The image of Percepti on the news was completely different to how he remembered him. The pristine blue armor and white smile was foreign. The bloody shattered teeth and tattered remains of his protection were all that was left when he stepped in, saving the man’s life.
Despite it all, they didn’t mention him. Not a single word about his heroic actions, helping the injured while the super powered humans fought in the building above. Not a word mention about him stopping the hero from being blown to smithereens.
He felt a hint of relief well up inside of him. He had been avoiding letting anyone know that he was at the scene of the mind hopper ever since it had happened. Hannah had been terrifying, but it was a blessing that she only cared about herself and not the job she was tasked with.
The paranoia of the government finding out he was still kicking and sending a hero after him like her was fresh on his mind. The possibility of getting flattened in some back alley stopped his any of his delusions of grandeur.
If they stomped out mind hoppers with such prejudice, then what would they do to someone that couldn’t be punished with simple eradication like him. That was, if he could keep reviving. Something he wasn’t even truly confident of. It was more of a feeling that he wasn’t keen on testing out.
“I guess it’s for the best.” A blessing that still stung regardless of the reality.
He reached for the ceiling and stood up.
The ditch of depression still held onto him like a desperate beggar, but he needed to do something despite the exhaustion of sleeplessness and the lethargy that came along with it.
He pushed the motel door open and walked into the morning streets, clogged from rush hour traffic.
The people in business suits poured from the nicer hotels with their phones in their hands trying to fend off any early vendors trying to rope their attention in. A common sight to him and one that he couldn't even begin to understand.
They were worlds apart. He was some unregistered powered making money under the table while they were professionals that sought to make their corporation money.
‘Actually, maybe we aren’t so different. You just need to replace their business with my boss and we could have some semblance of familiarity.’
His phone rang for the first time that day. An unknown number with the city’s area code. He hesitated to answer before throwing caution to the wind.
“Hel-”
“It’s Louis, I have some work that needs to be done and Imani is busy. I need you to fill in.”
There was a hint of annoyance in his tone. Sean stuttered before getting his bearings.
“Sure, as long as the pay is good, I am down for anything.”
He could hear the boss’ lips sliding across his teeth as a smile overtook him.
“That’s what I was hoping for you to say.”
-
“That is not how that happened. Why are they trying to say that it is? You should be shouting the truth at the top of your lungs.” Johnny’s frustration was only reined in by the aches and pains that shot through his body as he laid in the private hospital room.
The man he was talking to had his hands clasped together as he waited for the tirade to end.
“I mean, a civilian saved me. They literally killed a villain to save a hero. Me! I’m the hero and I wat you to say something about it.” He threw his hands to the air only to flinch back as a wave of pain shot through his sides. He took a deep breath and calmed his mind.
“I just mean, If the normals see that even they can stand up against bad people then maybe there wouldn’t be so much crime and so many henchmen for people like me to deal with.”
The man opposite of him had his head clean shaven to the point it glistened under the fluorescent lighting. Johnny felt the frustration slowly drain from him. It was becoming increasingly obvious that his efforts at arguing were pointless.
“Have you said all of your concerns?” The way he spoke was clinical and contained none of what made human speech beautiful. The inflection, tone, and uneven pacing was all inhuman for someone touted as a ‘normal’ case manager.
All Johnny could do was nod his head.
“Fantastic. I am sorry to say but the Hero Union has different views. We believe people will put themselves in harm's way if they see the heroics of a non-hero and that is something that goes directly against one of our main tenants.”
He could feel the anger returning. A common result of interacting with the suits.
“And what is that? What is the thing that makes it to where my desires are pointless and wrong?”
The man unclenched his hands and laid one on each of his legs palm down.
The longer he watched, the more his perception pointed out to him. There was no disjunction between the arms nor change in his breathing that always accompanied movement.
“The most important of our tenants is the real sticking point. We maximize the good for the most people possible while keeping as many people as safe as possible.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can it. I’ve heard it all before. If i am not gonna be getting my way then do you at least know who it was.”
