She pushed the door open quietly and stepped into her apartment. She had been expecting the lights to be off and for her mother to be asleep, but instead, she found the woman waiting for her.


    "Hope!"


    Despite having superhuman strength and speed, she was unable to react in time as her mother pulled her in for a bone-hurting hug. She gasped and patted the woman on the back, trying to break out of the grip. "S- Sorry I was a bit late."


    "A bit late?" Her mother pulled away, gripping her tightly by the shoulders. "What on Earth happened? I thought I could hear it on the news, but all of you guys vanished out of the city. No one knows what happened. Also, why are you glowing?"


    She pressed a button on her watch, and her costume flashed away, leaving her in just a T-shirt and pants. She brushed some of her blonde hair out of the way and shrugged. "I sort of can''t turn it off for some reason."


    "What!"


    "Oh, but don''t worry! Boy Genius said he''d give me something to cover it up before I have to go to school tomorrow!"


    Her mother sighed and stepped away, folding her arms. "School has been canceled."


    "It has?"


    "With everything that''s going on, they decided it would be best to close it down for the week. No one knows where the mayor is, and while damage was kept to a minimum, everyone can tell something happened." The woman looked her daughter in the eyes. "Hope. Please. Tell me what happened."


    She felt her throat go dry. She shuffled forward quietly and moved past her mother, taking a seat on the couch. She looked down at her hands, watching as they shook a bit. It was hard to believe that everything had happened in a day. Less even. In the span of a single night, they had defeated most of Zoo and Bad Timers, found out who the leader of the Wandering Coin was, engaged in combat with Fairy Queen, Golden God, and a bunch of monsters, and discovered that the Emperor was alive. Worse yet, the Enforcers were in a panic, which in turn meant the lesser heroes were in a panic, which then caused the villains to go on a rampage.


    It almost felt as if the world was at the point where it would begin to change...


    She jumped a bit when her mother placed their hands over hers. "Hope?"


    "I''m fine." She shook her head and gripped her mom''s hand. "A lot happened, is all." Slowly, she told her mother everything. About what the Wasteland was like, the fight with Wish, and the return of the Emperor, and how her powers had stopped working right. "The Victorian managed to drive him off. The Enforcers were looking all over for him, but he could be anywhere on Earth. Hell, he might not even be on Earth anymore, and worse yet, he has Avalon with him, who is apparently a magical teleporting sword!" She felt her voice break for a moment, and she gritted her teeth. "It was supposed to be different. I was supposed to be stronger."


    Her mom quietly took a seat on the couch next to her. Jane stared up at the ceiling as her daughter''s words rang through her mind. "You''re just like your father."


    "Huh?"


    "He would say the same thing every time he came home from his fishing trips. A little bit before you were born, he worked at the docks. Back then, they actually used them for stuff. He would go out to the sea sometimes for months on end, trying to get old wreckage or other such things: him and your Uncle Marcus. Marcus would always get more than him, though. Each time, your father would come back and vow he''d bring back more than Marcus next time and get a better paycheck. Marcus always seemed to be ahead of him, though." Her mother''s smile faded for a moment, and the woman sighed. "Your father never gave up. He worked hard. So hard that even now, he''s putting in an effort to stay alive. I think some of that strength went to you."


    She felt her heart clench a bit, and she bowed her head. "Dad is really amazing," she said.


    Her mom giggled and patted her on the head. "That''s why I married him. I don''t think you failed, Hope. I wasn''t there, but from the sound of it, you guys did more good than bad. If the Emperor really is alive, then it''s not your fault. You''re not the one that made him come back. No one can blame you for losing to him either."


    She nodded her head numbly. She felt a bit like a jerk at that moment. Her mother must have been scared. Terrified even. The thought of the Emperor even walking somewhere on this planet was enough to age a person with stress. Yet instead of letting her mother feel that fear, she was selfishly forcing the woman to put up a strong act and comfort her.


    She slapped at her face and managed to put on a fake smile. "I shouldn''t be moping around. I''ll just get stronger, and next time, stop the Emperor. I won''t do it alone. I have a lot of people that I think can help. This won''t be like the incident fifteen years ago. The moment he tries anything, we''ll stop him. We have the Victorian, and Battery, and other people also.”


    Her speech faded as a loud buzzing came from her phone. She reached into her pocket, pulled it out, and frowned. It had been destroyed sometime during her fighting, yet here it was. It wasn''t just the phone either. Her entire costume had been healed, as had her shield and helmet. Was it actually her phone or something else...


    "What is it?" Her mom asked.


