Hero Super

Calvin: Hey, I forgot to thank you for the stuff last night.

Calvin: Thanks.

Calvin: Also, good morning.

Calvin flicked his left wrist sideways, the holographic display on his brand-new holowatch dissipated with a buzz. He stared at the black band strapped to his wrist, marveling at the technology that to him seemed more magic than science. How they crammed an entire computer in there without it being tinker tech, he had no idea.

'I feel like a caveman getting introduced to the wheel.' He thought, bringing down his wrist. His eyes darted upwards, summoning two Impervious Pebbles in mid air.

"Calvin!" The door swung open, revealing the ever-disheveled Sam with a steaming mug in hand and his foot up in the air.

"I swear one of these days I'll change the hinges on that door." Calvin let out an exasperated sigh, jumping up to grab the pebbles in the air.

"Didn't see you come in last night, had to check you didn't get kidnapped again." Sam shrugged, leaning against the door frame. He sipped whatever was in the mug before raising it up, "by the way, what's with the mugs?"

"Got dragged to a workshop. Hngg." He explained his escapade from yesterday, grunting as he tried to hang on as long as he could.

"Yeah, but there's like ten of them." Sam glanced back to the kitchen, looking at the pyramid-stack of mugs. "Well, whatever, free is free. Plus, they stir automatically. Did you know that?"

He pressed the button on the mug's handle, showing the coffee inside form a whirlpool as the bottom of the mug spun with a gentle hum.

"Workshop, huh. Didn't think you'd want to be one of those capes after what clock guy did to you." He smirked.

"I told you, I got dragged to it." He sighed, jumping down. He stretched his arms, feeling the burning muscles screams agony from his exercises. "Plus, you don't tell me shit. I learned more in a few hours than you ever told me."

Sam held his gaze. "What, you want me to be your tutor too? I already let you stay in this place rent-free."

"You'd have to pay someone to stay in this shitty place." Calvin rolled his eyes, continuing his workout.

"Maybe I should start asking for rent. You have a job now."

"I am eternally grateful for the opportunity you have given me to stay in this costless abode."

"That's what I thought."

Calvin grunted, looking down at his smug face. "What'd you come here for?"

"Same thing as yesterday. You have half an hour." He grinned.

"What?" Calvin dropped down, letting the pebbles disappear from his grip. "Again?"

"What can I say, ladies love Big Sam." He winked.

"Ew." Calvin pretend-retched, looking disgustedly at him. "Just send me a message next time."

"What? Like with a pigeon? You don't have-", he paused as Calvin showed him his wrist, "where the fuck did you get that?"

"From a store?"

"Goddamnit, how long has it been since you wore that?"

Sensing the change in his tone, Calvin answered without wit. "Since last night. So around six to nine hours tops."

"Oh, plenty of time." Sam breathed a sigh of relief. He raised his wrist, typing something on his own holowatch.

"For what?" Calvin sat down, using this as an excuse to rest.

"To get you some useful shit in that wrist-fitting privacy violation." He said, pointing to the holowatch. "They're still looking for you, remember? The heroes, likely. The evil lab people, probably. You really should be more careful, kid."

Calvin's blood ran cold, now just remembering his situation. "Will they track me with this?"

"They can, and they'll probably try. It's just precaution. Plus, it's dirt cheap since you've only worn it for that long. Not too deep into the system, so to speak." He noticed Calvin's contemplative look. "Relax, even heroes and their relatives get stuff like this. Although what we'll get you is much more private. And more illegal."

"Heroes? Why? What for?"

"Yeah. It's either that, or get two holowatches, switch between them when working and not. Honestly, you'll see the lengths of what people will do when they get lazy."

"And they just let them do that? Hack their tech?"

"Technically not hacking. We're just adding icing and strawberries to an otherwise invasive cake. Besides, it's better this way than having people use another network they have no idea about."

