Isabelle ran her hand through her hair as she let out a deep yawn, her eyelids weighed down by the growing exhaustion she felt from her continuous exertion. She’d been put to work almost immediately after she volunteered at the Reformation Society, and though she still felt strange about being treated so kindly by the official staff, she couldn’t lie and say she didn’t enjoy helping out the community. They’d sent her a few blocks away to help clean up a church after a group of teenagers broke in and vandalized it severely; putting spray paint everywhere, trashing the pews and windows, robbing the donation box, and burning several holy books. But after her continuous work she managed to make half of it seem somewhat normal, though she admittedly wasn’t that skilled with a paint roller and had to fix several of her mistakes many times before she figured out a solution.

  Yet she wouldn’t have minded a somewhat easier job that made use of her powers, but she accepted her abilities did indeed have a limited scope of effect. And she didn’t mind too much at least since she was able to meet several previous ‘acquaintances’ from her younger days, specifically Luka and Ashton, previously known as Jumper and Virgo. She’d hadn’t even known the two were in Panagoa, though from the understanding of the two’s stories, she agreed with their decision to not contact her after they joint the Society. Yet, it still stung a little to hear it. The two of them had just completed a job in Catalonia and were arriving in Nouveau Tokyo when they came across an enormous man.

  “He had this big, pearly, toothy smile like a shark high on laughing gas. And his muscles were fucking insane! He looked like one of those illustrations you see of the Greats where their body is accentuated more than you’d expect.” Luka’s eyes were wide and his hands were moving rapidly around his body as they often did when he was excited.

  “Man was a big fock.” Ashton said calmly, her thick Birmingham accent slipping through as she sat with a coffee in her hand.

  “Yeah! And of course we were just chilling, waiting to hear from our contact in Luxor when he came up to us and just stood there, smiling at us like a weirdo. Then he said he knew why we were here and that he was supposed to make sure we didn’t get to Luxor.” Luka said, putting a hand on his head and fluffing his short dark hair, a consistent nervous tic of his. “So I grabbed Ash and tried to get us the fuck out of there, but the guy was way faster than I thought and grabbed me by the head. My whole fucking head, Izzy!”

  “I tried to use my charm on ‘im, but ‘e just did the same thing to me so I couldn’t say anything.” Ashton said with a wry chuckle.

  Isabelle nodded and took a sip of her coffee, “He had a weird pair of glasses on his face right? Looked like something from an 80’s movie?”

  Luka and Ashton nodded without saying a word.

  Isabelle sighed, “You guys didn’t stand a chance. That was the Warden, he’s the Number One Hero in Nouveau Tokyo and the replacement for that guy I told you about a few years ago.”

  The two ex-villains shared a look before Luka just shook his head, “Honestly, I thought I was about to die. I could feel how strong he was just from his fingers digging into my skull. But I guess he didn’t want to kill us since we’re still here, thankfully.”

  “From what I’ve seen, he’s a lot more stable than Hyro was. At least he doesn’t actively try to hurt villains when he fights them unless he thinks he has to, but that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong. I’m just happy you guys are still alive.” Isabelle said, a smile curling up at the sides of her lips.

  Ashton didn’t say anything but put a hand over Isabelle’s and squeezed it softly, “Same here, Izzy. But yeah, he gave us a choice. Either get back on the boat and go back to Spain, or quit our jobs and join the Reformation Society. Probably the easiest choice I’ve ever made, we made a few enemies while we were in Catalonia.” Luka smiled and sat back in his chair as he spoke.

  “I’m glad you’re both here. Actually, I had a kind of similar experience that brought me here earlier today.”

  Luka perked up, raising an eyebrow, “Yeah? You met the Warden too?”

  Isabelle’s eyes darkened for a moment before she shook her head, “No, a different guy I really hope I never see again. He scared me more than Hyro did. Hyro enjoyed hurting villains, but the guy I saw just seemed to… hate us. I’ve never seen that much rage behind someone’s eyes before, honestly, I’d rather fight Hyro again than meet that other guy ever again.”

  Luka’s eyes softened as he leaned over to put a reassuring hand on Isabelle’s shoulder, “Shit, I’m sorry to hear that, Izzy.”

