Is this really happening? Greg thought as he walked down the hallway. They’d finally made it inside and he couldn’t be more baffled by his immediate pany. Most of his ‘security team’ were walking at a fortable distance, Hammond and Locke were pretty anti-social it seemed. He wondered if they’d be better with civilians or if they signed up for this role because they didn’t like people or something. z oher hand was walking alongside him with a big grin on his face. That wasn’t the weird part, though.

  Ahead of him, three of the most powerful people oh were casually walking and talking as if the Pandora ittee didn’t categorize them as walking nukes.

  Stop tailspinning like a fanboy and listen in! He chastised himself, leaning his head forward to listen a bit more carefully to what they were talking about. You don’t get this ce every day.

  “How was Dharan?” Euclidia asked, nudging Qilin with her elbow.

  Qilin turned her head ever-so-slightly in her dire and sighed, “Messy, but not enough to alleviate my boredom,” she muttered and brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, “The monsters were pathetically weak. I don’t uand why the Pandora ittee doesn’t just send a strike team in to finish the job.”

  “Eh,” First Wind cut in, “Not like we have any clue how to close a dungeon break o happens.”

  “I assume just kill the boss,” Qilin clipped, shooting him a gre. “Why are you still here? I’m speaking with Euclidia now.”

  “We’re walking in the same dire, hot stuff,” He shot back before looking towards Euclidia, “How was the camp? Any badass new recruits? I see yht oh you,” he said and gnced baeet Greg’s eyes, “Sup, kid. You got a cool power?”

  Greg’s mouth went dry but he mao open his mouth before Euclidia chimed in, “His ame is Gravitic, Luca,” she said patiently before immediately brandishing her wild grin again and saying, “He’s going to be w for me for a while, joining the Logistics Corps.”

  First Wind stopped walking and turned, raising an eyebrow, “Good power and leadership qualities, huh?” He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned forward to get a good look at Greg’s face as Greg and his team came to a stop a few feet away. Euclidia stopped as well while Qili out a sigh a walking, unwilling to eain the sario. “Gravity powers? I’d like someone like you on my team. We could raise some serious hell against vilins, man. Whadda ya say?”

  Greg caught Euclidia’s raised eyebrow out of the er of his eye as he kept his focus on First Wind’s face. There was a moment where he was half-tempted just to say yes in the face of the walking hurrie but mao school himself up enough to speak his mind. He wasn’t the bundle of hat joihe camp ten weeks ago, after all. “No thanks, man,” Greg said and jerked a thumb over his shoulder, “I’m getting this training to support my team bae.”

  First Wind made a face that almost looked angry for a moment before he snorted and pushed his sungsses up, “Yeah, that’s the good stuff. A man who cares about his gang. I dig it,” he grinned, “Well, if you end up getting assigo helping the iional team on occasion with logi-whatever, look my group up. Might be worth having someoh some talent to listen to,” he shot some finger guns before turning away to walk again, “Hey! Qilin, where ya goin?”

  “To the lounge!” She called back behind her. “I’m tired of standing!”

  “The me carry you or somethin’ babe!” He shouted and started hustling down the hallway.

  “Ugh!” She shot back, disgusted, “You are foul! Don’t touch me!”

  Greg let out a breath and z cpped him on the shoulder befiving him a thumbs up. He gri the guy and offered a nod of thanks only to notice that the other two had suddenly moved in much closer. He blinked and turo see Hammht behind him and Locke at his left. He hadn’t even noticed them moving into his space. They were both staring daggers at First Wind’s back. Locke’s lips twitched, “He’s proo colteral damage, watch out for him,” she grunted and turned his way before meeting his fused gaze. “What?”

  He cleared his throat, “You guys move fast.”

  “We’re heroes specialized in personal security,” She said with a shrug, “Of course we’re gonna move when someos in your space.”

  “Hm. Would any of them work on him?” Hammond rumbled, the most he’d ever said since Greg met him.

  z looked up at the big guy, “You’re better off just making a diversion rather than fag him head on, I think.”

  Hammond nodded, “Right.”

  Greg watched them i a a pang gh him, he cleared his throat and turo Euclidia aiting patiently for him to follow. He started walking towards her, “Hey, question,” He scratched at his neck, “How often do you think it’d be okay to tact the gang ba New York, just to catch up now and then? I dunno if Miss Sonya allows that kind of thing or not.”

  Euclidia shrugged, “I don’t see why not, but yonna be pretty busy. . We’re almost there,” she said and waved him on. He nodded and gnced up to see Qilin looking back at him, her eyes fixed on him. He blinked and looked left and right, w what she wanted but as soon as she opened her mouth to say something First Wind caught up and she s the mythic hero, turning away to tinue walking. The two disappeared into a room off to the right. What was that about?

