How am I?

Chapter two: Vivi Stern Bild.

January 1st NC1976.

A few months after Chapter one.

West Silver in the Stern Medaille area. Car chase. Or it would have been if Pao-Lin hadn't dropped in and charred the two idiots who thought they could simply rob a bank in Stern Bild. Now here in Stern, you always make sure that when on the streets to be always looking at ya feet. Cause unless you're approved by the gov' looking at a NEXT will land you with a sentence of 6 months. If through the screen of your electronic device, that's A-Okay and in fact almost mandatory. If by peer pressure alone.

Now so far it appears that this has mostly been telling, and so far, that's correct. And sort of by choice. A (the choice part): The Author hates setting things up. And B (the not choice part): I'm currently captured by a gang leader who apparently hasn't read the "Conquer the World" lists and therefor hasn't read this rule of Evil Empresses:

17. I will not punish or kill lovers who fail to satisfy me. Such a policy would cause performance anxiety in future lovers, defeating the purpose. I will instead reward exceptional effort, and lavishly reward exceptional proficiency.

And thus something I can't show ya. So if the Author was smart he'd-

- Dragon Kid aka Pao-Lin Huang P.O.V -

And charred another two. Great. At least Wild doesn't have to pay Medicals. A bullet hits one of my ear pieces and I simply raised my eyebrow at the shooter. I duck under the retaliatory grenade and hit a few pressure points to paralyze him. Heroines, we've got scattered reports of Steel's gang hitting banks and we also have a possible location of their base. I need two volunteers for a scouting mission. Said Ms. Joubert. "I'm in." I replied. "So am I!" Replied Fire Emblem. Their possible base is a warehouse off Lovecraft and between Buzz Aldrin. You all know the Steels' rep for traps but be careful just in case they got more sick ideas.

"We'll be fine!" replied Fire as I started my way over there. I spot Emblem's car about a quarter of the way and backflip in. "showing off are ya Kid?" She asked with a smirk on her face. I open my mouth to defend my choice but close it with a pout. "Oh you're just so cute when you pout!" She squees while rubbing faces. The rest of the ride consisted of a blush on my face forced by the girlish torment she was inflicting on me.

I stick my staff into the doorway and quickly withdraw it from the path of boiling tar. Which started rising up and slashed at us. I jump to avoid FE's retaliatory burst of flames, kick off the ceiling, land prone to avoid the various sharp things that fired above me, miss the booby-trapped safety rope, roll down a tube, run away from a quicksand pit, before finally whacking the console and frying it.

"All's that left is: 59 Boulders, 29 Boiling Tar monsters, 30 Tar monsters, 9 quicksand pits, 8 pop quizzes, and a laser grid." Summed up Fire Emblem. Said summarization later. We stumble upon the worst. Another pop quiz.

Question one: if you were an Evil Mastermind, what would be you're first task?

A: kill all Heroines.

B: gather Legions of Doom™

C: setup Base.

We both drew a blank. So we told the others. Rock, Rose, Tiger, and Origami said C. Sky Voted A, so we got gassed when we answered C.

- unknown amount of time later. -

I came to a prison outfit and my cellmate whimpering in their sleep. I had no cuffs on and as I took stock of the cell which had a moderate size bookshelf full of random books, an off to the side bathroom area, a couch, a bunkbed apparently I was top, a small dining area, and a holo-screen I didn't see the projector for. I realized two odd things about this cell. A, it had a shower in the full bath. B, it had a half bath as well. C, and probably the most important, everything was covered in rubber. Yes, even the toilets.

Okay, that was three things. Anyways. The holo was showing our capture from Heroine TV View.

"Okay. All the votes are in and we're going for C: setup Base." Just as I touch the answer purple gas floods the room. I vanish into the gas. "Dragon!" shouted Emblem. "Get out of there!" Shouted Joubert. "I can't leave without her!" Emblem replied. "It's an order!" the camera in Emblem's suit turned away and bolted for clear air. If it wasn't for the fact that said camera was being worn by Emblem, it wouldn't have caught. "I'll come back for you, I promise."

The screen flickered and read itself: your fellow Heroines abandoned you on orders of a normal how sad. The female voice was mean.

The screen then went away. I jumped when the door threatened to cave in from the bang. "Your grub ya Lil' toys!" a harsh voice sounded from the other side of the door. There were two trays of food. In the center was diced chicken, in the left compartment was celery and rice. On the left was an apple and a lunchbox carton of milk. "You can have my apple and serving of milk if it's cow." Said my cellmate from his bed. As he sat up I saw he had curly black hair and black eyes. "You need them too." I protested as he transferred said items to my tray.

With an eyebrow raised he said. "I don't think I need to have TMI from Allergies." I then gave into my hunger and ate the chicken before looking up seeing him reading a book now. I looked to where his tray was, only to find it gone and on the floor next to the isolation door. "You didn't space out. I'm a fast eater." He said while turning the page. "I'll speed up if I were you." While I was looking at him in confusion my tray teleported unto his. I went, after shallowing my mouthful, for my food before it teleported out.

"Huh, when I did that it shocked me. Or was that when I accidently scraped the door?" he said closing the book. He stood up and put it back on the shelf. "My name is Pao-Lin Huang but you can call me Lin. What's your name?" I asked while walking next to him. "Jezebel Henrietta Jessica Kyra. Call me Henry." Apparently he caught my look of confusion. "A, my family's sexist. B, triplets run both sides. C, I was the only one carried alone. Thus the three names." I nod in understanding. I search my mind for an ice breaker before I looked at the corner where the holo was. "So, who's your favorite Heroine? Wild Tiger? Blue Rose? Sky High?" I harmlessly ask.

