Duoya

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Zoey Boey@Hitman@canaryrose@DarkRecon

---

“Y-you look familiar. ...Chase, maybe? Anyways, Chase… it’s… don’t bother. Doesn’t matter anymore. I’m gonna go see if Grace is puking up her guts or just crying. You can browse around on my laptop if you want, I don’t mind. But if I catch you snooping, I will end you.”

Chad felt the need to correct Patti and tell her his actual name, but he still had at least some common sense. Now sure as hell wasn't the time to comment on someone getting his name wrong, considering the person who got it wrong was being chased by supervillain cops from all across the city - Patti had enough on her plate. Besides, she didn't get his Hero Name wrong, so she probably wasn't a troll. The thought of browsing Patti's laptop briefly crossed Chad's mind, but he quickly decided against it. Even with permission, Chad never felt comfortable using other people's things - he had a nasty habit of accidentally breaking things, which his power has only exasperated.

Chad heard voices coming from behind him in the bathroom, causing him to move to the wall on the opposite side of the room. He might accidentally hear something he wasn't supposed to if he stayed over there, and Chad had always been taught that eavesdropping was wrong. Instead, Chad continued to browse the internet and examine his GPS, looking for routes to HERO One and Elmore Island. HERO One was pretty easy from Pandora's Potts, almost a straight shot really - Chad was starting to think that it would almost be better to search there first, rather than the much cooler alternative.

He quickly excised these thoughts. Elmore Island lacked many of the fortifications that made HERO One a bastion, not to mention the fact it was far less conspicuous to assault than the alternative. That wasn't even including the fact that there were most likely few innocent heroes at Elmore Island, and they probably had a lot fewer resources over there as well based on the size difference of the structures.

Of course, Elmore Island was also the most likely location that Powers would be kept, if he was kidnapped rather than killed retired. It'd be hard to keep the previous director locked up in his own headquarters, right?

"Really! Crying!? Fuck's sake!"

Chad's head snapped up when he heard Pandora call out. He quickly closed the various tabs he had looked up while waiting and slid his phone back into his pocket. Chad turned to the bathroom door, but still hearing talking from behind it, he chose to not interrupt. They probably heard Pandora, she yelled kind of loud...

Chad tensed, muscles straining against his improvised suit. This was it - he was about to enter real, actual combat... Not the fake stuff that he had gone through in tests, but a real bad guy this time...

Chad slowly made his way to the staircase, continuing to amp himself up for the imminent (and imaginary) fight. That was when Pandora called out again.

"Bypass? Aria? Bullet? This cops on our team. He's a traitor."

Chad sighed in relief. Normally traitors were bad, but since they were helping a falsely accused fugitive, they were good! ...Right? Whatever the case, Chad's mind almost immediately shifted from relief to agitation, and he briskly marched down the stairs.

"C'mon, I keep saying it's THE BULLET, you have to say it w-"

Chad stopped mid-sentence and jumped back as he reached the bottom of the stairwell, seeing that Grace had already appeared on the ground floor. Chad mentally reminded himself that, yeah, everyone here had FREAKING SUPERPOWERS!!! Chad wouldn't have taken the stairs either if he could be cool and just fall to the lower floor! Chad's fascination with superpowers made him forget that he was freaking out over his name again.

"What do you want?"

Chad winced beneath his mask. It made sense that she wasn't in a good mood, since she was a fugitive, but being aggressive with a cop was probably not the best idea at the moment. Of course, Chad didn't think about how only a minute ago he was ready to fight the cop as well. Giving Alpha time to respond, Chad spoke up a greeting.

"It's, uh, really nice of you to help us out! Since you're not here to beat us up, it'd probably be a good idea to introduce ourselves. I'm THE BULLET!"

Normally Chad would have worked in some epithet or metaphor to really emphasize his name... But it really didn't seem like the right atmosphere for it. A young woman was crying only a few minutes earlier, and everyone in the store seemed to be upset in some way. Not to mention, those funny little add-ons to his name were usually easier to make up when Chad was in a good mood, and so far today had sucked pretty hard.