    "Nothing." Her frown only grew when she read the text that was sent to her. It was a group chat that had gone out to every member of Pantheon from Myth.


    "That doesn''t look like nothing. Hope?"


    "I have the day off."


    "Huh?"


    "Myth sent it to everyone. He wants us all to rest and relax for a few days and is forbidding us from doing hero work."


    "That''s good, right?"


    "I guess." Her head fell back onto the couch, and she stared up at the roof above, groaning. "I got nothing to do now, though." Then a thought hit her. "Mom?"


    "Yeah?"


    "What did you and Dad do for fun?"


    “What do you mean?” The woman asked.


    “You know… Like when you were younger? You really liked dad, so how did you approach him?”


    Her mom gave a sly smile and rubbed her chin. “Does there happen to be a special someone at the moment that you’d like my advice on how to wow them?”


    She rolled her eyes and folded her arms. “I was just curious, is all. I was thinking about maybe hanging out with some friends.”


    She stopped when her phone went off again. She pulled it out and looked at the screen. It was a text from Sky. She felt her heart twitch, and her mother peered over her shoulder, letting out a whistle. It was a message asking to hang out.


    "Well, say something!” Her mother urged.


    “W- What do I say?”


    “Just say something like ‘yeah, I’d love to hang out, xoxo love Hope.”


    “You’re the worst.” She said flatly.


    ***


    Mr. Moore, father of Armin Moore aka Snowdawn, and boss of Oleander''s Cleanup Squad, stared down at the piece of paper. His lip became a thin line as his eyes roamed over it. "You''re sure?"


    "Yes, sir." Jack placed his Cleanup Squad uniform on the desk in front of the man. “I''d have liked to give two weeks'' notice, but it seems I can''t. I''m afraid I''ll have to resign immediately due to personal reasons."


    "I''ll give you a fifty percent raise."


    "What?"


    "Actually, seventy percent. I''ll even throw in two extra days of PTO." Mr. Moore placed the paper down, looking up at Jack. "Mr. Larison. You were here before me. You had every chance to rise up the ranks, yet you never did. You could have easily had my job, but let someone like me take it. You never complained and have come to work on time almost every time for the past seven years that I''ve been your boss. You''ve always come in early and stayed late. You''ve also always turned down my attempts to give you a pay raise."This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Money isn''t an issue, sir," Jack said, shaking his head.


    "Then what is it? Name it."


    Jack held his hand out to the man. "It was an honor to work for you. These past seven years made this career choice work, and there isn''t a better man I''d rather work under. If your son is even half the man you are, then there is no doubt in my mind he''ll go on to do great things."


    Mr. Moore''s look broke, and the man lowered his head as his eyes began to sting. He took Jack''s hand, shaking it. "His mother died." His voice nearly cracked as he shrank down. "She had been overseas and was caught in one of Lucifer''s murder games. She didn''t have powers, not like my Armin. He always blamed himself. He had the chance to go with her and turned it down. There isn''t a day I''m grateful he did, or I''d have lost him too. I think that''s why he does it. He became a hero out of some sense of guilt. When you next see my son, please tell him he doesn''t have to hold that burden anymore."


    Jack turned away and flashed a thumbs-up.


    "Mr. Larison."


    "Yeah?" He turned back to look at his former boss.


    "You''re fired."


    Jack let out a snort before he finally closed the door to his boss''s office and stepped out into the morning sun. It had just started to rise. He was dressed in a simple white buttoned-up shirt and black dress pants. He didn''t stand out at all. No one even paid him a hint of attention as he walked down the street with his hands in his pockets.


    "Two." His mind drifted back to Nick''s words. The Enforcer airship had dropped everyone back off in Oleander, and he found himself back at his home. Nick''s device hummed with a faint blue light.


    "Two months left, huh." Jack hummed.


    "Weeks." Nick corrected. "Two weeks left." Slowly, the dark-skinned man wrapped his arms around the redhead.


    Jack stiffened up a bit. "Uh? What are you doing?"


    "Hugging my best friend for what might be the last time." Jack awkwardly patted Nick on the back. "Are you scared?"


    Instantly, he remembered the image of a beach, with a woman''s hand outstretched for him. "Nah. I''ve been waiting for this moment for fifteen years."


    The memory faded, and Jack looked up at the sky. The sunlight rained down on his skin, and he felt his ankles soaked with water from a wave. Oleander''s beach wasn''t anything like the one in his dream world—it wasn''t even close. He was alone as well, but despite that, he had found himself drawn to it. The Victorian''s words echoed around in his mind. She offered him a way out—a promise to save his life.


    Yet...


