My first thought is that holy crap, it worked! My second, almost simultaneous one is that air escaping your lungs hurts a lot more than I expected.

"Ow!" I can't help but gasp out to Dom, thankful that at least my Prime self is safe and full of air.

I can't help but giggle a bit as Dom looks concerned when I glance back at him, but I cut it short and hold my hand up to forestall his expression of concern. "I'm fine, just surprised."

My eyes are suddenly dry, my lungs and chest feel as if they have been torn to shreds, and even my tongue is tingly and feels dry. It's like bubbles are forming on it as my saliva disappears. My ears pop and I hear nothing but the beat of my own heart, the blood rushing around. I fight past the pain, refusing to dismiss that self. (The less said about the air escaping the lower half of my body, the better.)

I quickly realize that this is not going to work as well as I had thought it would. I can hold my breath for well over a minute, and had figured that I'd have plenty of time for each self to explore the moon in relative discomfort. But with all the air forcibly removed, I can already feel myself straining for air with my secondary body.

After a few seconds I send forward another self to get closer to the moon, patterned off the one who has already lost all her air. From my current position I think I can get much closer to the surface, and I use the telescope to help me keep track of what craters I want to get near. I'm assuming that the spot I want is right in the center of my view, but if I'm wrong I bet I can find it fast anyways.

The new self who has no air left, fortunately experiences no further pain, but after a few more seconds I realize that somehow I'm about to pass out, blackness slowly filling my vision. Almost ten seconds of vacuum and I'm already passing out? That's barely anything! I have no clue if this is normal, but I call bullshit. I should totally be able to last longer than this!

Thankfully the rest of me can think just fine, so I quickly make an executive decision and send out another self before I lose consciousness completely. This time I use the Prime self as the template, since more copies of the airless one will not help at all. Air rushes out of my mouth and nose even worse than before, and I feel a sharp pain as I taste blood.

Crap, I had just taken in a breath of air, and thus had more air to lose. Fucking. Ow. Note to self, breathe out before each new self or else the pain doubles.

"Hey Dom, space sucks." I feebly joke, mostly concentrating on the moon and getting into a rhythm. Breathe in, out, in, out, new self forwards, pain and embarrassing flatulence. Rinse. Repeat. Getting closer to the moon surface each time.

"Firstly, that's a lame pun. Secondly, maybe we should have gotten you a helmet? Does the vacuum hurt a lot? We can abandon the attempt if you want, I mean, it clearly works and that's all we really needed to check."

"No, I'll keep going. I want to actually touch the surface of the moon and see the landing site for myself. To be able to say I've been, even if no-one ever knows."

"Cool, I can understand that. This is pretty historic, I mean, I think only a dozen people ever have been on the moon, and they've all been dudes, so you are about to be the first chick on the moon."

"Really? Huh, neat. Oh and have I mentioned how much it hurts to have all your lung's air forcibly removed? If you ever want some moon rocks to play with, you had better get me a damn helmet first."

"Ok, ok. Helmet for moon rocks, got it. Hey, when you sent out the first teleported copy, did you by any chance get the feedback from it before you actually sent them out? Even by a second? Cus I'm pretty sure the light from the moon takes at least a second to get here."

"Nope, instantly as normal. Sorry. Hold on, I think I see something."

I don't see an object below me, but I can see the shadow of something that is clearly man-made, stretching across the white landscape. Aha! I suppose it makes sense, the shadow will be much easier to see from above than something pointed vertically. I'm off to once side, so I quickly adjust my aim and head for the base of the long shadow.

"That's odd, it looks kind of like there is a really tall and pointy object down there making the shadow. I would have expected the lunar module to be more short and squat."

"Maybe the shadow is just funny cus it's the moon? I mean, people complain all the time that the shadows don't look real on the photos they took of the moon landings, that it's faked. Maybe this kind of thing happens up there for some reason?"

I breathe out and send a new self out even closer. Ow as usual. I'm almost on the moons surface now, and notice an oddity.

Two shadows are now visible. One immensely long and pointy one, looking like a finger of shadow, a sundial's arm. A second, smaller one that from a height had looked like a tiny crater, but now looks like a short, squat object, with the clear lines of another man-made object.

"Err, one sec Dom."

I decide to head to the shorter, smaller shadow first. It looks more like what I expect the moon landing junk to look like, not like the impossibly long spike of black that I saw first.

Breathe out, and... There! I'm actually standing on the moon. I half expect a fanfare, or even just a satisfying crunch of noise as I touched ground, but I hear nothing but blood rushing beneath my skin.

It is absolutely eerie knowing that I'm standing on the moon, that there is not a single living thing upon it save for me. Stark white and grey ground, with shadows darker than I've ever seen them. A landscape of absolutes, of pain. Every moment on the moon hurts, but I grin anyways.

Fuck you Simurgh.

I look up and see the Earth. Awe slams into me and holds me still. This... This blue and white marble, standing out against the black of space. It seems so small. Like a soap bubble, fragile and easily destroyed. I can't believe that all of humanity is down there, all of life. And as I choke on vacuum and slowly suffocate, tears and saliva boiling away, I realize that we are so incredibly lucky.

The universe is so hostile, I know this first hand now. We have one tiny oasis in the middle of nothing but death. And some idiots will fight over tiny scraps of it, will try to destroy parts of it, for stupid, worthless reasons. Who cares what colour someones skin is, their gender, religion, or even who they are attracted to? What does it matter that you die with more hoarded wealth compared to others? We should be trying to protect this world, this precious gift.

I will never be able to forget this. The facts and photos, the science I learned in school, nothing compares to the raw reality of being here, seeing it with my own two eyes. I realize I have to think bigger now. I can't just try to fix Brockton Bay. I have to try to fix the world. All of it matters. It's all so small and connected, how could it not?

Reluctantly I stop looking for a second to send out a new self just before I run out of time. Eventually I force myself to ignore the incredible view above me. I'll have time for that later when I'm less tired. I'm going to keep this telescope, or save up money for my own. I will be coming back to the moon, if not exactly here. I'll be able to see the Earth from any spot on the moon, so it won't really matter where I go. But for now I'm at a historic location, I should enjoy it while I can.

I survey the area and see the lunar lander, much smaller than I had ever imagined it. It seems lonely and lost, abandoned once it's job was done. Footsteps crawl all over the ground. I see the expected boot treads that every child has seen photos of in school, but I also see others. Some look like normal shoes, but one path is made with bare feet. I look down and take a careful step, adjusting to the low gravity and trying to make sure I don't fall over.

