The group spent the reminder of their walk laughing and looking up other odd power combinations on the forums. There was a girl who could generate a light beam from her hands, but had chosen an alien race who was light sensitive so she hurt herself whenever she used her powers. There was a Super Elastic mutant who chose a pair of robotic arms. There was even a young man nearby who had selected an Animal Telepathy power but went with the torso and head of a race of aliens known for being “especially fragrant.” He later found out: one aliens “fragrant” was another player’s “God awful stench.”

Some people weren’t happy. Luckily the system allowed for 1 free character delete after that though you’d have to pay up. The game only offered one character per pod, so if you got it wrong, you either stuck it out or used your free delete. There was a rumor on the forums though that if you raised enough of a stink, AGE would do the delete for you without using the pods.

AGE was taking the blow up in stride it seemed good for press. After releasing a statement saying that:

“The game annotates all powers and abilities offered by the Parts System before it allows a player into the game. While wording on said powers could have been better, the choice was still up to the players themselves. That said, we will review the parts system and changing the wording as needed.”

Kaleb heard a sudden intake of breath coming from somewhere nearby, causing him to look up from the in-game forum window he was reading. The noise had come from Jar-lock, and the reason was fairly obvious given the 5 story tall gleaming white square building across the street from where the group had stopped. Pearlescent white, with gold trim around the windows and roof, complete with blue 3D lettering reading “HERO LIAISON OFFICE.” The building towered over everything around it. Kaleb gaped at the sheer gaudiness of the building and the line of differently costumed heroes flowing out the doors. Hotels, restaurants, even a small shopping mall surrounded the building.

As the group approached, Kaleb noticed that it wasn’t one large line coming from the entrance, it was multiple lines all coalescing out of 4 wide double doors. Taped to each door was a large white paper sign with an arrow pointing to one line and the words “Alien Heroes” “Mutant Heroes” and “Magical Heroes.” Grinning at the stupefied faces of his companions as they stared at their respective lines, Kaleb, made his way to the small side-door marked “Mundanes.” Suddenly an Alien grabbed his arm from in their line.

“Hey pal, you’re not in a group or anything are you?!”

The smaller man was ridiculously skinny and seemed to have the power to sweat... profusely. His skin was orange and his eyes were slits that seemed to dart around his head as they tried to look everywhere at once.

“Whoa, geez no!” Kaleb yelled, involuntarily answering as he hopped back away from the diminutive Alien.

The orange guy’s eyes widened, and he followed Kaleb, grabbing his arm again and making shushing noises. “Shhhh, keep it down, man. You’ve never seen a Rapidian before, that’s fine, lets talk about it inside.”

Kaleb glanced around and realized he seemed to be the certain of attention suddenly, sensing something was off he asked the Rapidian. “You get something from grouping with a mundane, don’t you?” Kaleb cast his eyes around as he asked hoping someone would give away something, but all he saw was a bunch of hungry-eyed players all eyeing him like he was the prize cow at the steak factory.

“They want to skip the line.” he heard Abby’s voice speak up as she elbowed her way to him with the rest of his friends close behind her.

“What?” Kaleb asked as the orange Alien stared at the group with a surly expression.

Jar-lock spoke up making eye contact with anyone stupid enough to stare daggers at their little group “yeah, seems that since the mundane line is so short they are letting them register in groups.”

“But the trick is that the group that register’s with the mundane kinda has to look after the little unpowered.” Two Gun said strolling up to Kaleb with Claire on his arm and an evil grin on his face.

“Oh C’mon, how do I need looking after?!” Kaleb exclaimed loudly, Claire gave a short cough and pointedly stared at her friend’s severed arm while the orange Rapidian gave a loud snort and walked off to rejoin his line. “That… That wasn’t my fault, my gun blew up.” Kaleb said hesitantly.

Claire patted his shoulder in a conciliatory gesture saying “We know, dear, just think of this as the game helping people to group up.”

Kaleb gave a raspy sigh gesturing toward the “Mundane,” door “Come on you guys, lets at least get registered.”