  She shrugged and patted Luka’s hand, “It’s alright, I’m just glad he gave me a chance to set things right. I’ve been wanting to get out of the game for a while now anyway. Guess it was fate or something.” She said, looking off into the sky for a few moments before speaking again. “I wonder what happened to the Hero I was fighting after that guy showed up. He got thrown pretty hard.”

  Ashton spoke this time, “‘e threw a ‘ero? Maybe ‘e was a Villain in disguise or something.”

  Isabelle shook her head again, “I don’t think so, he looked like he hated what I was, not who I was. And he was really pissed off about us wrecking his store, I think that’s what set him off.”

  “If that’s what you think, I trust your judgement, you were always better at reading people than me.” Luka said.

  “It’s a gift.” Isabelle said with a chuckle.

  “It’s a gift the three of us got to see each other again, the Terrible Trio are finally back together! Viva la Trio!” Luka said, raising his cup of coffee in a toast which the other two met with smiles on their faces.

  “Viva la Trio!” They answered with laughter.

  The three of them shared some stories of their lives away from each other and caught up on their missed experiences and memories together for a while before they went their separate ways to finish their work with the Society at the church with Ashton taking care of the neighborhood kids who often played at the church’s playground, Luka using his teleportation power to quickly repair the harder to reach places up in the rafters and replacing some of the unstained windows, and Isabelle finally finishing her duty of painting over the graffiti. After the three of them had completed their work, they got permission to leave and went for a walk to a nearby cafe for some pastries that Ashton wanted to show Isabelle. During this time, Isabelle noticed that Luka and Ashton had become much closer to each other and were apparently living in the same building just a few blocks away from her, which made her snicker whenever Luka embarrassed himself with his overconfident attitude regarding the history of certain pastries he pointed out which Ashton calmly corrected with a look on her face that told Isabelle everything she needed to know about their current relationship.

  She’d always known about Luka’s crush on Ashton, but she was slightly surprised to hear that the two had finally begun seeing each other which apparently ‘just sort of happened’ a year or two before the two left for Panagoa. The way they looked at each other whenever Isabelle wasn’t talking was sweet and heartwarming, with Luka looking flustered and often blushing as Ashton just stared at him with such a face that screamed ‘I love this adorable doofus.’ She couldn’t help but wonder how long Ashton had felt this way about Luka, but as she watched them, she began to feel a strange sense of envy that she didn’t understand the origin of. Isabelle had lived in Panagoa since she was sixteen, and as she neared her twenty-fourth birthday, she realized she hadn’t been in an actual relationship for five years. Sure she’d had little flings and trysts here and there, but she hadn’t dated anyone seriously in a long time. It bothered her in a way she didn’t expect to feel, but she tried to suppress it as best she could so she didn’t make her friends feel uncomfortable.

  They continued carrying on for some time before Ashton and Luka eventually left because the two of them had work in the morning at their respective jobs, apparently Luka worked at a construction company and Ashton was employed by a kind older man at a flower shop. Isabelle waved to them as they walked down the street together hand in hand, smiling to herself as she went to begin her trek back to her apartment with her hands in her black jeans. She’d slipped her earbuds into her ears and put on some breakbeat music as she walked, bouncing to and fro as she casually busted out some shuffle moves, her mind clearing enough for her to forget her issues for just a few moments of calmness.

  It took her some time, but she eventually made it back home to her small apartment that was quite clearly modeled after her personal interests with several posters of EDM musicians and concerts and raves plastered across the walls and ceiling, art of Arthurian legends, and black and red furniture and decorations. After tossing her backpack onto her floor beside her bed, she ended up laying down onto her couch and staring at the ceiling, her eyes closing almost immediately and her consciousness fading away as she slipped into sleep. She saw herself in a familiar place, her hand was smaller than normal and everything was larger. There she saw a man with a wide smile and loving eyes who spoke words to her she couldn’t hear, then the world changed and she saw the same man, ragged and bloody with the same smile and eyes though they were now tired and glossy. She knew the man and the situation immediately as she cried out for her father and outstretched her small hands to try and reach him, but she could feel herself being pulled away as if she was being stolen by the overpowering tides of the ocean. She didn’t want to lose him again so she fought as hard as she possibly could, but the tide was stronger than she was and pulled her further into the darkness, calling his name the entire time as she saw him become smaller as the tide pulled her farther and farther away from her beloved father. Her voice echoed into the darkness as it consumed her and covered her vision in its entirety, there she floundered and screamed at the top of her lungs. It was suffocating.

