Super Quest
A True Hero's Name Earn a Super Name. A genuine hero does not bestow their own name but rather inherits it from the grateful hearts of those who have borne witness to their heroic deeds. Earn a hero's name naturally through actions that show your heroic valor. Quest Rewards +3 Super Point(s)
Super Name(Hero)
Super Shop
"Huh." Calvin blurted out, the panel took him by surprise.
"What?" Ina heard him and turned to see him staring dazedly above the ring. "You okay?"
"No- I... just got distracted" He willed the panel to go to the side.
Ina's attention turned back to the super fight. While Calvin tried to do the same, he was distracted by the new super quest that appeared. Namely, the reward.
'Super Shop? What is that?' He tried to get the Super Help to appear and explain the Super Shop, but there was no response from the system.
Whatever it was, the system didn't want to spoil him.
"Just out of curiosity, how do you enter the fight club?" He asked Ina after the fight ended.
"I don't know? I just watch." She shrugged. "What? You wanna try out?"
"I might?" He glanced at the quest panel. "You said being a hero pays a lot."
"It's also dangerous. Why not just apply for a Vanguard Internship?"
"I'm poor."
"So you keep saying."
"Truth is the truth."
"Get a power first, then think about it." She ended the conversation, turning back to the fight.
Calvin noticed her arm tensing a bit too tightly on the bag of popcorn. He glanced at her flat expression before following her eyes, watching the two heroes on the ring bobbing and weaving during the fight.
They kept watching more fights after, with Ina getting into the rhythm of commentating, explaining, and offering her opinion on the fighter's powers. Calvin was surprised by her knowledge, not just with how powers worked, but how best to use them. He had a feeling it was more than just a 'fun thing' for her.
As the sky started to darken and the fights started to dwindle, the two decided to leave the stands and walk through the park. They stretched their stiff legs as they strolled through, talking about the fight and the fighters meanwhile.
"I told you, Bulltripper's powers can let him trip up anything." Ina argued.
"Anything with legs." Calvin gestured annoyedly. "Doctor doodle can just draw giant snakes or some shit."
"You don't know that. Maybe snakes can trip." She crossed her arms.
"How?"
"With ingenuity."
"Psh." He threw his hands up. "You can't trip snakes."
"Not with that attitude." Ina chuckled. Her eyes perked as her holowatch buzzed, showing a message as she lifted her wrist up. She groaned and looked at the sky in annoyance. "Parents are calling me home."
Calvin looked at his holowatch to check the time. "You should, it's getting pretty late."
"Yeah." She tapped her arm as if thinking about something. "Hey, can you come closer?"
"Uh, why?"
She didn't answer, just turning around to raise her holowatch in the air. A small holographic display appeared above the wrist, showing an image of them both.
"I wanna take a picture. Send it to Queenie." She explained.
"Sure." Calvin ducked down to her height and she took a picture.
"Thanks." She started tapping on her wrist.
Calvin felt his watch vibrate and so he opened it up.
> Ina sent an image.
>
> Ina: wit calvin
>
> Ina: :P
>
> Quinn: nooOOOOO!!!!!
>
> Quinn: how dare you calvin!!!!
>
> Quinn: dont replace me inaaaaaa!!!
>
> Quinn: TnT
"Added you to a group chat." Ina explained, smiling at Quinn's reply.
"What's she doing anyway?"
"Parents stuff." She shrugged. "Let's go."
They began their journey back, through the now-lit warehouse and transitioning to the sidewalk in front of it. A number of other people were exiting the venue alongside them as the golden dusk light was finally snuffed out by the approaching darkness of night.
Ina opened her holowatch and started typing. She looked to the road afterwards and Calvin followed her line of sight, seeing a gray car start to approach them at breakneck speed.
"What's that?" He asked as the car stopped in front of them. There was no driver
"A car." She turned to him. "Hey, uh, thanks. For coming with. I usually go alone."
"Just buy me another holowatch." He chuckled.
She smiled back before getting in the car and getting driven away.
Calvin didn't have a second to walk before his holowatch vibrated again.
> Your Landlord: change of plans. come to this place.
