing off at the whims of his H.E.R.O. overlords didn’t exactly appeal to him, and it was optional, no? There was no reason to go if he didn’t want to....

....

.... Riley sighed again. He couldn’t keep avoiding everything forever.

Without much thought, he pushed himself off from his chair and glanced at his reflection in the full-body mirror.

Dishevelled. That was the first word to come to his mind when he saw himself; bags under his eyes, hair even messier than usual and the colour of his nails almost entirely faded away. The next word–

“.... Ugh.”

It took very little time for Riley to get himself perfectly in order, and he gave himself another once-over to ensure everything was in its rightful place before heading out. Indifferent to the chill of the winter season, he simply wore an oversized black hoodie with a cat logo emblazoned on the front over a t-shirt, dark jeans and sandals to let his nails dry. His eyes wandered and he considered the mask sitting on his bed for a moment.

It wouldn’t hurt.

---

Riley squinted up at the sky as he made his way out of the building. It was overcast today and most people would call it cold out. He couldn’t relate to that.

Shoving a tiny bar of chocolate past his lips, Riley turned his musings to more important matters as he chewed.

Whatever the director had planned for whoever decided to join him didn’t matter. The seminar that would take place on the island required the least amount of effort to attend, so that was the one he chose to attend. Riley had no real interest in either event, but that was the lesser of two evils in his eyes.

Then Riley laid his eyes on the eclectic group he was meant to join. And he used the term very loosely. They were basically just a bunch of floating atoms without even–

Hold on.

He blinked away the weirdness and gave the group another look, seeing them as they were supposed to be this time.

The first one was a girl dressed almost entirely in white, with dark hair and really green eyes. Her face looked carved from ice, and yet.... hm. He recognised her, of course, though he'd never met her in person. Dahlia, a former member of Death Bouquet. Riley wasn't one to curse people out, but they were a right group of witches. She was different, from what he had been told.

He'd form his own opinion on that.

The next girl was younger, with long greyish hair, but she had a similar air around her. They weren't related, as far as he knew, so it was probably just an odd coincidence. He knew of her too, though she was of a different sort. Her powers were familiar, but they didn't compare.

The third girl was interesting. It hit a little too close to home for his taste, so he had avoided that one. Her name was Rupa Sterling, as she'd just embarrassingly shouted to the heavens moments ago.

The fourth one was a guy, Joseph Moore. His powers were terribly interesting, but as much as Riley wanted to pester him about it, he restrained himself. There would be time for that later.

Then there were the others.

Standing out from the group of normies was a giant woman dressed in.... spandex(?)—well, something like it, at least—and a walking, talking mushroom thing—a leftover. He thought those were kill on sight.

What kind of freakshow did he just walk into? Riley couldn't help but wonder.

The irony was not lost on him.

Finally, his eyes fell on the woman of the hour, Emily Duff. And what a woman she was. In his completely unbiased opinion, of course. Riley sighed, popping another piece of chocolate into his mouth. If only she wasn't one of them.

"You're the AD, right? Let's get this over with."

---

To call it a lake would have been generous. It was more of a pond. Short, black, loose hair with white streaks, a simple but effective black mask around her eyes that contrasted with her unnaturally pale skin; this was the place where those effects took place. There were white people, there were pale people, and then there was Backup. We're talking sheet white, here. Like a ghost. But her cheeks were full and her build was solid, so there was no typical gauntness to accompany it.

Her Stop Watch, as in her customized hero smart witch, lit up. "Attention, heroes. I need a group of you to assist me at the Johnstone Convention Center. If you are available, please come and meet behind the stage. You will be rewarded for your time."

Backup took the time to listen to the whole thing, but, she was way too far away to get over there. She was sure tons of other people would get it, anyway, considering how many were at the parade.

Maybe the HERO day parade had made her sentimental. TJ didn't dwell on the past very often. Or maybe, as much as she didn't actually care, it would have been farcical to not even LOOK at the place where she died first. Like, come on, that's a pretty strong memory. But it wasn't what she was here for. She was miles away from the parade because she'd literally be caught dead before she was caught looking at a fucking balloon of Hugo Powers. Seriously. He was just a dude. They just have a balloon of some guy. HERO worship was creepy.

