"Should we get straight to business, or is there anything else you'd like to do first, Cinder?" Ward asked, giving a casual wave of his hand. "After all, you and I are friends. I was there with you on stage when you demasked."

This was the man Sky told her about.

She had actually seen him before on the news. He had been one of the men standing next to the fake Cinder. He looked almost stereotypically evil. She still wouldn't quite say that she viewed the Hero Branch as an evil organization. They were helping more people than they hurt, after all, but when it came to Dean Ward, the man looked like an evil CEO would if this were some sort of cheesy tycoon novel.

He wore an expensive black business suit complete with a red tie, which he fiddled with. His skin was dark, and he had black hair that was combed and tied back into a ponytail. Unlike many people she had grown to respect, Ward's eyes lacked the bags under them, showing he had been getting plenty of rest during these trying times. That or he was wearing a lot of makeup. He didn't appear to be stressed out, though, at least not that she could tell. He had a smile present on his lips, but it was the kind that would change into a sneer at any moment, and already one of his eyes was twitching as he stared at her.

Sky had told her everything she needed to know. This was one of the men who had been behind the fake Cinder plot, as well as the man who had tried to prevent Sky from arriving on the battlefield with the Beast. He was also the one responsible for stopping the people from Oleander from being able to get out.

Dean Ward was one bad apple.

Just like his father.

The fake memories Avalon had forced into her head were really helpful in times like these. She had seen the previous head of the Hero Branch, thanks to them. Ace Ward was a near identical match to Dean Ward, right down to the fact that both of them hated heroes. It was no wonder Dean was the way he was if a man such as that had been his father. It did make her wonder, though, what exactly happened to the late Mr. Ward. After all, Ace Ward was almost never mentioned. Nor was the fact that he helped out the Emperor against his will...

She still remembered what she had been shown. The blue-eyed Emperor stood in Ace Ward's office, a hand on Dean Ward's shoulder, back when Dean had been just a young boy. She wondered for a moment if Dean recalled that event or if he had been too young to remember it.

"Well, go on." Her thoughts came to an end as Ward spoke up once more. His lips broke into a frown for a moment before forcing the smile back on. "You should say something, Cinder. Everyone is waiting on you after all."

"What do you mean?" Hope asked. She frowned at the man, but then she noticed it. "Oh... Right. People actually know who the hero Cinder is. I'm kind of a big deal now, aren't I?"

Ward calling her Cinder had seemingly caused a chain reaction in the officers around them. Many of the Hero Branch soldiers who had their guns held up had instantly dropped them at the first mention of her name. The fact that there was a fake Cinder running around was likely a closely guarded secret that only a few of the higher-ups and trusted agents got to know about, so many of these people likely thought she was still the very same hero who had removed her mask and helmet live on stage. That Cinder was friends with the Hero Branch, after all.

"When did she change her costume?"

"I thought her hair was blonde."

"Doesn't she seem a little off from how we were told she acted?"

Her enhanced senses allowed her to hear the various mutters that came from the different soldiers. She resisted the urge to sigh and face-slap herself. They weren't the only ones either. Now that the fire was out, a large crowd had formed behind all the workers and Ward, and many of them had heard the name Cinder. Flashes of light went off as hundreds of pictures were snapped at her, and she had to turn her hearing down in order to stop the barrage of questions that were being flung out.

"Is that really the hero Cinder?"

"I like the new suit. It makes sense the Hero Branch gave her an updated one."

"What happened to her golden hair and red eyes?"

"Why didn't she use any fire in that last battle? She seemed slower and weaker than I was expecting."

"She totally took those two bad guys down all by herself, right?"

"I was in the crowd of people she saved! There was this cool red thingy or something she had! I guess she has a bunch of other powers!"

"She ran circles around Golden Weaver earlier today as well! I watched them battle in my city block, and she kicked his ass."

"So that's the hero that single-handedly beat the Beast?"

"I liked her old costume better; I hope she changes back."

"Isn't her real name Hope Lauren? I saw two old people with her as well. Are those her parents?"

