The faint scrape of soles against gravel and dried soil was the only sound amidst the low hiss of wind across the ndscape far outside of Vegas. A single pair of sneakers brushed across the ground, baggy jeans hanging behind. The wind picked up into a howl for a brief moment, the dust swirling past a head of blonde hair styled with a carefully crafted coif. A pair of glittering blue eyes glowed for a moment, examining the small structure that he’d found. He slid his hands into his hoodie and tilted his head to the right, his lips f a thin line.

  He had watched the battle, up until A had started to lose. He had figured the guy would be dead by now, but to his surprise the man was not only alive but alohis was supposed to be one of the guys that would make his dreams a reality, that would be the heralds for his grand design. He was supposed to be amazing, and he was, he was impressive there was no doubt about that. The serpehing was really cool. The young man rubbed his ned stared at the door, But he lost, that’s weird. Was there something wrong with his information? No, that ’t be right.

  He held out his hand ahe air, there was indeed nobody there except for his quarry. He’d been abahere. Something about some woman named Ishtar. He’d barely paid any attention to the news, it wasn’t important. Just things talking to one another about useless things. How could all those things call themselves people? They weren’t important enough to matter o in the greater story, so why did they even bother breathing? It seemed so poio him, so empty. Every time he had tried to talk to people about the things that really mattered, before the fsh, their eyes had gzed over and they’d responded in pointless ways.

  His thin-lipped expression curled into a bit of a smile. Sometimes they would not even remember him whealked to them a sed time. Like they had no idea who he was even if they’d met him just the day before. It made him feel like the hero in a video game and they were the npcs, saying the same things over and over as if that was all they were programmed to do. Up until the fsh, my fsh. His smile darkened and he hesitated, a grin crag across his face. I wonder why I’m feeling nostalgic? That’s kinda funny. He chuckled and approached the small shabsp;

  It was barely a shack, more like a bunch of panels of sheet metal welded together haphazardly with wood making up the frame. He rest his hand against the door ahe energy inside, closing his eyes and tilting his head back as he got a feel for it. A felt a bit off, as if the mana in his body was beirained somehow. Iing. He mused and pushed the door open, walking ihout a care in the world. He hummed merrily, the door shutting behind him just as he stopped and looked down at the dark haired man who seemed to be dozing off.

  There are cuffs on his wrists. Are they restrig his powers? Why haven’t I heard of this? That’s not in the script.

  “Hey,” He said.

  A blinked and looked up, squinting for a moment, “A kid? Nah, you just look kinda young,” He mumbled, tilting his head to the right. There was a fairic blue glow in his eyes. The young man liked it, it looked powerful. Maybe straining himself against those heroes had made him stronger somehow.

  That’s really cool, I like that.

  “Name’s Otis,” Otis said with a grin, “o meet you, A.”

  A narrowed his eyes, “Otis, huh?”

  “That’s right!” Otis said brightly, pulling his arms out of his hoodie and raising his , “The one and only!” He brought his hand up to his chest and leaned forward, “And you sir, have been chosen! I am going to bee a god, and I want you to join up with me. The prologue wasn’t quite right for you, but I’m sure the part of the story will be a great redemption arc.”

  A raised an eyebrow, “,” He said, dubiously.

  “I know you have your suspis but-” He started only to get cut off as A cleared his throat.

  “Are you really Otis?” He asked, making the young man pause. That wasn’t right, no one should have heard of him yet, no ohat was outside whom he’d been colleg. Now that he thought of it, that thing, what was its name, Craig? What happeo that thing?

  “Yes,” Otis said with a bit of a frown.

  “Great, you got somebody who wants to talk to you,” A grunted and thumbed towards the wall to his right, Otis’ left.

  Otis gnced over and spotted a small devited in the wall. He narrowed his eyes, Why didn’t I se? I should be able to sense aronic device, I made sure. I only sense mana ihough.

  Static hummed in the device for a moment before a rasp hissed its way out, “Hello Otis.”

