I wake up early the next day. Much earlier than usual. Like it's three in the morning right now, and I have achieved the feat of feeling well rested. A rarity for anyone my age. Sitting up on the Archimedes couch, I'm left with intense boredom. I can't very well just go and do anything, I mean, I could, but Sophia would probably worry. Either that or Thomas and Aria would track me leaving and follow after me.
Honestly, it could go either way.
*Thunk!*
A noise grabs my attention as I look over the pitch black room, and weirdly my Night Vision allows me to see clearly with little light, and not even like the green hue the goggles would bring. It looks just like daylight in here, and I can see the obvious source of the noise. A little girl.
The dragonewt, Nora, is apparently a sleepwalker. She's walking around the room, bumping into various objects.
*Thunk!*
That was the couch.
*Thunk!*
That was the wall.
*Thunk!*
That was the coffee table, and now she's laying down on it. I get up from the couch and gently pick her up in my arms. She immediately leans into me, her adorable soft snores are audible with her being this close to me. She's so cute. "…chicken," she mumbles. Correction, not cute, adorable. I carry her over to the couch and lay down with her still in my arms. I pull the blanket over us as she snuggles into me.
I guess I can use a few more hours of sleep.
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I wake up again with the small girl in my arms shifting around. I guess she's waking up too. She blinks her eyes and looks around, then she notices where she is in the room and that someone is holding her. She looks at me and sheepishly says, "Oh, hi. Umm, was I sleep walking again?" I nod. "Sorry." I pet her surprisingly soft hair, "It's fine." She nods and jumps off the couch and goes bouncing off somewhere, with a few glides here and there.
Sophia walks out of her room and dodges the flying girl as she yawns. "Good morning. I see you found out about one of Nora's nighttime habits." I reply, "One of?" "Yeah, she has…a lot. Anyway, I know today is your free day, but we need to head over to the Hero's Guild."
"Why?" I ask as I follow Sophia into the kitchen and start cooking a protein heavy breakfast. "We need to get paid. Adventurers' Guild suggests having two jobs, but Hero's Guild gives you a salary for a job. Your positions is equivalent to an unpaid intern, kinda, but you still get reward money for helping with that issue." She pops a mini muffin in her mouth.
"Alright," I agree. A quick change and a teleport later, we arrive back in the conference room where we first received our mission. Wait, why didn't we teleport here before. I send a glare to Sophia in an attempt to transmit my thoughts without Telepathy.
"What?" She asks. "Why didn't you teleport us here before?" I question. "The guild building is a mess of compacted space. Like we took multiple right turns to get here last time we came. That should've created a circle, but instead we ended up here. Teleportation into unstable space is a very good way to die, and only my husband and I can stabilize it for periods of time, which I did last time. So, we can teleport here, for now."
Alright, I can get behind that explanation. Soon the others arrive and sit in our chairs. Sophia is on my left and Rose jumps into the seat on my right. Midas sits opposite of us and Hyper Thunder sits next to nobody. The same boring-looking man that came last time walks in as well.
"Hmm, well timed again. Anyway, congratulations everyone. You stopped the swarm of bugs and saved the city with minimal destruction and no deaths." The man seems to be reading a script. "I hope you will all forgive me if I skip the rest of the speech as we all have things to do. Midas, you will receive a small sum of $1000 as you contributed the least." Midas accepts this with a shrug.
"Scarlet Sword, you helped defeat a large portion of bugs and mentored another hero's disciple at the same time, you receive $7500." Rose just stares at him, but I can see her hands twitching from under the table.
"Space Weaver, you…uh…there aren't any accounts that you did anything except that your identification said you did, so, uh, you get $7500 as well." I can't see Sophia's face, but I can tell she has a huge smirk on underneath.
"Hyper Thunder, we will have words later, but you never actually defeated any monsters. Any that were drawn towards you were blasted off to be dealt with by another hero. As such you contributed nothing to the fight and made it harder for the other heroes as well, so no payment." Hyper Thunder looks ready to kill at his words, but Midas, Rose, and Sophia are glaring at him and that settles him down.
"Finally, Silvernight, the hero's disciple. Normally the payment would be added onto your mentor and they would then be left to distribute it to you, but you were the one to force all of the monsters back from whence they came, into the dungeon. Due to your actions, you will receive a sum of $10,000 that will be deposited directly into your bank account, like the rest."
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$10,000? That's a lot for a single job. Like I expected maybe $100, but this seems to be disproportionate. I don't even know what to do with so much money. Maybe? No, I have to settle living situation stuff first, or maybe donate the rest to a charity, but then which? Do I owe anybody money? Do I have any outstanding debts?
Wait, where is everyone? In the vortex of my thoughts, I seem to have missed everyone leaving except for Rose and Sophia. "Oh look, she's out," Rose comments. "It seems to be so," Sophia replies. "Do either of you want to grab something to eat?" Rose offers, but I mean I just had breakfast earlier.
Before I can answer, Sophia interjects saying, "That would be lovely. The usual?" Rose nods and Sophia's threads unravel from her fingers to surround us, a teleportation.