>
> Your Landlord sent coordinates.
"My Landlord?"
----------------------------------------
"Seven two seven." Calvin read the neon sign on the store in front of him. He checked his holowatch to confirm the coordinates. "No, it's the right place."
He looked through the glass walls to see Sam in one of the tables inside, looking at him with a bored face.
> Your Landlord: what are you standing around for
>
> Your Landlord: come in. you look like a starving child
Calvin down at his holowatch then back to Sam. He hadn't touched his.
"How'd you do that?" He asked as soon as he entered the store and sat in front of him.
Sam stared at him in silence before widening his right with his fingers. Calvin noticed a blue sheen appear on his iris for a moment.
"Contacts?" He asked, both curious and wanting one himself.
"Implants." He corrected. "Painful as fuck when you get it, but really useful."
"But you were using your holowatch all this time?"
"Why do you think?" He rolled his eyes.
Calvin could guess. The man was shrewd. "Why're you showing it to me now?"
"Because we're going to the person that gave me these." Sam grinned.
"Same person that can help with my government-surveillance-watch situation?"
"They're multitalented." He shrugged.
"Why'd they suddenly change schedules? I thought it was tomorrow?"
"They said they needed help moving out." Sam explained.
He looked Sam up and down, deciphering his motive. He stabbed at a guess after a moment of thinking. "They gave you a discount."
"A massive discount, if we helped." He grinned.
"Fine, let's go then. I hope it doesn't last all night." He stood up, stretching his soon-to-be-tired back. "Who moves at night?"
He gave a wave towards the clerk before entering the back of the store with Calvin in tow. The two of them went through a break room and a storage area, down some stairs and in front of a pair of double doors and some vending machines.
"Why are there even vending machines here?"
"You want anything?" He asked, looking at the items in the vending machine.
Calvin squinted suspiciously at him. "Is this a trick question?"
"Can't a guy buy his savior a drink?" He smiled innocently.
"They can. But not you."
"Eh, you're no fun."
He pressed a series of buttons on the keypad input on the side of the machine. Then kept pressing. And pressing.
"Are you texting someone with a vending machine? I mean, what's happening?" Calvin asked after more than three minutes of button pressing by Sam.
Sam shushed him as he focused on pressing more buttons. Not a moment later, the vending machine whirred to life, the items inside retreated to the back before a metallic clink echoed from inside like a latch unlocked.
"Some people are just a bit too extra." Sam muttered. "Come on, let's go greet the genius."
Before he could even grab the vending machine, it flung open by itself. Two mechanical grabbers came out and latched onto their waists before the reflex centers in their mind could even shout 'what the fuck' at their muscles.
They were pulled in without a sound, the door-slash-vending machine closing shut behind them.
"What the fuck!" Calvin screamed as they were dragged over a mess of mechanical gears and wiring.
"Just let it happen kid. It won't hurt." Sam reassured him.
Calvin couldn't even process how wrong that sounded, as he was trying his best to not shit his pants. Soon enough, the grabber slowed down and put them gently in the middle of a metal platform.
There was various scientific equipment on the platform. Computers and machines and other scienc-y and magick-y paraphernalia. Calvin shivered, feeling creeped out. The place had reminded him of his entrance to this world.
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"Sam!" A light and cheery voice joyfully called out.
Calvin only saw a blur before Sam was tackled to the ground by a small person with a giant afro.
"Hi, Dox" Sam groaned.
"I missed you!" The person said, burying their face on Sam's shirt.
Calvin was slightly worried for the new person. Sam hadn't washed that shirt since they came back from the evil lab. "Who's this?"
"The person I was talking about." Sam answered, grabbing her by the neck and lifting her up like a kitten. "Dox, Calvin. Calvin, Dox."
"Hiya!" She waved to Calvin.
"Hello?" He waved back, then pointed at his wrist. "Can you fix this?"
"Ah! Of course!" She got free of Sam's hand and rushed to Calvin.
"Woah- hey!" Calvin was surprised when she suddenly grabbed his arm and started inspecting it, even smelling his wrist and licking fingers.
