"Crystal, go get your sister. I'll have dinner ready in a moment." The daughter gave me a wave before departing.

"You don't need to butter me up. I'm tired and annoyed, but I won't kick you out." She walked past me.

"Is there anything I can help with?" I asked. It was the least I could do.

"Sure, You can carry the food to the table." I followed her down the hallway and into a stunning kitchen.

The room was bigger than my first apartment. Everything was modern, with a silver and black color scheme. There was an island in the middle of the room and a bar with seating on the far right. It had floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the city.

"This really is quite the place you've got here." A little bit of envy seeped into my voice.

I had been a hero, and it never paid this well. Of course, a lot of my time was spent coordinating with the military to plan out rescue operations. I played cops and robbers with a few supers, but those instances were few and far between.

"It's a very delicate balancing act to maintain this," Susan spoke as she pulled several small black cubes from the fridge.

"Once you become as big as we are, the heroics get less and less attention." She sounded a little apathetic. Something was clearly weighing on her.

"I don't really know what all this must be like, but if you need someone to talk to, I can lend an impartial ear." I offered.

She opened what I thought to be the microwave and placed one of the cubes inside. It had a touch screen that she fiddled with for a moment before turning back to me.

"Thanks, but I don't need to vent. You stay in this game long enough, and you'll understand." The dinging pulled her attention away.

She pulled a black plate from the microwave loaded with chicken, rice, and peppers. The cube that she placed in there was gone.

"Could you take this to the table? It's right through that door." She handed me the plate and gestured to an exit on the other side of the bar.

"On it." I took the plate with a smile.

Their dining room was, similarly to the kitchen, massive. Comparatively, the table only sat ten people. It was still on the large side, but that left plenty of space to move around the room. I sat the first plate down and returned to the kitchen.

Henry was entering from another door just as I was. "Looks like only Diana will make it tonight."

Susan shrugged. "I'm surprised you got her. Our team hasn't eaten a meal together for a few years."

I walked up to the counter and found two more plates ready. Whatever that machine was, it prepared food way too quickly. With the speed of that cooker and Henry's help, the food was laid out on the table in minutes.

As I put down the last plate, Crystal entered the dining room. Beside her was a slightly shorter red-haired woman. She looked a year or two younger than Crystal.

"Hey Morgan, meet Summer." Crystal introduced us, so I offered her a handshake. The new limbs joined my collection when she accepted.

She came across as a solemn type. A nod was all I got then she took her seat.

"Thanks for inviting me. It's been forever since we ate together." Another new person entered the room, followed by Henry and Susan. They were carrying bottles of water and silverware.

"I thought it'd be a nice change of pace. Plus, you can meet my new friend." Henry swept his hand at me. "This is Morgan. He's a vigilante. Morgan, this is Diana. She's a member of our team."

I stuck out my hand for her, but she must not have seen it. For a second, my hand remained there awkwardly as she joined Summer at the table. I pulled it back and sat down too.

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Diana was a beautiful woman. She had short blonde hair, and she wore a green headband that matched her eyes. Like Crystal and Summer, she dressed casually.

"Man, I'm sick of rice." Crystal pouted after seeing the food.

"You've only had it once this week," Susan commented as she passed out the bottles of water.

"Yeah, and that was more than enough." Crystal poked at her food and then hesitantly took a bite.

Things went quiet for a few minutes while everyone ate. When the sound of clattering forks slowed down, I asked a question. "So, what's it like being celebrity heroes?"

"Honestly, we do more tv work than actually heroing." Diana was the one to answer me.

"Mom actually did a commercial for a vibrator." Crystal proclaimed.

Susan quietly set her fork down next to her plate and just looked at Crystal.

"I'm sorry." In response, the poor girl wilted in her seat and avoided eye contact while apologizing.

"It was a massage gun." That was all Susan said before resuming eating her food.

"I bought one of them. It works wonders on my back." Diana spoke up.