Her eye twitched a bit as she processed everything the crowd was spouting off. Her gaze focused back on Ward. If he had been alone, she likely would have punched him in the face out of annoyance and anger. The old her still would have done. Sadly, the current her couldn't afford to do so. Doing something like that would surely result in the Victorian coming after her, and with how messed up in the head her idol was, the Victorian would likely accept the mission just to mess with her. With the crowd watching and all the cameras, she'd just let Ward go.

For now.

"So, would you care to explain why you were avoiding the Hero Branch?" Ward asked in a calm tone. "Cinder is a hero who works for the Hero Branch and has gone out of her way to save millions of people with the help of her Lord power. Why, just last week she prevented an entire island from sinking after it had been mysteriously cut in two."

"I remember that!" Someone in the crowd cheered out. "I read about it on the news."

"Yeah, and she also stopped that giant meteor the other day, right? She and the Victorian flew up to stop it. I know only the Victorian was shown in the footage, but that was because Cinder is just that fast, right?"

"Cinder also single-handedly defeated the return of the Bad Timers and saved an entire village all by herself."

"Yeah, she beat Polaron's brother with one punch."

"It makes me wonder why she suddenly did so much worse in her fight today."

She suddenly got a bad feeling as the large crowd began to mutter amongst themselves.

Ward's smile only grew as he stared at her. "Yes, it does make me wonder about you. We haven't heard from you in a few days, and now you show up looking a bit different and seem a lot weaker. Then you go and avoid the Hero Branch? Also, just look at this city block." Ward gestured with his hand. "In all your other fights, the block was never quite this destroyed, Cinder. It makes me wonder. Are you really Cinder?"

She almost let out a dry laugh at that. "Wait, are you trying to say that I'm the fake?" Ward knew about the fake Cinder, right? "Oh, wait. I get it." Suddenly it made sense. He was going to throw her under the bus for what he did. If word had gotten out that the Hero Branch had a fake Cinder and faked the fact she was still alive, it likely would have turned out badly for them. Ward couldn't have that happening, so he was about to kill two birds with one stone. She was going to be painted as the faker.

"There was a villain that used to exist," Ward stated loud enough for the crowd behind him to hear. "They went by the name of Skin Walker and could take on the shape of other heroes. Of course, they didn't have the ability to use those other heroes' powers; things like fire control, for example, would simply be impossible for them. Hey, since we're 'friends' and all Cinder, wouldn't you mind showing me your fire? I'm sure the crowd would love to see it as well."

"You're an asshole." That was all she said in response.

Suddenly, all the guns were trained back on her.

"So it's not Cinder?"

"I thought as much; I mean, just look at her. She looks nothing like Cinder. She isn't even acting like Cinder."

"I think I heard of Skin Walker before. Mr. Ward's pretty smart for figuring it out so quickly; I had no clue!"

"What was up with the people in the van then?"

"Since we haven't heard from Cinder in a few days, I was getting worried. Now we find out some shape-shifter monster freak is running around pretending to be her. She makes me sick. If I find out, she hurt Cinder in any way..."

Golden Weaver remained flat on his back but managed to push himself up slightly with an elbow. He stared at the hero's back that stood in front of him as the crowd suddenly went from whispering about how great Cinder was to how obviously not Cinder this girl really was.

"Why aren't you defending yourself?" Golden Weaver asked.

"Would they believe me?" Cinder responded weakly.

Ward almost smirked and had to resist the urge to pat himself on the back. The truth was, he had been in a bit of a pickle. Skin Walker was gone. The monster had been on a film set, ready to do a few fake shots of her saving people, but suddenly vanished. He had been told she went to her trailer but never came out of it. Luckily for him, the stars seemed to align. Cinder, the real Cinder, was back; she was basically worthless now since she seemed to lack all her Lord powers. He was guessing whatever force brought her back had lost the Lord's powers, and they would be reborn through the Pod. His sources told him she couldn't transform or use fire at all, so this was the best opportunity to tie up any loose ends he had left. He might even be able to force her to work for him. She did bring her parents here, after all. It'd be easy to manipulate her if he held their lives in his hand.

