Chương 32: R&R Ch. 32 — Break in Meetup Decorum

Jasmine was excited. Nicholas was irritated. Both of them were assigned to the same job. First time in the two weeks since they had gotten the warning about the wave. Ostensibly the reason for the separation had been that Rend needed to make sure that they could work solo, but they were pretty sure it was just amusing to the older super. Retort and Retribution stood in their super suits (sans any of Retribution's armors) with the rest of F-Rank heroes alongside a few heroes who had reached E-Rank.

They were getting the briefing on the area they would be defending, practicing working together as a collective, and figuring out the schedule. They had been told that teams would be kept together, and as the only properly established team with paperwork and all, Nicholas and Jasmine would be on the same schedule and in the same area, which was about the only silver lining. While Jasmine talked to her friends from the party, Nicholas let his senses sweep over the collective. He wasn't impressed.

Even most of the E-ranks didn't feel as solid as he and Jasmine felt to his senses. Though apparently that was common for people who forced their way through. He had been doing some research, and the others had been working in large groups. They did fewer missions than his team did, and they did them in larger teams. Neither seemed like that was a great thing. He would acknowledge that their ability to work together would be greater than anything he and Jasmine could do.

They hadn't worked together since the explosion man on their first day, and they were expected to work in these large teams? Rend had said he expected them to hold the line on their own. That they were going to be the reason the line held. It was a heavy burden to hold. Nicholas still hadn't hit on any good solution to figure out how they could manage and he didn't want to push Jasmine to that, he was pretty attached to his life all things considered so the idea of risking it wasn't in the cards for him.

While Nicholas was brooding, Jasmine did the rounds: hugs, handshakes, high-fives with all of her friends, and they seemed delighted to see her. Which made her feel warm.

"I am glad you're with us," Constellation admitted, seeming a lot less scared now.

"With you and Retort leading the F-ranks, and the Ds we have, we're going to be okay."

"Aww, thank you, but Retort and I are just doing our best. We're not any better than the rest of you," Jasmine said, waving off the compliments.

"You guys are working six days a week right now doing jobs separately that our whole team would need to do to manage girlfriend. Just take the compliment!" Twister said, elbowing Jasmine.

"Yeah, I am pretty great," Jasmine joked.

"There's a reason Retort is giving everyone the cold shoulder?" Lupine asked, glancing over to the super in question.

"That's just how he is. He's trying to figure out how he can best handle this; his power has problems he tries to manage." Jasmine explained.

"The videos make it look different," Lupine admitted.

"Even I can tell I wouldn't be able to beat him in a fight, and he's the support of you two."

"He's not the support, well sometimes he is but sometimes I'm the support it's a little bit complicated to explain honestly." Jasmine said with a shrug.

"The two of us are going to do everything we can to make sure everyone stays safe, even if we have to hold our section of the wall on our own." The supers surrounding her looked at Jasmine as if she said something ridiculous.

"Can you?" one of them asked. Jasmine unfortunately couldn't remember their name, which was really awkward, but hopefully nobody would notice her not calling them by their name.

"I'm a superhero. I don't have a choice to do anything but hold the wall if I can," Jasmine said, wishing she could have any of her weapons out. She had her snake bracelet, but that barely counted. But in all honesty she probably couldn't manage if even if she had been allowed to have an obvious one. She had finished her spear yesterday and her soul was aching something fierce. Rend had actually said that today this would count for a full day of patrol so she didn't have to worry about any of it.

Tomorrow was her day off, so she could almost certainly rest as much as she needed to make sure that everything went alright.

"You two are really serious about that, aren't you?" Constellation asked, his gaze flicking between Jasmine and Nicholas.

"Why wouldn't we? Aren't all of you serious about it? You went through the academy?" Jasmine asked. Some of the supers surrounding her winced.

"I want to do it, but a lot of us really want to just reach E then retire," Twister admitted. Jasmine gaped. It. She couldn't wrap her head around it. Why would someone put effort into graduating from the academies and debut as a hero if they wanted to retire? You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Her mom had retired at E, sure, but it was after even with decades of experience she couldn't break through into D.

"Okay?" Jasmine said, not wanting to be rude to her friends' dreams even if she didn't get it.

"What about you?" Lupine asked, nudging Nicholas as the shorter boy glared once Lupine was looking away from his face.

"I'm going to go to the very end," Nicholas said with a shrug as if it were as obvious as the weather.

"We both are," Jasmine said, moving back to her partner and slinging an arm around his shoulders.

"They ain't ready for us." The others laughed, but Nicholas and Jasmine remained stalwart. Their dream was ridiculous; it didn't bother them that nobody else seemed to see it with them. The group chatted for a few moments longer before a trio of supers Jasmine couldn't recognize stepped forward. Nicholas did; he had spent the whole party attached to LongShot, who was at the front, and his two teammates were to either side of him.

"Now I'm wondering why you're all called here, and it's because your duty as a superhero is going to be put to the test." The woman on LongShot's left stepped forward, giving a sweeping bow.

