"Two new heroes will be making their debut tonight?" The white haired boy spoke casually to the woman standing behind him. The two of them stood atop the highest building in all of Hero City. The year was NC 1978, and the city itself was a testament to the evolution humanity had undergone in the past few decades. The Tower of Equality had been erected in celebration of the unity between regular humans, and those that possessed what came to be referred to as NEXT abilities, superhuman abilities that permitted amazing feats. Within the borders of Hero City, a sport and television program known as HERO TV was designed around the idea of these NEXT taking hero-status. The tower itself was over 2000 feet high, and had a fully accessible roof with a helipad on it. The structure was actually used as the base of operations for HERO TV, with quarters for the heroes themselves to socialize being on the basement floor. However, this boy and woman were currently having a private meeting, for he had paid for her services. "Looks like the competition is going to get a little more fierce." He looked down at the city below as he approached the ledge of the tower. Any chance of falling from the structure was prevented by the railings which were clearly lit by the light of the helipad behind them. The city, as well, was well lit in the darkness of the night. It was well after 9pm now, so most of the stores had closed up shop, but the streets below were still crowded with the people of the city moving back and forth. Neon lights and bright signs decorated the horizon, and giant blimps with large, glowing LCD screens swam in the sky. "I suppose you'll be keeping watch, Aria?" He craned his neck back to look at the woman, who's appearance was blurred by the bright lights behind her. Brilliant blue hair danced in the light, atop the silhouette of a girl in a dress that possessed a thin frame.

The girl's eyes, as dead as a corpse, narrowed at the boy before her. With his white, samurai styled outfit, and the ice blue, dragon scaled sash that fluttered around his body in the cold night wind, the child that stood before her looked ready for what was soon to come. "...I will watch as I always do. I doubt there is a need for me to appear in person this time..." She turned and began to walk towards the nearby stairwell, the violet eye pattern on her purple skirt coming into view for just a moment as she spun. "...But Frostbite, please do not call me by my name while I am in costume..." It took but a moment, but eventually she disappeared from the view of the boy, the sound of her white heels clacking down the stairs fading into the wind.

Frostbite's face cringed. That woman was by no means physically threatening or scary, but her voice did have a tendency to give him chills. She was far too... eerie. However, she always delivered him the information required to give him an edge in this game. He raised his hand to the sky and allowed a white sleeve to fall to his elbow, revealing a strange watch over top his underarm attire. The watch suddenly started beeping, as if on queue, and a grin crept over his face before he leaped off the roof of the building, the screens on the blimps above taking on the video feed of a live event. It was time for the game to begin!

>>>>>>

"Oh no! The thieves are making their get-away with a stolen military vehicle!" The live broadcast announced as a helicopter trailed the vehicle above, along the freeway on the outskirts of the city, it's cameras broadcasting to TVs nationwide. The military vehicle in question was painted a stereotypical dark green, and possessed eight heavy duty tires, as well as a mini-gun that was manned on the top. There were at least eight thieves aboard the vehicle, having freshly emerged from the primary branch of the Hero City bank with a small fortune. The freeway itself traveled along the rocky cliffs that overlooked the ocean, which would make it hard for even the trickiest hero to approach suddenly. "What's this!? The freeway seems to be merging into the off-ramp back into the city!" The announced exclaimed as blue sparks of electricity surrounded the road, the crunching sound of pavement rubbing against each other complimenting the motion of the road out of town combining with the road back into town. As a result, the vehicle had no choice but to follow the road in that direction. "We can only assume that The Editor is nearby!"

A few miles down the road later, the vehicle had entered the main city area. With the bright lights and limited driving space, the few civilians that were now walking around were clearly in danger. A little ways down the road, a young white haired boy stared down the speeding vehicle with his blue eyes. Just a little closer, and they would notice him. Sure enough, moments later the mini-gun turned ahead, and he could have sworn he had heard "Oh shit, it's Frostbite!", but it was far too late at that point. An energy overtook his left hand, and it morphed into a draconian parody of the human hand, complete with blue scales. All it took was for him to slam the ground with this hand, and an impenetrable wall of ice erupted from the ground, blocking any bullets, as well as effectively flipping the vehicle when it came into contact with the wall. The ice moved to encase the vehicle, and caught two of the thieves, but an explosion at the back of the truck confirmed something. They weren't all ordinary humans. One of the men walked free of the vehicle first, his body made of flame, while the other five ran out and split up into groups of two and scattered into different directions.

"...You can't go after them all. We can assume there's more than one NEXT in the group, as well..." That eerie voice from earlier filled Frostbite's ear. The boy waved his hand to indicate that he understood, and jumped to the roof of a nearby building. Maybe he'd see what the other heroes would do. he'd already caught two villains for himself, after all.

>>>>>>

In a nearby alleyway, two of the thieves came across a man with glasses and pink hair, holding an old looking, red book. A blue scarf danced behind him in the breeze coming down from the main road, and he looked a little out of place with his fantasy attire which made him look like he was out of a story book. The two thieves had little time to react to the man as he pushed up his glasses and closed the open book, slamming his right hand into a gutter pipe dangling from a nearby wall. Almost instantaneously, blue sparks shot throughout the object and the metal began to crunch as the pipe shrunk and reformed into a pole with a large hammer head on top. In but an instance, he ran at the two and struck the first in the side. Surely had broken a rib or two as the man flew like a ragdoll into the wall, but as he swung at the second one he found the attack blocked. No, blocked wasn't really the word. His pole-hammer had been caught. "A strength-type NEXT, huh?" He murmured, realizing he had clearly underestimated his opponent. He wasn't allowed time to do much else as he suddenly found himself being lifted into the air by the weapon he had created. The Editor let go of his weapon just before being swung into the ground, and landed safely on his feet below. Almost like an instant reaction, he slammed his hand onto the wall beside him and the sparks traveled until they were beside the opponent, the wall erupting into a spike at the thief. A spike the thief easily blocked with his strength. "...Huh." Clearly, dealing with strength was a bit trickier with his power.

>>>>>>

A girl watched from the sidelines of the conflict for now, the moon reflecting off her golden blond hair. He hadn't appeared yet, so she wasn't going to make a point to show up either. She wondered. Did that man know he'd be receiving a partner? A grin appeared on her face, revealing two sharper than normal canine teeth resting in her mouth. Two feline ears twitched as the wind changed direction. Life was going to get very interesting from now on.