"Whoever you are, you aren't Cinder." Ward made sure the cameras were pointed at him as he flung his arm out and pointed at the girl who stood before him. "Why don't you and those criminals in that van turn yourselves in? Do that, and you have my word we won't hurt you. I just want to talk and learn where the real Cinder is."

Yeah right.

Ward almost giggled. Golden Weaver wasn't the only hero in Lillian. Out of sight, up on two other buildings, he had Tech Horse and Medium Iron ready to jump in if he needed them. Even if this 'hero' tried to run, he was ready to capture her and find some use for her.

"What do you say, Skin Walker?" Ward called out one last time. The crowd's muttering hadn't stopped as they watched the scene before them. It hadn't taken much to win them over. Any goodwill she had formed from saving the block was totally gone. In their eyes, she was just as bad as Yellow Kobold and Squid M.D. Slowly, Dean Ward held his hand out as if he were offering a peaceful gesture of surrender. He still stood dozens of meters away, mostly to keep himself safe, and his guards didn't lower their guns. He forced a fake smile on his face. "Lillian has already suffered enough as it is. We can end this in a peaceful manner. You might not be the real Cinder, but you still tried to be her. This is what she would want. Just turn yourself in and do the right thing. Please."

Hope made a slight face at the man, and she did her best to not punch a hole through his face. That would only prove his point, after all. Instead, she thought of the best way to respond to this situation. The only thing she could say that mattered. Something that came from her heart.

Finally, she spoke.

"If you're ever in trouble, I don't think that I'll try and save you."

"What?" Ward actually stepped back, caught off guard. "Is that a threat-"

"Later."

"Later?"

Before anyone could even process what was happening, she grabbed the van by the bottom and lifted it up above her head. Screams rang out in the crowd, and people began to scatter. Ward's eyes went wide as she took aim and chucked the car as hard as she could. It flew over everyone's head as people dropped to the ground, and it crashed wheels first onto the road behind the crowd and Hero Branch workers. Instantly, the van roared to life as her parents, who were still sitting inside, floored it, and it began to blast down the road.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Make sure you wake up Purrfect," Hope said casually, looking down at Golden Weaver. "That Kobold guy is the reason the Giants didn't react at all. She's asleep."

Golden Weaver didn't even get a chance to respond. The entire block shook as Cinder blasted off into the air with one of her enhanced jumps. She twirled through the air, going over the crowd, and began to fall toward the moving van. Suddenly, though, a chain blasted out, which wrapped around the young hero. Lightning blared off of it, and the sounds of hooves echoed out as a figure came dropping from one of the buildings above.

"Not so fast, Skin Walker!" Two heroes came down hard and fast. The first looked like a large horse, but his skin was pure metal, and dozens of circuits coated his flesh. His mouth was open, and a chain blasted out of it, which was the one wrapping around Cinder's waist. On the horse's back was another hero dressed in metal knight-like armor, holding a long lance that began to twirl around. They were the heroes, Cyber Horse and Medium Iron! "We're not letting you get away, villain!" Medium Iron announced as they fell toward the girl. "Your days of terror end here-"

Cinder flexed her body, shattering the chain around her. She grabbed one end of it and tugged it toward her as hard as she could, dragging both heroes toward her. "Sorry." She brought her arm back and balled her hand into a fist. "I'm a little ticked off, so you might want to block this."

"Oh, crap-"

As soon as they reached her, her fist shattered the lance, as well as Medium Iron's armor. Cyber Horse let out a loud whine, and in an instant, both heroes were blown back by a tremendous force. They went flying and rammed into the hood of Ward's car, shattering the entire vehicle. Neither of them got back up, and they were totally knocked out.

Golden Weaver let out a low chuckle. "Was she pulling her punches when she fought me? Even without fire, she's a total monster. Just how strong are these current Lords?"

Finally, Hope dropped down and landed on the hood of her van, which kept blasting down the road. Because of the large crowd behind them, the other Hero Branch trucks had no way of giving chase. She stared dead ahead at Ward and poked her tongue out.