I suppose it was too much to hope that I'd be the first girl on the moon. It looks like a few other capes have been here, have looked at this historic monument to human ingenuity. I might never know who they were, or how many other people with the right powers got here first. But at least I'll leave my own mark in the moon dust with them. I remember reading that since there is no wind, footprints can last for thousands of years.

There is a flag planted nearby, but it is bleached white as snow. Not at all what I expected to see. More a symbol of peace, less of an American claim to dominion. I like it. Nothing can disturb the peace up here, no wind, not time, not man. Not even us few superpowered explorers. It seems like we are all loath to disturb the site, as every footstep I can see carefully takes pains not to disturb the original ones. We all walk around this testament to humanity, avoiding intrusion, avoiding wrecking it.

It makes me wonder about everyone who has been up here. Were none of them the type to destroy, none of them villains looking to make their mark? Perhaps there is something about the moon itself? Or the view of Earth? I can easily imagine the sight being powerful enough to render all sinister ambitions moot, it forces you to think about things bigger than yourself.

I create new selves to continue exploring for a bit longer, following the footsteps of others. They lead me to bits of discarded trash, tools and junk left behind. I find a strange small square mirror pointed at the Earth, with little tiny square sections that reflect the light in a pretty way. It's probably the most interesting thing here aside from the flag and lander.

Experimentally, I take off my glove and reach down for a handful of moon dust. Even if I won't take any with me, I want to feel it. It's soft and crunchy like snow, cold too. Yet surprisingly rough and abrasive at the same time.

Dom interrupts my awed exploration by clearing his throat. I had almost forgotten that he was standing right beside me. It's been minutes now, as I explored and look around. "You still ok dude?"

I open my eyes, not realizing I had closed them to focus more fully on the sensations coming from my other self. That could have been dangerous, I should remember to keep watch for danger to my Prime self.

"Yeah, I'm ok. It's amazing that I'm actually on the moon." I tell him softly.

I glance at him briefly. "Looking up at the Earth, it's hard to explain. I feel awe. At the sight, at the implications, at the world. This tiny little bit of life, surrounded by death and darkness..."

A new fresh self on the moon looks back up at the Earth as I lift my head and look at the moon at the same time. Twin selves, separated by vast distances, each one gazing upon the other. The sense of peace, of detached contemplation that I feel right after a true death, it strengthens. I think that even if I had not killed a self tonight in a panicked effort to calm myself down, this would have done the same thing. I feel zen, in balance.

I can finally muster up a real smile, and lower my mask a bit to smile a bit guiltily at Dom. "Thanks."

He gives a cocky grin, "Hell, it was nothing, really. I just had this stolen telescope lying around anyways. Good to get some use out of it."

"Hey, I think I'm finished looking at the moon landing site for now. I'm going to check out that odd long and skinny shadow I saw earlier and then call it a night."

"Oh?" He looks interested. "You mean that first shadow wasn't the lander?"

"Nope. I saw a shorter and smaller shadow later that seemed more lander shaped, so I tried it first. This other object must be way bigger."

"Cool, a mystery. Maybe it's aliens!"

"Hahaha, that would be cool, but I doubt it dude."

I quickly find the object that must be casting the shadow. I can actually see the top of something white and skinny from the Apollo 11 site, it stands out well against the black of space. As I get closer, a literal obelisk of white stone rises up from the lunar surface, what looks like a few hundred feet tall. This must be what cast such a long shadow, although I certainly cannot imagine this being a part of any moon missions.

"Dom, I just found an obelisk. This is the weirdest thing ever."

"A what?"

"You know, big tall stone spire things? Like a big spike?"

"Oh, huh. Shit, I hope it isn't actually aliens."

I secretly hope that it isn't the Simurgh. I might not be in a state of panic any longer, but suspicion still colors my mind. Perhaps this is an artifact left over from some plan of it's? To be fair, it has never shown any ability to go further than the edge of the atmosphere, it might not be able to actually come to the moon. This is likely the work of another cape, one who came to the moon for unknown purposes.

I approach closer and see words inscribed deeply upon it around head height, repeating on all four sides. Each is in what seems to be a different language, but recognizable as the same words. I had not noticed before, but there is a small table nearby, some cheap white plastic thing, and upon it is some papers. A large area of ground around it has been trampled by many feet, and there is a ring of small plastic folding chairs, each also bleached white by the sun. I send another self over to take a look at it while I read the obelisk's English side.

We do not go gentle into the good night.

Humanity should burn and rage at the close of day.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

That seems familiar... While I can't recall where it is from, I do know that I like it. What is the word, poignant? Yeah, I think it's poignant. Poetic. After about a foot of blank space, names are inscribed below. There seems to be a few dozen names carved deep into the rock. I solemnly take it all in.

One name at the bottom seems familiar, recent. I trace my fingers over it. Flicker (Peter Greer), I remember him. I read about him online while I was researching teleporting capes. He died a few months ago when he tried to save a bunch of people from the Slaughterhouse Nine in some small town in the middle of nowhere. They say he managed to save half the population before the rest were killed in a giant fire in retaliation. Speculation was that it must have been Flicker's home town, that there had to be a reason why a cape from Jacksonville, Florida would risk his life in some suicidal attempt to defy the S9.

I look upwards and notice that the spire seems to reach towards the Earth, a bridge between the two celestial bodies. This obelisk, it means that people are still trying. Even with the Endbringers promising pain and punishment, people are still trying to fight back. They even built a monument to their efforts on the moon itself, as if to mock the Simurgh. A great big middle finger aimed at her.

My other self has found a total of fifteen chairs, two of which are behind the white desk. On the desk are papers, left seemingly unguarded. They must be recent, otherwise they would have been bleached as white as everything else on the moon. One stack of papers the size of a pamphlet on top of the pile catches my eye.

Movement

Our next meeting is March 19, 2011.

The randomly generated time is: 03:53 UTC

The randomly generated location is: -38.93594 Latitude, 76.38319 Longitude.

This location is in the ocean, thus the meeting will instead take place on the southwest coastline of the closest landmass, known as Île Amsterdam.

Anyone who cannot make this meeting, please contact Strider for a copy of the minutes.

Don't forget to report your progress, or chose new assignments if you have completed yours.

Huh, interesting. Not much information here, but still something. I wonder if I'll get in trouble for showing up to their next meeting? I mean, they did leave these papers lying around where anyone could find them. (Ok, maybe not anyone.)

