“I just need an opening… Just one moment alone to do it,” Liam thought to himself seriously as pop music instrumentals continued to blast at full volume around him. He then let out a sigh of exasperation, closing his eyes. The music boomed around him as Ryan continued to sing loudly on the top of his lungs. The rest of his hero buddies clapped and whooped and cheered, simply enjoying their victory over their arch nemesis who threatened to destroy the city as usual, but came too darn close to it this time. Or so they thought. 

“You don’t know that you’re Beautiful! Oh, woah oh!”

“Whoo! Yeah ha ha!”

Liam was clearly annoyed as he sat on the couch with his chin resting on his interlaced fingers and elbows propped on his knees. He thought that the karaoke booth was definitely not an ideal, secluded spot to commit murder. However, it's not like he could be picky and demand a specific location without raising suspicion since he was a fairly new ‘team member’. He just did not expect the entire group to pick something this…obnoxious. Then again, Ryan is your typical young adult hero with his silly band of side kicks, so he should have seen this coming.  A dark room with loud music and the ability to scream as loud as you want without judgement is an ideal outlet for people their age. “Something along the lines of a quiet dinner would have been easier,” thought Liam as he narrowed his gaze in seriousness “Ah well, I’ll figure it out.” He analysed the threats to his plan carefully. 

He noticed that all the heroes carried their respective weapons, even while out and about in civilian clothing, concealed underneath the clothes of course. The band of heroes included four members in total: the leader, a weapon master, an exceptional martial artist and a fighter with super strength. 

The leader is named Ryan and he is the enemy that Liam is tasked to eliminate tonight. Take out the leader and the rest will follow, which is a fairly straightforward plan. He has east Asian facial features since he has Chinese/Korean parents and sports a lean build, which makes him fast on his feet. Also, he’s extremely light on his feet, agile like a cat  but with strength like that of a bull.

He strikes swiftly and discreetly to take down his opponent in only a few powerful blows of his metal bo staff. He may act like a buffoon most of the time, but in battle he flips a switch that makes him the most dangerous of the lot. This is why he leads the team. Right now, he was singing to his heart’s content, all out of tune albeit, dressed in a basic white T-shirt with a blue, sports jacket on top and loose black jeans.

Then there’s Andrea, the skilled martial artist. She’s got a tough, stout build and a slight accent since Spanish is her first language. She’s definitely packing muscle but not like a body builder. She focuses mostly on grappling arts like Judo and has some skill in the striking arts like Taekwondo and Wushu to supplement that. A classic close range fighter who can fight any opponent despite her small size.

She uses a Dao sword when she wants to put more distance between herself and her opponent but hardly ever uses it. Liam, himself, has never seen her wield it. Not that it mattered as she  seems to be the only one not carrying her weapon right now? There’s no way she could fit that sword in her crop top or the green baggy track pants. Definitely not in the pockets of her short-sleeved, leather jacket. He’s getting off topic. Anyway, he continued to analyze his enemies.

There’s also Maddie, the fighter with super strength. That’s her English name anyway since her Thai name is kinda hard to pronounce. She’s usually shy in social settings such as this one. She was currently just sitting at the end of the couch, bobbing her head to the music. Her blonde pony tail moved along to the beat of the music as she enjoyed the moment. She has blonde hair that was dyed that way, with her original dark hair showing at the roots. She’s built like a tank, an absolute unit that completely contrasts her personality. She was wearing an oversized lavender hoodie with shorts and the only weapons she carried underneath that hoodie were her two fists.

She usually used anything she found to battle around herself to battle her opponents, from stop signs and mailboxes to huge vehicles like cars and motorcycles. Her glasses are definitely an evident weakness of hers but they are designed with a transparent, elastic chord that extends behind her head that prevents it from falling or being removed in battle. The pair of spectacles had a thick, black cat-shaped frame which is a bold fashion choice. Anyway, that’s that.

Lastly, there’s Arnav, the weapon master. He’s the shortest hero on the team but he makes up for it in talent. He’s got tan skin, dark brown eyes with spikey black hair. He’s a master of several long range weapons and the brains of the operation. He carries guns, throwing knives, a retractable bow and arrows. Heck, he even carries a few improvised explosive devices that are the size of golf balls, small yet effective. He was cheering from the couch while eating some chips. He wore baggy green cargo pants, with a graphic T-shirt and his grey backpack that held his arsenal of explosives and weaponry.

His weakness is limited hand-to-hand combat abilities, with his ‘dad bod’ and all that makes sense. It’s not too bad but typically unathletic nonetheless. He’s also very chaotic in battle. He’s the kind to throw a coordinated, strategic barrage of attacks in one shot fueled by sheer screams of panic one minute, to doing the same while laughing like a maniac the next...when he realizes that he’s got the upper hand of course. A walking contradiction and wild card.

“That’s all of them,” thought Liam as he finished analyzing everyone in the room. This was the hero team that has been a thorn in his master’s side for a long time. 

Frankly, even though the group is well-rounded and each team member would be challenging to battle individually, he liked his chances since this wasn’t a physical battle. He has done plenty of those against this group in the past and lost miserably each time. 

“Haha, Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m here all week!” smiled Ryan, bowing playfully to his friends after his ‘stellar’ performance. The fellow heroes clapped and cheered. He shifted his attention towards Liam sulking on the couch. Then, Ryan smirked and raised the mic back to his lips and continued, “Now for my next performance, I would like to welcome on stage: the one, the only gloomy face in the room….. Llllllllliam!” Liam instantly snapped out of thought from the shock. His eyes widened as he stared at Ryan, his enemy, who was offering a hand out to him to join him.

“Wha- what?!”

“You heard me. C’mon up here my man!”