It had been 50 years since 'Heroes' were last seen in our world. My parents would have only been toddlers when the Heroes lost against the formidable might that was the SHS, or as most people plainly put it, the 'bad guys'.

Once those stuck-ups were put in their place the SHS swiftly swooped in and took over all world governments in the span of three months. Military companies were collapsed and all government-regulated facilities were put under strict control. Authorization could only be acquired if you were born with the special abnormality of Strand.

Lyn Jin Precinct - 18/02 - 9:19 pm - 51 EE

The undercities skyline was breathtaking, a cool blue glow casting down onto the warm orange streets. A perpetual night beneath the earth. Quiet yet bustling, loud yet vacant. Most people never came down here of their own volition, though in our case, we aren't most people. From the peak of the police tower, five of us stood waiting.

"Call inbound?"

Casper spoke up, a sleek leather jacket adorned with metal chains hanging around his waist. His dirty-blonde hair sporting an off-centered middle part which he never to seemed fix.

"Not hearing much yet. Give it a second Cas..."

Annabelle replied staring at her watch blankly. Her hair was in a neat bun and her long black trench coat concealed most of her form.

"Damn speaks, always taking so long. It's not like they're doing much else so what's the holdup!"

Hiro shouted, tossing his biker helmet across the ground. He stuck his hands deep into his pockets and started to fish something out. He pulled out a half-eaten protein bar and threw himself onto the floor, gouging his mouth with the bar.

"Cheer up Hiro! It'll be only 5 more seconds! NO! It'll be 10! OH, how about 20?"

Kaleido was in her usual giddy mood as she pranced around in circles, her light-up shoes flicking a multitude of colors with each step, and the hundreds of bracelets that covered her wrist jingling as she threw her arms back and forth.

"Careful Kaleido, don't fall off this building again."

Century watched Kaleido out of the corner of her eye while she faced out toward the city skyline. She looked calm but was only able to soothe her nerves by chewing on the single tuff of hair that fell across her face.

As the wind changed direction a sudden sound was heard from our communication devices.

"Go."

That was all that we needed. As we all stood attentively we felt our bodies lightly lift in the air as our vision faded. The last thing I saw was Kaleido stealing Hiro's protein bar as he viciously tried to pry it out of her hands.

Upon our arrival to the surface world, we landed in Port Qin. The reason why we were standing atop the police tower in the undercity beneath the ground was because it was directly beneath our target destination. Now our operation could truly kick off with a surprise attack from beneath.

When Century opened her eyes she threw her head around to scan her surroundings. None of her teammates were in sight, instead rows of large shipping containers surrounded her. The stars shined bright tonight. She quickly regained her footing and peered upwards to the night sky. From the tops of the shipping containers, numerous armed guards peeked over. They were covered head-to-toe in black swat gear, their only signature feature was the green goggles they all wore.

Century reached behind her head and ripped her hair tie out as a metal click could be heard. The guards aimed their rifles at Century and a hail of bullets was unleashed onto her position. Century threw her hair tie into the air it was instantly shot, exactly what she wanted. The hair tie exploded creating a plume of dust and fragmentation across the area. Century, however, had no cover so she had to endure multiple pieces of fragmentation stabbing into her.

She gagged as the explosion hurt her but she kept her ground and used the distraction to climb up the shipping containers. Once at the top, she saw the group of guards all focused on where the explosion was. As the dust settled they realized she was no longer on the ground.

"TARGET GONE! I REPEAT TAR-"

Century quickly threw one of the guards off the top of the containers, the splat alerting all the other guards to point their guns at Century.

"DON'T HESITATE! JUST FIRE!"

Century leaped down from the containers and ripped another 2 hair ties from her hair before throwing it towards both groups of guards that were positioned on either side of her. She curled into a ball before hitting the ground hard, but soon the symphony of 2 explosions soothed the pain as all the guards had been taken care of.

Standing up once more she glanced around looking for any sign of her teammates. Sounds of distant gunshots and explosions pointed her toward the large cranes positioned over a cargo ship.

On the other side of the port, Hiro and Kaleido had opened their eyes to find themselves in the back of a pickup truck, surrounded by fully armed guards.

"KALEIDO! Give me my protein bar!"

Hiro tackled Kaleido around.

"NO NO! Give me just one bite!"

Kaleido inched her mouth ever so closer to the protein bar, she was practically drooling at this point as Hiro tried to reach for it and keep her mouth away.

They didn't seem to pay attention to the dozen or so guards surrounding them. The guards all glanced at each other, unsure of what to make of the situation. Eventually, they just kept watching Hiro and Kaleido fight.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

All the guards were cheering at the brawl. Some even started placing bets on who would win.

"I've got 10 bucks on the dumb-looking one!"

One of the guards held up a 10-dollar bill before getting punched in the jaw by Hiro.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, CANON FODDER?!"

Hiro growled before regaining his focus and looking back at Kaleido who was happily munching on the protein bar, her cheeks puffed out as her glossy and colorful eyes stared blankly at Hiro.

