Chapter 12

Standing next to the curb, opposite our new headquarters, I waited as the car finished pulling up.

“So, guys, what do you think?” I asked motioning to the building behind me, which was not our Tower

“It is…” Richard trailed off trying to find the right words.

“Not what we were expecting.” Hopper finished.

“What are you talking about? No one is even looking at it.” This time I pointed behind them to Eternity Tower.

They all turned around confused. Enough air was absorbed with their combined sighs that Prometheus’s flames would be put out almost instantly.

“Eternity Tower…” David gasped with awe in his voice.

“Now I know it doesn’t look like much now, but with some elbow grease and some love we can fix her up.” I joked.

“Is this for real?” Lucky questioned.

A nod was all I gave in response as I started walking toward the new home of the Honor Guard.

When we stepped into the elevator, I pushed the button for the meeting room and held it there letting the identification process finish.

“Fingerprint verification?” Prometheus inquired.

“Yes and no.” Came the sad sounding voice of Solemn.

“What the hell is that?” David asked as everyone in the elevator, besides me, got into a battle stance.

“I am Solemn, the AI for Eternity Tower.” Solemn started, “And to answer your previous question yes it scans your fingerprint, but it also starts my biometric scan function ensuring that you are no shapeshifter, copy, or even that someone didn’t take your finger.”

“How much money do you have?” Hopper asked turning toward me,

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I challenged playfully raising an eyebrow.

The elevator came to a stop and opened up into the brain of the building. I walked down to join Mastermind at the gigantic table where he was finishing up his paperwork.

“Excuse me, Mr. Stevenson, your pizza has arrived.” Solemn notified me.

“Thanks Solemn, I’ll go grab it. I could use a hand, any takers?” I asked the group.

“I’ll help.” Megan piped seeming a little excited.

“Wanna race down there?” I asked her.

“You know it.” She responded while she limbered up.

“Solemn could you lay out a course that takes us through all of the floors from the floor under us to the ground?” I asked trying to see the limits of the AI.

“Done. Only one entrance and exit from each floor, the green lights along the halls indicate the correct way.” Solemn didn’t even hesitate before answering.

“So cool.” Megan muttered under her breath.

The elevator doors opened with a new green light shining on the inside. We both stepped in Megan stretching her legs, and I bounced in place in preparation as the elevator doors closed and we started moving.

“Once the door opens the race will start.” Solemn told us.

We both took up a sprinter’s starting stance. I felt the elevator slow, then stop.

“Get a good look,” I started making eye contact with Megan, “because you’re not gonna see me again until the first floor.”

“You’re about to learn why the call me The Streak, all you’re gonna see is a streak as I win.” She returned.

The doors opened, and we were off. The green lights shown bright as we followed along the path Solemn had laid out for us.

The first nine floors flew by as we stayed neck and neck, neither of us wanting to let the other take the lead. The race continued in a similar fashion, until we reached the hangar floor, the sunlight shining through the nearly imperceptible window made Megan look away from the path, and she slowed looking at the city. I sort of expected this and sped up, trying to capitalize on her distracted state, taking the lead.

“Hey no fair!” she yelled.

“Not my fault you stopped paying attention!” I yelled back.

Running through the building like this I thought would be a good way to see the whole place, I was too focused on the race to actually see the building. Good thing too, as I rounded a curve, I saw an obstacle in the path, a barrier similar to what one would use to block off a road. Not having enough time to react I jumped over it, losing speed as I was no longer on the ground. Megan decided to slide under at the same moment I jumped. She got to her feet before I landed and sped around the corner.

When I rounded the corner after her, I noticed even more obstacles along the course. Things swinging back and forth, and more barricades lined this hall. Solemn was making the race harder as we went.

Meanwhile back in the meeting hall, Solemn was streaming our race showing two different colored dots zipping through the building and displaying a video highlight of when Megan took the lead.

I ran through the hall weaving through the swinging obstacles and going around barricades to try and keep up with the nimble speedster ahead of me. We finished the obstacle hallway at nearly the same time, Megan just a few steps ahead. We passed the fiftieth floor, with no more obstacle hallways and continued our race downward.

