Keagan was sitting on a park bench, watching the world go by. People were screaming, fleeing as fast as their legs could carry them. Everybody was working to push past everybody, pushing and jostling through the roaring crowd, stumbling and flailing wildly as they moved over people being trampled. Keagan McCullen, once the superhero Gamer Man, wanted nothing more than to help the fleeing crowd, to charge into battle to defend the innocent. Keagan couldn’t do that, nearly all his superhero equipment had been destroyed and he lacked the time, money, and raw materials to fix it.

As Keagan watched the passing crowd with dulled attention, he saw a woman moving through the crowd with graceful, deft movements, and a man keeping close to her. Before long, the pair reached the bench that Keagan rested on and the woman sat down beside him. She was the second most beautiful woman Keagan had ever seen, with the bard taking the title of first most beautiful, a sculpted, voluptuous figure, creamy white skin, alluring dark blue eyes, and the kind of blonde hair that could only be described as “tresses.”

Keagan didn’t even know what “tresses” actually meant. The man that now stood next to the woman had dark skin, a hard set to his jaw, powerful muscles, and wore a dull, green and brown outfit that Keagan resembled as military gear.

“Do I know you?” Keagan asked.

“You will,” the woman said.

“Is this some kind of government abduction?” Keagan asked.

“Gover- what? No,” the woman said. “You’re Gamer Man, right?”

“How do you know?” Keagan demanded.

“That’s not important,” the woman said.

“You stuck out like a sore thumb,” the man growled.

“I was,” Keagan admitted, “I don’t know what I am now.”

“Well, I was hoping to make you an offer,” the woman said, “I’m Faery Fire-”

“The pop idol superheroine?” Gamer Man asked, rummaging through his pockets, “It wouldn’t be too much to ask you to sign something, would it? I know I have something in here.”

“Keep it down,” the man said.

“Listen,” Faery Fire said, “Since we’re meeting outside of work, I think it’s only fair we introduce ourselves. I’m Grace Belladonna-”

Keagan choked on a snorting laugh.

“What?” Grace asked.

“Grace Belladonna?” Keagan said, “That’s some serious nominative determinism.”

“Oh yeah?” Grace asked, “And just what’s your name?”

“Keagan McCullen,” Keagan said, “Like I said, serious nominative determinism. You’re the second most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, and I’m the nerdist person I know.”

“Second?” Grace asked.

“First is the bard,” Keagan explained.

“You know,” Grace said, “When Ascension gave me my gene mods, stronger muscles, tougher bones, silky hair, he told me that my figure couldn’t get any bigger.”

“And?” Keagan asked.

“And I think she’s faking it,” Grace said.

“She’s not,” Keagan said, “I have her measurements.”

“Why?” the man asked.

“She wanted me to build her armor,” Keagan said, “And I did.”

“And what did she tell you her measurements were?” Grace asked.

“She only beats you by a few centimeters,” Keagan said, “Even if it’s in all categories.”

“I’m telling you, she’s lying,” Grace said, “Anyway, that’s Gargoyle.”

“Jacob Hunter,” the man said.

“Did you catch any?” Keagan asked.

“Two,” Jacob said, “They were both Russian.”

“Nice,” Keagan said, “So, what’s the deal?”

“We’re both moving back to Japan,” Grace explained, “We’ve been working with the Sensational Sword Saint Sailors to help them fight monsters and the Rider Gang. Since Exigent Circumstances are down hard on independent superheroes-”

“And because you saved our lives when we were fighting Gorestrike,” Jacob said.

“-We wanted to know if you’d be willing to join us,” Grace finished.

“It will be dangerous,” Jacob warned.

“I’d need funding,” Keagan said, “A lot of it, if you want me to rebuild all my gear.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Jacob said, “The Sailors have a private jet.”

“They what?” Keagan said, “Aren’t they still in highschool?”

“Yep,” Jacob said.

“I don’t have a private jet,” Keagan said, “And I won the lottery!”

“Then you should have set up merchandise lines,” Grace told him, “Either way, are you coming or not?”

“Absolutely!” Keagan cheered, “I can’t wait to-”

A thunderous, roaring bellow cut off Keagan. The superhero recognized the powerful voice of Gorestrike, rumbling over the fleeing crowd as he promised brutal vengeance and violent combat.

“Hold on,” Keagan said, standing up from the bench and striding towards the sound of Gorestrike.

“What are you planning?” Jacob demanded, “None of us can fight Gorestrike, and you don’t have anything on you.”

“I’m just going to talk to him,” Keagan said.

“What? Politely ask him to not chop your head off?” Jacob said.

“Pretty much,” Keagan admitted, “Look, Gorestrike doesn’t want me to lose, he wants to win. He wants to fight people at their best. If I don’t have anything to fight him with-”

“He won’t attack you,” Grace realized, “Not when you could prove a true challenge later.”

“At least, I hope so,” Keagan said.

“What exactly are you going to do?” Jacob asked.

“I’m tired of sitting on the sidelines,” Keagan said, “I’m going to give it all I’ve got.”

Gorestrike marauded forward, a wake of blood and carnage in his wake. Throughout the terror and brutallity, Gorestrike had to admit his heart just wasn’t in it. Nobody here gave Gorestrike the challenge, the glorious combat that truly craved. Gorestrike was an eight foot tall, armor behemoth of a man, carrying his greatsword Gorestrike in one hand and his greataxe Gorestrike in the other, and all he saw was just people. Ordinary people going about ordinary lives on an ordinary day.

