“Oh, no, I don’t talk about family in my interviews. I can’t risk them being tracked down, with more rogues popping up every month,” the brightly colored character on my screen laughed lightly. “While rogues are on the rise again, I think you’ll find a lot of newer powereds, heroes and villains alike, returning to the secret identity style. It’s just safer for those we care about that way.”

“But you aren’t that new. You’ve been at this for two years now, well before the rate of rogues increased. You’ve never once given a hint about who you are behind the mask, even when you were starting out as a new hero! The world would love to know more about you, Flare. Rumors abound that you have a powered parent, or even two!” An eager newsperson was clearly hoping to cut through the hero’s defenses.

“Rumors also abound that I’m dating Jet Force or Hurricane, but that doesn’t mean they’re true,” the hero replied with an easy, loveable smile. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t risk it. Is there anything else you’d like to discuss? Perhaps the charity event coming up next week? I’m sure your viewers would love some sneak peeks at what I’m planning to do to raise money for our kids in need.” The interviewer ate that up, launching straight into the new topic.

“Idiots, all of them. So easy to redirect,” I sighed, flipping off the television and standing, stretching.

“Now, that’s not fair to them, dear. You’re just good at reading them,” My grandmother said from across the room, where she sat at her desk working on a novel she swore she would publish one day. I didn’t think it was likely, as much as she kept re-writing it, but it was fun to read and made her happy to work on.

“I guess that’s true. What are we thinking for dinner tonight? I could cook when I get home from work.”

Grandma laughed. “Alix, you know you can’t guarantee you’ll be home in time for dinner. I’ll make pork chops, and I’ll make sure to save you one if Grandpa’s in a hungry mood when he gets off work.” She teased. “Go do your rounds, save the world.”

“Grandma, I’m just a steel tier. I don’t save the world, that’s the platinums,” I laughed, walking over to hug her.

“You’ll get there. You’ve only been at this two years, dearest. Your father needed three just to get to steel, so you’re already doing better than he did!”

“And mother needed only three months to go platinum. She’s the one I’m more concerned with catching up to,” I pointed out, making her frown.

“You don’t need to catch up to her, as I’ve told you a million times. Now, go on. Jet will be furious if you’re late again.” She kissed my cheek and sent me on my way.

She was right, and I knew it, but stubbornness was a trait I picked up from both of my parents. As I trudged out to my car and went for HQ, I thought on it.

My father had died when I was nine. He had been in a massive explosion, trying to keep civilians safe. Flash Fire was his hero name, and was written in large font on the three statues of him in town and on his gravestone. He’d never wanted that, but the city didn’t listen when we said he wasn’t interested in being immortalized. One of the lesser risks heroes take, I suppose.

My mother was also powered. While Dad had fire power and was a hero, Mom didn’t bother to use her powers for more than maintaining a nice garden as I grew up. She was so sweet and kind, helping our neighbors when they needed it and making sure I learned right from wrong. At least, until Dad died. The day after his funeral, she brought me to my grandparents, promised me that she would always love me but I was safer with them, then left. The next time I saw her was three months later, as the fastest growing villian in the League of Villains, ever.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We were a family that supported and raised heroes, my mother had always said so. She threw it all away to be a villain, just because Dad died doing hero’s work.

But that wasn’t what spurred me to hero’s work myself. I had hope she would come to her senses and come home to me, one day. When I was 16, I gave up that notion and realized the only way she would stop would be if I came to stop her. So I started training to be a hero.

Now, I was Flare, one of the up-and-comers in the Hero’s Association. I was still pretty new, only a steel rank, but I was determined to work my way up through the ranks. I was expecting to move up to bronze in a few more weeks if I kept up my work, and if my team didn’t get into any trouble.

All heroes below silver worked in a set team, and most in gold rank did as well. Heroes in iron rank had a silver rank volunteer leading their team, since they were the bottom rung of the ladder and most of them brand new. They needed watching, and training in how to handle villains of different calibers.