Kaleb’s group drew envious stares as they made their way into the office building. The lobby of the building was rather plain with tan-white walls, white tiled flooring and two steel and wood curved stairways leading to the second floor. The different hero lines spread out from the lobby, with two lines heading up to the second floor and the other one heading straight across from the main doors into an arched doorway with the words Alien in raised lettering above the arch.

To the right of the main doors was another arched doorway with Mundanes above it. Leading his group through the archway he walked into a large room that looked horrifyingly like a DMV office; a large chest-high desk ran the length of the room with four female tellers sitting behind computers clacking away as the stench of sweat and cigarette smoke pervaded the air.

In the room, besides the four tellers, were maybe sixteen Mundane heroes all in casual clothes, along with several police officers and men in various colored suits. While four Mundanes were being helped by the tellers, the men in suits and police officers were approaching the heroes and handing out cards or having lengthy conversations with different Mundane Heroes. Like Kaleb, several other Mundanes had groups with them standing off to the side, the police and suits weren’t talking so much to them, beyond being polite.

As Kaleb and the others entered several suits seemed to lock on to Kaleb’s attire and stated to approach quickly followed by a police officer that Kaleb recognized. Officer Battlehorn gave Kaleb a curt nod as the five guys in suits all talked at once, each holding a business card out.

“I represent….”

“... Vulcan Industries would like...”

“... promote an environment of growth...”

“... greatest group of minds...”

“... if you know what’s good for you.”

He had been ready for it but the vehemence with which these men verbally assaulted him was surprising. He tried to listen to what each representative was saying, especially that last one, but the practiced intro each gave was so fast he gave up. Battlehorn was smirking beside the suits holding his hat and quietly watching and waiting.

After Kaleb took each of their cards he said “uh, thanks, but as it stands right now I am trying to make it on my own. But if I ever need corporate backing, I’ll call around.” Each suit took his words with fake grins and walked off, two went up to his friends and handed off their business cards again saying something in low tones to the group that Kaleb couldn’t hear.

Battlehorn walked forward as Kaleb sighed loudly, the grey man was chuckling softly making his horned nose bounce up and down. “The corporate boys are always aggressive when they see a new inventor trying to get into the game. I doubt you heard the last from them, a few of them might even follow you home.”

Kaleb sighed again, asking “Any special way to get them to back off?”

Battlehorn laughed again at that “You could pick one, that would get them to back off. But, I don’t think you’ll be doing that soon.” He gave Kaleb an appraising look continuing “You could also join the Police Division, you probably won’t make the Super Hero Unit right off the bat but you’ll get resources to work with.”

Kaleb squinted his eyes at the Mutant “And what limitations would I be working with, Exactly?”

Battlehorn kept a straight face as he answered “Non-lethal inventions only and everything you make would be the property of the Austin Super Powered Police Division. You’d only use your inventions when they had been mass produced and handed out to the Division based on seniority.”

Kaleb grimaced “Well, thanks for the honesty at least. But that doesn’t seem like my speed either.”

Battlehorn nodded saying “I figured, but each officer here today is making the same offer in each hero office. The SPPD isn’t for everyone and part of the Hero Tax comes to us anyway, so most officers aren’t even trying too hard at recruitment.”

Two Gun piped up, having walked over with the rest of Kaleb’s friends “The what tax?”

Battlehorn greeted the others and explained “We deduct the Hero Tax automatically whenever a hero collects a bounty or completes a mission assigned by the HLO, also anything sold to the HLO has a percentage placed aside that goes to the city. The tax is there to cover any damages made to the city or to outfit the SPPD. Events like last night aren’t taxed but those are rare.”

Jar-lock asked a question next “How much is this tax?”

For the first time the grey mutant seemed to hesitate glancing at Kaleb and saying “5% for the powered and… 10% for Mundanes.”

*DING*

“Number 20 to the front desk please, number 20 to the front desk. Thank you.”

The tone followed by the loud intercom shook Kaleb from his shock and he watched as one hero cut off from his group and walked up to the counter. Realizing he hadn’t grabbed a ticket, he started back toward the desk to grab one before Abby caught his attention handing him a small white ticket with the number 30 on it. “Claire and I grabbed them as we walked in.” She said.