But when a pre-teen boy runs up to you and begs for a selfie, as one did now, well, you're going to lean in and say "Always get back up!" and stick out your tongue. Because it wasn't that bad. And you liked the uneasy smile on the mothers face- that of all the heroes on the roster, her son chose Backup as his favorite.

When a fully grown man sees that and asks for the same thing, you tell him to "Fuck off, loser." because it wasn't that great, either. If he's really a Backup fan, he'll like that even more than the selfie.

Since she wasn't at the parade, and it wasn't night time so all of her really fun activities were off limits, the eternal question plagued TJ's mind. What to do now? While she was out and about in costume and didn't want to be bugged, she usually skipped the sidewalks. Moving into a nearby alleyway, TJ took a running start at a brick wall, ran a few steps up it and then pushed off to cling onto a fire escape. Rattling up the stairs, she stood on the railing and took one more leap up to the roof. Now the whole city had opened up to her. Skyscrapers and glittering ocean waves, the islands, even that hellhole Atlantica. Backup hated Atlantica. If she was ever going to become a supervillain, it would be to blow up Atlantica and sink it to the bottom of the ocean like it's namesake suggested.

TJ took a running start and leaped across a few rooftops, watching the distant concrete pass under her legs as she did. The sound carried well up here. She had good line of sight. She skid to a stop, planting her boot on the corner of a rooftop. This was what going on patrol was all about. It was the beating heart of HERO work, if boring at times. Backup ran around all of Castleburg, across all islands, though for convenience she usually avoided crossing the bridges mid-shift. And she avoided Passenger Island, as well. That place was boring as fuck.

TJ could spend all day and all night on the rooftops if she wanted too, due to her powers. All day, and all night, every day and every night. If she was up to it, that was what she did. The longest streak was a week. There was a particularly tall apartment building. TJ leapt over to it and used the tops and bottoms of the window sills to scale up the side. With no fear and more experience than anyone in the world at urban freeclimbing, TJ made short work of it. She climbed around the side of the building and hopped over onto someone's balcony. Then another, and then another. A lot of people weren't home. She pressed her face against the glass window. Some type of business woman in her mid forties was watching TV on the inside. Backup knocked on the window and she yelped. It didn't take her long to realize who she was looking at- even if she didn't know the specifics, it was obviously some superpowered miscreant.

"What is wrong with you?" She asked, approaching the door.

"Shit, lady, I'm just saying hi." Backup responded, and then leapt to the next balcony over. There was a bit of commotion, and soon she had a trail of confused people opening up their balcony doors to see who just moved across. She moved to the very last one and sat on the edge.

"We all good here?" She asked, her voice carrying to the row of people. The answer was probably yes.

"Well, actually," An elderly woman said from two balconies down. "There's been this troublemaker going up and down the block the last few days. We've not been sure what to do about him. Maybe you could speak to him, young lady? He kept me up all night last night."

Backup frowned. "Fuckin' what? Who is this guy?"

"Oh," the woman responded. "I think he calls himself..."

---

"...THE ONE MAN BAND!"

"Are you fuckin' for real, dude?" Backup asked with a laugh. In front of her was a man in a garish yellow and pink bodysuit. A large drum was strapped to his back, complete with symbol. He had a mount around his shoulders that contained a harmonica and a trumpet. At his waist was a guitar and in his hands was an accordion. Compared to her practical and colorless black and white wear, they were quite the contrasting duo. Over his eyes was a visor that also looked like a harmonica.

"Oh, I'm very real," He said. "Realer than you, hero." He began to stomp and march in a circle, playing the accordion and the harmonica.

"Dude. You fuckin' suck." Backup criticized bluntly. "Like I'm not even joking around. You're shit at that. It's total dogwater. Actual fucking audio diarrhea. Like it's one thing if you're good at it but you're not. Were you playing all night last night?"

"Shut up! Nobody can silence the One Man Band! Everyone in this apartment block will bow down to me. Then we will join forces and spread our music across the city!" He proclaimed.

