The [Human] named Gabriel lied, he did not start speaking about Cores or stupid decisions other [Humans] did before, instead, he did something that she wasn’t quite sure what to make of.

“First let's start easy. Where we are, and what do we do? Does anyone have a guess?” That was the thing he said to start this lesson.

“You commit crimes…?” One of those that had only the top half of the mask said.

“We fight Heroes…?” Another one at the side of the first one added.

She wasn’t sure how to feel about that, she could see the appeal of stealing [Blueprints] from those that had the power of [Cores], but the risks…Fighting an entity with the level of power of [The Scorcher] or [Superforce] was…risky.

“That’s right, we fight, we steal and in general, we do things that are dubiously legal, or more than likely, highly illegal.” Gabriel nodded at them, “So you all here, in turn. Want to join this type of life? So here is the first lesson.”

Gabriel said with mirth in his voice, with a flap of the wings that should not lift him he rose into the air, “When the heroes arrive, when those you are working for start fighting against those that wield Justice as excuse…you all should…” And he left the words trail in the air for a few seconds only for a golden [Gun]type weapon to manifest in his hand, he pointed it at the den's ceiling and discharged a single round. “...RUN!”

He screamed, and before that was pointed in their direction Alexa darted towards one of the marked lines on the ground, she had seen those before, in the speed tests the [Humans] liked to delimit the area where one should move. So Alexa went to the nearest one and started running in it.

“Don’t make me shoot at you, as you may have known before coming here. I do work as a Villain” That was all it took for the other [Humans] around to start running, some did join Alexa in one of the assigned running areas, and others didn’t seem to respect the thing.

Most however, didn’t seem to be able to keep a stable speed, most of those that had a full mask like Alexa were able to keep the speed she was showing, while others seemed to take great effort to leave her behind. Alexa however, was happy keeping a spot around the middle, it allowed her to have extra protection in the form of other [Humans] to hide in case Gabriel decided to point that [Gun] type weapon her way.

“Now, I know this may seem obvious to some of you, but if we advertise that we are recruiting…There are always some people who think ‘Hey, maybe if I join their ranks, get information, and report it I can be a Hero! Let’s go and apply to this Villain Organization!’ It happens, more than once, and to those I say…” Gabriel let his world trail once more, maybe he was missing some neural connections? Stopping so much surely was evidence of a damaged [Brain]. “ You are free to report us, but we have lawyers…I know, evil organization and lawyers, who would have thought about that!”

Gabriel laughed at what seemed to be a [Joke], she would check on these entities, it seemed that they held some degree of power, and if they had close to a [Villain], then surely she could get some good [Blueprints] from them.

“So yes, you will probably manage to get me a warrant or two, to those near you however… I will declare under oath that I have the information of the family of everyone here. And used that to make them join us.” Gabriel's words made some people stop running, Alexa wasn’t sure why, but it seemed this [Family] he spoke was important. “And it will be the truth, some of our lawyers have handy powers that allow them to verify the truth. And let’s not forget that when applying you all did have to write your names right? And address…”

Then Gabriel smiled, at them, his mask did not cover his mouth, so she could see it, but unlike the smile that [Frank The Bettle] gave her, or the one that Eleanore gave…This one didn’t make her feel [Happy], no. This one was what she supposed a [Human Predator] may look like.

“So, we will find out who snitched, and those around you will walk scot-free, well, most of them. We do not take kindly to dumb snitches. Smart ones can walk away, they have their uses… But if you walk into our house, and try to take us down by such a stupid method…You will find out what that gets you.” Gabriel then pointed to a door on the far end of this testing den, “Case in point this gentleman that asked us if he could come.”

And as the door opened more and more people stopped running, some of those who only had half masks tried to cover the part that was exposed, and most of those who had a full mask like her continued running though. So Alexa kept on going.

Who had arrived that made the other [Humans] act like this?

“Welcome Superforce, let me state it once more. We did not know Scorcher would go like that, and we will report her location as soon as we find her.” It was the [Human] who she met the first time when leaving the testing chambers.

“Thank you, Gabriel, we appreciate it. But I’m not here for that, nor to validate your speech, I came here for Hero Duty.” [SuperForce] said as he started floating and hovered above them.

“I’M SORRY I JUST WANTED TO SEE, I DIDN’T KNOW YOU HAD THIS INFORMATION I’M SORRY I WILL NEVER SPEAK ABOUT THIS, JUST PROTECT ME I’M INNOCENT!” One of the [Humans] who only had half of his mask started speaking while the weird liquid that seemed to leak from [Human] eyes started showing on the lower half of the face and spoke in screams.