The man curled his lips in a freakish grin.
“It is, unfortunately, of rather low priority. After the strange power we witnessed from villain case seven one three, we deemed that to be of highest priority. It’s not every day the Union gets a fresh body like that, and they are keen on putting everything they have at it. Unfortunately, the head was heavily damaged, but we can’t win them all.”
Johnny scoffed.
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“Sure. Whatever man. Get out of my room. I feel like I got exploded on.” He slowly pulled his sheet over his bandaged body. The spot where the steak knife slid into his ribs was particularly tender.
“We appreciate your cooperation in this event and your continued service in the Union. Your healthcare will he full reimbursed along with a checkup with our own doctors to make sure you are in tip top shape.”
The bald man stood from his chair and turned to the door with even and rapid footfalls.
The monitors beside the bed read his vitals and with a constant beep that constantly wore at his patience. The cardiograph sat at a steady thirty beats per minute without a single irregularity. The pain did little to change his already elevated heart rate.
“God damnit.” He fished under his thigh where he hid his phone from the nurses and scrolled through his contacts before settling on a name. The phone rang and rang before picking up at the last second.
“Hello Johnny. I heard you are still pushing. Glad you made it out of there alive you filthy shithead.”
The first smile of the day spread across his strained features.
“Hey Bronny. I got a favor to ask.”
The man didn’t skip a beat.
“What do you need?”
‘Finally, someone with some real action behind their words.’ It was a true refreshment compared to the suites that populated the Union.
“I know you already know that I wasn’t the one to put down the villain. I want to know who did so I can go personally to thank them. It’s not every day that someone saves your life and this is important to me.”
There was a short pause before a series of shuffling played through the phone.
“Were you conscious at all? Any idea about anything that could make this situation easier for me?” Johnny let out a dry laugh.
“Not one bit. I was out cold after the explosion. Everything else is up to you i guess.” An idea came to mind.
“Well, actually. I did hear from the Union rep that the villain had his head smash to pieces or something so maybe look out for someone in the area that was covered in lots of blood?”
Bronny went silent as scribbling could be heard over the connection.
“Great, looking for an unknown person on a underservailenced street in an underservailenced part of town covered in blood after an explosion with dozens of injured people. Easy.”
Johnny couldn’t help but grin wider.
“Hey, that’s why I’m calling you. I have no clue what to do. I am sure you got this. I’ll owe you one if you pull it off.”
“It will take a couple of days, but I am sure I’ll get it done. I still need to do a bust tonight then its straight to my contacts to find your mystery savior.”
They said their byes and hung up.
The door to the room slid open and one of the many nurses walked in with a large tray of food. An arrangement of everything from citrus to many types of meats graced his plate only for his pause as he noticed one of the items.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” In his hands, a fully intact squash stared back at him while the nurse wheeled the extra chair from the room.
-
Night had fallen over Milenicadia, but the city refused to sleep. There was far too much money to be made and fun to be had for everyone to sleep Sean felt the sweat developing in his hands as he waited for Devon to pick him up.
‘I shouldn’t have let my greed talk. What the hell am I doing?’ He paced on the sidewalk, biting one of his nails when a car stopped in front of the curb. He walked up to the tinted windows and jumped back slightly as it began rolling down.
“Hey man. How much for a few hours? Nothing gay, just homie shit, ya know?”
Sean went to speak only for his tongue to fail him. He was truly lost for words.
“Come on man. You’re working this corner for a reason. What are the numbers?”
The car sputtered, breaking him from the horrified stupor.
“I-no! I’m not working this corner. What’s that shit?!” He looked around and blanked.
He might not have been working that corner but plenty of other men and women were. His face heated up in embarrassment as the deep desire to crawl into the sewers overtook him.
The car took off with a few choice slurs thrown his way only for another car to pull up in its place. The dark window rolled down in much the same way.