Chad leaned in slightly, miming a football huddle as he spoke again, this time addressing the group as a whole.

"Oh yeah, before I forget - what's our plan so far?"

Magokoro (SMT Nocturne x Kingdom Hearts x Alt History loosely based Post Apocalyptic adventure)

Not very familiar with Kingdom Hearts, but I love SMT - very interested if you'll have me!

Kairelith: Waking Up To Another World (Isekai Themed)

Hey there, just wanted to pop in instead of ghosting - this is a bit different from what I was initially expecting when I first joined, so I think I'm going to drop out.

Sorry it took me so long just to drop out lol. You guys can keep my char around as an NPC if you want, I don't mind. I hope you guys have a fun time!

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Zoey Boey@Hitman@canaryrose

---

Chad flinched when he heard the knocking at the front of the store, and began to nervously sweat in his suit when he heard the person responsible for the knock. He didn't recognize the person, but what they were saying made Chad realize the severity of the situation - Aria and her friends were in pretty big trouble if the SWAT were after them! Then again, it'd make sense - they'd at least need a SWAT team to take down a rogue Hero, if no one else was powered. Then again, considering the guy gave a code name, he probably had a superpower as well-

"Go upstairs. Now."

That was probably a good idea - it would really suck for Aria and Bypass to get arrested by the cops right off the bat. Plus Chad could offer backup in case the cop got wanted to explore-

Pandora pointed at Chad without looking. "You too."

Chad nodded briefly to himself. That could work too - just, uh, wait by the stairs or something in case he started going up? A bit more incriminating, but hey, Chad had already said he wanted to help in any way he could. Chad turned and started walking towards the door leading upstairs, allowing the fugitives to enter first.

Chad closed the door behind him, eliciting a quiet thud. He deliberated on waiting right behind the door and listening in on the conversation, just in case Pandora needed backup - he quickly dismissed the idea, however. Pandora turned his IDD into a rock and could probably do the same thing to most other objects. Chad thumbed his pocket, thankful that the woman hadn't bejeweled his phone as well.

Besides, if the EAGLE Scout was really too much for Pandora to handle, she could just swim away in the ground. Chad nodded to himself, gently stepping up the wooden staircase and trying to avoid any creaks. As he reached the top of the stairs, he could barely make out the sounds of conversation the floor below - they'd probably want to be quiet if they wanted to hide.

Turning to Aria and Bypass, Chad noticed that they were messing around on a laptop. Chad sighed in relief at the sight of the electronic - looks like the only real problem when it came to tracking them was the IDD, so he wouldn't have to worry about buying a new phone again.

"Nope, not a damn search. Either Seraph has doesn't have editing privilege to HERO's website, which is weird considering Powers is probably dead, or his IT is just awful,"

Chad pulled out his phone, looking up HERO's official website. As she said, the website was untouched - Chad was very familiar with the layout, and they didn't even remove Powers from the website. Chad continued scrolling on his phone, moving onto reading Powers Wikipedia page after he couldn't find anything from the HERO website. He couldn't find anything that might hint to the director's whereabouts, and he frowned beneath his mask.

"Here!"

Chad turned to the pair again, this time seeing Aria holding the laptop. Chad walked over to them, attempting to get a better view of the screen. Chad quickly read what was displayed on the screen while Bypass talked, focusing completely on her words when he finished reading and realized he wouldn't be able to scroll down without taking the laptop. Chad had watched several of the shows that Serpah appeared on regularly, and he had never heard the man talk about owning a Prison Island. Chad bit his lip - god, it was a little hard to hate Seraph when he had a badass prison island.

"I can-"

Chad began speaking, attempting to offer his help when Bypass had suddenly gotten up and made her way to the bathroom. When he started hearing sobs, Chad had to ball his hand into a fist and bite his tongue. He had nearly asked what was wrong again - he was lucky they ignored or didn't hear him the first time, but now that Bypass was sobbing in the bathroom, Chad felt the worst thing was for a total stranger to try and comfort her. If she needed help, Aria would be much better suited for that - they actually knew each other, and it would probably be much easier to sympathize since they were both falsely accused.