“...” [SuperForce] turned to Gabriel who only shrugged, “Leave, no one will hurt you. We don’t attack civilians unless those civilians do something stupid. That is both the case for Heroes and Villains.”

And as soon as the word [Civilian] left [SuperForce]’s mouth, the [Human] ripped out the black mask and ran to one of the doors from where they had come. As if it was some kind of signal some of those around seemed to take a few steps back.

“That is the same for the rest, we will delete all the information we have on you as soon as we make sure you will not do something stupid, you don’t need to leave like that one. You can gradually fail our tests, or straight out leave with SuperForce. Just don’t do anything stupid and you will be okay. Some Heroes worked for Villains, and some Villains worked for Heroes. Hell, some of our clients are Heroes too!” Gabriel laughed and that got a scowl from [SuperForce].

“While true, we don’t encourage Villainy nor crimes, most Minion work doesn’t qualify for more than accessory in super crimes….And we don’t encourage Heroes to hire Villains for their work. No matter how efficient they are.” [SuperForce] said, then turned to the rest of [Humans]. Alexa and the other white masked had continued running through all of this. “And like I said I came for Hero matters before you all decide to leave. Have you seen this child?”

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And searching in his pouches, [SuperForce] brought a sketch of…a [Human - Child Stage], it was a very good one even, that [Human - Female] was quite good looking if the image that was on that square-shaped piece of vegetal fabric was to be believed she had a good look.

It was the image of a [Human-Child Stage] Girl with short blonde hair, she seemed to have blue eyes and a smile on her face, she was dressed in a white blouse and somehow it looked like someone Alexa had seen before.

“[Recorded visual representation of Host Child Stage form.]”

Main Core spoke at the back of her head, no wait. Visual representation of her? Then Alexa almost tripped when she noticed why that image seemed familiar, that was her child stage form!

“She is missing after the Scorcher attack, she was in the immediate area and we are searching for her. Only myself and Scorcher saw her, so we fear the worst. If any of you has seen her, please report where in the nearest station…” At this part of [SuperForce] speech Gabriel coughed, “...Or to one of the Villains if you fear that we will apprehend you. Should you report to us we will pardon some of the minor crimes you have in file…Or give you a pass for some minor crimes.”

“And should you report through us, we will reward you as you want, either with gear or street creed. We are even willing to promote you should you want to join a gang that wants recommendations!” Gabriel spoke after [SuperForce], “But do report it, we don’t take kindly to child kidnappers… if we find out one of you has her….”

The air behind Gabriel seemed to thrum with the promise of violence, enough that Alexa found herself running behind the back of another of the white-masked [Humans], one that was on the bigger side “Stay behind me little one…” The [Human] said, Alexa nodded and decided that she liked very much having such a big [Human] between her and Gabriel.

“That said, if any of you has her, release or give her to us. We will not ask questions, nor we will look too closely. But do it fast before her parents notice she is missing. If this becomes public…We will not be able to protect you.” Superforce said with a sigh, “Core users are already hated as is, we don’t need this kind of bad rep.”

And with those words [SuperForce] floated towards the door he had used to enter and left, after him some of the half-masked [Humans] scurried after him.

“Well, that was dark. But valid, we commit crimes, we may even kill people here and there. But we have standards, we put the Super in Super-Villains. And we have standards, we will not involve kids in our problems.” Gabriel said with gravity in his tone, only for Alexa to pop from behind the big white masked [Human] when SuperForce left. “Well if we can help it. If you join this kind of life it's usually for a reason.”

Was…she not supposed to be here?

Or was this the reason Eleanore asked her to not come in her more compact form?

Had she come in her [Child Stage] form that would have been harder to deal with, so for now she would seal that form! Even if she enjoyed her time as such…Maybe she could sleep in that form instead? She would at least hurt herself less since she would have more room. Yes, she would sleep in her [Child Stage] form, and then move around in this one.

“Can…we….stop….running….now?” Alexa heard from behind the voice of another [Human], this one seemed to be female, and she was…maybe two heads taller than her? She also seemed to have the bulges in her chest that seemed to make her run harder since they seemed to jump from side to side.

This should prove her superiority…and yet…she couldn’t help but feel herself be annoyed at that.

“Oh that, right. Sure, you can stop.” Gabriel said, “Do an extra lap or two at walking speed to make sure you will not have cramps tomorrow.”

And instead of listening to him, the [Girl] just let herself fall flat into the ground. The big [Human] who had helped hide her started walking slowly, so Alexa did the same. She would not let her shield leave!