With hands lying limp in his lap, Kai stared at the poster on the wall opposite him. It was a periodic table, one of those unnecessarily giant ones that had tons of extraneous information about each element crammed into each box. He looked without really seeing, because Kai-Wen Tseng's mind was elsewhere. A hero advancing upon a veteran title, he'd just been broken the news that he was to be paired up with another hero, as a joint effort between his company and another. It would be an attempt to appeal to male audiences as well, since his public image wasn't exactly the masculine kind that attracted men. And it didn't hurt to have a few friends to rely on, right?

Well that's what they'd told him, in order to convince him to agree to it. It wasn't that Kai didn't do teamwork or anything cool like that. He wasn't a lonewolf at all, but having another person who was directly related to him meant that he'd be expected to socialize with her. First of all, Kai never talked to girls, and this was just an unfortunate fact of life. The opposite sex made even less sense to him than his own gender did. Unless they were 2D-- then they made perfect sense, but real life girls just seemed to expect so much more from him than he could produce. Most of his friends were guys. The other veteran heroes, like Walker, Duke, and Ray... but even then they weren't exactly his friends so much as acquaintances with whom he would be occasionally willing to hold a brief and awkward conversation with.

Shaking his head, Kai got to his feet, standing without making another movement for a moment or two. There was no helping it, right? The company had decided this, and the company always knew best. This was the basics of the basics, all graduates of the Hero Academy knew this. Turning on his heel and exiting the empty office, Kai figured that thinking too hard about it wouldn't get him anywhere. He'd have to deal with it as it came, as he did with most things.

A familiar beeping sound alerted him to the fact that the problem plaguing him would come closer than he'd expected. He looked down at his watch, letting a slight disappointment slip into his normally expressionless face.

With any luck, Kai thought to himself, dashing down the stairs with more energy than would be expected of a shut-in like him, he'd be more confident around his new partner in costume. And if the first impression was good, then... then it wouldn't be so bad when she found out that he was just a train wreck, right? Yeah. Definitely. He hopped the railing, jumping down the center of the spiralling staircase and landing with a squishing sound as his legs melted into a black puddle, reforming and propelling him back up into a standing position. Looking up through his long black fringe, he saw the black signature truck with his name emblazoned across the side: "BIOHAZARD", in large yellow warning letters. In all these years, Kai had always wished for the contraption on the inside to be implemented into his own home. Stepping into the truck and acknowledging his technician, he stepped into the changing station, lifting his arms and planting his feet firmly on the stage. As his uniform, the signature sleeveless double-breasted jacket, knee-high boots, and pants were quickly arranged upon his person, his original outfit landed in a neat folded pile on a shelf behind him.

Reaching up behind his head and pulling his mask over his face, the truck sped away. Now there were some heroes who made flashy entrances-- heroes like Frostbite and SpitFire who had images and abilities fit for such antics. But BIOHAZARD had to keep an air of mystery about him, and Kai realized there lied the next problem.

He'd not been briefed on his new partner's abilities. The doors slid open, revealing a nice obscure alleyway that was close enough to the scene, but not butting straight into it. Stepping out, his technician called out, "Your new partner's on the roof of this building!"

Kai stared back, knowing full well that nobody could see his deadpan face from behind the swirly yellow-red eyes and gas mask. He looked up, reaching up his arms as they dissipated into long black tendrils that hooked onto the top the building. In a flash, BIOHAZARD was hopping onto the rooftop, seeing a girl in---

He opened his mouth to say "You should get dressed" but then considered the fact that maybe that was her hero outfit.

..................... It wasn't very... practical........ but if it was for advertising purposes, then BIOHAZARD could certainly er... sympathize...

Approaching her silently, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves-- meeting people for the first time had never been his favorite... But he was dismayed to find that the breath rattled out from his gas mask in a creepy way. At least it caught her attention without him having to say anything, Kai thought. He thoughtlessly held out his hand, because meeting people for the first time usually meant you shook hands. But he quickly looked down at the pitch black hand and withdrew it. Best not to poison his own partner on the first day. He looked up at the huge TV screen, and seeing the score, decided that introductions could wait. SpitFire would be showing up soon, and that guy just loved hogging all the criminals to himself.

"I can't do much against fire," Stated BIOHAZARD with his rattling, distorted voice, pointing up at the flaming NEXT on the screen. His arms dissolved and formed large clawed hands, one of which whirled off into the air. "But you do whatever works for you." He hopped onto the remaining hand, which carried him off towards a group of the criminals who had run off.

"What's happening?! One of the thieves has just collapsed!!" The announcer's voice rang through the air as the screen flashed to a man lying in a puddle of black ooze, "Looks like he was caught up in the toxic hand of the mystery hero, BIOHAZARD!!"

Sliding off of his hand as it formed into a ramp, then back into it's original clawed state, he straightened and bowed to the remaining criminal, who had paused in his escape to see his predator. His left hand swivelled back into position at his side, and BIOHAZARD let out a rattling breath for the camera just as the black puddle shot out from underneath the incapacitated thief, slamming the other into the brick walls of the alleyway. The large hand-like clamp tightened it's grasp.

"Let's make a trade." BIOHAZARD whispered maliciously to the criminal, holding up a clear vial in between the sharp points of his left index finger and thumb. Swishing it's contents back and forth, he spoke up enough for the youthful quality of his voice to be heard through the distortion, "Your surrender in return for your life. .... I suppose your friend over there, too." He made a shrug motion with what was left of his shoulders.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Eyes softly closed, a girl with short black hair and a long, thin blade in her hand stepped up behind the strength NEXT that the Editor had been subduing. Or, attempting to subdue, as she noted by the crumbling sound of what was likely something he had transmuted earlier. "Looks like Red Tigress is going to lend The Editor a hand! Or is she there to take the catch?!" The announcer's voice was slightly muffled, distant on a monitor located farther away. Indeed, while Tigress was never one to snatch a criminal that had already been pinned by another hero willingly, she understood that she had to take responsibility for the fact that she was late, and if her company wanted her to get at least one capture in return, she had no choice but to catch steal. After all, with her ability, a strength NEXT suited her far better than a blazing fire, right?