    "It was a really shitty life, looking back on it." He chuckled. A street rat and his dog picked up off the side of the road by an insane god who wanted the perfect world. He never got to make much of his own choices, but this was his. This life that should have ended fifteen years ago was finally going to finish its tale. "Just a little bit longer. In a few more days, I will be with her again. In a few more days, I can be happy again. In a few more days, the pain can finally stop. I can see my wife again. I can be happy again.”


    A ringing echoed in the silence around him. Slowly, he pulled out his phone and answered it. "Mr. Larison." It was the voice of Hope.


    "Kid?"


    "I have a favor to ask."


    "Okay?"


    "It''s kind of a big one."


    He sighed but smiled. The rising sun reflected off the sea, casting it in a golden glow. Even on a beach covered in trash and with cold waters, it somehow looked just as amazing as he dreamed it would. "I''ll be right over."


    That was how Jack Larison, also known as Battery, perhaps one of the strongest men on Earth, found himself gripping the grab handle of his car. The vehicle screeched as it went down the roadway past the speed limit and nearly hit three cars, which honked at them.


    "In the name of Full Monarch! Who the hell taught you how to drive!" The man yelled in a panic.


    "No one did! That''s kind of the issue." Hope giggled and did her best to do a drift in Jack''s car. His car in question was a large four-seater truck that was popular fifteen years ago and was being held together by tape and prayers.


    In the backseat of the truck, Armin covered his mouth with his palm as the ride buckled and jumped. "Oh God, I think I''m going to be sick."


    "You puke in my car, and I''ll skin you alive!" Jack yelled, bouncing off of the seat as Hope took the expressway down the road. The car literally flew through the air. "Okay, yeah, no, we''re not doing this anymore! Stop!"


    The truck slowly came to a wobbling stop as Hope somehow managed to park it. The girl in question giggled a bit and rubbed the back of her head. "How did I do-"


    "Backseat! Now!”


    "That''s fair." She climbed out of the driver''s seat and moved to the back, switching with Armin, who took the front. She had driven once before; that had been Lois''s van. Jack''s truck was a lot weirder, though. It was hard to figure out the speed because it required some weird stick that kept needing to be altered, and a light breeze would cause the car to shake. "You should really get a new car, Mr. Larison."


    "What I should have done was tell you to piss off and not bother me on my day off!" Jack took a deep, calming breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I saw what you guys did to Lois''s van. Why the hell am I even shocked? The way the two of you constantly break your own bodies, I shouldn''t be shocked you wouldn''t be delicate with such a precious baby as this." He rubbed the dashboard of his car as his radio glitched out and shot the music disk out. "Aw. There, there, let it out. Daddy''s here."


    Armin slowly adjusted his seatbelt and gripped the steering wheel. "I''ll do my best not to dent your baby, Jacky."


    "Call me that again, and you''re walking home on broken legs."


    "Y- Yes, sir." Armin pulled out of the crash spot Hope had left them in and began to head down the road. "Thanks for letting us borrow your truck, though, sir. Both our parents are busy with work, and it''d have been a long walk. Still, I never expected you to be the kind of person attached to their truck."


    "I''m really not a car nut." Jack rubbed the dashboard quietly. "It''s just..." Soon, he''d be gone. Soon, this car would belong to someone else. Nick? Nah. Nick would sell it off in under a week. Myth? Yeah. Soon, it would be Myth''s. "I just don''t see any sense in damaging it if it''ll be someone else''s soon."


    "Someone else''s? Are you selling it, sir?"


    "Something like that."


    Hope frowned as she listened to Mr. Larison''s words. He hadn''t mentioned anything about the talk he had with the Victorian. He''d do it, right? Accept the deal and live. Even if it meant he had to leave Pantheon and become an Enforcer, it had to be better than dying.


    "I think we''re here," Armin announced, slowly pulling in front of a familiar mall. In no time at all, the Cleanup Squad had managed to put the thing back together. It looked even better than it used to, standing much taller and having a way bigger parking lot that allowed for a ton of new cars. The Cleanup Squad had somehow doubled in speed. They were now owned by Boy Genius, who instantly got rid of all the out-of-date junk and replaced it with his own better tech as a ''fuck you'' to Avalon. The general public didn''t know what was happening with Avalon. Not yet, anyway. "Are you sure you''re going to be able to sit in the parking lot and chill by yourself? You''re free to join us if you want, sir."


    Jack shook his head. "I''ll manage on my own. Worst case scenario, I go home."


    "But then, won''t we lose our ride?"


    "Guess you''ll need to find your own way home then."


