Alana sat on top of a worn-looking newspaper stand, whose day had long since past, watching the clouds roll by above her head while on her break from her job as a cashier at the local supermarket. She was a relatively new resident of City Z – which was a strange statement seeing as to how most of them had fled due to the abnormal amount of monster attacks and destruction in the recent year.

It's nice here though, she thought. The cost of living was low and the city was quiet. It seemed as though the monsters no longer felt the need to attack a mostly empty city. Whatever the reason was for the peace, Alana didn't care to know.

This change of scenery was exactly what she had hoped for when she was kicked out – no, when she left her parents' home in City S, the financial capital of the region. Alana was 18, soon to be 19, and as soon as she had stepped foot out of the town that bred straightjacket accountants like her parents, it felt like a weight had been lifted.

It had only been a few weeks since she had left and she remembered their arguments vividly. They had demanded that she attend university so that she could live out a comfortable, mediocre life. The idea itself to her felt like drinking a cup of lukewarm coffee first thing on a cold morning. The recruitment ads by the Hero Association meanwhile blared on in the background.

The posters and commercials had always been like background noise to her but in the time between the culmination of the arguments with her family and her eventual departure, they grew to be her biggest annoyance. Alana herself had demonstrated beyond-human powers but had no interest in letting the Association get ahold of. She believed that organization to be nothing more than a front for justice while hiding the corruption behind their poster children.

Her dream was to refine her abilities in such a way that she could transcend the public view of ranks and the like and become a true hero for justice, not the diluted kind that the Hero Association was selling. Unfortunately, she and her parents didn't exactly see eye-to-eye and it became their way or the highway. It's obvious which one she chose.

She scoffed out loud. Some parents.

Just then, the butcher came out, already withdrawing his pack of cigarettes from his apron pocket, glancing at her before saying with a gruff voice, "breaks over, new girl, the boss wants you back inside," and turning away.

She nodded in response before hopping down from her perch. "Thanks, butch!" she said cheerfully as she swung her reddish-brown hair back up into a messy bun and walked inside.

Alana tapped the stockroom boy covering her break on the shoulder to know that he was relieved and he smiled gratefully before walking away, leaving the job to her.

The remaining half of her eight hour shift went numbly by as she greeted the occasional customer who walked in to buy a pack of smokes or a cold drink. Alana was bored to say the least but the pay was good enough for her to get by so she rarely contemplated switching jobs as she stared blankly out the front window.

The sound of approaching footsteps and the crinkling plastic packaging being placed in front of her alerted her to a new customer. She turned her gaze from the enormous pile of ramen sitting in her face to the one who had placed it there – a cyborg.

Her eyes widened in shock; she'd never seen one in real life before.

"Cyborg!" she exclaimed with her mouth gaping open. "That's a pretty cool cosplay!"

There was a loud crashing sound as her boss who was walking by fell over from shock. He got up and waddled over as fast as he could with her cane before shoving the end in her face.

"Wrong!" the old man yelled through his bushy white eyebrows and moustache. "Apologize right now! This man is a registered S-class hero and has saved our city from disaster many times!" Alana glanced over to the 'hero' in question who appeared to be perplexed by the whole situation.

"Sheesh, alright alright," Alana huffed, as she pushed away the walking stick. Her boss stared her down for a solid minute before straightening up, bowing deeply to the robot, and walking away – all the while muttering under his breath about a certain someone's disrespect and insolence.

Once he was out of earshot, which didn't take long considering how poor his hearing was, Alana muttered, "old man," under her breath before turning towards the customer.

"So you're a hero, huh?" she practically spat out. She obviously had no intention of apologizing. The cyborg appeared to analyse her for a second with his yellow eyes before nodding.

"Yes, S-class hero rank 14, Genos, at your service," he responded evenly, either not noticing or ignoring her hostile tone.

"Then what's all this ramen for?" she said, alternating her gaze between the messy pile of ramen packages and his exposed mechanical parts that were apparently not just for show, but were actually his arms. "Is the Association not paying you enough?"

"No. The other day, my senior said that he enjoyed eating ramen so I thought I would investigate to see if that is the source of his strength, however, he didn't tell me which type or brand he preferred. The nutrition details are also not enough data to go off of but I cannot run tests on samples without first buying, cooking, and eating them first."

"Oi, I didn't ask for your damn life story. Sheesh," Alana said in a gruff way that reminded her of the butcher.

"My apologies," the annoyingly-even voice replied.

Alana made a 'tch' noise of disdain but quickly plastered on a cheerful smile when she could feel the boss' eyes boring into her as he once again walked by. The mahogany-haired worker opted for staring at the clock than the customer while she bagged his groceries.

When he paid and left, Alana released a breath that she felt like she had been holding the whole interaction. The air around heroes sure was stuffy.

On the bright side, he was gone and there were only 30 more minutes left in her shift.