Rose smells like lavender.

I'm not being creepy; it's just that I'm riding with Rose on her motorbike down the highway—living up to my leather outfit's theme—and I can smell her despite the rushing wind surrounding us.

Headlights illuminate the partially empty road. A few cars, two with high beams, speed by. We exit onto the offramp, leading towards a fenced-off plot with a maze of wires and transformers warding any potential intruders. Well, except Thomas, obviously.

She parks her bike off to the side. Then we wait.

A minute. Two. Five. Ten.

I've sat down in the gravel. Rose found a stick and has been sharpening it to a point with one of her knives.

Two headlights crawl down the street, passing by us for about fifty yards, coming to a stop with a hiss. Doors creaking open, three figures step down with differing statures.

First, Emperor Micro. He's dressed as though he's a Chinese emperor from one of the times when China wasn't shattered, even though he's very, very American. To top it off, he has a fake gold crown with fake gems that he's very proud of. He's not aware that they are fake. Everyone else here…is. Mid-thirties and a constant smirk or an obvious glare; there's no in-between.

Hyper Thunder: just as bad as I remember.

Tenacity. He's a hulking figure that shakes the bus as he steps off it. Wearing a wife-beater with a bullet-proof vest over it. A claymore is strapped to his back, two daggers to his belt, and grenades on both. Camouflage pants and steel-toed boots complete the ensemble.

He's famous…among those in hero-heavy, urban areas. One of the few people in the world to reach the rank of Hero without being able to level up, relying solely on stat boosts from exercise and skills.

If his hubris isn't obnoxious, then he could be a golden standard.

"Hmph," he grunts upon seeing us. There it is. His flaw. Dreamer, damn it. Can I not meet a hero that isn't inherently flawed to an extreme degree… Sophia and Rose are in there, too. They have issues.

Do I have issues? No, wait. Stop. That's a question for another day—a more alcoholic day, with a side of introspection.

Hyper Thunder claps to get out attention. "Alright, here's the plan," he says. "We're going to go in, beat up CyberKnight, arrest him, treat ourselves."

Tenacity snorts, "That's not a plan." Huh, so some common sense then.

"Got anything better?" Hyper Thunder throws a stink-eye at each of us, forcing down defiance in any of us.

Waves of simmering anger roll off of Rose, but she stays silent with her crossed arms.

With no objections, we begin walking into the compound. The lock on the fence hasn't been cut off; it's been crushed. Thomas prefers to use whatever sci-fi weaponry he made in his spare time, so this must be his two followers.

We walk between the insulated and exposed wires, avoiding both—except Hyper Thunder, he's fine—for fear of being fried to oblivion. I can easily step over the wires, thanks to Dark Vision and Acrobatics, but the others have to take their time.

Hyper Thunder and I stand and wait for the others to get through. This place is…way too messy to be legal. Wires everywhere is just waiting for OSHA to throw a fit. Does OSHA apply here? No, wait. The electric company.

"Nyah! I smell some intruders, see?!" A male, nasally voice echoes in exclamation. All of us tense up, ready to fight the unseen interloper.

"Buh. Think I see 'em," a heavy voice responds. Another male, though he sounds like he just gorged himself on all the pasta and cheese at an Olive Garden, then proceeded to go run a few laps around the restaurant.

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The hairs on the back of my neck rise, and my tail stands up straight. Tenacity, Rose, and I jump back; meanwhile, I use Telekinesis to push Hyper Thunder and Emperor Micro forward.

Apparently, most Telekinesis skills work off of the same principle. Not mass, but rather the force of weight. Newton's good ol' force equals mass times the acceleration of gravity.

My limit right now is about fifty pounds of force, so that's twenty-five per person.

Anyway, I'm currently ignoring the blubber that's charging through the steel and concrete paneling. A pale man, really overweight, is wearing a buttoned shirt that's struggling to hold itself together, a dirty-brown trench coat, fedora that covers his eyes, and a solid black tie. However, he has a nice red pinstripe suit contrasting with everything else.

His wheezing is audible, his shaking palpable, and his seven foot height…towering.

"Found you," he groans.

"Nyah, so youse are the fellas that our mutual pal in power armor paid us ta deal with." A smaller figure—thinner, too—stalks from behind the lumbering giant. He has a three-foot stature and constant snicker to boot, plus a similar dress code to the big guy. Though he has a navy-blue pinstripe suit.

[ Homunculus — A man-made golem, built to do one task exceptionally well. Typically made from imbuing a soul into a flesh suit, only Soul-based attacks will damage the creature. High regenerative abilities, high elemental resistance, and high physical resistance. The soul will always reside in the largest piece, but it can travel between pieces. Any fragments should be destroyed. ]

[ Homunculus — A man-made golem, built to do one task exceptionally well. Typically made from imbuing a soul into a flesh suit, only Soul-based attacks will damage the creature. High regenerative abilities, high elemental resistance, and high physical resistance. The soul will always reside in the largest piece, but it can travel between pieces. Any fragments should be destroyed. ]

Huh, so they're both Homunculuses… Homunculi?

