Cold Night

The door flew open.

Alex was too slow. Stefani flicked him on the forehead with an irritated look on her face.

Having been best friends for over two years, Alex had come to learn two things for certain about the woman. One, her hero work meant everything to her, and two, so did her reputation. In her mind, if people found out her best friend was a slacker, well...That just wouldn't do. 

She grabbed Alex by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him out of his apartment. That was it, no conversation, no debate. It was her way of doing things after all. He could do nothing but hold his bag as he was dragged along pathetically.

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[After lectures]

"Man, more homework. At this rate I may as well drop out of college…" Alex walked off campus and into the unforgiving cold. For a winter day it was surprisingly dark, being pitch black at 4:30 in the afternoon. He sighed and rubbed his shoulder, occasionally looking around himself. The way home was far, his nerves combined with the steadily depleting crowd spooking him. 

Soon enough, it was only him and a few people, mainly the homeless or the elderly were left to keep him company. His part of Hollow City was situated so that his apartment was underneath a large highway  bridge, cramped in between other buildings. Campus was over an hour's walk away from his apartment which meant he still had time until he arrived home.

"Should I call Stefani..?" He wondered. As he walked he took out his phone, pulling up her number. The soft glow emulating from his phone screen gave him a sense of comfort as he slipped it back into his pocket. " She's probably busy fighting a villain or something..Better not distract her." He figured. 

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"Have you come up with a hero name yet? They're not really necessary for beginners like you, but it wouldn't hurt y'know." 

Stefani lay on Hazel's couch as she stared up at the ceiling, playing with a small ball of energy in her hand. Hazel was a friend she knew well from her work.

Hazel scoffed and glanced at Stefani from her seat on the opposite side of the couch. "Beginners like me? Aren't you a C?" At that remark Stefani flicked the energy ball at Hazel's forehead, who leaned forward to dodge it. 

"Whatever dude. All i'm saying is that you should take your hero identity seriously. Somewhere down the line people are gonna be shouting your name or plastering you all over cereal boxes! So make it cool and badass!"

"What? Like yours?" 

"Liberty is most definitely badass."

"It's patriotic."

"It's sexy."

Hazel slapped Stefani with her book and stood up, walking over to the living room window. A shooting star blazed away as she watched it trail off.

"Hero name, huh?"

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Alex continued on his way and took a moment to stop and stare at a bright neon sign. it's presence was so glaring and in his face he couldn't not look, which irritated him. 

It was a billboard for the number 5 S-Ranked hero, Hellrad, AKA the "Heavy metal ice hero". His eyes scanned down to the bright blue text that read:

"Hellrad, prince of shadow and ice!"

He rolled his eyes.

"Geez..So cheesy." He huffed, his breath visible as he turned the corner on his way. 

His face came crashing into the chest of a much larger person than himself. In fact, as he fell flat on his ass, he heard the voices of two other people.

Oh god, he thought. Why me?!

 Alex was aggressively brought to his feet by an ugly, pig looking man. Upon further inspection, it was a pig man! The man with the head of a pig held Alex up and snarled, "What's the deal, punk?! You gotta death wish?!" He shook Alex a bit, spit and snot flying everywhere. "YOU MADE ME DROP MY DONUT!!" He shouted in Alex's face.

Alex grimaced and tried to squirm his way out of the pig man's grip to no avail. His foul body odor combined with his sour smelling breath nearly made Alex gag. It was all he could do to shake his head and profusely apologize. 

"I'm-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't see you guys but if I did I swear I-"

"Hush yer trap!!" Pig man shook Alex again, causing his phone and wallet to fall to the ground. One of the pig man's henchmen noticed and immediately picked them up.

"Ey uh, Ronnie heh, lookit Ronnie!" The henchman, a man with an alligator head, held them up to Pig man, who dropped Alex. 

"DAMN IT LOUIS I TOLD YOU TUH CALL ME BOSS IN PUBLIC!!"

"I-I'm sorry Ronnie honestly!"

"LOUIS!!"

"RON-BOSS!!"

Alex sat in a state of shock and confusion as he stared at the two gangsters. He felt a soft but firm grip land on his shoulder, making him jump and look behind him. It was another henchman of Ronnie he assumed, but immediately thought different upon actually examining the man.

In any other circumstance he would have found him attractive. The man's only animalistic features were his curved ram horns, each polished and deadly sharp. He had short well kept blond hair and pure black eyes. Alex figured he couldn't have been much older than himself.

"He must be the big bad then," Alex concluded.

Something about the man's aura sent an uncomfortable sensation down his spine.

"You have to forgive my companions, they are..unprofessional..." He chuckled and turned towards Louis and Ronnie, his hand still on Alex's shoulder. At that point, Alex really had no idea what was going on and he really didn't want to.

"Why hadn't I called Stefani sooner?!" He thought to himself as the three faced him.