"Disgraced hero, Lustre, is back in the news again after an in-court meltdown. This was brought on after he had been warned that any further outbursts would result in him being held in contempt. Here we have the composite sketches, where you can see that Lustre had indeed broken down in tears--"

"--and so you can clearly see Starsinger, world-renowned Emerged pop star, waving the asexual, or ace, flag. This picture was taken after Starsinger posted to his followers, announcing his asexuality. With us here in the studio is sociologist and psychologist, Kendra--"

"C'mon," Brittney muttered to herself as she flipped through the channels, "I've got an hour before I gotta head to class, there's gotta be something good on."

The bunnerfly girl was presently sitting on her couch, dressed in some jeans and a faded red t-shirt. She finally found a show to watch, just as her phone began to buzz. Picking it up, she saw that it was a text from Ben.

Found a sweet price for a commercial on public access, in the 3:15 AM time slot!!! Brittney rolled her eyes and sent back a text shooting down any ideas he had about making a superhero commercial.

"Seriously, what the hell kind of hero would even think of making a commercial to promote themselves," she mumbled.

"Hi there, Mr. Miraculous here," said a man on TV, dressed in an all-white spandex suit with a large gold caduceus on his chest, with a matching white spandex luchadore-looking mask with a miniature one between the eyes. Brittney sighed at the blatant answer from the universe to her question. "You may remember me as Johnathon Smith, expert injury and medical malpractice attorney. Well, I'm here today to tell you all about my new office and clinic, Miraculous & Co., located just off North Decatur Boulevard!"

The commercial, which was apparently being shot by a person with a shaky hand, zoomed out to a building that Brittney recognized as the old Ivory Citadel that had gone out of business last year. It had apparently been repainted stark white with a giant mural of the caduceus on the side of it.

"Just come on in for a quick healing, for a reasonable price, and a free consultation about your legal rights. Just because you've been healed doesn't mean that you are not entitled to some financial compensation. So just come on down, or call our helpful hotline to receive medical transportation down here at Miraculous and Co. Our toll-free number is 1-800-MIRACLE, that's 1-800-MIRACLE!"

Brittney stared at the TV for a minute before picking up her bowl of late-night cocoa rice cereal and almond milk. Her show, which was a series that explored the history of the horror genre in cinema, wrapped up just in time. Brittney put her bowl in the sink and went off to brush her teeth. After getting her sandals back on, and grabbing her messenger bag with her notebooks and textbook, she checked to make sure she had her keys, and was soon out the door. Brittney smiled as the day began to cool off, the sun making its way for the horizon. She then felt her phone buzz again and pulled it out to find that she had gotten a slew of texts from Ben.

OMG ARE YOU WATCHING THE NEWS?!?!?!?!

Brittney?!

Hello?!

I never knew that about Starsinger!

This is AWESOME publicity for you!!!

She was puzzled by that last one and was just about to text back asking Ben for more details, when he forwarded her a link to a video. She tapped on it, and after a second to load, it started playing. She stopped in her tracks when she saw a video of her and Starsinger sharing a booth at Big Cat's Bar & Grill. There was no audio for it, until it stopped and the video cut away to show Starsinger, now wearing a white suite with magenta pinstripes with a pitch black undershirt and tie, sitting next to some guy in a suit and tie.

"So Starsinger, this video has been making the rounds and now has everybody asking, 'Who is this pretty new girl in your life?'" the apparent news anchor or talk show host asked, Brittney, despite her growing sense of unease, noticed how his teeth appeared to be a little too "perfect" to be natural.

Starsinger blinked. "Oh, that's my new friend Brittney. I met her the other night at an excellent restaurant called Big Cat's Bar & Grill," he answered happily and matter-of-factly. The interviewer nodded.

"And is this Brittney someone special?"

"Oh, absolutely," Starsinger answered, making Brittney's stomach to drop out.

"Really? So is this a spur-of-the-moment romance, or is this something more serious?"

Starsinger's pixelated eyes developed a quirked eyebrow for a second. "Huh? Romance?" He pondered for a moment before a second pixelated eyebrow appeared and both rose as he came to a realization, his mouth becoming an o.

"Ooooooh, you think I was out on a date with her. No, that's not what happened," he said, making the news anchor furrow his brow.

"Then what was it, if you don't mind my asking?"

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"Well, I stepped in for a bite to eat, and I saw her sitting all by her lonesome, so I sat down across from her. I thought she was pretty interesting, and as we got to talking, my suspicion was confirmed."

"So you weren't trying to pick her up?"

"Huh? Oh, nope."

"Do you think that she might be someone whom you could develop romantic feelings for down the road then?" the reporter asked, Brittney noticing him seeming confused.