    Hope giggled and climbed out of the car. "Thanks for doing this, Mr. Larison. Myth said we all have some days off. Make sure you enjoy them as well."


    "I''ll try." Jack watched the kids leave, and slowly, his smile faded. He climbed out of his car and rested on the roof of his truck. The mall was crowded. There''d be a ton of people wanting to get in. He doubted there''d be an attack this time, though. Pretty much every group in Oleander was dead. His eyes roamed over dozens of cars before finally settling on a very expensive-looking blue sports car. He hopped off of his crappy truck and walked over. He wasn''t the only one who had decided to rest on the hood of the car and enjoy the sunshine. "You get suckered into coming, too?"


    Today, she wasn''t Ocean Empress. She was River Sini. She wore a suit and sunglasses, which she lowered as Jack blocked out the sun. "You''re here?" River said, raising an eyebrow.


    "Yep." Jack folded his arms and shrugged his shoulders. "The kids asked me to come drop them off at this mall."


    "Mine did, too. Oh, they must have planned this, didn''t they? They wanted to all hang out."


    "What do kids even do at malls?" Jack asked, frowning.


    "Shopping or going to some of the attractions in the place. This one has a ton of stuff, like a skating ring and a movie theater. Lily bought tickets to some movies, but I wasn''t really paying attention."


    Jack nodded slowly. "They''re going to be in there for hours, aren''t they?"


    "Most certainly."


    "Damn. Tricked again." He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "You said they got a movie theater in this place? Anything good on?"


    "I don''t know. I didn''t check." The woman shrugged. "I was planning on leaving soon and coming back to pick them up when they were done."


    "You doing hero work?"


    "No. My body hasn''t fully recovered yet," the woman said, shaking her head. “Mister Man is covering my city while I''m away. I was planning to just hang around town, I guess, and pay respects to my father''s grave."


    Jack nodded his head and turned away, walking away. He stopped and looked back at her when he noticed she didn''t budge. "Are you coming or what?"


    "Huh?"


    "You said this place has movies, and you ain''t busy. There has to be something to watch, right? Let''s go."


    The woman blinked a few times before finally rolling her eyes. "Ah, what the hell." She scooted off of the roof of her car and followed after the man. "No action movie, though. Let''s watch a romance or horror."


    "Yeah, whatever."


    Meanwhile, near the mall''s entrance, Hope called out when she saw the people waiting for her. "Yo!"


    Lily, Ken, and Sky all turned to look at them as they approached. It was a little weird seeing Sky now. The girl wasn''t in baggy clothing and didn''t have her bird or cane with her. She still covered most of herself up, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and long pants, as well as gloves. And still present in her hair was that single streak of white. Lily, on the other hand, wore a yellow sundress and had her hair done up into a braid. Her arm was hooked around Ken, who had a plain T-shirt and a biker''s leather jacket. He was resting on a motorcycle and had one of his arms holding his helmet.


    "Finally!" Lily said, rolling her eyes. "You guys took forever!"


    "Hey! I wasn''t expecting you, man." Kenny said, looking Armin up and down. "You''re the snow-based guy, right?"


    "Yep. Call me Armin."


    "I''m Kenny or Ken. I''m the freaky wasp guy." Both of the boys fist-bumped and instantly created a deep friendship that would never break.


    Her and Armin had also gotten dressed up a bit. Armin had seemingly tried to copy Mr. Larison and wore a white buttoned-up dress shirt and a pair of long blue jeans. She, on the other hand, wore one of her Enforcer shirts, a light jacket, and shorts since the weather was nice. Unknown to most, she also wore a wig. Well, it wasn''t actually a wig; it was something that went over her hair and covered up the glowing, mimicking her old black hair, which was some weird Super tech that Boy Genius made. As for her eyes, she had replaced her glasses with sunglasses, which blocked out the red.


    Sky''s eyes slowly wandered over Armin''s, and a small frown formed on the girl''s lip. "Oh, you brought your friend..."


    "Yeah. We all agreed to hang out." Hope nodded, smiling.


    "Well, it''s just that when I told you I wanted to hang out and my sister and her boyfriend would be coming, I sort of thought you’d get the hint that this was a double- Ah, never mind. It’s fine. I’ll make it work somehow.” Sky did not sound happy.


    Hope rubbed the back of her neck and glanced at Armin, but he just shrugged. "Okay?"


    Lily snorted, seeing their reaction, and folded her arms. "Well, since there are now five of us instead of four, I guess we can ditch the double date idea and just make this a party. Might as well call up the others!" She pointed up to the sky, smiling. "Tonight, we party!"