He stared at the holowatch, studying it, "better to have people do secret things where they can see I guess."

"More or less." A ping came from Sam's wrist. He lifted it and checked the message. "You good tomorrow evening?"

"Yep."

"Good, we'll get that sorted then." He typed a message and sent it to whoever he was messaging. "How'd you even get one? I know you're poor. You got yourself a sugarmomma?"

"It was a gift for getting dragged to the workshop." He answered nonchalantly.

"Sugarmomma it is, then." Sam chuckled. "Look at you. A week in here and you already got one. Proud of you, kid."

"Shut up before I put a pebble in your coffee."

"This ain't coffee, moron." Sam sipped. "Anyway, get out, I need the apartment."

"Yeah yeah."

Sam stepped out of the room, leaving Calvin to lay his head back and close his eyes. He contemplated on his choices, hindsight once again reminding him about his stupidity. He escaped the evil laboratory and was somewhat free, yes. But not totally. He's still a stranger in this world, not having any idea how any of this worked.

Sam had been helping him so far, yes, but he didn't know until when.

And why.

Maybe out of the goodness of his heart. Maybe out of guilt. Or something else.

Point was, he shouldn't trust him fully.

"I need a way to protect myself." He muttered, a subtle resolve glinting in his eyes. With a simple pull of his will, he summoned a particular panel.

Super Quest

Road to Heroism II Save 0/5 people.

Embarking on the path of heroism is a challenging step that you have overcome, yet unlike every other path it does not relinquish any difficulty. The mark of a genuine hero lies in consistently proving that their valor extends beyond isolated acts of heroism.

Quest Rewards

+5 Super Point(s)

"How the hell am I even gonna save people?" He groaned. "I can only make pebbles and taste ingredients. Maybe I can cook some cancer-saving fried chicken or some shit."

He swiped the quest screen away, standing up to grab his stuff and go to the showers.

As he went outside and walked down the hallway, a peculiar woman passed by him. He found her ashen-white hair odd and eye-catching, but shrugged thinking it was just a wig. Even Quinn's pink hair was probably a wig or hair dye.

Passing by Vince, he greeted him as usual and got a grunt in reply. The sauna was particularly crowded today, in that there was another person inside. An old man, sitting unmoving on the side where infrequent steam came out, laying his head on the wooden back panel.

"Excuse me. Are you okay?" He asked, worried the old man was dead with how unresponsive he was. That would be a horrible morning.

Calvin breathed a sigh of relief when he heard him snore quite loudly. His relief slowly turned to a grimace over time as the old man's snores kept increasing in both volume and frequency.

'I need to come here earlier.' He thought, coming out of the sauna much less energized than in prior visits. "Hey Vince, there's an old man in the sauna sleeping. He might die."

Vince smirked without looking up, "ha, if a sauna can kill that old man then he'd have been dead long ago."

He looked back at the sauna curiously, "who is he?"

"He's a freeloader is what he is." Vince grumbled. "don't mind him. He always does that."

"Whatever you say, Vince."

Calvin went on his daily walk to work, blissfully uninterrupted this time by a random super fight in the sky. His wrist vibrated while on his way into the restaurant, he paused to check the message.

Ina: i told u its 4 goin w/ me 2 the thng

Ina: wow

Ina: hw r u up so erly?

Ina: u msgd @ leik 5

Ina: like

He smiled. Her silly way of messaging was charming, to say the least.

Calvin: I work for you, remember?

Calvin: Have to wake up early so I don't get fired.

"Oh my, what's got y'all smilin', Calvin?" Calli, the head chef, came out from the kitchen.

"Nothing." He closed the display. "Good morning, Miss Calli."

"Good mornin', hun." She smiled sweetly. "Y'all should head to the kitchen and start on them dishes. Marvin gets a mite cranky when they start pilin' up."

"Marvin's always cranky." He quipped.

"I can hear you!" Marvin shouted from the kitchen.

