The Horsemen

"6 hours ago today, on this beautiful August Friday morning, 4 individuals calling themselves the Horsemen hacked into Channel 23's servers and broadcasted a video of pornography. In the video we see one of their members and top female superhero Fire Roch having sex to spread a message that an Apocalypse was coming. Following the recording of said video, one of the horseman who we presume to be named War, caused a massive explosion that killed 12 people at the Napoleon Hotel. Following that a deadly pursuit down Haze Avenue with police officers and Fire Roch's all female hero team, The Elements, commenced. In the end, the pursuit led to a police officer's death and a bystander. Hero organization Ubermensch's Bravery Agency or UBA for short has called a meeting with all hero organizations to have a meeting on hopefully putting a stop to these villains. We have Ubermensch himself with our team out in at the crash site of the pink truck to give a statement on the events that transpire. Back to you Chuck." A female reporter said on a flatscreen TV placed above a bar counter inside of a restaurant.

The owner of the restaurant, a bald man with a monocle and a thin curly black moustache, scoffed at the news. He leaned against the brown polished wooden counter of the bar. He adjusted his black tie as his he heard the front door of the restaurant swing open.

*TING A-LING*

"Hello! Welcome to the Restaurant. Oh. Pestilence you're back first."

Pestilence walked in to the restaurant with sneakers, sweatpants, a gray sweater, and her white horse mask on. Her sneakers squeaked against the polish wooden floor. She walked past the various circular tables covered with a black and white checkered sheet. "Pedro. I should not be first, where is everyone?"

Pestilence took her mask off and sat it down on the counter. She then took a seat, sighed, and laid her head on the counter. Pedro grabbed a glass bottle, set it on the table, grabbed a jug of milk and poured it into the glass bottle. While he poured, Pestilence raised her head, his golden rings that sat comfortably on all ten of his fingers nearly blinded her with the reflectiveness of their surfaces. He then slid the glass bottle over to Pestilence, she smiled. "Thank you Pedro."

"They called me earlier, saying that Death had to visit the library."

"The library? He's gonna talk a lot then. Damn."

"Isn't that what you've been trying to get him to do for the last couple weeks?" Pedro asked as Pestilence stared at her glass.

"Yeah, he's too quiet and that scares me since he's supposed to be the Avatar of Death. When we get popular and have to talk to heroes, villains, and civilians he's gonna be the most interesting one among all of us."

"True, we can't have War talking to the masses."

*TING A-LING*

"Yo Pedro! You talking shit." War kicked the door open he wore a silk green Japanese robe over a black t-shirt with the word, "Mindfulness" in Chinese letters. He also wore black Thai fisherman pants and a golden necklace with a diamond gem in the middle of it. He had his red horse mask on, Famine followed behind him with the same black petticoat, black , black corset over white t-shirt and black horse mask. Death followed behind her, he wore his black trench coat.

"Yo! Hello War, Famine, Death." Pedro said waving his head. They all walked in a single line up to the counter, they all took off their horse mask and took a seat next to Pestilence in order of how they walked in. None said a word until Pedro poured each of them a drink.

For War, he gave him a large glass of beer. "Exactly what I needed."

For Famine, he gave her a small glass of orange juice. "Thank you."

For Death, he gave him a medium sized glass of water. "Thanks."

They all looked at Pestilence who took a second to turn back at them. She smiled, "War, next time you show up to work, please bring a bag of extra clothing. We want to leave an impression on people, not impress people." War raised his brow and muttered something to himself.

"Famine," Famine grimaced, "You did great. I watched the video of the chase. You drove extremely well. Even under the stress you were in. I'm proud of you."

Famine blushed and pulled her black bucket hat over her eyes and sneezed. Death, War, and Pestilence simultaneously said, "bless you."

"Now Death. The next time War goes off I need you to bring him back. He should not fight someone he's not supposed to. You're lucky they were trained heroes who didn't approach every situation head on. They could have killed War." Death nodded, "Now everyone drink up." Pestilence said.

The four of them down their drinks. War was the first to finish he burped and waved at Pedro who walked over to him. As War began talking, Death finished his drink, then Pestilence and finally Famine. "Pedro. I don't want any of that wacky octopus shit you keep cooking."

"I thought that was your favorite," Pestilence asked.

"It is, but Pedro doesn't cook it right." Death said.

"He can cook anything though, maybe what you're asking for is too much." Pestilence said.

"I cook it badly, because you love wrecking my trucks." Pedro responded.

"I wreck your trucks? We've only known each other for a month."

"Yet you've allowed my truck to crash into something 6 times. You're Spoliero's worst driver. Not to mention I had to answer to cops about drivers reporting my vehicles being involved with a lot of threatening road rages."

"And you're a terrible chef. Maybe if you can cook up an indestructible truck we'll be fine."

