What happens when you take a room of people who have just woken up on a Monday morning and then start a fight?

Furthermore, what happens when all three hundred or so of those people have superpowers?

Bain hadn't thought of this eventuality in any of the moments he'd imagined having at the Tower. Sitting deep in the tunnels, he had always clearly pictured himself seated at the center of attention, friends aplenty laughing at his witty jokes and not screaming when they saw him.

This was not that daydream. Not by a long shot.

Amber sprinted across the room, jumping from table to table, and then leaped into the air at the hero with the plate of bacon, one fist raised. "HI!"

Her fist lit on fire, and the hero she was aiming for turned around. "Wh-"

That's as far as he made it. Amber's fist crashed into his jaw, and he was launched across the room, electricity sparking from him and causing the tables to spark with the charges. As a result, a variety of food exploded in quite a few people's faces.

Blast shields slid down, covering the windows, breakfast line, and exits. For a moment, the room was in complete silence and darkness. It was a strangely peaceful feeling that Bain hadn't expected. Even in the lower levels of the tunnels, he could always hear something. Rats skittering across stone floors, trains crossing above, Nahma's sheddings taking care of some enemy or another. There had always been noise in Bain's life, but here, for this split-second moment, there was none.

And then the hero crashed into the floor, upsetting a table and sending food flying.

A massive variety of fire, lightning, energy, and good old-fashioned light lit up the room, emanating from dozens of heroes and villains alike.

Someone jumped on a table. "All right, calm down. Who threw that first-"

Somebody punched him in the relative darkness. A villain, most likely. No one could make out who it was, but it was the catalyst that started the fight.

In a matter of seconds, the cafeteria had descended into absolute madness. Several people started a fire, and the sound of rushing water filled the room. Crackling electricity arced across the ceiling, gusts of wind sending items flying. The floor was a writhing mass of punches, kicks, blades, and who knew what else.

Grabbing a table, Bain wrenched it out of the ground, metal shrieking, and launched himself at the blast doors. Several attacks landed on him but failed to damage him in any way. Wedging the table between a corner, he jumped over it and shouted, "AMBER! Over here!"

His voice carried remarkably well over the cacophony, although his horrific snarl caused more than a few people to stop and make sure they weren't being attacked by whatever had caused the sound.

Amber, who was currently punching a vaguely shadowy figure in the face, heard it and looked up. "Bain?!" She shouted it again in case he hadn't heard her the first time. "BAIN! Get over here and help me out!"

Instead of leaping across the battlefield to her rescue as she'd thought he would, Bain hunched further behind the table, covering his head and trying to drown out the noise. Under normal circumstances, he could hear a rat's claws clicking on stone half a mile away. Albeit, that was in the somewhat echoey tunnels and not in a large cafeteria, but he wasn't anywhere near used to the ear-shattering commotion he was in now.

Amber took a punch to the face and was immediately pumped full of about a hundred thousand volts of electricity, and she screamed in shock, dropping to the floor. "Bain! I could use some help!"

Bain heard her somehow. Despite all four of his arms covering his head, despite the outrageous din outside his hastily constructed shelter, he heard her.

His mind went to that morning. She'd stood up for him. It hadn't even occurred to him at the time that he should have stood up for himself, but she had done so in his stead.

She'd called him her friend.

She'd offered to shake his hand.

The table he was hiding behind was catapulted forward as he struck it with two arms. It flipped and careened through the mess of fighting, sending heroes and villains flying and breaking more than a few bones.

It was too dark to attack anyone specifically, and the random flashes of light caused by the assorted powers at play were wreaking havoc on Bain's night vision. Instead of trying to pick out anyone, he crossed his arms in front of him, prayed he wouldn't step on anybody, and charged.

A straight line of people were launched into the air by a black cannonball of muscle, hurtling askance through the air like humanoid flightless birds. Bain forged ahead through the crowd and slammed into someone with a power that, whatever it did, made them incredibly tough. He bounced off of the person and righted his trajectory, still aiming for Amber. For a brief moment, he wondered if it was Bulwark, but remembered Amber and kept going.

"I'm on my way!" Focusing on his plated ear canals, Bain heard Amber grunting as either she pummeled someone or someone pummeled her. Or both.

Stolen novel; please report.

Stumbling over someone lying on the ground, Bain tripped and smashed into her assailant, sending him/her flying over the bedlam. Eyes glowing, he turned to check on Amber and received a flaming fist to the stomach. Amber yelped in surprise, wringing her sore hand. "Holy - Bain? Is that you?"

Bain shouted over the clamor. "Yeah, it's me! Why did you punch that guy?"

She yelled back at him, striking a shadowy figure with an ice-patterned costume and knocking him out in one punch. "Cos' he was a bully! You're not a freakshow, and you totally belong here!"

Bain avoided a bolt of ice and backhanded whoever was in front of him. "What are you talking about? I'm literally a monster! Most of the people here hunt down creatures like me!"

Amber laughed maniacally as she punched a ball of metal out of the air. "I know you're a monster, but that doesn't make you a freakshow! You're just a big fuzzy hero nerd under all that shell."

Bain tilted his head, taking a hit full on the back. It sheared away, and someone tripped past him, a vibrating metal baseball bat in hand. Bain grabbed him one-handed and threw him over the chaos. "What's a nerd?"

She grinned at him. At least, her voice sounded as though she was grinning. It was hard to tell. "Bain, if you weren't big and strong, you'd be the definition of a-"

Her voice was suddenly drowned out as a wave of absolute shadow swept the room.

