One week...one week that changed everything for me...Alpha sat on the edge of his bed in his room inside Hero One. Still wondering if he had made the right choice...because his decision had one of several consequences.
But the primary one being that he was no longer an official "police officer" and being stripped of his police badge, sidearm and even his secondary codename "K Nine".
Though he also knew that this wasn't the first time he had messed up. His "secret" team back in his day weren't all that different. Well...they were smaller in number compared to the numbers assigned to Hero One. Plus, Hero One was a official team of Heroes. But even then, it was only because another Hero team had called them out.
This time, he had only but himself to blame...for the first time since he was only a kid...he lost control of himself...only this time, he didn't suddenly use his power to kill someone...he chose to help his new team. To trust them...and this was the result.
Not long afterwards, I.C.O.S.A. made it no secret that they wanted to split up all those involved with stopping Seraph's coup de tat. Though to him, it was only because they actually got the job done while they were still dragging their heels during the whole incident and just wanted to cover their own rear ends. It would look bad for the I.C.O.S.A. if they were disgraced for failing to react to a situation that Seraph and his EAGLES caused. The only reason Alpha knew any of this was because Alpha still had some friends within the US government here and there. At the very least, they warned him that he was going to be watched a lot more closely now. If not by Powers and/or Lavender but from anyone I.C.O.S.A. sends.
Though it wouldn't be the first time he got busted by the I.C.O.S.A. as he thought.
But...it was two days after the incident that both his parents paid him a visit...not only to check up on him and his well-being...but to celebrate his birthday...his 23rd birthday.
They were happy as always but even more so that he started talking to them normally rather than a stiff soldier. So much so they they even told him this.
"No matter how much you change. For better or worse...we both are proud of you."
Now...he was just an emotional mess.
But it was those emotions that he noticed that made his stronger...for one, when he was trying to heal Quake, he didn't waste energy doing so. He then followed both her and Joseph out and even had energy to spare to heal Joseph or at least stablize both of them and at least lessen their recovery time in the hospital. He could never do that when he had kept his feeling to himself. When he healed someone else's injury, even if it was a very minor one, he was exhausted afterwards.
His parents were now constantly calling him. No doubt aware of his emotional problems now but really, he was taking some down time until he can calm down or figure out what happened to him.
So far, he hasn't had any luck. At first, he felt that meeting Pandora was what first triggered it. His sudden outburst when Commander Lavender told and warned him about her history and her unique condition plus bad attitude towards others. But no. He'd met and even heard of such stories of other meta humans over the years during his training. Or perhaps meeting and interacting with other heroes more frequently simply made him realize how different from others he was...or maybe he just got fed up with being told who his friends and enemies were.
But that changed when he received a certain text message on his iPhone...an invitation to join a group..."C.R.E.W."
Seeing who the message came from, Alpha then thought about it...those group of rag tag heroes...joining them would lead to trouble no doubt...then again, that's probably why she contacted him...simply because he was the most level-headed operative...but not right now...not with his emotions clouding his judgement...but...sitting here and moping about it wasn't going to help either.
So, for better or worse, Alpha sent a reply text.
"...I'm in..."Meanwhile, a certain vigilante was on the roof of a nearby building from the place called the Neko Tengoku. But it wasn't that fancy restaurant that she was interested in.
It was the new "business" that was starting next door to it. The words "CREW" spray painted on the upper front door.
"Firewall", a well-known hacker now working for Infinite, had notified her about this. Even the "boss" was curious to see how far "the rookies" has the boss called them could take this business venture. Though Firewall warned her that it most likely wouldn't last. Both the I.C.O.S.A. were "supposedly" making moves against them and even the police were no longer trusting any meta humans from Hero One after the Club 27 incident.
She even had heard about that stiff guy Alpha losing his police badge after that.
As she looked at it, she really wanted to help. Normally getting too involved in others affairs in her line of work was NOT advised. They were just on opposite sides of the law. And even if she did openly join them, I.C.O.S.A. would use her as the excuse to cause those heroes more headaches than they need right now. Either that or "CREW" would look like "hired vigilantes". Bad publicity.
Still, Infinite had an interest here in Castleburg. Zero had shown itself here. She needed to do her part to figure out why. Yet it seemed like this group of heroes always seemed to find their way towards one or more of their members.
And somehow they all lived to tell the tale.
She was glad when she heard Quake and Joseph were ok but she couldn't go to visit herself. Even if he didn't like the I.C.O.S.A., Hugo Powers himself would no doubt arrest her personally on the spot. And she sure as hell wasn't going to risk her human form just to visit some hero's during their hospital stay. Sure, Firewall was good at what she does but Hero One also had their brains that could match hers or perhaps surpass it.
"Heh. Those ombre's probably don't even come close to my level but amigo, don't chance it. Too much heat going around", she had warned at the time.
But now, Firewall had tipped her off about the CREW business. Pulling out, with the usual pink color, an iPhone from her pink backpack. She then hit the speed dial on a certain number.
"Hola."
"English please.""Oy loosen up A.A. but ok."
"I'm top of a building across from the target. Any updates?""Oh yeah. Text messages are going out. Can tell you Alpha, get this, accepted the job. Figured he'd say no after his emotional imbalance right now."
"Heh...well what do you know. The lap dog finally got fed up with the leash.""Bound to happen...A.A. I know you hate those types but in this case, give him credit. Kid saw s*** very early in his life and it changed him. Even he saw how dangerous he was when he lost control."
"Yeah I know. The whole "living blue bomb" thing. Yet he can heal others. That's handy as hell I'll admit.""Shame we can't recruit him but kid's got too much baggage with military parents and a dropped body on his conscience. Possibly more."
"...""...A.A. Back to reality."
"Yeah sorry. So what's the word from the boss?""While you can't join, we CAN shadow them. We'll watch and ONLY step in if it's necessary. Keeping secrets like the Zero Organization is most likely going to catch up with these newbs unless Powers finally decides to actually trust his own team a bit more for once. So for now, just keep tabs as usual but don't slack off on your patrols. You ain't the only meta that can fly you know. Peace out."
"Gotcha. Thanks for that update."Hanging up and placing the iPhone back in her pink backpack, Alien Angel moved away from the edge of the roof and just started some stretching routines. Firewall was right though. Can't stay in one place for too long. Patrols still need to be done just like the Hero One members did no doubt.
But she was no hero. She was a vigilante.
Bugman