"As some of you may know, a wave is coming." Gasps echoed through the room, and several of the supers trembled with fear. It was natural waves were something that everyone expected and had to deal with. But they always came with loss; in the recorded history there had never been a wave that was casualty-less. Everyone in the room had lost someone. The bird person stepped forward, the snap of their wings causing the room to fall silent once again.

"The chaff is expected to be equivalent to an E-rank. With the generals and strongest reaching A. You all are outclassed, and that's why we need you to step forward. To be the heroes we see in you." LongShot clapped his hands as a projection formed behind him, forming a map of the city with the walled districts now risen so that the city is as defensible as possible. Normally they're lowered for convenience, but with the wave oncoming, who knew how long they would be up.

"You all will be in charge of defending this district," LongShot said as one was highlighted.

"And until the wave comes, it is where you will patrol regardless of your usual team's station. And those of you who live outside of the district, temporary housing will be made available," LongShot intoned as everyone studied the map. The district the rookies would be defending was right on the outskirts of the city and was actually the largest district of the city, though in its defense there were several rookies.

"Guess we're moving again," Jasmine mumbled.

"Yeah. We're guarding the slums and warehouse district," Nicholas noted. It wasn't a surprise to either of them.

"We'll protect them."

"We don't have the manpower to spare a proper guardian for the district, but if need be you can call on us to help you," the bird said, bringing their attention back to the front.

"With every resource we have, most of the forces will be diverted to other parts of the city, but you all will have to fight." The woman said apologetically.

"Our first order of business is establishing the chain of authority. You've all been ranked based on current rank, our projected numbers for your current Belief and Karma, and finally your skill in missions you've taken so far along with the words of your mentors and trainers."

"Here are the ranks," LongShot said with a wave as another projection appeared in the air. At the top, tied for first place, was a duo Nicholas and Jasmine recognized instantly. It was them; it would be concerning if they hadn't. Retort and Retribution.

"Hah, I told you my name was the smoother one to have first," Nicholas joked as he felt the air wrap around them.

"Yeah yeah," Jasmine snorted as the duo were pulled to the front so that everyone could see them.

"Retort, Retribution, introduce yourselves." LongShot said, gesturing while he gave Nicholas an approving smile. Nicholas was shocked that the man remembered him.

"Retort, F-rank." Jasmine laughed.

"If that's what we're doing, I'm Retribution, F-rank as well. I'm going to do everything I can to help you all." The responses were mixed. Several of the E-ranks seemed understandably pissed off.

"Why the fuck will we be listening to two wet behind the ears rookies? Some of us have at least been at this for months, not weeks." A man with a crackling sword of lightning complained loudly. LongShot tried to answer but Nicholas beat him to the punch.

"Can you skip to the part where you try and beat us to prove your superiority, Sparky?" The newly dubbed Sparky glared at the younger super.

"Why would I fight both of you?"

"The leaderboard has us in one slot? I thought superheroes were supposed to be able to read?"

"Nicholas!" Jasmine sent through their private line.

"We were going to prove this point anyway, might as well do it with the person who is dumb enough to disagree with the actually powerful heroes behind us," Nicholas shot back. It was true; the higher ranks had stepped back to let them solve it amongst themselves.

"But you two have beaten a rank three together!" Sparky cried foul.

"And you should be able to do it on your own as an E-rank, your point?" Nicholas asked, yawning from seeming boredom.

"You're literally widely considered to be on paper well over double our power. What are you afraid of if we are wet behind the ears rookies with a silver spoon jammed in our mouths?" Jasmine was wondering how much her friends' mouth would get her in trouble in the future. For a name he hadn't picked out himself, he was proving it true every day. Sparky had finally gotten on stage with them.

"So if I beat you two will everyone else agree it's bullshit to listen to these two?" He asked the crowd instead of anyone with decision-making power.

"What are your thoughts on losing just so we aren't in charge?" Nicholas thought to Jasmine.

"We're not going to do that. These people need our help and we can lead," Jasmine replied.

"Figured, so do we embarrass him or do we fight him like mature adults who didn't rise to the prick?" Nicholas asked as Sparky did crowd work.

"We will look stronger if we make it look effortless," Jasmine admitted. She didn't want Sparky or anyone really, to hate her. But if they needed to establish they could be the leaders of this group, even if only temporary they needed to be strong.

"Okay, I have a plan." Jasmine listened to his plan as she got on her force and gravity armor. And boy did it feel good to have something covering the skintight jumpsuit she wore for a costume it was supposed to be armored over. Not having been able to do it when they entered had pissed her off. Jasmine decided as she continued to listen to the plan that she would try to never get on Nicholas's irritated side. He didn't seem to be mad or anything, but he was irritated, and that seemed to make the man devious.

"Are you all sure this is the only way to settle your differences?" LongShot asked, looking amused. The duo were sure LongShot had wanted things to shake out this way. Maybe it was revenge for the minor ruse Nicholas had played on the man. If that were the case, he would take it on the chin with grace. Nicholas shrugged. Jasmine sighed. Sparky grinned at them with mad glee.

"Only possible way."

"Ready?" Nicholas asked.

"You sure we can pull this off?" Jasmine thought back.

"Of course we can. I trust you." With the sound of a gunshot, LongShot reached for the sky.

"And fight!" the hero roared.