"I thought magic was disproven years ago. Indestructible things are impossible to make scientifically." Famine whispered.

War stood up, lifting himself above the ground by pushing against the top of the counter. "Gandalf Ramsay it then!" He leaned further in to get into Pedro's face, "I don't give a damn!"

"War!" Conquest yelled slapping the counter with her hand. "Can you just order your food, we have an important matter to discuss."

War relaxed his shoulders and sat back down. Crossing his arms he muttered, "Sushi."

Pedro smiled, twirled around and smacked War across the face with the back of both of his hands. He made sure that each ring collided with War's face before singing, "And how about you Death darling?"

War, with a gaping mouth and hand rubbing his most hurt side of his face, screamed, "Pedro I swear I'll kill you one day!"

"Can I have pasta with eggs on top," Death replied.

"What kind of pasta?"

"Anything."

"How would you like your eggs?"

"Any way is fine."

"Any particular toppings or seasonings?"

"Any is fine."

"Want meat inside of your pasta?"

"Sure, why not." Death said shrugging his shoulders as his eyes turned yellow.

Pedro twirled around and shifted his way to Famine. "What would you like darling?"

"I'm still thinking," Famine replied whispering.

Pedro looked over at Pestilence. "Chicken nuggets and celery with a side of ranch dressing."

Pedro nodded his head, then turned back at Famine. "Can I have a well done T-bone steak, actually no. I want a cheeseburger with tomato and lettuce. A side of fries, make them waffle fries. Honey mustard dipping sauce and a slice of chocolate cake. Oh and a singular piece of garlic bread, but made in a biscuit!" Famine's black eyes glowed as she ordered.

"Fatty," War whispered chuckling.

"Coming right up friends, except for War. I'll cook yours last, specifically."

Pedro walked to the side of the bar and through doors that led to a kitchen. Once he was gone and the smell of oil emitted from the room, Pestilence began.

"I was on the internet while I waited for you guys. We've been trending for a while now. I'm going to cut to the chase here. Now we must conquer the masses to prepare for war."

"Why are we preparing for War," War asked.

"We've just shown our trump card of Death's negation abilities. It works on even Ubermensch! They're bound to try and kill us all just for disrupting the status quo," Famine said, "I can already see them trying to kill Death specifically, he's a threat to humankind as we know it. Plus my abilities are too scary for kids so I'll never be featured on any late night show. War is War. Maybe you'll make it Pestilence."

"That's right Famine. Plus we have to keep in mind that villains might try and manipulate Death to join their side to take down the heroes or build whatever society they want. So we need to manipulate them before they manipulate any of us. War is most susceptible." Pestilence said.

"How the fuck am I most susceptible. My loyalty is to the Horsemen not my interests."

"You only act on your interests War." Death said.

"Bro. I thought you had my back there." War whimpered.

"Anyway, we have to accomplish two things before any of us gets won over by some other side. Whether that be through susceptibility, manipulation via ability or whatever they might have under their sleeves. And you all know what we have to do."

Everyone except for Pestilence lowered their head as they all said, including Pestilence, "We have to conquer our horseman."

"Correct again guys! I'm glad we are in sync here. If you guys weren't I was gonna throw you all in a sink." Pestilence said.

Death raised his hand.

"Yes Death?" Pestilence said pointing at Death.

"What is your horseman's power?" Death asked as his eyes turned a darker shade of yellow.

"I'm not disclosing that." Conquest replied before playing with her red hair.

"Why not?"

Pestilence breathed in and exhaled, "Death. We never know what kind of abilities are out there. What if one could read all of our memories? They will know everything about us. There is a reason why we don't know each other's real names."

"Well I don't agree with that." War widened his eyes and stared at Death after his eyes turned red. Famine stared at Pestilence who calmly asked, "I hear you, and I'm curious as to why you feel like that."

"We've known each for long enough to realize that we are most likely never going to lie to each other about things or to ever switch sides. Right?" They all nodded their heads. "We all have our problems with hero society. We all want to stop the Apocalypse. I hate that we even distrust each other in the first place, we could literally die fighting together. We trust each other with our lives. So I propose that before we start this next phase in our life of preparing to go to war with these heroes or whatever. That we disclose with each other our hopes, dreams, and how we became Avatars. As well as our names."

Pestilence shed a tear, "Wow. That was very passionate, Death- uh, what is your name?"

"My name is Denzel Peters," Death said.

"I agree with Death! Denzel I mean," Famine replied, "My name is Aya Abbas!"

"Kevin Gu, since I know you guys were gonna ask me eventually," War responded.

They all looked at Pestilence, who's pale face grew pink. "My name is Cherry Love-Fitzgerald."

They all froze.

"You're Ubermensch's wife," Denzel, Kevin, and Aya asked.