She had just appeared in front of me scaring an old friend from school. She stood there with her arms crossed and an expression I did not like at all.
It was not a look of total fury like when I first met her in the hallway. It was a look of silent anger.
That kind of anger where the other person has had too much time to think and now you have to pay the consequences without knowing exactly what you did.
“Hi” I said raising my hand carefully.
Vanessa did not answer right away.
She just looked me up and down as if checking whether I was missing any limbs or if I had become even more stupid since the last time she saw me.
“Why did you not contact me?” she asked finally.
I stayed still.
Contact her?
For a second I thought maybe I had forgotten something important like a secret meeting, an urgent mission, or a conversation where I promised to call her.
But no.
I had not promised anything because I had no way to contact her.
“Because I do not have your number” I answered with the most basic logic in the world.
Vanessa blinked. Then her expression changed.
It went from silent anger to realizing that maybe her anger had come from a pretty silly mistake.
That gave me a small satisfaction. An immature satisfaction but satisfaction nonetheless.
“Give me your phone” Vanessa said extending her hand. I frowned. “What for?” She moved her fingers impatiently.
“To put my number.” It took me a second to react before unlocking the screen. “Ah.”
I handed her my phone without saying much more. I had nothing weird to hide. Well yes I had many weird things to hide in my life but not on my phone.
Vanessa took it and unlocked the screen. At that moment she stayed looking at the wallpaper.
It was an orange cat lying on its back with a completely useless expression as if it had lost all will to live but was still adorable.
Vanessa stayed silent for a few seconds longer than necessary.
“You like cats” she said.
“I did not say that.”
“You have a cat as wallpaper.”
“That does not prove anything.”
“It proves quite a lot.”
I crossed my arms trying to maintain my dignity even though defending myself from an accusation for having a cat wallpaper was a lost battle from the start.
“I thought it was funny.”
Vanessa smiled a little while typing her number into my phone. “I like it.”
“I did not know you were the type who judges someone positively by their wallpaper.”
“Only when it is a cat.” She gave me back the phone and I saw the saved contact.
Vanessa. No last name. No emoji. Nothing. It seemed too serious but I was not going to say it.
She also took out her phone and made me call her to save my number. When her phone rang she looked at it and saved it in her pocket.
“Now you have no excuse.”
“Excuse for what?”
“For disappearing after a mission, eating hamburgers alone, and acting like I do not exist.”
“First I did not disappear. Second I was hungry. Third I did not have your number.”
Vanessa looked at me fixedly. “Do not use logic against me again.”
“That sounds too unfair.”
“Get used to it.”
We walked for a while until we reached the building but each went to their respective apartment. Nothing else happened. Nothing intimate. Nothing weird.
Nothing that seemed to continue the tension that had existed when we were in the agency bathroom.
That seemed strange to me.
Vanessa had been very interested in that moment or maybe I had ruined it just by talking to my childhood friend. I do not know.
Women are complicated and invisible women are probably twice as complicated.
I fell asleep faster than I expected.
The next day the alarm went off at 6:30 in the morning.
I turned it off with a clumsy slap and stayed looking at the ceiling for several seconds.
Day 2 at the New Kroy Superhero Agency.
Yesterday I still felt like an infiltrator.
Today I still felt like an infiltrator but at least I had an agency smartwatch and 100 silver coins in my account.
That helped my self esteem a lot.
I showered, got dressed in a simple black shirt, gray pants, and my half white half red shoes.
I did not look like a hero. I looked like a guy going to a casual job interview but that was what I really was.
A worker trying to get a job where he did not have to dress as a bear, dance for 10 hours, and smell sweat trapped in cheap fabric.
When I left the apartment I looked up by instinct.
Vanessa’s apartment was silent.
There were no hits or punching bag. Complete silence.
A message arrived on my smartwatch.
[Agent Vanessa assigned to tracking mission. Report to Sarah Murphy at exactly 8:00 AM.]
So Vanessa was not going to be with me today. It was perfect. Second day and I already had to survive alone.
I arrived at the agency five minutes before 8. I did not want to give anyone reasons to think I was irresponsible.
The entrance was still very imposing.
The huge door, the scanners, the screens with maps, the heroes walking as if it were normal to see a man with rock skin drinking coffee.
I passed through the scanner and this time the system did recognize me.
PIP.
[Oliver Clarke. Registered Aspirant.]
I did not like that title. Aspirant was too low. It should be Support Hero not Aspirant.
I was still at the very bottom of the food chain.
I reached the fourth floor. I did not meet anyone in the elevator. Now I was completely alone.
I followed the directions to find Sarah until I reached an office with the door open on the fourth floor.
Sarah Murphy was there.
The energetic girl.
She had her blonde hair tied in a high ponytail, bright green eyes, and a smile so intense it looked like she had drunk three coffees before 8 in the morning.
She was checking a tablet at absurd speed, moving her fingers across the screen as if she were playing a high difficulty video game.
“Oliver!” she said suddenly looking up.
