13 Chit-Chat

The events following the announcement of the existence of the hero association were a blur. When changes happen, they happen rather quickly. The all-powerful government was suddenly being known for its incompetence, while the hero association kept getting more popular as new heroes started rising up in the news.

A month had passed and the news cycle had pretty much been covering skirmishes of new heroes who rose against the rising number of villains. The intelligence failure of the government was pretty glaring, with not being able to track down the villains or heroes. While powerful voices within the government were angry at the impudence of the vigilantes dressing up as heroes, public support ensured that the government did not try to purge them, yet.

However, the number of rising villains was both a concern and a paradox. The villains rose not only in number but ability too. Almost all villains seemed to be having peak tier abilities, which deepened the rift between the majorly oppressed low tiers and the high tier class of people. The number of high tier villains was also creating panic within the government. Many abilities displayed by them seemed similar to those used by the legacy families which raised questions about their origin. Conspiracy theories abounded.

The laser shooting villain had returned again, attempting to create a recreation of the Meel incident, but he was forced into a corner by several heroes from the association, which showed the world that they were a force to be reckoned with, since the laser villain was by far being considered the most dangerous one among them because of the past.

---

Mobius High School.

The school had been undergoing upheaval as well. The low tier mob who had been protesting and were taken by the government for investigations came back since the government did not have anything on them. No information about the three assassins was released either. Everything seemed to have been hushed up.

The student council decided to announce that bullying would not be tolerated on campus, so did the school authorities. While things were quiet openly, behind the scenes, the bullying got worse. The high tiered students were feeling threatened by the sudden rise of protesting low tier students and the previous incident was still fresh in peoples' minds.

Zeke hadn't been idle in school either. He had been openly challenging high tier bullies in a fair match and beating them thoroughly. There were rumblings among the low tier students who had been banding together in a huge group, that Zeke would challenge the school King.

Zeke had been feeling like life was perfect all these days. He had never felt stronger, he was actually achieving something in life. Perhaps, he thought, he could actually change the world. The rising number of villains worried him, but with the help of the association, he would succeed. Becoming the school king, it was only natural for him at this point. After all, who could even compete with him in school?

As Zeke was ruminating these things during the class break, he suddenly felt really ill. Dizziness overtook him, he could not sit without falling so he stood up, but he could not do so properly. He felt like he was drunk, his motor skills were out of control before he heard a slap on his back and he felt alright again, but his body was drenched in sweat.

"Oh my, you look like you are sick. Let me help you to the washroom." A voice which seemed like it couldn't care any less about Zeke spoke out as a powerful hand gripped his and dragged him out of the class.

"Ryan...Holmes" Zeke gritted through his teeth at the pain from Ryan's powerful grip, who ignored him completely and continued to drag him into the guy's washroom and threw Zeke to the wall.

Zeke hit the wall with a loud bang, his head hurt, but his amplified abilities allowed for some basic pain relief. He got up quickly to take a self-defense stance against his attacker, but Ryan had lost interest in him and was washing his face instead.

"You... how are you so powerful?" Zeke asked, fear evident in his voice, but Ryan ignored his words completely.

"I don't care what superhero games you are playing outside with that borrowed flame, but if you mess around inside the school you better realize that the consequences.", Ryan said as he wiped his face with a towel.

"W-what do you mean?" Zeke froze.

"Did you really think you could put on a costume to mess around the city and no one would notice? I wonder what your little sister thinks about it?" Ryan asked.

"You! How dare you!" Zeke screamed, outraged.

"Oh? You care about her all of a sudden now? If I were an idiot I would have thought you were busy planning your hegemony over the school or something." Ryan mocked which left Zeke stunned and Ryan continued his dismissive behavior of Zeke.

"Let me lay some things straight to you. You are not strong. Not only are you not strong, but you are also an idiot who willingly became the pawn of others. I don't care what mess is happening thanks to your actions outside the school. But if you mess around in the school, I just need to tell the government to check this address out for suspicious activity." Ryan said as he showed Zeke a location on his phone, seeing which Zeke gulped.

"Why? You are a low tier just like us. Despite being so powerful, why do you side with them? You know our suffering! These oppressors have tormented us for so long, are you just going to side with them?" Zeke pleaded.

"Truly a fool with a glib tongue. Here is a riddle for you. Bunch of oppressed low tier ability users suddenly all awaken new abilities in the span of a week. In the succeeding weeks, an even bigger bunch of gangsters in low tier suburbs who were cleaned up by the 'heroes' suddenly advanced as well, creating a large rise in villains trying to wreak havoc across the city."

Even a fool could figure out what Ryan meant from those words.