Chapter 02 – 01

Alex’s side was killing him, but he could feel the regeneration power doing its job, all be it slowly. His head rested against the concrete wall behind him. Traffic passed by the entrance to the alley completely unaware of him, or at least they could have been aware, but they were ignoring him.

Dizziness, accompanied by a gentle buzz from his phone that let him know about the debuff, flooded his head as he pushed himself to his feet. The world around him doubled and tripled as he tried to focus. The punch to the head seemed to have done more damage than he realized.

The unconscious bodies of defeated foes in My Supers Online did not simply vanish like in other MMOs dead or otherwise. They instead lingered as they would in the real world. The reasoning behind this was that if a player was committing villainous acts the body would remain, so they could potentially be caught. Players had to hide bodies, to cover their asses. If a Hero left a body, then it could act as a warning to others who would commit crime.

Alex knelt and picked up the crowbar. A tool that he thought would withstand the force of his strikes, at lease for the time being. He searched the bodies and pulled needles from each. To get his feet on solid ground as a hero he was going to need a healthy supply of Thread not including the rent on his sleep pod outside of My Supers.

-Needles 5x

-Total Value: 1250t

-Deposit in personal account?

-Yes | No

Even though it was the early afternoon the sky was turning to a dark grey. Rain clouds were moving in as Alex limped out of the alleyway. Cars whipped by with no concern of the people walking down the road. People yelled at the cars shaking their fists, people in the cars yelled back making obscene gestures with their fingers.

Alex never really paid attention to how in need Winter’s Garden was of a hero. As an admin he never really paid attention to the balance. It was below him. He received reports of the city’s alignment each night at midnight, but never really looked too deeply into the actions that led to the results in the reports.

Ducking into a dark alley Alex disabled the mask skin. He didn’t want to be identified as a hero and attacked again so soon. The sidewalks were crowded even in the rain. This forced him to have to duck and weave around the masses. He tried not to bump into anyone if he could avoid it.

The building that he was looking for did not inspire much hope when he found it. It was about three stories tall constructed of red brick. The glass of the front door was shattered and had been haphazardly repaired with a sheet of plywood that just barely covered the hole.

A large sign hanging crooked over the door read Winter Garden’s Hero Bureau. The end of the last word was missing having been singed off by some kind of explosion. Most of the building’s windows were dark, but there was one light coming from a window on the first floor.

Alex pulled on the door, which was locked, but he ended up breaking the bolt on accident. He walked inside and pulled the door to. Using a spare scrap of wood, he slid it through the handle to keep the door shut.

“Hello!” He yelled calling out into the darkness.

His words echoed around him as he took a few steps into the building’s empty somewhat creepy entryway. It seemed like it was some kind of apartment building at one point. He moved in the general direction of where the light had been on in the window.

“Hello?!” He yelled again reactivating the mask skin on his glasses. Lightly he pushed the door opened. Leading off to the right side of the main hallway.

“I’m sorry son, but you’re a bit late.” A dark voice said from the back of the room. There was a desk where sat the lamp that was illuminating the room. The voice came from behind a chair that had its back to the doorway and the light.

“It’s pretty messed up that the Hero Bureau in a town that clearly needs some heroes is locked up tight, well ish.” Alex said crossing his arms over his chest. He fought back a sigh of pain as his injuries were still in the regeneration process.

“No heroes, no hero bureau.” the man said with a pain filled chuckle.

“There is a hero standing right here.” Alex said standing up straight against his pains.

“Sorry kid, but you’re barking up the wrong tree. Why don’t you head over to Winter’s Gate where a hero can do some good? This is a villain’s hot spot.” The man said turning the chair slowly around. The man revealed looked like a detective from the forty’s suspenders, fedora, and all.

“I just took out eight Goldys.” Alex bragged trying to fight back laughter.

“Oh, wow really? You took down eight of the weakest criminals in the town?!” The man stood sharply and exclaimed sarcastically.

“Ouch, way to build up someone’s confidence.” Alex said putting his hand over his heart.

“I’m not here to build up your confidence.” The man said shaking his head.

“Look, I’m here to stay. Why don’t you just give me some missions.” Alex said shifting his weight from one foot to the other, realized that it was his bad leg, then shifted it back sharply while trying to hide any signs of distress.

“Are you serious about this?” The man asked.

“Dead serious.” Alex said with a sharp nod.

“Fine.” The man said walking around to stand in front of Alex, “My name is Dick.”

“Of course, it is.” Alex sighed, “Aether.” He held out his hand for Dick to shake.

“Pick an apartment upstairs. I’ll give you the first month’s rent free to get you on your feet. Lord knows you’re going to need all the help you can get. Next thing you need to do is go down to the sidekick office and get yourself some help. It’s likely slim pickings here, but like I said all the help you can get.” Dick said giving Alex a firm handshake.

“Alright, I’ll go do that now. I want to try and get up a couple of tiers before the first payout.” Alex nodded. Payouts for money were Sunday at midnight. Payout for experience occurred every night at midnight.

“You’ve gotten the crap beaten out of you boy. Rent’s free, take the night.” Dick said shaking his head and walked over to a small bar to the side of the room. He picked up an unlabeled bottle of brown liquor. Two ice cubes clinked into a glass and the sound of the booze pouring into the glass filled the room.