A fist came flying through her thoughts, reeling them back from their tangent into reality once more. Impatient, she thought as she ducked, taking the opportunity to take advantage of his open stance. She glowed blue as one second she was standing and in the next, kneeling with her left leg stretched out and his fist cutting through empty space. Spinning around, she sent an upper-cut round-house kick to his side. He hit the wall, and then as he rebounded off, she got to her feet, shoving her palm into his chin and smacking him aside with what was probably the world's most painful back-hand sped up to thrice it's normal impact power. She straightened, ignoring the tingling sensations in her hand and facing the Editor.

Before she could turn to leave however, a hand grabbed her ankle, throwing her entire person with the strength of a hundred men-- Stifling a cry of surprise, Red Tigress focused on the most important thing at the moment: Controlling her landing. Twisting her lower body upwards with a boost of speed, she landed on her hands, sliding across the pavement before springing up and over the Editor. Crouching in her landed position, she furrowed her brow. She couldn't let the Editor take her catch-- or else she'd be scolded again by the company for not paying enough attention, and then she'd have to worry about it at school, and........


----


Slinging a bag stuffed full of stern over his shoulder, the flame NEXT stared warily up at the rooftop where he knew Frostbite lay in wait. Why had the pint-sized hero run off? There had to be a reason, but this was no time to dwell over it. He turned and held his hand out behind him, ready to use his flames to propel his escape. When nothing happened, he looked over at his hand, which had been utterly extinguished.

"Your flames are surprisingly obedient." A voice announced. Throwing his gaze over at the top of the ruined military vehicle, the flame NEXT saw a hooded figure who he instantly recognized as--

"Always showing up in the nick of time, Ladies and Gentlemen Spit Fire is about to heat things up with his burning spirit!! Flame versus flame, how's he going to handle this dilemma?!"

Pointing his finger at the bag full of stern, SpitFire continued, "Didn't you ever learn not to take things that don't belong to you?"

"Ha! You're full of shit! We can stand here all day but in the end, you can't do anything to me, and I can't do anything to you." He scoffed confidently, "It's a draw no matter how you look at it-- So peace out, I got some stern to blow---"

"Nobody said I was going to do anything to you." Spit Fire pocketed his hands, "If it comes to points, then I've already gotten some by rescuing the civilians in the cars that you overturned on your mad race to meet up with FrostBite. I'm just here to keep an eye on a new friend of mine."

A black, flat disk suddenly appeared over the NEXT's head, wide enough to encompass his entire body if it extended downwards. "What is thi--" Suddenly a perfectly round mouth opened up, and slightly disturbed, the thief made to move away from it, but it's movements matched his perfectly.

"Splaaaa~sh!”

“Wow! Take a look folks, suddenly water is pouring out of the black thing-- extinguishing our thief in what looks like pretty icy water! Is it Frostbite, back on the scene?!”

The camera flip-flopped from the thief to the image of a girl in a black, red, and gold poncho with bandages wrapped securely around her body, grinning with her gloved hand held up in a peace-sign. “Bzzbzz!! The name is Dreamstress, and I’ll make you dreams,” She spun around, bringing her hand back up to her forehead in a salute, “Come true!”

Satisfied with the execution of what everyone else surely thought was an intensely corny line, she looked back at the thief with a haughty expression, “Not much more than an average chum if you’re not on fire, are ya big boy?”

The girl settled upon the rooftop said nothing to her new partner, not when she heard him behind her, and not when he addressed her. The night breeze that danced her long blond hair carried with it an ill-omen, one that left her temporarily speechless as she was instructed to deal with the the flame powered NEXT. When her partner suddenly disappeared however, she suddenly found herself able to move. Not that talking would help much at this stage anyways. That issue was something that would have to be addressed later. Looking in the direction of the flame NEXT, she walked casually off of the edge of the building, the lights before her blurring as she picked up speed. She had to do nothing to succeed in her landing, everything happened naturally. Thirty meters, twenty meters, her body began to roll in mid-air as the grass below grew closer and closer. The tail that dangled from the bottom of her spine helped reassure her sense of balance. Twenty, ten, she didn't even have time to blink as she hit the ground on all fours with barely a sound, the feline ears on her head twitching at the sounds of the city. Cars and people could be heard more clearly from this altitude, but most sounds were panicked, likely by the action nearby. Without warning, she sprung back up to two legs and starting running towards the scene. The cool air blew against her exposed skin, though it wasn't as severe as during her descent from the previous building. "Damnit, this outfit is impractical!" She barked to herself as the tail of her trench coat blew behind her, the heart charms hitting her tail every so often.

Moving at twice the speed of a regular human, it didn't take her very long to arrive, but she had been severely shorted some screen time by the arrival of SpitFire and a hero that she had no recollection of. Was she new like herself? Regardless, she'd have to put the move on now if she had any intention of scoring any points, and she could NOT screw up her debut. As she ran into the road that the NEXT thief had just been doused in, she quickly found a spotlight from a news helicopter shining down on her. The one blue eye that wasn't covered by a black and purple eye patch narrowed as she found the light somewhat jarring. The darkness was more of her friend in this case, since she could see perfectly well without the aid of a light. "What's this!? Is that another newcomer? Or maybe an ally to the crooks? She does seem... dressed for the part." The girl could hear the announcer's voice booming over the nearest speaker, leaving her to freeze in the spotlight temporarily.

"...I AM NOT A CROOK! DO THEY NOT KEEP YOU PEOPLE INFORMED!?" The girl yelled out of pure agitation before resuming her approach of the man, who had been given more than enough time to ready himself. She didn't slow, though, not even as he took a stance to block whatever she was about to throw at him. He didn't even seem off-put by her speed, but that would be his downfall. Clenching her right hand into a fist, she increased her speed a little more, her tail sticking out straight behind her as she leaned forward and leaped high into the air. Doing a mid-air somersault, she aimed her fist down as she flew at the opponent with a strength doubled by her NEXT ability, as well as enhanced by the velocity that had been a side effect of her speed. The results were not immediate as dust and rubble exploded around the site of the impact. Slowly but surely the debris was carried away into the neon-lit sky, leaving the image of the girl stand on top of the large man with a pistol aimed down at his neck. "Tadaa! Kidkat has nyaow debuted!" And with the click of barrel firing, a tranquilizer dart shot out from the pistol into the man's neck, guaranteeing her capture. However, her face lit up like a Christmas tree as she quickly realized a blunder in her introduction. NYAOW? "WHYYYYYY?"

"...Interesting. How unlike you to sit back and let others get the points, Mr. Writer." FrostBite's voice came from behind SpitFire, a tone of amusement laced in his observation. "In any case, it looks like things might be getting a little more interesting around here.