Chad turned to Aria and spoke softly, not wanting to be heard from downstairs.

"If you need someone to help scout, I don't mind - I'm pretty fast, y'know?"

Chad paused, before speaking again, more rushed

"I-I have super speed, you probably don't know, my power is super speed."

Chad had to stop himself from continuing. God this was really awkward with someone crying in the bathroom... Chad started inching his way back to the stairs, deciding to wait near the top in case Pandora needed help or the Cop heard Bypass crying. Or, at least he would tell anyone who asked that - the real reason was that he wanted an excuse to exit the conversation before he made more of an ass out of himself.

It was times like this Chad wished he was running. It was a lot less complicated to weave between streets and sidewalks than it was to navigate conversations. He pulled out his phone again, looking up Elmore Island on his GPS. It was significantly smaller than Savior Island, was further away, and was probably a lot harder to get onto... But god, what was cooler than a Prison Island?

A Secret Lair.

Kairelith: Waking Up To Another World (Isekai Themed)

Cino de Albano

Name: Cino de Albano

Age: 15

Origin: Venice, Republic of Venice [1358]

Appearance:

Appearance

________________________________________

Level: 1

Health Points: 20000

Mana: 300

General Stats:
• Strength - 1000
• Endurance - 2000
• Intellegence - 600
• Agility - 400
• Dexterity - 700
• Luck - 300

Acquired Skills:
• Translator Level 1 - Translate foreign language to user's mother tongue, and vice versa.
• Alchemy Level 1 - This gives the user the ability to create weak potions, explosives, and chemicals. Further leveling this skill will allow for more powerful recipes, as well as a lower chance of failure.
• Shield Mastery Level 1 - This gives the user the ability to use shields and bucklers. Further leveling this skill will improve block chance and reduce damage taken.

Extra
• Kaireth's Blessing: Greater Item Box - Grants access to a dimensional space with unlimited capacity to store items. Time does not pass in this space, thus, food or any perishables will not rot while inside. User cannot store living things in here.
______________________________________

Personality:
Cino is very civil and formal, having interacted with people of higher status his entire life. He is incredibly subservient to any who ask him for help or are in a leadership position over him, but his youth has resulted in him being quick to draw a blade against threats. Cino greatly respects Merchants, and planned on becoming one when he finished his apprenticeship. When angered or threatened, Cino is perfectly willing to maim or even kill others - however his civil nature generally keeps him from really hurting someone unless they attack first.

Being reincarnated in another world is very intimidating, but Cino views it as just another opportunity to grow. As it stands, he desires to find a way back home - and failing that, to find a new master to serve.

Short Background:
Cino de Albano was born to a very poor family and struggled in the streets of Venice to survive. Cino mostly used his superior height and musculature to lead orphans and street urchins, using them to steal from butchers and vendors in various parts of the city. Both of Cino's parents died while Cino was fairly young, passing away from the plague. At the age of 8, after stealing food from a Merchant's Wagon, Cino was caught by the owner and separated from the rest of his gang. He was violently beaten within inches of his life - but rather than take him to the authorities, the Merchant took Cino with him to the city of Verona.

In the first few days, Cino had attempted escape several times, only to be rewarded with more beatings. When he finally stopped, he was allowed relative freedom on the Merchant's wagon - as long as he kept pace with the Mules, he could even walk alongside the wagon. Upon arrival in Verona, the Merchant offered Cino a deal - in exchange for entering an apprenticeship and working for him, the Merchant would take care of Cino and teach him skills that would help him survive.

Cino accepted this offer, viewing it as a free meal ticket. Over the following years, Cino's new Master taught him skills typically reserved for more refined members of society, such as literacy and basic mathematics. However, these valuable lessons were fairly rare - more often, Cino's Master would make him transfer heavy packages and merchandise or run around the city in search of the proper destination.