Ward gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to stomp his foot down. He was in public, after all. He reached up and adjusted his tie, letting out a low sigh. "That bitch will pay." He said quietly to himself. "Don't just stand there, you idiots! Get this crowd gone! I want that villain captured now! And someone get me a new car this instant!" Why couldn't Laps have done her job? None of this would have been happening if it wasn't for her. He cursed that damn woman, as well as Battery. It was them that Cinder had become an issue. After all, he couldn't make any mistakes.

"Uh, could someone get me some prosthetic legs?" Golden Weaver asked sheepishly. "I kind of can't give chase until I'm up and moving again."

Ward's head snapped down to the useless hero, and he let out a scoff. "Please. Don't think I didn't notice your incompetence, Weaver. You're getting another pay cut."

"Damn..."

Ward reached up and adjusted his tie. "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."

"You're going to go get Cinder yourself?" Golden Weaver asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hell no!" Ward shook his head. "I am going to do the next best thing, though. I know just the person who can help me." He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out, dialing a number. It clicked, and someone answered... "Mommy, I need your help, there's this hero being really mean to me."

Back at the van, Hope flung herself off the hood and gripped it tight, using it to swing herself up, feet first, through the van's windows. Space distorted around her as she tumbled into the massive realm that made up the van's interiors and crashed into the back seat. She lay flat on her back, staring up at the roof, her lips turning into a thin line.

Jane and Alexander shared a look. They both remained in the front seat, neither of them quite knowing what they should say or do. "Are you okay?" Her mom finally asked.

Hope kicked her feet out slightly and rolled her eyes. "Yep. Just fine. It's not like I just watched an entire crowd's worth of people turn on me in an instant." She was seriously going to punch Ward the next time she got the chance.

"When your father and I first saw that man, I knew he was trouble." Jane sighed sadly.

"You met Ward before?" She raised an eyebrow.

"It was during the Beast attack," Alexander explained. "He didn't show up for long. He didn't really seem to care about your mother or me. He was mainly just using us to get to Paragon, I think."

"That man is seriously the worst!"

"How'd someone like him even reach his position of power?" Jane questioned.

"He was born into it." All of them jumped a bit as a fourth voice joined into the conversation. Kevin had woken back up—a face formed on her shoulder, which twisted and rose up a bit. "After the war with Lucifer, the scientist known as Sini started up Sini Corp. and began to create the first-ever city. He needed funding, though, and resources. So, five families stepped up. The Wards, The Laps, The Almas, The Ros Family, and the Milas. Each one of these five families held a vast amount of wealth and treasure, which they all gathered after the defeat of Lucifer. With this vast fortune, they were able to fund Sini Corp. and later create the Hero Branch. Of course, they didn't do it for free. They ensured that their families were the ones who got to run the Branch and any other major organization that existed. Every city is led by a member of this family. They've grown large since those days, with dozens of branching family members and main heads. The leaders of the families mainly reside within Rose City, while lesser members get to live in the other cities or run the Hero Branch of a city."

"You know a lot about them?" Hope noted surprised.

"I'm not just a muscle-bound jock, you know." Kevin hissed. "I was top of my class. I would show up early and jot down all Mr. Pluto's notes and study them when I wasn't training."

"Why can't you be that productive, Hope?" Jane said flatly.

"Hey!"

Alexander's hands gripped the steering wheel as he drove. "I think what your backpack said is right, though. I do recall those five names he mentioned. They're always popping up, and many of the richest people in the world are tied back to those five families. Even the current head of the entire Hero Branch, the one responsible for running it all, above even the directors, has that name."

"Great, so it isn't just Ward I have to deal with, but an entire family of assholes." Hope bemoaned and rolled over onto her stomach, burying her face into the seat.

"I don't think all of them are bad," Jane said sheepishly. "I mean, Alice Ward, is that news lady, right?"

"She married into the family," Kevin said casually.

"Oh? So?

"Yeah, most of the main members of the families are total dicks. Stupid ass rich people."

"Your backpack has such a way with words, Hope..."