>>>>>

As the Red Tigress landed behind The Editor, the sound of sparks shifting along the ground could be heard almost instantly as the ground below her lit up below her, a cage growing up from the ground to entrap her with steel bars... and no exit. "Stay still for a moment, could you? I've got this." He murmured as he flipped leisurely through the book he had in his hands. He supposed this ordeal called for some critical thinking. The enemy, however, was not in any mood for waiting around for him to look for a recipe, and decided to charge in while the hero had his guard down. Sighing, The Editor dropped the book and placed both of his hands on the ground again, sparks shooting beneath the feet of the running man. The thief suddenly collapsed into a pit that was just his height, but the pit itself was not empty. It was filled with... cherry jello? As hard as the man tried, he could not gain enough momentum in the viscous and sticky substance to throw a punch, and as a cage suddenly sealed the pit shut, his fate was sealed. Rather proud of himself, The Editor approached the pit and stuck a finger in, obtaining some of the red goop and placing it in his mouth. "Delicious." He mused in absolute deadpan, before turning to let the tiger out of her cage.

Letting out a sigh of relief as the announcer called out the complete capture of all the thieves, SpitFire managed a smile from underneath his hood-- one that nobody could see, but he was sure FrostBite would hear. Turning to look at the young ice hero, SpitFire spoke quietly enough not to catch the attention of the cameras, which were currently fixated on the two newcomers.

"I'm not so heartless as to rob two young ladies of their debut catch, FrostBite. I notice you don't seem to have held back much at all today though." SpitFire tapped his foot against the top of the car, "Racking up two thieves on your own like that. Aiming for King of Heroes this season?" The fire manipulating NEXT let out a chuckle, sitting down to wait for his ride to reach the scene.

"Anyway, it's more interesting than you think." SpitFire crossed his arms, "Apparently we've been left out of the novel idea of being partnered up with new heroes, though that girl down there is under the impression that I'm her partner. I just happened to run into her on my way here and..... Well to be honest, I'd much rather not have to cooperate with someone who could potentially take my points, so it's good that we're not involved."

The veteran hero suddenly sat up and whipped around to look at the young hero-- "Or wait, did you already know? Is my company the only one who decided to leave me in the dark?!"


----


Standing silently in within the steel cage, Tigress could hear the sound of her CEO agonizing over her predicament, yelling at people to get him a phone so he could complain to the Editor's company-- and then the sound of people trying to soothe him and dissuade him from placing the call. Completely indifferent, Tigress proceeded to sit, kneeling with her legs tucked underneath her and hands folded neatly in her lap. Ahh, the weather was good today-- she should've gone to the park instead of doing her homework indoors. It would've been so refreshing...

A fist slammed down onto the desk as her boss yelled at the people surely cowering in his office: "DO SOMETHING!!!"

Tigress sighed, the cloth fastened to her face fluttering outwards. There was nothing that could be done, other than raise a complaint about heroes attacking other heroes later. Though really, Tigress doubted if they could put up much of an argument, seeing as she was essentially unharmed-- just stuck in this cage.

A squishing sound and the smell of artificial cherry reached her senses and while there was no outward change to her appearance, inwardly, she raised an eyebrow. The Editor was such a strange man. So unnecessarily silly in his ways.

She noted that the announcer had already confirmed the Editor's catch, the sound of that coupled with the agonized yelling of frustration into the communicator in her ear, concealed by her yellow flower headpiece. Undoubtedly, she'd be getting an earful the next time she saw her CEO, and her agent was probably already standing there, trying to do damage control.

Whatever.

She just wanted to go home. Holding up a hand to motion for the Editor's attention, the alchemist seemed to be a step ahead of her, and before she could even curl her fingers, the sound of sparks and crumbling stone reached her ears. As soon as it was quiet and still, the long limbed woman got to her feet, standing stock still for a good two or three minutes with seemingly no intent to move from the spot where she'd been trapped earlier. After a moment's contemplation, she turned to her right, walking calmly away from the scene without a single word to the Editor, the cape attached to her waist fluttering quietly as she strolled along the streets of Sternbild...


----


"He LEFT without me!" Lys Delphine threw her hands in the air, "And then that SpitFire guy TRICKED me into thinking that he was MY partner!"

"Well, we did tell you that your partner was an alchemist, Lys."

"How am I supposed to know what that means?!"

With her hair pulled up into asymmetrical pigtails, the seventeen year old Dreamstress was currently in her civilian outfit, standing in the middle of her CEO's office. Upon being thouroughly embarrassed by her misunderstanding of SpitFire being her partner, she was further humiliated by his forgiving nature when he laughed and of all things, patted her on the head. While he'd been thoughtful enough to do this all after the cameras had stopped rolling, that didn't mean that it wasn't embarrassing. FrostBite, that other new hero, and BIOHAZARD had all been there to watch her turn cherry red! (And why was there another hero debuting at the same time as her?! It pissed her off that that girl had gotten the catch that SHE'D made possible in the first place! Lys should've at least gotten assist points or SOMETHING!)

"Anyway, if you're going to make a partner team, shouldn't you at least teach the other party what teamwork means?! It means working together. Toooogeeetherrrr!!" Lys let out a strangled cry, flopping down onto the couch.

The CEO put his hands together, sighing in exasperation. He'd been told about her stubborn attitude when he'd selected her from the academy, but it was like dealing with his now grown daughter in teenage form all over again. "Lys, I know how you feel, but you have to consider that your suit wasn't quite done yet and the Editor has his own points to think about. You may be a team, but you rank up separately. You can work together next time."

She stuck out her lower lip, but said nothing, knowing that it was true, and that if she had been in his position, she'd have been in and out of there before he'd even had TIME to put on his suit. Sure it was a bit hypocritical of her to be sulking at this point, but the situation HADN'T been reversed, and she HAD been ditched, and those were facts.

"Yeah well..... It's still annoying!"

"Well you'll have the opportunity to meet him properly soon. It's about time for training in the gym, and all the heroes have been scheduled to train today so that every can be introduced."

Lys slid down in her seat, furrowing her brow and puckering her lips.

"....... Fine."

She mashed her finger into the elevator buttons, tapped up at storm with her foot, and stormed down the street, walking with her head held high so her dissatisfaction could be seen clearly by the entire world.