I really want to know more about these guys who built a monument on the moon, who seem to have the same ideals as me. It should be safe to simply show up and ask them, Strider is a good guy, a freelance hero. He's one of the most powerful teleporters in the world, and always helping people. Heck, I even briefly met him when he took me to fight the Simurgh. If they really don't want me at the meeting, I'm sure he'd just tell me to go, or take me home himself.

I turn to Dom and ask him, "Hey, do you have any paper? I need you to write something down for me."

"Uh, let me look?"

As I wait for him to grab some paper and a pen, I look at the other papers. One small pile seems to be a short list of cities, with a few cape names next to each city. None seem familiar, but to be fair, I hardly know all the capes in the world. More like a tiny scattering of the big names, and the big names from my own city. Most of these cities are not even in America, they are pretty scattered around the world.

Lastly seems to be a large, folded, slightly faded map of the world. When I unfold it and take a peek, it seems like there are spots marked with colours all over it. A few of the locations marked with red, I recognize as places that Endbringers have attacked. That color must indicate cities that have been destroyed. Matching them are a similar amount of spots marked in green. I don't recognize anything special about most of them, on the map it's hard to tell the specifics about what are the green dot is indicating since there are no city names on the map, just basic country boundaries. The only location that I think I recognize is New York. It's also the only location to have both a red and green dot.

I wonder what that means?

I suppose I can ask them later in a few weeks. As Dom starts to copy down the information that I tell him, I fold up the map and put everything back where it belongs. It would be rude to leave a mess behind, and it's not like I can blame any disarray on the wind. Looks like I have an interesting mystery to solve.

Not exactly what I expected when I decided to go to the moon, but given that the Simurgh has yet to descend and start attacking, I think it's gone well.

A week later and it's time to make some money for the team. I'm not sure if I should be feeling guilty about the guys giving me an equal share of any profits the costume fabber makes. I certainly didn't help build it, I don't know how to program it to make anything. I haven't had much to do with it other than to receive the benefits of it. But they insist, saying that they'd never get to sell anything without my ability to make them seem like legitimate good guys.

The sun gets into my eyes a bit as I glide through the air, so I raise my hand to shade them a bit. Mark is still trying to figure out a way to let me steer, but even without that ability, the new parachute design is vastly improved. Now I actually glide quickly through the air, not just fall slower. He claims that it's based off something called 'ram-air' design. All I know is that it's as good as flying, even if my landings are really bad this way. Suffice to say, I make sure to teleport down for all landings now.

I finally spot Heralds vivid red costume down on the boardwalk. He's ignoring the swirls of tourists and gawkers, and at least they seem to be giving him a bit of space. I teleport into a slightly different position, aimed right at him this time. It took me a couple afternoons of practice but I had finally gotten the hang of teleporting so that the feather cells stayed open and in position, this way I didn't lose too much time waiting for the air to fill them again. Otherwise I'd be falling for a second until they filled out again.

By the time I get close enough to make out the details, some of the people out to enjoy the spring air have spotted me and are pointing my way. I wait until Herald has looked up at me before I teleport in to stand beside him. His costume is much improved from the previous mishmash of items. He's kept the red theme, but added in a silver trim on all the thicker armor pieces, along with lots of intricate silvery lines and detail.

Shoulder armor flares out in smooth flaring curves, the extra thick bracers and leg guards share a similar winged shape, and his torso is covered in thick, ridged plates. It all looks very convincing even though I know that his armor is actually just very thick sections of fabric built up to look like metal armor. I suppose the silver trim helps with the illusion. Herald plans to add in some actual plates of special metal under the padding later, but apparently first we'll have to liberate some gear from the Protectorate.

It's too bad his own set of wings aren't quite done yet, it will be quite interesting to be able to have him join me in the air. From the sounds of it, he'll be much more maneuverable than me. I'd be jealous that he gets the only real flight gear, but he does need the movement ability much more than I do, so it's only fair. I still have the fireball launcher and stun baton, so my weapons are better than what he's currently got. Technically his only weapon right now is a normal, non stunning baton.

"Yo." I deadpan.

"Dude, you're almost late. How can you be late when you can teleport? It seriously boggles the mind."

"I'm gifted."

He snorts and rolls his eyes. "Anyways, this should be pretty simple. Hopefully they want plenty of costumes and we get enough to pay the deposit of that fancy lawyer the Number Man hooked us up with."

"Yeah, I mean, there's what, seven New Wave? Even if they only want two costumes each it should be enough."

"Yup, that's the hope."

I take in a deep breath, calming my nerves and ignoring the crowd that seems to be torn between taking pictures or standing around whispering about us. The salt of the ocean mingles with the fresh spring air, and seagulls screech as they hover above, looking for dropped food. The boardwalk has begun to get lively as the warm weather has been rolling in. Soon the buskers will be out, along with the street vendors playing their trade with cheap knockoffs and gimmicky trinkets.

Herald manages to spot New Wave first and stiffens beside me, then nudges me with his elbow. "Incoming." He mutters.

I also straighten up and try to look professional as a group of flying capes come in for a landing, sending new waves of speculation through the onlookers. None of the four in front of us wear masks because none of them have secret identities.

In the lead is Lady Photon, otherwise known as Photon Mom. She wears a white bodysuit with a starburst on the chest. Lines from the star's edges extend around her body, changing color from indigo to purple as they get further from the center.

Brandish, her sister, wears a white costume with orange trim and crossed-swords across the chest. She seems much more grim and menacing compared to the rest of her family. Almost everyone else has heart shaped faces and easy smiles, but she seems to have her face set into a perpetual frown as she looks us over.

Glory Girl, has her classic white one-piece dress that comes to mid-thigh with shorts underneath, an over-the shoulder cape, high boots and a golden tiara with spikes radiating from it. She gives us a little wave as she touches down, and smiles at the crowd.

Laserdream's white costume has a stylized arrow pointing down and to her right with half a dozen lines trailing behind it, with similar rows of lines trailing down her legs and arms. She also wore a ruby red hairband and sweeps her hair to the side over one eye. I wonder why she'd pick that hairstyle, it seems like it would block her vision and make it harder to aim her laser blasts.

"Herald, Messenger." Lady Photon nods at us in greeting.

I nod back, "Lady Photon."

Herald gives them a gallant looking bow, moving easily in his armored costume and focusing all attention on him. "Greetings New Wave! I am pleased to meet you in person at last. Might I suggest we take this discussion to the end of one of the piers? It might be a bit easier to discourage people from attempting to overhear our discussion if there is limited room to get to us."