Hope grunted and slowly pushed herself up. "I need to distract myself with some things. Just keep driving until we're back at the beach. We'll escape on the ocean and go to the next city or something." Her costume sloshed off of her, the red and silver pulling away as it formed back into a backpack that dropped onto the car seat. It seemed the Pod was sticking with Kevin for some reason, as it wrapped mostly around the red backpack.

"You're just leaving me here?" Kevin questioned as she got out of her seat.

She lazily shrugged. She was back in the outfit she wore under her costume and didn't really need her suit or the Pod in the van. "Just hang out."

"Wait-"

She left before he could even say anything. An awkward silence filled the air as Kevin remained in the car seat while Jane and Alexander both sat ahead of him. "So," Alexander asked slowly. "Uh, what's it like being a backpack?"

"It allowed me to reach enlightenment."

"Really?"

"Nope. It just saves me energy, and I don't have to bother walking around since I get people to carry me."

"Neat." Jane rubbed the back of her neck. "This is so weird."

"Welcome to the life of a Super."

The halls of the van were wide and expansive. Hope found herself walking down the long corridor, and she made her way into one of the hallways that had a series of doors on each side. She really hadn't had time to look around, and in her current mood, she was desperate to get any sort of distraction. She eyed the many doors up and down.

They looked like they were metal sliding doors. The kind you would see in a sci-fi book or something. Each door had a name on it, and it caused her heart to sting a bit as she read each one out. 'Cinder, Whisper, Battery, Myth, Snowdawn, Metal Ronin, Money Tree, BB, Wasp Nest, Oxide, Poseidon, Paragon, Ocean Empress.' Each name caused that guilt to increase. This part of the van had likely been made before the Beast fight. If this was supposed to be some sort of gift Metal Ronin had planned for her, he likely built each room for them. A place for all of them to stay at.

She walked over to the door that had her name on it. The door slid open on its own, allowing her to see the room that was past it. She had seen the bedrooms the Sub Enforcer members would stay at whenever they slept in their base. She had only been to the base a couple of times, but it had been enough. This bedroom was modeled the same way the Sub Enforcers bedrooms were.

It was a rather large room, once again bending space and reality as it was bigger than it should have been. There was a king-sized bed placed up against the wall and a large shelf that could hold dozens of figures or books. A closet was in the back for her clothes, and another door led to a connected bathroom. A couch was in the middle of the room with a large TV hooked up in front of it, and various gaming consoles were already plugged in. She seriously had to wonder where Metal Ronin got all this stuff from. Was it all built from trash? Or had he bought some of this with his own money? Either way, something like this room couldn't be cheap.

It wasn't just hers either. All the rooms had similar setups. Each one was likely as expensive as the apartment she lived in with her mom.

Used to live at, she corrected herself.

Still, it was kind of amazing what Metal Ronin was able to do all by himself. Mental powers were cool. Of course, that wasn't the set of powers she wanted. Flight was at the top of her list, followed by her fire powers. Luckily, once she regained her Lord powers, she'd be able to do both once more, being able to fly and shoot power.

There was something else she wanted to do, though...

If she got lucky and somehow, some way, she managed to gain another set of powers, there was something she'd like to be able to do.

Hope slowly shook her head. Something like that was silly to think about in the first place. For now, she was just mainly focused on getting her old powers back first.

The hallway kept going on for a bit. There were other metal doors, but they lacked names on them. The ones that didn't have names on them weren't done either. Some of the doors simply led nowhere, showing nothing but a wall on the other side, while others were half-done rooms or empty altogether. A few did have beds, though. She found one in one of the doors with no names and collapsed onto it, letting out a sigh.

It was really comfortable. She'd need to thank Metal Ronin the next time she saw him. This van was almost perfect-

"Hope!"

She sat up instantly as she heard her mother's voice. "Yeah!" She called out. She ran out of the room and found her mother in the hallway. Her mom was walking on her own, though still a bit sluggish, but she was just happy to see her mom on her own two feet again. That was until she noticed the worried look on her mother's face. "What's wrong?" She questioned.

"The van is doing something weird."

"Weird, how?"

"It's talking?"

"Huh?"

