Chris watched the newest member of the Seven look baffled as Crime Analytics gave her her first patrol assignment with the Deep in the Seven meeting room.

  “And what percentage increase is that?” Ashley asked, turning to Chris, who immediately answered.

  “Twenty-three percent.”

  “Exactly, a twenty-three percent uptick in social media and hero hashtags when there's a team-up,” Ashley said to Starlight, adding, “People love a team-up.”

  “Love a team-up,” Trevor from Crime Analytics repeated. Starlight simply stared at them, a faint expression of disbelief and bafflement on her face.

  Chris raised his eyebrows, somewhat confused by her reaction. It took only a second, however, before he realized why Starlight seemed so surprised, and he couldn't help but admire her innocence.

  He knew she was new to the Seven, but he'd heard she'd been practically in the heroism business since childhood. Surely, she should have been introduced to their dark side by now?

  Then again, people admired heroes, and he had purposely seen what heroes were really up to when not in front of the cameras. He didn't bme her naivety, but that didn't mean he didn't pity her. Oh, how disgusting these so-called heroes truly were.

  Truly, the saying you should never meet your heroes were right.

  Soon, Ashley and Trevor left after giving a few more reminders. Chris was about to follow them when Starlight spoke to him.

  “What?” Starlight eyed him, a slightly sour and irritated expression on her face. “You got a problem?”

  Chris was taken aback, realizing he hadn't managed to control his expression. He smiled and leaned slightly toward her, which caused her to tense. She might be super, but it seems a rge man was still intimidating to her.

  “You do know…” He slowed and deliberated, but continued in the end, “this is just all business, right?” he said softly. Starlight paused, her eyes became lost in thought, and Chris left her behind.

  As he left the room, Ashley turned to him.

  “Oh, and Vice President Madelyn Stillwell wants a word with you.”

  Chris raised his eyebrows. 'The vice president of hero management?'

  “What for?”

  “You’re the st one who was with Translucent, as far as we know, and the vice president is going to be asking questions. Just answer honestly, don't worry about it, Translucent is probably somewhere went to some org- parties and forgot to get home,” Ashley said to Chris as she led him to Madelyn Stillwell’s office.

  Ashley knocked on the door.

  “Come in.”

  They walked inside, and Chris was surprised to see a famous figure there. His American fg cape and suit were all too familiar; anyone in the world would recognize him.

  Homender.

  Chris’s smile deepened, a hint of mirth in his eyes as he saw him, before his expression turned neutral.

  “Who is this, Security?” Homender asked, eyeing him with a bored expression.

  “Oh, I’m an intern,” Chris said, showing his ID.

  “Ah, this is Chris Kent, an intern working under me. He was the one who drove Translucent somewhere,” Ashley said to the blonde woman sitting at the desk.

  “Thank you, Ashley. Chris Kent?” The vice president held out her hand, and Chris shook it.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “My… you’re a big man,” Stillwell commented, examining him.

  “I am,” Chris replied.

  “Were you… were you once in the army?” she asked, tilting her head and maintaining her smile.

  “No, ma’am. I just like to carry myself like this…” Chris was used to these questions and wondered briefly if he should have faked records of military training. It was too te now, unless he wanted to quit his job and reapply.

  “I see. Well, I heard you were with Translucent st night?”

  Here come the questions.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Can you tell me…”

  A series of questions followed, and he answered as truthfully as he could. His story was that he waited for Translucent to return until morning, but Translucent didn't return and he was forced to drive away to prepare for work.

  After his answers, he noticed the vice president’s eyes flick to the side, to Homender, who was looking at him with slightly narrowed eyes before gncing away, his expression bored again.

  Madelyn Stillwell looked back at him, still smiling. “Well then, thank you for your time.”

  They were excused soon after, and Chris touched the watch on his arm, smiling to himself that it had worked.

  Chris gathered his things. It was 8 p.m., and as an intern at one of the world's greatest companies, he was required to put in at least twelve hours a day. Luckily, his boss was understanding about his ck of sleep due to the Translucent situation and had allowed him to leave early.

  Not that he needed to rest really.

  His phone buzzed. He grabbed it and saw a message from Soren, one of his contacts.

  [We’re running through all contacts, and someone said the vehicle went to one of the warehouses trading guns. Ranker said it was someone who knows how to get around because he couldn’t manage to identify him. Some people did see their vehicles somewhere in Jersey City before they lost track of them.]

  'Jersey City'… Chris noted the location mentally before exiting the building, passing someone who was on his phone.

  “Yes, yes, don’t worry. Hope Orphanage won’t press the issue any longer. I’ll make sure of that.”

  Chris’s head snapped toward the man. Hearing a familiar name, his brow furrowed as he watched the man on the phone walk away.

  For a moment, he stepped forward, wanting to follow the man, but stopped himself. He shook his head and got into his car.

  “Are you Anika?”

  “Ms. Stillwell, I didn’t know you were—You look really nice.”

  “Thank you. Could you please show me?” Ms. Stillwell said, and Anika pulled up the video.

  “This is where Translucent can be seen…or at least inferred to have exited the car someone was driving him in…”

  Ms. Stillwell watched a video of a car with its back door open, but no figure could be seen opening or closing it. The video fast-forwarded, showing the driver, Chris Kent, Ms. Stillwell mused, waiting inside the car, occasionally getting out to buy a drink from a nearby vendor but never straying far from his vehicle. Soon it was morning, and as the intern had said, he was forced to drive away without Translucent to prepare for his job.

  “And his chip?”

  “We lost the signal. We haven’t been able to ping Translucent’s chip until five minutes ago,” Anika said.

  “Where?”

  “Somewhere near where he was st seen, here, in Jersey City.”

  “What the hell is he doing in Jersey City?”

  “Uh, he’s somewhere around ten blocks from here,” Anika said, and Ms. Stillwell frowned.

  “Okay, tell security to search the area, door-to-door if necessary, but tell them to be discreet, alright?” With that, Ms. Stillwell left the office.

  “Hmm, interesting…” Chris murmured as he munched on his sandwich and drank his soda.

  He was on the second floor of a fast-food restaurant, looking out the window, his gaze penetrating several blocks and into a basement where Translucent’s pathetic figure could be seen inside an electric cage.

  It had taken him a while to sweep through the area before he found them, and it was perfect timing too, as suddenly, the trio—one of whom he’d learned was named Hughie, through his guys investigations, along with what seemed like a strange Englishman and a Frenchman—sprang into action as if an idea had occurred to them.

  Chris could pretty much guess what they were about to do, they were looking for ways to kill Translucent. Translucent’s skin was tough; no ordinary weapon could penetrate it. But that was just his skin; his insides, however…

  It wasn’t long before Translucent awoke, and this time, Chris saw fear fill his very being when he realized what the boys had done. Chris was tempted to eavesdrop, but decided against it. Watching them was enough.

  A little mystery in this whole ordeal just makes it better.

  A loud impact echoed, and people cmored, looking through the window.

  “Hmmm?”

  “That was Homender!”

  “He’s so fast!”

  Kids pointed to the sky, where a figure flew past, and Chris knew Homender was close to finding Translucent.

  Soon, his heart skipped a beat as Homender found the Frenchman in the van. Chris watched with bated breath.

  Then, an explosion sounded in the distance, catching Homender’s attention and immediately sending him flying upwards and toward it.

  At the same time, a small explosion occurred, and if Chris hadn’t been paying attention, he would have missed it.

  Hughie Campbell had blown up Translucent.

  Chris ughed loudly, attracting the attention of his fellow diners, but he didn’t care.

  Things were getting fun so soon.

  whatswrongwithme22