  On the inside, Isabelle was suffering immensely as she was witness to one of the worst moments of her life. And on the outside, she laid on her couch in a curled into a ball with a cold sweat, tears streaming down her face and staining the dark couch in a pool of salty wetness. Sadly, this was a normal occurrence for the young woman since before she moved to Nouveau Tokyo and would continue to be for some time. As was the life of Isabelle Rosen, the recently retired Villain known as Gorgon.

  ————————————————————————————

  The neon sign on the front of “Gabe’s” was bright in the afternoon as André sat outside once more after getting off the phone with a local contractor for some work for his roof and floor, eating a package of fries and drinking a dark soda from a blue can while sitting in his pink lawn chair, simply enjoying the dusk sky with a small smile on his face. He’d gotten some work done on the things he could repair with the resources he had in storage in between serving customers who asked about the damage which he casually passed off as simple construction failure, Miss Chiba came as well and obviously seemed suspicious of the extensive damage but went on her way after receiving her chips and a few bags of free candy for her grandchildren. A few minutes after he finished his fries and his drink, he noticed a man at the end of the street who seemed painfully out of place. He’d never seen him before, but his absurdly muscular physicality seemed familiar to André who simply glanced over at the man who’s face was alight with a sharp and clean smile.

  Who the hell..? André thought to himself as he watched the man walk towards his store with his large hands on his hips, it was when the man got much closer that he realized that he was quite the giant, easily standing at over six-foot and towering over the young store owner. The man’s strange glasses caught André’s attention for a moment but it was the way he looked at the store with a much wider smile that began to bother him.

  “Are you open?” The man asked, now standing in front of the store with his hand outstretched to point at it casually.

  “Not for long, what are you looking for?” André answered, standing up to throw away his trash into the trash can just a few steps away.

  “Nothing in particular, but I wouldn’t mind a snack while I’m here. You have any spicy stuff?”

  André nodded, “We have some chips and sauce, cup noodles too.”

  “How hot are the noodles and sauce?” The man asked, cocking his head slightly.

  “Very, I get some myself now and then.”

  The man’s smile transitioned into a giddy smirk and motioned to the automatic doors, “If you’d please.”

  André nodded and waved his hand behind his head as he walked inside and stepped past the caution tape around the hole in the ground to grab a bottle of the hottest sauce he could find, pointing over the shelf to the next aisle as the man came in and telling him where to find the noodles. After checking the sauce at the register, the man approached the counter and placed the hottest noodles his store had in stock beside the sauce, and as André checked them and calculated the price, the man spoke.

  “What happened over there?” He asked, tossing his head backwards toward the hole.

  “Roof collapsed.” André replied, pointing up at the ceiling without looking.

  The man’s eyes followed André’s hand, “That must’ve been a very heavy roof to make a hole that big.”

  André’s eyes scanned the man for less than a second, having a strange feeling arise in his stomach, “It had a ventilation box on it, I’ve got a second on the backside so the air conditioning isn’t out luckily.”

  “Yeah, those tend to be pretty heavy. Still really unlucky it happened though.”

  “Yup.”

  André had put the noodles and sauce in a small paper bag and grabbed the money from the man after finishing the calculation on the register, that strange feeling of familiarity coming back through his mind for a few moments as the man took a slow look around the store for a few moments.

  “You wouldn’t have happened to have heard about those two Supers fighting earlier today right?” He asked without looking at André.

  “On the TV, don’t know much about the whole thing though, I was taking a nap.” André said, looking up at the back of the large man’s head.

  The man made a humming sound, “Is that so? They crashed somewhere around here, but the Villain vanished after the Hero was incapacitated.” He said before slowly turning back to look André in the eye. “You sure you didn’t hear anything weird today?”

  André didn’t look away, an unreadable expression on his face, “No, but if that Hero got messed up enough to let a Villain get away, I guess they weren’t as good as the Association thinks they are.”

  The man’s face twisted into a smile with a strange tone to its shape, “Yeah, I guess they wouldn’t be. Thanks for the help.”

  “No problem.”

  The man looked around again for a few moments before finally stepping out the doors and looking into his bag, taking out the hot sauce to examine it more closely and remove the seal to casually take a sip of it. André watched through the glass while the man stood there, analyzing the taste and texture for a while before strutting away with that weird smile again, removing the strange glasses over his eyes for a second to wink at André as he passed by the window.

