Anna hummed a nonsensical tune as she leaned on the Eiffel Towers railing and, not for the first time in the last hour, wondered if she’d made the right decision by showing herself on the video.

She had no way of actually knowing who would see her video, though she predicted that it would either be the government or the inventor that saw it first.

The megacorps probably wouldn't see the video until much later, if at all. They didn’t have the presence nor power that they had in the US over here in the CEC.

The CEC, or the Central European Commonwealth, was sort of like the spiritual successor to the European Union, which dissolved back in 2041. The leaving of several key members, a failure to enforce its own policies, as well as pressure from the people who felt as if they weren’t being properly represented, all marked it's downfall.

However, when the World Famine struck in 2047, Europe was devastated. Farms couldn’t produce enough food to feed everyone and those that were fed still ran the risk of freezing to death from the chilling temperatures outside.

Climate Change had destroyed the gulf stream causing temperatures to plummet. Europe's climate became one more familiar to northern canada and western Russia than anyone else.

Both of these factors crippled the european economy and without the support they got by banding together, the european countries suffered separately. Then the Second Age of American Imperialism and the Era of Russian Reclamation, as they became known, happened and Europe fell even further from the global stage.

Faced with this chilling reality, various countries began secret talks with one another about the possibility of forming another union. Among these were France, Germany, Belguim, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Czechia, Denmark, and Sweden.

Eventually, in 2063 the creation of the CEC was announced to the public with a… mixed reception.

Some supported the CEC as they saw it as the only way to stay relevant in the current age. Others decried their country’s loss of autonomy and tried to fight against it.

It was a rocky start but when the dust settled a new power block was formed that made Europe more powerful as a whole. Over time, the CEC became less of a union of countries and more of a collection of once independent states.

The CEC has had its challenges.

Only thirty years ago there was a massive rebellion against the CEC for its increasingly Orwellian tactics. Despite that however, the CEC continued to implement casual government surveillance and maintained a constant presence in the average citizen's life. Though admittedly, less so than before the Rebellion of 2097.

That isn’t to say that the CEC was bad to live in. Not at all. In fact, the CEC was probably the nicest country to live in, if you were of the lower class. Standardized living standards, a universal basic income, and assured democratic freedoms make it a theoretical paradise.

Theoretical. 

In reality, the CEC has its issues like any nation. Corruption, crime, terrorism, the CEC was not exempt from these facets of human society.

Anna heard a ‘ding’ as the elevator arrived and interrupted her musing. ‘Fucking finally! I was losing my mind from boredom. Let's see who saw my message.’ She thought as she turned around to see her visitor.

She was pretty. A rounded face framed by a few strands of blond hair that had escaped her messy ponytail. Round thick glasses sat high on her thin nose, and few scatterings of freckles could be seen on her cheeks. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of blue with a spark of intelligence in them.

She looked pretty small, probably about five feet. Her body was covered by a formless white lab coat that reached her knees. Unremarkable black sneakers adorned her feet and worn grey sweatpants decorated her legs.

All in all, she looked like an odd mix of mousy-study-girl, test-tube-babe, and pissed-off-scientist.

“Greetings, Inventor! How wonderful to make your acquaintance!” Anna said loudly as she grew closer.

She stopped five feet away with a confused expression on her face. “How did you know?” She asked with a thick German accent.

‘Aw Fuck, a german mad scientist, this is not going to end well is it?’ She commented sardonically her head, thinking about the various stereotypes german scientists have attached to them in comics.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Outwardly she just raised an eyebrow and looked at the women's lab coat.

The inventor looked down at her outfit before blushing. “Ah, ya, that would do it.” She coughed and extended her hand. “I am Eve, nice to meet you.”

Trying not to laugh at her accent as she knew it would be rude, Anna walked over and shook her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Eve.” Smiling broadly, Anna turned and walked back to her railing, motioning for Eve to follow.

“Now,” She began once she'd reached it, “You’re probably wondering why I asked you here.”

“Ah, ya, but before you begin I do have few questions to ask.” Eve interrupted.