"Doubtful. See, I'm actually ace, well, ace aro to get really specific about it."

"Uh, Acearo? Do you mean to tell me that you are not the real Starsinger? Are you some kind of professional body double?" the reporter asked, prompting the white pixelated features of Starsinger's mask to make a -_- face.

"No, what I mean is that I, Starsinger Waterfall, am asexual and aromantic," Starsinger said, giving a smiling wink and thumbs up to the camera.

"So you mean that you've decided not to have any sexual relations?"

"..." Starsinger's mask made the -_- face again before he explained that it wasn't a choice, just a part of who he was. The video quickly stopped after that, and Brittney just stared down at her phone, only now realizing that she had been fluttering a few feet off the ground, and quickly came back down. Looking around, she realized that she was almost to the campus, and continued on her way.

Despite its small size, Dim Grove Community College had what Brittney felt was a real academic feel to it. Instead of an expansive lawn, there was gravel of different colors made into patterns in a Southwestern. Instead of topiaries, there were different flora with little plaques in front explaining all about the plants. The buildings were all clean and tidy on the outside, much like the inside. Brittney walked through the parking lot, cutting through the pavilion which was next to the library, and made her way to the building her class was going to be in.

"Hey, Brittney!" an electronic voice whisper-called out to her. She stopped mid-stride and followed the direction her ears had swiveled in, spotting Starsinger, now dressed in what appeared to be a camouflage pinstripe suit, hiding behind a bush.

"PSST!" Starsinger said, waving his arms. "Over here!"

Brittney sighed and headed straight towards him, noting that he was wearing a fake mustache on his helmet itself, which actually almost brought a giggle from her, which she was quick to clamp down on.

"Don't worry, it's me, Starsinger!" he whispered conspiratorially, ripping off the fake mustache, before quickly putting it back on.

"You don't say," she said.

"Indeed I do! Anyways, I wanted to talk to you, and ask if you'd seen the news or perhaps a certain video that's become popular..."

"Yeah, Ben sent it to me a little while ago..." Brittney said, feeling awkward, as per usual.

"Okay, well, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry you got dragged into that whole thing," he said with his gloved hands in his pockets, kicking a rock with his polished shoes. His face was making a slight frown.

"Well... it wasn't really your fault. You couldn't have known that someone was filming you sitting at my table, or what anyone was going to infer from it," Brittney said.

"Still, I wasn't trying to get any kind of a spotlight shown on you. Which is what my cousin/manager yelled at me about today. She told me that you deserved an apology, and that you deserved to have it in private."

"Well thanks, that really does mean a lot to me... wait... how did you know I would be here?" Brittney asked, suddenly remembering the previous conversation and recalling specifically that she had not told Starsinger just what school she was going to.

"Ben told me," Starsinger answered, back to his default chipper self.

"Of course he did," Brittney said, internally facepalming.

"Yeah, he was really excited when I called him up. Although I think I surprised him. When I told him who I was, there was a high pitched squealing, so I think I made him step on his dog's tail or something."

Brittney felt her eyes automatically roll at that. "No, that was him."

"Oh," Starsinger said, kicking the piece of gravel back to where he had kicked it from. "Uh... I was wondering something else..." he said, looking away and therefore not noticing Brittney checking the time on her watch.

"Yes?" she asked, resolving to find a way to cut the conversation short if it dragged on longer than another five minutes so that she wouldn't be late.

"So you saw the video... did you see all of it?" he asked, his sudden awkwardness surprising her, as it seemed to be a big shift for him, at least based on her own personal experience with the world-renowned pop star so far.

"You mean about you being ace aro?" she asked, seeing him bob his helmeted head.

"Yeah... uhm... can we still be friends?" he asked, his electronic voice now sounding nervous, which further surprised the bunnerfly girl.

"Uh... well, y-yeah... I mean, I don't care that you're ace aro. That's your business, after all."

She noticed how quickly his body language changed as he perked right up, when before he had been slumping over a little.

"Really? YAY!" He jumped for joy, literally, with what Brittney noted was quite the impressive vertical leap. "Thanks, Brittney! I only asked because my cousin told me that telling everyone like that on TV meant that I was going to catch a lot of flak for it, even from some people whom I thought were my friends."

"Well, again I only just met you. But, like I said, I don't care if you're ace or anything like that. Now, I really gotta get to class..."

"Oh, okay... I should probably get back to my cousin. She was giving me a lecture about jumping into things without thinking about them, I think. Bye!" And with a wave, he became a camo-blur that ran off into the dimming late afternoon-light. The bunnerfly girl stood there for a moment, shaking her head and letting slip a chuckle, before she finally was able to continue on towards her destination, the reserved computer lab. She did slow down her stride as she saw a giant figure out in the desert. It was only a brief look, which she chalked up to most-likely being the Governor's son, Happy, who just so happened to be a dragon. She failed to notice Cheshire crouching on a nearby rooftop. His blood red eyes drifted away from his current target to the massive figure in the distance.

