Eli woke up to the warm sun streaming into his room. He rubbed his eyes, mind still fuzzy as the last remnants of his peaceful dream were chased away by the morning sunshine. Eli lifted his head from the pillow. The sunshine gave the bedroom a glossy sheen and Eli just sat on the bad, enjoying the rays of the sun.

Eli looked at the time, and reluctantly got up. He walked out of the bedroom and saw his family. Maya was banging the table with her latest toy, Richardo’s head was in his tablet, and Sofia was washing up in the kitchen. It was a typical normal day.

“What are you reading there, Rich?”

“A replay of the fight between Green Leaper and Sweet Fist.” Richardo said. “The seven-year-old looked up from his tablet, and asked, “Papa, you know he is only the second living mystical warrior on Nexus? The only other warrior is in the Fraternity of Heroes, on the other side of the planet.”

“We don’t know if he’s really a mystic yet.” Eli slipped his arm around his wife and gave her a kiss. “You were supposed to wake me.”

“You came back late yesterday.” Sofia returned the kiss and asked. “Breakfast?”

“Sure.”

“Papa, how could you doubt it?” Richardo asked. “The Sweet Fist grow a layer of bark over himself, and he is too old to get powers.”

“Doesn’t mean he’s a mystic, Rich. He could be lying, or delusional.”

Eli took the opportunity to duck into the restroom. As the man of the house, he can take his time in there, and he did. When he came out, breakfast was waiting. Blueberry pancakes, hashbrowns, and a few small sausages. They ate and talked. Richardo was very excited that the Sweet Fist was setting up shop in Velocity City and tried unsuccessfully to get Eli to tell him more about the villain. Eli just told his excited boy the truth; it was too early to tell. The Alliance need to investigate the matter more thoroughly before commenting. Richardo sulked through the rest of breakfast while Maya continued banging her toy on the table. Breakfast was great as usual. It was a typical normal day.

Then, the alarm on his earpiece beeped. Eli lifted his hand to his ear and pressed the device to deactivate it. Sofia gave him an encouraging smile and leaned over to give Eli a kiss on the cheek.

“Good luck today, Papa.” Richardo said.

Eli smiled and took a last bite of the sausage before standing up. He said his goodbyes and remembered to rub his son’s head before heading to the elevators. He pressed his hand on the scanner and the doors opened. Maxwell gave his family a farewell wave as the doors closed. The elevator ascended to the roof of the building, a short trip since he lived in the penthouse, and the doors opened. It was a warm balmy day and Eli took a deep breath before pressing the correct sequence on his waist computer. A robotic voice came from it.

“Thundersky, confirmed.”

A glowing light surrounded Eli, and pieces of his costume appeared. Once his yellow-and-white costume finished attaching themselves to his body, a golden helmet appeared before him. Eli took his helmet and wore it. The interface appeared immediately.

[Transfer completed. Hero Thundersky active. Welcome back, Champion.]

Thundersky stepped out of the elevator and looked to his right. The iconic building that was Velocity Tower was in the distance, and he picked a spot just metres above the roof of the tower. The wind picked up, and Thundersky released his power. His body disappeared and a streak of lightning shot towards the tower. The lightning came to a dead stop above the roof of Velocity Tower and Thundersky reappeared, floating in the air. The wind slowly died down, and he let himself float down onto the roof. Unlike most flyers, Thundersky doesn’t really fly, but float. With an ability that allows him to travel the world at the speed of light.

Thundersky waited and a section of the roof rose before him. The doors opened and the Champion of Velocity City stepped through to start his workday. The doors of the roof elevator closed and Thundersky felt the elevator going down. Despite what the public believed, the main headquarters of the heroes in Velocity Tower wasn’t in Velocity Tower, it was about five kilometers beneath it. The elevator doors opened and showed the interior of a lobby. The trip down only took a couple of seconds.

Thundersky walked onward. The receptionist at the counter immediately stood up, various guards stood at attention, as did two heroes who were just walking by. Thundersky ignored them all, stomping towards the conference room. As he neared the room, the guard standing beside door opened it. He walked in and was slightly surprised that everyone was presented.

“Well, well, well, this is a surprise.” Thundersky said. “Usually, there would be a few absentees at these meeting, but everyone is here today. This must be some sort of record.”

There were a few smiles at that, mostly from the heroes who tried their best to ignore these weekly meetings.

“What can I say? It’s not every week we have a mystic appearing in our city. Far more interesting than hearing about weekly crime rates and budgeting concerns.” Quantum Maker freely admitted.

“Keeping crime rates down is what we are here for.” Streetman growled.

“Unless you happen to live in the King’s,” Quantum Maker said. “Then you are on your own.”

“Enough.” Thundersky glanced around the room and saw that more than one hero wanting to take up the argument. The plans for the King’s was a sore point for the heroes, and the Champion was among those who got outvoted. However, they got more important things to discuss. “Now that everyone is here, let's begin the meeting. First, a presentation from our analyst.”

A big screen appeared at the head of the table. As a non-hero, the analyst was not allowed in the meeting and could only appear via videoconferencing. He was a man with a hawk-like face and wore a pair of thick glasses.

“Thank you, Champion. Heroes of Velocity Tower, my name is Nigel Samson. This is the initial analysis we put together on the villain known as Sweet Fist.” A photo of Sweet Fist appeared along with some of his information. “Real name; Victor Volkov. Age; fifty-three. Last known address was the Yellow Sands Penitentiary where he served a twenty years sentence for his part in The Candy Crisis. He is listed an E-list Scapper, though that obviously will be changed in the new listing next month.”