It took Anna a few seconds to parse through her accent and understand what she was saying. Once she had, she thought for a moment and a smirk crossed her features.

Anna held up three fingers. “You can ask three questions.”

Eve looked at Anna’s hand for a moment before nodding. “Ok, that's fair." she agreed, pulling up her V-Screen to, presumably, take notes.

"First question," she began, "why did you help during the Molts Massacre but not today?”

Anna hummed in contemplation as she stared out over Paris, trying to think of a reason that would suit the character she was trying to portray.

“Well, the thing you should understand," she eventually explained, "is that the Molts Massacre was an exception. If I had allowed Molts to continue his ramage then hundreds, if not thousands would be dead.” She explained calmly as she met Eve’s eyes. “And that's not a very good first impression of supers, is it?"

Snorting a bit and with a faint smile on her face, she added, “I would very much like to not be lynched by an angry mob of super hating supremacists."

Eve considered her words and write a few things in her notes. “That makes sense. You were there to help, and you did so, but only because if you hadn't the results would've been worse for all of us.”

"Bingo." 

At her confirmation Eve nodded. “Alright, moving on. Next question, "Do you know were these powers are coming from?”

Anna spent a moment translating before sighing. “No, I don’t, not for sure. However, I have a few theories."

"I think that it probably has something to do with Coeldisium," She started. "It was the first of these strange phenomena as far as we know, so that's only reasonable to assume I think. As for whether its something on Coeldisium or Coeldisium itself causing these powers I don’t know." She shrugged.

“There's also the very real possibility that this is only the beginning, I've been traveling and I've noticed that there seem to be more superhumans by the day. If this continues and with the powers we've seen, it's only a matter of time until, well..." Anna didn't finish her sentence.

She didn’t have to.

“...Mein Gott.” Eve mouthed more than spoke, obviously imagining the consequences of such a circumstance.

“Yes," Anna agreed before taking a deep breath, pumping herself up. "So, that brings me to my proposal,” Anna said while pulling herself away from the magnificent view and turning to Eve, snapping her out of her reverie.

“I want you," she made finger guns, "to sponsor the world's first superhero team.”

Eve just stared at Anna for a moment. “What?”

“I want you," she made finger guns again, "to sponsor the world's first superhero te-”

“Nein, nein, I heard you, but still, what?” Eve interrupted.

Anna sighed. “People with powers are only going to get more numerous Eve," She spoke seriously. "If there's not some sort of force that will police them or enforce rules then the worlds going to descend into anarchy. The police aren't going to be able to handle this. The military might, but do you want them to handle it? I certainly don’t.” 

“But why me? Why not someone else?” Eve asked, confused.

“Who else? The governments?" She scoffed. "They’ll only use them to further their own agendas. The megacorps?" Ann's snorted. "They only care about what makes them profit." Anna stopped and sighed. "There's no one else Eve. Your the only one that has the power, the neutrality, and the ability to make it work.”

Eve didn’t respond, she just began to think. Muttering to herself with her eyes flickering around in front of her as if she was looking at invisible equations. Anna thought she could see literal steam coming out of her ears.

 Eve contnued like this for few minutes, worrying Anna who began to think that she'd broken her, before she finally spoke.

"Alright, I'll do it."

A smile spread across Anna's face. “Magnificent," Anna said. "I would recommend that you start your recruitment effort with Neuschwanstein and his grandson. They seemed to have sufficient skills as well as the right kind of drive.

"Neuschwanstein himself seemed to be a veteran so he probably has combat experience. His grandson, while a bit naive, appeared to have a good heart. Beyond that... I have no advice." She considered for a moment longer.

"Yeah, that's all I got. Do what you think is best. Bye, I’ll be waaaaaatchiiiiing.” She sang as she turned and began walking away.

“Wait! Wait! I still have one last question!” Eve called after Anna.

Anna stopped and groaned. “Alright, what is it?”

“Who are you?”

Anna froze before a large smile grew on her face. “Me,” She laughed as she turned and bowed. “I’m just a humble Witness.”

Eve blinked in surprise, and in that moment…

Witness vanished.