He mumbled something along the lines of "What's with this town and Heroines?" before speaking up. "Ah, probably Wild Tiger. Simply because she's only super powered for 5mins per hour. So I feel she's the most Normal" I could hear his emphasize on normal. "Among them" he replied. "Well, that's one reason to like her. I'd thought you'd pick Blue Rose." I saw I stepped on a small landmine when his small smirk fell. The cell was quiet for the next half hour as we minded our business. Things got interesting when I found I couldn't move. The door opened and Henry started flipping out saying. "Not again. Please not again!" guardswomen came in, pushed him down and started kicking at him.

"Stop it! Why are you kicking him!?" I shouted at them. They merely ignored me and continued for a little while more before dragging him out. After the door closed I was released from the chair I ran to the door pounding on it ignoring the arcs of electricity. After about an hour of pounding I gave up and backed away from the door. I paced around the cell for a while before picking The Hunger Games up. The tributes were going down Tribute Alley when Henry got tossed back in. "Make it more fun next time!" said one of the guards who shut the door.

He shied away from my helping hand and silently climbed into his bunk. He planted his face in a pillow and cried. I couldn't help but see him as a younger brother so I sat next to his bunk and slowly ran my fingers through his hair. I apparently lulled him to sleep. I pulled his sheets over him and quietly walked over to the door and created an arc between my fingers before trying to zap the door. It didn't even try.

After some more reading the entirety of the room was plunged into unreadable darkness. "Lights out I guess." I mumble to myself.

- probably 8 hours later -

I fall out of my bed and land on top of something. It takes a few moments to remember where I am and a few more before I remember to get off of Henry. After breakfast I gathered the courage. "So, does that happen often?" I attentively asked. "Every day as far as I can tell." That seemed to be tiresome even if I couldn't guess what was happening. But considering who our captors are I had a pretty accurate and sick idea about what they were doing to him. "So how long have you been here?" I asked. "Don't know, maybe a few months." He replied well that's peachy. Should I really ask? I debated for a minute before asking: "other than what you've already out laid, what kind of family do you have." His face asked: do you really want to know? So I nodded.

"Well, everyone but me in our entire extended family is a Next. Both sides. That means-" "they can get us out of here right?" I interrupt. I blush under his raised eyebrow. "-that means that whenever they were pissed off because of a human" his tone became abusive. "They took it out on me. And the last I saw them was 2 months before I got captured. It's how I got this." He raised his shirt revealing a plethora of bruises, whip, chain, and vice marks, infected cuts, clean cuts, jagged, and what looked to be razor wire cuts. But inside a circle of barb wire marks was an old burn over his right chest.

"I don't know who saved me but I survived being crushed in a garbage truck and when I walked back home one of my elder sisters gave me it." He lowered his shirt. "That's of course after Mom turned into tar flooded into my everything before a different elder sister started boiling Mom whilst she encased me."

"So, human haters got it." I summarized. "So, any brothers?"

"Nope, other than Dad and fellow NEXT Criminals as husbands to my sisters, I'm the only boy." He replied.

"Oh, okay. Wait Criminals!?" I asked. He finally sounds like a …. Living being. Maybe, hopefully, we can bond over his family's … criminal past.

He blinked. "Didn't I say they were Criminal Masterminds back in the days of Ms. Legend?"

"No you most certainly did not!" Mock angrily I replied. "Well, do you want to hear how they met?" I nodded so fast I think I might have given myself whiplash.

- about 30 more like 40ish years ago -

Mom drove her truck through the glass doors of the local bank. It was the grand opening of the bank. Whose boss apparently decided that fancy archways, shiny marble flooring, literal gold statues of nubile women only covered with currency, sky lights amongst crystalline chandeliers, tables made out of literal gold with chairs made of Silver, carpets made of copper, and (somehow working) registers of platinum. Was more important than say, security guards, alarms, security guards, a silent alarm, security guards, a bank vault door, security guards, security cameras, and finally and probably most important, SECURITY GUARDS! Needless to say, but that bank deserved to be robbed.

Dad was the first bank teller Mom saw and was the one she went towards. "Give me the money." Mom said. "All of it!" Dad apparently was taking his sweet time because next thing he knew was sound, pain, and the very odd feeling of reforming his head. One stupid customer picked up a chair (which was made of silver) and clobbered mom with it. She then felt the odd sensation of turning into tar.

After mom left dad got immediately fired. So dad ran after mom's truck and joined her gang. Which of then consisted of only them. Here's where things get interesting. 1, that bank you maybe still know of, you really want to know what it became? Helperidese Finance.

- meanwhile in the present -

I laughed so hard that I couldn't breathe. "It's one hundred percent true!" protested Henry. I eventually stopped because of lack of essential air. "If you thought that was funny, just wait until you hear this." Henry said after I recouped. I braced myself for more laughter. "That customer, Ms. Legend herself."

- Henry's POV -

I didn't think it was possible but Lin just passed out from laughter. "I should probably tell her. Or should I wait until she tells me? Hmm. Decisions. Decisions." I mumble to myself. I then picked her up wincing from my injuries and climbed the ladder before tucking her in smiling as she curled up.