"Certainly." Lady Photon replies, inclining her head at us regally. I can see why she added 'Lady' to her cape name, she has the bearing and poise for it.

Instead of flying off again, they seem to be willing to walk there with us. That's courteous of them given that Herald is limited to walking since the flight pack isn't done yet.

As we start to walk down the pier that extends out into the ocean a few hundred feet, Glory Girl calls out loudly to the crowd. "Sorry folks, but could you please give us a bit of space for a few minutes? I'll come give autographs when we are done, but we have to talk with Herald and Messenger for a bit. Thanks!"

It seems to be enough to keep them from following us out, and soon we are surrounded by water. The sun glistens off the waves and it's quite refreshing out here. A bit of a fish smell, but that's normal this time of year as dead fish are finally thawing out and starting to rot a bit. Not enough animals or insects out yet to eat them and prevent a smell.

Lady Photon once again takes the lead. "We have discussed the idea and are interested in the idea of DragonHide costumes for the entire family. Now all that is left is getting a good idea of your character, the quality of your costumes, and the cost."

"Well ma'am, I can assure you that the costumes will indeed be as high quality as you could possibly want, our own costumes should be proof of that." Herald answers with confidence.

"Hmm, it seems so. I admit I had not been all that confident given Panacea's costume is the simplest of all of ours, but I see now that you do have the capability for more." Brandish admits.

"As for the cost, Messenger here seems to have taken a shine to your Panacea. In light of his friendship with her, I've been persuaded to offer a discount to all of you. I admit it took us a while to decide upon a fair price, there was much haggling between the two of us, but I should be able to make each of your costumes for only seven hundred and fifty dollars each."

Brandish seems to frown as Herald mentions Panacea, but she avoids saying anything. Probably just being a typical mom, suspicious of boys hanging around her daughter.

"Seven hundred and fifty? That is much lower than we had expected. One twentieth the cost of a Toybox costume is quite the deal."

"You are getting a fairly good bargain, yes. Future costume orders will likely start at triple that, and that's not including the cost of putting the costume together, only the fabric. But I admit I will be using your family as a bit of a showcase to prove my abilities and legitimacy to the world."

"That seems fair. At that price, we might want a few extra outfits. Thank you for bargaining so well on our behalf, Messenger."

I blush a bit without meaning to as she turns her smile my way. She sounds so genuinely grateful, it's hard not to get embarrassed. I feel bad because I only offered their family a discount because it seemed like a good way to get Panacea to stop mistrusting me, but there's no way to tell her that now.

"Your welcome." I manage to say, before inwardly berating myself. That was possibly the lamest thing I could have chosen to answer them with. Why didn't I come up with something witty? Clever? Cool? Nope, just a 'your welcome.' I definitely should be letting Herald do the talking.

Brandish chimes in with an obvious trap question. "Tell me, once you have established yourself, will you be selling costumes to anyone who has the money?"

Herald of course sees it right away, he's been expecting something like it ever since we set up this meeting. "Of course not! Rogues and Heroes only. I'll admit some villains might be clever enough to slip through the cracks and order some fabric now and then, but I will be doing my best to weed out all sinister buyers. One way I plan on accomplishing this is to avoid accepting anonymous orders or payments. It won't be perfect, but tis better than nothing."

They seem pleased with the answer, but I'm a bit skeptical. Do they really believe us, just like that? Sure, that is what we actually intend to do, but anyone can say them plan to be good without actually meaning it. Anyone with a brain cell is going to know that a group like New Wave will insist upon only working with other Heroes, so of course we would claim to be all above board and legitimate.

I suppose they are either very trusting, or else one of them has the ability to detect lies. Perhaps Brandish? She seems like a suspicious one, plus she works as a lawyer. It would make sense, but then again, these are the heroes who thought that they could live their lives with no secret identities. You would think that after one of them died because of that ideology, it might make them a bit more cynical.

"I trust all your concerns have been assuaged miladies?"

Laserdream lets out a giggle at this bit of dramatics. Her mom gives her a bit of a look, quelling the laughter, then she turns back to us. "Yes, I believe this has been a productive meeting. I've been informed that you will need costumes to copy from?"

"Yes, I'll need something to get the measurements off of. If you have them here with you I can take them with me and start right away, as it might take a few days to program them all in."

"We do, if you could Laserdream?"

She steps forward smoothly and hands over a box, casually brushing her hair out of her eyes and looking right at Herald approvingly. Yup, she's definitely interested in him. These guys have no subtlety at all.

"How many of each would you like to order?"

"I think that given the low price, and the chances of it increasing in the future, we will order three of each costume. That will not strain your machine will it?"

"Fear not, the initial design is the most laborious part. After that is finished, I care not whether you want three, or three hundred. Well, not as long as you have the funds for it of course." He laughs and makes significant eye contact with Laserdream.

Ooh, so he noticed. This could be interesting. She's a bit young for him, but I think she's eighteen, so it's not too far off. Plus I can totally use this for blackmail material later. It could be nothing but a bit of casual flirting of course, she looks pretty enough that I bet she flirts merely by existing. I bet if I ever liked a guy, I'd have to practically hit him over the head to get his attention. And even then he'd probably run away after a good look at me.

"I suppose we should talk about payment now?" Brandish interjects.

"Ah, yes. I'd prefer if I could get at least half of the money in advance, to pay for the materials I will use. The rest is due upon delivery, assuming you are satisfied with the final product. Just in case there are problems with the fit, given the change in materials, I'd like to provide you with one initial costume so that you can try them on and make sure that it is satisfactory. Does this seem fair?"

Lady Photon considers for a moment, nods slightly and looks to Brandish. Upon getting another nod from her sister, she looks back at us. "That seems acceptable. How shall we provide payment?"

Herald pulls out one of the new business cards we got from the Numbers Man. "We have a bank account, here is a card with the deposit details. You can have your bank send it to us directly. Since there are seven New Wave who currently lack DragonHide costumes and you want three costumes each, that should come out to fifteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty in total."

She accepts the card gracefully and glances it over. "Hmm, 'The Professionals' I see. Is this your team name?"

"Ah yes, it is. We had a hard time thinking up a good name, all we knew was that we wanted it to sound professional. Eventuality we just gave up and said, why don't we just call ourselves Professionals and be done with it?" He ends with a light chuckle.

Glory Girl comments, "Not a bad name. A bit obvious, but it's not like we can complain about that. We used to be the Brockton Bay Brigade after all."

"Sounds like we have a deal. I look forward to seeing the final product." Lady Photon carefully tucks the card into a hidden pocket.