The pair grew very close, an expected result of spending nearly every moment with someone. By the time he was a young man, Cino viewed his Master as the only true family he had. However, Cino was never meant to have a comfortable life. A few weeks after his 15th birthday, Cino developed an immense fever and weakness, being forced to remain in his bed on the wagon near constantly. Black lumps developed around his neck and arms. Cino's master spent dozens of Golden Ducats attempting to hire a doctor for Cino. When one came to the boy, he fed Cino a foul-tasting concoction, and Cino had fallen asleep shortly after.

When he awoke, he was surrounded by three people, with ages similar to himself.
________________________________________

Other:
Cino is able to control wagons, pack animals, and rowboats with above-average skill thanks to taking over for his Master. However, he is just as lost on a galleon or longboat as most modern-day people would be.

Kairelith: Waking Up To Another World (Isekai Themed)

Cino de Albano

Name: Cino de Albano

Age: 15

Origin: Venice, Republic of Venice [1358]

Appearance:

Appearance

________________________________________

Level: 1

Health Points: 20000

Mana: 300

General Stats:
• Strength - 1000
• Endurance - 2000
• Intellegence - 600
• Agility - 400
• Dexterity - 700
• Luck - 300

Acquired Skills:
• Translator Level 1 - Translate foreign language to user's mother tongue, and vice versa.
• Alchemy Level 1 - This gives the user the ability to create weak potions, explosives, and chemicals. Further leveling this skill will allow for more powerful recipes, as well as a lower chance of failure.
• Shield Mastery Level 1 - This gives the user the ability to use shields and bucklers. Further leveling this skill will improve block chance and reduce damage taken.

Extra
• Kaireth's Blessing: Greater Item Box - Grants access to a dimensional space with unlimited capacity to store items. Time does not pass in this space, thus, food or any perishables will not rot while inside. User cannot store living things in here.
______________________________________

Personality:
Cino is very civil and formal, having interacted with people of higher status his entire life. He is incredibly subservient to any who ask him for help or are in a leadership position over him, but his youth has resulted in him being quick to draw a blade against threats. Cino greatly respects Merchants, and planned on becoming one when he finished his apprenticeship. When angered or threatened, Cino is perfectly willing to maim or even kill others - however his civil nature generally keeps him from really hurting someone unless they attack first.

Being reincarnated in another world is very intimidating, but Cino views it as just another opportunity to grow. As it stands, he desires to find a way back home - and failing that, to find a new master to serve.

Short Background:
Cino de Albano was born to a very poor family and struggled in the streets of Venice to survive. Cino mostly used his superior height and musculature to lead orphans and street urchins, using them to steal from butchers and vendors in various parts of the city. Both of Cino's parents died while Cino was fairly young, passing away from the plague. At the age of 8, after stealing food from a Merchant's Wagon, Cino was caught by the owner and separated from the rest of his gang. He was violently beaten within inches of his life - but rather than take him to the authorities, the Merchant took Cino with him to the city of Verona.

In the first few days, Cino had attempted escape several times, only to be rewarded with more beatings. When he finally stopped, he was allowed relative freedom on the Merchant's wagon - as long as he kept pace with the Mules, he could even walk alongside the wagon. Upon arrival in Verona, the Merchant offered Cino a deal - in exchange for entering an apprenticeship and working for him, the Merchant would take care of Cino and teach him skills that would help him survive.

Cino accepted this offer, viewing it as a free meal ticket. Over the following years, Cino's new Master taught him skills typically reserved for more refined members of society, such as literacy and basic mathematics. However, these valuable lessons were fairly rare - more often, Cino's Master would make him transfer heavy packages and merchandise or run around the city in search of the proper destination.

The pair grew very close, an expected result of spending nearly every moment with someone. By the time he was a young man, Cino viewed his Master as the only true family he had. However, Cino was never meant to have a comfortable life. A few weeks after his 15th birthday, Cino developed an immense fever and weakness, being forced to remain in his bed on the wagon near constantly. Black lumps developed around his neck and arms. Cino's master spent dozens of Golden Ducats attempting to hire a doctor for Cino. When one came to the boy, he fed Cino a foul-tasting concoction, and Cino had fallen asleep shortly after.