"NOO! Kaleido you're buying me 10 more after this mission!"

Hiro grabbed Kaleido by the back of her shirt and held her up.

"Put me down stinky!"

She blew a raspberry at him and thrashed around.

"Yeah! I knew the small one would win! Now pay up Jenkins!"

Jenkins the guard held his head low before placing 10 dollars in the other guard's hand. Suddenly the guard's radios went off as someone began to yell.

"YOU IDIOTIC GUARDS! Stop horsing around and KILL THE INTRUDERS FOR CHRISTS SAKE!"

"Oh uh... yes boss! Men, kill the dumb and small one!"

"HAHA! They called you the DUMB and SMALL one!"

Kaleido giggled smugly as Hiro looked at the many gun barrels that now surrounded them.

"They're talking about BOTH of us!"

Hiro, with Kaleido in hand, leaped from the truck. As they hit the floor Kaleido pulled down on her right eye's bottom eyelid. The pickup truck then began to float as all the guards screamed. Kaleido smirked before making her right eye lookup which caused the pickup truck to be sent flying upwards in the air.

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"Boom! Who just saved our butts? This girl! That's right."

Kaleido looked pleased with herself as she and Hiro stood back up.

"You better save your wallet next for all the protein bars you're gonna buy me..."

Hiro grumbled before walking off. Kaleido quickly followed behind him.

On the other side of the port, Century was hiding behind cover as guards placed high up kept her under fire. She was unable to peek at where their position was let alone have any chance of getting out of the situation.

As she tried to look for anything around her that could happen she saw a small piece of metal that could reflect where the shooter's position was. She reached for it but a few bullets landed close to her hand so she slinked back to cover. She reached back for it but was shot at again. Once more she reached for it but was shot at. She looked at the various bullet holes around her and could vaguely make out where the shooter was from the angle at which the bullets landed. Taking a deep breath and clenching her fist she ripped a hair tie from her hair and went to throw it at where she thought the shooter was but quickly halted.

"Century! Glad we found you."

Casper waved at me as he threw the incapacitated bodies of the guards off the side of the crane they were positioned atop.

"Good job Cas."

Annabelle said putting a hand on his shoulder before looking down towards Century.

"Century, good to see you're still on your feet."

"You too Anna."

Century smiled as Annabelle turned into a shadow and quickly flew down to join me, meanwhile, Casper turned himself into a phantom and floated down before returning to normal.

"Where's Hiro and Kaleido?"

Annabelle checked her watch.

"Heading to the objective. Executive building near the corner."

"Let's not waste time, they'll probably be too busy bickering with each other than actually doing their job."

Casper threw his arms behind her head and strolled towards the objective. Me and Annabelle followed not far behind.

At the executive building, Hiro and Kaleido walked through the front door with ease. No guards are positioned around the building and there is little in the way.

"Did everyone already go home?"

Kaleido snooped around all the desks finding things to look as if everyone who worked her suddenly got up and left.

"Didn't Anna say there would probably be hostages? This place seems abandoned to me."

Hiro went up to a vending machine and attempted to purchase a can of cola however the vending machine was empty. He sighed before seeing Kaleido walk down a dark hallway. Her bright eyes illuminate her position. As she walked further she looked into one of the rooms and paused. Hiro narrowed his eyes, continuing to watch her when she was abruptly snatched.

She squealed as she was dragged into a side room. Hiro's eyes shot wide open as he sprinted down the hall and into the room she was dragged into. Upon entering he found their 'objective'

"What a cute and colorful girl. She'll make a fine addition as the crown jewel."

An old and sadistic man placed Kaleido aside. His body was ginormous, various mechanical parts had combined to his lower half turning him into a grotesque slug-like cyborg. Lined up on the floor were the port workers, all tied up, gagged, and struggling. He plucked one out and took off their gag. The worker screamed and cried. Their struggle was futile as the old man picked out one of his gray hairs and shoved it down the worker's throat. The worker began to morph, their skin stretching and tearing as a mechanical trinket burst from their fleshy body.

"This one is ugly... to the tail, you'll go."

The old man put the newly transformed mechanical trinket at the end of his sluggish body. Hiro soon realized that his entire body was made from these things. Hiro gritted his teeth.

"HEY OLD GUY!"

Hiro shouted as the old man looked surprised and turned to him.

"You Cailenger?"

"Oh, another person to add to my body! How fantastic."

The old man went to grab Hiro but Hiro took his bike helmet and threw it behind Cailenger. Hiro made a head-bang motion as he was then instantly teleported to his helmet's location with the helmet on his head now.

Hiro threw his head back and grabbed onto the back of Cailenger. With a heavy thrust, he threw his head forward and delivered a hefty headbutt shattering the metal body of Cailenger. Cailenger was plunged out of his metal frame as he fell to the floor, his legs twisted and broken.

At that same moment, Century, Annabelle, and Casper all entered the room to see their objective lying on the floor.