  Otis turo face the thing and trated.

  “Did you try to cut the signal? This is a mana-based teleunications devio electricity involved. A bit more plicated,” The voice said.

  That was iing, even a little exg, what a twist! He broke into a wide smile, “Who is this?” He asked brightly, walking up to the devid leaning in towards it, “ you see me?” He reached up and tapped it a few times, “It’s amazing you came up with this so fast!”

  “I am Ishtar,” The voice hissed out. “Of course I ’t see you, why bother? The camera won’t work on yht? I’ll fet this entire versation if I look at you. I don’t want that.”

  Otis paused and gnced up, The person all the things were talking about on the radio? His smile faltered just a small amount, More importantly. “How do you know?”

  “I know a lot about you, Otis,” Ishtar said, “Most importantly, I know what you’re pnning. I know what you want for Earth and all the people in it. I know you want everything to look like downtown Vegas. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing,” The voice paused and deepeo a threatening tone, “I am going to ruihing you’re w for and put you down like the mad dog you are.”

  Otis blinked, fusion fshing on his face. He looked over his shoulder at A who just shrugged at him, he looked back at the mae and frowned. “No, that’s not how this is supposed to work. This is my story. There aren’t supposed to be spoilers. You don’t get to-”

  “I do what I please,” Ishtar hissed. “This is my story now.”

  Otis’ nostrils fred, he ched his fists as his mind worked through the options, the possibilities, how did this py into his story? He had so carefully crafted it, could it have been an influence from his imagination? He blinked, So that’s it! Yes! I get it now! Ishtar is my Posideon, my oppo holding me back from reag my glorious goal. That’s what this is, right, just another character iory. What tale is worth telling if there isn’t a vilin, right? Of course. Even so, it made him a little irritated that she was taking so much spotlight. Maybe he should move his pns up a bit?

  He cracked a wide smile, overjoyed, “Amazing! You are a really iing addition! I like this twist!”

  “So this is what you’re really like,” The voice sighed, “I had wondered.” She trailed off a out another breath, “I hate you, with all my heart. I hope this hurts at least a little, though I doubt it. I’ll figure out your powers eventually.”

  “Eh?”

  A etal sounded out behind him aurned around, flummoxed, A got to his feet and grinned like a maniac, electricity sparkling on his skin. That’s a bit funky, I thought he o drink power from somewhere. There’s nothing here. The electricity intensified, magnified, Otis’ eyes widened and he broke into another smile, “Oh hat did you do?” He asked as A’s body began to break down, his skin turning aric blue before bloating up like a balloon.

  “Good bye for now, Otis.”

  BOOOOOOOOOOOOM

  –

  hua stepped onto the debris and looked over the ke that had formed in the middle of downtown vegas. She had to admit, with the tree hanging over it and the blue sky refleg down on it, it was beautiful. A helicopter flew overhead bringing in more rescue workers, although most of the work had already been dohe heroes from LA and the surviving heroes from Vegas and New York had e together to sift through the debris and find whomever they could. It was arduous, painful, and gut wreng work.

  She sighed and dabbed her forehead with a towel as her earpiece buzzed. She reached up and tapped it, “Euclidia?”

  “Just Molly right now, please, I’m too tired for code names Chuchu,” The young hero whined into her ear.

  hua smiled to herself, she wasn’t bothered by the niame. If anything, the girl had ear. If it wasn’t for her pushing herself to the brink none of them would have survived the events that had transpired. She sat down on a piece of crete and sighed, rubbing her neck, “Alright, what’s up Molly?”

  “They found Miss ovna, she’s alright, a bit banged up though, Handmaiden is back with her,” Molly said, “The Chairman threw a fit over her dition and is sending her hht now. I almost got haranged into it,” She sighed, “I don’t have that kind e. LA was a bitch.”

  hua frowned, she still wasn’t sure about everything and had a hard time believing anything ing Sonya ovna. She scratched her head a haween her shoulders. Still, if it’s true, it's a relief that she was okay. “How is she really?”

