Chapter Forty-Four - Heroic Introductions

Teddy yawned as Melaton pulled them into a parking garage, then stopped the car before a ticket booth. She fished around in a cup holder until she found a card which she swiped over the screen of the automatic barrier.

When it rose, she drove past a few rows of cars, then past a second barrier and down a floor. “We should be pretty alone around here,” she said.

Teddy wasn’t afraid of tight spaces, quite the opposite, really, but she still felt as if the ceiling was pressing down on her as they sank deeper into the garage. Too much concrete and pipes, not enough trees and such.

Melaton swung the car around into a parking spot and put it in park. “Right, let’s go,” the heroine said as she started to unbuckle herself.

Teddy was faster though, unclicking her belt in no time at all, and bouncing out of the back of the car to land next to it with a smack of her boots on the ground. The Boss was the last out, but that was okay, she needed to make an entrance, sorta.

The Boss extended a hand down to Teddy who grabbed onto it, then they both moved out from behind the car to follow Melaton. They reached a heavy-looking door, one with a keypad next to it which Melaton poked at for a bit. A buzzer sounded, the door opened.

“All the way down,” Melaton said as she pushed through the doorway.

There was a long, long hallway, with pipes in the ceiling and lights every few paces. Their shoes plap-plapped along the ground, the sound only interrupted when the door clunked shut behind them. It was a real boring tunnel, but at least it didn’t smell like gas like in the parking place.

The end had another door, this one requiring more tapping away at a keypad before it unlocked.

Teddy was expecting more tunnels, like any proper hidden base should have, but instead it opened out into a perfectly ordinary corridor, with white walls and a plastic-y floor. Teddy didn’t even have time to start looking around before the Boss’ hand tightened.

There were two men coming their way. Men in white and grey uniforms, bike helmets with visors over their eyes. They were armed, but their guns were tucked away in hip holsters and they didn’t look too threatening.

Both of them had badges over their shoulders and breasts, with little maple leafs and the initials HRF on them. “Melaton,” one of them said. “Right on time. Can you follow us?”

Teddy held onto the Boss and followed after the two guys. They didn’t smell like heroes, but they were wearing bright costumes, which was never a good sign. Bright costumes were like the bright frogs in her nature shows. It meant that eating the people wearing them would be a lot of trouble.

They followed the men around a couple of bland corridors, then stepped out into a much bigger room. This one had a lot of doors, and off to one side, a dozen chairs and a whiteboard. There were more guys, and some girls, in white and red costumes.

“Please, take a seat,” the guard said before moving on.

The seats, some of them, at least, were occupied. One had that Glamazon girl they’d met that one time in an alleyway. Her costume had changed a bit. There was a lot more spandex and neon now.

Next to her was an empty seat, then a guy in a dark trench coat. He wore bandages around his head and hands, and a big pair of goggles on. Teddy figured he was pretty weird.

A woman paced at the back of the last row of chairs. She was in a tight orange-y suit, with a bunch of black-brown spots on them. The only part of her face visible was her mouth and chin, the rest was covered by a sleek helmet with cat ears atop it.

And there was one last guy, squatting over a chair that didn’t look like it could support him at all. He was a huge guy, covered in metallic armour decorated with golden bands. His helmet was full-faced, a big metal bucket with a visor at the front. He was so wide he took up two spots, his hands--both as big as Teddy’s head in their armour--resting on his knees.

“Damn, that one looks like a brick shit house,” Melaton whispered.

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Teddy frowned. “Why would you want to live in a house made of shit bricks?”

The Boss bapped Teddy on the head. “S-so, um, now what?” she asked.

Melaton pointed to the back of the room where one wall had a window in it. “I’m going to the break room for coffee and gossip. You, in the meantime, find a seat, listen to some boring instructions, and then try to make friends.”

“Oh, oh, I.... I can do that. Maybe,” the Boss said.

Teddy patted her on the thigh. “You’ll do great, Boss.”

Teddy wasn’t sure what the whole thing was about yet. The Boss wanted to blend in with the heroes more, which was totally okay, it would make their inevitable betrayal all the easier, but Teddy didn’t like they were kinda stuck with all of them in one room.

Even a bear didn’t go after an entire wolfpack on its own.

Still, the Boss was real clever, so she probably knew what she was doing.

Teddy reminded herself not to insult the heroes or anything, even if they ended up being disgusting capitalists or something.

Emily and Teddy picked some seats way off in the back, near the big guy in the black-gold armour. He turned their way, his armour scraping around his neck. “Hey,” he said.

The Boss swallowed audibly. “H-hi.”

“Hey!” Teddy said right back.

“So, which one of you called me a brick shithouse?” he asked. His voice was real cool, all rumbly and deep.

“That was Melaton,” Teddy said. “But it’s stupid because you don’t look like a house, you look like a person.”

The man snorted. “Cute. I’m Slaymaker,” he said.

Teddy approved. “That’s a cool name.” she said. “I’m uh... Boss, what’s my fake hero name?”

The Boss shifted on her seat. “Um, Ursa Minor? That’s the name a lot of people use online.”

“Ursa is bear, right?” Teddy asked.

The Boss nodded. “It is. Ursa Minor is a constellation of stars.”

That was super cool. “Yeah, I’m Ursa Minor,” Teddy said to Slaymaker. “I turn into a bear.”

He nodded. “That’s kinda neat,” he said. “I punch things hard.”

Teddy huffed. She could do that too. It was hardly impressive. Bears were known for their incredible swiping prowess. She bet she could out slay Slaymaker any day of the week. Plus, for all his name was cool and all, he was still just a hero.

Teddy was going to ask Slaymaker if his power was really just punching people--for all she knew about powers, they were usually a lot more complicated than that--but she was cut off as a weird man stepped into the room and walked up to the whiteboard at the very front.

The Boss gasped.

Teddy was too busy staring at the guy. He had a big helmet on, with a bug-eyed visor, and a pair of articulated metal antenna sticking out the top. He was wearing a labcoat over pyjamas, and he had big fluffy moth slippers on his feet with their own antenna wiggling about.

Unlike most of the heroes around, this one had his name plate up.

Quantum Mothman

Paragon, Level Four

“Who’s that?” Teddy asked. He was probably important. Only important people could get away with looking so silly.

“That’s the Quantum Mothman,” the Boss said. “He has a lot of powers, and has been around for a long time. He’s kind of a local celebrity.”

Teddy shrugged. Just a big-time hero. Probably a bit too big-time for the Boss to face off against, for now, but still. She’d keep her eyes on him in case he tried any funny business.

The Quantum Mothman cleared his throat. “Yes, hello everyone,” he said. “I’m me, this is an introduction, and now let’s move on to the important parts, yes?”

He tapped the whiteboard and a bunch of words appeared on it, including a map of the city with a red line running through it.

“This is the city, yes?” he asked. No one answered for a moment. “Well, yes. This is your route. You will be given phones. Don’t lose them please. A bit fragile.” He gestured to the side and a box appeared in midair. And then it fell to the ground with a crash. He stared at the box, which had opened to spill out a few phones.

Teddy snorted.

“Hmm, yes,” he said.