The big one lumbers forward, preparing a swing at nothing we can see coming from a mile away. "Get 'em, Clyde!" The short one commands. Clyde, who I assume is the big one, nods in affirmation, and while he takes a step, he swings.

"GUH!" Tenacity goes…flying? Wait, what. Somehow, using his swinging momentum, and while moving, Clyde somehow glided across the ground, delivering a power punch to Tenacity.

Crashes of metal and concrete with the occasional electrical hum ring out as Tenacity comically carries out his momentum.

Hyper Thunder silently throws a bolt of lightning at Clyde, and he effectively shrugs it off. Trudging forward, he swipes at Hyper. "Buh, buh. BUH!" Even with his slow speed, there's a lot of force behind that swing.

While Emperor and Hyper deal with Clyde, Rose and I turn our sights to the small fry. "Please surrender yourself," Rose drones. She already knows the answer to her command, though.

"Nyeh hah! Never!" In conjunction with his declaration, he pulls out two daggers from his coat and throws them at us. Telekinesis stops the dagger in its track, and Rose blocks with her armguards. He stops cackling, freezes, then sighs. "Ah, fuck it."

Snapping his fingers, the two daggers begin to float, then they turn towards us, and fly. Rose pulls out her one of her rapiers, and begins deflecting the orbiting projectile. She isn't doing that well, though. Rapiers are built for thrusts, not parries.

My Telekinesis took care of both easily. Just a small prick on the back of my mind.

*Swish* Another dagger flies past. Focusing back on the small guy, a cloud of daggers ominously hovers behind him. He twirls a butterfly knife in each of his hands and jumps at me.

Okay, so… I can't deal with all of those. Also, he's adding more force to the two daggers I'm holding, breaking them free from my hold.

The cloud descends upon Rose, forcing her into a panic. She just becomes a blur of movement as she deals with the blinding steel.

Thomas 'trained' me to fight opponents several times my size and weight class. Now I have to do half of both. Boy, this guy is small.

It's nimble against nimble as the Homunculus deflects my fists and daggers with his knives, somehow simultaneously bouncing off of me, maintaining momentum in the air.

A crash is heard from the side, and I spare but a moment to glance over. All three heroes: Tenacity, Hyper Thunder, and Emperor Micro lay on the ground—battered and bloody. Each one glows and disappears.

Seeing the same thing, my opponent stops his attack. "Right, go on 'head," he says, matter-of-factly.

"What?" I deadpan.

"Listen, we were jus' hired ta make sure those fellas got sent to the infirmary. Youse are alright. Same with the other girlie, too."

"'Awkins, you okay?" Clyde walks over, concern evident in his voice.

He nods. "Yeah, kid didn't get a scratch on me." Then looks at me. "Come on! The guy's waiting for ya."

Rose and I share a conversation between our eyes. She wants to pummel these guys, even though we are outclassed. I just want to move on. Eventually, I win, and we move on. I do take a short glance just to find that the two Homunculi were playing cards.

It's a funny sight, with Clyde's hands way too big for the cards, and 'Awkins' obviously cheating and feeling slightly guilty about it.

We walk through the remains of a wall. Sidestepping some steel beams and rough concrete, I find Thomas with several wires removed from their respective sockets and plugged into him. He seems to be pounding away at some terminal thing.

"Oh," he says after a small turn to see us. He returns his focus on the computer, but continues, "I see you got past Hawkins and Clyde."

"Yeah," Rose snarls. "They were a pain in the ass."

He chuckles. "Yeah. The Henchmen for Hire. Worth every penny, unlike the B-Listers, they get they job done."

Silence continues for a moment.

*Cough*

I think I made things worse. "So…anybody want to explain?"

"Eh," Rose groans, and Thomas remains silent, fervently typing away. Is that a rubber duck next to his keyboard?

"I will," Aria says inside my mask, reminding me that she does, in fact, record my every move. "A Script Kiddie—a person who bought a virus off of the black market—got fed up with his electric bill. So, in his blind rage, he attacked the local power grid with a nasty piece of code, It caused brownouts, blackouts, and high voltage surges; rendering portions of the city in darkness.

This, of course, backfired on him completely, and they only solution to infected parts of the grid is to—"

"Blow them up…" I whisper, yet audible enough for everyone to hear.

"Yeah," Rose grunts, cracking her back. "As heroes, it looks bad for PR if we get caught intentionally causing property damage."

"Luckily, villains aren't bound by the same rules. Or rather, no rules at all," Thomas adds on. "Sometimes though, when I plug in, something comes back."

"Ugh, this'll raise our taxes…again!" I complain, growling. I mean, yeah, I'll pay taxes. Gets the government out of most of my business, but I don't like increases for no good reason because some kid got overzealous.

"Don't worry," Thomas dreamily says, not paying much attention to the conversation at hand. "It'll be subsidized by a grant from the Archimedes Archipelago."

"Let's head out," Rose comments. "We're done here."