"Well if our business is concluded, I believe you promised that crowd autographs dear. Best get that done fast if you don't want to miss lunch." Brandish smiles fondly at Glory Girl, the first smile I've seen on her this entire time.

"Yes mom." Comes the long suffering cry of a teenager.

Laserdream turns to her mom with a brilliant smile and asks, "Hey mom, I have a bit of time since we don't have lunch plans. Can I stay behind and escort Herald a bit of the way to wherever he's going? Just until he's out of the crowd? We don't want the costumes to get stolen before he can copy them."

Giving her daughter a knowing look, she gives in gracefully. "Very well, but be home in time for supper and don't forget to patrol for an hour or two before you come home."

"Yes mom!" She chirps much more cheerfully than Glory Girl.

Lady Photon lets out a soft chuckle and flies off speedily into the blue sky, Brandish following her. Glory Girl gives Laserdream a bit of a wave and a wink, before flying down to the crowd at the end of the pier.

I look at Herald, and raise one eyebrow at him. "Shall I?"

"If you would be so kind." He hand over the box and I send off another self into the sky, on it's way to the lab.

I decide to be nice yet evil, and see what happens. Picking my words carefully, I ask Laserdream, "An escort is not actually needed, but perhaps you would be willing to show Herald the finer points of patrolling? The information could be very useful for us later, as we wish to help curb crime in this city."

She looks pleased at the suggestion, "Oh, of course. There is lot's you should know about how to patrol. It's not actually about catching criminals, it's more about being present to deter crime, since they won't risk it in areas that hero's are very active. Prevention is key! But you don't want to come along? It's fine, really, the more the merrier!"

She sounds sincere, but I don't really want to hang around all day playing chaperone. If any useful information comes up, I'm sure Herald will pass it along. In the meantime, him having more ties to heroes is only bound to make him less likely to go back to a life of crime. Cynical perhaps, but they did do a lot of damage over the years. Best to make sure he won't relapse.

"No thank you. Perhaps some other time."

"Alrighty then! You have fun!"

I nod at her and dissolve that self to make it look like I teleported away. I still have lot's of work to do anyways. I have to start practicing with my new stun baton, and study more for school. I've gotten used to the new costume and the wing cape, but I still have to fill the straps and pockets with useful items. That means combing over all the thrift shops in the city, one by one. I've never been a big fan of shopping, even if it's for a good cause.

Then there is spending hours helping Leet 'unbuild' things, along with my daily morning workouts. Spending time with dad so he isn't suspicious of me is also a priority, since I can't afford to be grounded again. Oh and did I mention yet more research on capes and crime? I have to know the best ways to fix things to be able to make a difference.

Ugh, so much to do.

Finally, March 18th is here and I'm about to learn more about the 'Movement' group. When we researched the UTC thing, it ended up referring to some kind of 'Coordinated Universal Time'. We have way too many time keeping methods on this planet. GMT, UT, UT1, and now this UTC thing. Confusing!

But in the end we figured out that given the info I had Dom write down, the secret meeting is actually taking place at 11:53 PM on March eighteen. At least, that's the time it is over here in Brockton Bay. I'm pretty excited about the possibilities for this meeting. So are Dom and Mark, even if they can't come with me.

The moon is full and overhead, the night sky sprinkled with stars and a rare cloud. Originally I had been dreading trying to teleport leapfrog style across half the world in an attempt to find a tiny island, but we managed to come up with a fantastic, if a bit painful solution after much brainstorming. We got lucky, the moon would be in the right position for this trick tonight.

We figured out that while we can't reliably find a random tiny island, we can reliably find the moon meeting site. At least some part of their meeting must take place on the moon, given the chairs and pamphlets up there. I'll just cut out the middle man and wait until I'm sure the meeting is about to start, go to the moon, and see if they come to me. Much easier than trying to hunt them down.

I look at the clock again, and see that it's finally turned 11:50 PM. "Finally! Ok, time to go guys."

"Yeah, 'Operation Moon Mega Madness Monkey' is a go!"

Herald shakes his head and sighs while I roll my eyes at Dom.

"Alright, good luck Messenger. Stay safe, ok?"

"Yeah, yeah. You sure you won't be too bored up here with nothing but my lame commentary? You can still go back into the lab where its nice and warm."

"Nah, solving this mystery is way more interesting than supervising the fabber as it makes the last of New Waves costumes. Plus it's nice out. Who knows, we might get lucky and spot a meteor shower."

"Yeah, what he said. Plus I'm out of things to do anyways. I spent the last of the build budget, so until we get paid the rest of the money from the costumes I got dick-all to do. I don't even have money to buy new video games, so I'm super bored. Normally I'd go rob someplace and fix that problem, but I can't exactly do that anymore, can I?" Dom whines.

"Sorry, but not sorry? We can try to kill the boredom and hang out tomorrow, hopefully before you turn back to a life of crime out of desperation. After I go deliver the costumes and hang out with Panacea, I should have the weekend mostly free for fun? Well, aside from training."

I bend down again to the telescope and look through it at the moon. As it's craggy white surface fills my vision, I exhale as much as I can before I send out another self. Once in space I send out a rapid series of cascades, going towards the moon as fast as I can. No stopping to sight-see this time, I'm on a fact finding mission.

After what seems like a remarkably short time, I finally see the long shadow of the obelisk. I aim for the base of it and quickly reach the meeting site. No one seems to be here, which is both disappointing, yet also exciting.

"I'm here guys. No people at the site yet, so I'll settle down and wait for them."

I decide that I'll sit on the table for now, since I don't want to be presumptuous and sit on a chair. Especially since they might teleport near their seats, and this is the one place I can be sure I don't have to worry about them trying to appear in.

It would be rude to cause their teleportation abilities to fail because of an unexpected person invading their space. I have no clue how their powers work, but better safe than sorry. A few long minutes go by as I switch back and forth from sitting on one side of the table to the other. It's not very sturdy, but my own light frame combined with the low gravity means I don't think it is in any danger of collapsing any time soon.

Left side, right side, left side, right side. Over and over I trade locations with myself, killing time. Eventually I glance at my watch with both of my selves, bored. "This is kind of boring. It's almost midnight and no people yet. Do you think we got the time wrong?"

"Hmm, it is possible that there is a code within the paper that would tell a true member of the group the real time. Too bad we couldn't actually get our hands on the paper itself."

"It's a fucking meeting right? People always show up late, and it takes a while to get started. I'd give it a few more minutes before I call it quits."