Kaleb nodded thanks to Abby before he shook off the vestiges of his shock and turning to Battlehorn asked “Why is the tax doubled for mundanes?”

Battlehorn gave a pain smiled as he answered “They’ll tell you its cause the cost of doing business with mundanes is so high, injuries and all that, but really it’s because City Hall doesn’t want Mundanes running off and trying to compete with people who can pick up and throw buildings.”

“Every time a Mundane ends up in the hospital or worse, it’s bad press on City Hall. Ozarious and Mayor Kennedy have worked hard on making Supers a proper part of the system, but with mundanes its tricky.”

“You lot are saying you want to help people without going through the proper channels, so the Mayor lumped you into the HLO with the agreement that Ozarious would make it a pain to be a Mundane hero.”

Kaleb was growing anger at the unfair treatment but he also understood, at least those with powers had an excuse to be out fighting crime. What was a person like Claire going to do if not fighting crime, work for a moving company? He had to ask though “What about the current Mundane heroes, there have to be positive examples of Mundanes kicking ass out there.”

Battlehorn nodded “There are a few, but it’s a high turnover.” he said looking around “There are 23 Mundanes registering today, 16 have already accepted sponsorship from the corporations or signed on with the SPPD. With sponsorship: The corporations pay the tax; with the SPPD: the police pay half.”

The number shocked Kaleb that meant that over half of the players here had selected Hard Mode then backed off from that decision at the first opportunity. That just firmed up his own resolve to do this on his own. He would not take the easy choice, he’d be a hero his own way using his own two scaly hands.

Something of Kaleb’s resolve must have shown on his face because officer Battlehorn gave him a sharp nod and gestured toward a group of six heroes who were standing separate from everyone else with his horn “You should talk with them. Like-minded people and all that.”

Kaleb glanced over and smiled taking a few steps toward the group Battlehorn had pointed out before he heard Two Gun ask Battlehorn another question “What do YOU think of Mundane heroes?”

Battlehorn’s face turned grave as he said “We can’t continue to underestimate them. You remember Cog from last night?” waiting until everyone nodded he continued “He is a Mundane and look what he has done.”

The mention of Cog reminded Kaleb of his newest gadget nestled around his head. He had gotten used to the red tinge the lens caused in his left eye and the metal band was snug but not uncomfortable. Snapping the crystal housing open and removing the green memory crystal he spoke to Battlehorn “I pulled this from the Bruiser robot, Benny, last night. It might have something useful on it but I would still like to keep the crystal.”

Battlehorn gently took the crystal, smiling wide he said “a crystal from a named 3rd-tier battle robot, not bad.” gesturing for the group to follow him, Battlehorn walked to the far end of the counter where an empty computer sat and shouted “Etha-Farrah!”

At his shout several heroes looked over and talking stopped. A tall woman with rabbit ears stuck her head up from a desk behind the main counter. “What do you want Warren?” she asked unmoving from her desk, half a sandwich held in her hand. Her voice was high but not whiny or reedy more like a flute, and she had a short no nonsense manner that Battlehorn seemed familiar with.

Battlehorn just gave a strained smile as he asked “Let me commandeer this terminal along with a crystal reader.” seeing her snort dismissively, he added “It’s about Cog.”

Suddenly there was a burst of wind and a rustle of papers and suddenly the tall woman was standing in front of them holding a small rectangle similar to the power housing Kaleb was familiar with. Along with her professional attire Kaleb also noticed that, oddly enough, she was wearing tennis shoes. Everything about her attire, save for the shoes, spoke of a serious employee who took pride in her job.

“Do you need access to HLO’s database?” she asked Battlehorn sparing a glance at Kaleb and his friends.

Battlehorn shook his head “I need a second to log into the SPPD from here. Is this secure, Farrah?”

Farrah looked affronted saying “WE secured the SPPD’s systems last year, Warren.” glaring at him before continuing “If someone can compromise our system then yours probably has been already.”

Battlehorn gave a nod as he lifted the computer to the counter-top and plugged in what Kaleb assumed was the crystal reader. Inserting the crystal and typing swiftly the screen went black as Battlehorn explained “We have collected several memory crystals from named Bruisers and are hoping to use them all to find out where they came from. We’ve got all the info saved in the SPPD’s servers if we add yours in as well we might get a clearer picture.”