This morning, Castle Gorestrike was surrounded by police officers. Police officers! It was insulting! Gorestrike held no ire for officers of the law, but he understood that, had he decided to fight them, Gorestrike would have killed them all without so much as a scratch on his blood red armor.

Gorestrike had decided to spare them. After a brief discussion, Gorestrike had learned that those brave men and women were bait. How Gorestrike loathed the idea! They told him that Exigent Circumstances was trying to use Gorestrike, trying to use their own people to draw out the heroic vigilantes they hunted.

A disgusting, shameful, repulsive display. Gorestrike swore on the name of his father, Gorestrike, that he would hunt the vermin responsible for this to the ends of the Earth and back! If any superheroes challenged him to honorable combat, why of course Gorestrike would indulge them, but that wasn’t Gorestrike’s true goal. No, the governor and lawmakers responsible needed to pay, and Gorestrike would ensure they paid in blood.

“Either stand aside, or direct me to your leaders!” Gorestrike declared, a young man daring to stand against him. Gorestrike appreciated the man’s initiative. Usually, Gorestrike had to start these kinds of confrontations.

“Stop this,” the man insisted.

“Move or be moved,” Gorestrike instructed, raising his sword, “I shall not hesitate to strike you down.”

“I’m Gamer Man,” Keagan said.

“Gamer Man was a bold and mighty warrior! A hero!” Gorestrike declared, “I cannot stand by such audacious claims! If you truly are the great Gamer Man, where are your weapons? Your armor?”

“Broken,” Keagan said, “I don’t have the money to fix them.”

“And yet you would stand against me!” Gorestrike scoffed, “A meager man?”

“I would,” Gamer Man said, “Because I’m a hero.”

“Bah!” Gorestrike declared, “I would dishonor myself to strike you down now, my weapons are unworthy of you! Stand aside, lest I shall be forced to lower myself. I seek the fools who inflicted such mundanity upon you.”

“You won’t hurt people?” Keagan asked.

“I shall do no harm to the young, the elderly, the weak, the sickly, the mundane,” Gorestrike declared, “When, however, I find the targets of my vengeance, great shall be my wrath,”

“I think that’s most you can ask from him,” Grace said, “Let’s get out of here. We have a plane to catch.”

The New Adventurers, Gladiator, Zealot, and Wytch, their secret identities being Hank, Alice, and Felicia, all sat around the table at their base. The place was riddled with bullet holes from the fight to take the base, an out of the way warehouse that had been occupied by Wolfgang’s gang.

Currently, the New Adventurers were sitting in the break room, an out of the way corner with one round table, a microwave, and a minifridge. Hank had a sandwich, Felicia had a burrito, and Alice was poking at a salad with clear disdain.

“But you always have salads,” Felicia said.

“I know,” Alice said, spearing a tomato and holding it up, “It’s just- I don’t know.”

“Salads just don’t have the same appeal after training with the barbarian?” Hank guessed.

“Exactly,” Alice said.

“Don’t you like salads?” Felicia asked.

“Nobody likes salads,” Hank said, “Look, if you’d like I can run down to the store and pick something up. What would you like?”

“Something big,” Alice said, “and messy. And meaty.”

“Sounds like a sloppy joe to me,” Hank said.

“Alice, you ate salads all the time,” Felicia said.

“I was trying to watch my figure,” Alice said, “Now, my figure has twenty extra pounds of muscle and I have super strength. Hank, before you go, you need to talk about what our next plan is?”

“Besides bounty hunting?” Hank asked.

“I’m worried we’ll get caught by Exigent Circumstances,” Alice explained, “And I don’t see that turning out well for us. While we usually do our research, we don’t really leave that many people alive. The best case scenario I see is we get put under heavy surveillance, and strict supervision when we work as superheroes.”

“And the worst case?” Felicia asked.

“We get thrown in prison,” Alice said.

“Yep,” Felicia said, “I can definitely see that happening. We could use my magic to cloak or disguise ourselves when we go out.”

“Frankly, I think it’s best if we just lay low for a while,” Hank said, “If we do get caught by Exigent Circumstances, I reckon they’ll ask where our powers came from and they’re not going to like the answer.”

“Associating ourselves with the adventurers doesn’t seem like the best idea right now,” Felicia admitted, “You don’t think we’d get locked up just for that, do you?”

“I’d rather not take the risk,” Alice said.

“Well, how do we pay for this place then?” Felicia asked, “I don’t want to go back to working as a barista.”

“I doubt you’d make enough to keep the lights on with that kind of income,” Alice said, “Though, I will say that returning to regular life after being a superheroine isn’t appealing.”

“Look, all we need to do is find some kinda service that people will pay for,” Hank said, “Ideally, one that includes violent combat. It doesn’t have to be, but all I’m saying is that’s what we’re best at right now. Anyway, so long as we can find work we should be able to find pay.”

“How would we keep out of sight of Exigent Circumstances?” Alice asked.

“I’m glad you asked,” Hank said, “I figure, what with all the superhero teams being broken up by Exigent Circumstances, we can probably make money targeting them.”

“That sounds risky,” Felicia said.

“You’re right,” Hank said, “Best we play it safe and avoid risk.”

For a moment, Felicia and Alice stared at Hank in open confusion. Soon after, a good laugh was had by all.