"Ok, fair enough. Let's give it a bit longer before we call it quits. Maybe we will get lucky and the next random location is somewhere actually possible to find without fancy GPS tech. I can snoop again in a few days to see if there is a new set of pamphlets on the table."

Back to waiting. Who knew the moon was so boring?

All of a sudden, people! Air! I can't help but gasp as the sudden atmosphere forces itself into my air starved lungs. Standing before me are twelve capes. Each of them tenses up and stares right at me, as the noise from my strangled gasp reaches them.

"Meeting?" I sheepishly ask to try and defuse tension, holding up a pamphlet in my defense.

I sit up on the rooftop and cry out, "Holy crap that scared me, they are here! Uh, there. Er, you know what I mean. There's twelve of them, so three must be missing today. I know Strider, he's in the middle of the entire group, some chick is next to him in a skintight pink dress with white circles. Oh, wow. Legend is here. Wow, uh, I think this group is more important than we thought... This might have been a bad idea guys? Or a really good one, it's hard to tell."

Dom swears and looks nervously up at the moon. I don't blame him, I'm pretty sure Legend could come down to Brockton Bay in less than thirty seconds if knew where to find us. He's probably the fastest cape alive that isn't a teleporter.

On the moon the assembled capes stare at me for a long second. Then Strider and the pink lady start to laugh, triggering laughter in half of the others.

"Well, that's the most surprising way I think we've ever met a new prospective member before." He says with what sounds like a slight British accent.

I am almost out of time with this self so I send out a fresh one, this time not sitting down on their table but standing respectfully. I decide to keep this self as Prime for now since there is air to breathe, and start bouncing around two selves on the roof instead. Huh, now that I have an undamaged nose, why am I smelling gunpowder?

"Sorry for the intrusion, but I was intrigued." I tell them with a shrug once their chuckles die down. I'm curious about that 'prospective member' bit he mentioned, and make sure to start relaying back the conversation to the guys, along with commentary and descriptions.

"I'm so, so sorry, it's just really funny. We've never had someone wait up here on the moon for us before! Usually the rare one will see the pamphlets we leave out and find us down on the ground, but usually we invite new folk personally." Pink lady apologizes between giggles.

One guy who looks like a Case 53 steps forward. He is covered in midnight black feathers and what looks like clear crystal shards, one especially large and curved shard juts out of his face like the beak of a bird. "Hey, don't mind these chuckle heads. Let me introduce ya around, eh?"

His voice is kind of odd, it sounds musical like a vibrating string of an instrument. Maybe he has no mouth and has to vibrate the crystals to talk? "I'm the cool, suave and utterly amazing high-flier Icarus. Telekinesis and flight are my specialty. Blue boy over there is the world famous teleporting Strider, plus our fearless leader. Next to him is our adorable and loquacious Bubbles. She's the one responsible for this lovely air you're breathin in, although some of us don't really need it."

He starts to gesture to the rest of them in turn as he explains their name and power.

First up is the a man that everyone in the world knows, a member of the Triumvirate, one of the three most powerful capes in the entire world, and leader of the Protectorate. Legend. He's got wavy brown hair, a simple blue mask that covers his eyes, and a skintight blue bodysuit that has lightning designs crawling all over it. Exactly like all the pictures, posters, and trading cards.

Icarus instead describes him as, "Legend. No need to explain to ya what he does, but just in case ya live under a rock, he flies and shoots lasers. He's our papa bear and keeps us all on the straight an narrow."

"Papa bear?" Mark asks aloud in bemusement when I finish passing on this amusing tidbit.

"Next up is the sexy Stardust. She's got nifty changer powers an turns into a shootin star thing that hits stuff hard." He says while pointing to a woman with dark skin, a wild afro, and a bright yellow costume that has black stripes all over it. A yellow bandana covers her mouth like a cowboy in a western. She shoots Icarus an annoyed look at his description of her, and he hastily moves on to someone else.

"Backstep there is a real clever detective type, with a side order of teleportation. It's all object based, so don't let him touch ya stuff unless ya like him popping up outta nowhere."

This guy has a pretty casual costume, basically a long trench coat with a fancy hat, checkered scarf and simple cloth mask. It looks like he has a bunch of stuff stashed away under the coat, like one of those sketchy guys who jump out at you and try to sell you a counterfeit watch. I bet he could quickly take off the mask and tuck it under his hat to look relatively normal in a heartbeat.

"Then we got Shuffle, he teleports chunks of land around. It was real hilarious when he accidentally turned a chunk of Nevada and the Amazon into bits of da moon. Poor guy almost didn't survive his moon experiment. Ended up in Brazil, where I spotted his landscaping job an brought the poor sap in for healin."

Shuffle gives a long suffering sighs and rolls his eyes. It looks like he has a rather interesting costume. It looks like detailed maps of all parts of the world cover him from head to toe. His costume has lots of layers and folds that seem to cover a lot of real estate, literally. If his power is as random as Icarus implies, then he probably needs them just to figure out where the heck he lands when he uses his power.

"Next we have the bold and brave Ladon. She's very good at what she does an supports us behind the scenes. Oh an she can do some kinda Stranger hiding stuff, keeps us safe from being spied on."

Ladon is a woman with steel grey hair in a bun and a stern disposition. Her costume is a simple black robe with a red fist on the front, and a black leather mask hiding her entire face behind a smooth, featureless oval.

Icarus continues, "Then we have the lovely and intelligent Sifara, she can do an interestin anchoring effect on people and objects. Real useful and lets her tag along with other Movers."

This cape is an Indian woman with a simple sari of blue and yellow, long braided black hair that reaches her knees, and a simple butterfly mask that covers her face entirely. She gives me a bit of a shrug when named, but her posture tells me that she's bored with all these introductions.

"Oh and the gorgeous Citrine, we must not forget about this enchantress. She has a subtle power, but it lets her interfere with other powers and physics itself if need be."

The woman in a golden evening gown nods at me politely, light glinting off the yellow gems embedded in her intricate mask. I'd bet my right arm that they are her namesake gemstone. She looks incredibly rich and very pretty.

"Last but not least is the lovable scamp, Xiaoshi and his fierce brother Wudao. Xi can generate chaos and bad luck, Wu is able to alter and merge reality for a short while."

Two young looking Asian men have colorful costumes that seem to be made of different colours, scraps of fabric, and textures. I notice that many of the oddly shaped bits of cloth have blood on them, and many seem to be made of spandex. I suddenly realize that they are scraps of costumes from people they have fought. I really hope that they have only been taking trophies from people they beat-up, but given the blood, I suspect that it might signify kills. Despite their youth, they look hard, with lean muscle and menacing postures.