  What a weird guy. He thought to himself as he sat down into his chair and pulled out his game console to play something, though his mind seemed to wander back to the man after a few minutes, unable to place where he’d seen him before as sat there and simply stared off into nothing as his mind fogged over in deep thought. People in his neighborhood knew him as he presented himself now, though they had their suspicions and certain people across the globe were aware of his identity, mostly those particularly close to his history and all those in his family. Maybe he’d gotten careless, let his emotions slip a little too quickly. He didn’t want the Association or the government figuring him out, he didn’t trust them. The only two people he knew for certain that could spill their guts regarding his abilities were that Jett Black guy and that Villain. He hoped he put enough fear into the woman to keep her lips as shut as they could be, all she knew was the store and his face, same as the Hero. He also knew he threw the Hero hard and far enough to cause considerable damage to his body, hopefully enough to cause some sort of amnesia but that sort of skill was hard to perfect into an exact science even if you knew exactly how to shake the brain without causing permanent damage, he’d already practiced enough over the years to learn that the hard way.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  But now he figured that somebody was onto him or at least keeping an eye on him because of the obvious signs of impact in his floor. He’d have to lay low for now, make sure that it seemed as if he was just a normal store owner. The big man aroused his suspicions, but if André could just figure out who he was working for he could possibly make sure it stays quiet, he didn’t want to have to owe anyone of any particular power anything. The big guy seemed strong, André could tell he was probably a Super from the way he carried himself and the physicality he had. And if he was one of the more powerful ones, that meant that the Association could be aware of him. His name was public record but he hadn’t registered with either the Association or the government as a Super which he knew could be an issue, but he figured it was just a matter of time before someone noticed that he was here anyway, he just wished they would be smart enough to take the hint and stay away and leave him to his store. He didn’t want to be an independent Super, they had their own issues that he didn’t want to be bothered by, and he especially didn’t want to be a registered Hero under the control of the Association. He’d met several before migrating to Panagoa, their obligations seemed mostly pointless to him and were more like chains that restricted the potential of any Super wanting to do some real good in the world. Politics pissed him off. He’d rather go rogue than be a lapdog for any bureaucrat, especially one with powers.

  A few seconds after he’d left, Shepherd sat on top of a rooftop just down the street from the convenience store with the young man who wasn’t overtly problematic, but the situation surrounding his store roused his suspicions. True, it could’ve simply been an unlucky situation, but Shepherd didn’t often believe in coincidences and the way the kid looked at him didn’t hold any passing judgment past a simple glance of attention. Most people, even if they respect him, hold a little bit of fear or envy for whatever reasons lie hidden in their hearts. But not that kid, he barely even acknowledged him, and not actively so either, he genuinely seemed to not care that he was there except when Shepherd brought up the hole in the ground of his store. And even then, he just seemed irritated rather than cautious or blasé.

  Strange kid, I like him. He thought as he stood on the edge of the roof, scanning the area with his hands on his hips for quite a while before hearing the skidding of several tires a few blocks away. Turning his head to catch three familiar cars speeding down the road adjacent to the convenience store before slamming on the brakes almost simultaneously with each other just a few feet from the building he stood on. It was then that he decided to check his phone and noticed a bunch of missed calls from Miss Harukiya, making him smirk for a moment before he saw the lady herself step out of her car and raise a hand up with a single finger saying ‘come here.’ He didn’t appreciate the way she did that, but shrugged it off and casually hopped down three stories to the ground which cracked a little under his weight as he landed before walking up to her beside the car with his arms crossed.

  “Miss Harukiya, I didn’t know you were one for performing personal surveillance in situations like this.” He said, his smirk still wide.

  Euphrasie Harukiya’s face was stern and intense, her voice calm but very evidently hiding a rising anger, “I’m not in the mood for jokes, Shepherd. I came to make sure an incident didn’t arise.”

  His brow perked up, “What kind of incident?”

  “One neither of us would come back from.”

  The tone in which she spoke clearly reflected the seriousness of the situation that he was apparently unaware of, “What do you mean?”

  “Answer my questions, now. What have you been able to figure out?”

  Shepherd shrugged his massive shoulders, “Not much, the people around here are very friendly but they keep a pretty close knit community that doesn’t take well to people asking too many questions.”

  Euphrasie nodded and kept glancing down the street towards the convenience store, “Did you see anyone acting weird? Like they had something to hide?”

