Mark sighed as Episode 3 ended.

  It had been pretty good. In the show, Mark and Eliot had infiltrated the Hero’s Association, which was in actuality a big open place where people trained and guests visited all the time, but which, in the show, was a fortress with patrols and heroes walking around like they lived there. Sally and Isoko had ‘fought’ Grey Phantom and Credenza who had ‘tried to sell them out to the heroes’, which had sort of happened in real life, but not as a real fight. It had been a spar in the open fields behind the Hero’s Association. In the show the fights had been in some back alley.

  They never showed any footage of Mark fighting Kraigen Steele at all.

  The B-Plot was all about Tartu’s team, still in recovery, and how they had ‘almost caught’ Mark and Eliot’s infiltration that culminated in one rather nail-biting scene that was completely fabricated. Mark hadn’t sensed Tartu, Lenny, Shawn, or Kardi anywhere near them when they had been doing that ‘infiltration’.

  The show ended with Mark and Eliot ‘escaping’, and they were ‘now set for assaulting the gate’.

  Mark, Eliot, Isoko, and Sally had watched the show in one of the rooms at the top of the gate district buildings that Eliot had converted into a full theater kinda room. Eliot had done a bunch of conversions like that here and there all over the place, for other people watching in other rooms.

  Isoko sighed lovingly as the credits rolled, saying, “My gods. I’m going to be so fucking famous.”

  Sally burst out laughing.

  Mark grinned.

  Eliot got up, saying, “I want to see Noel—”

  Isoko leapt from her chair, saying, “Yes! Let’s go to the party!”

  Sally said, “I can’t believe there’s an after party at all.”

  “It’s a small one!” Isoko said.

  Mark led the way out of the room, down the hall, knowing most of what he was going to find. A lot of the people here had been watching the broadcast, but a lot of them were specifically not. As soon as the show ended, there was the after party, and the guys who were not watching the show threw open the doors of the dining hall far down below, and all of the show staff were invited to partake of the catering and the corporate-like atmosphere. It was people talking about what went right, what went wrong, and throwing around ideas for the Attack the Gate scenario which was happening tomorrow. It was not a real party.

  The real party would happen after Episode 4 aired, assuming, you know, Memphi was doing okay.

  Mark and them had been invited to the afterparty, but it was a party for the writers and directors, like Noel.

  Noel was down there, about 4 floors below the hallway Mark and them were in, radiating joy as he walked out of some sort of techie suite that was doing stuff with the broadcast. Mark wasn’t sure what he had been doing. Tweaking the show or monitoring it, or something like that? Maybe actually broadcasting it?

  … Where did they store the actual information for the episodes they uploaded to the internet? Mark had no idea.

  … Whatever!

  The hallways were crowding with people who were cheering about the show and someone was cracking open beers down in the party hall, and they were getting a lot of flak for that. Some guys Mark didn’t know, but which he had seen around, were in the hallway with Mark and them, talking about how it was a great episode.

  Someone casually and excitedly asked about Mark’s actual plan for assaulting the gate.

  He had no idea about the kaiju to come.

  Like 80% of the people here, from the guards of Memphi in their black and yellow garb, to the HVP writers and staff, knew that what was coming was a big deal. The War for Life. But this guy asking Mark about the ‘plan to assault the gate’ was one of the 20% that didn’t know the full story.

  Mark simply said, “Play it by ear. Frontal assault. It’s up to you guys to make it look good, and you certainly did make it look good!”

  A lot of people were happy to hear that.

  One guy, in a bright floral shirt, said, “Only because we have good talent to work with!”

  “Powerful talent!” said a woman in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, who looked like she was about ready for bed, but she was headed to the after party anyway. “That’s what everyone wants to see, yeah! Blowing shit up!”

  “Carving walls apart!”

  Soon they were down the stairs and at the party room, among the writers and staff, and Isoko was right there with Noel, practically gushing about how good they had made her look in her fight. Mark grinned as he listened to that, as he got a frozen virgin strawberry daiquiri from a drink vendor that Eliot had supercharged with some Manipulation. It was strange to have a frozen drink in the winter, but a lot of people were doing it. It was a good drink.

  And then Mark got roped into conversations about his plans for tomorrow.

  Sally was there next to him, getting grilled for her plans, too.

  Floral print shirt guy was there again, saying, “Tomorrow’s party is going to be much better.”

  Sweatpant woman muttered over her cola, “Assuming we all live.”

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  The atmosphere almost turned icy. Concerning.

  Some other guy —but only because he was the fastest— instantly said, “We’re going to be fine, Yolinda.”

  But Floral Print guy tugged at his shirt, saying, “I got my lucky shirt on! We’re gonna be fine.”

  He got a lot of eye rolls and a groan or two for that.

  Yolinda decided, “You’re absolutely right. We’re gonna be fine!”