"Hm... oh. Ah." She started making noises to herself while thinking. "I don't get your power. What is it? It smells like eating rock candy and lobster at the same time!"
"What?" He looked suspiciously at her, turning to Sam for help.
"She can smell powers." Sam explained, grabbing Dox again. "We're not here for that, Dox."
"What? Oh, yeah, your arm. What do you want? Want some implants? Want to replace it? Maybe some iron claws!"
"The holowatch, Dox. Not the arm."
"Ah! Holowatch, give me!" She started reaching out while still hanging by the scruff of her shirt.
She somehow got free of Sam a second time. Turning into a blur again, she swiped Calvin's holowatch without him feeling anything and then disappeared towards one of the computers. She was already sitting and typing away when Calvin turned to see where she went.
Calvin looked towards Sam who had a smirk on his face. "She's just excitable."
"Understatement of the week." He remarked.
"Done!" Dox suddenly announced, throwing the holowatch back on Calvin's wrist. "Check it out!"
Calvin flicked his wrist, immediately being blinded by a bright neon yellow light. "Ah- christ! What the hell?"
"It's yellow!"
"No-", Sam sighed, "security upgrade, Dox. He didn't need an interface change."
"Oop! Sorry." She took it back and got to work once more.
Sam felt Calvin's reddened glare. "Just bear with it. She's the best in the city. And it's free."
"You said you got a discount."
"A hundred percent discount is a discount."
"Done!" Dox had already put his holowatch back on.
Calvin looked suspiciously at it, shielding his eyes before flicking his wrist to turn it on. Fortunately, it wasn't blinding anymore. It was still yellow, but he knew how to change that setting now.
"What did you add?" He asked.
"Just a few things!" Her eyes shined after he asked that. "I upgraded the holowatch's firmware, added more advanced encryption using a modified Quantum Cypher, improved the nanotech link and holographic biometric verification module on the..."
She prattled on until Calvin's eyes glazed over from the non-understanding. Sam tapped his head to wake him just as Dox finished.
"...inally, removed the tiny fingerprint smudge of the internal camera lenses!" She puffed her chest proudly.
"Neat." It was the only thing he could say, turning to Sam for an explanation.
"You just got a shitload of upgrades, kid." He chuckled. "You can figure it out slowly later, now it's time for the favor. You're moving?"
"Oh! Yes, I just need you to transfer the pocket anchor to a different area. I already mapped it out and built the slot, you just have to transfer it."
Calvin felt something from his wristwatch. There was no vibration anymore, not even a ping, but he felt as if it was telling him exactly what he had received. Coordinates to a place not in Bastion.
"What the fuck?" The feeling was weird, almost invasive.
"You'll get used to it." Sam patted his back. "Or you can just disable it. Like I do."
"How is it doing that?"
"It uses my own version of the Auto-Emphatic Quantum Synapse Handshake to send simple messages directly into your brain's empathy center!" Dox explained.
"I know what some of those words mean." Calvin shook his thought away, making do with just getting used to the feeling, seeing that it could be useful. "Anyway, where is this? It's not in Bastion."
He was looking at the map, opened from his modified holowatch. Of course he wasn't overly familiar with Bastion, but he was pretty sure there were streets in the city. The map showed only a mess of buildings built on top of each other.
"It isn't." Sam answered simply. "Are you sure? Villainopolis is a dangerous place for a base. Even for you."
"Villainopolis?" Calvin caught the weird name.
"It's the only place I won't get chased to!" She grinned.
"Who's chasing you?" He asked.
Dox shrugged. "I have no idea. I just stole a thing and got to experimenting on it. I didn't realize there was a tracker until later. I really should check for trackers first!"
"Don't tell me the tracker's still working?" Sam glared.
"Oh no, no. I disabled it of course! They shouldn't be tracking now." She smiled sweetly.
"What did you steal?" Calvin was too curious not to ask.
"Stuff." She dodged the question. "You should go now!"
Two grabbers took the two of them and dragged them into the darkness below, Sam seemingly unsurprised while Calvin screamed the air out of his lungs.
