Suit up

We walked to the lobby. "So, what mission are we taking?" I asked Thea.

"Oooh, you'll love this. Have you ever been to Atlantis?" The city beneath the ocean. It's supposed to be a breathtaking city but my family didn't travel that much so I'd never been.

"No, I haven't. Why? Wait, you're saying we're going to Atlantis?" She nodded. Then she held up a paper.

|Mission: Find the culprit responsible for sabotaging a power plant. (Team mission)

Duration: No limit (Preferably no more than 2 weeks)

Reward: Root sap of Yggdrasil|

"Your sister must be in real trouble if you need a healing item that potent, what's ailing her anyways?" She looked at me with eyes that said 'shut up or I'll hurt you' so I did.

We went to get our licenses at the reception because we hadn't gotten them yet for some reason.

"What are your names, just first name please." a receptionist with a dead look in his eyes said. We gave them and he gave Thea her license.

"Uhm, you forgot mine." I said. He looked at me for a moment, shrugged and got back to work.

Suddenly someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned and saw it was Hestia. "I wanted to give you this myself." she said and she dropped my license in my hand. Then, she turned around and left.

Afterwards, we applied for the mission, showed our licenses and were directed to the armory. E-rank heroes, the lowest rank, don't get their own suit, they have to wear suits from the armory. When you enter the D-rank you can apply for a suit to be made.

We both looked around to pick out suits that seemed to fit us. I created an ensemble. A leather jacket over a bulletproof shirt and comfortable black pants with black army boots. To finish it I put on a mask that completely covered my face, it was meant to resemble a fox.

I pulled the hood of my jacket up and got ready. Now, don't blame me for all the black and white, it was that or a bright yellow and I don't want to tell the bad guys where I am. I turn around to look at Thea.

She had done the same as me and picked out different pieces to make her suit. She wore a yellow t-shirt, an open black jacket with no hood and black jeans. She had taken lighter black boots and her mask only covered her eyes but it made the rest of her face obscure.

What did you take the heroes for, idiots? No-one in their right minds would wear a mask that doesn't have the capabilities to completely conceal your face so unless they're celebrity heroes no-one shows their face when inside their suits.

"Damn, looking fine Thea." I said. We'd both taken 10 minutes but we looked good. "Call me Bolt when I'm suited up." she said and then looked expectantly at me.

I had forgotten to come up with a hero name. "Call me ... Help me out here, I can't come up with anything good."

After that a naming frenzy began whilst we were walking to the teleport. "You're mainly an artifact user right? Show me your artifact and maybe I'll come up with something then."

I summoned the pen and she didn't even look at it for 5 seconds before she said "Homer, definitely Homer." I thought about it and I could live with it. It was fitting since my artifact once belonged to Homer so I accepted it.

"Who was that?" Thea asked. "No one important." She looks at me for a second before slapping me. "No one important? Bullshit, she just took the elevator to the top floor!"

"Like I said, no one important. You coming?" and so we went out for our first mission.

-----------------

I remembered the time when I was free yet it felt like I didn't. Like those weren't my memories but those of someone else. Someone who could still laugh and think about the future.

Me? I just tried to survive. Day in, day out. Step by step. Survive. I had been in a fight with my parents and when I returned after running away I found out they were dead. Gone, just like that. No change to make amends, not even a change to have another fight for no reason.

I was sitting on the edge of the highest tower in the city. It should have been a majestic sight, Atlantis at night, but everything had lost its color. Nothing shined like it used to and food didn't have taste. Music and art had lost their beauty.

That night, sitting there, I resolved to survive and make my parents proud. And then I got kidnapped.

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