When he awoke, he was surrounded by three people, with ages similar to himself.
________________________________________

Other:
Cino is able to control wagons, pack animals, and rowboats with above-average skill thanks to taking over for his Master. However, he is just as lost on a galleon or longboat as most modern-day people would be.

Kairelith: Waking Up To Another World (Isekai Themed)

I'll try to get a character done by tomorrow!

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Zoey Boey@Hitman

---

"Give me that."

Chad paused and looked around, before remembering the IDD he held in his hand. Beneath his mask he raised an eyebrow, gently handing off the device to the woman in front of him. Did Pandora lose her IDD and needed to borrow Chad's for some reason? The younger hero had spent the last few days playing around with the device, attempting to familiarize himself with something he expected to be of vital importance for his future hero caree-

With only a few seconds of touching the device, Pandora had swiftly turned it into a rock. Chad's face paled as he saw this, recalling how Powers had described the dozens of functions the device performed, and how expensive that it had all sounded. And even if the rock it was turned into looked very pretty, Chad couldn't care less about Geology.

"W-... Why the heck did you do that!? I only had one of those-"

Pandora looked around as she spoke again, cutting Chad off. "C- gah, come in, come inside. Don't touch anything."

Chad frowned as she opened the door to her shop. The younger Hero was used to being bossed around, but very rarely did people break his stuff before that! He followed her inside, being cautious to avoid any of the flowers on display. Marigolds, Hydrangea, Petunias, and a wide variety of other plants decorated the store space. Chad briefly considered purchasing something but decided against it almost immediately. Not only was he busy trying to find Powers, but Chad also had no green thumb whatsoever - In his youth, he had killed 13 Cacti because he had overwatered them.

Pandora paused, and Chad waited for her to speak. At first, he felt very conflicted - while it was disappointing that HERO Was disbanded, Chad hadn't been a part of the organization for very long. Hell, many people would say he was never part of it. On the other hand, a coup was badass! That was how Napoleon ended the French Revolution!

Things quickly became less cool as Pandora continued to speak, however. Powers was really the only person that Chad could say he knew in HERO, even if it was through the briefest of interactions. Chad tried to remove himself from the situation and think of things logically - Powers had been hit by a man weighing over 200 pounds who was moving a few hundred miles per hour, and he hadn't budged an inch. And even with that in mind, he had survived even more intense attacks during his Hero Career as the Invincible Warmonger. Seraph and Mr. Impressive would be lucky to break his arm, let alone kill him...

But Sea Serpent could just drown him. Even if he was bulletproof, Power's wasn't waterproof - he needed to breathe as much as anyone else. It wasn't just possible for Seraph and his Wings of Law to kill Powers, it was very easy for them. And while Chad could think of many reasons that they would benefit from killing him, the things that encouraged them to leave Powers alive seemed so few in number...

Nope! Chad didn't like to think that Powers was dead. Chad liked Powers, and didn't want to think about him dying.

So Chad just ignored the possibility. Powers wasn't dead. Things might change if Chad saw a body, but for right now, Powers was alive and healthy in the young hero's mind.

"W..." Chad was about to question why Pandora assumed HERO would send people to her shop in particular but decided against it. Powers seemed to know her and regarded her with respect. She might have connections to HERO that Chad just didn't know about. Besides, she might not want to explain something like that, especially to someone she hardly knows.

"It's important that we disable these devices. I'm fairly certain EAGLES can track us using them."

Chad followed Pandora's gaze, looking at his once beautiful IDD. It was upsetting to lose the only thing that really identified him as a Hero, but Chad could understand the reasoning. If EAGLES was after everyone who used to work for HERO, then anyone who had one of those devices was at risk. Thinking back to the various interviews he had participated in during his application process, Chad pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it up to show Pandora.

"They have my number - do you need to brick my phone too?"

