SHS Surface Headquarters - 20/02 - 7:03 am - 51 EE

The golden glow sat gently on the horizon. The sprawling cityscape hung below the sea of blue that encompassed the entire planet. From the golden glow, its arms of warmth extended out to the cold air, brushing over the skin of all those who occupied the streets below. Atop the SHS building, the tallest building in the city, Julie Annoying stood. Flicking the butt of her cigarette, letting the ash fall to the city below.

She leaned against the glass railing staring at her maroon acrylic nails, taking the occasional drag from her cigarette. Inside the office, the door opened. She saw it and her heart raced. Casting the cigarette aside she straightened her coat and dusted off her skirt. She couldn't see who entered but the edges of her lips began to perk up to a smile before she controlled herself. When the door to the balcony opened she looked excited before she saw a man with black hair and a suit stumble forward. He was sweating and out of breath.

"Miss Annoying!"

The man stood up straight and caught his breath.

"There-"

Julie's face twisted to disgust upon seeing it was some lowly assistant.

"Ugh! What do you want manlet?!"

She crossed her arms and had a stern expression.

"Sorry for disturbing you. We've captured 2 Ignition strand users. We have them in holding, ready for questioning ma'am."

Julie rolled her eyes, annoyed she had to start doing her job now.

"Okay. Leave, I'll see to it soon."

She flicked her wrist shooing the man away.

Once Julie was bothered she went down to question the 2 captives. Upon arrival at the holding cells, she saw two strange men. Both are dressed as clowns with one of their hair standing up straight and the others drooping to the floor. Julie's face scrunched in revulsion as she turned her head away from them. Both of them looked frizzled.

"You two are the... Ignition people? Great."

Julie grabbed a chair and sat outside of their cell.

"So let's get started then. I want this over with quickly. And assistant,"

The man from before ran over and bowed.

"Get me a coffee, black. Maybe some eyedrops and perfume as well."

The assistant ran off.

"Hey, you're gonna let us off if we tell you what we know right?"

Pos asked creeping closer to the cell's bars.

"Um stay on the furthest end of the cell first weirdo. You Ignition freaks are probably gonna be executed after this so let's compromise. You'll tell us what you know and we'll zap away your powers then throw you to the street. Only if you cooperate nicely. If you don't, I can assure you your bodies will be tossed down the garbage chute."

Julie grinned smugly and tilted her head.

"Well, it's better than whatever Ignition would do to us..."

Neg muttered.

"Fine, we'll cooperate."

Pos sat down with his head low.

"Good. So tell us about Ignition?"

"No, that's not why we are here. We came to the SHS for a reason. We didn't get captured, we're here to give you vital information."

Pos snapped back.

"Excuse me? That doesn't sound like cooperation, either answer my question or-"

"We found a hero"

Pos glared at Julie.

"We got given a hit from Ignition, had to follow this young lady named Century and kill her. The mission didn't seem to state we'd encounter an ex-hero. Guy was unbelievable. He had control over his abilities like nothing we'd ever seen."

Julie's eyes widened.

"A... hero...?"

She stood up.

"Where?"

"Jia Precinct. We aren't sure what happened to the girl. We blacked out before we saw anything. Once we woke up, we ran straight here. If we ran back to Ignition..."

Neg shuddered at the thought of what Ignition would do to them if they knew the brothers had failed to kill one person.

Julie's grin widened as she bit her lip. As she thought for a second her assistant returned with her coffee, eyedrops, and perfume.

"Assistant, screw the coffee. Get a bottle of Vodka and tell Squadron 48H to prepare for a mission to the Jia Precinct. We've got a hero to kill."

The assistant ran off again.

"Hopefully Century hasn't killed him yet..."

Julie scoffed as she looked at her nails.

"Who am I kidding? That girl is long dead. If she isn't... then I'm sure a little collateral never hurt anyone."

Jia Precinct - 20/02 - 8:56 am - 51 EE

The sun was too warm this early. Century stood in the backyard of Werren's house. It was barren, there was a single tree in the corner and grass everywhere else. Century rubbed her eyes as she had to force her head up. Last night was horrible. She had already regretted her choice of staying with her enemy. But when she would kill him, it would all be worth it, just to see the look on Julie's face.