"Then you wouldn't be that much of one man band anymore, would you, dumbass?"

"...SILENCE!" He began to stomp and march around even more, playing louder.

"Alright, that's it, c'mere, shithead." Backup said, walking over and reaching her hand out. The One Man Band turned to her and switched to his trumpet. Blowing into the brass instrument, Backup was deafened by the blast and found herself rolling and tumbling over herself on the ground. Everyone watching the encounter, including the old lady, disappeared back into their rooms in alarm.

"The fuck?!" Backup asked, pushing herself up to all fours.

"Too LOUD for you, Backup? You should wear ear protection when attending a performance!" He blew into the trumpet again.

"Oof!" Backup squeezed her eyes shut and fell flat on her back. This guy was kicking her ass! There wasn't much room to dodge in the apartment complex hallway. There was a T junction not far from her, but One Man Band was blasting her way too often for her to get to it.

"Comin' through!" She yelled, and shoulder charged into a nearby door. She burst into someone's apartment, blowing right through the lock. Her shoulder would be feeling that one in the morning- NOT. She saw the ripples and the dust as the villain's blast struck the place she had just been. Fortunately, it seemed like nobody was home in this one.

Infact, that gave her an idea.

One Man Band entered the apartment. "Where'd you go, hero? Afraid to face the music?" He looked across the room and saw that the balcony door was open.

"I'll give you a fuckin' beat," Backup murmured from behind. An ambush! She had gone out one balcony and entered through another! She kicked out the back of his leg and forced him face down to the floor. Before he could blow on his trumpet again she reached forward and wrenched it off his harness, tossing it aside.

"Unhand me!" He said, releasing his accordion, clenching his fists, and raising his hands on the floor. In a split second she realized the drum on his back was attached to his hands via a series of wires. She did not want to find out what happened if the sticks beat that drum.

"Shit!" She snatched the sticks before they could hit. Ripping them off, she produced a knife and cut a hole in the canvas of the drum.

"No!" He cried out in dismay. "Guh!" Backup punched him soundly in the back.

"Gotcha, bitch." In ten seconds flat she had his hands cuffed behind his back and his ankles cuffed together. "One Man- One Man Bitch, is more like it." She stood up straight and twirled her knife around in her fingers. "Heh."

"Damn you, Backup! You haven't heard the last of me or my wonderful music!" He said, struggling on the floor in a pile of discarded instruments.

"There's a scary fuckin' idea." Backup said, rolling her shoulder. There was a strange noise, almost like a very faint echoey pop from the inside, and she felt the pain disappear. Guess it had been 24 seconds since she busted the door open. The pain in her internals from the soundwaves was also long gone. Just like that, she was good as new. No need for so much as a breather.

"I fuckin' love being me." She grinned to herself.

---

She dusted her hands as the police shoved the protesting One Man Band's head into the back of a cop car. Basically everyone that was home had come down to the lobby to get in on the post-villain defeat party. She shook hands with the elderly lady, and reluctantly agreed to a hug. Backup was a bit distracted, though. Her thoughts turned back to the fight. If One Man Band had gotten the drum beat off, what would have happened? She should have known that more than one of his instruments could have been dangerous. The fact that he almost got one over on her was frustrating. Next time, she'd have to be better. She should have cut the drum canvas with the knife first, and then went for the takedown. Any villain could be dangerous if she didn't know their gimmick.

"Backup. Ms. Backup!" Someone said, pointing a phone in her face. "How many times did you die to defeat the One Man Band?"

Backup blinked, snapping back into focus. "What, huh? No times. No times at all." She said, seriously. "That guy didn't get me. Don't add anything to that fucking website."

"Are you sure?" Someone else asked. "I thought I heard you say oof."

"Well, okay, he blasted me, but I didn't fucking die." Backup insisted. "You want me to break your glasses or something?" That got them to back off.

"Is One Man Band your new nemesis?"

"If he is, I'm killing myself. Listen, uh, everyone shut the hell up. I'm leaving. Places to be, and all that shit." She said, pushing through the crowd.

