“So you have to get the big guns out for this,” said Charles with a smirk on his face. “You know, blue eyes really do suit you better.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “As much as I appreciate your compliments–believe me, I could listen to them all day–this is really important. However, before we get to it, I want to know the man’s name.”

“What do you mean?”

“The one that Frankenstein visited.”

“You know I can’t tell you that,” he said with a chuckle. “This isn’t something you can dig up, a story you can write. I know you’ll try though, not that it’ll matter.”

“You have my word that I won’t give you up.”

“I know you won’t. And that’s why you are one of the very few people that I can say I trust.”

Those words honoured me, but I couldn’t let myself get distracted. I stood up as straight as I could and gathered myself.

“Our world is disunited. The villains, if we are right, are anything but. We need to reshape what it means to be a hero. Cooperation, unity, we don’t have that. We also don’t have the strength to defeat them if they do. Let us fight together, as one, and teach the next generations to do so as well. A new generation is arriving as we speak. Let me talk to them. Begin here. Where the very first hero school opened.”

Charles once again emptied his glass. “You’re going to make me an alcoholic,” he spat out bitterly. “Do you have any idea of what you’re proposing?”

“I do,” I said with all the confidence and bravado that I used as Alpha Surge.

“No, you don’t!” he said, slamming his desk. He took a deep breath. “I apologise for my outburst. You’re thirty six. By the time you started out, the current balances were already figured out.

“You know what will happen if you do this? All hero academies will reject you because they don’t want anyone getting up in their business. Any elemental with any actual say will scoff and go back to thinking they’re a modern aristocracy. You think it’s a coincidence that no associations ever reached the level you hope to achieve?”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“No,” I wasn’t an idiot. I knew how our world worked. I knew it better than anyone. But I rejected it. “And that’s precisely why I must try. Even if nobody helps me, then I’ll do it myself. Because I know there are good people–good heroes out there. Ones that want nothing more than to help, and ones that will help. To make the world better than it was.”

“And that’s exactly why you shouldn’t do it.”

“What?”

“You’re Alpha Surge,” he said, like it was meant to be obvious. “You can’t be the pariah of the hero world. A divide like this could-”

“There will be no divide,” I said without leaving room for argument. “I’m asking you to help me make this right. Make a large team of heroes from across the world that will be able to help people across the world.”

“I’ll give you a piece of advice,” he said after a long pause. “Be careful. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. To do this you must build a team that knows there are lines you do not cross. You also need to make sure it remains that way as it grows, and even after you’re gone–if it survives that long.”

“Of course,” I said with a nod. The air was still tense and the atmosphere more than a little awkward. “I think I should leave. We both should process this day and talk again when we’re calmer.” I turned around to leave, but was stopped by Charles calling out my name.

“Neither of us will change our stance, I can assure you of that,” he said. I knew that it would be true, but I had to hope for the best. “I hope you succeed, I can assure you of that too.”

“But?” I turned around to face him.

“But the things that are coming…you’re not ready for them. They will break you and whatever team you put together. When that happens, I’ll stop you even if it means mobilising the entire hero world from seasoned professionals to wide eyed fanboys.”

“Charles, I-”

“And I expect no less from you.”

“There’s no need for this,” I said. I was close to desperation, this wasn’t how I imagined this would go. Was I expecting support? No. But I never could have expected this hostility.

“If you see me, or anyone like me, become overzealous or lose control over themselves or anything like that, then you will step in. Is that too much to ask for?”

I smiled at him. “Of course not. But we shouldn’t be enemies. We’re all just trying to do the right thing, aren’t we?”

He looked at me wistfully, like he wasn’t looking at me, but at someone–or something–else. He let out a laugh.

“There was a man once, by the name of Paragon,” he said with a small smile. “I was young, especially compared to him. He was a great man with ideals that he truly believed in.”

“Let’s follow in his footsteps, then. And make our ideals reality.”

He frowned at that. “No,” he said somberly. “It’s a long story but I hope that we don’t end up like him. I pray that we don’t lose our way.”