Now that Chad thought about it... How could someone with the Power to swim through the ground turn things to rocks? Maybe she could control earth or something? 'Pandora' didn't really relate to the ground at all though...

"Maybe you should just go home. Sit this one out. You don't owe anything to HERO."

Chad shook his head fast, tripping over his words as he spoke.

"I-I can't just go home, especially right now! If Seraph is as bad as everyone says he is, there's no way I cou- I can just let him go!"

Chad attempted to scratch the back of his head, but when his gloved hand touched his helmet, he moved his hand back awkwardly. He continued to speak, attempting to cover for this blunder.

"B-besides, Aria and the other Heroes are criminals right now, right? They're Heroes - good people. If I can help them, then I can't just sit around and do nothing, right?"

Chad thought about adopting a cool pose to accentuate his statement but decided against it when a portal appeared suddenly in the middle of the room. He physically jumped back before realizing the owner of the portal, the same woman he had talked to only a week ago. It seemed Pandora was right about HERO coming to her shop.

Chad considered offering his place at Percy's, but that wasn't really viable - the room he lived in was cramped for a single person, let alone everyone the Wings of Law was chasing after right now. And offering to house that many people without even asking Percy was just rude as heck. His Parent's house was big enough, but-

But that wasn't an option. Pandora was really the only person who could help these people. When Chad noticed that Grace was tearing up, he spoke out.

"A-are you okay?"

Chad mentally berated himself again - of course she wasn't alright, she was being chased by EAGLES and had only a single place to turn to for help. It's obvious she would be crying, Idiot!

Fate/Glimmering Oasis

Charlotte panted as she finished climbing the edge of the river. As she had expected, the cover was close to nonexistent - the nearest building was nothing but a charred pile of rubble, with the fire seemingly having already passed through the area.

"I will have to test the extent of this attack! I could have the means to rid us of this nuisance but I will perhaps need to activate one of my Noble Phantasms if we are to stand a chance, allow me to test the limits,"

Charlotte turned to look at Mu as a pile of scrap and metal fell around him, and strips of metal shot from the ground around the Servant. The attack slammed into something on top of the Machine, which Charlotte could make out as a man dressed in armor and radiating a black aura.

Charlotte shook herself from watching the combat. She still needed to find somewhere to hide. She nearly turned away from the conflict when she saw something jump straight at the aircraft. At first, Charlotte thought Mu was launching another attack, but that was dismissed when the Caster launched another metal spike towards the machine. As the aircraft continued to fly down the river, the mysterious attacker caused the entire machine to crash straight into the riverbed wall.

The smoke and embers that came from the crash smelled different from the rest of the smoke in the city. There was a distinct scent of Kerosene, which Charlotte had grown used to smelling around the lamps in her old home.

Shaking her head, she looked down at the scene below her. Now that he was on the ground and not moving, the armored figure was clearly visible to Charlotte. And that wasn't including the fact that there was a new arrival to the fight. Charlotte saw his face, and stared for a brief moment, before shaking her head. He was quite attractive, but Charlotte was focused on much more important matters at the moment. At the very least, this new Servant seemed to be fighting the armored knight as well.

"You got this, Caster! Now that this guy lost his fancy toy, you can take him out easy!"

Without a doubt, having the knight on the ground was a massive advantage. Now Lancer could-

Wait, where the hell was Lancer? And Archer too?!

Charlotte seemed to lose a lot of confidence when she noticed her only servant left was Mu. From what she was told, Caster's weren't exactly experts on physical combat. Charlotte lost the rest of her confidence when she saw the knight's helmet split in half, revealing a mass of writhing tentacles and teeth.

,,,Yeah. Charlotte quickly pulled her sleeve back, releasing several more Wisp Familiars. A Mage could do very little to a Servant, but at the very least she could try and distract whatever the hell this thing was. It seemed like Charlotte would not need to, however. The monster simply... walked away from the wreckage.