"So! What's up with ya newbie?" Icarus asks me after the introductions are over.

I figure that there is no harm in being straightforward with them. I want to know more and possibly even join them, if this group is what I think it is.

"Messenger." I introduce myself with a short bow. "I teleport, and can leave behind useful afterimages. I hope my presence here is not a problem?"

I demonstrate my powers by teleporting a bit to the side and leaving a self behind. I try to poke myself in the face with the new self Prime, while batting away my finger with my other self to prevent it. Then I let it dissolve and face the group once more.

"No, no problem. Anyone with the drive to come here to the moon, to witness history, is welcome. The desire to explore, to reach out beyond the limits, to leave your mark, it is what sets us apart. People with the ability to come here under their own power are useful, not to mention some type of secondary power that allowed you survive until we arrived..." Legend raises an eyebrow at me as he muses aloud.

Bubbles interjects happily, "Well, you found us and saw the pamphlets. What do you think? Want to help us save the world from a total collapse of civilization?"

"Gee, way to leap right in there Bubbles." Icarus says sarcastically while floating over to sit on a chair. I'm not sure why he'd want to sit down when he can probably suspend himself in the air. I look closer and realize that nope, I was wrong. He's sitting maybe an inch or two off the chair. Sneaky guy this Icarus.

I tentatively ask them, "Civilization? I thought you guys might be doing something important, but I assumed from the obelisk and map that it was against the Endbringers?"

"Oh, yes well them too, but this particular group is more about the behind the scenes stuff! We're the movers and shakers who try to make sure it all doesn't fall to pieces. People who are lucky enough to come here on their own or are brought by someone else, we have a common bond! We've all seen that glorious sight up above us and realized that we all have to fight together to save Gods creation. The entire world depends on us because we are the only ones who even realize the danger!" She strikes a silly, semi-heroic pose, before giggling and skipping over to a seat in the circle.

"She is correct." Citrine adds. "Far too many capes are shortsighted, only thinking what is best for them or for the people close to them. Only a few have the vision and discipline necessary to see the larger picture. To put aside differences for such an important goal. We and those who are allied with us are the few who will do whatever is needed for humanity to survive."

Citrine seems to prefer to stand beside her chair, but most of the rest of the group move to sit down. I guess it might be hard to sit in that gown. You'd think she would have picked a costume more practical for fighting in. Strider and Backstep take seats at the table, they must be in charge of this group. I had expected Legend to be in charge, but I suppose that he is already in charge of a lot of things, he must not have the time to lead another group.

I think carefully about what they have told me so far, as I also finish telling Dom and Mark about everything. Given that Legend himself is a part of this, I don't have much reason to doubt them when they claim to be working for the good of all people. It's a pretty diverse bunch and while I don't imagine I'd be of much help, I can't stand by and do nothing if it might mean the end of the world.

Dom swears softly under his breath and mutters, "I don't like the sound of this. I don't think I'd do very well fighting zombies or space aliens or whatever kind of apocalypse is coming."

"Yeah, as self-centered as we are, it's kinda hard to indulge in luxuries if there is nothing left to enjoy having. We should probably help them? Ugh, Messenger. You've really corrupted us with this whole 'heroism' thing. Are you sure you don't have a Master power too?" Mark teases me to lighten the mood, but I can tell he's quite worried by this slowly unfolding bad news.

I decide that I have my answer. Both for me, and for my team of misfits. "I consider myself a hero and if there is a threat to humanity, I would wish to help fight it. I'm not sure what I could possibly do, but I'm willing to try."

Ladon nods in approval, speaking with a thickly accented and broken English.

"Good, you have fight. But do you have ability to see more than label of good and bad? Some of us bad people, we kill and steal. We have bad allies who break law, sometimes we help do bad things. All is fair when fighting doom, but if you can't? You leave now, before you learn more. Never return to moon or speak of us, or is your death. Fair?"

I frown under my mask, but am forced to agree. If this 'doom' is really that bad, then underhanded tactics might be the only way to stop it.

"That is fair. I can accept it, but only if it is truly necessary. I hope you do not expect me to do anything I am not comfortable with?" I ask them politely, trying to keep my suspicion out of my voice.

Shuffle speaks up with a southern drawl. "Naw, you are only asked to do what you can. There's plenty of underhanded scoundrels like Icarus around willing to do the dirty work, so you don't have to worry bout it if it aint to your taste. I don't do killin, but I am willin to teleport troublemakers out of town so they's gotta walk back. Usually does the trick. But most of our work ain't death, it's theft. Economics stuff mostly. Heaps more boring than you're likely thinkin. We do alota coordinatin."

"Uh, what exactly is the nature of this impending apocalypse?" I ask confused. That makes no sense at all. Economics?

In comes the ever enthusiastic Bubbles to the rescue. "Oh! Right, see there are some really smart Thinkers and people who noticed a problem a while back. They managed to figure out that because of all the Endbringer attacks, S-class threats popping up and stuff, that eventually the entire world will collapse! Civilization will be kaput and at the very least, we'll be reduced to tiny bands of roving nomads. Very bad stuff. And if we don't do anything about it, it will happen only thirty years from now!"

Icarus tilts his chair back way further than it could ever possibly balance, but I know he is using his power more. He's kind of a show-off, but I like him a bit anyways. Even if Shuffle seems to think he's a scoundrel. From what Ladon said, I get the feeling that many of these guys might end up being what I'd call a 'villain', but if they are willing to work to save the world? I figure it's like the Endbringer Truce, but long term. Ignore the minor evil to focus on the big stuff? I can do that. I did it with Uber and Leet and for less reason too.

"Now thirty years away don't seem like much of a problem right? But it's sooner than you'd think kid. Luckily, this group has been around for almost a whole decade now, and we've been pushing back the deadline for that entire time. If we hadn't been, then that means things would be collapsing around your ears by the time you had kids of your own. So good news is that as long as we keep workin on it, the world aint gonna end. Admittedly it won't get better until we can figure out how to kill them dammed things, but at least it won't get worse." Backstep adds.

I make a leap of logic and ask, "Do you fix cities?" I think back to the map with green dots on it. That would make sense, given the data. The only city that ever fully recovered from an Endbringer attack was New York, so it fits.

