Conrad had a mission to fulfill.

Granted, it was a self-given mission, but a mission nonetheless, and he was determined to finish it. The reward? The answer to his burning question of why the agent break room donuts were of a better quality than the hero sector’s donuts. He was tired of the goofball heroes—and especially that bastard invisible one—always eating all their donuts by the time Conrad got to them (and disturbing what was supposed to be a peaceful area for him to think).

So, he followed the donut runner—Harold—when Conrad happened to be entering the break room for a quick breather and heard the agent mention he was “going to refill the donuts.” This fucking guy, Conrad thought as the agent left the break room. Nope! This just isn’t going to fly anymore. Today is the day I find out why our donuts are always top-tier. Better hope you aren’t doing anything shady, Harold.

But since Conrad was one of the best agents, he had to problem-solve on calls while navigating the treacherous waters from far behind Harold (because he refused to be caught doing something as low as stalking a donut runner). He’d gotten as far as the Dunkin Donuts itself, having tailed Harold the whole drive from the Hero Corp. garage, when he finally received a call he couldn’t ignore. Thankfully, he hadn’t left his car yet, wanting to give Harold enough time to get into the building so he could sneak in after.

Conrad could only recall one other time when Agent Faire called him, and that was involving some conflict with the mayor she actually wanted help with. That being said, he hoped whatever she had to say didn’t involve the mayor because Conrad rather disliked the guy and hated being around him. Despite his disdain, Conrad picked up the call, eager to talk to Agent Faire herself even if it was only for business.

“Conrad speaking,” he’d deadpanned into his phone, and then immediately cursed himself for slipping into his business persona with her. “Any emergency?”

“Yes and no,” Agent Faire whispered, and her voice sounded shaky. “I need your help, Conrad.”

Whatever it was Agent Faire actually needed help with must’ve been urgent if she was calling Conrad by his first name! “Where do I need to be?” He swallowed thickly and sat up in his seat.

Harold had already entered the Dunkin, but Conrad had also already decided to forgo his mission the moment Agent Faire asked for his help.

“Just…come meet me so I can explain it all to you in person. It’s about my mom,” Agent Faire tittered, “she did something, and you’re one of the few I can trust to help.”

The sinking feeling of dread washed over Conrad and hit the bottom of his stomach like a rock. He didn’t know much about Agent Faire, but he knew she had a righteous heart and he also wanted to get to know her more. He just hoped it wasn’t anything illegal, so-to-speak. But he was going to give her the benefit of the doubt and hear whatever it was she had to say first and foremost, Harold be damned.

He’d just have to catch him on his morning donut run the next day.

“Okay,” Conrad said and turned the key in his ignition to restart the car. “Just give me a location and I’ll be there pronto. You caught me at a good time because I’m already in my car.”

“Thank you so much, Conrad,” Agent Faire sighed into the phone. “You don’t know how much this means to me. The address should already be in your text messages, but I have to go now. See you soon.”

“Anytime, Agent Faire. See you soon!” 

Conrad waited for Agent Faire to hang up before he screamed. Of course, he couldn’t go all out in his car when his voice could cause damage, but he needed to get it out of his system nonetheless. Agent Milly Faire was calling him by his first name. His. First. Name! That was an incredible milestone, and Conrad wasn’t even sure what he did to deserve it. He would’ve called her Milly, but he was too hyper-focused on the fact that she’d used his first name to return the favor. Oh, how he hoped she wasn’t offended by it now!

Harold was already leaving the Dunkin Donuts as well, so—not wanting the goofy paper-pusher to catch him—Conrad sank down into his seat and checked his phone for the address Agent Faire promised him. By the looks of it, she was having him drive to some residential area, which could mean one of two things: he was meeting her at either her mother’s or—worse—Agent Faire’s own place. If the latter, Conrad didn’t know what he’d do, but he was suddenly feeling super anxious about the “private” meeting.

“Fuck, please don’t let this have anything to do with a villain,” Conrad muttered aloud as he pushed himself back upright. He tossed his phone aside, put his foot on the brake, and then switched the gear into drive to get the hell out of the Dunkin parking lot and over to Agent Faire asap.

Unfortunately, Conrad found out soon enough that his gut feeling was right, and the “problem” involved the worst villain imaginable:

Waves.

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The remaining hours of the previous night were, as one would have guessed, an absolute shit show for Elias. He couldn’t very well tell Auntie Li why he’d been attacked as well as just who had attempted to strike him because it would’ve raised a lot of questions. So, what he did tell her was that he had been caught up in the crossfires of a villain-on-the-run and had, subsequently, thrown up the bag into the air while he fell backward onto his ass.