  “Not really, but by the way you keep looking at that store I just came from is really interesting to me.”

  Euphrasie paused and took a slow breath before speaking, “Was there a young guy working there? Reddish brown hair, taller than me with a slight accent?”

  Shepherd’s eyes narrowed, “Yeah, said it was his store. Looked like a good candidate for where Jett and Gorgon landed before they ended up where they are now. Saw a big ass hole in the roof and the ground, easily could be an impact crater.”

  “Shit…” Euphrasie’s hand went to her forehead almost immediately after hearing Shepherd’s answer.

  The big man raised his hands to his sides in confusion, “What?”

  “Not right now.”

  “‘Phrasie, I know you enough to be able to tell when something big is going on. What the hell am I missing here?”

  She glanced around for a few moments before suddenly waving off her security team who walked away immediately, though Carlo hesitated for a moment before joining his men. Then Euphrasie took a deep breath and held her hands in front of her together, her eyes slightly wide and her demeanor drastically altered from the usually stoic and serious woman she normally was. She seemed very unnerved by whatever was going through her mind.

  “I’m going to tell you something that as far as I’m aware, only I know. Carlo will be able to figure out that where we are is very important but he won’t know anything beyond that. This stays between you and me, Shepherd, no one can know or else a series of events will happen that will change the very face Nouveau Tokyo.”

  Shepherd dropped his hands and leaned in, his face filled with confusion and concern, “Whatever it is, it dies with me.” He said, his signature smile gone, replaced by a deathly serious expression.

  “That kid you talked to is one of the grandchildren of Léon LeVerne, his name is André LeVerne.” Euphrasie said after a moment of tense silence.

  Immediately Shepherd removed his glasses which showcased his beautiful blue eyes, but now they were much wider than normal as his entire face was filled with shock. He instantly understood the depth of the issue Euphrasie had entrusted him with, and though he was arguably the strongest person in Nouveau Tokyo, his hand began to tremble.

  Holy shit. He thought, his mind rushing back to the encounter with the kid he now knew as André. At first he just thought he was just a young man, either unaware of Shepherd’s position and reputation or trying to look cool in front of him. Now he knew it was neither. He’d just walked into the store of his childhood hero’s grandchild and tried to look tough.

  “You’re going back to the Association, right now. We can’t let anyone blow this up any further than it already has. If Léon himself ever found out about what we did…” Euphrasie said, but Shepherd held up a hand to cut her off.

  “I know.” He said, his eyes locked onto the store with a look that made it seem as if he’d just seen a ghost.

  “I’ll call you when I get back, this never happened.” Euphrasie turned to leave but stopped when she noticed that Shepherd hadn’t moved. “We are leaving. Now.” She said, her voice returning to its normally serious tone.

  Shepherd shook his head, “It’ll be better for us if we keep an eye on him. If that Gorgon chick let it slip to any of her buddies, we could have a serious problem on our hands. Even if we can’t put on the ground surveillance on him, we need to at least aim a satellite at his store to make sure we know what’s going on at all times.”

  Euphrasie’s eyes went wide, “Are you fucking stupid?! If he even catches a whiff that we might be watching him, who knows what’ll happen!”

  The big man nodded before turning back to her, his eyes locked onto hers with an uncharacteristically serious gaze, “I know it’s a risk, but it’ll be an even bigger one if some dumbass Villains decide they want retribution for their friend and come looking for him. We’ve seen what can happen when those pesky idiots decide they can take someone way above their caliber.”

  Euphrasie’s mind flashed with the memories of crippled and brutalized Villains, pinching her brow with her fingers and groaning trying to shake the images that flew through her mind, “Trust me, I’m well aware of what could happen if it comes to that, but we likely can’t just watch him without him noticing. We don’t even know what kind of powers he has! He’s a Third Generation Super!”

  “I know, ‘Phrasie, but we can’t just wait around to see if it happens anyway. It’ll be worse if it does and we’re not around to mitigate the damage. I’ll take the blame for anything if it goes sideways.”

  She knew his decision was most likely the correct course of action, they couldn’t act on information they didn’t have. And if someone decided to try something and they weren’t looking, they’d have to deal with a considerably worse fallout, though she wasn’t happy that it needed to happen this way either.