"Indeedy we do, and more too! One thing we do is monitor and babysit a group of smarty pants bad guys called the Elite. They identify people and companies who have been hoarding wealth clogging up the economy's gears, then find ways to steal it all. We help them when they need it, but only because they behave and don't hoard the money themselves. Instead they spend it all on stuff. They probably know more about the impending doom deadline than we do, so they know that not helping will make them lose their nice toys faster. Can't live in sinful luxury if there's no nice things to buy!"

"You know, I'm getting the feeling that Bubbles might be a bit religious." I comment to the guys at home.

"Sounds like it. We should look all these guys up once we get back inside, find out more about them."

"Ooh, yeah, that'll kill some time tonight and tomorrow. I call dibs!"

Legend frowns slightly, "It is distasteful to be helping such thieves, but it is a good way to revitalize a dying city and create jobs. This in turn lowers the crime rate, saving lives. The Elite use most of the funds they liberate to set up new businesses in certain target cities we are attempting to improve. We regretfully remove the ones who do not understand the rules, but few attempt to break them."

Icarus adds, "Heh, amusingly enough, they seem to have adapted quite well to using cash flow as a metric for success among themselves, instead of the more normal 'piles of money' method. They've got status games among themselves that are very twisty and bizarre, only another Thinker would understand it. They actually form up teams and compete to see who can bring back a city from disaster the fastest. Although the teams keep changing, so no clue how they know who is on what side. We have no idea what the rules are or how they score it, let alone the prizes, but we did put our foot down about sabotaging the other cities growth. Better uses for their time and energy."

"What other projects do you pursue?" I ask curious. Surely there has to be a better, more noble way to help out?

Sifara finally speaks up in slightly accented, soft voice. "We also eliminate S-class threats, as well as capes with subtle and dark powers that threaten the worlds stability. While many of us who find our way to the moon are not powerful enough ourselves to destroy the truly horrible beings, we have allies we can call upon, and clever strategies that may allow us to win. Time may not be on our side, but we are organized and well informed. Matching up the correct cape to a foe ensures success. We also fight Endbringers, and encourage others to contribute in some way to the struggle."

"Yupparoony! Oh and we also go around looking for opportunities to give other cities little economic boosts here and there, minor jobs that will help long term. We have a little job list that Strider and Backstep make from our various sources around the world. Then anyone who has no ongoing job can look at this list and pick a few they think they can do! The jobs are often all over the world, so it's useful to be able to fly or teleport."

Bubbles pauses for a breath, then continues onward as she seems to remember something.

"Oh and you don't have to do the jobs alone, you can include any teammates you might have, just don't tell them anything about us. But if you think you know of someone who would be trustworthy and have similar ideals as the rest of us, you can nominate them to join and we'll check them out! That's the normal way to join, but you got lucky since you found us all on your own. If they pass a quick security check, they can know all about the Movement and help out with more sensitive missions. Only one person per team can come to the moon meetings to save on time and space, so once your whole team is accepted you should send whoever seems best. Until then, you can't tell them anything about us or else it will go very badly for you." She ends sternly.

Uh-oh, this could be a problem. The guys look very alarmed at this news and I agree with them wholeheartedly. I quickly rack my brain for a nice formal way to tell these powerful capes, 'sorry but too late'.

"My apologies, but I did not know that I was supposed to exclude my team. I have been informing them of all of my lunar explorations and unfortunately they have been listening in to all of this. I hope this will not cause complications?"

That little bomb causes quite a bit of silence among the group. I can't help but cringe as it extends longer and longer. Legend finally breaks the silence after sharing a significant glance with Strider.

"Normally we try to be more cautious of who we admit, barring the few brave explorers who come here on their own. This group was formed by such explorers, and we try to be lenient with everyone who shares our calling. Since you did not know, we will be as forgiving as is possible, but I hope you understand that we cannot risk this group's safety. There are some who would try to destroy us if they knew about us. If your teammates cannot prove trustworthy, we will have to take measures to ensure that they cannot be a threat to us."

I gulp involuntarily. He's trying to be nice, but the steel underneath his voice leaves no room for arguments.

"What now?" I force myself to ask.

Strider stands up and stretches a bit. "Now? Now you go home and introduce your team to Backstep and I. A few capes will meet with you and your teammates in the coming week, speak with you, and determine the risk you pose. You will know our decision shortly after. I can explain more about the Movement once this little problem is solved. So where are you located kid?"

"Brockton Bay."

"More specific if you can? I can work off a street address."

I'm not terribly happy about giving away the location of the secret lab, not that it matters much given the power level and connections the Movement seems to have. Still, I'm pretty sure that we will pass their tests and be admitted. I don't think Dom and Mark are the betraying type, and given that the Movement seems to be endorsing theft and occasional, 'elimination' of threats, perhaps their history as Uber & Leet won't be a problem. I hope not, because I don't think our flimsy cover will withstand proper scrutiny.

I tell Strider the address reluctantly, while warning the guys about the incoming guests. Backstep stands up and nods slightly.

Then we are suddenly standing on the rooftop. At the same instant that we arrive, I dismiss the two selves bouncing around. Not much point in keeping them around, and at least this might keep them questioning how my teammates were able to hear anything. Have to try to keep some secrets. As my eyes slowly adjust to the darkness of the night, I see Backstep move forward.

"Hello gents. Just need a few hairs from the three of you please. I assume you know what's going on?"

"Yeah, but what do you need the hair for?" Mark asks suspiciously.

"Merely a bit of insurance. Honestly, I think that as long as you chaps are sensible, you should have no problems with getting accepted into the group. We're all a bunch of softies really, even the Hong Kong brothers tend to be a bit too noble minded to be truly vicious. We rarely have problems with vetting people, most tend to not want to see the world end, no matter how selfish they are. Now, hair please?"

We reluctantly pull out a few hairs and hand them over. I make sure to break mine a few times to hide the length before I hand it over, as futile as I'm sure my deception is.

"Thank-you and have a lovely evening." Backstep nods pleasantly to us and disappears with Strider, presumably back to the moon.

"Well Fuck." Dom finally lets out.

I can only wordlessly agree. I don't think we are in trouble, but we certainly have learned a lot tonight.

AN: So, can you name the various groups that are a part of this secret society? You get an imaginary point for each one you name! :D

And no Cauldron doesn't count, that one is obvious. :P
After all, they don't want the world to end, and need to help prop up civilization somehow! (Numbers Man obviously does some subtle stuff, but he can't use a laptop to steal gold bars hidden in some duty vault, and is far too busy to do it himself.)

Edit2: Upped the cost of the costume a bit, since it ended up being too low, and changed the end of the world deadline to match better with the original story estimates by Cauldron.