“So the police are... aware of what’s in the Bruisers?” Kaleb asked hesitatingly drawing stares from his friend and the rabbit woman, Farrah.

Battlehorn sucked in a breath and looked around seeing if anyone else heard “We know, but there’s no sense in it, they’re not being used for anything mechanically and there have been no reports of… THEM, missing from anywhere. Hospitals, graveyards, colleges all have had none go missing.”

Farrah and Kaleb’s friends looked confused as Battlehorn continued to type into the computer, multiple images flashing onto the screen and shifting into six separate smaller video screens. Claire was the one who asked “What are you two talking about?”

Kaleb looked at Battlehorn waiting for a go ahead which Battlehorn gave in the form of a sharp nod. Lowering his tone Kaleb explained “When I was taking Benny apart I cracked open his chest plate and found a bisected corpse. It was a man with no eyelids, just laying there dead. That’s where the memory crystal was.”

Farrah gave a sharp gasp as the others gave noises of equal amounts shock and disgust. Battlehorn tapped a key and whispered “But we can’t find out where he’s getting them, we’re hoping the video will explain some of it.”

The video from the memory crystal was weird to watch, each of the six screens was playing a video from the point of view of a Bruiser robot, but they were playing in reverse. 3 Bruisers were fighting on Congress Avenue Bridge, 2 had been raging through downtown, and Benny was reverse-smashing Kaleb through the Nova’s store window. Kaleb tried to focus on each screen watching as the Bruisers disengaged with their fights and traveled in groups back down Chavez street to the west in reverse while Benny was also reversing west but through Metropolitan Park crushing through trees and baseball parks.

“Where are they going?” Kaleb asked watching as the Bruisers continued west on different sides of the Colorado river before abruptly switching to white static on all six screens.

Battlehorn let out a sigh as each screen died at the same time “We tried getting a Geosync from the crystals but it shows the group on Chavez street continuing west just like you saw.” He said.

Two Gun spoke up next “Except for the Professor’s, roll back the sixth Bruisers footage.”

Battlehorn looked quizzical but did as Two Gun asked and reversed Benny’s footage to just before the static appeared “There! Stop!” Two Gun was pointing at the screen which showed Benny standing in a park and facing the Colorado river. “Isn’t that Lou Neff Point?”

Battlehorn grinned and said “Yes, it is.” but then he got a questioning look on his face and asked he’s own question “Why is it staring at the Point?”

Kaleb noticed it this time “Look at the setting sun.” The sun had been setting but in the water's reflection was the image of the setting sun but something split it in half as if the reflective surface of the water was just gone.

Battlehorn gave a sharp “Hah!” as he typed something into the computer and saying “They came from underground! An exit like that must have left a trace. I’ve got to get back to the station.” He finished typing and started for the door, walking a few steps before realizing that Kaleb and the others were following him.

He shook his head saying “No way, you lot haven’t registered yet and even if you were this would be above your Hero Rank.” turning to Farrah he said “Make sure they get the standard reward for valuable information, Code Charlie.”

Farrah seemed miffed asking “Just Charlie?”

Battlehorn put on his hat and shrugged his shoulders saying “I don’t set priority codes. Cog’s a Mundane, That’s what headquarters assigned him.”

Kaleb sighed loudly along with everyone else including Farrah who noticed everyone’s mood and laughed saying “Don’t worry there’s always a villain to fight.” she quickly typed something into the computer and disconnected the memory crystal.

Kaleb took the crystal back asking “Can we erase this so I can use it as a recording device?”

“Warren erased it before he left, and you know we offer HLO branded recorders to all newly registered heroes, right?” Farrah answered nodding.

Kaleb installed the crystal into his head gadget and said “I figured, but I like using my equipment. I can upgrade it easier that way.”

Taking in the lumpy sword and Bruiser armor, she nodded “I see that, well we can get that all sorted out when we go through registration.” seeing the expectant looks on the groups faces she added “once you all take a ticket and wait in line properly.”

