Anniabal stared up at the building in front of her. The glass giant towered over her, looming like a hunter eyeing its next kill. She had dressed in her best outfit for today. A green button-down shirt with a dark blue suit jacket and a long skirt, black with navy trim at the edges. All waterproof of course. She had her hair tied back in a tail that she hoped made her look professional and was wearing her royal crest on her breast pocket. A silver four-pointed star with four gems each of a different color embedded in the corners, one for each of the territories of the elemental realm, red for fire, blue for water, brown for earth, white for air, at the center was a golden jewel representing the royal family and her station. She felt slimy for using her position as foreign royalty this way, but she hoped the display would keep her out of too much trouble if things went wrong.

Anniabal took a deep breath, straightened her back and, with the most serene and confident face she could muster, took a step into the hero league’s main bureau in the city. The inside of the building was like something out of a civil servant’s wet dream.

The walls were pearl white with several framed paintings hung on them. All four corners of the room held potted plants, and a line of chairs lined the right-most wall. Everything was clean-cut and unblemished like a new suit on a CEO. There was a desk on the far side of the room so Anniabal walked over to it.

Behind the desk was a short older woman who looked up from her holodeck and raised an eyebrow at Anniabal.

“Can I help ya?”

“Yes, I’m Princess Anniabal Sc’olleith of the elemental realm, Hero’s guild member under ‘Geyser’. I would like to talk to the branch head.” Anniabal answered, managing to keep her voice steady despite her emotions.

“Okiee,” The desk woman said typing away “I see ya ‘ere, Rank C, right? Congrats on the recent powerup, by the way. Which team do ya lead? “

“Oh… I don’t lead a team… I’m part of the StormVolts,” she winced at the awful name, “we’re led by Captain Stormburst “

“Don’t lead a team, eh. That’s fine. It's against the rules but I can still get ya in for an appointment. Mr. Stirloe doesn't mind. Sadly, this’ll still have to go on your record though, but it won't be a huge black mark. Just coming to see a branch head without permission, most do it. No one but whoever wrote the rule really cares.”

A black mark!? On her record!? Anniabal felt her face chill in her race's version of going pale. Every record she had ever had was clean! Her schooling, her attendance, even the few jobs she had had before hero work were all perfect. That streak was broken now, and it was like a knife to her gut. She had been expecting this. It had been planned for since she left home, and she had thoroughly steeled herself. And frankly, she was too far to turn back now. With a grimace, Anniabal just nodded.

“Good, here’s your ticket,” the woman said handing Anniabal a small slip of receipt paper with the number 245 on it. “wait until your number appears on the screen on my desk and then head back.” the lady stated gesturing to the door behind her desk.

Anniabal glanced at the screen, it was at fourteen, then at the chairs, which were empty.

“but there’s nobody here…”

“Yes, there is. Invisible Jim popped in for an appointment too.”

“yeah! Why does no one ever notice I'm here?” a voice from the sitting area confirmed with a depressed sniff

“Okay, but still that’s just one person, why is the wait so long?”

“You tell me.” The lady said with a ‘what-can-ya-do’ gesture “Just sit and wait for a while I’m sure it won’t be long”

Almost two hours later the number finally ticked from 244 to 245, and Anniabal very nearly burst into tears. She stood up, received a nod from the desk lady, and headed into the door.

She walked into a stairwell, confused at where to go next with no instruction until her ticket began to glow red and vibrate gently. The stairs going up glowed the same color so Anniabal went that way. She walked up three flights before she found a door with the same red light around its frame. This led to a hallway. Three doors down she finally found the door she was looking for, the nameplate said ‘Mark Stirloe, Branch head’

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Anniabal knocked

“come in.”

The office she entered was unexpectedly minimalist but still managed to give off an aura that made Anniabal feel like her mother had used her full name while calling her after she had done something wrong.

It was so clean and so smooth, nearly featureless yet the scarce objects that were in the room looked like they cost as much as her family’s castle each.

There, sitting at the desk in the back of the room was one of the only two S Ranked people in the entire city, her eyes widened as she laid them on him in person for the first time, a man who could kill her in less than a second, Mark Stirloe or by his more well-known hero name ‘Tether’

Emerald green lines of force extended from his muscled back and through his suit, flicking around and moving papers about, as well as quickly signing documents with controlled grace and the precision of a calligraphist. He finished one last page, and they stacked all his work into a singular pile. Then he looked up at Anniabal.

