"We're here, now wait for me while I get us through this entire thing." The room that we came into was spotless white. Tools drilled to the floor can be seen all over, neatly arranged in a circle in front of a reception desk manned by three girls, on the edge is a counter, the number on it read 1658.
To my right, people sat on benches tightly screwed to the walls, doing the first thing that grabbed their attention; Hardlight magazines, phones, and for the kids, superhero toys. I forward and then up, a Flatscreen is bolted on a wall directly above the counter, leaving the poor girls manning it unable to see what's being shown- Which I think is a news broadcast about a villain attack somewhere in middle Gloria.
'That explains their bored look.' I passed by one of the few kids that eyed me with shining eyes and took a free seat in the front row. The Doctor left for someone that'll get us through the doors without waiting in line and he is definitely not gonna come back anytime soon. 'Knowing him, he's probably gonna talk about how important my powers are for his field of research.' And if there's anything the eggheads like to spend a lot of time on, it's talking about scientific facts or whatever.
Waiting for the registration is exactly as annoying and boring as I thought it was. I have a new phone, sure, but the damn thing's empty. I tapped my leg to start counting the seconds and I didn't even get up to 30 before I wore the same expression as the three receptionists. 'Guess I have no other choice, then," I did what I had to do and looked up to watch- Ugh, - propaganda from news about Gloria.
The scene on the screen had shifted from the pretty Duskkin and to a group of three people wearing spandex. They were standing in a line arranged in the usual hero team way; The leader at the center and the members to his side. Said leader is a man standing at a clear 7 and a half feet tall with tanned skin, a high nose, and thick lips. I wouldn't be surprised to find out his eyes perfectly complement his features if he were to remove his blue domino mask.
A girl stood to his right, 5 foot 6, and in possession of blonde locks tied into two beautiful buns on either side of her head and giving off the impression of animal ears. A thick and featureless plastic mask covered her entire face, thanks to the camera crew's lighting, one can make out the two orbs of green behind the eyeholes.
And to the leader's left is a guy a foot below his leader's height. He had black hair with a typical hairstyle, nothing too fancy, just a cut that he grew into average length. Just like his leader, he wore a domino mask, this one green instead of blue, and on his middle finger rests a silver ring with a jade outline, shining faintly under the cameras.
All of them wore tight fitting spandexes that showed off just how fit they are- The leader had his colored in light-blues with dashes of purple on his shoulders, knees, and elbows. The other guy had his in vibrant green with specks of black on his forearms and calves, as well as his chest and stomach.
And the girl had hers in beautiful reds, all of varying colors. The turtle neck that covered her entire neck was a deep crimson, and that lined down to her shoulders before edging down to her arms, then down to her legs. The crimson never left the edges of her body, turning the blood red color into an outline for her costume while the inner colors were lighter reds that went less reddish as it went up till the coloring of her torso is a vibrant pink.
All three heroes stood in front of the cameras with stoic faces built to reassure the people living in the upper parts of the city, furthering the illusion that everyone there is safe from things like villains, crimes, or whatever bullshit that the Aristrocats sweep under the rug. Their postures reflected that too, and the way the other two members stood military straight with hands behind their backs while their leader talked to the press with a smile that looked infuriating to me.
"Of course! Why wouldn't I risk myself for our people?" The leader says with the typical hero smile, showing a row full of perfect white teeth. Some girl behind the hero swooned and I decided to tune it all out to read the headlines at the bottom of the screen.
It read- Dangerous and Catastrophic Villain Attack Stopped by Bullet Time Heroes Shootout, Light Bullet, and Rosegun!
'God, even the headlines are fucking propaganda.' And people say I was missing out on things by not owning a TV. My eyes closed on their own after I got tired of watching the TV, I lowered my head and tuned out the sounds. As drowsiness started to worm over to my head, I propped my elbows on my legs and held my hands together so that I wouldn't fall while keeping my posture straight.
"You're gonna be fine kid," I flinched awake and the guy who spoke chuckled, "You know, there's a lot of us that-" Oh great, I found the clone of Doc's personality whenever he's outside. "-feel scared during their first registration, but you don't have to worry, the rumors of them doing butt stuff are just that, rumors."
I took that bad joke for what it is and faked a laugh, "Thank god." A growl of a chuckle climbed out of the guy's throat and I felt the stool next to me get taken by him. I saw a glimpse of his face in the corner of my eye, a shaven face with black hair. I also caught a small peek at his black suit, "Is the registration that bad though?" I asked just to not offend him because even if it was, I didn't really care.
'The Doctor's probably gonna take care of everything, anyways.' Why wouldn't he? He's the one who accompanied me here and I don't think he'll stop at a simple escort job. Hell, he'd start probing me and turn those rumors into truths if he could.
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"Not... really," Wait- is this guy actually gonna say helpful things? "Usually. But it depends on what kind of Cape you are, if you're powerful, then you're gonna have to go deeper into the building so that they can test your powers out down in the bunkers but if you're not- or at least, you're not capable of causing damage to things around you then you can register up here."
His head shifted and I felt his eyes settle on my form, specifically, my mask, "And the registration here is pretty easygoing most of the time." His arms swept around, gesturing to the entire room, "Because if they don't, well what will happen to all these patients?"
I nodded, "That makes sense yeah."
