“I can not believe her!” Zella huffed as Tsubasa–the current number 1 hero of Strara–left the room. “Does she not understand the threat these villains have? Why is she so focused on the fact that they are dying, instead of capturing those who are still harming people?” Zella paced around the room, “I get that we can’t let any murderers roam free, even those that kill villains, but I don’t understand how it takes priority over saving people’s lives?”

“We can’t just leave a murderer out there right?” Elvin took another sip of his drink and sank further into his chair with his feet resting on the table, “You said so yourself Zella, villainous acts are well.. Villainous. I thought you of all people would agree with her.” 

Zella gave him a menacing glare before looking out the window. “I usually would but…” she sighed and stepped even closer to the glass, hovering her hand over the gleaming city, “looking out there, how could we care more about the villain’s lives than those of the people we were sworn to protect. We are their heroes, not the villains.” A boy had to protect people that day, and he almost lost his life in the process. If the heroes can’t protect them anymore, what will come of the Hero Organization? Of Eris? 

Elvin shrugged, “I mean, I don’t disagree, it’s just weird to hear you talk that way,” Elvin frowned as he went to take another sip but his drink was empty. “Ah crap.”

“What?” Zella snapped her head around.

“I’m all outta juice,” Elvin sighed, “I should’ve asked for two.”

Zella rolled her eyes. “What are you even doing here? You were less than helpful in the meeting today,” she changed her voice to sound lower, “‘Why don’t we just relax for a minute’,” she scoffed mockingly, “what kind of hero rests when your people are in danger?!”

“Ouch,” Elvin winced dramatically, “angry much? But what does it even matter? Apprehend one villain today, another tomorrow, and there will always be more. What will one rest day even change?”

“You’re unbelievable!” Zella shouted loud enough to make him flinch, “I should send you out on patrol with Webs then. At least he has the common decency of understanding heroism. How did you ever become a hero?” That boy was more of a hero than the great Elvin was now. He used to be one of the best. But now…

“You just take this too seriously. We’re nothing more than overpaid security guards, who also worry way too much about looks.”

“Says the man who goes to the salon at least once a week,” Zella spat.

“Exactly my point! And the Hero Organization pays for all of it,” Elvin relaxed, smiling as he put his hands behind his head, “that’s the real perk of being a Hero. Free money… I can almost taste the credits–wait I actually can! Since they paid for our super important meeting lunch we had with Tsu today. Why not just enjoy it?”

Zella took out her communicator and opened a transmission. “Hey Webs. Yes again. Please deal with him for me.”

Elvin bolted upright, “Wait a minute, this is the opposite of what I said! Com’on Zella, I–fine!” He threw his hands into the air, “I’ll go patrol but with anyone but him. Webs is literally the most boring person on the planet!”

“Good,” Zella stared right into his eyes, “Then maybe he can teach you the meaning of hard work. Or at least annoy you. Either way I win.” 

“I hate you,” Elvin said, mostly joking. 

She let out a harsh laugh, “Yeah, I hate you more. Now go on, lazy hero.”

“Funny,” Elvin left the room, “I really mean it, the worst!”

She wasn’t sure if he was talking about herself, or Webs, but either way she was happy to be rid of him. She could never understand his attitude, especially since he used to be part of the Natsu Company, the same one as Webs. And he was extremely disciplined, but Elvin was a weirdo among weirdos. A hero who did anything he could to get out of work. She could never imagine stopping to rest, not when the people of Eris were still putting themselves in danger for all these years. 

The Heroes’ work was nowhere near finished. And would never be at this rate. She looked out the window. “I wonder if that boy is there now.” Zella smiled, “At least I know there are still promising heroes out there. If only… they could all be like him.” She sighed and took a look at her daily agenda. A red highlight was now over a new item: find the villain killers. What was Tsubasa thinking?

Zella shook her head and opened her investigation tabs. The holo screen glitched, but only for a moment before all of her notes popped up. There was so little evidence against Quake–the villain she brought in the other day–along with the last few villain captures over the past year. Each one was accused of kidnapping children. Including the child–Milo’s–sister Miscella Natsu during a family excursion. Zella couldn’t help but shudder at the thought. So many people have been ripped apart by these villains, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. 

She fell back in the closest chair. “Why do they do this?” She tried to blink back the tears in her eyes, “I’m sorry Milo, Hiro… Miscella,” her voice broke as  she scanned the reports. “There has to be some clue. Anything…” There was no way she could focus on anything else. No matter how upset Tsubasa got, she would find these villains, and these children, first. 

Elvin groaned as Webs dragged Elvin by his hood. “Come now, there are more areas to patrol.”

“But we have been patrolling for hours! Don’t you ever need a break?” Elvin stopped resisting and was dragged alongside him. 

“Sure I do.” Webs stopped and Elvin fell flat on his face. Webs took a quick drink of water, closed his eyes, and opened them a second later. “Rest over, let’s go.”

Webs stepped over Elvin who lifted his head barely off the ground, “Sure, just leave me here. I didn’t wanna patrol anyway!”

“Zella should consider sending you back to school, you act like a child.”

“At least I know how to have fun! You and Zella would be the worst at parties!”

“Partying is not our job. Perhaps you should have gotten a certification as a partier instead.”

“No way,” Elvin peeled himself up from the floor and caught up with Webs, “All fun but crap pay. Actually I would be the one paying so no thank you. Heroes have all the benefits, even better than the military at this point.”

“Right…” Webs looked off into the distance, and mumbled something under his breath. 

Elvin looked in the direction Webs was staring and activated his vision. He zoomed in on a most annoying sight. “Not again…”

“Let’s go.” 

Webs and Elvin ran towards the shopping district. Elvin pulled out his stun bow and perched up on a ledge. He shot a stun arrow at the thief and he fell to the ground. Webs tied him up with the webbing he produced from his arms. Elvin sighed, “When will they learn that thievery is pointless. Like, don’t they know they’ll just get caught by a hero? What a weakling too, fell in one shot.”

“Hmm,” Webs studied the villain for a moment, “You have a point.” 

Alarms sounded from another nearby building. They rushed over to the sound, Webs carrying their most recent catch over his shoulder. Elvin stared at the gaping hole in the warehouse. And extremely empty walls. “Isn’t this the medical storage warehouse?’

Webs nodded, “Indeed. There’s no trace of the villains.” 

“Not to be a conspiracy theorist but…” he looked at the thief, “do you think this weakling was just a coincidence or… a distraction?”

They both stared at the warehouse again before calling in for backup, and a detective team. “Well, this time wasn’t boring.” Elvin wasn’t sure how to feel about the sudden commotion. Maybe boring was much better. It certainly brought less office-work. I’ll just hand it off to Zella, Elvin thought as he helped transport the villain to a nearby jail. Elvin shrugged, or not. The office is safer anyway.