Gladius marched forward. With each step the air around her seemed to vibrate. A low rumble growing louder by the second as hundreds of voices blended together. By the time she reached the stage it’d become a tidal wave of sound.

This was what she’d been looking for. The only thing that could compare to a fight. With the sound crashing down on her she reveled in it. Soaking it in. For a few blessed moments that was all there was. The cheering crowd and her, she submerged herself in it for as long as she dared before moving forward.

Proceeding with the practiced gait of a trained warrior. Not that the people here understood what they were watching. Few if any of them had been in an actual battle. Felt their blood pumping through them as they lay their souls bare. Gladius smiled at the memories of the feeling.

A moment later her lips turned sour. The crowd’s presence was strong, but it wasn’t the same as a fight. There was this raw, untamed quantity that was missing. Something this ceremony couldn’t provide, but she was here, so she’d have to make do.

If only she’d been at the police station the other day. The chance to have a true fight, with a former teammate. Someone who’d earned the right to make her go all out. Now that would have been something. She almost drooled at the thought. But it wasn’t to be. She’d been assigned elsewhere and missed the opportunity. Her lips drooped more, moving past sour to something worse. Her hands followed suit, balling into tight fists.

When she’d found out the fight was already over it had upset her. Wanting nothing more than to go out and throw people around until she found someone who could last a couple rounds against her. Yet she wouldn’t get the chance. Ullr had a way of knowing when she was getting edgy and always showed up to calm her down. Even offering a sparring match to help. That ability to read people was why she followed him. Everything else was just the bow on an amazing present.

Whatever, there were bound to be more fights in the days to come. All she had to do was wait and Ullr would make sure she had something fun to do.

Arriving at a woman standing in the center of the stage, Gladius reached out and shook hands. It must be strange for the crowd to see a warrior of old greeting a politician of the present. She’d found it funny when she got into the business. At first she hunted down moments like this. Trying to get prints of the photos afterwards. The looks on some of the politicians’ faces were priceless. But it’d lost some flare as time went on. Eventually becoming nothing more than another day in the office for her.

Turning from the woman, Gladius faced the crowd. Her thoughts were headed in the wrong direction, she needed a little pick up. Pulling her sword from its sheath she held it in the air. The tidal wave of sound in front of her grew and grew. Becoming a tsunami that threatened Gladius herself.

Was this what the Gladiators in ancient Rome felt before a bout, she wondered. Staring up into the crowds of the Colosseum as waves of people poured their hearts out. Eager for the coming blood. She’d been born in the wrong era she realized as the gleam in her eyes faded a notch. All she could do was make the best out of what she’d been given.

Gladius lowered the sword, pointing it at the ground as she rested her hands on the pommel. It’s worn metal finish an old friend in her hand. With the blade resting on the ground Gladius made sure her abilities were off. It wouldn’t do to cut through the stage. She could imagine Ullr’s eyes boring into her if she did that.

Though the thought did leave a funny impression. Maybe she should do it regardless of the repercussions. It’d drive the crowd crazy. That alone would make any consequence worth it. At least until she had to face Ullr.

Pulling herself from that great idea, one she needed to write down, Gladius turned back to the woman. Ready to do what she was here for.

The woman, the Mayor, Gladius corrected herself. Began to speak. Something Gladius decided not to pay attention to. She’d heard political speeches before. More than anyone should. Today she’d let it pass through her as she focused on work.

As the speech wore on the muscles up and down Gladius’s body begged to move. To stretch and push to new heights. That was what she was meant to do, not be some tool in a political game. But what choice did she have? It was follow Ullr’s rules, or you were gone. And not gone as in off the team, but gone gone.

To distract herself, Gladius watched as the crowd swelled and shrunk to what was being said. Throwing active support behind some things while ignoring others. It was enough to keep herself from toppling over from boredom, but nothing more.