"Can I have your autograph before you go?"

"No, fuck off."

Backup strode away from the apartment and found another fire escape, losing even the most diehard fan as she took back to the rooftops. That was fun. Castleburg was full to bursting with shit like that happening all the time. The secret advantage of her power was getting patrol long enough to run into so much of it, all on her own.

She thought this to herself, kicking her legs over the edge of the roof. Chances are, some more shit was going to go down before the sun set. TJ took some time to herself, enjoying the view. And the hot dog that she had bought from a street vendor. Good times.

The alarm blared in the scarred younger woman's room within HERO One, droning on and on and on as the alarm rang faster and louder and faster and louder over the course of just two minutes. Two minutes that felt like twenty minutes, really, but the younger woman would eventually deign to reach over as her right arm seemed to stretch and elongate and gain more than a few new elbows and arm segments just to reach over to the dresser on the other end of her toom to turn it off. The display of warped and unnatural physiology, emerging from a pile of messy and tousled sheets, might've been seen as fitting for a scene from a horror movie or game at the very least. However, this morning it was far less than such a scedne. For Luna...it was just another morning after sleeping in a non-containment cell bed that she'd begun to become accustomed to since joining HERO finally.

"Mhwmhmm..."

The lazy bare-minimum moan of acklnowledgement would eek out from her head of messy white hair in a reluctant manner, her body rejecting the notion of leaving the comfortable cocoon of the warm and cozy bed while her brain fought back in a heated and pitched battle for supremacy. Ultimately, however, the war between the two would come down to the very wire, a close finish, a photo finish that would mean-

*RNNG*

....Well that was something calling her watch, even where it sat on the nearby bedside table. The super-elongated monstrosity of an arm, its purpose in turning off the offending alarm, would rapidly shrink and warp back into a rather normal-seeming if not scarred right arm. This arm would right over to the closer bedside table in turn, fumbling about until it grabbed up the watch and Luna's head popped up like a whack-a-mole game from the sheets as she tapped the surface of the smart device. Tired and sleepy blue eyes, still with some matter in them, were rubbed with her other free hand to clear them up as the nineteen year old looked on semi-attentively and mostly listened to the message ala the holographic head of the Director himself that was now being displayed by the watch itself.

"Attention, heroes. I need a group of you to assist me at the Johnstone Convention Center. If you are available, please come and meet behind the stage. You will be rewarded for your time."

Oh. Oh yeah, the parade and such was going on today. Heroes going out there to sign autographs and crap. People running around and celebrating them. Food. Festival. Grandeur. Etc. Even that gaudy parade baloon of the Director she'd heard was going to be part of the parade proper. It wasn't that people couldn't do that sort of thing, she was glad it was a celebration rather than a witch hunt or something, but like hell if a public thing like that was her metaphorical cup of tea there. What, would everyone suddenly not remember that incident of five years ago? Then again, the chances of the few survivors noticing her was one thing....but still, she didn't feel much like it either. Partly due to not wanting to deal with it, and partly because, well, she wasn't quite worth heading out there to be 'admired' really. Just helping people, pay or not, was all she cared about at this point in time to go out there to do. Simple. Hell, could smash some heads together if the Director wanted her to take up a patrol in Brookside or Watervale today to the side of the parade and just far away enough from the festivities.

But if he was calling out like this....yeah, something was up. Or trying to go on. About to go on? He wasn't a guy to be fluffy and frivilous about things to her knowledge, and she repected that. In any case, though, she'd already been placing a bet with someone around HERO One about this particular day anyways. A bet of ten dollars that 'something big and stupid's going to happen', because Luna trusted a huge event like this to go off 'without a hitch' as much as one could trust a live and ticking time bomb with three seconds left on the timer and no one around to defuse it. She'd gotten a comment or few about being 'ill spirited' or 'not in good sport' in making that bet, but she would make her mind known and had made the bet to make a point of her opinion on things.

Best case scenario? She lost the bet and had to pay up ten dollars and got the relief of things having gone well to go with it. Worst case scenario? She got at least ten dollars from things and cracked some heads of the morons trying to make the day a mess and got paid for it, all while avoiding saying an 'I told you so' coming from her own lips and getting to do her job in helping people. Wasn't going to be a thing either way that she would relish in.