Werren walked up with Yuro waddling behind him. They stood opposite Century.

"Welcome to the first Hero Annihilation Training Exercise! Also known as HATE. I am your Professor, Professor Werren, and joined with me today is my good friend, Doctor Yuro."

Werren and Yuro both wore lab coats. Werren still had his tie on and Yuro's lab coat was very oversized for his baby body.

"Am I 4? What's with the stupid get-up?"

Century looked unimpressed.

"DON'T SPEAK WHEN WERREN IS SPEAKING YOUNG LADY!"

Yuro yelled rather loudly, a few birds from the nearby tree flew away.

"Um, it's okay Yuro I wasn't even speaking. Ahem... well moving onto the lesson, let's open it up with a question."

Werren pointed to Century.

"Ah, Miss Century. You've been randomly called on to answer the question!"

She was the only student...

"If you would indulge your teachers, would you mind telling us how much you know of this Strand power?"

Century looked up and thought for a second. She made duck lips and squinted.

"Um... well it's connected to one's hair I think? Mine is at least."

"Well, that's a start for sure! Since you mentioned it, do you mind explaining your powers to us?"

Century pulled out all of her hair ties carefully so, as to not make an explosion.

"I use hair ties to better utilize my powers. Although, my hair ties aren't exactly what caused my powers. My explosions come from strands of hair that get plucked out when I rip my hair tie out. Since singular hair strands are difficult to throw however I make sure they're wrapped around the hair tie and I throw that because hair ties can go where I want them to."

"My my, Doctor Yuro what do you think of that?"

Werren turned to Yuro, who cleared his throat.

"I think it's a marvelous ability! Such a unique way to use your powers. But is that all you know on Strand?"

"Uh, I guess so. Can we get to the hero killing already? I don't need a science lesson."

Century rolled her eyes.

"Now now Century. All of this is important. From your battles, I've noticed one key flaw in how you fight. It's that you don't know how to fight fellow strand users. Strand users are not like regular people. They can endure a lot more than the average person. Let's discuss how Strand works so that you don't blindly jump into fights."

Werren turns to Doctor Yuro.

"Take it away Doctor!"

"Thank you Werren. Well as you said, Strand comes from hair! Hence the name. This hair can count as anything, however it is most commonly seen on hair that grows on one's face. This includes things like beards, eyelashes, and eyebrows as well! Most strand users will have unique abilities that are tied to their hair. Werren, let's go to our basic example."

"Thank you, Doctor! Yesterday you faced off against 2 mysterious clown brothers who had odd hair that flipped to stand on end or drop down to the floor. We can deduce from how they fought that the direction in which their hair went changed how they behaved. For instance, when both of their hair drooped downwards they repelled each other. But when one's hair stood up and the others drooped they slammed together. Almost like...?"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Werren extended his hand towards Century who was bored.

"I dunno."

"Oh come on! It's pretty on the nose, just take a guess."

"Ugh, fine. Um... Magnets?"

"Correct! Magnets! The 2 clown brothers were like magnets. It's key information like that, that you have to observe in order to identify one's powers since most people won't outright reveal their powers to you! Back to you Yuro."

"Many thanks, Werren. So now that we have the basics down, it's time we go to more advanced examples. See, although strand abilities come from one's hair, that hair doesn't have to be connected to one's body but can be made into something instead. These are known as Likeables. They can act as a secondary outlet for one's powers. Werren, the example if you would!"

Werren clutched his tie and pulled it down. Once his tie was loose he fastened it back up to the base of his neck as a large tendril shot from the ground.

"As you can see, I don't use the hair on my face to activate my abilities. Instead, I have a tie, threaded from my hair, that activates my ability. The more I loosen it, the larger the tendril that appears when I tighten my tie. However, I can also throw the hair on my head around to sprout smaller tendrils."

Werren grabbed a tuff of his hair and flicked it out. A small tendril then burst from the ground.

Century's eyes narrowed.

"So, if I burn your tie you'll be weak?"

