I sat down, the cheap metal chair creaking under the weight of my costume, today I would be meeting the members that would form the rest of the BCJH. It was my task to forge this group of misfits into a proper fighting force, into heroes. Fuck me.

I looked over to my left side, another revelation that had come to me this week was the fact that Lisa, the woman who I had met on my visit to the BCH PR department, was to be the liaison and handler for the BCJH. Yeah turns out she was just pretending to be a secretary to test me.

She noticed me staring at her and gave me a smile causing me to blush under my helmet, I took it off, it would probably be better for the new members to see me, the real me.

That gave me pause, as I undid the clasps and took of my helmet and thought to myself, who was I really? Until now I had been treating Ddraig Goch as a different person but was he really? Why was I trying to distance myself from him, was I ashamed of what I had done? No, that’s not it, I only hurt those who did it. Maybe I was afraid, afraid that if I didn’t keep these two lives separate I would find a different side of me, a violent side. A vicious side.

I was broken out of my existential crisis by the opening of the door. Through it walked a short boy with dirty blonde hair, he was practically vibrating with excitement eyes darting around the room before landing on me. They were filled with a mix of apprehension and admiration.

The next person to walk through the door was a conservatively dressed girl with shoulder length brown hair, she had strong plain features with a prominent brow and thick eyebrows. Around her neck she wore a crucifix.

The third and final person to enter the room was dressed in a sweater with a generous neckline showing a fair amount of cleavage. She wore jeans and had long blonde curls that cascaded down to her back. She was stunning, with high cheekbones a cute nose and flawless skin. She looked back at him with a small smile and a slightly predatory grin on her face.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

They all sat down and we looked at each other for a few awkward sentences before Lisa nudged me under the table, it seemed I was to begin.

“Um hey,” I said meekly “My name is Jethro, it’s nice to meet all of you.” I said holding my hand out toward them, they shook it in turn before responding with their own introductions.

The shorter boy held out his hand first, “My name’s Donny.” He said with a strong Australian accent, “I’m a speedster, and I just wanted to say sir,” he said looking at me “I realy admire you work, taking down the slavers and those rapists like that! You were all Bam! Wham! Kablam! And they were all like, ‘oh no please don’t hurt me.’” His voice had got faster and faster until at the end he was throwing his hands out in elaborate gestures while grinning like an idiot at me.

I adjusted my estimation of his age, judging from the sound of his voice he appeared to be about 14 or 15.

“Uh, thanks.” I said awkwardly, god I am bad at this!

Before I could insult myself more the girl in the sweater smiled at me and then spoke.

“My name’s Lillian.” She said in a sultry voice as smooth as silk while her eyes roamed over my face hungrily taking in every detail, she leaned closer before continuing. “I’ll be looking forward very much to getting to know you better.” She said winking at me, all I could do was blush before the final girl spoke.

“Charmed, my name is Daniella.” She said smiling sweetly at me.

“Well this has all been lovely hasn’t it?” Said Lisa sarcastically. “But we can’t sit around here all day, you lot,” She said gesturing toward the three others, “You have to go meet the PR department to have your costumes made.”

I smiled sympathetically, I remember how much the costume guy had creeped me out, I would not want to have to go back there.

Lisa must have seen my grin because she turned back to me before continuing.

“Jethro here will accompany you, think of it as teambuilding.” She said smiling innocently at me. Oh she was a devious witch. I would have to find a way to get her back after this but before that.

I stood up, almost as soon as I was vertical Lillian had wrapped herself around my arm and Donny had begun to chatter nonstop.

Yup, this was going to be a very long day.