"Schtupid buncha...alllrigh.....ok, ok, I'll get up."

Muttering to herself, the pale white haired Luna crawled gradually out of bed in a lazy fashion. This was going to be a 'day', Director's message or not, and she could feel it in her bones. One might normally call this a 'gut instinct', if they would, but to her it was mostly called 'that instinct that helps you stay outta' trouble and alive' or something of the sort. Eh. 'Gut instinct' would actually do rather well for how simple it was, though, in hindsight.

---

Sleveless blue shirt. Comfortable jeans. Standard civilian attire, all in all, but it was what Luna felt most comfortable heading out in even in this weather. It was not too cold for her, nor too hot, and her body could frankly be adjusted to feel comfortable regardless without any harm. Could walk about with nothing and still be comfortable in the weather, but like hell if she was going to do that sort of thing to herself or give some randos the eye candy they wanted. Ha. Eye-candy was the opposite of her in enough ways, but that was neither here nor there.

As the white-haired younger woman leaned against the wall to the right side of the front entrance, her arms crossed for the moment being, she looked on and listened in with enhanced eyes and ears at Ms. Duff and the others after having just gotten outside not too long ago. Well, having done so after getting dressed and such at least. Grabbed some snacks on the way out. Suggesting to Alisa briefly on the side to tell Rupa that Walt Disney's frozen head was kept underneath Disney World if she wantd more material. Little stuff like that. Seemed the others had done a job of trying to help grab her papers and the like as well, etc, to boot. But a scavenger hunt for these sorts of things? Eh, it was informative and allowed them to put their powers to use at the very least. She could see the reason in it, even as much as she felt it was quite a bit silly as an activity in and of itself.

What did one get when a walking nuclear reactor, a talking mushroom pile, a pop culture child, a giant cinnamon roll, a giant man-child, Katy Perry's Toxic in-person, Tokyo's latest robotic pop-idol yet-to-be, and a former 'Butterfly' who got tired with all the 'duff' and got into management were all in the same place?

...

...

...

A bunch of random sterotypes lumped togethher that weren't truly all the actual people themselves, really, even though all she had seen so far from them was a basic summary of sorts when trying to pour over the info she was allowed to look at about those she'd be working with. Files and paper weren't actually people, though, and she felt glad she'd been able to continue an education of some sorts in her containment to boot. Even so, she'd been reading up for a few days and pondering about things, etc, to be prepared. The start of all of that, however, had sounded like the start to a really strange and silly joke. That had been mostly on purpose, admittedly, to break the mental ice before she'd walk over to break it socially. A bit dumb, but hell she was a tiny bit tired still and had gotten out of bed finally, so it wasn't going to be the most creative measures she could think of outright to get herself moving and mentally prepared.

Still, working up the energy to finally make her approach as people perhaaps paired off and such for the hunt, Luna would pull herself off of the wall and would begin to casually walk from her spot against the wall over to where Ms. Duff was.

Alien Angel
East Side

Possible interaction: Backup @Zoey Boey
----------

For her and even her partner, coming to Castleburg would have been nothing sort of a possible "death sentence" for them. Sure, they weren't exactly "criminals" but there was a reason why some cities and other places have laws against vigilantes. Why they had to look over their shoulders...from the I.C.O.S.A. to villains like a certain mad scientist and whoever believed his garbage for experimentation. Even more so with this city itself...even she knew why some people gave the nickname of this city "Hero Central". That even included this special holiday.

So that's why they had set up shop here on the East Side or "Flank" as it was also called. Lesser security and hero patrols. They could have risked it the slum areas but with the crime rates, it would have been easy to get exposed simply because some random thug thought they were "normal people" and easy marks.

But in this line of work, those were the risks.

It had nearly been two weeks since they covertly came here. All because the scientist they found out about here was actually WILLING to hide in a city full of super hero's like no other. They weren't even sure if this scientist knew anything about who they were really after but they knew one thing. This individual was a trouble maker. Regardless, putting him off the streets would at least be worth the trouble.

