A guild alchemist excitedly reviews the potions from Marchen Inc. If the contents of the box were true, then the guild would happily pay and monopolize the entire supply. With that in mind, the alchemist hastily begins to work to try to verify the potion.
*
It had been three days since Izo had dropped off three invisibility potions at the guild headquarters. Yet the guild had yet to respond. She understood that the guild was verifying the potions for side effects and that the potion worked as stated. Either way, she was going out tonight to have some fun with friends her age. Most of her online friends were younger than herself by a large margin. Not that Izo minded, but it’s hard to publicly hang out with middle schoolers without being labeled as a pedophile. Wearing a dark sweater, jeans, and comfortable shoes, she had left the empty Condo as Dolores was out on another date with her current man toy.
Before Izo can find a seat at a plaza, a waving hand grabs her attention. Wearing a polo shirt, khakis with a sweater tied over his shoulders, Mr. Valentine waves at her. Izo grimaces about his fashion taste. Izo seats herself as Mr. Valentine jabbers, “I’ve been waiting for an hour. You wouldn’t believe, what I saw.”
Izo just nods as she opens the cafe menu for a light snack. She quickly closes the menu shut having found that even the water was ridiculously priced. $25 a bottle of water, what was it directly imported from Mount Everest?
Izo cuts Mr. Valentine off, “Mr. Valentine, what’s your first name?”
Mr. Valentine humbly replies, “Jerry.”
“Is it fine, if I just call you Valentine?” Izo stoically said.
“Most of my family and colleagues call me that as well,” Valentine warmly answered.
Izo is not surprised by that answer. The two chatted until a curved woman in a V-neck shirt and jeans appears. Valentine climbs to his feet in awe as Miss Carpenter smiles cheerfully at Izo, but glares pointedly at Valentine to leave.
Izo swiftly jumps in to rescue the floundering Valentine. “I invited him seeing as he didn’t have any plans, I hope that you don’t mind? By the way, can I call you by your first name?” Izo warmly asked.
“Fine, but if Valentine gets touchy, he’s out. And how silly of me, I forgot to tell you my first name. It’s Sara,” Miss Carpenter warmly said, before adding, “Are we going to eat here?”
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“Hell no, even the water is overpriced,” Izo vehemently said.
The trio head off to a local restaurant where they manage to order a bit of everything and pin the bill on Valentine. Despite the large bill, Valentine happily pays the bill. The trio laughed the night away. Izo even adds Valentine’s contact information into her phone.
By the end of the night, they are all tired but happy. Izo subtly allows Valentine to accompany Sara home. Valentine gives her the thumb ups even though Sara sends pleading eyes at her. Sadly, Izo would just have to let down her friend as she owed Valentine.
Waving goodbye and promising to hang out soon, the group splits as Valentine accompanies Sara home and Izo goes her own way. On her way home, she spots a hero battling with a villain. Ignoring the situation, she happily walks around them, when a masked minion suddenly pops up at her side and holds a knife to her neck.
“Razor Claw, if you don’t want the woman to get hurt, put down your weapon,” The masked minion importantly yelled.
The hero growls and says, “Your people are despicable, Domino!”
The villain throws his head back and laughs maniacally, “HAHAHAHA, of course, because I’m a Villain!”
Razor Claw moves to lay down his weapons when he freezes at the unexpected sight. A minion is stuffed headfirst into a trash can as his legs flail in the air. A second minion’s body print is pressed onto a car, whilst the rest of the minions are sprawled in all directions groaning loudly in pain.
Domino seeing the dazed look on his nemesis excitedly turns around. The villain lets out a groan of despair, “But I just hired them!” Domino rushes away to check on his poor minions. With a terrible cry, he says, “I’ll be back,” before helping his minions hobble way and pulling the poor minion out of the trash bin.
Razor Claw is frozen as he can’t believe his eyes. The woman was gone, but she couldn’t have done this, could she? Before he can ponder more on the situation, the wail of sirens begins to wail in the distance. He swiftly pales upon seeing the damage and flees. He was still a minor hero and didn’t have enough money to pay for wrongful damage claims. With that in mind, the hero flees into the night.
Within minutes the police officers arrive at the scene. They had received a call about a sound disturbance and had been dispatched. With a sigh, they see the recent struggles of a fight, but with no sign of a villain or the hero. “Fledging heroes, I bloody hate them,” the senior officer commented.
The younger officer nods, “Yup. Always running away and leaving us to clean up the mess. Those guys are public nuisances costing the taxpayers money to fix their messes. They should be calling us heroes! We’re the ones who do the day to day things and clean up after them!” The young cop firmly proclaimed.
The senior officer grunts in agreement as he explains the situation over dispatch. The dispatcher requests that they remain at the scene until a member of the hero’s association arrives. The senior officer snorts, no doubt the hero’s union rep would explain the situation away. The hero’s association couldn’t be allowed to have a bad rep.