“If it’s all the same.” Alex said turning to walk out of the room.

“Wait.” Dick sighed, “Go to the sidekick office first.” He walked over to the desk, “But if you need to get some more action there’s a drug deal happening at the docks.”

-A Dent to the Drug Trade

-There is a drug deal that will occur midday at the docks. Stop the drug deal and deal damage to the drug trade.

-Accept?

-Yes | No

“In the middle of the day?” Alex said turning to look at Dick. He accepted the mission.

“They don’t have anyone to stop them, so why not? Low security, to them it’s like receiving a delivery from a grocery truck. There is also a demonstration downtown near the city hall. See if you can lend a hand.” Dick said as he laced his fingers and leaned back in his chair.

-A City in Pain

-There is a demonstration happening at the city hall. Check out what is going on to determine if you can lend a hand.

-Accept?

-Yes | No

“Alright, I’ll take care of it.” Alex said with a sure nod. He left the office accepting the second mission as well.

The landing on the second level had a flight of stairs that went up to the third floor, but it was destroyed. There were five doors that lead to apartments. Alex didn’t really give it much thought, he just chose the first door at the top of the landing.

The apartment was a mess. Possibly years of disregard floated through the air. He took a few steps into the room and ended up doing a crazy dance when he walked through a cobweb. He spit and sputtered until it felt like it was gone. There were two bedrooms a kitchen and a bathroom all in desperate need of being scrubbed from top to bottom. The larger bedroom had a large window that looked out over the city. It wasn’t a great view, it was mostly blocked by another building.

“A job for another time.” He mumbled to himself looking around at the filthy room.

Early evening found the sidewalks packed from shoulder to shoulder. The Sidekick office was halfway across town. Alex carved a path through the crowd only stopping a single time en route kicking himself for not taking teleportation. He took a moment at a hotdog stand to get something to eat. His stomach was growling loudly. As he scarfed down the tiny meal, he found that his healing power was working much more efficiently with the food to work with. He made a mental note that he needed to make sure and get his calorie intake for the day. His energy would also regenerate if he ate.

The sidekick office was not in shambles like the Hero Bureau. This was most likely due to the fact that villains could get sidekicks as well as heroes. The building was four stories tall, built of smooth concrete and dark shadowed glass. Alex felt that it was something straight out of a villain’s mind.

He took a deep breath and walked towards the building. The doors which were nothing more than panes of glass slid open for him, clearing his path. Inside the entryway there were two paths leading to opposite sides of the building. Right was for heroes and left was designated for villains. There was a line on the villain side of things. The building’s interior was a safe zone where heroes and villains were forced to get along because they couldn’t attack each other.

Alex strolled past them thankful that he had reactivated his mask skin before walking into the building. He walked down the hallway to the hero’s sidekick recruitment area. The lobby was completely empty, there was dust covering everything. An older woman sat behind the counter with her legs up on the counter and a book laid over her face. Her snores echoed loudly around the room. He cleared his throat and walked across the room. His knuckles wrapped the dusty glass echoing around the room.

The woman jumped with a start causing the book to fall off of her face. She looked around clutching her chest. Her eyes locked on Alex and for a moment she didn’t move like she didn’t believe that he was there.

“Can I help you son?” She asked in a croaked old voice. She stood up from the chair and fixed her glasses. Looking down at her desk she shuffled some papers around in front of her.

“I’m here for a sidekick.” Alex said in a loud commanding voice.

“The villain sidekicks are down the other hall.” The woman waved her hand dismissively.

“No ma’am, I am a hero and I am here for my sidekick.” Alex said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Ohh, I’m so sorry! Let me get some paperwork.” She turned and walked to a filing cabinet. When she opened the drawer as far as it would move. There were a lonesome two files dangling from the rails. She grabbed the files and returned to Alex.

“Are there only two choices?” Alex asked resting his hands on the small shelf under the window.

“Yes. You can have either one, as long as you pay em.” The woman said sliding the files through the small slot over the shelf.

Alex opened the first folder. There was a picture of a young woman who was dressed like a hippy. She had long green hair and piercing blue eyes like water.

-Flower Child

-Age: 18

-Power: Plants

-Pay/Week: Base 1/10 Tier intake.

Alex closed the first folder absolutely sure that was not the sidekick that he wanted. He opened up the other folder to a picture of a young woman who could only be described as punk. She had long purple hair, dark purple eyes and wore a long purple hoodie. She was wearing black shoes and a black skirt over purple leggings.

-Obsidian

-Age: 19

-Power: Hardening Skin

-Pay/Week Base + 1/10 Tier intake. (Base 500 Thread per week if no Tier is made)

“I’ll take Obsidian.” Alex said passing the folders back through the slot.

“Well they are both for hire if you feel that you can take on more help.” The woman said as she began typing slowly on her computer. After a few moments while Alex frustratingly watched she extracted a sheet of paper from the printer and slid it through the slot.

“I can’t afford two right now, but maybe in the future.” He said with a nod attempting to take the paper.

“Protect these young ones with your being.” The woman said refusing to let the paper go.

“Yes ma’am.” Alex nodded.

She let the paper go. Sitting back down in the chair she rested her legs on the counter and didn’t even attempt to read the book. Instead she just laid it over her face in an attempt to go back to sleep.