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 The rain was relentless, and the thunder didn’t seem to stop. Regardless, I was grateful. It was harder for people to notice that I was crying. Choking up was probably closer to the truth. I was in my last year at the Hero Institute, unemployed, and bombed my sixth sidekick pairing. My future was approaching fast, and I didn’t even have my training wheels on.

  Come to think of it, I didn’t even have any wheels, and my feet were freezing. I looked around and realized that I was on the opposite side of town from home and everything was closed for the night. Well, almost everything. A fluorescent glow came out of the dingy windows of a bar and grill. Without any other option, I went inside.

  Upon entering, I stumbled into a cabin-esque interior. The place was filled with old medieval music. The waitresses scurried about dressed in deep green tavern wench outfits, complete with girdles and white ribbons to hold up their hair. Large pieces of meat were served on bone-shaped skewers to look like “leg of mutton”. The place looked like a renaissance fair, but all of the actors were nerds playing Wizardry the Meeting instead of the bulky, blonde knights you’d normally find.

  A tall man with a contagious smile approached me with his arms held wide. His eyes were a startling gray behind his shaggy cow-licked hair. His facial hair was recently shaved, but he clearly struggled to grow a nice set. In a way, it only added to the mischievous look. Compared to the rest of the dweebs holing the place up, he was gorgeous. “Welcome to my humble…” he paused for a moment searching for the right word, “parlor? Micheal Smith. What can I do for you?” He gently shook my hand and added more charm to that smile of his.

  “Uh, actually Mr. Smith-”

  “Please, call me Micheal.”

  “Micheal. Um.” I took a deep breath and curtsied. “Do accept my deepest apologies, um, good… sir… I just vied for, uh, good shelter? To once again warm these, um, uh, bones?”

  Micheal stared at me for a moment with his brow furrowed together. “Okay. Ms.-” he paused, indicating he wanted my name.

  “Arabelle Davis.”

  “Ms. Arabelle, was it? Never, and I mean never, do that again.” My cheeks burned, and I nodded quietly. “But you’re more than welcome to warm up in here, Kid. But not too long. I am running a business.”

  The embarrassment fled away as he turned on his heel to walk away. “Excuse me! But I could be a paying customer!”

  He looked over his shoulder and sized me up. “Cute, Kid. And what are you going to buy? Certainly not alcohol unless you have a fake I.D. you want to flaunt.” The embarrassment returned. I could see a few of the older men turn away from their card game. Micheal nodded as if that was just what he expected and turned away again. When he did, a waitress was waiting for him with tears in her eyes. She was a tiny thing with bright blue eyes and shining golden hair. The hair lit up and crackled quietly as if lightning was running through it. Micheal stooped down to look her eye to eye and wiped away at the tears beginning to form. “Hey hey, Lou Ann, it’s okay. What happened?” His voice was soft, and even though I couldn’t see his face, I could see the concern coming off of his shoulders.

  Lou Ann swallowed hard and whispered in a husky voice only drunks and those on the edge of tears possessed. And Lou Ann looked sober to me. “Micheal, I can’t take it anymore! I’m sick of these drunkards thinking I’m some sort of harlot!” Her hair darkened to a deep gray with flickers of gold here and there as she almost screamed the last word.

  Micheal reared back almost like her outburst startled him. Then, his body tensed up and his voice was eerily calm. “Did someone grab you again, Lou Ann?” The girl nodded. “Who?” She pointed to a small group of four guys in the far corner of the bar as her eyes began to mist over again. “Run every detail by me-” I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation for my feet were already bringing me across the bar.

  The group was clearly trashed. Even sitting, they swayed slightly. The man in the middle uttered something and all four burst out in raucous laughter. The jokester roared louder than the rest and swiped imaginary sweat off his barren head dramatically. One guy off to his left rolled his eyes and caught sight of me advancing on them. The one on the left whispered to his buddies something (likely inappropriate) then waggled his bushy, red eyebrows at me.

  Eyebrows gave a low whistle. “Hey, Red. See something you like?” He puckered his lips at me and made kissing noises. The other three roared with laughter again. I ignored him.

  I slapped the table hard to grab their attention. My palm began to sting. "Alright. Who grabbed the waitress?" Eyebrows leaned back and glared while his friends gave a hushed ooh.