She left the hallway and moved past her mother, heading to where her dad was. He was still driving the van, though struggling as something kept distracting him. In the passenger seat, Kevin had moved, the backpack growing various red and silver tendrils as he smacked at something that was on the dashboard. A loud beeping filled the entire van, and red lights were going off.

As she got closer, she saw what was causing the distraction and the reason for the alarms to be going off. The dashboard was glowing, and a little knob appeared at the center of it, which fired out a soft glow. The glow had taken the shape of a person, being some sort of mini-hologram. She recognized the person instantly. It was Rowan. He didn't have any of his armor on, and it was hard to make out his appearance since the hologram left him as the size of a small action figure, but he was speaking in a loud and clear voice.

"-you should pull over and stop the van immediately. The battery is running low, and it is at high risk of dying. Soon, the power will be out. It has a small chance of exploding if the battery runs out completely."

"Whoa, exploding! What do you mean by that?" She asked with wide eyes.

"I am a hologram; this is a prerecorded message that will be repeated until the vehicle is put into park. You should pull over and stop the van immediately. The battery is running low, and it is at high risk of dying. Soon, the power will be out. It has a small chance of exploding if the battery runs out completely." Kevin's tendrils kept poking at the hologram, phasing through them.

"We can't stop; we're over the damn water!" The monster hissed.

She glanced at the window, and sure enough, they were driving on the ocean once again. They must have reached it while she had been looking around. "I am a hologram; this is a prerecorded message that will be repeated until the vehicle is put into park. You should pull over and-"

"How much battery do we have left?" She questioned.

"I don't know." Her father shook her head. "I didn't even know this thing had a charge. I thought it was powered by gas."

"You have one percent battery life left." The Rowan hologram said casually.

"Wait, so can you hear us?" She demanded turning on the hologram with narrowed eyes.

"I am a hologram; I have a series of prerecorded messages that I can respond with. Your question was 'Can you hear us?' My answer is no. Do you have any other questions?"

"Leave it to Metal Ronin to make junk that doesn't actually work." She sighed. "What did you mean this thing was going to explode?"

"This van is running out of battery life." The hologram explained. "When battery life reaches zero, it will die. After that, the thing that allows it to maintain this realm will cease, and it will implode. You have one percent battery life left. This will last for a little under one hour."

She folded her arms, frowning. "We can head back to Lillian, I guess. We should have enough time."

"What about the Branch?" Kevin growled.

"I'll deal with them and steal another car." She shrugged.

"We'd need a boat, actually." Her father jumped into the conversation. "This van can drive on water, but other cars can't. Lillian and Oleander are separated from the other cities, so you'd have to take a boat or plane to get anywhere else."

"Guess we'll steal a boat then."

"We could try for Daisy." Alexander hummed. "This van is pretty fast and could reach it before it runs out of juice."

"We shouldn't go to any city." Kevin hissed again. "The Hero Branch is after us."

"So? A lot of people are after me." She folded her arms and hummed, looking down at the hologram. "Is there anything else we could do, little Rowan?"

The hologram seemed to process what she was saying and then spoke up once more. "A signal has been sent out to heroes that might be able to help-"

"Shit." She facepalmed. "Now we're going to have some heroes come and attack us. Just great. I really hope, pun intended, Ward's story about me being a fake Cinder hasn't gotten out yet. Maybe I can talk to these guys-"

"Someone has responded to the signal." Rowan's hologram spoke up once more. "Pallet Boy Red is approaching."

"Huh?" She raised an eyebrow at that. "We're in the middle of the ocean? The only city near us is Lillian, so I would have thought it was someone from there, like that Cyber Horse guy, that would show up."

Kevin's face paled, which was impressive since he was still a red backpack. "That isn't the issue."

"It's not?"

"No! Think for a moment! How is Red Pallet coming? He's dead!"

Her blood suddenly ran cold, and she froze. She had completely forgotten that. The Wandering Coin killed the Pallet Boys and took their tech.

"Pallet Boy Red is approaching," Rowan stated cheerfully. "He is within eight miles—four miles—two miles- Two mil- He is here."

It was a quiet noise. Nothing more than a simple 'thudding' sound, but it was enough to make them all look up.

Someone was standing on top of the van.