When we reached the forty-fifth floor, there was a long straight stretch that seemed to be just a tad bit suspicious. As soon as Megan reached the halfway point through the hall, the floor started to fall out from under her, she jumped trying to make it to the stable part of the floor, and just like I had, she started to slow.

I sped up making a full circle from wall to ceiling then the opposite wall and finally ended on the floor in front of her as she landed and resumed her speed.

“Cutting it close, weren’t you?” I asked the question back toward her.

“Shut up! Could you have done better?” She shot back

“I did do better!” I said enjoying our playful banter.

“Oh yeah? Then why didn’t you duck?” she asked, confusing me.

BAM!

While trash talking, I wasn’t paying attention to the course, and didn’t see the sideways rotating bars before I felt them. She again slid under the obstacle and continued on into the stairwell and out of sight.

There were no more obstacles in the last part of our race, but I never caught up to her, until we were in the lobby.

“Oh yeah! Who’s the best? I am!” She asked then answered her own question doing a victory dance.

“You got lucky!” I tried to defend my honor.

“Uh huh, sure.” She said laughing and breathing heavily.

After taking a few deep breaths, I looked around and saw the pizza guy standing outside looking around confused.

I walked out onto the sidewalk and handed ten of the pizzas to Megan as I paid the delivery guy. I then took the remaining ten pizzas and walked back inside, getting confused looks from the youth delivering pizzas.

The elevator doors opened as we arrived at the meeting hall.

“Dude! You let her beat you right?” Lucky asked sounding angry.

“Actually no. I stopped paying attention and she beat me fair and square.” I lied a little, she only had half as many points in speed as I did.

“He took it easy on me. I can tell.” Megan stated.

“Wait… How did you know she beat me?” I asked Lucky.

He just pointed toward the monitor that was now just showing a replay of the highlights of the race, going into slow-motion when I was hit by the bar.

“Solemn…” I was trying not to sound agitated.

“Yes Mr. Stevenson?” Solemn asked.

“First call me Ray unless I am in my super suit. Second, why are you playing that in slow-motion?” I said in an ominously calm voice.

“Of course, Ray. I’m playing it in slow-motion so everyone can see the second you were hit, and the reaction you had from the surprise.” Solemn said not catching my irritation.

Shrugging off the slight annoyance, I set my pizzas down on the table next to Megan’s stack.

“Why so many pizzas anyway?” Megan questioned.

“Speedsters burn a lot of calories; shouldn’t you know that?” William asked taking a stack of coins from the table.

“Were you guys betting on us?” Megan asked the evil genius.

“Yes, and I never doubted you for a second.” William answered.

“Dude!” I said louder than I intended.

The room erupted into laughter as everyone grabbed a slice of pizza. We ate with some small talk, swapping stories form the times we fought William and Neil, telling about their crazy ideas and inventions.

“And you guys didn’t even get to see my… what did I call it Neil?” Mastermind interrupted his story to ask.

“You called it the ‘Hero-pult’.” Prometheus answered a smile on his face.

“That’s right! The hero-pult, it was meant to launch you all into space. It was honestly one of the more childish ideas I had.” William said with small bouts of laughter from all of us.

As we finished eating and the stories dwindled, I was reminded of something David said in his message earlier.

“What was the recruitment idea you told me about?” I asked him.

“Oh right!” David exclaimed as I jogged his memory. “So, what was the reason we stopped being heroes, and villains.” He added the last part after a look from Neil.

“The Bridgers, no offense Megan.” I answered his question.

“Correct! Now the real question, were we the only ones?” David quizzed.

“No, no we weren’t!” I nearly yelled realizing where he was going.

“Exactly. We ask those heroes to join.” David finished his explanation.

“I like it, but that’s a very limited pool of people.” I pointed out what I saw as the only flaw.

“I…have a suggestion.” Prometheus said hesitantly.

“Ok, I didn’t have you pegged as an idea guy.” I said slightly shocked by who was speaking up.

“Right…” The hot-headed villain deflated.

“Neil, he wasn’t saying don’t share the idea.” Mastermind told the saddened man, who slightly perked up.

“Oh. Well, just hear me out before you say no.” Neil said, not off to the best start, “Heroes weren’t the only ones ousted by Bridgers.”

“Nope, let me stop you right there.” I interrupted before he could get to far.

“No hear him out.” Lucky came to the defense of his friend.