The villains had the same ranks: iron, steel, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. The two HQs did work together enough to come up with the scales, so the heroes wouldn’t be throwing newbies at strong villains, and the veteran heroes could be sent for villains that would need someone stronger to take them down. The only time this system failed was when rogues, villains who refused to work with the League, popped up. Those were usually people that had mental health issues that triggered their villainy, or were simply deeply mistrusting of the League having any level of work with the heroes. Some people, after all, assumed that all the villainy from the League must be staged to keep heroes in business.

In reality, the villains of the League just knew that if they went as crazy as they wanted, all of them, they could probably wiped out the heroes. There would, however, likely not be any place to take over if they did that. What was the point of being villains if the only other people were villains and the only property belonged to other villains? Some villains would have to become heroes just to get things to a point where there was a point to being a villain again, and the cycle would repeat. They decided it wasn’t worth it and set up rules and limits so it wouldn’t screw all of them over if one or two went rogue. Made sense, and made our lives easier.

I was in a team of four, with Hurricane, Jet Force, and Technix. 

Technix was a techno-path, a powered that could control electronics with his mind. It could be pretty useful, but a lot of veterans were already sure he wasn’t going to get above bronze rank with a power like that. 

Hurricane could summon and control winds, and had prevented a number of disastrous tornadoes from harming anyone. She said she would never completely stop one, as the planet had its own needs and weather was one of them, but she could reroute it slightly to protect people.

Our team captain was Jet Force, a dualie who could fly and had super strength. It was a handy combo, easy enough to go silver with at the minimum, but he also had enough combat sense that people thought he might make platinum one day.

I went by Flare, and could control fire. It was a harder power to rank highly with, but I’d learned by watching my dad, another fire user. I also happened to have another power that I didn’t tell people about: Invisibility. I was a secret dualie, holding that extra power in reserve for dire circumstances. 

Sometimes, it felt like my teammates didn’t really trust me to stay a hero. Most fire users that tried to become heroes did end up as villains, usually after feeling like they hadn’t been given a fair shake. I knew that wouldn’t be the case if I didn’t make it far, since I saw my dad make it to the top with the same power.

When I parked in our lot and went to enter HQ, I saw that Jet waited for me, still in plain clothes and looking grouchy. “What this time, Trevor?” I sighed. “I’m not late, and I know I did my paperwork well because Thorn complimented it before I left after our last patrol.” Jet just scowled more.

“Your stupid interview. ‘Rumors abound that I’m dating Jet Force but they aren’t true,’ said with a laugh like it’s the stupidest idea you’ve ever heard.”

I couldn’t believe this. After a moment of stunned silence, I looked around the street and found it mercifully empty before I grabbed his arm and towed him inside. He looked confused for a moment, but at least hit the badge scanner for me so I wouldn’t have to fumble my badge out of my bag. Once we were behind doors the general public couldn’t hear us through, I let go, turned, and glared.

“My identity is a secret to the public. If you go talking about my interview while we’re in plain clothes on the street and someone hears that, you put my family in danger. You want that on your head? Do I need to take you back up to the ethics board about privacy concerns again?”

“Well, I’m not wrong!” He retorted, clearly not caring. “Your-”

“You’re wrong for saying it in the middle of the street, and you weren’t exactly quiet about it. As far as anyone on the street knows, I’m a young woman working here as an assistant. I have potential enemies remember? Not to mention the rising rogue threat! And no, I don’t see you as a datable option, because you may be great at being a hero and thinking quick in a fix, but you are an idiot when it comes to social situations, privacy of your coworkers, and your own emotional intelligence.” I did my best to keep my voice level and calm. One of the biggest downside to fire-type heroes was a perceived anger problem. It was a negative stereotype, and one I’d seen was pretty well not true, but I wasn’t intending to further it.

“You don’t have to yell at me-” He started, then paled a little when someone put a hand on his shoulder. A rather large hand, and I’m betting there was some force behind it. What Jet hadn’t realized was that one of the platinums, a hero by the name of Valiant, had been near the door when we entered and heard the whole exchange. The older man stood a good foot taller than my teammate, and was also known for his strength and rigid moral compass.

