Hemmed in by the planar, white buildings of the hero HQ, the training arena was a flat and sandy battle ground. Obstacles and training equipment were wheeled to the side, and at the moment no courses had been set up. It was perfect for sparring.

“I thought you had patrol this morning,” said Argon.

“Circumstances demanded that I move it to a later time,” replied Liberty Warrior.

“Posy sleep in?” asked Argon. “I called a cab for her, but she stayed out late to talk to some boy.”

Liberty Warrior tsked and donned his helmet, now fully armored. He pulled an enormous battle hammer from his inventory and set it down with a meaty thud. 

Argon frowned. “A bit overkill for a friendly spar, don’t ya think?”

“We have plenty of healing potions,” said Liberty Warrior matter-of-factly. 

“Geeze, you top-tenners are crazy,” grumbled Argon. He pulled an enormous, scabbarded blade from his own inventory. He shed his blue jacket and the scabbard onto the floor, revealing his all-white attire and a broad, gleaming black blade. “Ain’t no potion healing a meat pancake back into a human being.”

Liberty pulled out a smaller hammer, the type used for construction. “Is this more to your liking?”

“Let’s warm up with that.” Argon stepped into battle stance, aiming the tip of the sword challengingly at Liberty Warrior.

“No mana,” said Liberty Warrior. “I have patrol after this.”

Liberty Warrior fell into a stance of his own, holding the hammer between his fingers like it was a toothpick. He had to admit it was fun fighting at a disadvantage. It sweetened the glory of victory. “Posy tells me she saw lipstick on your neck last night,” he said.

“She did?” Argon’s stance faltered. “I didn’t realize it would become a subject of gossip.”

Liberty Warrior advanced, forcing Argon back into form. “Whose?” He asked.

“It was some civilian chick who was hanging around. Why? You want her number?” Argon attacked, thrusting forward. Liberty caught the tip of the blade with the prongs of the hammer and redirected it to the side. It plunged past him, then retracted swiftly. “Interesting use of a broadsword,” commented Liberty. “And yes. Forward it to me later.” 

“We’re just having fun here, ain’t we?” Argon grinned. “And you know I learned on the épée.”

Liberty tried to dart close, but the lengthy tang kept him at bay. He grabbed the blade, immobilizing it, and tapped the hammer gently into Argon’s chest. Satisfaction rushed into him, and a grin crept onto his face. He leapt away, and they reset their positions.

“Posy also told me that you wouldn’t take your right hand out of your pocket,” said Liberty, forcing the grin away.

“Hey! Why’s Posy saying all these things?” asked Argon.

“We talk. Why was your right hand in your pocket?”

“If you must know, I was hiding a raging hard on. Night hasn’t been putting out lately, and it’s not like Posy’s a kid anymore. Ow!” The hammer bounced off of Argon’s shoulder into the sand. “That fucking hurts, man.”

“Posy’s off limits,” growled Liberty Warrior.

“Geeze, hiding a boner ain’t exactly having a pass at her. I have some sense of self-awareness.”

Liberty Warrior held up his hands, ending the sparring session. “Night’s dead,” he said. “Murdered.”

Argon stepped back. “Oh. Hey wait a minute, is that what all these questions are about? You don’t think I—Is this why we’re on the sparring field? In case I did it?”

“Don’t take offense, Argon. I do what I must.” 

“Do you?” asked Argon. “Because I’m pretty sure if you did, we wouldn’t have a huge ass crater in the middle of East City.”

“Say that again,” growled Liberty Warrior. 

“We both know it was unnecessary,” said Argon. “Or have you forgotten Seer’s predictions?”

“Those predictions are why I deemed it necessary. Do you disagree?” Liberty stepped close to his teammate, towering over him.

Argon huffed. “Whatever. My liver has some news to process.”

Argon stalked off, leaving Liberty alone in the sparring grounds. Liberty tapped a contact on his phone. “You can go, Orion.”

Liberty glanced up at the roof of a nearby building. Rather predictably, the call ended without a reply. The dark silhouette, which had been monitoring the spar from above, left, disappearing over the white edge.

“You know what Harbs?” said Misery, feet kicked through the rungs of a rooftop railing, “I bet I could fit you in my inventory.”

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that I’m lighter than you. Either way, that’s not possible.” Harbiter peered through binoculars at the battle that was developing on the streets beneath them. She wasn’t wearing her jacket; the long coat was too hot under the midday sun. Instead, a red tie hung from her white, collared shirt, which was partially tucked into red pants.

“Yeah,” he said, “but wouldn’t it be cool if it was? Imagine it. One second I’m bored and lonely, waitin’ in line for some tomato pie, the next I pull out my very own Harbiter to entertain me.”