I took a step back by instinct.
“Good morning.”
“You arrived exactly on time! I like that. Punctuality is important. Being late kills careers, reputations, and in some cases civilians although the latter depends on the type of mission.”
I did not know if I should laugh. She had changed completely. She had gone from super friendly to a complete professional but still with her characteristic energy.
“You called me for 8.”
“And you arrived at 8. Good. Very good. That already puts you above several rookies who think having powers means they can do whatever they want.”
Sarah came out from behind the desk and walked toward me with too much energy.
She was one of those people who do not simply walk.
They advance as if the world has to follow their rhythm.
“I called you because I need to explain how the mission assignment system works through the smartwatch.”
I raised my wrist.
“This one?”
“The same one. From now on it will be one of the most important tools in your life. You will receive missions, alerts, evaluations, routes, warnings, rewards, internal penalties, and supervision messages. It also serves for basic physical status monitoring although do not worry we do not check your personal data without authorization.”
She paused.
“Well, almost never.”
“That does not reassure me.”
“Sorry.”
Sarah smiled as if that were completely normal.
“Missions have levels. Danger E, D, C, B, A, and S. For now you can only receive E missions under supervision or internal training missions. No chasing big villains, no getting into massive fires, no trying to stop armed thieves without authorization, and definitely no improvising fire techniques in closed spaces.”
I felt that last part was directed straight at me.
“Understood.”
“Perfect. Now come with me. I want to show you something.”
I did not ask too much.
I followed her.
Sarah left the office and started walking through the hallways of the fourth floor while pointing at things without stopping.
“That is the analysis department. There they turn blurry videos into boring reports. That hallway leads to rapid intervention. Do not enter without permission. That room is for injured heroes. That other one is for people who say they are not injured but clearly are.”
“Does that happen a lot?”
“Too much.”
We reached the large elevator. Sarah pressed the button for the fifth floor.
The elevator went up smoothly but I felt my stomach tight.
Not from hunger this time. From nerves.
When the doors opened I saw a huge space.
The fifth floor did not look like an office.
It looked like another world.
It was a complete superhero training field.
There were areas with reinforced walls, resistance machines, moving platforms, metal targets, small drones flying in strange patterns, and a track where several superhumans ran at impossible speeds.
A guy with giant arms lifted a metal structure.
A girl launched air waves against targets.
Another subject hung from the ceiling with sticky hands as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
I stayed looking at everything with my mouth slightly open.
“Shit” I murmured.
“Yes that is usually the first reaction” Sarah said proudly.
On one of the walls there was a huge screen with names and numbers.
Internal Hero Ranking.
Sarah pointed at the screen.
“That ranking measures performance, completed missions, power control, teamwork, discipline, citizen evaluation, and other internal factors that I cannot tell you because you would get bored or because they are confidential.”
I searched for my name.
It took me a few seconds.
Oliver Clarke - Position 200.
I stayed completely still.
“I am number 200.”
“Correct.”
“How many are there?”
“Two hundred.”
I felt as if someone had given me an invisible punch and this time it was not Vanessa.
“I am in last place.”
“Yes.”
“Thanks for confirming it with so much joy.”
“You are welcome.”
Sarah turned toward me with a wide smile.
“Do not take it badly. Being on the ranking already means you entered the system. Yesterday you did not exist for the agency. Today you are number 200. That is part of the process.”
Seen that way it sounded less humiliating. Not much but something.
We had gone up to the second level of the fifth floor.
Sarah walked toward the railing from where you could see the entire training field.
“In this agency there are three main groups of heroes. They are not official permanent groups but they work as competition blocks. They are constantly fighting, training, completing missions, and improving to climb the ranking and with that earn more money.”
Sarah turned to look at me before I could respond.
With those intense green eyes but she looked at me with a more serious expression even though the energy kept pouring out everywhere.
“Vanessa made an interesting discovery with you.”
“Discovery?”
“You.”
Ah.
That sounded weird.
“She reported that you had abnormal reflexes, superior resistance, recent or poorly trained fire powers, and an absurd ability to get into trouble without seeming completely stupid.”
“Did she report that last part too?”
“Yes with those exact words.”
Vanessa.
For some reason I was curious to know exactly what she had said about me.
Sarah put a hand on my shoulder.
“Oliver you have a lot of potential. You are not higher now because you have no experience, you do not control your powers well, and your hero record practically does not exist.”
“Thanks.”
I looked at the ranking again.
Position 200.
Last place.
Yesterday I got excited about 100 silver coins.
Today I was looking at a wall full of people who could probably defeat me in a matter of minutes.
Still I felt something strange. It was not exactly fear. Well yes there was fear but there was also excitement.
If I was in last place I could only go up and the rewards would be greater.
Sarah raised her tablet and tapped the screen several times.
My smartwatch vibrated.
PIP PIP.
[From Aspirant to Support Superhero]
My status had been changed by her. Before I could thank her she hugged me making her soft breasts press against me with force again.
“With this you should start Oliver.”