A decent sized cafe rests between two 5 story buildings. The two 5 story buildings rest in the center part of the business district of Metro City. Corny name for a city, right? Well, what other name would you expect from a city that is filled with heroes. I'm not joking, like, real super-power-filled, heroes. Metro city used to be known for its incredibly high crime rates, but then one day, some one decided to have a bright idea and stand up against them. Call it similar to Marvel, or DC, or whatever... Some heroes have powers, some heroes are just rich, and some don't have powers at all. Crime rates have now come to an equilibrium. Yes, its all thanks to the heroes... but its all same in the end - they always want something in return: Fame, wealth, and power. I hate them.
But back to the cafe...
Hi, I'm Jean Kirschtein. I'm 23 years old, and I work at Pâtisserie Délicieux. I work full time now as a pastry chef since I graduated from college at Metro University. I've earned my bachelors in the fine culinary arts and political science.
"Yo, Jean," Connie, my coworker who is in charge of drinks, called me. "I need a caramel fudge brownie for order 2." I sighed loudly as I opened the pastry display, reaching my plastic covered hand for the desired yummable. I pulled the brownie out and gave it to him.
"Please, come again!" Connie cheered after the customer. When the customer left, Connie's smile faded. He turned and punched my left arm.
"OW" I winced. "What was that for?!"
"The more you sigh, the more customers aren't gonna want to receive our services." Connie tried his best to scold. "If you hate your job so much, why work here?" Instead of a scold, he was asking sincerely.
"It's not that." I told him. I grabbed a remote by the sink and pointed it to the small TV hanging up on the wall to my right. I turned the volume up. "It's this."
The local news was on - it was interviewing the city's new uprising hero and how she just stopped another crime. I hate her the most. She cocky, loud, totally unfeminine, and -
"Hmm? Sasha? OH! By the way, I have a message for you" Connie slipped something in my hand. I took my eyes off of the television screen and looked at my hand. There was a folded piece of paper in it. I unfolded it and read its text: Meet me at Sunshine Rooftops at 7, and bring some sugar, sugar ;)
Frustrated, I clenched my jaw. She's an annoying tease that won't leave me alone! She goes by the name Sasha Braus. She has no super power, but is a high ranked archer. Her hand to hand combat skills are remarkable sure, but her physical skills don't outway her unfavorable aspects.
"She's not that bad, Jean. She just wants to hang out, what's wrong with that?" Connie asked.
"Everything." I said coldly.
"You just need to know her better. She's really cool once you know her, you'll see." Connie gave me one of his 'reassuring' smiles.
I glanced back down at the now crumpled piece of paper.
This is going to be a long afternoon...
As soon as the cafe closed, I made my way to the building I was supposed to meet Sasha. Climbing up the many stairs that seemed to continue on forever, I finally approached the door that opened to the rooftops. I lifted my left wrist to check the time on my silver covered watch, which read 7 o'clock p.m. She better be here I thought. I adjusted my right hand's grip on the bag it was holding. I gave my last sigh before pushing the door open. The golden light from the sunset blinded my light-brown eyes, so I lifted an arm to block out the rude sunlight. When my vision cleared up, I saw her standing with her back pointed to my face. The wind made her hair in her ponytail sway gently in a melodic rhythm. She had been viewing the clouds, well that's what it looked like from my perspective. Some may say that this view of woman is quite flattering, I, however, found it disgusting.
It was out of character.
"Oi, potato girl." I called her by the nickname she earned from yours truly. She turned to me, agitation was read on her face.
"Oi, horseface" She snapped back.
Now I was agitated. "You're the one who called me here during my precious evening, now what do you want?" Her face changed from completely clueless to an 'OH, I remember now!' look. She flashed me her 'famous' toothy grins. She walked towards me with a joyful bounce in her steps.
She grabbed my left hand and pulled me towards the center of the rooftop and plopped both of us down to our butts. She then grabbed the plastic bag from my right and then peered inside. "~AAAHHHHH~, honeybun, you remembered" She pulled out from the bag two slices of cake, one vanilla and one chocolate; both were topped with a strawberry and chocolate syrup. I quickly grabbed the chocolate one.
"Mine." I say coldly. She laughs and takes a bite of the vanilla cake.
"Thanks sugar!" She puckers her lips and aims for my cheek, but no way on earth was I gonna let her filthy lips touch me. I blocked her lips with my left hand and gently push her face back. She gives my a fake, tearful look, but I tell her to eat her cake.
We finish our cakes in silent and enjoy five minutes of silence and the beautiful scene of an orange painted sunset. "What is the point of this?" I speak up, breaking the silence. She turned and gave me a confused look. "Why do you always ask my out here to be with you? We aren't a couple, we're the complete opposite and I barely even know you. Shouldn't you be, I don't know, saving the world or something?"