I saw the look in Crystal's eyes. She was about to comment on Diana's purchase, but Susan was also watching her.

Another silence filled the room as we ate. This time Diana asked me a question. "What made you get into vigilantism?"

Taking a moment, I gave it some real thought. "Honestly, I just sort of fell into it. I lost both my parents when I was young. People died, but I kept hearing how lucky I was when they found out I got powers. Putting them to good use felt like something I had to do."

"You're a survivor from the Titan attack," Henry stated.

I didn't know the details of that event, so I just gave him a slight nod.

"We understand. Everyone at this table was there too. I'm willing to admit I was terrified. When the mist rolled in, it was the first time I'd ever seen it." Henry spoke.

"We all lost people that day. It changed everything. I understand your pain." Henry seemed to think he was coming across as sincere, but it felt fake to me. Maybe it was because I didn't actually have a connection to this event.

No one wanted to follow up on Henry's speech, so we all went back to eating. Diana kept glancing at me every few minutes, but I ignored it.

My food was already long gone, and it looked like everyone else was finishing up too.

"Well, I should probably get going. I've got a few errands to run tomorrow, so I'd like to get to bed a little early." I got up to leave. This was a good chance for me to leave.

"Thank you for the lovely dinner, Susan. Henry, thanks for the help you've given me." Waving to the others, I took a step towards the door.

"Have a good night Morgan." Diana gave me a little wave back as she said goodbye.

"Crystal, why don't you walk him to the door?" Henry called out to his daughter.

"Sure. I'll make sure you don't get lost." Crystal joked.

"I think I'll be fine, but I won't say no to a little company," I commented as we left the room together.

***

"All right, could you please tell me why you've invited a stranger into our home?" Susan questioned her ex-husband.

"I'm looking to recruit," Henry stated, then crossed his arms.

"The only people we've added to our team since we created it have been our own children, and now all of a sudden, you want to bring in someone new? Why?" Susan asked.

Diana didn't say anything and instead decided to listen. Summer sat back in her seat, also waiting on an answer.

Henry sighed. "We have been losing ground to the villains lately. This new group, the Snow Gang, formed right under our noses. Too much of our time has gone toward maintaining our image and securing funding."

"How do you expect a newbie like Morgan to change that?" Susan said.

Henry stood up from his chair and placed both hands on the table. "I saw him fighting earlier. Rex even has a few videos he's going over. This guy took down an entire building of juiced-up thugs without a single fatal injury. Now, I can take on a group that big, but not that cleanly."

Diana chose now to interject. "I'm with Henry on this. Maybe it's time to expand the team. While some of us continue to promote our brand, the others can actually do some good."

She reached up and lightly popped her headband. It was a known sign of the fact that she felt a little nervous.

"I also have something I should share. I had a vision with him in it. It's why I came tonight, to get a read on him. We were, um, romantically involved." Diana continued to mess with her headband while waiting for everyone's reaction.

"See, that's a good sign." Henry jumped on it to advance his agenda.

"Wait, aren't your visions usually about bad things happening?" Susan brought up a concern.

"We'll, um, there was more to it, but I'd rather not talk about it right now. It's not anything bad about him." Diana tried to reassure Susan.

"Fine. We still need to run it by everyone else, but I'll agree." Susan finally gave in, and Henry smiled.

"We can call a team meeting tomorrow," Henry stated. He was ready to get things moving.

His family and the rest of the team lost their way many years ago. They had no idea what it truly meant to be a hero.

He wanted to save people. He always had. After the titan attacked the Low District ten years ago, he received his powers. Helping those weaker than him had become his purpose. Before all this, he was directionless and saw no point in his daily struggle.

The world would be safer with more power. No one would have to feel the way he did. Everyone could protect themselves.

His new allies needed a weapon that wouldn't draw any attention to themselves. Morgan needed a little sharpening, but he could be their blade.