Bain couldn't feel anything. There was a silence so loud his ears popped, and his night vision couldn't make out so much as a silhouette. He couldn't even feel his limbs.

He felt a strange sliding sensation, as though he was being moved across a treadmill. He dully tripped on something, although the only feeling he got from it was the sensation he was now facing downwards, and then came to a stop.

A moment later, the shadow lifted, and Bain saw he was looking at a pair of black combat boots. The lights were on now, although the blast doors were still resolutely shut. Looking upwards, Bain was met with a pair of black jeans, gray chains hanging out of the pockets. A long midnight black trench coat with the corners flared just above the ankles. A deep gray long-sleeved shirt, bandoliers of knives crossing a lean torso. Finally lifting his eyes to the head, Bain saw only a shifting, nightmarish miasma of shadow, twitching and flailing in sudden bursts of movement.

The number one hero in Centropolis had arrived, and his name slipped out of Bain's mouth without his noticing.

"Hallow."

Hallow looked down at him, his face shifting strangely. When he spoke, his voice was a quiet, low tone loaded with undertones of anger. "Is this your fault?"

Bain turned to see every super in the building, frozen where they were. A thin silhouette outlined everyone, holding them in their poses regardless of where they were standing, or floating, or punching. It was a surreal look, seeing even blasts of energy suspended in the air. Bain could make out Amber standing on a table, punching a purple-glowing hero in the face, beads of spittle flying from his distorted cheek. She had a manic grin on her face. 

He remembered the question, and turned back to Hallow. "Uh, no. I don't think so, anyway." 

The shadows around Hallow's head grew sharper, writhing. "That is not an answer. Is this your fault?"

Bain shook his head. "No, sir. A hero said I was a freakshow, so Amber punched him."

Hallow sighed, the edges of his disguise dulling. As he did, everyone fell back into time, blinking as their eyes adjusted to the sudden light as the darkness outlining them disappeared. Amber looked around curiously, trying to look for Bain. When she found him crouched on the floor, she smiled, saw Hallow, and then paled in one expression.

Hallow raised his voice. "Are you all children?" They looked at him in shock, not sure what he was saying. One of the newer heroes, probably someone who had just graduated from a sidekick, yelled, "Oh, get off your high horse and-" 

He didn't make it any further than that. Hallow looked in his direction and flicked a wrist, and the offending hero stilled, the silhouette appearing around him again.

Everyone shut up.

The shadows surrounding Hallow's head began to spike. "Are you truly so childish that you would resort to bullying another hero?" 

Someone in the back said, "But he's a monster..."

Hallow snapped a wrist at him, and he was frozen like the other hero. "Yes. He is a monster. And a freak, and a horror, and whatever else you want to call him. But he is also a sidekick, and I am not one to offend a fellow veteran's judgement. Am I absolutely clear?"

Everyone nodded, reassuring Hallow that he was indeed, crystal clear, and that it was definitely wrong to insult other sidekicks. Hallow nodded in satisfaction. "Good. You and you." He indicated Bain and Amber. "Come with me."

As he left the room, the two heroes who had been frozen fell out of stasis, blinking in surprise. Villains started patting each other on the back, congratulating themselves on a good fight as heroes started cleaning up, giving annoyed glares at the clearly unrepentant supers.

Bain and Amber followed Hallow just outside the cafeteria, where he was waiting with arms crossed. "You should not have started a fight."

Amber began, "But-" 

Hallow cut her off with a raised hand. "No. Regardless of the actions of others, your decisions are your own. You represent not only yourself, but also Firepower and the Supertower itself. In a way, you represent Centropolis. Do you wish for that image to be of a quick-tempered young woman, or a hero willing to ignore the ramblings of the stupid?"

Amber hung her head. "Sorry."

He patted her shoulder. "Provided it doesn't happen again, you are forgiven. You may leave."

She brightened instantly. "Thanks! Good luck, Bain!" She ran off, waving as she did. 

Bain watched her with a faint smile, unaware of Hallow's penetrating gaze. "Your name is Bain, correct?"

His attention snapped back to reality. "Uh, yes sir."

He leaned in, and even though he was a solid two and a half feet shorter, he seemed to loom over Bain. "I did not defend you in there because I felt pity for you. I defended you because I needed to defuse the situation before it escalated too far. You do not - you do not belong here. You should be in the tunnels, hunting rats and not scaring innocents in Centropolis. However, I respect Stitches' judgment immensely, and believe that while he is making an incorrect decision, this is what he wants. Despite that, should you ever cause trouble for this city, I will personally dismantle you with my bare hands. Do you understand?"

Bain had shrunk six inches over the past thirty seconds. After a long moment, he whispered, "Yes."

Hallow stood back. "Good. Do not get in my way."

And he was gone in a swirl of shadow.

Bain tilted over backwards, crashing into the wall and staring numbly at the opposite side. The number one hero himself had judged Bain, and found him wanting. What hope could he ever have of being a hero? It was a ridiculous notion. Why had he ever thought-

"Bain?"

Stitches walked towards him, a quizzical look on his face. "What're you doing out here? Thought you'd be havin' breakfast."

Bain hunched up. "Hallow hates me."

Stitches snorted. "Hallow hates everybody. It's not personal."

Bain looked up at him, rubbing acid out of his eyes. "Are you sure?"

Stitches nodded his confirmation. "Trust me. That overblown git gets along with no one, and insults everyone who isn't him. It's never personal for him."

Standing, Bain felt a little better, but...

It had sure felt personal.