----------------------------------------
The two landed outside of the vending machine, rolling to the floor as the grabbers practically threw them out. The machine then whirred, closing and opening up again. This time, the internals of the actual vending machine were displayed.
"Rude." Calvin said, dusting himself off after standing up. "Well, she was a peach pie."
"'Peach pie'? Why are you talking like an old woman." Sam scoffed at him, walking to the vending machine and taking a palm-sized cube.
"You're talking like an old woman." Calvin grumbled, a bit of Miss Calli rubbing off of him. "So, where is this Villainopo-whatever. Where's this stupidly named scary place?"
"Check the coordinates using the city map."
He brought up his wrist and opened the map of the city, surprised by the marked coordinates jumping around in Bastion. Like some sort of glitch in a video game, it went in and out of bounds teleporting within seconds.
"Villainopolis is in Bastion, yes, but not exactly. It's better to just show you." He held out his hand to him. In a flash of light, a white mask without any features appeared on it. "Wear it."
Calvin grabbed the mask and immediately saw the super equip screen.
Super Equip
Super Gear: Plain White Mask detected. Equip? Yes No
"Plain white mask. Is this from the same guy that made my shirt?" He asked Sam.
"...how'd you figure that?" Sam looked suspiciously at him.
"Just a guess." He answered, saying no to the panel.
He put the mask on his face, feeling a weird force at the edges of the mask pull on his skin as if it was a parasite grafting itself to a host. Despite the lack of eye sockets, he could see perfectly as if there was no mask at all.
With a pull on his will, he pulled up his information panel.
Super Information
Super Name None Super Attributes Super Status Alive, Slight fatigue, Spirit-severance, Presence Reduction(Plain White Shirt), Body Enhancement(Plain White Shirt), Identity Concealment(Plain White Mask) Super Body 0 (+1) Super Quest Road to Heroism II, A True Hero's Name Super Mind 0 Super Points 1 Super Spirit 0.5
Super Powers
Impervious Pebble Gourmand's Instinct
"Neat. You look blurry." He remarked, seeing Sam's visage start to meld with a vague haze as he put on his own mask.
"Good. Means it's working." Sam spoke, but a different voice came out. "Let's go."
They moved back up the stairs and out of the back door of the convenience store, into a surprisingly clean alley. Sam led him to the side of a trash bin, where an abandoned fridge was laying on its back.
"Familiar?" Sam turned to him with a grin behind his mask.
"Portal fridge?"
"...I guess you can call it that. Look here." He crouched to the side of the fridge, pointing at a unique looking symbol. "See that sign?"
"A fork on a dinner plate" He described what he saw.
"Huh, it does look like that. Anyway, if you see this, open it like so."
He opened the door, then slammed it down in a catchy rhythm. Calvin felt like he had heard the rhythm, until it clicked. It literally was the beat of 'staying alive'.
"Voila." After the third pass of the rhythm, the inside of the fridge turned into a familiar darkness.
"Creepy."
"Fits the theme of where we're going. Now jump in."
Calvin looked into the chasm, glancing at Sam before using his pebbles to climb down, just in case this whole thing was an elaborate trap to kill him. Unlikely, but just in case.
It wasn't as deep as it looked, he quickly hit the ground and estimated it to be just as tall as a normal room. Looking up, he saw Sam shooing him away from the landing site.
"Ooof. My knees." Sam grunted, landing next to him.
"That's why you should exercise, old man." Calvin said from the side.
"I'm a virile young man in his prime." Sam stood up straight as if to prove it.
"If that's your prime I'd worry for what comes after."
"Shut up and follow. Remember, don't talk unless you need to talk. We're just here to drop off "
"Is it that dangerous?" He asked, looking at the darkness surrounding them.
"Well, we're heading straight to that one charming spot in Bastion, the renowned haven for every unlawful and chaotic powered and unpowered individual in the city. A place where even the so-called heroes conveniently turn a blind-eye towards, too scared to kick the supervillain wasps nests that are in every nook and cranny of the place." Sam gestured annoyedly. "Is it fucking dangerous... What do you think?"
"You could've just said yes." Calvin muttered.
