SHIFT (Michael)

Michael was pretty happy with his current gig working for Mr Weyland. Before this job had fallen in his lap a few days ago, he'd been having trouble earning money in-game. Michael and his character were both seventeen, and the only options available for work seemed to be behind a till or as a delivery boy. He wasn't opposed to running deliveries, in fact he was uniquely suited to it, but the pay was crap. He'd always been told that jobs were plentiful in the 2020s, and maybe they were if you were over eighteen. He could understand why the game made kids play their actual age, but sometimes it sucked.

Mike breezed past a couple of men in business suits and took the corner into the next alley at full speed, running a few steps against the opposite wall until he'd redirected himself enough to hop down to the ground. A step up against the inside wall and he was up and vaulting from a dumpster, still travelling full speed. He hadn't managed to get quite enough height to clear the wire mesh fence mid-way down the alley, but throwing himself into a barrel-roll gave him just enough clearance to make it over. He was already a dozen steps past the fence by the time the business men had finished blinking at each other.

Mr Weyland had him running errands around Detroit, and paid well enough that Mike had been a little worried the things he was collecting were illegal, which would have been pretty embarrassing for a hero. 'Hero Shift found running drugs!' But no, Weyland just had him collecting computer parts, tools, small sheets of metal, canisters of argon, freon, and a dozen other gases, liquids and powders. Some of which Mike was pretty sure were restricted, but that wasn't the same as illegal, so it was probably okay.

Out the other end of the alley he slid across the bonnet of a parked car before slipping past the moving vehicles and into the alley opposite. A few steps further and he hooked a drain pipe and monkey crawled up to the top floor before cat-leaping to the fire escape on the building opposite. A piece of sharp metal opened a cut on his arm as he slipped between the bars, but he barely noticed, and the wound was healed before he'd made it up onto the roof.

Successful Skill Use +12 xp to Gymnastics - Novice Level 1 [33%].

Successful Skill Use +10 xp to Athletics - Beginner Level 9 [88%].

He paused for a second to consider if he should be a little more careful with the computer chip in his messenger bag, but it was in a hard carry box, so it would probably be fine. Besides, he really wanted to level up his Athletics tonight. Leaping from roof to roof, sliding down some sloped shingle and off into a roll, he finally slowed down, a little out of breath as he arrived at Weyland Research.

Previously a Seraph automotive building, Weyland was located in the heart of Milwaukee Junction, a former industrial area now going residential. The building was still mid renovation, with boards on some of the windows. The building sign had seemed to go up over night, in fact, a lot of the building work seemed to happen overnight. Maybe Weyland had builders working in their off-time? He did seem fond of arranging things under-the-table, which Mike didn't mind too much, if he did everything on the up-and-up, Mike probably wouldn't have a job.

He buzzed at the front door and waited a second for Mr Weyland to answer the speaker system. Despite the size of the building, it was always Weyland who answered.

"Good evening, Jason."

"Evening, Mr Weyland, I've got your computer chip." Mike replied. He hadn't been able to place Weyland's accent, but the way he struggled over grammar and phrasing, he was definitely foreign.

" In window please." He meant the security drawer, similar to those used by banks. He'd never actually met Weyland in the week he'd been working for him, everything always went through the drawer, his current hypothesis was that the guy was a germaphobe. There was a clunk as the draw cycled. "Very good! I am thanking you for delivery fast. Money paid to bank."

Mike shook his head at the garbled English, "No problem Mr Weyland, let me know if you need anything else picked up."

"Thank you, but please, Jason, you are call me Kip."

SHADE (Carlos)

Shade was having a really bad night. He'd been tracking Los Demonios for a while now, but they weren't the problem. They were a Mexican gang, and Carlos had picked up a quest to find their supplier after he'd stumbled into some of their gangbangers dealing a few nights ago.

Half way through his stake-out, some flying idiot in red spandex had tried to set him on fire. It was impressive since Carlos had been hidden in Shade's cloak of shadows at the time, but maybe the guy could detect heat? Anyway, Carlos, assuming the guy was some villain on the gangs payroll, had wrapped him in shadow tendrils and bounced him off a wall a couple of times, sipping on some of the guy's Stamina to heal up his burns. That was about the time things went really wrong, because the guy had a couple of friends, and Carlos recognised them.

They'd been on a couple of news casts, standing watch here, investigating a crime scene there, he wasn't sure that they'd ever done much to earn the title, but they definitely called themselves heroes.

Carlos tried to explain that he was on their side, but apparently shadow manipulation wasn't a hero power. Luckily since fire-boy was unconscious he'd been able to slip away without being followed.

Successful Skill Use +16 xp to Stealth - Novice Level 2 [04%].

He was even more upset when he checked hero-net later and saw a report filed on a shadow-using villain abroad in Detroit's east side.

NORTH WIND (Mia)

Mia was starting to worry that her character was being stalked. It would have been easy to deal with if it was just some creep, ten minutes as an ice-cube would cool off most guys. But no, the idiot stalking her character North Wind was another hero, and apparently he really wanted her to join his team. Not because she was awesome, which she was, and not because she was a sexy asian superhero, which she also was; no, it was because they needed an air-themed hero to complete their elemental quartet.

Mia floated slowly across the waters of Lake St Clair enjoying the peace. It seemed to be the only place she was able to practice without him turning up, and there was plenty of moisture in the air for her to practice forming ice-shields, spears and daggers.

Successful Skill Use +8 xp to Visualization - Beginner Level 8 [54%].

Successful Skill Use +14 xp to Control - Novice Level 1 [08%].

She'd only gained enough control of her air powers to be able to actually fly in the last few days, and she had been loving every minute of it, but every time she flew in the city, there was Red Fury, jetting nearby.

What was even more annoying was that the guy was a legacy hero, descended from the previous Red Fury, probably played by the same guy in the beta. Which meant that despite being a complete ass, his character was well-regarded in the hero community.

Mia sighed and turned around, speeding up for the return flight. Her Family and Job Complications had her working most nights at her family's restaurant, and if she didn't hurry she'd be late for her shift.