Based on the info she found on the "dark web", this fellow was actually apart of a villain group called "The Fiendish Five" though supposedly, the group had "retired" but even in the dark web, you had to be careful what to believe just like normal internet. The group itself was legit that much was real. At the moment though, info on the other five was pending as she continued to work away.

Right now, she was actually on a random roof top. Wearing only a pair of "pink" colored sweatpants but actually wearing a "Blast" merch T-shirt, she was sitting in her own corner with a pink "virtual window" opened in front of her. Typing away as she continued her intel hunt. After a bit though, she decided to switch it up. Leaving the dark web, she then "hacked" into the security camera's around New Athens. Might as well make sure nothing was currently happening.

During this though, someone actually jumped onto her rooftop. She noted that this woman hadn't noticed her yet as she even started sitting on the edge with what looked liked a hotdog of all things.

She had a hunch who this was but just to be sure, she opening another virtual window but this one wasn't just a web browser. She then pointed it in the general direction of the individual and almost instantly, it I.D.ed her.

Quickly closing the window, itself disappearing out of thin air it seemed, she still kept the other one hacked into the security camera feeds open but perhaps did something someone trying to maintain a low profile would never do. Expose herself.

"Wow. Backup in the house. Que pasa?", she called but still switching through the security camera feeds.

Terraformer's handshake was returned by Wiseman. He had heard much about the kid from his earlier days as a hero, mostly from Oracle. His powers were supposedly something to behold, and there was a good person behind the bandana mask. "I've heard good things about you. It is always good to meet another tinkering her-"

The introduction was cut short by Powers finally deciding to grace the lot of them with his presence. He didn't look very happy at the group that had shown up today, as if every hero in Castleburg would even be available during a parade. In his hands, Powers held a spider-like drone with a camera that shattered as he tossed it to the floor with all the grace of a potato sack. That was certainly more interesting than whatever Wiseman had taken into account, and immediately knocked off over a dozen possibilities as to who this drone could belong to.

"I want you all to remain low-profile, keep an eye on the area, and make sure nothing suspicious gets inside. If you need to fight something, take it as far away from here as possible. Wiseman, try and figure out who built that thing and why it's here. I tried not to damage any of the important components too much."

Wiseman reached to his belt and withdrew the Indra Blade, and kicked the machine upwards with his foot to catch it in his free hand. He tapped a fist against his visor and then felt around for a seam. He found one between the legs and swiftly pried a panel of metal and chromafoil away. The Lasereye Visor revealed its internals in clear detail, and told Wiseman exactly how this thing worked. It wasn't anything fancy, certainly not on the level of anything he could have built...

"Overcompensating power supply, nonexistent intellectual capabilities," Wiseman raised his electrified knife and thrusted it into a seam between two more panels, eliciting a twitch of its legs and a puff of black smoke. "Live transmission feed, likely accompanied by a microphone- Now definitely disabled. I know this work."

Wiseman sat the drone back down, with the Indra Blade still stuck between the panels, in front of Terraformer. Just in case the other tech-minded hero felt like taking a crack at it. He brought up his Lexicon computer and pulled up a small mote of blue light,, expanding into a holographic screen and and moving it out in front of him. Five individual ICOSA files were on display for the other heroes around him to see as he then relayed his findings to everyone that was on their way to follow Powers' orders. Villains, all of them.

"Heroes, this is Wiseman. This drone that Powers found is the work of Professor Jon Gholem, a current member of the Fiendish Five. Just in case any of you haven't kept up to date, or haven't had the chance to dig through ICOSA databases yet," He began, mostly for Oracle and Terraformer's sake. "Gholem himself is not a superhuman by any definition, but his robotic creations put him on the level of one. The Fiendish Five are mercenaries, they take payment from a buyer and waste no time in doing their "job" or escaping once it is completed. The remaining four of them are as follows. Lady Blade, a master assassin with an unknown superpower- Do not get within CQC range of her under any circumstances. Doc Holiday, a glorified mascot with an equally deadly talent for ranged weapons, and a superhuman ability to measure distance and angles flawlessly. Of the heroes present, Blast and Bastion have the highest chance of surviving a ranged battle against him. But the rest of us should avoid that as much as possible, as he has killed at least twenty heroes to date."