Upon stepping into the hero gym however, she was incredibly close to forgetting all about her irritation. Here she was, for the first time-- an official hero. She smiled haughtily, as though below her were all the people who had ostracized the perfect little Lys for being a "freak". Well now they'd be buying her trading cards and wishing they were cool enough to be on television.... She stuck her nose in the air, letting out a "hmph" at the imaginary people at her feet--

"...... What are you doing?"

Lys jumped nearly sky high, whirling around to see a boy with black hair and a long fringe that hung in his equally dark eyes. "I'm-- Nothing!" Lys barked, she huffed, stalking up the stairs and throwing a look around. Incredibly against the idea of asking this plain kid for directions, or seeming ignorant by asking who he was (she should've been able to identify him on the spot, but she'd never seen any of the other heroes out of costume!! So frustrating to be the one who didn't know...!) Lys spotted a bench and took roost. Best to sit and wait, than open her mouth and look extra stupid.

"Ah... Kai. Good work last night..." A quiet, yet calm voice spoke from behind the boy with the fringe cut as a girl garbed in a red hood approached. Her blue hair was braided down into two tails which hung over either shoulder, her red eyes looking at the boy, but they really seemed more like they were looking through him. That was the problem with Aria Crescente. She had an eerie stare, an extremely monotone voice, and like zero presence. Well, zero if you were to discount the red hood, black long sleeved shirt, short red skirt, and tall, black boots that made her look like Little Red Riding Hood's modern contemporary cousin. You know, if Little Red Riding Hood was 24 and had an above average bust. "I was... really rooting for you..." What one could assume to be a smile crept over her lips, but there were no other notifications that she was happy. No change in pitch, no infliction, just a comment and a smile... attempt. She glanced around the meeting area slowly, as if she was taking everything at her own pace. Eventually her eyes locked onto Lys (whether the girl was comfortable with that or not was a whole other issue). "You seem... Confused..? Distraught..? Lost..? You must be one of the new heroes. My name is Aria, and you..?"

The sound of footsteps thumping down the nearby stairs could be heard as it was followed by a large, hollow sound, like someone was banging an empty box against a wall. "I'm kind of sad, Aria! I paid for your services last night and you weren't even rooting for me?" The voice of someone much younger than the rest of the group commented as a boy with brown hair and eyes said as he placed a violin case down on the ground beside the bench that Lys had occupied. He didn't bother taking the time to ask for permission before he sat down right beside the new girl, and clearly ignored the sexual innuendo he'd probably intentionally left by claiming he paid for Aria's 'services'. Straightening out his black suit, he continued to run his mouth. "I'm sure you'd like to know who I am, since I'm awesome, so allow me to introduce myself! I am-"

"HEY! Sorry I'm late!" Another male voice called to the slowly growing group as he ran through the front entrance, his green jacket trailing behind him as he ran haphazardly in their direction. The boy looked irritably in the direction of the doorway, apparently pissed off at not being able to introduce himself. The new arrival looked to be a scruffy fellow. While he was definitely clean, anyways, his attire screamed this fact. In his hand were two shopping bags, full of unknown objects, and as he approached it became obvious to some of the group that he had clearly been binge-shopping at a nearby confectionery. "I wanted to pick up a present for my new partner, since I kind of screwed up yesterday and wanted to make it up to her..." He put the bags down, and then proceeded to put his hands into the pockets of his tan pants, but not before fidgeting with his cream shirt, which had stuck out from underneath his twin belts. He quickly felt the eyes of one of the other heroes glaring at the bags, and noticed Aria staring intently at them. She really was a little weird. Did she want one? As he regained awareness of his surroundings, he finally noticed the new girl on the bench. "Oh! You're my new partner, right? My name is Walker Verde! I'm reeeeaaally sorry about yesterday, I have a tendency to lose track of things when the alarm goes off... Would you accept these sweets as an apology!? I wasn't sure what to get... so I got a lot..." Walker bowed apologetically as he presented the bags. Ray, the boy nearby, snickered. This likely wouldn't end well. Walker and The Editor looked nothing alike, even though they were the same person. Even their personalities were significantly different.

"By the way, Kai... who's the girl over there who seems to be adamantly staying away from you?" Aria inquired, pointing a frail finger towards the entrance. A girl in a seifuku stood, looking nervously over at all of the heroes from beneath her long brown hair, which was tied into twin tails. "You're the other new girl, right? ...You can come closer..."

"I really don't think that's a good idea right nyaow..." She replied, covering her mouth as she lit up. Why did these stupid habits pop up when she was overly emotional!? Why didn't she have better self control? She was way too nervous at that moment to keep those kinds of things in check.

Kai looked over his shoulder upon hearing his name, spotting the spooky fortune teller Aria. He nodded, though didn’t seem inclined to make the same effort to smile as he responded with a short and simple, “Thanks.” He turned his sleepy eyes back to the door, leaning against the railing. He never really came to this gym unless ordered to by his company—Kai was hardly the type who would willingly elect to do anything physical. As such, he wanted to go home as soon as possible, and the longing to walk out of that door and back to his library of an apartment was apparent in his eyes.

Lys on the other hand, was having a hard time processing the reality of the heroes in front of her. Surely if they were here, that meant they all had to be heroes. This annoying little kid that had just sat his butt down next to her; That creepy girl with no fashion sense; That boring guy who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. She furrowed her brow in confusion. Was there not a single hero here who was… well…. Just as exciting as their hero selves?! Not that she was particularly exciting in civilian garb, but this was a bit of a let-down…! She didn’t let her disappointment show any further though, quickly dragging up a calm yet cheerful expression as she listened to the kid introduce himself. She was fully prepared to cut in right after him and tell them who she was, but before she had the chance, a loud voice butt into the conversation. “HEY!”

Lys turned around in her seat, seeing a man dressed in a frumpy jacket and generally messy clothes running up the stairs with two large bags of….

Lys drew a sharp breath, sliding back in her seat with a “thump” as she stared incredulously at the bags of cakes, sweets, and high calorie food stuffs. Her stomach did a flip as she quickly scrambled for her composure, “I- I think that’s me!” Lys raised a weak hand, smiling sweetly at this new arrival who was (probably?) the Editor. He confirmed this fact not moments later, declaring himself Walker Verde, her partner, who lost track of things, and had gotten a ton of confectionaries as an apology gift. Lys eyed the bags, eyed Walker, and put her hand on her cheek, obviously somewhat troubled. “Th-Thanks….” She said, slightly confused, “You’re uh…. You’re not really…. What I imagined you would be like… Ah, not that that’s a bad thing of course, but--…. Since you got this much, why don’t we share it and have a little party?”