  “Upset about Firestorm,” Molly said, “Angry. She wants to hold a press ference about what happened while in a sling and covered in bahe Chairman shut that dowy quick. Apparently she wants to see Vytal,” Molly ughed bitterly. “Goodness knows why,” She added sarcastically.

  “He’s a bit busy,” hua muttered, “How are Bluestar and the others holding up?”

  “It’s… gonna take a while, I think,” Molly said a bit more softly.

  “Yeah, I imagine so,” hua said, looking up towards the disaster zone. “I’m gonna stay until things are under trol here.”

  “I figured,” Molly said with a sigh, “I’ll be here too.”

  “You head home, I’m sure yirlfriend-”

  “Will uand,” Molly interrupted her, “You aren’t doing this alone and I’m good at logistics. Let me help.”

  hua chuckled, a real smile finally ing to her face, “I don’t know what we would have dohout you.”

  “You would have managed,” Molly said brightly, “Like, seriously, you’re a fu badass.”

  “I’m just another hero,” hua said, “Just like the others. They put their everything into proteg the people of this city. Same with Sapporo and Pathfinder,” She said, the st name ing out with a bit of pain in her chest. She barely khe man, only havi him a few weeks before, but it still hurt her to know that a rade had died like that. She remembered the youthful face of the ‘master assassin’ that Ishtar had employed and ched her fists.

  “Sapporo still hasn’t woken up, doctors say he’ll be fine and Vytal’s already healed him up, but he’s still out,” Molly said sullenly.

  “He pushed himself hard, just let him rest,” hua said and got to her feet. As she did, she heard footsteps approag behind her. She turned, seeing who it was, and reached up to her ear, “I gotta let you go Molly. Get some rest, okay?”

  “Sure. You too.”

  The e cut and she put her hands on her hips before tilting her head, “Bluestar, Bandit, Lifesaver, what are you doing out here. You should be in recovery,” She said sharply, trying tain some of the anding persona she’d set aside durialk with her teammate.

  All three of them looked rough. Lifesaver wasn’t even wearing his mask, instead wearing a white medics outfit and baseball cap. They had bags uheir eyes and their shoulders were sck but… Those eyes. She thought, hesitating as she met Bluestar’s gaze. The young guildmaster’s eyes were bzing, fierce. It was the same with Bandit and Lifesaver. She regarded the three of them for a few moments before sighing and nodding, “Alright, but don’t push yourselves.”

  They sighed with relief as one and Bandit o the others before darting off towards one of the rescue teams w he east side, Lifesaver hurrying off after them. Bluestar stayed behind, though, and walked up to hua.

  “Thank you.”

  “Just don’t push it,” hua said.

  “I got word from Miss ovna,” Bluestar said, “ASTA will be helping with the restru and she wants to ask Vegas to let her build a memorial garden here,” She said, gng at the artificial ke with a sad smile, “She kept raving about a ‘big ass statue for Nick’. She’s kind of kooky, isn’t she?” Bluestar choked and lowered her head, “What kind of guildmaster lets her people die like that, ma’am?” She asked, bitterness in her voice.

  hua let out a sigh and turo the young woman, ing an arm over her shoulder before pulling her into a hug, “That’s one of the hardest parts of being a leader of warriors,” She said stroking her hair, “They’re going to fight, and they might die, and you just have to carry on and make sure that their deaths weren’t in vain. You have to stay strong for the others, even if it hurts,” She pulled bad tilted her head down, looking the young woman in the eyes, “But you don’t have to always hurt. There are people you talk to and ways to deal with the grief. I lost a lot of men under me in the army, I uand.”

  The girl’s lips trembled and she threw herself into hua’s neck, sobbing. hua held her for a while, letting her mind go bnk to focus on the agonized person with her. “I’m here,” She murmured into the sobbing girl’s hair. “I’m here.”

  She paid no mind to the blue sky as it flickered electric blue for just one moment, nor to the faint rumble in the grouh her feet from a distant bst.