The two of them shared a laugh before Calvin joined the cranky Marvin in the kitchen. He received a grunt as a greeting, the second one today, and proceeded to be a responsible and working member of society.

"I met the boss' daughter yesterday." He started a conversation while soaping up the dishes.

Marvin paused, looking towards him with a flat glare, "don't touch her, kid."

"What? What the hell do you think of me?" He stared incredulously at the man.

"A hormonal, hotblooded, and lonely teenager."

"When have I ever been hormonal?"

"So you don't deny the other two?" Marvin smirked. "I'm just warning you, kid. The owners are very protective of their daughter."

"What are you two boys talkin' about?" Calli appeared from the back door carrying a box of ingredients.

"Kid met the little miss." Marvin updated her while helping with the box.

"Oh! You met Miss Ina?" Calli said excitedly, her sweet smile turning mischievous, "tell me, did you think she was pretty? Pretty as my peach pies?"

"He's never even seen your peach pies." Marvin smirked, a wispy look appeared on his face as he started muttering about pies.

"What? No! It's not like that, I just met her." Calvin grew flustered at her implication.

"Not like what, darlin'?" Her smile grew wider.

"Stop it, the bosses might fire us." Marvin broke out his pie daze and started chopping again.

"Bah, forget them old prudes. They can do what they want but they'll always be bendin' over backwards for the little miss." She gestured as if to dismiss them. "So, darlin', how did the two of y'all come to meet each other?"

"She dragged me to a superhero workshop." He explained briefly while he continued to wash pots.

There was a curious silence that followed. Calvin looked towards the two who were looking at each other with knowing gazes, one remaining stoic and the other displaying a wry smile.

"Something wrong?" He asked, curiosity filling his tone.

"Nothing, honey." Calli turned towards him with the same smile. "It's fine, just do as Marvin said and steer clear of any trouble. Y'all won't like her parents mad."

Calvin looked suspiciously at the two, trying to understand. "Are her parents really that protective."

Marvin chuckled, smiling mockingly towards him as if that was an understatement. "Who do you think this place is named after?"

'The Marina? Marina. Ina.' His brows raised after connecting the dots. Ina was her nickname. "Oh."

Left to lockup again, Calvin did as usual and put up the chairs. He felt a vibration on his wrist as he was in the middle of putting them up.

Ina: wrk faster

Ina: look outside

Ina: i c u

Calvin glanced to the front windows, a smirk appearing on his face as Ina's threatening eyes peered through like a vulture waiting for rot to claim him. He gestured for her to come in but she shook her head.

Ina: dont lik ths palce

Ina: w8 4 u outside

Calvin: Five minutes.

He flicked his wrist and continued cleaning up, a tad bit quicker with his actions this time. Activating the automatic sweepers and hanging his apron, he left the restaurant through the back. The door locked with a satisfying click before he nodded and went to join Ina at the front.

"I thought the workshop wasn't until next week?" He spoke as soon as he saw her lounging in a seat, feet up the table. Her skirt was thankfully long enough to preserve decency.

"I thought we bought you new shirts?" She looked down at his plain white shirt before returning to him with a judging eye.

"This one's still clean." He shrugged. It was clean, it's tinker tech.

"At least you wore new pants." She looked him up and down. "Are you free?"

"As much as I can be."

"Good, let's go." She stood up.

Calvin thought for a moment. 'Well, I don't have plans anyway.' "Where?"

"Somewhere fun."

"Why don't you go with Quinn?"

"Queenie's busy, and she probably won't like it there anyway." She grabbed his wrist and started dragging him again. "Now come on, it's not too far."

Her words weren't an exaggeration when she said it wasn't too far. It was ten minutes away via a leisure walk, smack dab on the district line between the inner and the outer cities.

"That it?" Calvin asked, looking at the building they stopped in front of.

