As the sunset is near, Sunblast and G-Lo sit on the roof as they watch policemen apply yellow tape toward the crime scene. While G-Lo is explaining how Ghoul got away.
"And then he tossed me the bags and I fell off the building…" G-Lo says as she stretches her limbs to ease the pain.
"Well, this is a pretty busy day for both of us," Says Sunblast with a fake smile. "But not so bad for the first day, huh?"
"If you forget all about me getting frozen, and you getting paralyzed and knocked down then yes." G-Lo says calmly as she stretches and massages her limbs "Gosh I didn't know I would still feel numb from that freeze ray!"
Sunblast looks at G-Lo with intrigue as she pulls her limbs back and sparks questions. "Hmm so, are you made of slime or…something?" Sunblast asks.
"I…don't want to talk about it…" G-Lo says as she avoids eye contact. "Hey ummm..Thank you for saving me. I can't imagine what would happen if I lost a piece of me. Let's just say if I'm not complete then I fall apart." G-Lo says with a big smile that doesn't reach her eyes.
"Really? I didn't know, that's pretty weird." Sunblast says as he starts to ponder about the possible consequences of offending her.
"Yeah I know." G-Lo says as she shrugs but smiles
"So it doesn't bother you?" Sunblast asks, taking another gamble of his curiosity.
"No" G-Lo answers with no issue.
"Really?" Sunblast says in surprise.
"Really really" G-Lo says "But hey! At least I'm all in one piece!" says cheerfully.
"That is good. Although we need to be smarter about this. These villains are carrying equipment that I don't often mess with. Which has never happened before to be honest." Sunblast says as he scratches his head.
"I know right? Those weapons are pretty dangerous! They are used on us and we were defeated so easily the first time. We did bounce back today and put those villains in their place, but can you imagine how bad it would have been if they used them on civilians?." G-Lo expressed with a concerned look in her eyes.
Sunblast then stares at the weapon. He couldn't put a finger where he recognized it from. "But that's why we are here kiddo, to protect people and make a living out of it!" Sunblast laughs a little and tries to make her smile.
"You're telling me." G-Lo says as she gets a text from her job at the XOXO store. "We need you to clean up the slushy machine on your next shift." G-Lo frowned "Again!?"
"Are you okay kid?" He says a little concerned "You know what, we need to stop thinking about today, let's go and grab a bite, we can use the break".
"I know a good sandwich place…" G-Lo offers.
"Say no more, lead the way G-Lo!" Sunblast cheers.
.
.
.
Both arrive at the shop in their civilian forms and order their sandwiches and some appetizers. Some customers watch the news of Sunblast and G-Lo and what happened earlier today.
"Hey look at that, Sunblast is back! Woah!"
"Yeah! Welcome back, Sun of Atreno!"
Gloria notices the admiration in their faces, they really appreciate her partner, this gets a smile out of her. "Huh, you really are famous in this city."
Sunblast looks around and says "What can I say...I guess it's just.." Sunblast says until…
"Wait a minute…isn't he supposed to be taller, he looks like he shrunk?" Says a patron.
"Yeah he looks like he is now shorter than Omega" Says another person.
Gloria giggles at the comments from the customers. "Oh That's right, I just noticed this but you were taller, weren't you?" She giggles even more at Sunblast's frustrated grimace. The rookie tries to contain her laughter not wanting to offend her new partner.
Sunblast rolls his eyes and just smiles along and says "It was a long story, but I'm just glad that I can be able to lift something with just one hand." Saul sighs in defeat.
Gloria then makes a curious look and continues "Well, that does sound like an interesting story. I mean you have been gone for a while now." G-Lo then makes puppy eyes at the hero who is almost the same height as her. "Can you tell me please?!"
Even though Sunblast knew G-Lo for a short time, it couldn't hurt to share his story with someone. Sunblast sighs, "Let's just say I had a run-in with Penumbra after I defeated her, but I got some bad luck, gotten beat up, shrunk, eaten, surgically removed from the stomach of the most disgusting creature on the planet, was held somewhere against my will by Penumbra, experimented on, lived with a rat for a few months, got depressed, escaped and I found a growth ray and here I am!" Saul says in fake cheer from his painful, humiliating, and dreading experience with his time amongst the presence of super villains.
The rookie widens her eyes in surprise and is impressed by what Sunblast has been through, and then says "Huh, that is a lot, I don't know what to say… Oh! Maybe we can ask Omega to find a way to get your height back?" Gloria says with a hopeful tone in her voice.
"Maybe later…" Saul says as he takes a bite from his sandwich that is just given to him.
"But just going by what you said it seems like this Penumbra lady is pretty awful, to shrink someone and keep them hostage, use you on experiments, and make you live with rats; it sounds like she doesn't even think of you as a human but as a guinea pig!" Gloria exclaims as she takes a bite from her sandwich.
Sunblast almost blushes a bit but hides it with a cough, and says "Well the shrinking doesn't come from her, that is a courtesy of those 'Black Hat Organization' nerds or whatever they're called." Saul says as he takes another bite. "I swear that if I see the lab coated nerd again…" Saul growls as he clutches his water bottle.