Yes yes, Lys had to pawn it off on these other people! If she ate even one of those sinful creations, her carefully crafted diet for the sake of looking fantastic in her hero suit would be destroyed!

"By the way, Kai... who's the girl over there who seems to be adamantly staying away from you?"

Both Lys and the addressed male looked over to the door. Kai gave the girl a long, silent look as Aria beckoned her closer, only to be rebuffed. It wasn’t like it had anything to do with him, but why wasn’t it a good idea for her to come near? Kai put his chin in the cup of his palm, saying nothing as the brown haired girl began to fret over… well, something.

“Well we can’t exactly have introductions in the middle of a doorway, now can we?” Walking past Kayleigh, a tall man in a pinstriped button up shirt and black slacks smiled serenely, his pale pink hair somewhat tousled, “Come on, we don’t bite. My name is Duke, I’m Spit Fire. And you must be Kid Kat.” He held out his hand to shake, “Nice to meet you?”

Lys peered around, trying to identify each hero based on what she remembered from magazines and the academy. The dark guy who’d addressed her first was surely BIOHAZARD, though her initial guess had been Spit Fire thanks to the red jacket he wore. However, since the Duke man downstairs had just introduced himself as Spit Fire, that gloomy and dark persona matched up more with BIOHAZARD than Frost Bite, who was probably the kid beside her. He seemed more the right age anyway. That meant the girl Aria was Clairvoyette…? But at the same time, she could’ve been Red Tigress—though the physical appearance suggested otherwise……

“Is there someone missing?” Lys noted, looking around for the missing girl.

Kai shook his head, pointing to the far corner, where a girl dressed in a dark highschool uniform with her eyes closed sat upon a benchpress, holding a white cellphone in her hands. “Yuu is over there.” Lys blinked, having completely missed the girl’s presence earlier. She must’ve been the first to arrive….? Racking her memory to no avail, she let the matter go for now, getting to her feet and joining in on the introductions, “I’m Lys Delphine! I’m Dreamstress, and I can make things that I imagine real!” She bowed politely, looking expectantly at the only one who hadn’t made an effort to introduce himself yet.

“…. I’m Kai. BIOHAZARD.” He turned his gaze back onto his supposed partner without making any further comments about himself, “And you?”

"Not really what you imagined he'd be like? Sounds like Walker to me..." Ray smirked as the girl seemed to struggle to respond to Walker's overcompensation with regards to his apology gift. He clearly did not comprehend the female mind, particularly when he knew for a fact that Aria had to practically starve herself to stay fitted for her costume, not that it was particularly hard for someone taking the medications she did to do so. Giving this new girl a closer look, she likely worked hard to retain her figure, and recalling the nature of the other girl's costume - if you could call it that - she likely did as well.

Regardless of what Ray was thinking about her comment regarding The Editor's casual form, Walker's face lit up with a smile as his new partner addressed him. Not what she was expecting? That was fine with him! "Maybe we should share it? That's an excellent idea, I agree! You're a very kind person, and beautiful as well! I can see why you were chosen to be a hero!" Ray's eyes narrowed at Walker. That man was certainly lacking in delicacy at times. Glancing over at Aria soon after, he found the woman staring blankly over at the brown haired girl by the doorway. The other new hero, no doubt.

Kayleigh squeaked in surprise as Duke walked past, coaxing her to join the main group and revealing her hero identity before she was given the chance to do so herself. She stomped her heel into the floor lightly out of irritation for having her thunder stolen, but it was more directed at herself for getting so worked up. Why was she even so worked up? She was only doing this gig for the money, and it wasn't like she wasn't a social butterfly at her school. It was likely she was feeling intimidated by the group of heroes, famous across the world. Most people her age would never meet them in their hero forms, let alone get to know them as regular people. Not that they seemed like much. A blue haired girl who dressed like she was out of a fairy tale - that was likely Clairvoyette. She didn't seem to have much of a personality, but she was actually an idol of sorts for the online following of HERO TV since most of her segments were extremely popular, and she did have an attractive body. There was a brat on the bench - likely Frostbite due to the age similarities, as well as a girl she didn't recognize beside him. The other newcomer, perhaps? Talking to the other newcomer was most likely The Editor, though he looked significantly different. Aside from them, there was Spit Fire, who had just introduced himself and seemed to be very much the gentleman, and... her partner. BIOHAZARD. While she had to admit, he looked kind of cute in his regular attire, the fear of smelling whatever that stench was last night haunted her far too much.

Dwelling on identities, the girl only noticed that Aria was pulling her by the arm towards the others after it was too late. "...You should meet everyone..." She whispered, a faint smile forming on her face. It didn't take long to arrive at the main group - she really wasn't hiding that far away - and thankfully, there appeared to be no smell coming off of her partner. Maybe it was only when he used his powers? Still, that was problematic, since while her regular senses were better than a human's, they were much stronger when she used her powers. She listened in on the introductions, as well as the location of the missing person, Yuu as she was called. She was a very pretty girl, so much that it made Kayleigh jealous looking at her. From the looks of things, she went to a different school though. The girl twirled her hair around her right index finger as Kai introduced himself, Aria having dragged her right over to him. "My name is Kayleigh, but you can call me Kay if you want." She started, thinking about how to word her power without making it sound stupid. She really didn't like her abilities, they made it so she didn't fit in for almost her entire life, and they weren't cool at all! Her right foot began to pivot back and forth on her toes as her face turned a little red. "I'm KidKat... I'm pretty much a were-cat..." She spoke the part about her powers extremely quietly, but it was likely the others still heard.

W-What? Ray was thinking. That just sounded STUPID! Did she just have super strength or super speed or something?

“Ah….. yeah…..” Somehow, Lys was getting completely swept up in Walker’s pace. She was so bewildered by his drastically different nature that she could hardly get her brain working, let alone working enough for her to drive the conversation. But, that may have just been because in mere minutes, the Editor’s amiable day-to-day persona had already hit Lys’ weakness. Praise. Her cheeks dashed pink with self-satisfaction, Lys replayed the words, “kind” and “beautiful” over and over in her head. Well of course she was beautiful, that was a given—but kind! That was a comment that didn’t always see the day of light when it came to describing Lys, and she absorbed the lovely compliment, quite pleased with herself.