“She didn’t raise her voice once. But keep it up,” Valiant told him coolly, “and I will. You’re a team captain, Jet Force. You need to respect your team, even out of uniform. If the lady doesn’t want her identity to get out, you keep her identity. If you think this will be a problem, then I’m sure we can pick a different captain for the team. Maybe Flare here, she seems level headed.”

“She’s a pyro, she-”

“Is intelligent, calm, and hasn’t had any errors her entire career. You, as smart and quick thinking as you are, have still had 20 errors this year alone.” I winced at that. Calling a hero out on their errors, times when an action they took cost lives that would have otherwise been spared, was harsh. Admittedly, only a handful of heroes made it past the two year mark without any errors, and even less made it to three that way, but no one needed or wanted reminders of lives they themselves had cost.

“She’s… a good hero…” Jet said reluctantly. “I uh… I’m gonna go… suit up. Flare, see you in a few at the meetup.” With that, he quickly walked off, trying to look as refined and dignified as he usually did, but looking more like a snob with his nose in the air.

“Sorry, kid. You know how some people are,” Valiant sighed watching my “fearless leader” scurry off. “Just keep your chin up, you’ll get there one day.”

“If I can make it even a fraction of your career length without errors, I’ll feel like I’m getting there. 40 years, and not a single error. You’re what every hero should strive to be, sir,” I admitted. “Thank you for the help with my… Captain. He has his moments, but he’s not usually that bad.”

“You’re a good hero. Your powers don’t decide that, it’s how you use them. I know of another fire hero that went a good, long career without errors. I think you’ll be every bit as good as Flash Fire was.” Valiant smiled. He was one of the few heroes who actually knew Flash Fire was my dad. It wasn’t exactly hidden knowledge, but most heroes didn’t bother to look into who the newer heroes were or where they came from. Valiant had been the silver for my dad’s iron rank team, and ended up at the house a lot as I grew up. He was like an honorary uncle to me until I went to my grandparents. “Now, go get ready for patrol. I hear they got something interesting for your group to investigate today.”

“Yessir!” I grinned, saluting, before heading off to the locker rooms. They were broken up by tier and by gender identity, so they were never too crowded given the different shift times. I’m sure that isn’t the case in bigger cities, but we only had about 6,000 people so we didn’t need as many heroes as often.

Hurricane was waiting for me in the locker room, already in her costume but without her mask. “Jet stop you and cause trouble?” She asked, smiling.

“Of course he did. And got his ass chewed by Valiant,” I snorted, going to my locker and pulling out my own costume.

“No, no, don’t tell me, let me guess…. He started shit in plain clothes out on the street, where anyone could hear him.” Hurricane grew up with Jet Force, so she knew him pretty well. They were actually cousins, and raised as practically siblings once their powers developed.

So, naturally, she knew the exact level of dumb he could be. “Yeah, that exactly. And got defensive when I reminded him I have reasons for keeping my identity secret.” Hurricane nodded and slipped her mask on. “On the bright side, Valiant said he thinks they’ve got something interesting for our patrol today. Let’s go meet up with the guys and see what they’ve got for us.” I finished getting my costume on, masked up, and went out to find our team’s meeting room. Hurricane was right behind me.

“Alix, you know you don’t have to put up with him, right? You can request a transfer to another team,” She pointed out. “There are days I’m sorely tempted to myself…”

“With any luck, one of us gets promoted soon and we’ll be on different teams anyway. I’ll tough it out. Thanks though, Abby.” I got the door to our meeting room and we stepped in to see the other two waiting. “Alright- So, what’s on the agenda today, Captain?” Jet still looked mildly bothered, but like he didn’t want to talk about it.

“There’s been some strange noises out by the old warehouses. Higher-ups want us to go investigate the area today. We also need to check out old Martinville Hotel while we’re on that side of town. There’s apparently been some lights on in there.”

“I didn’t think electricity still ran to that place. Unless someone rigged up a generator…” Technix shrugged. “Well, let’s get on the road, then, unless there’s something else?”

“That’s all we’ve got today. Come on, let’s head out,” Jet shrugged, leading us out. None of us knew what we were about to experience, or that this would be the patrol that changed everything.