After what felt like hours, the Mayor’s speech mercifully reached its end. With a roar from the crowd it was Gladius’s turn. She grabbed the microphone with twitching hands. Like a racer pulling up to the starting line. Time for another pick me up Gladius thought, holding the microphone out to the crowd, like a rockstar at a concert. The crowd reacted in suit. Pushing their energy towards her.

With her body relaxing Gladius started her speech, “Des Moines, we face the toughest days in our history.”

As she spoke the energy from the audience came to her. Their miseries and hopes wrapping together before settling down on Gladius. It was amazing being in the center of it all.

The screen behind Gladius began to play. A movie accompanying her words. Adding weight to the message.

“A time when those who should stand and hold the line instead turn their backs. A time when the good fall and evil rises. But we are strong! And we will weather this storm together!”

The crowd was feeding off what she was saying. Like it was the only thing keeping them going. And she in turn fed off of their energy. It was a cycle that pulled them both along.

“On this day, 178 years ago, our great city was founded. Since then we’ve never backed down from a challenge. Will we start today?”

The crowd roared. Screaming to their heart’s content. But at that moment something else caught Gladius’s attention. A new voice broke out over the speakers. It was her voice, only she wasn’t talking.

…

Liam and Mr. Hat sat in front of the small TV. Watching what was to become a grand spectacle. Gladius had just arrived, walking her way onto the stage like an actor down the red carpet. Liam felt the burning red energy waking up in his stomach. Begging for release. He stifled it with a knowing smile, soon enough it’d get something better than mindless rage.

Gladius walked across the stage to the roar of the crowd. The way she walked showed how she felt. The love she had for this attention.

Liam had been on the team for months. Been in front of crowds and felt the same pulses towards him. It was addicting, the energy of a crowd. It left a little hole in his gut to realize he would never feel that sensation again.

Liam took the attention but was never addicted to it as Gladius was. He’d never played to it like this. On the screen Gladius was holding her sword in the air like a conquering soldier. If she wasn’t careful, she might poke someone’s eye out with that. The woman loved fighting, but pulling out a weapon at a rally?

During her speech, the Mayor welcomed everyone to the celebration. Letting them know there’d be cake afterwards to commemorate this amazing date.

Liam paid little attention to what she was saying, instead focusing on Gladius. True to form, the woman was already fading from the conversation. Her eyes glazing over as she waited for her turn.

While they were watching Mr. Hat said, “Are you sure everything is ready?”

“Everything is set,” Liam said. There was still a tightness in his jaw from his fight with H-Bar, but it was starting to heal. At least he could speak without it feeling like his mouth was about to fall off.

“You double checked.”

“I already triple checked.”

“If something goes wrong-”

Liam interrupted the man, “The bug we planted at the police station did its job. It’s already worked its way through their entire network. Though I think my idea with the police cruisers was better.”

“No, this is best for us. You have to look past today.”

“Fine, then everything is ready. It’s time to watch the breaking of a Hero.”

Mr. Hat nodded reluctantly as he watched Liam from the corner of his eye. Liam tried to ignore the look as he half expected any acknowledgment of it would elicit the same question again.

“Good,” Mr. Hat said ten seconds later.

With that Mr. Hat turned around to watch the Mayor ramble on about how amazing Des Moines was. It was the type of speech that begged the audience to fall asleep. Liam often wondered if politicians listened to what they were saying. Or if they just said whatever was put in front of them like mindless reading zombies.

Liam stopped paying attention as the woman droned on. It wasn’t an immediate thing, but over time his attention switched to the ancient soldier standing next to her. Decked out in fifty pounds of armor. Yet even that wouldn’t be enough to protect her from what was to come.

Liam broke the quiet by asking something that’d been on his mind for a while, “How’d you get it?”

“Getting it was easy. Using it was the tricky part,” Mr. Hat said. Liam thought he could hear the hint of a smile in the man’s voice.

“Posting it online would’ve worked. Thousands of people would’ve flocked to it.”