Sam waved him off and started walking, opening an unseen door in the darkness.
On the other side of the door was exactly as Calvin expected. A dark alleyway, the in-between of buildings. Steam coming out of pipes, filth dripping down the sides. Dimly lit, completely deserted, with its only tenant a bunch of rats nibbling on a garbage bag.
It felt so comic book-esque that he was half-expecting a random scream of murder echoing off from another alley.
Calvin followed Sam down the alley, through narrow passages and over metal fencing.
They climbed to the rooftops, via a fire-escape hanging off the side of the building. The metal threatened to detach as he was climbing the ladder, so Calvin opted to use his Impervious Pebbles to climb instead. He had gotten used to the power.
'Weird.' He thought, finally seeing more of the place from above.
The cityscape in front of them was vastly different from what he had been seeing in the past week. Inner City felt more like a collaborative collage, different artists using different media to paint a picture of unity using chaos.
Wherever they were right now, was just chaos. Like a child building a lego city using mismatching bricks from different builds and brands, only considering space as the limiting factor.
'This place is a maze.' He thought. "What is this place?"
"It's a huge-ass pocket, in simple terms." Sam explained. "Look up."
Calvin craned his neck upwards, surprised by the pitch-black greeting him. "No stars?"
"No moon. No sun. No weather. Just a place to hide."
"Creepy."
"Let's keep going-" Sam stopped, looking ahead.
Calvin looked at where he was facing, freezing just as Sam did. A group of seven black-armored men were standing there, each with a sci-fi rifle pointed their way. They all wore black flack vests and motorcycle-helmets, like an edgy military biker gang.
"Hands up! No funny business!" The one in front shouted. "Where's the flask?"
"Flask?" Sam asked. "I think you have the wrong people, pal."
"Don't pal me." The man's head glanced behind him. "Did we get the wrong people?"
"Uh... let me check, boss." One of the goons sat down, taking out a laptop.
There was an awkward silence only filled by the sound of keyboard typing. Calvin looked at Sam who shrugged at his gaze.
"Yeah, no, boss." The man answered after a minute.
The boss looked back at him, letting go of his gun and putting his arms up in exasperation. "What did I tell you about miscommunication?"
"...miscommunication is the death of proper teamwork." He answered begrudgingly.
The boss nodded. "So, was that a yeah or a no?"
"It was a no."
"No, what?"
"No, we didn't get the wrong people."
"See? It wasn't so hard, was it?" The boss then turned around. "Sorry about that."
"It's fine, I get it." Sam waved his hand nonchalantly.
"Thank you." The boss nodded sincerely before grabbing his gun again. "Now, the flask."
"We still don't have it." He gestured helplessly.
"Stubborn, huh." He muttered, clicking the safety off. "We'll just have to look through your corpses."
Before they could fire, Calvin summoned an Impervious Pebble in front of each rifle barrel pointed their way. Their triggers clicked and their guns exploded, the bullet and explosion having nowhere to go blasted through their guns instead.
"Run!" Calvin woke Sam from his surprise and they sprinted across another catwalk.
"Chase them!" The boss shouted.
Calvin trusted Sam to have a better sense of direction in this maze of a city, so he let him get ahead while they ran.
"Why are they after us?!" He shouted while jumping across a gap.
"I don't fucking know?! Fucking Dox?!" Sam turned to the right, into the roof access of the building they were in. He tried to kick the door down, but it was solid. And locked. "Fuck, can you slow them down?"
"I'll try." Calvin looked to the men running after them.
With a thought, he summoned a pebble right in front of their helmets of the ones jumping over the gap between the buildings. Two fell down, leaving the remaining five looking towards them, too scared to jump the gap.
"There. Slowed down." Calvin smirked underneath his mask.
"It's open! Let's go!" Sam pulled him in and closed the door. He melted to the floor, panting his lungs out while Calvin caught his breath and tried to calm his heart. "That was fucking close."
"What the fuck was the flask they were looking for?" Calvin asked, to which a message appeared in their holowrists.
> p4rad0x: I assume the flask they were in search of has something to do with the item I have procured during my recent rendezvous outside.