Auntie Li had inspected Elias for any injuries while he shared his story and replaced the food for free—even though he told her over and over again she didn’t have to—but she also fixed him with a certain look that told him she didn’t quite believe what he’d said. Hell, Elias wouldn’t believe him, either, because what sort of villain leaves a witness to his getaway? But regardless, he still couldn’t tell her the truth, so she just had to accept his cover story for the moment.

Adino, however, had to hear the real story right off the bat. Elias was going to keep it to himself, but when he saw how the happiness faded from Adino’s face the moment he took in Elias’ appearance, Elias just broke down in front of the doorway. He’d stayed up so late with Adino discussing just what the hell they were going to do about the situation that the both of them had slept in late for work.

Elias wanted to call off in all honesty, but as the saying went, there was no rest for the wicked ones with high bills to pay. So, he dragged his sorry ass out of bed and struggled to get into his uniform (Jay seriously needed to get him a larger T-shirt because his medium simply wasn’t cutting it anymore with how big his stomach had gotten).

Which is what led him to where he was now, taking an early lunch break at his favorite café even though Jay told him he didn’t deserve it for being late in the first place (Elias had promptly told the boss to “fuck off” and clocked out without saying good-bye. He trusted Adino enough to cover for him, so he wasn’t too worried about it). Of course, he planned to pick up a wrap from the vegan place next door for some actual sustenance, but first he really needed one large espresso if he was going to get through the rest of the day. And despite the fact that the line was particularly long for whatever reason when it wasn’t even noon yet, Elias had long since run out of “fucks to give” about getting back on time.

So he waited. And he waited, passing the twenty minutes or so doom-scrolling through his Tumblr feed until his time to order finally came. He then sighed and returned his super-cracked Android to his pocket.

“Just a large dark mocha with extra espresso, please,” Elias said to the far-too-perky lady behind the register. “And make it hot. Thanks.”

“That’ll be twelve dollars and seventy-six cents for you!” she said with a smile, as if Elias wasn’t allergic to the ridiculous price (everything had gone up considerably since the early 2020’s). “Paying with cash or card?”

“Ca—”

“Cash.”

“—aaard…?” Elias clamped his jaw closed as a hand reached out from seemingly out of nowhere in front of him and offered a twenty dollar bill to the café worker.

Nani da fuck? Elias thought. But he was too shocked to immediately investigate, so he simply watched the money be exchanged. Even the café worker raised eyebrows at the offer, and her quick once-over of the man wasn’t missed by Elias.

She processed the payment and passed the change over to the hand, who graciously deposited it into the tip jar immediately after accepting it.

“Save it for a rainy day,” said the mystery man beside Elias. His voice was like silk in Elias’ ears, and he suddenly wished he had a hood to hide his quickly reddening face.

Who the hell was this guy?!

Elias turned his head and looked up to actually address his sudden benefactor—and was immediately blown away by the man’s rich appearance and charming smile. His clean button-down certainly put Elias’ too-short comic store T-shirt and broken-zippered puffer jacket to shame. He pointedly forced the jacket closed over his front and sucked in his bottom lip.

“Th-thanks…?” Elias finally managed to choke out, distracted by the man’s somehow violet eyes. Was he wearing contacts?

The man chuckled and nudged his head to the side and back. “Don’t even worry about it, love. Here, why don’t we step away from the line. I think the folks are starting to get antsy there.”

Love? Is this guy British without the accent or something? Elias thought and raised his eyebrows just like the cashier. But he also did not want to cause a riot by holding up the line, so he followed the tall blond man over to the appropriate order pickup area.

“So, uhhh, who are you?” Elias eventually asked, standing beside him and still holding his jacket over his stomach. Good grief did he feel awkward—it wasn’t every day that a hot guy paid for his order, after all! And when Elias was looking his absolute worst, at that! What the hell was even happening in his life anymore?

“Oh! Where are my manners?” The man laughed, and Elias relinquished the hold he had on his lip when the whimsical melody of it hit him. Was this man even made on Earth? He sounded far too otherworldly to Elias.

“You can call me William,” the man-with-shockingly-violet-eyes continued with a smile and held out his hand to Elias whilst adjusting his shirt with the other. “William Ardent. It’s nice to meet you, skri-aa.”

End of Act 1: "Boom, Boom!"

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