“Not with the software the DCP uses. They might be paper pushers and love their red tape, but online threats to a Hero’s image aren’t allowed. They’d swarm to take it down. To them knocking out an entire website is an acceptable price for a Hero’s privacy.”

Liam had heard tales of the security the DCP used. But nothing more than the whispers between trainees at the academy. Thinking about it now, it explained a lot. People posted their distaste of Heroes online every day, but never with anything backing it up. This invisible system must be the reason why.

“It almost sounds like you’ve experienced that first hand,” Liam said.

“I tried the obvious routes when I started. When those didn’t pan out I had to think of something different.”

“Why not the news or police?”

“Enjoy your ignorance. It’s almost endearing.”

Liam's eye twitched, but he didn’t respond. There was no need to. What Mr. Hat tried in the past didn’t matter. At this point the future was all but set in stone. Even if they wanted to back out now, it was already too late. No one could stop the coming storm.

On the screen Gladius took the mic. Liam redoubled his focus as his muscles started to tense. The same energy running through him now as when he prepared for a track meet in high school. Mr. Hat was feeling it as well, Liam saw the man licking his lips as he awaited what was to come.

Gladius played to the crowd a little more. Holding out the microphone like some two bit singer. The fact the crowd bought into it only annoyed Liam further.

After a few more cliche moves Gladius got around to her speech. The real reason she was there, even if her actions didn’t support that. As Gladius spoke the screen behind her lit up. Showing pictures of the Hero standing throughout the city, rays of light shining down on her. When the picture changed to Gladius standing in front of a waving flag Liam had to fight down a bark of laughter. This was turning into a spectacle. The video was pushing things a little too far if you asked him.

The Hero’s speech was short. Carrying a different vibe than the previous one. Where the Mayor focused on the history of the city, shying away from Liam. Gladius took a different approach. Deciding to only talk about Liam.

It turned out to be a smart move. The crowd roared all the louder with her every word. That was until Liam’s little bug took over the show.

The pictures behind Gladius stopped their heroic montage. Changing instead to a dark and blurry video. The black bars on both sides of the screen signifying it was from a cell phone, even if the quality wasn’t a clear enough give away.

“Stealing is bad,” the voice on the video said. A voice all too familiar to those in the room as they’d been listening to the live version of her speak. Continuing the voice in the video asked, “You know that, right?”

There was a blur as the camera moved behind a wall then peaked out again. Focusing better this time. The video showed an alley with three figures. Gladius stood to one side. Sword held in one hand, her shield in the other. Across from her were two young men, abject horror painted over their faces.

“W-we g-g-give up,” one of the young men said. A pronounced stutter in his voice.

“We didn’t mean it,” the other said. His hands reaching into the air.

The Gladius on the screen laughed, a soft thing coming from her towering form. When she spoke again it was hard and cold like a forged iron tool, “Do you think that’ll be enough?”

One of the young men froze, while the second spluttered and said, “Here, that’s all of it.”

He threw a bag at Gladius’s feet. She didn’t seem to notice it. Her eyes stayed locked on the men in front of her.

“If you attack me again, I’ll be forced to defend myself,” Gladius said.

The sword in her hand twitched as she crouched behind her shield.

“No, I wasn’t attacking! I was giving back what we took,” the man who’d tossed the bag said. His hands darting up in a calming motion. Trying to soothe the situation.

“W-we s-stole it, w-we admit it. T-t-take us in,” the second man said. He fell to his knees, hands held high like flag poles.

“I warned you,” Gladius said.

No sooner had she spoken then she struck forward. Her foot screamed into the face of the man on his knees. He didn’t have time to blink before she threw him into the alley wall. A thick red streak running from his nose.

The second man followed the action with his eyes. His mouth dropped as the reality of what was happening hit him.

“What… Why?” the man asked before a sword slashed towards him.

