They call themselves the Bay Area Superhero Alliance, in honor of their old stomping grounds in Kit City, but very few believe that they operate out of there. For one, Sniffer Sleuth has been seen in fine dining establishments all throughout the South — Atlanta, New Orleans, Laudonnière. For another, Bronze Boy can be seen flying over the Georgia skies almost daily.

  But wherever they hail from one thing remains the same: they are here to stay.

  Gem Girl and Bronze Boy brought in a sinking oil tanker, carried half a million dead weight tonnage between them like it was a not-particularly-unwieldy couch. Snifferslueth uncovered a deadly high-tech gun ring, then with the help of Bronze Boy defeated a dozen criminals, and even the burgeoning Supervillian Phasmatter. The New, more powerful, Red Fox almost singlehandedly stopped a hostage situation from turning into a bloodbath, shielding a dozen people from a bomb blast with his own body. Not a single person left scratched.

  It’s the world’s first Superhero team in a generation.

  But being first doesn’t mean only any more. Another team comprised of Vest Boy, Painbolter, El Verdugo, and Bubblestream, stopped a terrorist attack at a mall in Cincinnati.

  They call themselves the Lambda Squad.

  And then there is, of course, Whitehot and what she calls her ‘Regulators.’ Formerly consisting of Atlas, Amulet, and herself, nobody knows who or what calls themselves her ally today. Some say Amulet was released from state penitentiary, and into her custody. Word on the street of Kit City is that she’s got some new hire with strength enough to make Atlas look like a child.

  At one time, Carla Quick was the world’s only Superhero. Now we’re crawling with them. And none of them seem to get along. When big egos clash, we get caught in the crossfire.

  Could we be headed into a second Superhero Civil War? For all our sakes, I hope not.

  Sorry for the short blog this time. Much to learn. I’m headed to Kit City to see for myself.

  Nora_X — The New Age of Heroes Blog 6

  Red Fox Action Log 61:

  Every day seemed fresh. I know we were dancing around each other, but I didn’t mind. When we weren’t training, we were kissing. She kept pushing for more, but would retreat when I pushed back.

  She was old school. She was from a time where you didn’t really talk about feelings or sex. So it took time for her to slow down, and listen. She listened. Mostly. And truthfully, I didn’t mind a little pushing. In fact, I craved it.

  I started to see her as Cynthia, as this woman that loved me. But I knew that she’d not say it. I didn’t say it either. She knew I loved her. I’d loved her before we’d even met.

  Wasn’t fair, but it was our job. To inspire others.

  I had proved myself back at BITS. When I gave tactical orders now, they listened.

  Bronze Boy and Gem girl had just come in from the oil tanker mission, and both were out cold.

  It was late. Despite myself, I missed Nora. I wondered how she was doing.

  I walked into the kitchen to grab a midnight sandwich. I didn’t feel the Fox Instinct until I was on the stairs. I went invisible, and crept toward the kitchen on the balls of my feet.

  I heard the sound of humming, singing. It was a woman.

  Cynthia should be asleep.

  I felt my pocket buzz. When I pulled out my phone, I held it just outside my invisibility field. It was Nora. She said:

  I quickly texted her back.

  I slipped my phone back in my pocket. I took a breath, then turned the corner, and saw a blonde woman with twin braids against her back. She dipped her finger right into a jar of peanut butter.

  That… Monster.

  I felt hatred bubble up from my chest. I didn’t know if it was for her, or for myself for letting her do the things she’d done. I wanted to direct it at her, at only her, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t let myself off the hook.

  Why did she have to do that to the peanut butter, though?

  “You can’t be here,” I said, appearing out of invisible, and activating my gem.

  Whitehot turned around, and smiled.

  “Hello to you too,” she said, plopping the peanut butter into her mouth, and daintily licking her finger clean with pursed, closed lips.

  “I’m going to have to throw the whole thing away,” I said.