"Haha, not exactly. The key element of a Likeable is that once it has resonated with the person's abilities, it can be recast. To explain why it does this, let's move back to you, Century. You stated that you pull out strands of hair and they are what cause the explosion. Wouldn't that mean you'd eventually go bald then? Well, the thing about strand users is that their hair holds special properties. For example, it is very tough. That's why Likeables are very handy to have since they're harder to break. Another property is that it grows back very fast. So you won't have to worry about balding anytime soon, Century, since your hair will grow back in a day or two."

"Now that we've explained the basics of Strand. Let's move onto your powers Century."

Yuro waddled over to her and handed her a printed piece of paper with the periodic table on it.

"The hell is this?"

Century turned the paper over and flipped it upside down to try and understand it.

"That is your REAL powers Century."

Werren plucked a hair from Century's head.

"Just as I thought, no explosion. Even though I took out a piece of your hair."

Century looked stunned and confused at how he did that.

"Wait... that... doesn't make any sense?"

"Ah yes, you truly have no idea the extent of your powers. In our battle last night, I noticed the air felt different after your explosions. I couldn't put my finger on it so while you were sleeping last night, Yuro took a few of your hair samples to experiment."

Century picked up Yuro and shook him around.

"YOU DID WHAT YOU LITTLE SHIT?!"

"Ah no put me down! I'm gonna throw up!"

Yuro hurled off to the side as Century dropped him. Luckily no baby vomit got on her.

"I'll... clean that up."

Yuro waddled inside to grab something to clean up his vomit.

"Anyway... last night, Yuro did a few tests on your hair and found strange properties. Your hair had the properties of all 118 periodic table elements! It was an insane find, to be honest, but from it, I believe we've found what your actual powers are. As a little test, please pluck out a strand of hair while thinking of helium."

"Think of helium...? How do I think of helium? Like do I think of a balloon?"

Century found this hard to wrap her head around. She had only used explosions her whole life, and learning that her abilities consisted of more made it hard to follow along.

"Sure, just think of whatever comes to mind when you imagine helium, then pluck out a hair!"

Century closed her eyes and wrinkled her brow trying to imagine helium as best she could. All that came to mind was balloons floating through a blue sky. Once she felt confident she pulled a hair tie out of her hair. Instead of a deafening explosion, she felt her body move without her moving. Once she opened her eyes she didn't see the tree or ground anymore. She saw the horizon and town. Looking down, she saw the ground had gotten a lot further away. Her eyes widened as she clung to her hair tie.

"What the hell?! Why... what... HOW?!"

Werren clapped and waved at her. She didn't stop rising. Slowly getting higher and higher her body began to tremble.

"Oh god... how did I get down... WERREN! GET ME DOWN!"

"WHAT?"

Werren yelled. He could hear her clearly but he found toying with her to be a lot more enjoyable.

"GET. ME. DOWN!"

"WHAT? SPEAK UP CENTURY!"

As Century's hands got sweaty, her grip faltered. She looked at her hands with wide eyes.

"Please don't break."

POP!

Century screamed in utter terror as she barrelled towards the ground. She closed her eyes hoping to not see her demise coming. To her pleasant surprise, she landed on a web Werren had made with his tendrils. She bounced up and down as she still looked in shock.

After coming to a stop she hopped down. Her legs shaking.

"Fun?"

"Go to hell."

Century walked back inside, very much still shaken.

She got a glass of water and sat on the kitchen floor exhausted. She looked at her reflection in the water. Despite the horrible experience, she smiled. Knowing there was so much to her powers she had yet to uncover. She had no idea that her abilities were linked to the periodic table. Usually, she would just think of blowing people up and it would produce explosions. Now she had so many options.

Werren soon walked in.

"Welp, I hope that lesson was good. Yuro's still cleaning up his mess."

"So can I kill you now?"

Century said leaning against a cupboard.

"You can try but I don't think gently floating upward will aid in killing me."

Werren pulled out a pizza box from the fridge and began to eat from it.

"Although, there are an almost infinite amount of things to do with your powers now. You'll just have to choose what you think will be useful and how to make it. It'll take some science lessons but I'm sure you'll get there."

"Then I can kill you?"

"Again, you can try. First, just focus on your homework."

"Excuse me? What do you mean... homework?"

"Well..."

