An alarm blared and I was shaken awake. I rubbed my eyes, trying to find any motivation to get up.

I grabbed my phone from my nightstand and checked my notifications.

I had two messages waiting for me, one from Ronald and one from Kyo. Ronald’s message read, “Good morning honey, I’m so excited to see you later today!”

I rolled my eyes reading the message. I couldn’t believe I was the one who had to be with Riot for the plan, he’s repulsive. Sometimes I feel like I was only chosen because I'm one of the few adult female superhumans in our group.

“Today’s the day Jasmine, no backing out. You’ll convince Riot to join us or kill himself. Stop stalling,” stated Kyo’s message, a thick layer of hatred coating the message even through text.

I had an obligation to the cause, but sometimes Kyo made it difficult to want to keep going. Kyo was the leader of the Equalists, an underground organization rebuilding itself after the infamous confrontation, also known as the Century Massacre that happened 5 years ago.

Our goal was to make all humans equal, with no one having an unjust and unlawful amount of power over another. The last effort and the most ballsy one from 5 years ago was to create a weapon that could destroy all superhumans. I wasn’t a part of the organization when all that went down, so I couldn’t say what came of it.

Our newest plan was to convince Riot, the strongest hero, that what he was doing was wrong, and that he should join our ranks. I’ve been with Riot for 6 months, planting seeds of doubt about superhuman supremacy in his mind. I hoped that today, the day I outright said it, the seeds of doubt would help him join us. The backup plan was that he’d feel so guilty that he’d end up killing himself, which would send a message to the other heroes.

Either way, today was the day I had to talk to him about it, and I’d been dreading this day for months.

Who knows how Riot will react? He could freak out and kill me, I mean, he was known for having anger issues and being impulsive. He’s brutalized so many innocent people, there’s no chance he’ll spare me.

I’d have to take this chance, it was the only way to save this rotting world.

I messaged Kyo back, confirming I’d get it done today. Almost as soon as I sent it, Kyo responded. His response read, “Don’t forget to come down to the headquarters today before you do it, we’ve got to talk about some things.”

I sent a quick, “Okay,” and started preparing for the day. Kyo expects us to be dressed in business casual anytime we visit the headquarters, it’s a sign of respect and commitment.

I looked in the mirror and analyzed what I saw. I put on a full face of makeup since I'd be meeting with Riot later, and hopefully, my looks would help influence his decision. He is a very materialistic and surface-level person after all. I had changed into a black blazer, a white button-up dress shirt, and a pair of black slacks. My hair was styled in a braided bob, the ends being dyed a light-gray color.

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I grabbed my beige satchel and wrapped it over my shoulder, making sure to take my phone and keys.

I made the long drive over to the headquarters, passing billboards glorifying superheroes. These superheroes don’t save anyone, they just go around showing off their powers and brutalizing the powerless.

The sign that made my blood boil the most was the advertisement of Dragoness displayed in the middle of the town square. Dragoness' ability was fire-breathing. Dragoness wore a maroon spandex suit plated with silver scales on the chest, inner arms, and legs. She wore silver-plated boots with engravings of dragons. Her costume had a tail that was fully movable and acted as a fuel tank for her. She would move the tail in front of her mouth, which would then emit a highly flammable and explosive gas from the tip of it, which increased the intensity and range of her fire breath when used in conjunction with the tail. The thing that makes me hate her so much is that Dragoness burnt down an innocent man’s home, killing his entire family over the suspicion of possession of drugs.

He didn’t even have them, he was falsely accused by one of his neighbors, but ever since superheroes replaced the police, all safety and corruption-checking laws were removed as they were a “hindrance to the enforcement of the law.” This meant there was no need for a warrant or probable cause, if a superhero believed something they had a ‘right’ to investigate it.

She didn’t receive any punishment, she released a half-hearted apology and moved on.

Superheroes believe they’re above the law, that because they’re superhuman they can do whatever they want. Well, as a fellow superhuman, I can say that we have a responsibility to the powerless. We must use our powers to save the powerless and progress our society, not to subjugate and use them.

I parked outside the Equalist headquarters. The headquarters were located in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. Since the Equalists were labeled a terrorist organization, we haven’t been able to run our operations in a proper building.

The warehouse looked on the brink of collapse from the outside, the wood rotting and holes in every wall. I dreaded leaving my air-conditioned car to go into the headquarters, as there was always a sweltering heat inside.

I wasn’t sure how Kyo or the other members managed to spend all day in there, not suffering from the heat like I did. Whenever I had to stay at the headquarters for extended periods I’d use my wind manipulation to cool myself, making it slightly more bearable.

As I walked towards the warehouse, I felt an air of unease. I couldn’t quite explain it, but there was something off.

I pulled open the rotting, creaky door and found Kyo sitting at the far end of the warehouse. Kyo was the son of a powerless Japanese immigrant. She thought that if she moved to the U.S. she’d escape the tyranny of the superhumans, but it was only made worse by her move.

I think that’s what radicalized him into what he is today, but he’s very secretive about anything relating to him so I’m not sure.

Kyo was wearing his typical outfit, a black overcoat, a dark blue dress shirt, and a matching pair of black slacks. Kyo wore a golden on his right wrist, it glistened in the warehouse’s barren light. Kyo’s hair was styled in a simple combover. Kyo wasn’t one to obsess over his appearance.

I walked down the warehouse towards Kyo, my footsteps echoing. There were several other members of the organization working around the warehouse, organizing banker boxes full of documents into neat piles.

Kyo’s desk always reminded me of a throne, even if he was too humble to truly have a throne. I stepped up to his desk, pulled up the guest chair, and took a seat.

Kyo lifted his head from the papers he’d been reading and looked at me.

“Good, you made it here on time,” Kyo said directly, he wasn’t known for being welcoming.

The air of unease I’d felt earlier was concentrated right here, right now.

Kyo was going to tell me something that I didn’t want to hear.