  “Rickyyyy, looks like you’re in trouuuubleeee,” the bald one barked at Eyebrows.

  “Hey, shut it!” Ricky turned back to me and tried to smile sweetly. There was meat stuck in his yellowing teeth. “We was just havin’ a lil’ fun is all.”

  “Fun, my ass!” I yelled. “Now you’re going to go tell her that you’re sorry and then you’re going to leave! Do you understand that?”

  Ricky raised the red caterpillars on his face and stood. There was a dangerous look in his eyes. “And who’s going to make me?”

  I suppressed the urge to gulp. “Me.” With that, the man picked up the heavy, tin ale mug and threw it at me. I reached up and tightly grabbed the necklace underneath my shirt. Instantaneously, the mug froze in midair. One of the men screamed.

  “It’s gone! She made it disappear!”

  The fourth one spoke up. “Hush, you dunce! She’s a Gifted!” All of them were now standing.

  Micheal appeared from behind me. “You’re done, boys. Go home.” The eerie calmness was still in his voice. The group looked back and forth at one another, unsure if they should give in so easily. “NOW!” The word was so loud and angry that I almost bolted out the door. The drunken men, however, didn’t have the same nerve. They all ran for the door, tripping over one another as they went.

  I relinquished a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. I reached out and grabbed the mug out of the air. Micheal glanced at it as it gained weight again and fell neatly into my palm. He looked at it quizzically for a moment before turning his attention back to me. “What did you think you were doing?”

  I gaped and tried to find an answer. “I-”

  “You come into my bar without any intent on buying anything then butt into my business and make a scene?!”

  I felt the same tears start to return from out on the street. Chalk this one up as one of my many failures. “I just… I just wanted to help.” Micheal looked about ready to scold me again, but two men approached, interrupting him.

  The larger man wore heavy metal armor and had a rugged look with a strong jaw. He gently put one of his massive hands on Micheal’s shoulder. “Oh, that won’t do you any good. That’s Arabelle Davis. The rashest upcoming hero Malfakor has ever seen.” He gave a mighty laugh and his armor gleamed.

  I lowered my eyes. “Hi, Arms-Man… Hi, Apollo…”

  The smaller man was bathed in soft light with a golden cape and beautiful white garbs. The garbs had intricate golden patterns running the length of his uniform that almost seemed to twist and move on their own. He shot me an apologetic look. “What my comrade means to say is that we’re sorry. She doesn’t think before running headlong to fix situations. We should have done better as teachers to train her. You see, she was both our sidekick for a while before-”

  “Before she miserably failed!” Arms-Man added in with another hearty chuckle.

  I watched as one silvery bead splashed on the floor between my feet. Annoyed and downtrodden, I turned to take leave after the other four that had sprinted for the door. However, I felt a soft hand grip my shoulder. I looked up and found it was Micheal’s. “I’ll have you know that I have it on good authority that she’s a fantastic sidekick currently. As an employee, however.” He shot me a glare that meant two things; one, that he’s disappointed in my work ethic and two, shut up and play along. “So Ms. Davis, what do you have to say for yourself?”

  I gaped for a moment, but he shot me the same glare once more. I lowered my head and pushed away a curious smile. “I’m sorry, Boss. It won’t happen again.”

  “Damn right it won’t.” He gave the smile that I couldn’t.

  Apollo was too smart for such lies, however. “Where is her uniform?”

  Micheal shot him a small look of disbelief. “She’s still drenched from the rain! She didn’t even clock in yet. Use that smart brain I’ve heard so much about, Apollo.” Apollo turned a bright red and muttered what sounded like an ‘of course’ before he gave his farewells and took a table with Arms-Man. Micheal was smart enough to come up with the perfect excuse and phrase it to get the heroes off his back. He was becoming more interesting by the second. Despite myself, I felt my heart swoon a tad. He then turned to me and looked me up and down. “Not old enough to drink, but certainly old enough to serve it. So what do you say? Pay me for the loitering and the customers you ran off or embarrass yourself and admit failure to your old Masters?” The flutter I felt moments ago was replaced with a plummet. He was way too smart for his own good. Or maybe I’m just not as smart as I thought I was.