  Some guy who had no idea what they were talking about, asked, “Why wouldn’t we be fine?” And then he jolted, looking at Mark in their midst, and saying, “Oh shit… You gonna, uh? Monowire ball?”

  Mark let the misunderstanding stay, saying, “If it happens it’ll be far outside of the walls.”

  The guy calmed down, while others tensed, worried about that. The guy smiled, saying, “You’re not a proper villain until you openly flout at least a few major laws! Ha ha!”

  Some polite laughter.

  Mark ended up smiling, despite the growing dread in his stomach.

  Talking continued.

  Gradually, the questions Mark got were less about ‘how’ the assault would happen, and more ‘do you have anything you want to showcase’ and ‘So here’s how I envision it happening, and do you like this idea?’.

  It was almost like the prep for the first episode, but a whole lot more intense. Easier. Better.

  Mark had worked with these people a few times now, but it was only now, after Episode 3, that the hurdle of ‘is this guy a crazy fucker who has the world after him’ had been vaulted. People had warmed up and they wanted him to succeed. Mark hadn’t really noticed how bad it had been that first time, but if this was normal, then what he had experienced before was abnormal, by a lot. The fact that Mark was accepted had finally nailed home after Noel got disentangled from others and ended up near Mark.

  With a calm vector that was only barely pointed at Mark, with most of his focus elsewhere, Noel asked, “How you doing tonight, Mark? Ready to see this thing through to the end and to a full blown international villain career afterward?”

  Mark was a little stunned at that bold declaration of the future, but he found himself saying, “I’m doing great, and yes I am ready for the future.”

  “Good man,” Noel said, patting Mark on the shoulder.

  Noel moved on.

  Mark realized that Noel had gone from worrying about him, about what he would do and how he would act, to knowing that Mark would do and act in a way befitting a hero. Mark had gone from a liability to a security. Mark found himself standing a bit taller as he realized that, as he felt that same sort of feeling mirrored in the people around him, as their vectors pointed at Mark, at Isoko and Eliot, and even a little bit at Sally.

  They expected him to help save them all.

  Pretty much every person in this room, aside from Mark’s team and a few others, had small Powers. Noel could do some techie stuff, and that was the second most prevalent Power set in the room. But Floral shirt guy —whom Mark picked up was named Charles— had some sort of nuanced Brawny Power, or he might have just had Healthy Body, like Mark, and that sort of situation was much closer to what Mark was seeing in everyone else. A lot of people were minimal brawnies, their tiny Strength modifiers showing when they gripped a spoon and TT’d it so it didn’t break, or in their style of clothing, to where the cold didn’t bother them at all.

  A lot of people had Powers or Knacks like JJ, with his color changing Power.

  Mark and his team were the real powers in the room, and everyone was more secure with them here.

  He had never felt this feeling before. Not like this. Not like right now. Sure, he had saved people and they liked him for that. They respected him. Or else they were mad that they needed to be saved at all (which didn’t happen as often as Mark expected it to). And these people, right here and now, believed that Mark would stop whatever was coming. Or at least he would help kill it all dead.

  When had that happened?

  Mark sipped his drink, had another one, and talked to people.

  Noel called the party after an hour, climbing up onto a chair to stand above everyone and say, “Episode 3 was a complete success! 74 million viewers! That’s all we need to know! Don’t read the reviews or watch comments yet!” People clapped and hollered even though Noel had kept going, “Yes yes! Great job everyone! Tomorrow will be the big show, the finale, so get some sleep and get ready to go at 5 AM again! Mark’s team! We want some early morning shots when the time is right! Party is over! We’ve got cots set up in the hotel building right across the third level bridge, in the next building over. Take the south exit outside of the hall…”

  Noel made sure to break the party up fast, getting people moving on.

  Mark ended up putting a lot of people to sleep because they asked him for that, since it was hard to sleep at the drop of a hat and they knew that he could do that.

  Eventually, Mark ended up in the suite at the top of the hotel with his team, with Mark and Eliot signing off to sleep for a few hours while Isoko and Sally stayed awake. Mark didn’t need to do much to make himself sleep. Just the lightest touch of sleepiness and wakefulness, and he was out.

  It had been a damned big day.

  - -

  “Wake up.”

  Mark jerked awake because something had slapped his foot—

  And then he relaxed.

  Sally was standing at the foot of his bed and there were no worried vectors anywhere. Eliot was awake and drinking coffee and Isoko yawned just a little, while the sky outside was a cold, dark blue.

  “Shift change?” Mark mumbled, getting up—

  “Nah. We let you sleep as much as we could,” Sally said, “We’re 20 minutes till first light of the morning and Noel wants some establishing shots. Time to get into our costumes.”

  Mark blinked a bit, then nodded. “Okay.”