It was a medium-sized cement warehouse sitting in between a Victorian-era apartment and a building that looked more like a modern art piece than a functional home. There were no windows, not even above, just two pairs of metal doors in front.

"Yep, come on." She walked towards the doors and pushed them open to enter. Calvin followed through and saw the inside.

"It's literally just a warehouse." He muttered, looking at the large stacks of boxes and shelves that went all the way to the back.

"That's because it is." She smirked at him before continuing on, heading to the back of the warehouse. "It's a front, the fun place is at the back."

"Okay?"

Steps echoed off the empty cement walls of whatever abandoned warehouse they were in. Calvin for the first time today finally felt the familiar sting of hindsight, that maybe he shouldn't have gone into a dark building with someone who was practically a stranger to him.

Although she did buy him clothes and what was the equivalent of a phone in this world. It would be weird to murder him after that. Not unless it's a supervillain thing.

They arrived at the end, in front of a door that had an opening for bouncers peep through. Like proper secret underground bars or hideouts he'd seen in movies.

"Here's the real thing." She knocked thrice, each metal bang rang loud in the echoing warehouse.

The sliding peephole did as its name implied and showed a pair of eyes looking through. The eyes turned to Ina and then towards Calvin, who felt a slight shiver as if he was being seen through.

Slowly, he covered his bits. Just in case.

"Pft. Go on through." The man behind the door chuckled before disappearing behind the slit.

Ina suppressed a chuckle herself before pushing the door open, finally revealing what all the fuss was about.

"Huh." Calvin expressed his surprise. He honestly expected an underground black market. Or even a fight club. "It's a park."

Trees, grass, a stone path, couples on a picnic, children running around. It was almost weird how picturesque it was.

"Better, it's a park with a fight club." Ina said as she gestured to the side.

"Ah, there it is." He chuckled.

Calvin followed her hand and saw an arena not unlike a boxing ring. It was a bit wider than the one back on Earth, and it didn't have the same elastic ropes surrounding it like a fence. Instead, there was a glass-like barrier that shimmered ever-so-slightly, like a mirage in a dessert.

Surrounding the ring were wooden stands, benches that went upwards, with a few people sitting, chatting, and watching whatever was going on in the ring.

"Let's go get food and watch!" Ina said excitedly, walking with a pep in her step towards the food carts beside the stands.

Wielding a bag of popcorn and a plastic cup of root beer, they found a seat just as the last fight ended. Calvin was surprised by the bloodstains in the arena, even more so when they disappeared after a shimmering light fell down it.

A purple hologram appeared above the ring.

Next Fight!

GOLDFIST

VERSUS

FINGERGUN

"Goldfist and Fingergun." Calvin muttered with undisguised amusement.

Ina grabbed a fistful of popcorn and shoved it in her mouth. She munched and gulped before responding. "Cut them some slack. They're solos."

"Solos? What do you mean?"

"They don't have formal training."

"And they have funny names because of that?"

"They're solos. They don't have managers and teams to handle stuff outside of beating up bad guys and saving people." She said, taking a sip of her drink after. "Hence the name."

Goldfist came up. He wore a simple sleeveless gold shirt and royal blue shorts, obviously showing off his impressive musculature. True to his name, his fist turned a golden sheen, reflecting off light similar to the golden cloth mask wrapped around his eyes.

"Is that a Physic type power or Mystic?" He asked Ina.

She turned to him with an inquisitive look. "What do you think?"

"Uh, Physic?"

"Why?"

"Because... he probably punches stuff. With the gold fist."

"Then he's a Physic." She shrugged. "That's why categories are somewhat loose. It depends on how you use your power. You can have the power to make fire from your hands but if you only use it to slap people then you're a Physic."

"Makes sense, I guess?"

His opponent, a lanky man in a dollar-store cowboy outfit with metal gauntlets, walked up from the opposite side. He said some cheesy line about it being noon before shooting finger guns at him.