>
> p4rad0x: It is still a mystery to me as well how they have obtained the means of tracking the object even within my personal laboratory as I have already disabled all external signals coming from it.
>
> p4rad0x: I deeply apologize for the inconvenience. However, circumstances being as they are, it would be wise to plug my base's anchor as soon as possible.
>
>
"Who the fuck is this?" Calvin asked, looking towards Sam.
"It's Dox. You'll get used to it."
"She was watching us?"
"Probably to make sure we get her to safety." Sam took out the cube. "She is trusting us with her life right now."
"She's in there?" Calvin looked incredulously at the simple-looking cube.
"Not exactly. Tinker stuff. You don't need to know right now." He pocketed it again.
Banging and explosions rang from outside, opposite of the door. The two took it as a signal to make their way down the building to get away.
> p4rad0x: Indeed. My life is in your hands, Calvin and Sam.
>
> p4rad0x: Regarding the men outside, they should not be able to track you down anymore using the anchor. I have isolated the item in a quantum psylocked nanocontainer and stored it deep in the center of my laboratory alongside the probability matrix, preventing even supernatural means to find it.
"Okay big words again." Calvin closed his holowatch. "So, how far away are we?"
"Close enough to not worry." He gestured to follow as he walked faster. "Let's go out the back door."
A few more moments of power walking down the stairs, they arrived at the bottom floor of whatever mash of 80s and cyberpunk apartment building they were in. Sam pulled him to the back door, and they checked the map to see where to go next.
"Just a few alleyways down, until we see a vending machine."
"Why a vending machine?"
"I don't know. Tinkers, that's why." He opened the door and was immediately greeted by a fist to the face. "Ow!"
The gloved fist belonged to one of the men Calvin had blocked to fall down the gap. His helmet was cracked and his clothes were torn, but his menacing stature still lent to intimidating the two lanky men in front of him.
"Hello, you fucks." He growled. "All we needed was the fucking flask! Give it to me or I'll give you a beating!"
"I told you, we do't hab id!" Sam said through his presumably broken nose.
"A beating it is!"
Calvin pulled Sam back, getting him to dodge the kick heading his way. He then sent a punch towards the man's abdomen.
The man stepped to the side, dodging his fist then sending a punch of his own. He tried to block it with a pebble but it was too fast. The fist rocked Calvin's consciousness as it hit his temple, sending a wave of nausea and pain in his head.
Another sting of pain came as the man kicked sideways, launching him backwards to where he pulled Sam from earlier. He doubled over and held his stomach, feeling vomit come up his throat from the pain.
The man grabbed his hair and pulled his head up to face him, Calvin seeing his cracked mask reflecting off the motorcycle helmet's visor. The man tried prying it off, but gave up seeing it didn't budge. Instead, he pulled his fist back threateningly.
"Where's the flask?" He asked, a growl in his voice.
Calvin's head spun, trying to think of a way to beat up the goon in front of him. His eyes looked to the fist already cocked like a gun, a plan hatched which he immediately made do with.
"You want to know where the fucking flask is?" He asked, buying a bit of time to focus his sight.
"Did I fucking hit you too hard? That's what I fucking asked, dumbass."
"Check up your mother's ass. I put it there myself." He snarled.
The man quickly let his fist loose towards Calvin's mask. A resounding crack rang out, Calvin had put a pebble in front of his face.
Completely stoppable fist versus Impervious Pebble. Pebble wins.
"Ah fuck!" The man reeled back, grabbing his mangled hand with his other. "I'll fucking kill you!"
Calvin stood up and readied himself, this time more prepared for the coming fist with another pebble. The man's remaining fist cracked again and he doubled in pain from two broken hands.
Not wasting the opportunity Calvin grabbed the man's helmet and bashed it down, summoning a pebble on its path. The glass cracked with the first bash. Shattered with the second. And a third bash was left to knock out the man underneath.
"Holy shit. Ugh, fuck." Calvin groaned in pain, dropping the man to the side. He turned to Sam who was just standing up again.
"Dey're prolly comin' down now. We gotta go."