“A little sucky for a few buckies?” The tattooed man stared through the window at his coworker with the brightest smile he had seen from them man. Sean grit his teeth as he fought back the laughter.
“Hop in.” He reached over and pushed the car door open.
Sean ducked down to get inside under the suspicious gaze of the other streetwalkers. Before the surprisingly jovial tattooed man could speak, he cut him off.
“I don’t want you saying anything about that to anybody. I didn’t even realize what was going on till that first guy pulled up.”
That earned him a halflided side-eye.
“I won’t say nothing to nobody. Especially not Imani. But I just wanted you to know that I wouldn’t judge you.” He paused. “If you were a prostitute I mean. My mom was one even. Tough work, especially if you are doing homie shit.”
Sean whipped his head to the side the to see his coworker fighting off a huge laugh.
“I hate you and everything you just said.” He let his face fall into the palms of his hands in defeat.
He was undoubtably going to spread the news and there was nothing he could do about it. Their car sped down the road with a healthy amount of laughter pouring from the windows like water from a faucet.
-
They pulled up to the location. A pit had formed in Sean’s stomach as they got closer and closer to the destination. Old warehouses flanked the car on each side. Not a single one of the buildings had intact windows or fresh paint.
It was clear to him that everything around them was either abandoned or the home of some sketchy items.
Devon threw the car door open and pulled himself free of the seatbelt while the car went silent. Sean followed after him and listened to the eerie silence that the old buildings provided.
“What has the boss told you about the job tonight?”
Sean picked at his nails as his nerves began to break into him.
“Nothing. Just that I’ll get paid for it. That’s why I took it. I don’t want to be on the streets again.”
“Damn.” He turned to the suited man with a look of hurt plastered on his face.
“I know. It sucks but I am trying to make it work and this pay day will keep me afloat till the next work week.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes before Devon felt it was appropriate to say something.
“Well, sorry to hear all that. Um, the reason we are here is just to stand around and act like muscle as we anormal would at the club. This time it’s just a little more criminally.”
Sean’s heart sank.
“I don’t want to be forced into doing something illegal. I already haven’t registered for my own reasons and if we get caught doing whatever we got to do, then I will be screwed.”
They stopped right in front of an old, rusted door.
He could here a cacophony of noises ranging from heavy machinery to loud shouts.
Devon turned to his coworker and leaned in.
“Listen. There won’t be any watchers, or heroes, or even villains. The boss has some obligations to send his support to the block boss and we are that support.”
He spoke in a low whisper.
“Just follow my lead, look menacing, and we walk out of there no worse for wear. Nothing bad has happened while I was on duty and this time won’t be any different” He reached for the doorknob only to halt in his movements.
“Oh yeah, try not to look around too much. No reason to make any high-strung henchman too freaked out.”
The door opened up. All the noises flooded past the pair, into the cold night air.
Devon walked inside while Sean watched his back with as much hesitation as he thought possible. He grit his teeth and took a step forward.
Forklifts zoomed all around the warehouse. Isles of products in brown boxes and large fifty-gallon drums lined the space. The workers were covered in full body ppe that protected them as much as it hid their identity.
“Weapons please.” He turned to see Devon pulling a pair of pistols from the waist of his suit pants. A young woman with a black mask slid pulled them underneath a bulletproof shield and pushed over a ski mask along with a ticket.
The tattooed man slid the wool garment over his head and turned to Sean.
“Um, I don’t think my friend here carries anything. Right?” The worker turned her speculative gaze over to him.
He quickly shook his head in denial. She slid another mask through the gap for him to take and gestured to a side door.
“Just walk through the weapon detector over there and take your places.”
He could almost hear the friendly smile on her lips. The woman seemed to take pleasure in her little job which confused Sean to no end.
‘This is not normal at all. Maybe…maybe I was crazy thinking this was going to be a scary place.’
He pulled the mask over his face, hiding the small bit of hope. They walked through the detector without an issue and listened as a series of loud locks opened. The massive set of double doors slowly opened, welcoming them into the real warehouse.