After reading the message, I asked Galatea, “Do you think it is legit?”

“I traced it back and calculate the probability of it being a legitimate message at over ninety percent. The insecurity is a human factor, I don’t know if the Guild-official that sent the message is corrupted, but I doubt that they would use an hidden asset to flush you out. You are not important enough for that, yet.” Galatea answered.

“It would be risky…” I told Sophia, but I was unable to hide my eagerness. A Guild-supervised mission could bring me onto their radar in a big way.

“I can almost hear the gears in your head turning, thinking of a way to talk yourself into going, despite the risk. You can stop it, I’ll join you. I know how important a mission like this could be to you.” Sophia said, before grinning and giving me a kiss on the lips.

“The meeting is in an hour. I will scout out the location beforehand.” Galatea promised, while we stood and went to gear up, donning our respective armour.

Before we left the bunker, Galatea made sure that nobody and nothing was close enough to witness our emergence, as it was the first time that we left the bunker in costume during daylight and neither of us was inconspicuous. Once we were out, in the open, I realized that my light absorbing armour was great during the night but stood out like a sore thumb in the daylight. As I started my way up the hill, I wondered if I could make myself less conspicuous somehow, but there was nothing. Maybe wearing a large, hooded coat would help but only so much.

Today, we moved in a different direction than normal, up the hill and down another part of it, trying to hide the location of my base even further, just in case. We had enough time after all. Galatea reported that two people in Guild-colours had entered the building and nobody since them. It was strange, moving through the city in daylight with people staring and pointing. Sure, superpowers were general knowledge but it was rather rare to see someone in such an extreme costume during the day, most powered activity was more clandestine and carried out at night.

Shortly before we arrived, Galatea told us that another group had arrived, this one came by car. She showed me three people getting out a black SUV, two were dressed in black bodystockings and looked female and perfectly identical, the other was dressed in a black suit with a venetian mask of all things.

When we got to the meeting place, it turned out to be rather ordinary inside. It was an open-floor room, a warehouse or something like that but a large, round table was set in the middle. The two people in Guild-Colours were already seated and the other three were waiting on the side. When we entered, the man in suit and mask walked towards us, with the other two in tow. As he approached, I took stock of him. The suit concealed his build very well, I could only see that he was average in build and nothing more. His mask was a large, white thing with a smile carved into it, concealing his facial features.

“Greetings, you two. It’s an honour to meet you Metis, Anath. You can call me the Shadow Broker.” he said with a smooth voice. It was a most pleasing baritone, a voice one could listen for hours.

“Pleased to meet you. With your name, let me guess, you are a broker of secret information or possibly hard to come by wares?” I asked, letting amusement creep into my voice.

“Ah, yes, most astute. But be assured, I don’t connect secret identities with real identities, that would be hazardous to my health. I also don’t try to bring anyone down, unless there is a good reason to do so. I am just a facilitator of trade.”

“We will have to establish a communication-channel. I believe that I would like to work with you.” I told him. I had a good feeling about the guy, not good enough to trust him, but good enough to let Galatea screen him.

He handed me a business-card of all things and after a glance, I placed it into a small, shielded compartment of my armour.

While we spoke, Galatea had shown me another group approaching and entering the building. This one were two man, both wearing camouflage clothes and bandanas for some reason. Before I could wonder about their identity, two people in Heroes’ League colours turned up. When they entered, I realised that one of them was the Cryokinetic I had fought before, the other I had never seen before.

“Ah, all groups that might turn up, are here. I don’t think that the Black Angels will attend after their troubles yesterday.” One of the two guild-members spoke up. “Why don’t you seat yourself and I can tell you why you are all here.”

The various costumed people took seats, as far as possible from each other. I looked at the chair in suspicion for a moment, not quite trusting it to support my weight, before gingerly seating myself.

“Now, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Metanite and I’m one of the field operatives of the ‘Powered Human Cooperation Guild’, just like my compatriot Pathfinder here.” he spoke with an air of confidence. Both of them looked quite alike. The Guild colours of dark green and grey made for rather bland uniforms but it worked. They were not flashy, but plain and simple business.

“We were sent here because our instruments indicated that an scourge outbreak will happen nearby. Sadly, our instruments spot small outbreaks only very shortly before they happen, so we have very little time, thus our inability to shift more than the two of us here. The outbreak will start in two hours and it will take at least five hours until Guild-support can arrive. New Brunsburg will have to rely on you and those you represent. But why don’t you introduce yourself and whom you represent.” his voice never changed during the announcement. He had just announced that a scourge outbreak was coming, and there was no more emotion in his voice than one would expect when ordering a coffee.

“I am the Shadow Broker. My two bodyguards have agreed to fight on the frontlines while I will help with search and rescue. My powers are ill-suited for direct confrontation.”

“Call me Black.” one of the camouflaged guys announced. “I represent Talon PMC, the boss has agreed to field one unit here. Assume that we are a mix of brawlers and artillery.”

“Metis, this is Anath” I said, as it was apparently my turn. “Just the two of us, one brawler, one artillery.” I said, keeping some of my capabilities to myself. I did not want to let everyone know about my information gathering.

“I’m Skylar, representing the Heroes’ League. It looks like we will provide the bulk of the force. Not surprising.” the hero we didn’t know said. Interestingly, his voice was lacking their normal, arrogant tone. Something to keep in mind.

“Our sensors indicate that the outbreak will start roughly three kilometers downstream. I believe it would be best to divide our forces into four parts, three main parts, one reserve. Could the Talon-Group make up one group?” Metanite asked.

“Yeah, sure. You want to hem them in and hope that we only have wolves and no shepherds?” Mr. Black asked.

“Exactly.”

Well, damn, I hated it when I didn’t know what was going on. My guess was that wolves were the normal scourge-monster and shepherds some sort of higher scourge.

“It might be better if Anath and I are assigned as reserve, we are both lacking in experience against scourge.” I spoke up.

It almost looked as if Skylar was smiling when he spoke up. “I agree. Why don’t the two of you join up with Voltic, one of the League’s junior members. I believe you have met before.”

The meeting went on a little longer, Anath and I were indeed assigned as reserve and the others split the terrain up, assigning parts to individual sub-groups. When everything was said and done, it was time to move out. We were given a tactical channel we could listen to, if we had the gear to do so, and a meeting place so we could meet up with the rest of the reserves.