  Why did he have to be here of all places? She asked nobody in particular as her mind raced with the possibilities that could come from assigning a satellite for a single person, then she switched her train of thought to assigning the satellite to the block as a whole to mitigate the chances of people learning that a LeVerne was living in Nouveau Tokyo. It could work, especially if she delegated the task to someone she knew from the Security Department under the guise of analyzing traffic in that area due to a possible threat. But no, that wouldn’t work exactly if she didn’t speak directly to the Director which would open up its own can of worms. Though, she truly didn’t have that much of a choice in the matter since she personally knew the Director and he owed her a couple favors.

  Ultimately, after all few moments of calculation, she decided to give a call to the Internal Security Department and speak directly to their Director who wasn’t too excited to hear her voice or the fact that she was calling in such a hefty favor. The Association itself had several outlets to use for security and surveillance purposes with the permission of the government, but that came with a clause that stated that the Association could only use those facilities in reference to Supers of suspicious nature. By calling in her favor to the Director of the Internal Security Department of Nouveau Tokyo, Euphrasie could bypass this clause, albeit while putting herself in a legal grey area due to the possibility of it becoming a matter of public concern if anyone ever found out about it. Though this would be an issue for a later date as while the Director was reluctant to agree to the idea of using on of their satellites, he couldn’t say no because of his history with Euphrasie and the fact that he knew she wouldn’t just call in a favor of this level on a whim.

  After the phone call and a very intense conversation, Euphrasie let out a sigh and turned back to Shepherd who had been watching the store for some time, only losing his focus when Euphrasie put a hand on his arm and looked up at him with a serious but oddly gentle gaze.

  “It was your idea, but I’m the one who put in the call. We’re both a part of this now, whatever happens, we’re responsible.” She said, her tone much softer than normal.

  Shepherd nodded and put a massive hand over hers, “If anything happens, I’ll take care of it. Make sure the people who’re running the satellite know their first call should be to me, I’ll get here as fast as I possibly can.”

  “Just… Try not to get hurt.”

  The big man smiled, a peaceful and soft smile that seemed much more earnest than any he’d put on earlier, “I promise.”

  After the two of them stood there for a few moments in silence, staring into each other’s eyes, they both turned and began to head their separate ways as Euphrasie reassembled her security and mounted up into her car and Shepherd walked around the corner before crouching down and leaping high into the sky on a trajectory away from the block with the convenience store, holding his grocery bag against his chest. Admittedly, he was weirdly excited to see how the noodles and sauce tasted. However, high above the clouds where the two of them couldn’t see nor were able to sense, a figure hovered in the air. His eyes dark and his sights set on both of them for much longer than either could have known. There he stayed, watching the two depart towards their respective destinations with Euphrasie heading back towards inner Luxor and to the Association of United Heroes Headquarters, and Shepherd heading off to make a roundabout path towards what seemed to be his house which the figure followed him back to. It was a large skyscraper with almost a few hundred apartments within, though Shepherd’s was obviously the penthouse as he landed on the roof of the skyscraper and disappeared into the box-like structure which held both the elevator and the stairs. There the figure watched through the glass from a considerable distance as the big man removed his goods from the back and set to work cooking them with a blue pot with a wooden handle and a pair of chopsticks. Obviously he did not, and could not see the figure as he watched for some time in silence, his hair shifting lazily in the wind as he simply stared at the No. 1 Hero of Nouveau Tokyo in his most private setting.

  The figure scowled slightly, turning his head up and away towards the sky for a few moments before shifting his body and rocketing into the distance, disappearing into the clouds within a second, his mind set on a certain location where he knew he would find information.

  Chen Hao sat unconscious in his chair inside the room, snoring softly with his head back as he slept peacefully. Jett Black on the other hand, was shifting restlessly, moving from staring down at the tube in his arm that connected him to the blood bag and the IV drip to staring up at the ceiling. He’d just gotten back some use of his legs though it still hurt quite a bit to actually move them, but at least know he could walk somewhat with the help of crutches, though he was relegated to using the wheelchair beside his bed whenever he needed to use the restroom. It had been just over an hour since his last ‘reformation surge’ and he was still quite sore, but he wanted get some fresh air very badly. So he had concocted a plan.