“While they went to the Hero Bureau to get the info for those heroes, I went to the Villain Bureau to get my own list. People we trusted, people who, for lack of a better word, need this.” Neil seemed passionate about this.

“Ok, on one condition we, the people in this room, decide together on if we take anyone on, hero, villain, or even Bridger. If we can’t decide it’s left up to the Team Leader.” I stated emphasizing my last word.

“And that would be you?” Neil half asked, half stated.

“Actually, I was thinking William.” I said plainly.

William looked shocked, which means it was worth it.

“Me?” he asked with a higher pitch in his voice than normal.

“Remember what we talked about at City Hall?” I asked him, knowing he would get it. He gave a nod in confirmation, and an expression of determination etched his face.

“Do we get a say in this?” asked Hopper.

“Of course, he’s just my nomination. There is one more thing. This building is mine, I paid for it with my own money. Also, we will be starting with a leg up.” I started, “When we were going to form this team originally, I set up a team bank account and put a percentage of my payouts into it. I had forgotten about it, and now we have four and a half quadrillion dollars in it.” I finished with no humor in my tone, letting them know I was serious.

The speed at which everyone’s, but William and my own, jaws dropped was fast enough I almost didn’t see it.

“With only a percentage of your payouts?” Richard, the first to come out of his daze, asked.

“You don’t want to know how much is in his personal account.” William stated flatly.

“How much did this building cost?” David asked.

“Three-hundred and forty trillion thread, give or take a few.” I told the room.

There was a tense moment as people withdrew into their own thoughts.

“Anyway, anyone opposed to William heading up this operation?” I asked trying to get them back on topic.

There was looks shared between each person at the table, but none of them out right opposed.

“All right then.” William said. “We could go over the possible recruits… If you want to.” He started strong but finished weakly.

“I think that would be a good idea.” I said backing him up.

“All right I guess I’ll start. I reached out to some, but these are who already replied with interest” David said.

“Solemn can you make the files appear on screen?” I asked.

I didn’t receive a reply but got something even better. In the middle of the table a holographic image of a familiar man, next to the image listed his super name, and some basic stats commonly available on the internet.

-Air Hammer

-Hero

-Level: 178

-Power: Air Manipulation

-Highest Held Rank: 19

-Air Hammer wields an unbelievably heavy hammer, that he makes lighter by manipulating the air around it. Strong Solo Fighter.

“Air Hammer, nice choice.” I said.

“He was a good guy, needed to work on his name though.” Richard chimed in.

“A worthy foe.” Neil told us.

“All in favor?” asked William.

He received approval from everyone.

The next hero took over the image. A woman wearing a punk rock outfit, and instead of a mask wore what looked to be spray paint across her eyes.

-Power Chord

-Hero

-Level: 167

-Power: Music

-Highest Held Rank: 27

-Power Chord was known to use her guitar to send waves of emotional influences at her opponents causing them to lose focus while bolstering her allies. Strong Group Support.

Another successful vote, and we were set to add her as well.

“How about we try a villain now?” I asked the group, then gave Neil a nod.

Neil looked at me a bit apprehensive then pulled out a file.

-Baron Speed

-Villain

-Level: 180

-Power: Super Speed

-Highest Held Rank: 12

-Baron Speed uses his speed and swordsmanship to devastate foes. Moving from target to target taking them out with deft and precise strikes makes him a strong solo fighter.

“Now I am all for more speedsters, but isn’t he a bad choice for what we want to do here?” I asked.

“He has actually calmed down quite a bit, I think he manages a mattress store.” William stated. Solemn pulled up surveillance video of Baron Speed cleaning the store at super speed.

“How about this? We introduce all new recruits with a trial period where we can see if they would be a good fit with us.” Lucky suggested.

“Not a bad plan, any opposed?” William asked, calling for a vote.

Non objected.

“Any opposing the Baron?” He called for another vote.

David, Richard, and Hopper Raised their hands, and Megan looked like she wanted to.

“Megan you have a right to vote here just as much as I do.” I told her. Her hand went up.

“It’s a tie.” I stated looking around. “Now what?”

“This may sound like I’m trying to steal power, but I think the team leader should settle ties.” William said sheepishly.

“I agree.” I told him.