  “I don’t have cooties,” she said, hopping up on the counter.

  I flared the gemfield, and briefly hovered off the ground. I’d left my prosthetic charging in the wall. No matter. This close, I was probably faster.

  But what was the point? I didn’t need to hurt her as much as I needed to learn what the hell she’d been doing. I needed to get her talking.

  But if she was here, then talking was playing into her hands.

  No. I had to trust that I could get more out of her than she could out of me.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “They’re called germs,” I said.

  “I’m a little disappointed you didn’t want to fight. I was gonna do this thing where I blow you through a wall, and say ‘was it as good for you as for me?’”

  “Feels a bit gendered, don’t you think?” I pointed out, then leaned against the counter. “As an attractive woman, I feel like you’re kind of expected to make a sex joke.”

  “I’m still working on the persona,” she admitted, taking another bite of peanut butter. “Men can just scowl, and glower in a suit. I have to have ‘a take.’”

  “Women can just smile and wave,” I said. “Not much different.”

  “Yeah, but that’s too nice. I’m not aiming for ‘nice.’”

  “Certianly,” I said. “Is this an intimidation thing? Are you trying to scare us? Or is it a distraction.”

  “Neither. I just missed you.”

  “I was under the impression you didn’t actually need to ‘see’ me to see me. Couldn’t you just talk to me in a preview.”

  “I could. But then there is the intention, yeah? Plus, the real change happens in the final pass. For some reason, fate likes to have more on the line for the fun stuff.”

  “That’s frustratingly vague,” I said.

  She shrugged and dabbed at a stain on her supersuit with a paper towel. I was keenly aware of my bare feet, my ill-fitting jeans, and lack of shirt. I’d gotten in the habit of sleeping in my jeans after I’d lost the arm.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. “What’s the point of all this power if you aren’t helping people?”

  “I am helping people,” she said, still struggling with the stain on her suit near the shoulder.

  “I don’t see it. Maybe once a week you fly someone off a roof, or stop a bank robbery. But most of the time you’re just, like, strong-arming government employees? Or cracking open armored cars. How does this actually help people?”

  “Because it gets me closer to my goal,” she answered, balling the paper towel up in her fist, and glaring at me.

  “To get to the maze in orbit? Rescue some kind of ancient boogeyman?”

  “Yes,” she said almost under her breath. “You are so chained by your hero worship,” she continued with more confidence, pacing toward the trashcan and tossing the paper towel. “So tied to the assumption that Captain Iron couldn’t make a mistake, that you miss the beauty of my grand Romantic dream. Once we free him, everything will change.”

  “Change isn’t good in and of itself. That’s not a goal. That’s just playing at a goal. That’s a cat knocking a glass off the counter to see what will happen. I don’t believe you’d work so hard for that. What’s behind all this?”

  She took a glass out of the cabinet, opened the fridge and twisted the top off of the milk. She waited until she’d poured a whole glass before answering.

  “The world is trapped —”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Don’t do that!” She exclaimed with a chuckle. “You asked!”

  “Continue.”

  She took a sip of milk, leaving the barest trace of a milk mustache before launching into her spiel.

  “The world is trapped,” she said, “by mediocrity. We’re too safe. People out there that could be great, hide their greatest power selfishly. We have demon portals, and robot invasions, and natural disasters. But we don’t have true villains. I like being seen as a hero. I’ll do that for as long as I can. And that’ll be much longer than you like by the way. I am very cute,” she said, wiping the milk from her top lip. “But I’ll run out of plausible deniability. At some point, everyone will know me as the bad guy. And I’ll relish it, because the world needs bad guys. Humanity needs strife to rise to the occasion. I am the thing that helps people remember what they were made for: Greatness.”