In the meantime, Duke blinked, confused as to why the girl was stamping her foot into the ground. Had he said something? Or was this just how teenaged girls functioned? (There was a reason he wasn’t a romance novelist; Girls made no sense!) As Aria pulled the newcomer up to the second floor, Duke took the initiative, sifting through the bag of sweets that Walker had brought. “I hope you don’t mind.” He said with a smile directed at both Walker and the new girl, Lys. He wasn’t exactly sure who claimed ownership of the desserts anymore, but Duke would never refuse free food. Or free anything, for that matter. Taking a bite out of a milk cream bread bun, Duke took a seat on the stairs, looking over at KidKat as she wrapped up the introductions. Well, sans Yuu who’d probably have to be prompted to introduce herself later. “I’m pretty much a were-cat….” An awkward silence washed over the room as everyone, or at least Duke assumed, tried to process exactly what that meant. While he had to admit Lys’ powers weren’t any more clearly defined than a were-cat, did that mean she transformed or had better senses or…? He chewed slowly, thinking that cats did have one quality he envied quite a bit…

“…… OK, Kay it is.” Kai replied, completely ignoring her description of her powers. It wasn’t exactly intentional, he just didn’t know what to say. Not as if a were-cat was a particularly unusual power, there were plenty of animal-type NEXT. As an avid reader however, he was quite interested in being able to make imagination a reality…. He looked over his shoulder with the same blank expression he’d been wearing the entire time, calling out, “You should introduce yourself too.”

Duke gave Yuu a thumbs up, though it was a mystery as to whether she saw him or not. Her eyes remained closed, long lashes swooping out over her cheek bones as she closed her cellphone with a snap. “I’m Yuu. The Red Tigress.” She stated in a voice that was clear and confident, a stark contrast to her distant and unassuming appearance, “Pleased to meet you, Kayleigh and Lys.”

“As formal as ever!” Duke laughed and looked over at Lys, “You girls are all around the same age, right? I’m sure you’ll get along great! And you’ve got good partners too!” He smiled pointedly at Kai, who gave him a look of disbelief.

Lys sat back down, looking around at all the heroes. The conversation seemed like it was going downhill. She had to save it! First impressions were everything, and there had already been one silence. For the sake of getting along, there couldn’t be another. “You guys are… all a little different than how I’d imagined.” Lys said cheerfully, “Ah, but not in a bad way! I guess heroes have their on screen characters to act out too, huh? I hope it’s not too difficult?”

Kai’s look of disbelief transferred to Lys, as he found his gentlemanly act the most troublesome aspect of being a hero. So much talking. So much effort. Truly annoying. But if he had a partner now, didn’t that mean that some of the spotlight would be taken off of him? Kai blinked, slowly mulling this thought over….. Yes….. Yes indeed! It meant that whatever attention that had been on him had to be split 50/50, right? He brightened a little, (but only a little) and shrugged. “Especially Spit Fire, you’re always so severe on screen I would’ve never imagined you to be so gentle!” Lys continued, holding up an index finger, “Oh, but FrostBite seems kind of the same.” She sweatdropped, looking over at the boy beside her, “And Clairvoyette too. It’s really interesting though to see everyone out of costume!”

Losing interest in the chatty girl fast, Kai glanced at Kay, putting his chin in his hand. In a considerably better mood at the prospects of being able to be lazier than before, Kai split off from the conversation Lys was trying to push along, letting Duke and Ray and the others handle the bigger icebreakers.

"So, what exactly do your powers entail?" Kai asked, knowing that eventually they'd probably have to coordinate their powers somehow. Best to start thinking early.

"Fufufu..." Aria let out a slow and monotonous laugh as she watched the interactions between Lys and Walker. As her identity as Clairvoyette allowed her to have a much more vocal role on the program outside of actually participating in the heroics, it was important that she pay attention to the chemistry between the hero groups - and now these new pairings in particular. It would grant her a greater insight later when she'd be required to speak through her web program or occasionally being a co-announcer. "Look... they're already friends...!" Her cheeks tinged with red, she flashed what could almost be considered a smile towards the two, before turning her attention to the rummaging activities of Duke. As he pulled the milk cream bun out of the bag without any complaint from either of the two, her red eyes focused on the bun. It looked so soft, so delicious, and was that the smell of cream wafting off of the delightful pastry? It just reminded her that she had yet to eat. "S-Sir Duke..?" She started her question, eyes on the prize. "Could I possibly have a bite of that bun...?" She wasn't unaware of the other treats in the bag, but she wanted to try that. She didn't partake in sweets that frequently due to her state of health, but sometimes it was okay to try new things as long as she didn't go overboard.

In the meantime, Kay was playing with one of her tails of hair, wrapping the black strands around the fingers of her right hand. Her new partner had just agreed to call her by her nickname, which was a pretty big step in her own opinion. She didn't normally let people call her that unless she was friends, so she wasn't quite sure why she'd offered up the short version in the first place. As the girl in the back stood, though, the were-cat lost some of her confidence. In her own school, Kayleigh was considered one of the prettier, more popular girls, but this Yuu - no, Red Tigress - was a league apart in terms of beauty. She began to pull at her hair again to try and straighten out any loose strands, since she didn't want to leave a bad impression on the beauty that stood before her. Her voice demonstrated that she was a powerful speaker as well, with an unrivaled tone of confidence amidst all of those that were present. "Likewise..." Kay managed to reply to the young woman's introduction. She'd probably already muffed up her first impression with this girl, anyways. "If you don't mind me asking, which school do you attend?" She didn't quite recognize the colours of the uniform, and she certainly wasn't from the South Haven Private School that she was attending.

At Duke's comment regarding the two newcomers having great partners, Walker looked a little humbled. "Aw, I'm not all that great, Duke." He said that, but his power was certainly one of the oddest. Alchemy. Something out of storybooks, brought to life. His ability to manipulate the structure and shape of matter was generally awesome to witness, and he even practiced it on his own body - thus why his hero form looked so different, and why he didn't bother hiding his face. "And sorry about the whole cage thing, Yuu, I was under orders by my sponsor, you see!" He turned to the girl, and bowed apologetically. "If you'd like, I can make it up to you?"

