A/N: This is a cyberpunk-ish alternate universe of the now sadly defunct MMORPG, City of Heroes.
It was a dark and stormy night. The rain poured down by torrents over the streets of Panacea City. Neon lights flickered against the gloom, illuminating billboards and marking buildings offering goods and services of all varieties.
Sandwiches made with freshly vat-grown ingredients. Cybernetic augmentation to make a person better at everything. Religious loonies offering salvation at reasonable rates. Information brokers selling dirt on almost everyone.
And, of course, heroes. Has a loved one been kidnapped? Valuables stolen? Or just looking to hire a top-of-the-line bodyguard? The billboard proclaimed that any heroing needs could be provided for, for a fee, of course.
Because no one ever helps anyone for free in Panacea City. Well, it's a living.
A figure stood on top of one of the buildings, black cape billowing in the gusting wind. Behind the skin-tight mask, she looked out over the city with a critical eye. Some might think the city was beautiful, with all the twinkling lights and vibrant life, a shining example of hope. Others might think it a wretched hive of scum and villainy, corrupt to the core and covered in slime.
But to Sarah, it was home. And one that she needed a job for soon if she was going to expect to be able to pay the rent on her crappy loft apartment, never mind actually buy groceries so that she wouldn't starve. What's a hero to do? It would be a pathetic life if she had to resort to villainy just to get food to eat.
And enough of standing out in the rain. Her suit might be waterproof, but her shoulder-length brown hair was soaked to the scalp. Maybe she should add a helmet or something sometime.
Sarah stepped back inside and into her apartment. A single bare bulb flickered to life overhead, providing the minimal amount of lighting to display the cheap used furniture that adorned the place. The old futon had seen better days, the couch had probably been dredged up out of a refuse bin, and what passed for a desk was really just a wooden plank on top of a couple of crates with drawers haphazardly set into them as a do-it-yourself job.
After drying herself off a bit, she went over to take a seat in the chair by the desk - it was an old armchair, and one of the arms was missing now. The computer was worth more than everything else in this hole combined, but it was absolutely necessary to get anywhere in this city. And even then, it was an older model, barely adequate for her purposes. But adequate it was. She could only wish that she could afford at least some sort of mobile device - preferably waterproof. Neural implants were always an option, too, but she didn't trust them one bit. So, for the moment, she made do with what she had.
Peeling off her gloves, as it was difficult to type with them, she opened up the current listings for freelance hero jobs in Panacea City. Recovering stolen goods was always a lucrative business, but she preferred to go after the kidnapping cases whenever possible. Altruism didn't always pay as well, but some so-called heroes avoided them because they didn't like having to deal with potentially panicky and stupid civilians who might wind up getting in the way, running all over the place, or practically need their hand held to get out of there to safety. Sure, it was frustrating at times, but at least she knew that she was actually helping people.
Sure enough, there was a kidnapping listing up at the moment. One Wu Yin, a high-ranking employee of Panacea, had gone missing. Sarah cynically had to wonder whether the reward was just so that the corporation could avoid the necessity of training or finding someone else who was as good as him at whatever his job was, or if Panacea was more concerned about the potential for company secrets getting out because of this.
Well, no matter. Whatever the reason, she'd have to move quickly to make sure he was alright and that there wouldn't be any other heroes to swoop in and claim the bounty before her. It would be just her luck that tonight, somebody else might actually feel like getting on the same case as her.
Sarah headed back out to the rooftop. She hadn't rented out the top floor in a ten-story building with no elevator just to use the stairs. With a powerful leap, she sprung off into the night. Sometimes, it was nice to have super powers.
The hard, cold, uncaring glare of the city sprawled out all around, but Sarah was focused. She had a job to do now. There were lives to be saved, rights to be wronged, there was justice to be served and hope to restore.
So she wasn't the best hero around. She'd be the first to admit that. But it didn't matter. She wouldn't begrudge doing whatever she could. That was what was important, after all.
Because everyone is the hero of their own story.