“Where’s Chimera? She should have been here by now…”

Glow, the new leader of the 32nd teen superhero team of the Hero’s League, paced in the briefing room.

She had been worried all night after she had left Chimera in that warehouse, with the homeless man and the eccentric scientist.

What if she’s using Chimera? She’s pretty naive…

Glow started biting her thumb as she paced back and forth.

Chimera wouldn’t let that happen would she? She was the one who found out Gideon was a traitor after all.

I just got to trust her until she asks for help.

She nodded to herself after.

Still, what could be keeping her?

Glow took a seat as she pondered, just as Bullet and Chase ran inside.

“Glow, we got trouble!” Chase was looking rather flustered.

“Yeah, some building in the downtown port area collapsed and took out a few other buildings with it. People are buried under the rubble.”

Glow shot up.

“Did anyone else arrive on the scene?”

Bullet shook his head, “we haven’t heard about anyone there just yet, the report just came through.”

Glow started to grab a communicator when their mission briefer, a woman by the name of Cloe walked in.

“Oh, are you all aware of the port clean up situation? We need people down there to help find the other buried people and save them.”

She looked around the room next, “where’s Chimera?”

Glow shook her head, “I’ve not seen her since yesterday, and she lives near the port area. She might be there already.”

“Let’s hope, we can’t wait as it is.”

Glow took a few communicators and handed it to her teammates as she and the others made their way out of the room and towards the port area.

I hope that she’s safe.

…

Chimera had just fitted the last of Meghan’s gadgets to her power suit, the technomancy skills working like a charm with the suit’s interface.

Meghan was grinning like a loon as she looked over the newest invention they both slapped onto the thing.

“How much are the technomancy skills?”

Chimera looked at her with concern, “only once I figured out what this stuff can really do. I’m not about to give you a nuke disguised as something not… explodey.”

“Okay, but seriously, how much?”

“You have to go out and mingle with people other than me and Aden for a month.”

Her friend hissed as if she was burning at the words.

“How could you? You know we hate the sun and other people.”

“It’s why you need that. If you just talk to the Bottys and Printer all day, you’ll just forgo interaction with everyone eventually.”

“Well said Miss Sarah.”

“Thank you Printer.”

“If only my Creator could be so understanding.”

Meghan started to whine, “why is it my computer is always on my friend’s side?! How can you be so… so… disloyal?”

“I live to serve you my Creator, even if you see it as a detriment to your… current sensibilities.”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Printer began to print out a tissue paper for Meghan, who took it with a scowl.

“Damn traitor.”

“If it means that you become better and less insular, I will wear that moniker proudly.”

Meghan chuckled a bit at that, “helping me despite me, who does that sound like?”

She squeezed her friend's hand, and Chimera pulled her in for a hug.

“Alright,” as they pulled away from each other Chimera patted her friend's shoulder, “let’s go stop a crazy doctor’s prison break out!”

Meghan sighed, “our lives got weird after a while, didn’t they?”

“So weird.”

…

“So, I know I’m partially responsible for this, but how?”

“How what?”

Sarah and Meghan were now flying over the port area with no propulsion to speak of, simply floating on by as they made their way to the water.

“How are we flying?”

Meghan smiled, “electro-magnetism. It was a nice little thing I found out about my power. With this suit on and my power running through it, I can float and even fly in the air.”

Chimera wanted to pout, because flying was cool and her friend got to have that before she did.

If only she got more bird DNA, this wouldn’t even be an issue.

“Heads up!”

SMACK!

Chimera was hit in the face by a pelican, who was now struggling to try and flap away.

Jackpot!

She absorbed the pelican into her body, templated it, and spat it back out in a gooey mess.

After taking a moment to grow them and test them on her friend’s back, Chimera jumped off of her to glide for a bit.

After everything, the betrayal, the bullshit, and even dying? This was all worth it.

She screamed as she went into for a dive and pulled back up with a burst of speed, zooming past her friend and doing rolls in the air.

“Hey! Get back here!”

Her friend gave chase as they both started speeding across the sky towards the prison.

…

Blackrock Prison was a rather gloomy place, even for a correctional facility.

It didn’t help that this place was the premier institution for keeping superpowered criminals, not just in New Terra, but most of Asta as a whole.

The name was a moniker of the darkened rock that seemed to be the only bit of land, with small patches of grass and one lone tree in the recess block.

It was odd to have such a place, but it all boiled down to one ideal.

Even if you got over the walls, where would you go?

Water for miles around, wind and storms just off the coast.

Without a boat, which only came once in a month, where could you go?

Not to mention that the officers and the guards of the prison were also superpowered.

So good luck getting on that boat without being dragged right back to your cell.

This place was made for keeping super criminals.

Though Chimera had to wonder how they stopped people like Killer Whale, or shape-shifters like her, who could just swim away.

Chimera and Meghan both floated down as the penitentiary came into view.

“So, what’s even the plan here?”

Chimera pulled out a communicator, “simple, we radio in for the calvary to arrive while we find the two missing brainwashed scientists. You got non-lethals on that thing and I can knock them out with my tendrils. We just got to stop them before they let out Dr. Pox, and whoever else they release.

Her friend looked at her darkly, “and any people that try to escape?”

Chimera looked to the side.

The law in New Terra was rather cut-throat when it came to supers who broke the law.

One such law in particular, which was told to Sarah as a child by her parents was simply this.

If you break the law, and don’t serve your sentence, your life becomes forfeit.

Due process and justice had a nice ring to it, before people started flying around and shooting laser beams from their eyes.

So, how do you incentivize criminals who would just keep breaking the law and appealing to the court that they’ve changed their ways?

Give them an ultimatum.

‘You either serve your sentence, or we end you.’

Parole was still possible for those who really wanted to turn over a new leaf, but with death hanging over their heads…

Well, it was another reason why Blackrock was so effective.

“If they try to escape, we end them, simple as that.”

Inside her though, the thought of killing someone was still raw.

That fat bastard back at the fight ring was different in her mind, as anyone who would do that to another person just wasn’t human.

But killing people in front of her?

It’ll be you or them at that point, since they know what awaits them if they break out and get captured.

“...Cold Sarah, but hey, I get it.”

“It’s Chimera here Meghan, no real names.”

“Oh, then, what do we call me?”

"Oh! Oh I know!”