“Hello Mrs. Sc’olleith, or should I say your highness?” he said glancing down at her crest

“just Anniabal is fine,” she responded now very much regretting wearing the silver trinket. “I have a request… if you don’t mind.”

“Straight to business huh? I can respect that. Have a seat and we’ll discuss”

For the next minute or so Anniabal explained her situation, her traits, and how she felt the enchanted water from her elemental core would benefit the league, as well as how her source domain trait would boost her personal power.

Mr. Stirloe listened attentively throughout her speech, occasionally nodding or stopping her to ask questions.

When she went on to explain the event with Stormburst and her team he looked disappointed and apologized for the leader’s actions. All in all, Anniabal thought things were going well. She even shared her death at the hands of the giant from the abandoned shop.

“So, all you need is a body of water?”

“yes, a bigger one is preferable,” Anniabal pulled up the details of the trait

[Source domain (all water has a source. As a water elemental, this is true for both you and your magic. This trait allowed you to claim a body of water as your own, binding your power to it to increase your STRENGTH. (STR earned +(.025 per 1000 gallons elemental form) 10) rounded to the nearest integer)]

She explained the math.

“Ah, it’s downscaling I can see why you’d want to maximize gain in your early ranks. “

“Yes, so would you be able to get me a pond or a pool… maybe a lake if possible, and it won’t just be good for me the water I could provide may help everyone in the league.”

“I’ll see what I can do. We may be able to set something up for you. But I’m not a hundred percent sure. I’m not the end all be all on this authority. Fortunately, for you. One of the league’s presidents is here on a business trip. You should get an answer in a week rather than the month it might’ve taken otherwise. Come back next Tuesday.”

“wait, p-president which one!?”

“I technically can’t tell you for security reasons.” Stirloe stated “as if anyone could hurt an S10 meta, he’s a monster”

He…the male co-president of the hero’s league? that was… wait he was here in the city!? Anniabal felt herself start to hyperventilate from pure groupie-ism. Could she meet him? Would he be doing autographs? Maybe she could get him to sign her girlfriends face, he couldn’t sign her face. you couldn’t really write on water,

Mr. Stirloe noticed her expression and sighed, “just come back here next week we’ll see what the president says about your request.”

And with that Anniabal found herself picked up by a string of power and deposited swiftly out of the room. All while the branch head muttered to himself, “why don’t kids get that excited over meeting me? Hell, I’m S ranked too! I’ve spent more time in the field than either of those fucking narcissistic a- “his rant was cut off as the door was shut in Anniabal’s face.

Anniabal went home after that, a bit giddy from her success in convincing the branch head to take her side. She was also still reeling a bit from the prospect that one of only two registered S10 ranked heroes was in the same city as her right now. She had to stop herself from letting out a very unladylike ‘EEEEEEEEEEE!’ at the thought. When she made it to her apartment, she immediately collapsed on to her bed to begin texting Clair the good news.

A (Guess what!!!)

C(wat)

A(So, I went to the bureau like you said)

C(:-o REALLY!?)

C( And wat happened?)

A(It went really well)

A(Surprisingly)

C(I told you it would, how well?)

A(he said he would contact the higher ups about it and he would vouch for me!)

A(by the way did you know OH is in town)

C(really)

C(that’s cool, you’re a fan right?)

A(heck yeah, I am)

C(curse.)

C(ur allowed to say fuck)

A(no)

C(whatever)

C(I’ll see if I can get something set up for u to meet him)

C(my dad may be able to pull some strings)

A(Clair…)

A(you don’t have to)

C(but about your thing. We should celebrate)

C(what about a date?;-D)

A(that sounds nice, ive heard good things about the new restaurant downtown)

C(where?)

A(corner of oak ln and pine rd, its run by a fire elemental, ive been meaning to go)

C(always good to support your people :-D)

A(having some food from home may help my mood a bit)

A(I’ve been up here lately)

C(yah you’ve seemed kinda stressed ever since you ‘died’ a few days ago)

A(don’t remind me)

C(so it’s a plan then. How about tomorrow at 3, we’re both off.)

A(that works for me)

C(so tomorrow at 3 we head to that new restaurant.)

C(I’ve got a few errands to run so I’ll meet you there)

A(ok)

C(gn love u)

A(Love you too)

Anniabal grinned down at her phone. Today was going so well. She smiled even harder thinking about how tomorrow would be even better.