“Wouldn’t I be bored and lonely in your inventory?”

Harbiter watched with satisfaction as Green Mistress was slammed into the ground by a huge orc woman. Next to the battle was a large, parked semi truck. The back was opened, and it was filled with opened cages. Many of the “evil minions” had fled, but some fought against their captor. It was a crude way of doing things, but frankly Harbiter didn’t want to be seen fighting other villains herself.

Misery’s brow furrowed. “I hadn't really thought about that.” Then he grinned. “Guess I gotta keep you ‘round in the flesh. If you’re with me 24/7, I’ll never be bored or lonely.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” replied Harbiter.

Misery pressed his face against the metal bars, watching as Green Mistress’ partner, Green Gentleman, helped her fend off the orc. Civilians had abandoned the cars around them and fled the scene. “Guess we’re heroes today. Bit disappointing that we’re not getting any kills out of this.”

“You killed… him a week ago. You can wait another week, right?”

“It was a two week thing,” he said, “and I know I told you that. But, due to circumstances, I’m not sure if I can wait that long.”

Harbiter looked up from her binoculars to Misery. “What was your passive, again?”

He held his finger up to his mask. “Tch tch tch. You know that’s a secret.”

“So much for open communication,” she grumbled. “I told you everything. I don’t see what you could possibly be hiding that’s worse than your parentage.”

“It’s not worse, per se. It’s just not something I want to tell you.” Misery crossed his arms and looked away in an exaggerated movement. Something below them went boom!

“Why?” asked Harbiter.

“Cuz reasons. Anyways, you know the deal. Either you find a target for me, or I find a target for myself—and I’m not nearly as picky.”

Harbiter sighed. “I had a meetup lined up for the two week point. I might be able to move up our arrangements for tomorrow.”

“Excellent.” Misery kicked his legs back and forth excitedly. “I can taste the blood on my blade already.”

Harbiter put the binoculars back up to her mask. The green villain duo had been beaten to a pulp and lay on the pavement. All of the captives had gone. “Well, hopefully those fools learn their lesson. I think we’re done here. You ready to go?”

“Mm-hm.” They pressed their index fingers together and vanished.

__

Tim stood in front of the illustrious, glorious, housing complex one. Well, it looked like a big white brick like all the rest, but its reputation seemed to provide it an ethereal glow. To be honest, he couldn’t quite remember if the offer of yesterday had been a dream, but he was here just in case.

Rosie was in his room, an apartment off campus, munching on alfalfa. Tim checked his phone. 11:47. Was he too early? His fingers were wet with sweat and slid on his phone screen. 

Liberty Warrior exited the building, helm tucked under his arm. He gave Tim a dose of terrifying eye contact, and greeted, “Astral Arrow. Ranger, that’s good. A support would have been better. Show me your screens.”

Tim paled and summoned his menu, pressing a button in the corner to unblur the screen from others. He watched with a mix of admiration and fear as the giant man silently swiped through his skills. How could a human get so muscular?

After what seemed like a lifetime, Liberty finally spoke. “‘Conceal’ is okay, but you need ‘leap’ for our patrols. Your stats are mediocre at best, and your inventory is filled with useless, albeit impressively rare, artifacts. Your unique skill ‘cancer’… is good, but it would be better suited to a fighter class. Your unique passive, ‘astral dreams,’ is excellent. Not for battle, but it’s a good passive.”

“Right,” said Tim, his mind spinning. He removed ‘conceal’ from his first skill slot and replaced it with ‘leap.’ A 24 hour timer started counting down on the skill slot, locking ‘leap’ in place.

“I could mentor you,” said Liberty Warrior, “But frankly that would be a waste of my time. If you need help, there are training resources and facilities available. My advice: get to level one hundred ASAP. How long have you had your hero slot unlocked?” 

“Uh. A few years. I mainly just explore the dungeons for fun.” 

Liberty Warrior shook his head disapprovingly.

Posy dashed out from the building and launched herself into Liberty’s side, wrapping her arms around him. He barely budged, but his stern expression relaxed. “What’s this about?” he asked.

“I just needed a hug,” she said, releasing him. She wore shorts and a floral printed, black T-shirt, a deviation from her typical hoodie. Perhaps because of the heat. She did a few quick stretches and waved to Tim. “You guys are way early, am I missing out on something?” 

“No,” said Liberty Warrior, donning his helmet. “Let’s go.”

Blue mana energy pooled at Liberty’s feet, then Posy’s. Tim hastily pulled his own ‘leap’ into focus as Liberty sprung away. Posy waited patiently for him, then tailed him as he followed Liberty Warrior into the air.