  It didn’t take long after that to have his mana signature recorded and read by the devices in one of the offices that were set up in the building. They quickly produced a card that felt heavy and strange in his hands. Euclidia told him to wear it at all times as it helped him get past security, something he immediately entered as they got to aor he heart of headquarters. They went through three checkpoints. O the elevator, oer the elevator, and the third at the end of yet another hallway. Each had increasingly more security tied to it until there were literal gun turrets hanging from the ceiling and men in paramilitary gear at the third.

  He swallowed hard as they passed the squad of soldiers statio the doorway, none of them giving him a sed ger their anding officer checked his badge. They aren’t messing around with Euclidia’s security, he thought. I guess that makes sense, her ability is really important to the ittee.

  The doors slid open with a hiss and he came to a stop, his jaw falling open. Inside was a rge circur room with dispys set up on all the walls. A der of gss was set up in the ter of the room where a proje of the p floated and rotated zily. On its surface were hundreds if not thousands of dots. Desks were set up here and there where two or three others sat, leaning over their desks and typing at puters. A hand cpped his shoulder aurned back to see z.

  “Alright, we got you to the b, we’ll get a heads up if you go out a you at the entrance,” he said with a grin, “Good luck man!”

  “Thanks,” Greg said and cleared his throat, “It was nice meeting you guys.”

  “Charmed,” Locke said with a smile while Hammond nodded gruffly. The three of them turned ahe way they came, the door shutting behind them. Greg swallowed and turned back to look at Euclidia who was leaning against the der.

  “Wele!” She said enthusiastically, “To the beati of the Pandora ittee! This is where the real magic happens!”

  He walked further inside, meeting the gazes of a few of the others w there who had gnced up befoing back to what they were doing. He approached Euclidia and she shoved her hands on her pockets, a merry expression on her face. “Alright! So I’m sure you’re curious,” she said aured back to the der behind her, “This is the Portal Nexus.”

  He looked up at it, “Nexus?”

  “Every active hero has a high precision tracker oo assist in my work,” she said, “There are a few exceptions, like Handmaiden who has a lise to use her abilities but is freeherwise,” she turo the der, “The Nexus reads their spatial coordinates and with the help of satellite imaging gives me locations where I create a portal. I use that same fun to find a destination. My ability relies heavily on mathematical putation but with this bad boy I do minutes of work in a breath,” she sighed, “I still have to hahe power load, but the high precision here makes it easier. We’re currently in the process of developihat assist in taking the load and maybe create portals for me, we’ve even got Doctor Carter on the project.”

  He marveled at the mae, “So… it knows where my team is?”

  “Sure!” she said brightly and turned, “Nexus! Locate Crusader!”

  The holographiet spun rapidly before dispying North America, a red dot fshed and a liretched out of it giving a string of numbers followed by specific details.

  CRUSADER, ACTIVE HERO, GROWTH-TYPE (EPIC)CURRENT LOCATION: ASTA GUILD, EAST COAST, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK.TARGET IS INSIDE KNOWN STRUCTURE, PORTAL ROOM COORDINATES READY.

  “Oh, she’s a growth type! Cool! I didn’t know that,” Euclidia said thoughtfully, “She’s like hen.”

  He turo her, “z is like Crusader?” he asked.

  “Oh yeah! You guys didn’t get to talk much, you’ll have a ce ter,” she said, rubbing her neck, “Let’s just say that what doesn’t kill him, makes him stronger.”

  Greg paused, “Thats… Intense.”

  “You’re telling me,” she ughed, “Locke has a form of mind trol that requires physical tad Hammond…” she snorted, “You ever py pocket demons?”

  He squi her, “The monster catg game?”

  She poi him, “That’s the one!”

  His face went deadpan, “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope!” She ughed, “His ability is teically Epic-tier but it has a ‘mythic’ descriptor because there’s no evidence so far that he ’t take trol of a mythic creature.”

  “Why Hammond, then, that’s a weird name,” He asked.

  “His ability uses amber,” she said and rolled her eyes, “ephiles.”

  He raised his eyebrows, getting it, “Oh!” he cleared his throat, “So what’s my role?”

  “Well,” she said, turning back to the nexus, “Nexus, cel order,” she said before putting her hands on her hips, “You’ll be learning about how we arike teams and support the iional team. While we do that you’ll learn about how missions are handled and what goes into dealing with a particurly nasty vili es up,” she tilted her head, “Finally, yoing to learn more about your abilities, I have something I’m w on.”

  He bli her, “Huh?”

  “Yonna help me get into the Bas,” she said with a grin.