G-Lo gasps quietly "Wait, you fought the Black Hat organization?!" Careful not to draw attention to themselves.
"Yeah, I fought with a bunch of them, I even got to enter their headquarters on their evil island but that's where they planted their trap." Saul says as he rubs his temples.
"Really?" G-Lo asks in curiosity.
"Yeah and the worst part happened before I was shrunk… that crazy woman…" Saul groans as he remembers his run-in with the lizard woman.
"Wow! I only fought them once, well Bicep fought while I was protecting the civilians, but that still counts." G-Lo smiles proud of herself.
"Yeah but still, I think you'd be able to fight that bag head, and maybe even that crazy lizard woman. Not sure about the bear though…Or whatever they are called" Saul says not caring of the names.
Gloria shrugs and says "I don't know… I heard that "Liquid Lizard" is practically the brawn of the organization…" Gloria says in a slight of fear. "And Bicep got crushed just by the bag guy…" she flinches thinking about that day.
Sunblast takes a bite just before he hears the Bag Guy part, he coughs from bits of his sandwich stuck in his throat, he was so surprised, he lets it all out but even that didn't stop him from laughing. "Biceps got defeated by that light weight!? Pff, no wonder why he quit!" He giggles until he stares at Gloria, who is not laughing, then stops smiling and asks "Come on…are you sure?" Saul asks in confusion.
"A lightweight?! HE WAS NOT A LIGHTWEIGHT!" says G-Lo dumbfounded. "I don't know how he does it but he changed his physical appearance, when we fought him he was at least 2 meters tall and was even more built than Bicep!" Gloria says in horror.
"Hmm, strange. Normally that nerd has his team do all the fighting, at least that was what happened the last time I dealt with him…" Sunblast says as he thinks back to the last time they met when he was staying with Penumbra. "Besides, the last time I saw him was from Penumbras' computer and he is just the same."
"Well, he must have reverted his appearance for Miss Heed´s stream too but…" G-Lo's voice volume decreases as she speaks "As sad as it is, he was doing all of the work there"
"Yeah, but I saw the rest of that stream, where they kissed and well for some reason it snapped everyone from her trance." Saul says as he cringes at the memory as he remembers that uses the stream to cure Penumbra trance.
"Ah! I was already thinking about the kiss, I just didn't want to say the word!" G-Lo says while covering her ears with her hands. "I should have never started talking about that, that was an awful day for the heros!"
"What do you…? I mean…yeah we lost a hero, but she wasn't a hero…" Sunblast says "She was using people and besides…it could have been worse" He says trying to cheer her up.
"But she was part of 'The golden rule', something most of us can only dream of. She was one of the normal people out there who got to be at the elite and bring more people to P.E.A.C.E., she did charity work, she visited the sick heroes and she helped heroes in and out of her city…" G-Lo is starting to sniff. "She captured a freaking planet conqueror herself, who would have doubted her?"
"Kid..look..believe me when I say this is one of these things that are more complicated than they seem. Besides, it was her choice to take advantage of people. Not to mention that she wasn't a real hero. All that matters is what YOU want to be. Also Miss Heed really doesn't put up a fight. Turns out that perfume she used had chemicals with such rare ingredients that are practically illegal, and not to mention is questionable on how she obtained them." Saul says in suspicion.
"But if keeping peace in your city and taking planet conquerors into custody doesn't make you a real hero… then are there any real heros?" G-Lo asks with a thoughtful expression.
"And using them for undignified entertainment, financial gain, cheating on a competition. Does that sound like a real hero?" Saul remarked in distaste.
"Saul… You never put Penumbra into custody, you always let her go… why?"
"The situation with Penumbra is… complicated. Anyway it's getting late, maybe we should go" Saul says as he looks out the shop's window at the setting sun.
"You're right…" G-Lo gets up and pays her bill. " This conversation became way too serious for a sandwich place." She says with a calmer voice while she fakes a little smile on her face. "Let's go…"
Saul pays his bill, and follows Gloria. The girl still looks a little down. So Saul spoke up.
"Hey, chin up kiddo. All that really matters is how you keep on moving forward. I know you don't have it easy, and were belittled by Bicep. All that matters is that you are still a hero, and I know Miss Heed meant a lot to you, but she isn't a person for you to look up to." Saul tries to encourage.
"Yeah, I know…thank you…" Gloria takes a deep breath and starts to smile again. "Anyway, thanks for the talk. I'll see you tomorrow." Gloria says as she is about to leave but she turns back, "Well, at least there is a thing I know for sure: Now that you're back, I'm sure Penumbra will think twice before using her machines to mess with this city!"
As Gloria leaves Saul smiles and makes an awkward laugh. "Yeah and despite her… wait a minute…" Saul says as he reaches in his pocket, takes out the broken weapon, and looks closer at the device. He carefully melted the cap and looked inside the label that read "Braxton".
"Oh no…" Sunblast whispered as he realized that the equipment Dark Phantom used is made by Penumbra! Who happens to be the same woman he just slept with earlier.
Uh oh, he is fucked in sooo many ways!