  As Chen slept, Jett moved as carefully as he could to disconnect the IV and blood bag, feeling his muscles ache every time he even breathed though he persisted in his journey to escape his hospital room. After a few moments of tense silence and waiting for Chen to fall back into full sleep since his snoring would choke him every so often, causing Jett to pause like a teenager trying to sneak out of their parent’s house, he finally managed to squeeze out the tubes and carefully lift himself into his wheelchair which he clicked the locks of and slowly rolled out of the room.

  Finally! He thought to himself as he cheered himself on and pushed himself down the hall, glancing back every so often to make sure Chen hadn’t woken up. And as he rolled down the hall, he caught sight of a few open doors that held other injured people within, some of which Jett recognized as lower ranked Heroes that had been hospitalized due their fights. One of them was a woman who’s power was the ability to belt out supersonic sound waves, though he remembered her mostly because she often came across as very shy and quiet, Jett thought it was ironic in a funny way. Another was a man who’s entire body was covered in a titanium-like metal who used his nearly indestructible body as sort of a tank for his team who had similar metal and element based powers. As he rolled out of the hall, he passed by a man who laid unconscious with a giant shadowy beast beside him, Jett thought it looked like some sort of mix between a wolf and a fox, but he didn’t stay long enough to figure out what it was since it growled at him and he didn’t particularly want to see what kind of teeth it had.

  Soon, Jett made it to the elevators where he slid into one that just happened to be open and hit the button for the roof, taking a second as the elevator shifted and began heading up to flex his hands and legs a little while he waited. As he did so, he couldn’t help but think about the store clerk from earlier that day, wondering who the hell he was with a growing frustration in letting himself get caught by some freak who spent his time working at a convenience store instead of making use of his powers in some way. Jett considered it a waste of talent and potential, though he had to admit he didn’t know if he could’ve taken him on in a fair fight since he didn’t know all his powers, just that he was stupidly strong and very capable of inflicting pain onto someone even if they were a Hero. He wondered what kind of guy he was, what kind of life he’d had, what could’ve led him to be just a store clerk in some random part outside of the city. And as he was lost in thought, he suddenly realized he was staring at the sky since the doors to the elevator had opened. Slowly, he wheeled himself out of the elevator and gazed up at the dark sky, catching a few stars that had just begun to show up in the darkness as the day passed into night.

  He’d always enjoyed stargazing, his mom told him a lot about the stars and constellations. Though his friends always joked about how his favorite was the Little Dipper, he couldn’t lie and say it wasn’t since it was that exact constellation that reminded him of his mom whenever he saw it. He wondered if she could see it wherever she was now, and if so, maybe the two of them were watching the same stars just from different places. Jett sat there for a while, just staring at the stars and reminiscing about his mother, finding himself lost in memories as he thought about the first time she showed them to him. He couldn’t have been more than a few years old, but he remembered it as clearly as yesterday. She took him out onto the roof of the building she worked at, her eyes were tired but they were full of life and love whenever she looked down at him. He thought she was so beautiful. The way she spoke when she pointed up at the sky and explained the way the stars worked and the names and history of each constellation was sugary and sweet in his ears, her passion for it all was admirable and was one of the things he loved about her the most. She was so smart and awesome it made him proud to call her his mom. But with the happiness he felt in reminiscing, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of melancholy as he thought about her face, how tired she looked and how she smiled through it all anyway. Jett missed her. He missed her so much he felt like he’d explode any second. Then he thought about where he was, how much he’d accomplished and how proud of him she’d be if she saw him now.

  I love you, Mom. He thought as he stayed like that for a while before feeling a weird sensation like someone was watching him. His mind turned back to Chen and his sucked his teeth before whipping his head around.

  “I just wanted some fresh air, is that so much—“ he started to say, but stopped halfway when he saw who was there. In an instant, his heart began to race and his breath hastened as he felt a rush of anxiety and adrenaline dump into his body. His brain raced with the intensity of a race horse on enough drugs to kill an elephant, sweat pooling on his forehead and hands and seeping into its wounds, but he didn’t even notice the pain.

  Floating a few feet above the ground, was a painfully familiar face who stared down at him with a cold, unmoving expression, wearing the same clothes as Jett remembered with a dark hoodie over the top of his shirt. His eyes locked onto Jett’s with an unreadable gaze.

  Jett swallowed and shouted at him, attempting to retain whatever confidence left in him, “What! Come to finish what you started?!

  The store clerk didn’t move and simply spoke in a calm, monotone voice that sent chills down Jett’s spine, “We need to talk.”

  End of Chapter II