He jumped backwards. Fast enough to stop the blade from impaling his shoulder, but not fast enough to avoid it completely. Red sprayed from him as the tip of the sword sliced through his arm.

From his training Liam knew the attack wasn’t enough to bring the man down. But it’d hurt something fierce and sometimes that was all an opponent needed to sneak in a bigger blow.

It looked like Gladius was thinking the same thing. She threw her shoulder into her shield and slammed it into the distracted man’s stomach. Sending him crashing into the wall. The attack was enough to crack the ribs of anyone without a power enhanced resistance, which this man clearly didn’t have.

Instead of going down the man with the now broken ribs started to run. The adrenaline pumping through his system yelling at him to escape. But adrenaline could only do so much and against a Super it just wasn’t enough. Gladius was behind him in a moment, sword cutting through his shoulder and pinning him to the wall.

A scream escaped the man’s mouth before it was cut short. Gladius threw a quick jab and bashed the man’s head into the dark bricks of the wall behind him. Knocking the man out cold.

The scuffle was short and intense, but left one thing on everyone’s mind. This hadn’t been a fight. The two young men gave up, but Gladius had still acted.

As if on cue the Gladius on the stage moved. Throwing her shield into the projected image. It crashed into it, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the screen. But the blow did nothing to stop the projector from playing. Noticing her error, Gladius looked up for the source of the images. Once found it she hurled the microphone, which had been clenched in her hand, at it.

There was a horrifying sound as the microphone ripped through the air. The crash a moment later was even worse. The ear-piercing feedback from the microphone sounded like a dying whale. Many of the people in the crowd collapsed to the ground, clutching their ears. The microphone had done the trick, breaking the projector and ending the video display.

What Gladius hadn’t counted on was for the audio to continue after the feedback faded. At an event like this the sound system had its own speakers throughout the venue. From those devices there was a scuffling of feet as people moved into the alley. Then a new voice spoke up.

“Freeze, put your hands where I can see them,” the new voice shouted.

“Officer I’m glad you arrived. I detained these robbers,” Gladius said in a calm voice.

“Oh it’s you,” the new voice, the officer said. The command in his voice already fading.

As their conversation continued the Gladius on stage was in motion. Racing to the event’s control booth. With everyone at the event she wouldn’t just attack the man working there, not that he was the cause of her problem. But she would let him know her feelings.

The conversation from the video continued, “They attacked me. One tried to get away, so I had to use force during his apprehension.”

“Good thing you were here. I’m not sure I could take on someone who made you fight,” the officer said.

“They must have a low level power. Be careful when bringing them in.”

“Will we be enough to hold them? Or should they go to the special joint?”

“Double cuffing them should be enough. It’s hard to gauge someone with low level abilities during a fight, but I expect extra cuffs will be enough.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

The crowd at the event had heard enough. It started as a low murmur. Like the sound of bees waking up to defend their nest. One by one the sound of people’s feelings grew, until it became an angry hornet’s nest.

Back in the apartment Liam asked, “What’s stopping them from hiding this?”

“This was on live TV. It’s much harder to bury something like that. And there would be far too many questions if they tried,” Mr. Hat said, “No, it’s not that easy to remove something people saw on live TV.”

“Will it be enough?”

“It’ll start the ball rolling, that’s for sure, but how the players respond is still up in the air.”

“The plan-”

“Things are still on track. If something unexpected happens the plan will have to be adapted to follow suit.”

There was a solid warning in what Mr. Hat said. Until this point they’d stayed in the shadows. The attack on the police station was a bold play, but it didn’t hint at what they were doing. Now the cat was out of the bag. The people of the city and The Hunt themselves knew Liam was fighting back. How the two responded would shape everything to come.

A smile stretched across Liam’s face as he turned back to the TV. By this point the feed to the event was cut. News reporters were now on air trying to work through what they’d just watched.

The world was changing Liam thought as the smile on his face refused to reach his eyes.