“Now, here is the important part, those of you who have active Cores with what we call Useful powers, have two options. Either stay here, or walk with the normies in that direction.” Gabriel said pointing at a door in the opposite direction from where SuperForce had come. There was another [Human] with a black mask waiting and waiving at them. “That is my partner Shadow Claw. She will train you in basics of superpowered combat. From the perspective of a baseline human.”

So [Humans] did have a way to deal with those that had more power than the rest! Alexa had been right!

“Now before you ask, there are advantages to staying around if you have powers. First…” Gabriel said pulling from within his clothes a white mask like the one she had. “Comes this awesome mask, state-of-the-art tech, everything you wish you had in your cellphone, and some extra. Tinker Grade tech. You will get one of these babies…And yes, some of you already have them, we give them in advance if you already have powers that are hard to hide…Or if you said in your interview that you would work in this way.”

So all of those with white masks had confirmed [Core Powers]?

“Advantage number two! You get support, we are super supportive of those who go the extra mile with us. Your power needs some exotic material? We will provide it if you use your power for us…And give you some extra too! Do you require extra food? We will get you speedsters MRE food! Those that are heavy in calories and taste like chocolate.” That was something that turned a few heads in Gabriel’s direction.

“Does our power need to be useful? And what if it's identifiable?” One of those that had the half of a white mask asked.

“If you intend to work as a Hero in the future then don’t take the white mask. We can give you a full black mask if you intend to work as a Hero in the future and make sure you are as far away from the cameras as possible. But we will not make any promises on that, also if you use your power while using a black mask, you are out. Either you take the white mask and work fully, or leave and try as an independent Hero.”Gabriel’s words seemed to make that one think for a few seconds, then he joined the rest of those who had already started moving towards the next testing area.

In the end, only those that already had a full white mask remained.

“Yeah, it is always like this. If you wanted to use your powers for us you would already have the white mask. But we do need to tell them anyway.” Gabriel sighed while addressing them. “Now, introduction time!”

“I’m….” The big [Human] who was Alexa’s shield started speaking.

“STOP!” Only to be stopped by Gabriel, “Don’t give your name unless you plan on keeping a loose identity…or if your power makes it impossible to have a secret identity I guess… But even so, keep the mask on always while at work. Even if it is obvious who you are, secret identities are important.”

Then shrugging the [Human] continued, “As I was saying, you may refer to me as Golem. My power is as you can see…I’m big, sturdy, and strong. I would introduce myself as a Golem Core User, but it seems the distinctions of Cores were a lie. So I will look forward to that class…”

A [Golem Core] huh…Or well, what she would have assigned as such.

“Sylph, wind.” The next [Human] spoke, it was the girl who was flat on the ground. As she spoke a gust of wind blew around...

“[Warning, the wind is laced with weird energy, investigation is in order.]”

Main Core spoke, but Alexa…didn’t really have a way to check on this, did she? She could try to use some of her nanites to try and latch into the energy…but chances were that those nanites would separate from her, and in turn, self-destruct.

That was an annoying limit.

Like that more people spoke and they all showed part of what their [Core]s allowed them, some could change their body into specific animals, and only those specific animals, that seemed like a weird limiter, but no one seemed to speak about it. There was one extra [Human] who also manipulated that weird energy to affect the world. Only that one manipulated water instead of wind.

And then it was finally Alexa’s turn.

“I’m…..not sure what name to give, but I can do this!” Alexa said while raising her hand and transforming it once more into the same design she had used to kill the previous [Human] that attacked her, only this time she was making it more for show than for use. Her sleeve was destroyed with the transformation, but if anything, it made the effect more impressive so it was fine!

So while her arm grew almost five times as big and imposing, it didn’t have nearly as much power. It was, in a nutshell, fake muscles.

“I am still working on how to make the best of it, but I can pretty much change it into anything if I understand how it works,” Alexa said in a cheery tone, returning her arm and clothes to normal.

“That is probably among the better ones so far, I can’t wait to see how your little head ended with the correct idea to make a Core give you that,” Gabriel said, making her start to think about that.

[Frank The Bettle] seemed to be convinced that staying near him would make her core evolve into an insect Core.

Eleanore had used that weird thing to make sure her Core was stable, and only after she found that it was stable did she point her this way, and now…Gabriel was implying that there were lies in what those two had told her. That the truth about how a [Core] worked was different.

So…what was the truth then?

“Now, it would be a shame if we delayed once more explaining how a Core works right? So let’s move to the next thing in this induction…” Gabriel said while pointing to a door, it was near the one that the other people had walked, but it wasn’t the same. Alexa had marked that one in her memory with the help of Main Core, she had marked what had come from what door and in which door had the people left.

That was a different door, she wondered what would she find behind that one, more questions? Or answers?