"50k?! Where the hell did the money come from?! Just what the hell kind of investment requires such a fee?!"
"I've spoken with her sir, she's forging a hero team. The first in over a decade, this is cause for celebration!"
"AT THE COST OF HALF A MILLION?!"
Smith winced at the harsh tone of her manager. As a field Agent of the Coalition, it was her job to attend to the tedious work like papers and business deals related to the heros assigned to her. She was much more of a desk worker than actually out on and about, but she never complained.
However, it was because of the reckless nature of heroes such as Stefani that made her career much harder.
'But, it's not exactly like her offer could have been denied.'
Smith knew why she required Jason for her team. Despite his reputation and the money he had, his hero work was lackluster. With Stefani, a rising hero in terms of both popularity and skill by his side, he would quickly climb the charts. Not only that, Smith knew that Jason benefited Stefani's goals as well.. If all eyes were turned on the Brennon boy, she could slip away and attend to other things.
'Still, for such an ambitious goal…'
Smith could only hope her friend knew what she was up against.
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The morning after Stefani had gathered her team together, she stood on her fathers porch, admiring the rising sun. They had all decided to spend the night as the house had several guest rooms anyway, for convenience sake.
As she scrolled on her phone, she decided to ring up an old friend.
Of course, one cannot be a hero without the costume right?
"Charmaine, I've got a favor to ask.."
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'Back here..? Why..?'
Once again, Alex found himself floating in an endless white void. As before, the only other being he could see was the same little girl, back towards him. He squinted and attempted to move, but could only float around.
It was as if his body was moving around in a room with zero gravity.
In other words, he couldn't walk.
So he was forced to make swimming motions mid-air, or what seemed to be mid-air anyway. It's not like he could see a plausible ground or ceiling to base his position off of.
An epiphany struck his mind. He furrowed his eyebrows in concentration.
He wound his arms back. He figured he could stretch them and just grab the girl by the shoulders and pull himself to her. Admittedly not the nicest gesture, but he had no other choice.
"That won't work." The familiar voice of a young, articulate girl spoke in his head.
Then he fell to the ground with a hard thud.
"Ow…" he rubbed his head. Looking up at the girl he got to his feet and dusted off his knees.
"Who are you?! Do you know anything about my powers? Why do you keep showing up?"
The girl sat in silence, hunched over. He noticed a small crayon box to her left side.
'She must be coloring something..'
"It's not safe for you to be here." Another voice chimed in. Alex began to grow frustrated.
"That's what you told me last time!!"
When he tried to lift his foot to approach her, he couldn't.
"LEAVE!!"
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He slowly opened his eyes.
'Another dream..?" He sat up, looking around the room. The one he chose was small and very cozy, with a large bed that had a luxuriously comfortable blanket, a tv and even a small bed stand for Alex to charge his phone. He checked it to see a few texts from friends and a few emails. What caught his attention was the news report that found its way into his notifications.
After getting dressed and finishing his morning routine of brushing his hair and teeth he made his way downstairs and to the kitchen. Like the rest of the house it was beautiful but with hints of historical décor.
He was determined to figure out just what the hell was going on with him.
Thankfully, only Sam and Hazel accompanied him in the kitchen.
Giving a nod to Hazel, he faced Sam.
"Um..Good morning heh.." He cursed himself for being so awkward.
Sam looked at him questioningly.
"Good morning..?"
"Yeah...I guess.." Alex scratched the back of his head. "Actually, I was just wondering if you guys have a laptop or something I can borrow? I need it for.." He squinted. "Research. For a project you see.."
Immediately, Sam perked up. "Oh, yeah! Wait here for a sec I'll be back!"
After the youngster left it was just Alex and Hazel, who had been scrolling on her phone. He decided to make himself a cup of coffee and sat in a comfortable silence.
Alex found himself slowly feeling more and more relaxed around her. She was the same age as him after all, not to mention they were pretty much both dragged into the team against their will. He made a mental note to confront Stefani about why..
' It's weird how she chose us as her team. Besides, teams are rare aren't they..? I remember hearing about how the Coalition almost never allows teams, because it messes with the ranking system…Not to mention we don't really know each other..'
He looked over at Hazel.
'But I guess it's not all bad.'
Soon enough Sam returned.
"Alright! Here you go!"
The boy handed the laptop over to Alex, as well as it's charger. "If you need anything else, I'll be out back!"
"Thank you.."
The boy bowed and ran out the backdoor.
Already the younger brother had more manners than the older sister.
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After setting everything up in his room, he decided to look up his particular situation. That being, he got a weird slime-like substance shoved into his face and now he can stretch and create force fields; also a girl keeps popping up in his dreams.
He decided to visit a chat board for heroes and hero conspiracies first.
He typed in things like "slime that gives you powers" or "weird girl in dreams from powers" To no avail. He rubbed his forehead in annoyance.
'Perhaps I should be more discreet..?'
Many hours passed and nothing to show. No matter what forums he scrapped up, videos, private discussion boards, nothing. He kept coming up short.
As the sun began to fall, so did his hopes.
He leaned back in his chair, pushing away from the desk and rolling the chair around to face the window.
'Is my case really that unique? In a city where anything goes, why am I alone?'
He was the only person with such circumstances.
'I can't be the only one in the world, can I?'
He returned to the laptop and began to research overseas forums as well. It was slightly difficult with the language barrier, but with the help of a translation device he began to see progress.
It was nearly 8pm when he decided to take a break, his eyes and hands aching.
'Sheesh… It's already so late..' He shut the laptop and sighed. 'Still, nothing. I really am the only one.'
He got up and fell on his bed.
'The only one in the entire world…'
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"Dante, don't you want to be strong?"
The man kneels before his superior, bowing his head. His goons- Ronnie and Louis- mimicked his body language.
A hand was held outstretched to him. He quickly took hold of it as if it were the most precious thing in the world.
"Yes...I want to become the strongest."