Everyone groaned and moved away except Jar-lock who leaned on the counter-top and adopted a low tone asking, “Aww, are you sure sugar. Maybe we could work something out?”

Farrah froze and Kaleb thought Jar-lock had crossed a line before the Rabbit woman leaned close raising a finger bringing it close to Jar-lock’s nose and in a seductive tone said

“I don’t think so... sugar.”

As she said “sugar” Farrah tapped Jar-lock on the nose; There was a loud electric snap and Jar-lock flew back 6 feet landing sprawled on the floor.

Once the group had picked up Jar-lock, and Two Gun had stopped laughing, they mingled around the room. Kaleb made his way to the group of 6 Mundanes that Battlehorn had pointed out. The group seemed wary of everyone else, sticking together but separate from the rest of the mundanes. As Kaleb approached, he noticed the guy in the trench coat from the battle on congress avenue was there, they group saw him coming and made room for him, a couple shooting him nods the others just watching him.

Kaleb grinned widely showing his pointed teeth and asked “I hear this is the hard mode crew?”

The group appeared stunned at his gravelly voice but Trench Coat recovered first laughing “yeah, I guess we are.” sticking out his hand he introduced himself “Jericho Deckart, Detective”

Kaleb took the offered hand and introduced himself as he looked over Jericho and the rest of the group. There were three men and three women, all slightly shorter than Kaleb and all dressed casually. Kaleb could make out that Jericho seemed to be the only one armed, the large bore pistol he had been using yesterday peeking out from under his tan trench coat.

The two other men were twins, weird for an online game but some family and even friends would create their avatars together. While one introduced himself as Robert, shaking Kaleb’s offered hand, the other was more standoffish. Running a hand through his red hair, the other twin gave a terse introduction giving his name as Rick and then pointedly ignoring Kaleb.

Each of the three women of the group eyed him in disgust, curiosity, and interest respectively. The one with the ponytail gave a firm handshake and introduced herself as Andrea. The second woman seemed engrossed with the silver and blue wrist computer and, given the way she was avoiding eye contact with him, was probably put off by his appearance. She slapped his open hand five and told him her name was Rox.

The shortest one took his offered handshake excitedly and introduced herself as Toni. Her eyes roamed his body up and down. She seemed more interested in the equipment Kaleb was wearing more than anything he had to say. As the group introduced themselves they also gave their archetype selections: Rick and Robert were both Athletes, Andrea was a journalist, Rox was a Rocker, and Toni was, of all things, a Gang Member.

Smiling down at the young woman Kaleb asked “You’re aware this the HERO liaison office, right?”

Toni just smiled back “But think about it. If Mundanes are the hard mode than a Gang Member hero has got to be like Extreme Mode.”

Kaleb couldn’t help but agree, while Andrea snorted derisively, ignoring her Kaleb asked “But, how does it work?”

Toni seemed excited to answer saying “Well I’m just a runner for a small street gang but if I gain enough face points and stick with the same crew, we can grow into an underground empire.”

“An underground CRIMINAL empire.” one twin said, Rick, Kaleb thought.

Toni shrugged “I can set how the crew runs its stuff, we can be legit. Maybe call ourselves a protection agency.”

Andrea snorted again at this saying “and I told you: you bit off more than you could chew.”

Toni just rolled her eyes and ignored the journalist while Rox seemed to be busy playing with her wrist mounted computer and Robert was having a quiet argument with Rick about something. Deckart gave Kaleb a forced smile saying “Gamers, what are you gonna do? I was just talking to this bunch about maybe grouping together sometimes and showing people what we could accomplish.”

Rick gave a snort gesturing toward Kaleb as Robert seemed to want to stop him “Don’t bother with him, you see the group he walked in with? He already has people carrying him.”

The Athletes anger surprised Kaleb, but he quickly realized it was just the normal online asshole you get when playing these types of games. Smiling Kaleb just shook he’s head and stared into Rick’s eyes “gee, I am sorry I found friends before you. I know that must hurt, but you’ll find people to put up with you someday.”

Rick turned as red as his hair screaming at Kaleb “Whatever fucker, least we didn’t suck some old guys’ cock for protection, or maybe you let the big guy fuck you so they would protect your lizard ass!”