“Well that’s easy for you to say, you both voted for Baron Speed.” Richard said accusingly.

“How about a vote?” Hopper asked.

“All opposed?” I asked. As David, Hopper, and Richard raised their hands again, but Megan didn’t.

“Team leader settles ties.” Hopper announced.

“Then as the first tie breaker, I would like to explain myself.” William started. “A few weeks ago, would any of you been comfortable with me leading your team? Probably not. However, here I am trying to change myself and turn my legacy from one of fear into something better. I feel we should extend these people the same chance.”

Looks of embarrassment came across the faces of those who voted against the speedster.

The image changed to the next villain in line. A giant oozing blob of something.

-The Sludge

-Villain

-Level: 158

- Power: Sludge

-Highest Held Rank: 48

-Once a scientist The Sludge was transformed by a vat of toxic sludge into this hulking creature. He can liquify himself to pass through almost any crack and harden himself for devastating blows. Strong fighter and infiltrator.

“All opposed?” Mastermind asked the group only getting a hand raise from Megan.

“Sorry, but I feel like he would smell.” She said cheeks growing flush from the attention. This caused the rest of us to laugh and defused any tension she felt before she joined in.

We voted to allow nine more people, heroes and villains, into our fledgling team.

-Captain Quake

-Villain

-Level:174

-Power: Tremors

-Highest Held Rank: 70

-Captain Quake shakes things up by causing small tremors around him, making it hard for people to stay on their feet. Strong group fighter.

-Dark Omen

-Anti-Hero

-Level: 173

-Power: Unknown

-Highest Held Rank: 20

-Dark Omen has made it hard for anyone to identify her power, with reports varying wildly from none to flight to shadow teleportation. Strong solo fighter with tactical mind and excellent stealth skills.

-Lady Frost

-Villain

-Level:170

-Power: Ice

-Highest Held Rank: 36

-Lady Ice is one of many frost villains, she uses her ice creatively enough to separate her from the pack by creating ice bubbles to shield herself and allies and spreading her freezing ability over an area dropping the temperature greatly. Strong group fighter and support, creative power usage.

-Phantasm

-Villain

-Level: 178

-Power: Illusions

-Highest Held Rank: 13

-Phantasm uses illusions that her opponents brain processes as real causing the brain to think it gets hurt. Strong solo fighter.

-Purple Sage

-Hero

-Level: 162

-Power: Magic

-Highest Held Rank: 15

-The Purple Sage is a jack of all trades in magic, not specializing in one field leaves him weaker than the average mage but allows more options to choose from. Strong group fighter.

-Silver Goliath

-Hero

-Level: 178

-Power: Metallic Skin

-Highest Held Rank: 18

-Silver Goliath changes his skin into a shiny silvery metal that cannot be pierced without extreme force, it also allows his blows to land harder. Strong solo and group fighter.

-Switcher

-Villain

-Level: 175

-Power: Power Copy

-Highest Held Rank: 13

-Switcher got her name by being able to switch her power to someone else’s by just touching them. Her power allows for a wide variety of abilities. It was reported she was able to use two different powers at the same time in extreme circumstances. Strong solo and group fighter.

-The Voiceless Angel

-Hero

-Level: 181

-Power: Angel Wings

-Highest Held Rank: 9

-Not one for words, The Voiceless Angel uses his wings to fly around the battlefield hitting his foes with his mace. Strong solo and group fighter.

-Thundering Guardian

-Hero

-Level: 156

-Power: Thunder

-Highest Held Rank: 53

-Thundering Guardian wears heavy plate armor for protection and uses his thunder abilities to deafen and disorientate his foes. However, his armor does slow him down. Strong group fighter.

With the new recruits voted upon, I ran the now finished paperwork back to city hall and gave the required fifty-thousand thread fee before running back to my friends.

“So now that that’s over, the real important issue.” Lucky stated in all seriousness.

“What’s that Wayne?” I asked him.

“Just how much money do you have?” He asked.

“Do you want specifics, or round it? I asked him.

“You can round it.” Wayne told me.

“Well after five years of putting money in, and the fifteen total years of interest. I have just under nine quadrillion thread.” I told the group, no hint of joking in my voice.

Lucky just continued to stare not blinking.

“I think you broke him.” Richard said.

William and I fell to the floor laughing.