She looks at me with blank stare for a few minutes. Her first response was a loud and obnoxious burp. How lady-like. "Isn't it obvious, pumpkin? I like you." She winks, but I give her the most mortified and disgusted look I could give. Her smile drops, she then fixes her eyes on her feet, which were now interesting to her. "I'm not always on the job. Even heroes need a break."
"Tch" Not the response I wanted to hear.
"Isn't there a saying that evil never rests? So why are heroes taking time off?" I said coldly, trying to leave her with no reply.
"The Society organizes different schedules for different heroes in different districts. My hours are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m." She lifts her head and pouts at me. "Geez, I try to get off work early just so I can spend time with my sugar, but my sugar doesn't appreciate me..."
"Stop sulking, and I'm not your sugar." Another cold response from Jean Kirshtein everybody. Silence fell between us again.
"Can I ask you something, Jean?" She actually used my name this time.
"Mm?" was the response I gave her.
"Why do you-" A loud beeping sound came from her pocket. She pulled out what looked to be a pager, her eyes, instead of relaxed, were serious. Being our 5th hangout, I know well enough by now that that pager was a crime alert. Crime alerts are self explanatory; they alert of crimes that are past work hours and that require a hero's immediate attention. She sighs loudly and stands up. I follow suit. "It seems as if our time together has come to an end for today." I turned around as if that was my cue to head home, but then I felt a sharp pain on my backside. I turned to her; she ran off the roof, showing off her parkour abilities. I stood there in silence as blood began to rush to my face.
She...She just slapped my butt...
"Thanks for the sugar, sugar!" I heard her yell from somewhere. I will never understand her, she's unbelievably weird.
"Whatever, I'm going home."
Sasha POV
If you only knew who I was, Jean.
I raise my right hand to my right ear, calling my boss from my blue-tooth. "What is it this time?" I ask. "Robbery?, Incognito?, Crime Stalking?..."
Erwin Smith, my totes amazing boss replied. "Crime Stalking. I need you to gather information on Christopher Phelps. Meet Eren at 930 SW Brimstone. He will fill you in. Smith out~". Beep. The call ended.
No problemo. Just gotta meet Eren, another hero and my teammate. If you must know, I'm no solo act. I have awesome and loyal teammates: Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. Unlike me, they're all supers. Eren is a shape-shifter, Mikasa has the power of invisibility and can use forcefields, and Armin has telekinesis. I'm just the simple, parkour archer. We all work under the Heroes' Society which is designed to designate heroes for districts, cities, states, and sometimes countries. The Society was created to help control crime not only in Metro City, but most of the world. I would be lying to you if I said that it was a perfect organization. Rather, it has been suspected that is has been making illegal transactions another heinous crimes. Those of course are based on rumors. I would also be lying to you if I said that I am just working for H.S. Sure I work for the organization, but not really. I actually work for a secret agency in which detectives and heroes cooperate. The agency is known as the Survey Corps. We are known as Surveyors.
Surveyors are sent to go undercover and 'work' for Heroes' Society. They are to dig up whatever they can find about H.S. It is said that the organisation is ran by Kenny Ackerman, a man who felt a need for justice in Metro City. He's also my brother-in-law's uncle. How funny, right?. See my brother-in-law used to be evil, actually one of the top underground, evil masterminds of the eastern states. What made him turn from his evil ways and move to the west side? Ha! well, he met my older sister. Although she is a retired hero now, it's thanks to her that I got my job. She and Erwin go way back.
But enough talking, I see Eren.
"Yo, Eren." I whisper as I approach him. He had been keeping an eye on the target through a closed curtain blind that was slightly being tugged down by his finger. The coordinates Erwin gave me was the address of a closed-down diner that stood across the building where the suspect was staying.
"Yo...Sasha..." He greeted with his eyes never leaving the suspect. He slid a folder to me. I looked down to it and opened it: one paper was information and the other was a picture of the target. "You did use the back door, right?" He asked.
"Mhm." I replied. I rested my elbows on the table of the booth we were sitting in. The picture was now level to my face, man was it hard to see in the dark.
"Christopher Phelps. Age 37, height 5'11". Weight 160, balding and has a red beard." Eren described. "He has been suspected to be making trades of secret documents with H.S. Our job is to confirm what he's transferring."
"Got it."
"And under no circumstances are we to be seen and to engage with the enemy." Eren explicitly said.
"Erwin's number one rookie command." I laughed. He know's that we ain't rookies!
"He's on the move."
Say no more, I thought to myself as I smiled. I love my job.