"Well, it seems that it's my turn to get checked up now," He dusted himself as he stood up, "It was nice talking to you, kid,"
"I feel the same?" How do you react to something like that? Usually, the Elites just don't care about anyone lower than them and would snob at anyone like that. Looking back at the back of the old man... Well, his hair didn't say he's part of the Elite but his clothing said otherwise. He's definitely rich and live somewhere higher than here, I can tell that much.
When he left, I quickly went back to my previous position which apparently made me look like I was praying.
Things went still for a while and I went in and out of sleep with occasional bursts of clarity, just enough that I catch snippets of what's on the TV. The channel is still stuck to a NEWS station, Which is boring but understandable.
Then something tugged at the tip of my jacket, pulling me out of sleep and forcing me awake. As a normal reaction to getting woken up by people you don't know, I angrily twisted my head to do unspeakable things to whoever's responsible- But only for a split second. When I saw the bright eyed kid staring up at me, a switch in my head flipped and all of my anger disappeared, "Ah-" Goddamnit!
"-Hello!" I fell back into my act as a circus clown easily enough, only through actions of course, I'm self-conscious enough to know that using my voice here will be awkward. "And who might you be?"
The kid ignored my question and pushed past my boundaries, his black hair took over my entire vision so I pulled my face back. He went even closer until his nose touched my mask, "You're a mutant right?" he asked excitedly while I held back a sigh. Judging by the kid's attitude, his parents are definitely the type to just let their children do whatever at the expense of everyone else.
'Why am I just meeting up with troublesome people today?' Is it some kind of bad luck? The only one I met who's relatively decent is that old man and even then, I expected him to be entitled. 'Maybe I should start expecting people to be assholes?'
I turned my head to another little boy who's making his way to where I am, 'He's an asshole.' I tried to predict. He met my eyes through my mask and smiled, "So, are you a mutant?"
And immediately, his mother pulled him back by the arm and whispered something in his ear. After a while, he nodded and looked at me with pursed lips before apologizing, "Sorry. I know that it's a bad thing to call you guys that."
"No, no, it's fine." That sort of thing is common enough already that every word that describes the supernatural is some form of insult; Tusks, Midgets, Duskkin, Techies, and Mutants. The only ones who are saved from that treatment are the "accepted" castes by the upper society like Fliers, Strongmen, and Super Geniuses.
"But are you one?" The first kid- who I think may just be responsible for getting the commonly accepted Superheroes hated - asked again, this time much milder.
"Yes." My answer got a chorus of 'OOOHs' from all the children around. It was quickly followed by a series of questions that can be summarized with 'What side are you on?!' Some of them did try to predict if I was a hero or a villain (Which says how much the people acting those roles are just, well, acting them.) and if whether or not they'll see me fight some of the capes they know.
"Well," I talked only when all 14 of them stopped, "I am a mercenary."
"Wha- but then why are you here?!" One of the kids asked and a lot of them agreed with him. Right, forgot that the people on the upper parts are told that seeing people like me is unusual. And such a young age too.
"Well, I want to register." That answer sounded good enough.
"But why? I thought that mercenaries don't need to register." Yeah, if you want the Peerless to kick your ass and feed you your own teeth- are words that are too vulgar for her to hear so I settled with some kid friendly stuff instead,
"Because heroes will catch me and put me permanently behind bars if I don't."
And it wasn't just any prison that I'm gonna go to, I'm gonna get thrown out of the city and forced to live alongside the Monsters because as one of the Aristrocats would put it- "Uncooperative people are no different from the mindless beasts that pushed us into this city in the first place." Says the asshole confidently.
Those dark thoughts got thrown aside the moment that I saw the little girl curl up from everyone's attention. And as a clown, I simply can't let a kid get sad and depressed now can I? "Well, little girl- Since I'm a merc, do you wanna hire me?" Her eyes lit up and she nodded. I raised a finger, "However, I have a few conditions," again, she nodded, "One, I cannot leave this room, Two, you cannot tell me to hurt other people."
"Then what can you do?" The first kid who approached me asked with a raised eyebrow, "You're supposed to fight heroes for money!"
"I- I don't have money," a soft voice said.
"Then I'll take... uhm, candy?"
"I- I don't have that too." She stared down at the ground.
"I have one sweetie," One of the receptionists, who I realized is actually paying attention to what I'm doing alongside the other two said as she fished out a candy with a blue wrapper from a bowl. She tossed it at me and I caught it, "That's her payment,"
"Right. Guess you're all good!" I gave the little girl a thumbs up. And boy had it been worth it because she immediately smiled. Unwrapping the candy, I opened my mask slightly and tossed it in my mouth, it tasted good. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"
"W-what can you do?"
"Hmmm..." I walked back and forth as a show, "many things," There's no point in hiding what I can do now I think, since I'm getting registered and all. "I can make my body stretch, create lightning, become super strong, and a lot more but they're not allowed." Totally.
"Uhuh, and creating lightning is?" One of the receptionists asked dully.
"It should be!" That got a few chuckles from the kids, "Well? What is it?"
"C- can you make me fly?" When she said that, I felt a new power open itself up inside of me, the ability to alter the state of matter within my body, turning it gaseous, liquid, and, I guess solid? But that's redundant. Sort of.
"Well, little girl, you're in luck because I can." The peals of laughter that came out of her mouth after I turned my arm gaseous, and sent them over to her before carrying her around the room had made The Doctor's anger worth it.