  “Bullshit,” I said. “Hard times just make people afraid. They freeze, or hide. They aren’t all like you or me. They shouldn’t have to be. And people aren’t made for Greatness any more than they are for any other thing. People are here to make community, or families. Or a nice sweater. Mankind gets to decide for itself what greatness means. If somebody makes a damn good pie, and shares it with a friend, that is greatness. That moment. They don’t need monsters, and villains for that. They need safety.”

  She scoffed.

  “Come on. Community, and apple pie, are no more natural to mankind than war. Or rape. Or any other evil. Evil is man’s greatest invention. And if they aren’t given a target to point that evil at, they’ll point it at whoever is closest. Mankind needs a boogeyman to be the target of their worst impulses. And I got a great one to unleash. It’s going to be grand!”

  “How?” I asked. “We destroyed your rocket.”

  “We just stole a space shuttle.”

  “That easy?”

  “Sorta.”

  “Wait,” I held my hand out, trying to give myself a moment to wrap my head around this. “Hold on. It’s gonna launch soon, right?”

  “Yep.”

  “Okay, wait. None of this is adding up.”

  “Of course! You can’t see! None of you can see. Only I have the perspective to understand how trapped you all are. I am going to give you all your freedom!.”

  “And your allies are okay with this?”

  “My allies don’t know. Or the naive ones don’t. Who would tell them? You? You’re the bad guy, silly. And by the time they figure it out, it’ll be too late.”

  “Why are you here?” I asked again. She was telling me so much. Why tell me all this if she were just going to kill me?

  She didn’t answer right away. She took another sip of her milk.

  “Where are the rest of your snacks?” she asked.

  I pointed to a cabinet. She opened it, and exclaimed wordlessly at the store-bought bag of cookies. She shoved her hand in the bag and came out with several. She took a bite of one, then set them on the bare counter.

  I grabbed a paper plate and slid it to her, “come on.”

  She shrugged, and put the cookies on a plate.

  “How’s Gem Girl?”

  “Great,” I said, rubbing my stump absentmindedly.

  “You know she was supposed to be mine. I was supposed to get her, and you were supposed to get John. Then you got Carla Quick. I got the other guy, and so on. But you messed the whole thing up. We’re in the edge-est of edge cases. Last time I previewed some of this, it was months ago. I’m playing catch up trying to figure out what to do next. I still beat you, by the way. My team is much, much stronger than yours. But I don’t like feeling like I’m playing out a more volatile plan.”

  “Good.”

  “Like I said, I’m still going to win.”

  I wasn’t convinced she believed that. It sounded like she was assuring herself more than me.

  “I just don’t like my guys as much as her,” she continued. “The kid is a little green. But she’s marvelous isn’t she?”

  “She is.”

  She searched my eyes for a moment.

  “You guys still haven’t done it yet? What? But she’s right there!” she said, pointing up stairs.

  “It’s complicated!” I said.

  “What do you mean, it’s complicated! She loves you! And she’s got a smoking hot bod!” She dipped a cookie in the milk then ate it, saying the next part with a full mouth. “And I could kill you both at any moment. What are you waiting for?”

  I sighed. I’d just had a very similar conversation with Bronze Boy the day before. It was really weird to have a person I hated bring it up now too.

  “I just don’t want to mess it up.”

  “Makes sense,” she shrugged. “She’s worth getting it right, I guess. I just hate killing you before you even get a piece of it, is all. Seems unfair.”

  Silence stretched on as she ate the cookies. My Fox Instinct had been at a subtle buzz, but it was blaring now. Whatever was going to happen, it would happen soon. I just hoped I had given Sleuth enough warning.

  “Man, flying burns so many calories,” she said, before chasing it down with the milk.

  “You’re going to fly out that window,” I said. “And I’m what, just going to have to chase you? Gem Girl is faster than you. Think you can fight us both?”

  “Of course not,” she shrugged. “That’s what all the guns are for.”

  She glanced at the clock, then sighed. The Fox Instinct screamed at me. I put as much as I had into my field. It was exactly at that moment that twenty four rifles fired into the house.