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.
"Attention, heroes. I need a group of you to assist me at the Johnstone Convention Center. If you are available, please come and–"
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."