Suddenly the ground rumbled as Werren dropped his pizza. He looked around to find the source.

Yuro soon waddled inside.

"Werren! A large explosion downtown!"

"What? You've gotta be joking."

Werren ran outside and used his tendrils to lift him to the roof of the house. He looked across town and saw a large plume of dust and smoke rising into the air.

"Dammit. This town has been quiet for 50 years, now 2 events in the span of a day... Werren what have you gotten yourself into."

Century was outside looking at the smoke rising in the distance. Werren soon jumped down beside her.

"Explosions a common occurrence here?"

"Not in the slightest. Stay here, I'll go check it out."

Werren dashed off down the street.

Century scoffed and straightened her hair.

"Like hell, I'm listening to a hero. This seems like the perfect time to test my new skills."

Century smirked and raced behind Werren.

Upon reaching the site, Werren saw many injured people on the ground. He fastened his tie and many tendrils sprouted from the ground, they grabbed the injured civilians and brought them to safety as Werren pushed further into the cloud of smoke. From the smoke, people flew past him as they were getting tossed around. Beyond the smoke, Werren heard the voice of a woman.

"Dispose of anyone you see. Let's draw this hero out."

When the smoke cleared Werren came face to face with 4 SHS members. The first, Agent Raphael, sported long white hair, he wrapped his hair around his fist, and then his hair turned into a texture resembling that of a gemstone. He punched a house and the force blew it to pieces. The second, Agent Petra, had 2 demon-like horns coming out of her head. She grabbed onto them and ripped them out of her head, blood pouring out of the open wound before quickly closing up. Her now severed horns became sharp blades that cut through flesh with ease.

The third, Agent Lycon, had a large build, he towered over everyone and had hair all over his body. He stomped his way around, his footsteps making the ground shake. Finally there stood Julie Annoying. Her hair was in a bun as she stood in the back, barking orders at the other 3.

"Hurry up and draw him out! We don't have all day!"

She rolled her eyes and tapped her foot.

Werren's fist clenched.

"SHS... how dare you come into my home like this..."

Werren charged forward. Petra spun her head towards Werren who was only inches from her. Her eyes widened as Werren thrust forward a tendril. It stabbed right through her stomach as she coughed blood all over him.

All other SHS members looked in horror. Werren tore the tendril from Petra as she collapsed to the floor. With a blood-stained vision, he turned the remaining 3 members.

"You looking for a hero? Well come and get him."

From the ground, hundreds of tendrils sprouted around Werren and the 3 SHS members. The tendrils closed up around them creating a large dome, entrapping all of them.

"I don't want you 3 destroying any more of the town, they're not involved in this. It's between you and me."

"Old hero pulling out pathetic displays like this... I laugh at how far you've fallen."

Raphael made a hearty laugh.

"I'll feast on your flesh hero... I'm excited to see what you taste like."

Lycon growled as he bore his fangs.

"That idiot Petra... It doesn't matter, you 2. Dispose of this pathetic remnant of a hero. Quickly as well. I want that promotion as fast as possible."

Julie sat back, resting her head on her hand as Raphael and Lycon stepped forward.

Outside of Werren's dome...

Century finally reached the site of the smoke. She saw a giant black dome and ran towards it. Suddenly, a knife zipped past Century and grazed her cheek. She held her hand to the wound as she looked up. She saw someone stand up. Their body covered in blood. It was Agent Petra. She had a giant hole in her stomach but it quickly closed as she was as good as new. She looked up at Century with a smirk.

"So... you're still alive huh?"

Petra recalled her knife and it flew to her hand.

"Petra...? You're from Squadron 48H? What are you doing here, this hero's my target!"

Century put her foot forward and scowled.

"HAH! We have strict orders from Julie to kill this hero."

Petra waved her knives around and laughed.

"What? How did you even know he was here...? I haven't given a report..."

"A couple of clowns told us. Once Julie heard about it she called us and made a beeline here. Said we had a hero to kill... and to kill any worthless SHS Spectators that are trying to steal this kill from us."

"That bitch... fine you wanna do this..."

Century took a few hair ties and clutched them tightly.

"Let's see just how many times I can rip you apart."

A battle has commenced in the quiet town for the head of a hero!