A number three appeared in place of the announcement hologram, counting down with a beep every number until it hit zero.

Immediately, Fingergun pointed towards Goldfist, his finger shooting towards his head along with the armor on it.

Goldfist, already anticipating it, had his golden hand in the way of the finger bullet. The finger bounced off with a satisfying metallic ring, followed immediately by Goldfist's rushing charge towards the cowboy.

Fingergun let loose two more fingers towards his opponent. One bounced off harmlessly against his fist while the other hit the man's shoulder, taking a chunk off and eliciting a grunt from the stoic hero.

"Holy shit." Calvin winced at the blood.

Before another finger bullet could be loosed, a solid gold fist swung with deadly weight towards the cowboy's head.

Fingergun dodged backwards, shooting the two remaining fingers on his left hand. The clinked again against the gold hand, falling harmlessly behind his opponent.

Their dance of finger and fist lasted mere moments more until Fingergun was unfortunately out of fingers to shoot and had resorted to dodging and kicking his opponent. Which didn't bode well. Goldfist was built like a brick shithouse.

One hit was all it took for the round to end.

"Ugh..." Calvin groaned, seeing the mangled arm and chest of the cowboy-cosplaying hero.

"He should've shot from closer." Ina commentated, eating some popcorn. "Imagine that finger bullet shooting point blank."

He looked at her disappointed face, unfazed by the blood and mangled bones. "You come here often?"

"Was it obvious?" She scratched her cheek.

"No, well, kinda. It's just that, you seem used to it." He explained.

"I like it. It's interesting to see heroes in the making." She smiled genuinely.

"Heroes?" He looked at Goldfist who dressed more like a thug.

"Why do you think they're here? Just to fight?" She shook her head, pointing her straw towards the opposite stands. "You see those people?"

Calvin looked to where she was vaguely pointing at. Men and women in suits, furiously typing in their holowatches even when there was no fight on the ring, some taking pictures with tiny cameras.

"Reporters?"

"Recruiters."

"Oh." Calvin nodded. They do look official. Sorta.

"This is one of the few ways they can get a managerial team and become an official hero without resorting to vigilantism. Which is illegal."

"Do they really want heroes that only punch stuff?"

"Depends on how hard they punch."

Calvin watched as they brought down Fingergun on a stretcher, wincing as he could vaguely hear his pained groans and withered breathing.

"He'll be fine. They have super doctors." She reassured him.

"You think they'll become heroes?"

She nodded. "Anyone can."

The announcement hologram changed, displaying the next fight.

Next Fight!

THE MUMBLER

VERSUS

BULLTRIPPER

"Bulltripper." Calvin mumbled. "Do they keep their names after getting hired?"

"They have to, it's a name they've earned." Admiration was apparent in her voice, despite how bad the name was.

Calvin tilted his head. "Earned?"

"They're not like Vanguard Interns. Their names are from genuine reactions of the crowd." She explained quite happily. "They come up here nameless. They fight. They impress. The audience cheers, shouts names until one of them catches on."

"Bulltripper." He responded.

"It sounds silly, sure. But it's real. More real than names passed through dozens of control groups. A name socially engineered to garner the most chance of gaining fame and exposure."

"When you put it like that..." Calvin's eyes glinted interest, finding the process odd but admirable. "Like the birth of a true hero, from the shouts of the crowd."

Ina looked at him with widened eyes, turning back to the fight with a subtle lift at the corner of her mouth. "Exactly. Now shush, it's starting."

Calvin shut up, but his attention wasn't in the fight. It was in the blue panel that abruptly popped up in his vision.

Super Quest

A True Hero's Name Earn a Super Name

A genuine hero does not bestow their own name but rather inherits it from the grateful hearts of those who have borne witness to their heroic deeds. Earn a hero's name naturally through actions that show your heroic valor.

Quest Rewards

+3 Super Point(s)

Super Name(Hero)

Super Shop

"Huh."