Kaleb just continued smiling as a low voice rang out from behind Rick, “Y’know, he ain’t let me hit that yet. But you’re more my speed, sugar.” Jar-lock said.

Jar-lock placed both his hands on Rick’s shoulders from behind the smaller man and, smiling over his head at Kaleb, asked “Who’s this red-headed cutie?”

Kaleb tried to keep a straight face as he answered “Just your standard internet troll, not worth any XP though, best to leave him be.”

Jar-lock gave an exaggerated sigh saying “Sad.”

He released Rick’s shoulders and moved to stand next to Kaleb. Rick, unsurprisingly, seemed to get more livid “SEE! This fuck, already has them protecting him.”

Kaleb shook his head and turned to Deckart who was studying Rick with a look of disappointment “Just add me and let me know if you want to group sometime” turning to the three females he added “You ladies are free to do the same.”

Toni was nodding her head as was Andrea, Rox still seemed enthralled with her wrist computer. Robert gave an apologetic look as Rick just stood fuming by his side. Kaleb and Jar-lock walked off toward Abby, Two Gun, and Claire who had moved closer to the counter as their numbers were about to come up.

Looking at Kaleb, Two Gun asked “What was that about.”

Kaleb just shook his head saying “Just some asshole saying my fun was wrong.”

Jar-lock gave a short laugh as the others just looked at Kaleb questioningly. Shaking his head again to let his friends know he didn’t want to discuss it, Kaleb glanced at the various tellers at the counter just in time to see Farrah lean into a microphone.

“Number 30 to the front desk please, Number 30 to the front desk.”

Kaleb was happy to get the registration out of the way and walked over to Farrah’s terminal smiling widely. “Don’t look too happy, you’ll make the rest of us look bad.” Farrah said grinning at Kaleb’s obvious exuberance.

Kaleb just continued to smile saying “I can’t help it, I will finally be a registered Super.”

Farrah shook her head, adding in a more serious tone, “Even with what it has cost you?” She was staring at his haphazardly bandaged arm with a mix of pity and disapproval.

Kaleb’s smile disappeared at the severe look she gave his injury and for the first time he noticed something. “You used to be a Super too, didn’t you?” he asked, voice low so as not to embarrass her or himself.

She transferred her gaze from his arm to his face, keeping the same look of disapproval and pity. Tapping away at the computer she printed something off before grabbing the newly printed paper and handing it to Kaleb said “Fill this out, in full, then hand it back.”

Watching Farrah go back to typing rapidly and sensing he had crossed a line, Kaleb thought it best to keep his head down and fill out the form. It was a simple information sheet: asking for his name, date of birth, house location, vocation, it even had a place for his assistant’s name. Filling in what he knew about Roy Nova, Kaleb handed the paper back saying.

“My assistant is graduating from High School soon, he kinda wants to be a hero too.”

Not looking at him Farrah took the piece of paper, “That’s fine so long as he doesn’t go on any HLO sanctioned missions before he turns 18.” Glancing down at the sheet she suddenly let out a loud sigh saying “Of course, your assistant has to be Roy Nova.” The rabbit woman sounded exasperated at everything he did.

Trying his best to look contrite, afraid she would mess with his registration, Kaleb asked “So you know him?”

Farrah returned her sharp gaze to his face making Kaleb flinch back at its intensity. Keeping her voice calm she said “There isn’t a receptionist in this wing who hasn’t heard of him,” pinching the bridge of her nose she continued “forget how he is the grandson of one of Texas’ great Mundane heroes, the boy has been in here multiple times since he turned 16 trying to get us to sign off on his registration.”

Kaleb smiled again and tried for a joke saying “So, no pressure, huh?”

Farrah made direct eye, her light red eyes staring straight into Kalebs green ones, her tone was still calm but her long ears laid flat against her auburn hair “Oh you should feel pressured, if anything happens to that boy on your watch there are plenty of people who’d make you disappear and there are plenty more who wouldn’t bat an eye at your disappearance.”

Kaleb could see his throat move in his reflection in Farrah’s eyes as he gulped “And which camp are you in?” he asked nervously.

