Valeria’s new Healies allowed her to easily join Hiro on top of the buildings as Juan and Rena moved through the streets below with demon Hachi, who hadn’t been friendly yet also hadn’t attacked the two.

Like his Chronokuma teddy bear, the Healies were a Legendary Item, yet for his part, Hiro had yet to share what the bear could do with anyone. He wasn’t always a man of secrets, and he didn’t mind telling the others what he could do or what he had, but nine months of living in a way he could have never fathomed had hardened him.

Hiro thought back to those nine months he had already survived. With it came the memory of Monica—the woman who had stood by his side through much of the Doom System’s chaos, only to later be turned against him by the system itself.

“We should do it,” Monica had said the last time he saw her. “What’s the point of living like this, Hiro?” She gestured to some of the tent homes people had built in the subways, the filth, the depravity. “I feel dirty all the time. It’s miserable. We have to scrounge for everything or hope that the supers have something at their food banks. We have to fight for existence. The world is fucked. It was crazy when it started, but now, it’s summer, it sucks, it’s hot, and I’m ready. What are you afraid of, anyway? We have just as easy of a chance to survive with a superpower as we have down here. Well?”

Hiro didn’t know what to tell her at that point.

This wasn’t the first time they’d had this argument, and if he was being honest with himself, his reason for not going forward to one of the gates and getting a superpower was starting to make less and less sense. Maybe it was the summer heat, or the fact that had to fight some other homeless people the previous day and it had been pretty brutal, but she had a point.

Monica was probably right. Give in, take a power, and see what happens from there.

Yet he never followed her to the subway platform or up the stairs from there. He merely watched her go, a sinking feeling in his heart, and now, as he crouched on a building somewhere near the East River, he thought of that moment to the point that it took Valeria having to snap her fingers to bring him back to the present.

“What?” he asked her. “Sorry. Drifted off.”

“It happens. Look.” Valeria gestured to a body that had been impaled on a flagpole. Hiro instantly recognized Kiaan, the Indian Survivor who had saved them in their fight against the crazed linebacker. Now, he was dead, his goggles still over his eyes, thick mustache curled at the ends.

“Stolen Valor if we get any closer,” she said. “Could be worth it. How many points do you have?”

“Four. You?”

“Three.”

“Might as well catch up,” Hiro said.

“Might as well. We’re all probably fucked anyway.” Valeria puffed her cheeks out. “Don’t tell Rena I said that. She’s right in thinking we should try to stay positive. But it’s hard. And what we’re doing is irrational. I’m not suicidal here, I haven’t given up, but all of this just seems impossible if you really take it in.”

“It does.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Not only do I wonder what will happen when the gates open, but I wonder what the Second Interim will be like. It seems like the Doom System is adjusting things on a whim, sort of coding as it goes. It’s irrational for me to think that anything it tells us, even something like a Hunter Counter, is actually real. How do we know it isn’t lying? Everything is sus.”

“And then there’s the Companion.”

“An extension of the Doom System itself, extra sus.” Valeria approached Kiaan’s dead body. His goggles fizzled off his head and appeared in her hand.

The description appeared for Hiro as well:

Unique Item: Emelia Earheart’s Flight Goggles

Grade: A

Upgrade: N/A

Description: What led to beloved aviator and inventor of the tamagotchi’s disappearance? Was it the Bermuda Triangle? Dark energies swirling in the air that would later signal the start of the Second World War? Penile microplastics? A text message from Steve Jobs offering homeopathic health advice?

Or could it have been the smell emanating from the infamous Fish Disaster of the Port of Volos?

Greece’s Pagasetic Gulf was never the same after severe flooding caused hundreds of thousands of dead fish to fill its waters, declining commercial activity in the region by nearly eighty percent.

Fueled by an intense wind coming from the Alps, the stench of rotting fish drifted toward Bermuda, where it infiltrated Amelia Earhart’s cockpit, throwing her off course.

The famed aviator landed on a tiny island of cannibals known colloquially as Carnefador. Rather than eat her, the Carnefador made Earhart their queen, but only if she offered her goggles to Sebastian, a singing crustacean capable of communicating with humans and assisting mermaids in their transitions.

Earhart’s goggles will allow you to see enemies in the vicinity. These include Hunters, Revenants, Sentries, and other monsters.

Valeria opened her mouth like she was going to say something about the description, but never did. Instead she put them on and scanned the buildings ahead. “It definitely works. Batshit explanation mashing timelines and bullshittery aside, it works. There is a grouping of monsters in a small courtyard behind that building. Let’s check it.”

Boing!

Hiro bounced to the next building, while Valeria used momentum from her Healies to launch herself alongside him. She landed, and together, they approached the edge of the rooftop and looked down.

“I see them now,” he said.

“Yup.” Valeria drew her crossbow. “Sitting ducks. Get Juan and Rena in close so we can all get the SE.”

“Got it.”

Hiro hopped down to street level to find Juan with his baseball bat resting against his shoulder as he walked alongside Rena, who had her arms crossed over her chest, daggers sheathed at her sides. Her eyes occasionally jumped over to Hachi, who traveled near them.

“Val got goggles.”

Rena gave him a funny look. “She what?”

“Remember Kiaan, the guy who sort of saved us in our fight against the football hunter? Well, he’s dead. We found his body. And his goggles allowed him to see enemies in the vicinity. She spotted some enemies in a small courtyard just ahead. She’s going to snipe them, and she wants all of us to reap the rewards.”

“Fuck it,” Juan said, “if we can make our lives easier, I’m all for it. If one tries to get away, I’ll take care of it.”

“Cool, follow me.” Hiro led them to the building in question, and just about the moment they arrived he heard the familiar thunk of Valeria’s arrows followed by the hissing screech of the monsters. Soul Essence rushed into all of them, and soon, Valeria stepped over the side of the building and skated along its outer surface until she was street level.

“Cool, right?” She scanned the area again. “There’s a Hunter over there, I saw the skull, and…” she tensed.

“Yo, what is it, Val?” Juan asked.

“The Lady in the Yellow Raincoat. It has to be her. I was wondering if this would allow me to see Player Killers and, yeah, it does. We should go now.”

“You and I can cut her off,” Hiro told Valeria. “Juan and Rena can come in for back-up. Lead the way. And Juan.”

“Yeah?” the big man asked.

“Let’s finish this.”

“As quickly as possible, amigo. There’s no sense in letting her get a lick in.”