Kay seemed a little shocked by Walker's behaviour. In contrast to how Kai was treating her, that Lys girl certainly had it easy. Lys herself was rather interesting to the were-cat. They were both new heroes, but the dream shaper had a much more powerful and unique ability than her own. Really, she felt everyone here did, from that brat to the fortune teller that was trying to hit up Duke for some of his food. She began to tune out as Lys began ranting about how awesome it was to meet everyone out of costume. Sure, she felt similarly, but this was all work for her, first and foremost. She had people at home she needed to provide for, and this was one of the highest paying gigs in the city.
"So, what exactly do your powers entail?" The sudden question directly entirely at her own person caught the girl off guard, having been lost in thought.

"M-my powers?" She repeated, thinking about them for a moment. They weren't particularly impressive, especially when compared to Lys. "Well... In this form, I'm a little bit stronger than a normal girl, and my senses are heightened a bit. When I activate my powers though, I gain the cat ears and tail, and I have superhuman speed, agility, and strength. My senses are also a lot sharper, and I can see in the dark, and hear things really well, and... yeah. Sorry, I guess you got the short end of the stick. Lys has a much better power..."

The plastic wrapper crinkled loudly over the sound of Lys’ conversation, and while she knew she was forcing the conversation along, Duke didn’t seem to find any sort of awkwardness in the air. “I don’t think I’m all that different. Maybe it’s just that we’re not doing anything dangerous right now.” Before he could mull on the topic any further however, Aria had appeared beside him, eyeing his bread. She asked in such an adorable way, how could he refuse? Laughing lightly Duke handed her the baked good, shuffling around the bag and extracting another bread of random choice, “No need to be so polite Aria, help yourself!” That being said, it wasn’t exactly his to give out…. It wasn’t as though Walker would protest though, and Lys didn’t seem interested in eating it. Girls these days and caloric intakes. Truly formidable.

Upon being summoned to introduce herself, Yuu had felt it wouldn’t hurt to move closer to the throng, as much as she didn’t want to. Eventually she would be called over, so why not get it over with now? To be perfectly honest, Yuu had no intentions of getting buddy buddy with the other two newcomers. She hardly spoke at all to Aria, let alone these greenhorns. Duke had her respect, and Kai never said much in the first place; They were different from the others in the sense that Yuu was quite confident that the two of them saw this as a strictly professional environment despite the laid-back nature of the atmosphere. Yuu stuck a hand in the bag, feeling around and pulling out a strawberry flavored… well it didn’t matter what it was, as long as it was strawberry flavored, that was all that mattered. Standing and retreating a little further from Aria and Duke, she tilted her face towards Kayleigh, answering, “East Sternbild Academy.” While it may have been proper for her to ask Kayleigh in return which school she attended, Yuu was more preoccupied with her snack. Kayleigh was Kai’s partner after all. Why bother herself with someone else’s problem? Oh she was glad her company didn’t partner her up with anyone else—she would have been in big trouble if they had. Getting along with strangers was definitely not on Yuu’s list of things she liked to do.

“Don’t be silly Walker, I was watching on screen! You did a fantastic—“ Duke trailed off at the mention of the cage. Ah, yes he’d seen that too. He looked over at the dark haired girl, chewing on her strawberry bread thoughtfully.

“Thank you but, you already have.” Said Yuu with the slightest shake of her head at Walker’s suggestion to make it up. Holding up the pink sweet in her hands, Yuu folded her skirt underneath her, taking a seat on the floor where she stood. What she was interested in now wasn’t the past, but the future, and Kai’s questioning of Kay’s powers piqued her attention. What this girl was capable of would change the playing field for Yuu, who seemed to have the ability most similar to hers.

Kai listened patiently without much reaction to the progressively unimpressive list of enhancements this were-cat ability gave Kay in her superhero form. He put his chin in his palm before she trailed off, “Sorry, I guess you got the short end of the stick. Lys has a much better power..." Kai raised his eyebrows. Ah, so that’s why she was so unconfident. Certainly the power wasn’t out-of-this-world or anything like that, but it certainly seemed like it could be useful in many instances. The smallest smile tugged at the corners of his lips and his indifferent expression softened.

“Don’t say that.” Kai replied simply, reaching out and patting Kay lightly on the head, careful not to muss a girl’s hair after getting the more-silent-than-usual treatment for having messed with Yuu’s hair a month ago, “An ability that sounds cool isn’t necessarily more powerful.”

Aria nodded in response to Duke's offering, a smile of sorts appearing on her face before she bit into the bread. It truly was as delicious as it looked, and her cheeks became tinged with pink as she took small bites at the filled bread, almost like a squirrel chewing at a nut. She didn't want to eat too much, though. If she started to gain wait, her web show audience would certainly suffer a drop in viewers. It showed just how superficial humans were, really, but human nature was not something that the clairvoyant could really claim to be an expert in. She watched the new recruits with interest, much as she noted Ray was doing. She could sense a potential for change in them, their existence was going to bring about something big. Surely by the end, they'd have regrets, but it was best to celebrate their innocence while they still could. These happy times certainly wouldn't last forever.

"A-ah..." Kayleigh muttered sheepishly when Yuu specified her school. It was very rare for the highschooler to be so flustered, but Yuu was certainly a league apart. It made her feel insignificant, and when it come to other girls, she rarely felt like that. It wasn't as if she didn't recognize that there were other women out there that were prettier than her, she was just used to being the prettiest in the collective group. In this group, Yuu was clearly more attractive, and even Aria had her own charms. She'd have to get used to this environment, clearly. What she wasn't going to have problems with, though, were the men in this group. Duke in particular struck her fancy, though Walker was like the opposite in that regard. She watched him with Lys, and he seemed genuinely confused about Yuu taking the snack as payment. As Kai responded to her inferiority complex, though, Kay's face went a bright crimson, and she turned to face away from the group. "Wh-wh-what do you know!? Your smelly ability is powerful! D-d-don't try to comfort me!" She was mentally kicking herself though, aware that her new partner was just trying to be nice. It was a defense mechanism she had from years of being relied on. She didn't like to show weakness, so when she did she tried to cover it up with hostility.

Ray, still sitting by Lys and Walker, smirked. "Haha! Kai is smelly!" He laughed, guaging everyone's reactions to the girl's sudden outburst. Things were certainly about to get more interesting amidst this group of unconventional heroes.

"So... Lys!" Walker exclaimed, trying to break any awkward silence. "Are you from Hero City or do you need a tour? I'd be happy to show you around if you'd like? If not, I should probably show you our company's building, since we have to go there every so often to meet with the President of the company..."