We land outside of a run-down looking diner named, 'Ed's Family Diner.' Rose walks inside and Sophia and I follow. A bell rings out as we enter, opposed to the outside, the inside has a cozy aura to it. Hardwood paneled flooring and walls with soft lights to illuminate it. Rose sits down at a bar counter that has a window into the kitchen and we sit next to her. A waitress comes by with a notepad. "Can you go get Ed, please?" The waitress looks over Rose and leaves.
Soon a portly fellow with a greasy apron and sweaty face barrels out of the kitchen door with arms wide open. "Rosie! Come give me a hug!" Rose jumps over the counter to give the man a tight hug. Despite the size difference, she easily picks him up. "Oh, oh, put me back down," the man complains with a smile on his face. She puts him down and he says, "That's better. Now, what did we say about that hood?" She looks down at the ground and replies, "Not to wear it inside." He gives a hearty chuckle as she puts down her hood. "Yep. Now, are you going to introduce me to your new friend? I recognize Sophia, but the wolf girl is new." Probably Ed ruffles Rose's hair as he walks around the counter to sit next to us. "Don't you have work to do?" Rose asks with a pout. "Ahh, the foot traffics been light today." Rose looks skeptical. "Like every other day?" He gives a small chuckle. "Yeah, anyway I should introduce myself. Name's Ed, or Big Ed, or Eddie, or any other name you can think of. Any is fine." He extends his hand for a handshake which I reciprocate. "Hmm, strong arm. Probably around 170 Power. What's your name, young lady?" I reply, "My name is Alice, sir. Or Silvernight as a hero. Umm, what's your relationship to Rose?" He gives a toothy grin. "I'm her father." Huh?
Okay, lets summarize both appearances. Rose has black hair with red highlights, a thin frame, her flaming rose pupils, and a height of about 5' 6". Ed is bald, portly, green eyes, and is much taller than her with him standing at six feet with me. So, who's the mother?
"Umm, so, who's your mom?" I tentatively ask which turns both Ed and Rose's gazes darken. I quickly rescind saying, "Uh, sorry if I said something wrong." Ed immediately goes back to his cheery self. "Ah, it's fine. Now let's get you something to eat!"
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Meanwhile in an underground facility…(Side Story: The Bored Cyborg)
I clamber through the small opening in my power armor. Some say that it would be useless for a cyborg to wear power armor, and they would be right, but I do it for the aesthetic. I walk into the main, dingy hall of the Villain's Guild. I don't really come down here much as I have better things to do, like take care of my family, or make sure that Alice doesn't die, but something has caught my attention.
A sit down at a bench near our concession stand. I don't know which villain on the staff decided to install this, but they are a true godsend. This place has the only buffalo wings hot enough to satisfy my palette.
Soon two others arrive in the guild hall, Madman and Joker. Madman looks worse for wear and with what Sophia told me about their latest adventure I can probably tell why. No one likes forcefully losing years off their lifespan.
Joker looks…ticked off. He's dressed in his usual purple tuxedo with his smiling theater mask, but his body language tells me he is…mad. As a demon that represents greed, he usually makes deals with others, similar to Madman, but he just likes to get paid in cash. So, he someone probably didn't pay and now he has to order their execution.
They sit down at the same table as me.
"Didn't expect you down here, Cyber," Madman opens the conversation. "Yes, well, when one man with many outstanding debts asks to make deals with three other villains, it has the possibility of catching my interest. Madman gives me a sad smile that hides his anger at the debts someone owes him.
"Speaking of that man, where is he? He's late to his own meeting," Joker complains with the eyes on his mask glowing red for a second. Almost immediately, the man of the hour, Dr. Graves the Necromancer, arrives with a lab coat flowing behind him. "Sorry I'm late, but Abraham Lincoln wouldn't shut up about the good of the American people and trying to talk me down, so I killed him…again." The three of us share glances as we know we're in for a wild ride.
"So, Graves," Madman begins, "Heard your latest plan didn't pan out so well. Something about storming city hall with bugs." Dr. Graves who never received a doctorate or went to medical school replies, "Perhaps, but if it wasn't for the wolf then everything would've worked. The dead bugs scare the living bugs with their auras right out of the dungeon, then coerce them into the city. Foolproof!" The poor man rants oblivious to the sighs the three of us make, though mine are muted by the suit.
"Doctor Graves, we are all wondering something. Why are we here?" Joker brings the conversation back on track. "Oh yes! I have a new plan, but I need more materials. Materials I know are in the possession of you three." He points a finger at us for emphasis. I speak up, "Graves, this wouldn't have anything to do with revenge because we all know those don't pan out well unless carefully planned for." This throws a wrench into his hastily prepared speech as I unravel his intentions perfectly. "Uh, no."
"No, I have something bigger in mind. Madman, I just need those translation rings you can make. About 500,000 German to English ones should suffice." Madman narrows his eyes. "Joker, I need some servants to help retrieve bodies. Plenty of them." Joker looks skeptical. "CyberKnight, I need an explosive. A powerful one that can easily blow a block sky-high." I sit in silence.
Joker speaks up, "Doctor Graves, you do understand that you are already under extreme debt from past deals." Madman continues his train of thought, "If you fail to pay with this new plan, we will be forced to collect." I say, "A man in debt lead to revenge is already too far gone. I will not participate." Madman looks to me. "Would you assist in collection then?" I nod. "Wonderful. Now then, lets begin."
The sound of two soul bound deals fills the now empty halls of the guild, signifying terrible futures to come.