Victor was deep within his inner world when he heard it. A ringing sound that echoed from the dark void above the grass field. It was the first time something like this had happened and Victor had no idea what it meant, He looked at his system for answers.

“You have a call. You should take this before your men break down the door.” Reunion said, looking almost relieved at the interruption.

“Guess we will have to get back to this later.” Victor said.

“Yes, please. Much, much later.”

Reunion immediately disappeared after his reply. Victor scowled, feeling somewhat annoyed at Reunion. He knew he was having problems with the Qi Transfer technique, but there was no reason for the system to run for the hills like that. The ringing continued. Victor closed his eyes and will himself out of his inner world.

When he opened his eyes, he was back in his apartment. He sat up on his bed and pick up his communicator. Victor was surprised to see that the call was from Candice. After what happened at the photo shoot, Victor thought his agent would want some time away from him. Victor made sure to sound sleepy as he answered the call.

“Yes, Sweet Fist here.”

“Master Fist, this is Candice. Sorry to wake you but there is an emergency. And I mean a Nexus Emergency. The heroes are calling from a general mobilization of all available heroes and villains.”

“What? What happened?” Victor immediately abandoned his sleep act and rushed to his living room. He was turning on his television while Candice gave him the answer.

“A Gap was found near the town of Glowing Falls. At least three kilometres wide and growing. The location is in the territory controlled by the Fraternity of Heroes, and they had called it a Nexus Emergency. Master Fist, do you wish to answer the call?”

Victor’s instinct was calling him to say ‘No’, but the name of the town gave him pause. Where had he heard the name of that town? A moment later, Victor remembered and cursed. He opened his storage ring and took out a book. Victor flipped it open and saw the information he was looking for. He cursed again.

The television turned on, and there was no need for Victor to turn to the news channel. Every channel was reporting on the Emergency. The news had broken, and every channel was a new channel right now. A Gap that wide would be called an Invasion Gap, and everyone knew that Nexus could soon be overrun with monsters if it was not closed. At the bottom of the channel was a flashing broadcast requesting that all available heroes and villains to report to their local marshalling point.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Master Fist, H.A.V.E is a signatory of the Nexus Accord and is obligated to send all our freelancers when an Emergency is called. However, you had just fought in a Gap Event and with your injury, we may be able to exempt you from the call. If you so desired.”

“Injury?”

“Yes,” Candice said. “You were bitten by a monster during a fight, correct?”

Victor remembered the bite from the snake monster and looked at his arm. It was still bandaged, but whatever poison the monster possessed had not affected him. It seems his Wood Qi was stronger than the poison and Victor had almost fully recovered from the bite, The bandage was more precautionary than anything else. Now, it was a way for him to get out of a fight. If it was any other town, Victor would have jump on the chance.

“It was nothing but a scratch,” Victor told Candice, “Send me the time and location of the marshalling point. I’ll be there.”

“Great! I am sending you the information right now.”

His agent sound delighted and relieved. Victor shook his head at her reaction, and not for the first time, wondered what’s the story behind Candice. He knows she was disappointed with him at the photo shoot, but Victor had his doubts even before that. From his interactions with Candice, she was a bad fit for a villain company. That was a question for another time. Right now, his communicator was ringing non-stop. His communicator showed him a list of people calling him, and Victor selected Jennifer’s name out of the list.

“Sweet Fist here.”

“Master Fist, this is Mrs. White. There is a Nexus Emergency.”

“I know. Candice already called me. I will be heading to the marshalling point once I suit up.”

“Oh, you are going?” Jennifer said after a pause.

“I am a villain.” Victor deadpanned.

“Oh yes, you will have to go.” Jennifer sounds a little agitated. It was something that raised a red flag in Victor. He had never heard her sound like this.

“Why? What’s the problem?”

“Well, H.A.V.E send out the call to everyone in the crew. We-’

“What? Why?” Victor demanded. “You guys are min…villain support. You guys don’t have to respond to an Emergency. Wait, did that change as well when I was inside?”

“No, it is more of a call for volunteers. Villain support don’t have to respond if they don’t want to, but they can if they want to.” Jennifer said.

“And why would anyone want to do that?”

“They get hazard pay which is almost triple their current pay, and…a promotion. Most villain support use this as an opportunity to show that they want to go on to be villains.”

“Oh!”

Victor forgot about that. Showing that you are willing to step up during an Emergency was a good way to show how serious you are in the Game, and many sidekicks and minions use it to step up the hero and villain ladder.

“Okay, so what’s the problem?”

“It’s Mister Black.” His daughter whispered. “He wants to go to the marshalling point.”