He continued his rapid fire exposition while pulling up another holographic screen. This one had layouts of the building they were all in, maps the group could use to their advantage. "Albino, a violent ambush villain who teleports into unobserved blindspots. Stay in groups, and ensure you don't focus too much on one area. Keep walls to your backs as best you can. Lastly, Jellyfish. A Leftover-adjacent villain whose powers are not fully understood. ICOSA suspects he sticks to water, but there is no evidence he can't act on land. Stay at a distance, and stay far away from bodies of water."

"The fact that they have sent drones to scout means someone has undoubtedly paid them to ruin this parade for some purpose."

With that out of the way, he quickly sent a copy of the information he just read off to the others' smartwatches. They probably wouldn't be able to read it extensively, but it was there if they needed it. "This is my recommendation for countering them. Director, if this drone was following you for two hours, it is safe to assume that the Five know your schedule, and expect you to be on stage. Your powers and the crowd should protect you against Holiday, Lady Blade and Albino. Gholem's drones are not likely to harm you, but he may have sent other models to pack weapons that can harm the civilians. Terraformer, Oracle, under no circumstances should you be alone. At least one of you should stay with me or Bastion once he arrives. Bastion, if you haven't turned your watch off, you and Blast are in the best positions to respond to Doc Holiday, should he appear. Terraformer's abilities will likely be foiled by explosive bullets, or bullets that ricochet, which he is very much prone to using, so I suggest he walls off Lady Blades escape, if and only if he is not directly engaged by any of the Five. Alternatively, it would be beneficial for him to create walls that can be used to slow down Albino in a low-population area."

"As for Albino, he is most easily countered by Oracle and Ardent, but keep in mind that if these drones have been following the Director, they have likely been following us as well. No matter what we do, we should assume that the Five will not act individually. Doc Holiday can and surely will shoot Ardent out of the sky to make space for Albino to attack on the ground. They are more than capable of that coordination, and will no doubt attempt to exploit this to force an advantage." He pressed a button on his Lexicon, signalling Angel-5 to make its way over. "And lastly, we should act as if we are being watched at all times by these drones. I can find none of them in this room with us using my visor right now, but it would not be impossible for Gholem to swarm the parade with them. Be discreet when you are able."

Wiseman had a pretty good idea of where he'd be in the next few minutes. "Ask your questions now, they could strike at any moment."

---

Most of these humans, surprisingly, didn't freak out that much at Mire's presence. The one calling herself Emily Duff managed to hide the nervousness pretty well, but Mire could just tell that they still freaked these people out... They would've lectured the ratty guy to hell and back about the difference between fungus and fruit if it weren't for the conversation being changed quickly. All these humans gathering around didn't seem to be particularly thrilled about being here either, which was kind of funny to Mire, and made them wonder what the point of having so much fanfare for these heroes if their lives were clearly boring enough that they didn't look forward to it.

The conversation turned through a lot of words that meant next to nothing to Mire. "Rupa," "Colleagues," and "scavenger hunt." Though that last one made more sense as Duff pulled out some weirdly shaped object.

"I've placed a bunch of little pyramids all around the island, and all of them have little fun facts written in them! "Most of them are more interesting than that. But there's a bunch scattered across the island, which makes for a great bonding activity! You guys can pair up however you want and try and collect as many as you can. Ooh, and here's the fun part, whoever gets the most collects this prize, which I picked special!"

"This is what I was hunted and kidnapped for? Looking for... "Fortune cookies?" They snarled, not having to facial muscles to express why this little game irritated them. "Is this one of those human jokes I hear so much about? Just so you can give us those little formless sprigs? I'm made of things such as that. They aren't pets. Did humans forget the difference between those and dogs?" Their mildew-ridden body shuddered in annoyance, clumps of otherworldly spores fell to the ground like snow from a car.

"Is this what you do? Play games all day? I thought you helped people."