Jennifer drove her vehicle drove down the ramp to the parking garage below the building and stopped near an elevator where a familiar face was waiting. Jennifer had called ahead, and Candice was already there waiting for her. When Jennifer got out of the vehicle, she did not miss the quick scowl on the agent’s face. A scowl that disappeared as the agent greet Jennifer. Jennifer had to admire the agent’s professionalism.

“Mrs. White, welcome to H.A.V.E. I believe this is your first time here?”

Candice used Jennifer’s villain name as she was in costume and the agent’s tone was light and chippy. Jennifer was not fooled. The agent must be less than happy with the spreading news, and Jennifer could not blame her. Her father told her to speak as little as possible in public, so Jennifer just nodded.

“Well, everyone at H.A.V.E are very excited to have you here today.” Candice said as she waved to the waiting elevator. “Master Fist is already here. Please come this way.”

Jennifer followed the agent into the elevator. As it went up, the agent promptly went into a speech praising her father’s action during the Gap event as well as how much more electronic traffic they had seen since news broke about the Gap over Velocity City. Jennifer listened impassively. His actions during the Gap were not the reason why she was here today.

The doors opened, and Jennifer walked out into the studio. The studio was fairly large and had a full-length mirror on one wall. The room was furnished with several sofa and chairs, and in one corner was a box of props that include various hats and costumes. Jennifer saw numerous machines and cameras all over the room, but her attention was captured by the centre of the room. Her father was standing there in front of a light tank, barrel pointing right at him. Her father was staring at the tank was his trademarked scowl on his face.

A tank? H.A.V.E got a tank for a photo shoot?

Then, the tank faded from view and Jennifer’s mind went into overdrive. She did not understand what she was seeing. Her eyes blinked, and when she did, the entire scene in front of her subtly shift. She noticed the burnt-out buildings in the background, and how they were beginning to change to buildings made entirely of glass and steel. A street appeared, and her father was standing in the middle of it. In the distance, at the other end of the street, stood a robot. A gigantic robot at least fifty metres tall with headlights for eyes. The robot began walking down the street, her father turned to face it.

Jennifer’s brain finally caught up.

She turned and saw the photographer. He was sitting behind a giant console, seemingly distracted by something on it. From where she was, Jennifer could not see what had the photographer’s attention, but whatever it was, it wasn’t enough to stop him from giving instructions.

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

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“As ready as I'll ever be,” her father replied. “What do I have to do?”

“Just stand here,” the photographer said as he adjusted something on his console, “look directly into the lens, and changed!”

Jennifer did not know what the photographer meant, but her father did. His bark armor appeared and covered his body. That was evidently what the photographer wanted.

“Good. Good. Now, strike a pose. Uh…I mean get into your stance. Your combat stance.”

Her father did as instructed, putting his hands up and got into a boxing stance. Small drones appeared, flying around him, capturing his image.

“When you said this was a photo shoot, this was not what I imagined.” Jennifer whispered to Candice.

Candice looked at her in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I thought it was going to be a photo shoot. Not all this.” Jennifer waved at the machinery around the room. “Holograms. Flying drones. This is a lot more hi-tech than I imagined.”

“Oh, you mean that.” Candice gave her a genuine smile. “H.A.V.E is the biggest company in the villain entertainment business. In fact, we were the one who started the business. And we spare no expense in maintaining our marketshare.”

Jennifer shook her head and looked on as the giant robot got closer and closer. The drones took pictures from various angles, and then the background began to change again. Now, the ceiling changed to a cloudy sky, with rainclouds hovering menacing low in the sky. Her father was now standing on a grassy field with trees in the background.

“How long is this going to take?” Jennifer asked.

“I’ll find out.”

Candice walked towards the photographer and spoke to him. He did not appreciate the interruption. They got into a brief argument that Candice evidently won because the images in the studio faded, and green walls appeared around Jennifer. It was the real appearance of the studio. The photographer had shut down the photo shoot.

“Master Fist, there are some things that need your attention. We will take a short break.” The photographer said as he glared at Candice. The agent was unaffected and just gave him a sweet smile. Her reaction made Jennifer wondered if the cute chippy personality was the real Candice. Maybe she had been wrong about the agent. There had to be a reason why she was thriving in a company like H.A.V.E. Jennifer’s musing was cut short as her father walked up to her.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself.”

Her father chuckled at Jennifer’s words. “Yeah, might be the novelty value but it is not as bad as I feared. I never thought a photo shoot would mean holographic backgrounds. We sure never had things like this in my day.”

“From what I gathered; this is unusual. H.A.V.E is pulling out all the stops for you.”

“Good to know,” her father looked proud about that. Then, he got serious. “Alright, so why are we stopping. What’s going on? What happened?”

Showing his experience, her father knew something was wrong, but Jennifer waited till Candice joined them before she begins. She pressed a button on her tablet before handling it over to him. Her father read what was written on the tablet, but he did not react. Instead, he just handled the tablet back to Jennifer after a few minutes and nodded.

“Yes, that sounds about right. That’s what happened.”