Are those tentacles? he wondered to himself before quickly dismissing it. His employer was concerned with the little bunnerfly girl who so far had continued to rebuff his job offers. Cheshire knew that his employer was not one to take kindly to repeated rejection, nor to employees who shirked their assigned tasks. Cheshire walked into one of the growing shadows and stepped out into a room in the very building Brittney had entered. Confident that while he remained touching the shadow he had exited, he would remain unseen, he watched as Brittney sat down in front of a computer.

Hope no one minds it if I audit this class, he thought to himself with a satisfied smirk.

At that very moment...

A massive giant stood in the desert, just outside of the city of Las Vegas. The being's exposed flesh was a sickly ashen grey. They were wearing some kind of robin's egg blue jumpsuit, a stark contrast to their appearance. Both hands ended with long sharp blackened claws. But the head was the most terrifying. The head was a wriggling mass of tentacles that ended in a point, giving the appearance of a colossal squid having been glued to the neck of the giant body.

Its glowing yellow eyes watched the passenger plane that was falling from the sky, one of its engines in flames. It moved position to be better in the plane's apparent path and spread its many wriggling tentacles in its direction. The plane was then caught within all of the appendages, coming to a stop. From inside the cockpit, and soon echoing out throughout the vehicle, the being heard screams of pure terror, no doubt crew and passengers looking out their windows. Gently, while keeping the plane upright, with both hands underneath it just in case, the creature started to lower its face and therefore the plane to the ground.

As lightly as it could, the being set the plane down, and immediately withdrew its tentacles, some of which looked burned from the fire. As emergency crews rushed to the scene, and as news helicopters circled in a fashion similar to vultures, a golden streak shot straight towards the being, slamming into its face. The being let out a low moan and fell, landing on its backside, and started to rapidly shrink. In under a minute, in the divet in the land where the creature had fallen, was a normal-sized man in a similar jumpsuit, climbing over the new sudden ridge.

Now sporting a the beginnings of a black eye, and some burns to his upper lip and chin, he climbed over the ridge. Stumbling a little, he started walking towards the news vans and police cruisers that were heading for him. He waved at them, looking excited, before he suddenly found himself on the ground, the air knocked out of him.

"You are under arrest, Monster Man!" Lustre said, smiling up at the cameras that were now on him.

"For what?!" the man on the ground asked as he squirmed.

"For... uh... being a giant monster," Lutre said, looking confused for a moment, before looking at the plane and pointing to it, "and for, uh, doing that!"

"Saving a bunch of peoples' lives?" the man asked, still confused about what was happening.

"Tell it to the judge," Lustre said as he rose, pulling the man to his feet, his arms pinned behind him. The gold-glowing superhero nodded to the approaching officers.

"Take him away, boys," he said, before noticing that the officer he was addressing was a woman.

"We can't," she said, shaking her head, much to Lustre's confusion.

"Why not?"

"He hasn't done anything," was her answer before Lustre pointed to the plane again.

"What about that?!"

"He saved that plane. This is one of the newest members of the Emergency Emerged League, Eldritch. He didn't cause the plane's engine to catch fire and start to go down, he was called in to try to catch it and save as many lives as he could, which he was very successful at, by the way, until you attacked him."

"Well, it was an accident on his part," the man known as Eldritch chimed in. "I know what I look like when I transform, so a mixup like this is to be expected. My name is Humphrey, by the way," Humphrey said, now able to pull a hand away and offer it to the stunned Lustre.

"Emergency Emerged League? What the hell is that?!" Lustre sked, having pushed the emerged before him away, knocking him over in the process.

"It's the new statewide organization for Emerged Emergency Responders, spearheaded by the mayor himself, with the Governor's full support behind it."

"But..." Lustre said weakly, only then noticing the camera crews filming him, just as an officer was helping Eldritch to his feet.

"In fact, Lustre, I have to place you under arrest," the officer said, pulling out a set of handcuffs.

"What for?!" Lustre demanded, his aura flaring up in his anger.

"You just assaulted an employee of the state. That, plus your flight license being revoked pending your upcoming FUI case..."

"...THAT DOES IT!!!" Lustre screamed, savagely. There was a sudden burst of golden light, and off he flew, still screaming in rage into the night sky. The kicked-up dust settled to reveal Eldritch in his monster-form, having used his body to quickly shield everyone in the blast-zone with his body, which was now sporting some more burns as a result.