  “I-I-I don’t even have a-a uniform.”

  “What are you? 38-28-38? 5’6”? I’ve got a spare. That’s an hourglass body type, isn’t it?”

  Apparently, he’s also a pervert. “That’s… Exactly right.” I glared at him for a moment, but he didn’t seem to care. “You really want me to work?”

  He turned and gestured for me to follow. “Duh. Come wait in my office. I’ll get a uniform.” I mocked his speech using my hand and rolled my eyes. He continued, “I can see you mocking me.” I crossed my arms and followed with a slight huff. We entered into a homey room in the back. The room was filled with beautiful posters of mountains, valleys, deserts, and jungles. The only issue was the nerdy movie titles printed in the corners in bold. There was an ornate ceramic dragon placed in the center of a nightstand on the back wall. The desk next to the door was covered in papers and other assorted documents with a swimsuit edition calendar hanging above it. It looked like a college dorm room without the mess.

  Micheal walked into a side room that looked like a closet. It also looked like that’s where the mess decided to run off to. “Hold on. This’ll take a second. And don’t even think about walking out. I’ll hear the door.” I looked back at the closed door and rolled my eyes again. A minute passed and all I could hear were grumbled ‘where is it’s and ‘I know I have them in here somewhere’s as he sorted through the clutter. Impatience took hold, and I began pacing about the room. As I did so, I felt more and more drawn to the back wall with the ceramic dragon. Above the dragon, there was a poster that wasn’t advertising a movie. A man in a scale-like outfit was standing in a circle of unconscious villains. The photo was black and white with low quality as if it were taking from a streetlight camera. Odds were, it probably was. Below the image, there were two questions. Four words. Illegal hero? Or Criminal?

  The image was referencing a vigilante known as Unnamed Hero or ‘U’ for short. He was one of the few people who graduated the Hero Institute before Principal Oathbreaker had put in the clause for all new students to vow that they would only become an employed hero if they had their license. Since it was a vow under the induction of Oathbreaker and his Gift, it couldn’t be broken without serious repercussions. As a result, Unnamed Hero got away with becoming a hero without a license. This meant that he didn’t have to follow the rules that were in place for other heroes such as arresting the criminal and not carrying out your own punishments. Some people insisted that meant that he was breaking the law. Others insisted that he had a stronger sense of justice. Some people claimed that it made him an even better hero since he wasn’t being paid or recognized for his work.

  I figured that he was a lucky brat that worked out a loophole to do what he wanted. Especially because I became a new student right after his graduation and got stuck with the short stick of having to accept that clause.

  My eyes drifted downwards to the ceramic dragon. The dragon was a dark, almost mesmerizing black, with a single sleepy, golden eye staring disapprovingly at whoever decided to look in his direction. He lay atop a large pile of gold and gemstones with the wall of a cave rising from behind him. The craftsmanship was so precise even down to the most minute detail. Diamonds and rubies cast light at different angles despite only being made of glass. Each of the coins had ridges and a front and a back to them that held the symbol of some sort of made-up land. The dragon’s scales were also intricately laid and a warm glow seemed to come from the skin below. Even the cave wall had small loose chunks of dirt and rock carved in it. Simply put, it was gorgeous. However, there was a single gem that seemed so misplaced. Likely because it wasn’t a gem at all, but the actual rock. Gems are normally polished and crafted into a specific shape. This was merely a chunk of recently unearthed lapis lazuli. I felt embarrassed with that knowledge, especially because I only picked it up from an old Murloc Abodes novel.

  The more I stared at the chunk of lapis, the more I realized that it looked like it had broken off and had merely been fitted in there. Without a thought, I placed my finger on it and pushed it down.

  I heard a small click as the dragon’s eye turned as bright blue as the lapis. The poster above swung open to reveal that it was actually covering a well-hidden wall safe. Inside was a strange camouflaging costume. It was made out of scaly plates that would perfectly blend in with its surroundings when worn in a similar way to that of a chameleon but tenfold. I looked at it and my hand flew up to my mouth to stifle a gasp.

  It was the same suit worn by the man on the poster.

  It was the same suit worn by the Unnamed Hero.

  I stepped back and turned to run for the door.

  I ran into Micheal instead.