Charlotte had a sudden impulse to try and attack the Servant but stopped herself immediately. She wasn't suicidal, and there was very little that could be done against something like that. But why the hell would that thing just leave them alone? Perhaps it was weak without it's machine and simply didn't want to engage Mu and the new Servant in combat. Even if that was the case though, it still looked scary as hell - Charlotte really didn't feel like testing her luck. The New Servent, however, was standing nearby - he was still an issue.

Charlotte began to climb down from the river wall, making her way to Mu's side. She addressed the man carefully, not wanting to start trouble when the armored monster was still so close by.

"So... Are you with that creature?"

Unbeknownst to Charlotte, one of her Wisps was nearing the burning city, hovering directly over the now-destroyed bridge. It would not be long before she could discover the location of the other Master and his Servants.

@Reflection@Scallop@ColourlessKing

《 H. E. R. O. 》

@Zoey Boey

---

As it turned out, running around the city wasn't the smartest idea. Chad had combed through most of Watervale before deciding that running around the perimeter of each borough would be faster, and even then he barely found anyone! He stopped briefly in Brookside when he felt the IDD vibrate, but when he couldn't find anyone from a cursory glance, Chad simply kept moving. By the time he finished circling East Flank, Chad was getting very annoyed.

Isn't Castleburg supposed to be crawling in Supers? Seriously, where the hell does Mr.Powers even live?

The thought of stopping and heading home crossed Chad's mind - he was a member of several HERO Fanclubs, and if he asked around with the people he was friendly with (or, at least the people who didn't think he was a dweeb) he might have been able to find a stalker who knew something useful. He dismissed the idea, however. Powers wasn't very popular in most of the Fanclubs that Chad was a member of - Starbright and Christina Lavender were the real fan favorites that people knew creepy amounts of information about.

Chad sighed as he entered Passenger Island. It was likely that Chad wouldn't really find anyone - he was searching the perimeter of each borough, and outside of Brookside and certain portions of East Flank, most residential areas would be more internal rather than on the fringes of their borough. Combing through areas from the start would have been much more effective, rather than running around aimlessly.

When Chad finally received a notification again from his IDD. The buzzing caused Chad to nearly squeal in excitement - he had spent nearly 45 minutes running without anything to break the monotony of blurring buildings. And even with Super Speed, 45 Minutes felt pretty long when you were stressed about accidentally running into someone. Chad felt the device stop buzzing as he passed the person causing it, and he quickly turned around, slowing to a light jog as the IDD began to ring again.

"Oh thank god, I've been looking forever for someon-"

Chad finally noticed the source that tripped the IDD. He recognized the person instantly, with her being Chad's first true interaction in the world of heroics.

Pandora.

Their initial interaction had left Chad discouraged, but over the last week, he had time to think it from her point of view. She had obviously been right in their disagreement - heck, he could even forgive her for getting his super cool Hero name wrong, considering most people online did. Maybe it was easier than Chad thought.

Despite that, he was a little nervous meeting her again as his first person on his (self-appointed) secret mission. Chad was already feeling terrible today, and he really didn't feel up to being talked down to. James Bond was never talked down to on his secret missions. And James Bond didn't even have Super Speed, so Chad felt he should have a bit of an advantage in the coolness factor.

Chad shook his head - Pandora could really help the search, and finding Powers was the most important thing, not feeling good. With Powers, Chad might be able to get his job back! Noticing that he paused mid-sentence and hadn't spoken in a solid 5 seconds, Chad began to speak again.

"Oh, uh, hi there Pandora. I didn't know you worked at a flower shop... Are there any, uh, Hyacinths still blooming?"

Chad mentally cursed himself for trying to make small talk. He was supposed to be on a super cool secret mission, so running around the issue was wasting time!

"And hey, if you're not working right now and it's no biggie... Could you please help me look for Mr.Powers? I have no idea where he lives, and he seemed like he knew you when he introduced you."

Chad felt tempted to ask her why Powers decided to retire so suddenly, but considering she hadn't agreed to help yet, it could probably be saved for later. Besides, she might be just as surprised as Chad was on Powers sudden retirement.

Chad moved the IDD from under his arm to just being held by one of his gloved hands, the device in full view for anyone nearby.