"No NO! My body... what have you done! All those beautiful mechanical creations... useless now! Why!"

Cailenger tried to crawl to his body.

Kaleido got back up and looked at Hiro who had a disgusted scowl. Hiro slowly waltzed to Cailenger and grabbed his head.

"You sick man. Using people like this... Whatever the SHS has in store for you is well deserved."

Hiro throws Cailenger to the floor before walking off.

"Well down Hiro. You too Kaleido."

Annabelle pat Hiro on his shoulder as Hiro walked past, ignoring her. Kaleido soon followed him.

Annabelle approached Cailenger and squatted down to meet his gaze.

"How unfortunate, and here I thought the Ignition would find you before us. Cailenger Ibraham. You're strand allows you to turn people into piles of scrap once they digest a piece of your hair. Judging by the pile of junk you once called a body... you're very skilled at what you do."

"You're a vile woman! It's not junk... or scrap! It's my treasure, my children! I would have turned all of you into my beautiful children..."

Cailenger clung to a piece of metal.

Annabelle taps something on her watch.

"Objective secure. What are we doing with him?"

A wave of static muffles any audio when suddenly someone answers.

"Dispose. Hostages will be collected."

Annabelle stands up and puts her heel on Cailenger's head.

"STOP, STOP! NO!"

Cailenger's head soon was crushed as she pressed down harder on it. The cracking of his skull and squelching of his flesh brought a strange smile to Annabelle's face. Casper quickly grabbed her wrist.

"Anna... stop."

Annabelle looks at Casper and quickly stops what she's doing.

"Good work today Century. Feel free to wait outside, I'll clean this mess up."

Century nodded and went outside of the executive building. She saw Hiro and Kaleido standing outside looking up at the stars.

"I noticed how bright they are when we first got transported up here."

Century joined them.

"You... feeling okay Hiro?"

Hiro blankly stared up as Kaleido turned to Century.

"He's just feeling grumpy because I got caught. But it does make us even now. I saved you from the truck and you saved me from that weird old guy."

Hiro smirked and looked down.

"Yeah, you owe me twice over. Once for the protein bar, second for saving your ass."

Century's smile grew.

"I know just how she can pay us back. Buying the after-mission drinks."

Hiro put his hand to his chin and nodded thoughtfully.

"Y'know... I think you might be onto something Century."

Kaleido frowned and began to tear up.

"Please no!! I'm gonna be broke!"

Century giggled as Kaleido tugged on both Hiro and her sleeves, rocking back and forth begging them to not make her broke.

"What's this about after-work drinks?"

Casper chimed in walking out with Annabelle behind him.

"Not you too!"

Kaleido looked defeated as she stood there and cried.

"Well that's what you get for getting us in danger so many-"

BANG! Everyone's eyes shot open as the sound of a gunshot rang through the area. Their hearts all stopped as no one could react fast enough. Century reached for her hair tie and ripped it out. Casper entered his phantom state as Annabelle became the shadow. Hiro gripped his helmet tightly but soon a pool of blood covered everyone. Kaleido's head fell back as she collapsed to the ground, a clean bullet hole straight through her head killing her instantly.

"Shit! Kaleido!"

Hiro yelled out as he reached for her body.

"HIRO! Get to cover now!"

Annabelle yelled as she grabbed Century and pulled her into cover.

Casper grabbed onto Hiro but Hiro wouldn't budge.

"Hiro there's no time! Get to cover before you die too!"

Casper wasn't strong enough in his phantom form so he turned back to normal picked Kaleido's body up and grabbed Hiro, tossing him and Kaleido to cover.

"Casper!"

Annabelle screamed out. Casper was grabbed by one of the guards. Soon helicopters and armored vehicles drove to surround the executive building. Hundreds of armed guards came out in droves. All their guns pointed at them all. The guard who grabbed Casper yelled out to Annabelle, Century, and Hiro.

"You SHS idiots. Maybe if ya used your brains you could have seen this ambush coming. Do you think killing 50 of my men is gonna go unnoticed? Seriously? Do you honestly think we just left the target in this building and let you guys just stroll on in? It seems the time of SHS is over. Ignition will take over and this Evil Era will come to a nice and pretty close."

Casper tried to transform into his phantom state but the guard held him firm.

"CASPER!"

Annabelle lunged forward but before she could enter the shadows she was shot in the neck and she fell, blood pooling out of the wound.

"BWAHAHAHA! You thought that would work? It seems time has made you SHS freaks weak. Even with strand, you're pathetic."

The guard raised a gun to Casper's temper and fired. Casper's head jolted and he was killed instantly.

Century looked mortified as 3 of her teammates were just taken out. She looked to Hiro who clung to Kaleido's body. Hiro grabbed Annabelle's unconscious body and brought her watch close to his face.

"Speaks. Get us out. 3 down."

Hiro spoke softly and his stare was vacant. Then we began to slowly sink into the ground as we were being pulled back down to the undercity. The last thing I saw was Hiro holding Kaleido's body as I closed my eyes.