Farrah smiled sweetly and broke eye contact turning back to her computer and asking “Was there anything else you needed? Oh yes, you wanted to use your own recording device correct?”

Momentarily put off by her silent refusal to answer his question, he thought better of saying anything and answered “um, yeah. I mean yes ma’am. If that’s not a problem.”

Kaleb removed the metal band from his head careful not to damage the red lens and handed it to Farrah who took it gently, almost like she was afraid it would explode at any moment. She twisted the head band around until she spotted something on the power housing, making a noise of surprise she reached below the desk and Kaleb could hear a drawer opening and her hand scrabbling around searching for something.

“Something the matter?” Kaleb asked as he watched her step back, shoot a glance down at the drawer, and immediately see what she had been grasping at.

“Hmm?” she said noticing him watching her questioningly “oh, no it’s just that this tech is so old I had to find a proper power connector” she said holding up the black wire she had pulled from the drawer.

Giving a grunt of displeasure, Kaleb crossed his arms and watched as she plugged the head band’s power housing into her terminal. I work with what I have thought Kaleb as he quietly sulked I mean it’s not like I’ve got access to best stuff.

Farrah finished what she was doing and looked up at Kaleb, seeing him sulking she gave her first genuine smile and said “If you wanted access to better equipment, you’d be better off being a little worker drone at one the tech companies.”

Kaleb winced “True. I’ll get there though, I’ll find my way to make high-end tech.”

Farrah handed his head band back saying, “That’s the spirit, now I’ve loaded your... head band? With HLO’s software. Unfortunately, the crystal housing lacks a WiFi node, so until you install one you must log in to the HLO website from home and upload the footage before you get paid for your work.”

Kaleb took the headband back and placed it on his head, mentally kicking himself for his lack of forethought “Damn, I didn’t think about that. Is it set to upload automatically once I install WiFi?” he asked.

Farrah nodded, back to her neutral serious expression “Yes, it is. You also need to take one of these,” she reached down again pulling out a slim blue and white wrist band with a circular face. Kaleb thought it looked like a wristwatch without a face, instead it had a speaker. “this is your communicator, it will keep you in touch with your handler and when your head band is WiFi enabled your handler will provide missions, information updates, and critical mission information in real time.”

Kaleb would’ve quirked an eyebrow if his current physiology allowed him to. “Handler?” He asked staring down the counter at his friends talking things over with their own tellers “Will they be getting handlers too or is it another ‘benefit’ for Mundanes?”

Farrah quirked her eyebrow and answered “Yes, every Rank C or lower hero gets assigned an HLO handler. Even some higher-ranked heroes keep their handlers from their lower ranked days.” She gestured down the counter at his group “Your friends will have handlers assigned to them from their own respective offices.”

Kaleb nodded asking another question “And our Ranks are…?”

Farrah gave another genuine smile saying “You are all Rank E. We adjust ranks based on the recorded performance of the hero and the handlers reports.”

Kaleb nodded his head and moved away, giving Farrah a “Thank you, ma’am.” he had only made it a few steps before Farrah called out to him.

“One more thing I forgot to mention, the Memory crystal your gadget is using had enough data storage for the current edition of the Villain’s Compendium. You should be able to see the attribute data for all known villains and their minions on that lens of yours. It won’t do anything for the random thugs on the streets but if their big time or work for someone big time, the data will show it.”

Kaleb smiled and said “Cool.” flicking the power switch on his head band he looked around the room excited to learn the stats of those nearby. But when he settled his gaze on Two Gun, who had finished his registration and was moving toward Kaleb, he got a weird message.

*Two Gun*

Data Access Blocked

Kaleb turned an inquisitive stare at Farrah who was shaking her head. “Not heroes. Villains, you lizard.”

Kaleb just waved and gave Farrah an awkward smile before making his way toward his friends who were gathering at the arched doorway. His group of friends were walking out of the building discussing some of what they learned and what Cog could possible be up to under the Colorado before Kaleb realized he hadn’t asked who his handler was. Checking his status page he missed a step before smiling widely at the obviousness. There toward the bottom of his Status Page, just below his skill list, was the name of his handler.

*Handler*

Etha-Farrah Kyneklos–Retired Hero